I am writing to share my experiences being on the Explorer of the Seas out of San Juan at the end of January 2022. My original booking was for April 2020, just as the pandemic shut down the cruise industry. I ended up canceling because of pre-existing health issues the morning that Royal Caribbean announced they had canceled my sailing – later in the day. Because of the timing, I was not entitled to the 125% cruise credit nor a cash refund. Yet, their morning announcement suggested that those with pre-existing health concerns or for those over 70 that they should cancel as well. Both cases were true for me. That put a bad taste in my mouth.

In any event, I had worked on a new booking for quite some time prior to my trip on January 23, 2022. In the planning, I noticed a price difference multiple times. Twice they gave me the lower price. The closer to sailing, the lower price meant I would only be entitled to future cruise credit. I don’t know when their policy changed or how the offering changed, yet it was within 90 days of sailing, for sure where I was only entitled to have the difference be offered as a future cruise credit. No cash was refunded.

From my experience, I would recommend that the original booking be done with a fully refundable deposit. Once one gets close to final payment, then I would recommend that the reservation be changed to a non-refundable deposit. The cost of the trip will be less once converted to NRD. (On their website, they do not discuss non-refundable deposit rates versus fully refundable deposits.) Read more