Explorer or Odyessey?

[anchoras]

Need help deciding on either the Explorer or Odyessey, March 2022 sailing.

 

Explorer has a great itinerary, but an older ship, that has not been refurbished since 2015. 

 

Odyessey is new ship, I've never been on a newer ship, as they don't sail out of San Juan.

 

We sail yearly out of San Juan, last cruise was 2019 was Freedom which we liked.

Should we concerned on age of Explorer?

We like the port intensive cruise, but are concerned about the age of the ship, size of pools, gym and other facilities.

[atgood]

11 minutes ago, anchoras said:

Need help deciding on either the Explorer or Odyessey, March 2022 sailing.

 

Explorer has a great itinerary, but an older ship, that has not been refurbished since 2015. 

 

Odyessey is new ship, I've never been on a newer ship, as they don't sail out of San Juan.

 

We sail yearly out of San Juan, last cruise was 2019 was Freedom which we liked.

Should we concerned on age of Explorer?

We like the port intensive cruise, but are concerned about the age of the ship, size of pools, gym and other facilities.

What are the ages of the people going and how much is the cruise cost for each ship?

Edited March 5, 2021 by atgood

[anchoras]

Just now, atgood said:

What are the ages of the people going and how much is the cost for each ship?

We are a very youthful age 60ish girlfriends, group of 4

[anchoras]

Just now, anchoras said:

We are a very youthful age 60ish girlfriends, group of 4

Cost is about the same, Explorer 7 nights, Odyessey 6 nights. 

 

We love the nightlife and dancing.

[BettyCruiser]

I would pick Odyssey, I love sailing new ships!

[Ashland]

My Freedom March 2022 B2B out of San Juan was changed to Explorer this past October...fine with us....less expensive and same ports. 

[atgood]

4 minutes ago, anchoras said:

Cost is about the same, Explorer 7 nights, Odyessey 6 nights. 

 

We love the nightlife and dancing.

I’d go with the longer cruise.  Both ships will have dinner and dancing.  I’m giving a simplified answer.  
 

We spent two weeks on Explorer in Nov 2019 and it was great.  RCI takes pretty good care of their ships, even the older ones sure are nice. 

[atgood]

3 minutes ago, Ashland said:

My Freedom March 2022 B2B out of San Juan was changed to Explorer this past October...fine with us....less expensive and same ports. 

And a few less people too. 

[reallyitsmema]

Odyssey would be my choice.  Music Hall and 270 will have lots of music.

[CanadaRob]

If it’s San Juan vs Fl and 7vs 6 I take Explorer and the 7 night.

[Missusdubbya]

I like Explorer (and the great itineraries out of San Juan) however I would choose Odyssey (because it is new and will be fabulous 😁)

[Chiliburn]

I would definitely go with Odyssey if you like entertainment.
The Quantam class usually has a couple of venues going at least in the evening.

Much more choice of food also.

[easyqueasy]

1 hour ago, Missusdubbya said:

I like Explorer (and the great itineraries out of San Juan) however I would choose Odyssey (because it is new and will be fabulous 😁)

Totally agree. I was hoping to be on Odyssey early this summer, but that hope has been dashed. 

[Norwich Cruiser]

I’d definitely sail Odyssey 

[VirginiaIsForCruisers]

I tend to prefer relatively smaller ships, but I was not very happy on Explorer when I cruised on one of her last cruises pre-Covid (March 2020).

 

Many of the employees were great, especially the hysterically funny washy-washy guy, Jaime,  at the Windjammer entrance during dinner and late night. Most employees tried to do their jobs with a smile.

 

However, the ship was in pretty rough shape. I can handle tired decor and some missed maintenance, but it was surprisingly bad. As an example, one of my closet doors came off and almost hit me in the head. My cabin steward saw it and grabbed it just in time. He had maintenance come and fix it immediately. Two days later, the other closet door fell off. Also, my cabin was on the same floor as the library and several of the chairs were broken or unsteady. 

 

I remember reading a very negative review right before I sailed. I took it with a grain of salt because the poster seemed to be nit-picking about cosmetic issues and have a grudge against Royal. I hope I'm not coming across that way. I actually booked another trip on Explorer for March 2021 and was really looking forward to it, since it was supposed to have been sent to drydock/amplification last spring. Obviously that trip isn't happening.

 

I'm sure you'll have a great trip, no matter which one you choose!

[John&LaLa]

Odyssey for us. Not a fan of leaving from SJ.

 

 

[Jam0610]

Have Odyssey booked for Feb. 2022. We like new ships and looking forward to finally sailing.