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About Your Ship: Explorer of the Seas

10 Night Eastern Caribbean





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Departs Cape Liberty (Bayonne) aboard Royal Caribbean – Explorer of the Seas

Sailing Date(s): Dec 2013, Jan 2014


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	Average Explorer of the Seas Rating



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	Overall Rating: About the Reviewer: Age: 50 - 65 Cruise Experience: First cruise Traveler Type: Couple Stateroom Type: Inside First time cruisers, It was Wonderful! by Gladys C from Edison, NJ Sailing date: Jan 2011 Pros: The staff was extremely professional, hard working and friendly. I loved that the day is posted on all elevator floors so you don't lose track of the day! Cons: It was a little difficult to come in from the ports between 4-6 and be ready for dinner seating at 6:00PM. Coffee at the Windjammer was not the best As First time cruisers our main problem was not knowing how to pack for a 14 day cruise. My husband felt that one suit would have been enough. Check -in was very efficient and quick. the days on the boat are very busy. You can chose to be busy or just relax. the music and the shows are superb. I strongly recommend to join an early morning ship tour on the ports you tender in, because, they will let you go out first- beating the "tendering" crowd. You should try to get a massage on your way back - they are wonderful up at the Spa. towards the return they offered a "Last days Special" that were very good. If you are a beach goer and your hair is bleached- the deep hair moisturizing treatment did wonders for my hair. Get it done early though, you need at leave it in for at least 1 hour. You get a sea pass attached to your credit card. You Have to be watchful and follow your balance on the interactive TV in your room. Any thing you need repaired- don't be afraid to ask your attendant to help you with. If you need towels to go ashore- big ones are given out by the pool with a 20 dollar deposit on each towel- so make sure you bring them back- get them the night before to avoid the morning crowed. Coffee in the Windjammer is pretty bad but, the coffee in the Promenade Cafe and the main dining rooms are Okay. Do take the trip insurance that Orbitz offers. My husband had an ear infection and needed to see the Doctor twice for a total over $450.00 USD. Bringing cash in small bills on land is very helpful to negotiate lower prices. Duty free liquor and souvenirs are way much cheaper on the ports than on the duty free ship stores. There will be sales night on alcohol, t-shirts, cameras jewelry, watches, handbags, scarves, purses etc... in the promenade area - you have to be watchful, because they are good sales. T-Shirts souvenirs from all the Islands will be available as you cruise back. Once we Disembarked we got one of the baggage stewards to help us with the luggage and he basically just rushed us right through Customs all the way to the pick-up area in about 5 minutes! Really worth the price of the tip! The people who carried their own bags were waiting in huge lines. We should have we taken our laptop to down load pictures in our camera as we ran out of space. Internet is very expensive. Internet Caf and Wi-Fi services at the ports is much cheaper. Be watchful of ports on Sundays -as most Caribbean Islands are very religious and stores will be closed. You are probably better of with taking a tour on Sundays. You should research tours not associated with the boat. We found the same tours to be literally half the price, and nowhere near as crowded. Orbitz also offers tours. Dont Forget to calculate tipping. You can pay it on your credit card or offer cash at the end of the cruise. Gratuity guidelines for each ship are found easily online. And they might feel somewhat high, but once you see how much they work for you, you wonder if you would do it yourself for the suggested gratuity. We Tipped a little bit extra. As I found out the front of the ship is always moving. So if this bothers you, you should get a room towards the back. Ship Details: Ship Quality This is Great Ship. Very huge. I needed to take a morning to "visit" the areas I had not seen - to get pictures. Dining/Food If you like to go off to Port. The 6:00 PM dining time was not very convenient, Specially with kids as you have to change for the dining room. Stateroom Quality Interior stateroom size was actually very comfortable for two of us. I believe the small sofa was a sofa bed. decor is very relaxing. Shampoo and soap are freely available. the room was always kept very clean Ship Staff Quality The staff is very friendly and everyone will go out of their way to help... even maintenance personnel would help. Bring small bills for individual tipping which is welcomed and very well deserved Entertainment & Activities There is so much entertainment that it is hard to know where to start. There are games, shows, Ice skating shows, comedians, music, concerts etc. main evening entertainments are usually offered twice a night. I do recommend that you get there at least half hour earlier as you might not find seats even if you have a ticket. They request you get a ticket for some shows. they will announce distribution time and place. But get there early anyway with your whole party as you can not save seats. Children's Programs There were plenty of children on this cruise. Our kids are adults but I checked it out for my three grandchildren (1,3 and 10 y/0) They have Arcade, Baby sitting areas, baby sitting service. different age appropriate activities. Teenagers have a Teenage only area. they are carefully watched and even I was not allowed in to the teenage area to take a picture when there were kids there. (I went when it was closed) so you know your teenager is not going to be approached by "strange" adults. there are cameras everywhere. security and safety are tight. 