We did a South Pacific Cruise with Royal Caribbean on their Explorer of the Seas ship this year. We had a Junior Suite Cabin - Deck 10, Cabin 1628. This was an excellent, spacious cabin and our cabin attendant said it was one of the best on the deck - thanks to booking early (about a year ahead). The cabin had a couch and two armchairs and a lovely balcony. A very big walk in robe was also great to have. The cabin was on the port side of the ship and so we had an excellent view of the Opera House when we were in Sydney Harbour. The cabin was very quiet and very comfortable. Extremely comfy beds. Our cabin attendant made interesting animals out of towels every night for us which was lovely. He was extremely helpful, going out of his way to do anything for us. I can't speak highly enough of the Junior Suites on this ship - really worth the money.

I was amazed at how comfortable and luxurious the ship was. About 3300 passengers, but, except at the main pool, the ship rarely seemed crowded. There was an ice-skating rink on board, which I went to, and the ship had so many dawn-to-dusk activities it was astounding. The shows were mostly excellent.

The food was quite good. We started off having dinner in the main dining rooms (we booked my-time dining so we ate when we felt like it) but we didn't want three courses most nights, so for most of the cruise we ate in the Windjammer cafe for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We enjoyed the variety of food in that cafe, although it was often hard to get any service from the roaming wait staff- there really did not seem to be enough staff at all in that cafe and it was frustrating. There was also often a long wait to get drinks at the bar - also very frustrating. Read more