Explorer of the Seas - 9/20 Review: The good and the not so good

[chopper825]

Let me preface by saying that this is my 7th cruise and my 2nd on RCL and both on Explorer of the Seas. I am 58 and was traveling with my DH and two other couples.

 

I am going to do this review a little differently to just give my honest opinion of specific items.

 

Food: Buffet was just okay. Same things for breakfast everyday and dinner was just okay. I thought lunch was terrible. We are used to freshly grilled burgers, hot dogs and chicken but even though it was on the buffet it was not freshly made. We had anytime dining and had to wait just one night for about 20 minutes. Service was pretty good. Portions were very small. You could easily order 2 entrees and not be full. We all thought the food in general was bland. However, I loved the strip steak and the prime rib was great.

 

Service: Honestly, I was somewhat disappointed in the level of service. Our room steward was the exception. We were in a Promenade room and she was awesome. Drink service at the pool was non-existent most times and we almost always found ourselves going to the bar to get our own drinks. That was the case for us in the theater as well. Most of the crew we encountered were pleasant but we met our fair share of those who were not.

 

Entertainment: This is a big one for me. Both of our sea days were bad weather days and we had nothing to do but to go to the casino and drink. Generally there was one show a night (sometimes shown at two different times) but that was about it. I am used to Princess where we need to plan our whole night out in order to see and do everything. The show I did see - Magician (Levetan??) could have been at a kids party. Comedian was pretty good. The CD was great and he was everywhere as well as his assistant. But there did not appear to be any additional staff. They used the dancers and skaters when they needed help. Quest was by far the highlight of entertainment. Ice skating for us was canceled due to bad weather. I think they may rescheduled for a time when we were ashore. Overall I thought the entertainment was lacking and very marginal. Not impressed.

 

Ship: The ship is older but still in overall good condition. This was the first time we did not book a balcony and booked a Promenade room. For the money and a 5 night cruise the room was fine. A little small but we had no problems with noise at all.

 

Mistakes we Made: In my opinion I do not think it was the right move for us to purchase the bus/ferry passes for two days in Bermuda. The buses will get you around but they are extremely crowded with many, many people standing. We should have used the ferry more and cabs. If you go to Horseshoe Beach you may not want to take the regular bus. It drops you at the top of a very very steep hill that you have to walk down to get to the beach. And walk back up if you need to get back to the public bus. We took the bus there and hired a cab to go back that was at the bottom of the hill. Cost us $10 a couple. The best money I ever spent. If you plan on spending a day at Horseshoe Bay it may make more sense to do the one day bus/ferry pass and then do the shuttle from ship for the second. Also, if you plan on heading to St. George DO NOT miss the first ferry. We did and the second did not leave until 11:30. So we had to take the ferry to Hamilton and an hour bus ride to St. George. Missed the only tour in St. George so not much to see there after an hour bus ride. Sorry I do not remember the time of first ferry or the tour.

 

We purchased the premium alcohol package at a cost of $563 for us both. We are pretty big drinkers and I don't think we broke even. It helped that the soda was included but with two days in port I do not think it was worth it for us.

 

I know this sounds likes a very negative review but overall we had a good time. The weather was against us as both of our sea days were not sunny days. The first one being extremely rough with 50 mph+ winds and 12 - 15 ft waves. Many sick passengers. Half of the first day in Bermuda was rainy, humid and overcast but eventually cleared. The last sea day again was very windy, overcast and chilly. All in all it was a good cruise but not a great one. The weather did have something to do with that.

 

We are booked on the Quantum for a 13 day cruise in April and our hope is that the experience is better than this one.

 

Let me know if I can answer any questions.

[2calgarycruisers]

Thanks, I'm on the explorer on November 15th. I'm struggling a bit with the drinks package for us as for the ultimate it's $1240 CDN :eek:

[parrotfeathers]

The ice show was on the sea day after leaving Bermuda. I don't know if they had two but I was at the 2 p.m. one.