23 out of 25 people found this review helpful. Did you find this review helpful? Overall Rating: About the Reviewer: Age: 50 - 65 Cruise Experience: 2 - 3 cruises Traveler Type: Couple Always great! by Bernie from Parsippany, NJ Sailing date: Jul 2007 Pros: Large spaces avoided overcrowding. A wide selection of activities throughout the day kept people occupied. Once on board the entertainment is top notch, food is plentiful, relaxation great, activities plentiful. Even though there were 3,000 people on board we felt as though we had to share the facilities with 10 or 20 people. There was no waiting for activities (except for maybe finding a lounge chair on deck around the pool on a sunny day!). We love dancing. Some of the dance floors were too small for the venue. But if you jump around to the different entertainers you can definitely get a lot of dancing in. Ship Details: Dining/Food Stateroom Quality Ship Staff Quality Entertainment & Activities Activities: The dance floors need to be bigger. Need better dance choices. They had only one dance instruction with large participation; then nothing. Read this user's port of call reviews: King's Wharf, Bermuda Collapse List of Ports Ports of Call: King's Wharf, Bermuda 17 out of 22 people found this review helpful. Did you find this review helpful? Overall Rating: About the Reviewer: Age: 50 - 65 Cruise Experience: 4 - 6 cruises Traveler Type: Couple Stateroom Type: Inside The best of four Cruises by Rick S from Okemos, MI Sailing date: Mar 2012 Pros: The friendliness of the crew. Cons: The TV in the room (interactive didn't work) This was our fourth cruise in the last 15 years. Obviously we don't go all that often so it's important to us that we have a good trip. This was our first on Royal Caribbean and was our best in terms of the ship. Explorer of the Seas was clean, big, not too crowded, and the crew was exceptionally friendly. Everyone from the cabin stewards to the maintenance men would greet you whenever you happened near them. The ship was full - every cabin - but we never had problems getting a deck chair on even the sunniest of days. The ship's policy was no saving of deck chairs (which was generally observed) which helped a lot. Also there were 500 kids on board but for the most part they had their own programs and activities. With all the shipboard areas (Basketball, climbing wall, inline skating, putt-putt golf, ping pong, arcade, etc..) there was plenty to keep the older kids busy and the younger kids happy. We especially enjoyed Dizzy's lounge where we could read and be out of the wind. If you wanted a drink the staff would happily get one for you. If you didn't want one - no worries - they would let you read without constantly checking. The food was excellent and the service was great. The rooms were adequate (we had an interior room) and quiet. Also, there was a commitment to health and plenty of hand washing stations... required for entry to all eating areas. Our Windjammer greeter would say "No washee, washee, no foodee, foodee; no foodee, foodee, no yummee, yummee, no yummee, yummee, ho happy, happy." By the end of the week he had everyone on board saying it. Ship Details: Ship Quality The layout was exceptional. We enjoyed the promenade. Getting around the ship was pretty easy. The decor was nice and pleasing. We noticed and appreciated that the elevators had a floor rug with the current day posted. A nice touch on a 10 day cruise where it all feels the same! The ship was exceptionally clean and well painted. There were people sweeping the halls and steps every day (with really quiet vacuums). The maintenance men would work on small area (so not to disturb everything) and completely repair, repaint, and clean it and be gone before you realized it. (I saw them at work twice in 10 days) Dining/Food The Windjammer had plenty of choices. We ate there for late breakfast and lunch. We had the second seating (8:30) for dinner and were on the second level. Our waiter and assistant waiters were very attentive and remembered our preferences from one day to the next. They greeted us by name and we enjoyed their service. One of our party has to have gluten free food and our waiter made sure each evening to give him the next days menu so that he could have the chef prepare whatever he wanted to order - gluten free. We ate one night at the Portofino. The filet mignon was excellent and the presentation of all the dishes amazing. We went to the murder-mystery night and while we really enjoyed the program it was expensive and I felt crowded in at the tables. I think next time we'll just go on a regular night to enjoy the food and service without the program - less expensive too. The cover charge of $20pp would be well worth the money. (The Murder Mystery was $49.50pp) Stateroom Quality We had an interior room. It was adequate. While it was awkward to get around to the side of the bed we just climbed in from the end. The bathroom was clean and well appointed. The shower was great... plenty of hot water - instantly. Ship Staff Quality EVERYONE was friendly. The Customer service was good and you definitely had the feeling that everyone really cared. Entertainment & Activities We loved the ice shows. During the 10 days there were two completely different shows. The "seasons" show was the last and the best. Great lighting and excellent performances. I especially enjoyed the way the skaters interacted with the audience. With four different performances (for each show) everyone had a chance to get in without have any crowding problems. The singers and dancers put on at least four different programs and all were excellent. All the programs were 45 minutes and pretty much went without breaks. It was our Cruise Directors first time on this ship but he did a great job. We loved his socks and his word for the day after the curtain fell. Children's Programs We didn't use these but the kids appeared to be well cared for with lots' of age-appropriate activities. They had their own pool area and essentially an excellent free day-care facility. The teens had their own "night club" and arcade area next to the sports deck. There was also a Johnny Rockets restaurant in that area ($4.95 cover charge pp). 10 out of 10 people found this review helpful. Did you find this review helpful? Overall Rating: About the Reviewer: Age: 30 - 49 Cruise Experience: 2 - 3 cruises Traveler Type: Family w/older children Stateroom Type: Balcony Vastly overpriced! Terrible value! by David S. from Philadelphia, PA Sailing date: Aug 2011 Pros: The food and hospitality of the staff. Cons: Cruise was disgracefully overbooked!! There were massive lines for most everything - dining rooms, elevators, activites. Literally no quiet areas could be found. Avoid this cruise like the plague- at least in the Summer. It was so ridiculously overbooked you could barely move. Sometimes moving up and down a few floors on elevators would take 15 minutes. The crowds overwhelmed everything. Wait times were insane. We could never find a table for the buffet. My parents were older and really struggled at times. What annoys me is that this cruise was very EXPENSIVE. I have been on far cheaper cruises with a much smaller passenger to staff ratio so even in RCCL's class of cruise this was awful. Cruising should be RELAXING not this stressful. The staff tried their best, but they were obviously overwhelmed. Also, the lack of enforcement of dress code was disgusting. Even in the formal dining rooms, most passengers dressed like bums - caps, hoodies, tank tops, bathing suits, short shorts, sneakers. Made a mockery of the published dressed dress code and no one in the staff even cared. This ship left from North Jersey and this was a pretty hard scrabble crowd. They obviously had no interest in the traditional decorum of a cruise. If you desire at least a modicum of traditional cruising decorum avoid this cruise and probably RCCL in general. I didn't think this would be a "booze-cruise" given the cost but I must admit I was wrong. RCCL markets itself as family-friendly but this cruise was definitely not - there were some real creepy people and tons of drunks - a little scary for kids IMO. Ship Details: Ship Quality Ship was impressive. A little tacky but definitely an engineering marvel. Dining room was beautiful. Would have enjoyed it so much more if there were fewer passengers. It was hard to move anywhere. Dining/Food Food was excellent. Buffet was very well stocked and most definitely better than any I have been to on land. Dining room food was superb. Every night was delicious. Some of the best food I have every had served in a restaurant. Stateroom Quality Room was OK. Obviously heavily used and badly in need of a refresh. However, the stateroom attendants were great and did their best to keep it clean. TV was ancient. Sofa had a visible stain (horrified trying to imagine what caused it given the type of people on this cruise.) Ship Staff Quality Staff was the best part of this cruise. They tried so hard to help and were so friendly - wonderful people. They come from all over the world and work almost non-stop for 6-7 months at a time. They are away from their families for most of the year and they are still so cheerful - amazing. They go out of their way to help, but were clearly overwhelmed by the crowds. Entertainment & Activities Entertainment was decent. First-night comedian was great. Gymnast show was fantastic. Ice show was so-so. I felt bad for the ice-skaters, they worked hard, but had a difficult time with the more complex routines, there were some falls. It must be so hard to ice skate on a rocking cruise ship, especially given the probably awful ice from the hot temperatures. Read this user's port of call reviews: King's Wharf, Bermuda Collapse List of Ports Ports of Call: King's Wharf, Bermuda Decent port, but you need to travel at least half an hour to get to Hamilton and all the nice beaches. Somewhat stressful. 10 out of 11 people found this review helpful. Did you find this review helpful? Overall Rating: About the Reviewer: Age: 50 - 65 Cruise Experience: 4 - 6 cruises Traveler Type: Singles/friends Stateroom Type: Balcony bugged on cruise. trip ruined by SUZANNE L from hackettstown, nj Sailing date: Mar 2011 Pros: the itinerary. Cons: incident with bedbugs in our room. 2nd cruise on thiis ship. we would have enjoyed the cruise but for the problem with bed bugs in our room, and the way ship personnel delt with it. Ship Details: Ship Quality Dining/Food Stateroom Quality bed bugs Ship Staff Quality poor response to resolving bed bug problem. Entertainment & Activities Read this user's port of call reviews: Labadee (Cruiseline Private Island); San Juan, Puerto Rico; Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U.S.V.I.; Samana, Dominican Republic Collapse List of Ports Ports of Call: Labadee (Cruiseline Private Island) San Juan, Puerto Rico Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. Samana, Dominican Republic 9 out of 10 people found this review helpful. Did you find this review helpful? Overall Rating: About the Reviewer: Age: 30 - 49 Traveler Type: Singles/friends Stateroom Type: Inside A Little Disappointed! by david d from new jersey Sailing date: Nov 2009 Cons: Lines everywhere. Ordinary Food especially at lunchtime. Took hours to board the ship. Lines for dinner, lines for elevator. Was asked to pay gratuities, even tho it was already on my credit card. But mostly disappointed with the quality of the food. promised lobster dinner never happened. Lines everywhere. Ordinary Food especially at lunchtime. Took hours to board the ship. Lines for dinner, lines for elevator. Was asked to pay gratuities, even though the charge was already on my credit card. But mostly disappointed with the quality of the food. promised lobster dinner never happened. Lunches were just ok. Dinners were good, but hardly great. Ship Details: Ship Quality accessibility to elevators - long lines and long waits. Dining/Food convenience of dining times were very good but the quality of the food was sub par. Stateroom Quality Ship Staff Quality no above and beyond service Entertainment & Activities 8 out of 9 people found this review helpful. Did you find this review helpful? Overall Rating: About the Reviewer: Age: 18 - 29 Cruise Experience: First cruise Traveler Type: Couple Exactly what you need! by Luis from Italy Sailing date: Dec 2006 This vacation was my first time on a cruise. Me and my girlfriend departed from Miami to Belize, Costa Maya, and Jamaica. Unfortunately we had a medical emergency on the ship the first night. We turned back to Miami and lost 16 hours. Therefore we skipped Costa Maya and Belize and added Jamaica to our itinerary. The ship personnel managed the situation pretty well, given the circumstances. We enjoyed the trip very much. We had a very relaxing time on board. The stuff was friendly, the food was good (and plenty) and the activities on board were numerous. The land excursions were a bid expensive, but good organized and equally good. We enjoyed our time and we will sail with Royal Caribbean again! Ship Details: Entertainment & Activities 8 out of 10 people found this review helpful. Did you find this review helpful? Overall Rating: About the Reviewer: Age: 50 - 65 Cruise Experience: First cruise Traveler Type: Couple Hooked on Cruising for Life! by Paula from Sebring, Fl Sailing date: Dec 2006 Pros: Friendliness of staff, cleanliness, oceanographic exploration work, and entertainment available on off the ship! This was the best vacation of my life. I have booked my next cruise, a 12 day to Europe. I can't wait! Ship Details: Entertainment & Activities Entertainment: Wow Wow Wow! 7 out of 8 people found this review helpful. Did you find this review helpful? Overall Rating: About the Reviewer: Age: 30 - 49 Cruise Experience: 7+ cruises Traveler Type: Group Ship Review by Kris from Berlin, CT Sailing date: Jun 2007 Pros: The promenade. Ship Details: Dining/Food Vegetarian options were limited. Stateroom Quality Ship Staff Quality The staff onboard were wonderful. Entertainment & Activities Children's Programs Read this user's port of call reviews: Casa De Campo, Dominican Republic; Labadee (Cruiseline Private Island); San Juan, Puerto Rico; Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. Collapse List of Ports Ports of Call: Casa De Campo, Dominican Republic I did not enjoy seeing the poverty of the Dominican Republic. It was so depressing to me and my family. I would not recommend this as a port of call. My family and I first visited La Romana and were APPALLED. The poverty was so sad and the people wanted our money so badly. We did not feel safe and quickly went back to the visitor center near the ship. We then took a shuttle to the "resort side of town"....What a difference!!! The scenery was beautiful but it didn't mask the poverty that we had seen. I feel so badly for the people here. I will not visit again. Labadee (Cruiseline Private Island) We love Labadee but..... Labadee, Haiti is a beautiful place to visit for a beach day; however, you really don't get to see what the island is really about. We were very disappointed to see the new "zip line" as it takes away from the natural beauty of the beach. Not to mention, we had to listen to people screaming down the zip line every 10 minutes or so. More importantly, my family and I have been to Labadee many times and opted to sunbathe on the far extreme of the beach away from the crowd....it was absolutely beautiful and peaceful! San Juan, Puerto Rico Don't Miss: Shopping. Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. We visit Meghan's Bay. It is a beautiful beach but VERY crowded (2 ships were in port that day). We much prefer taking a boat ovet to St. John's and visiting Trunk Bay. I think it's more beautiful and definately less crowded! Don't Miss: St. John's trunk bay. 12 out of 19 people found this review helpful. Did you find this review helpful? Overall Rating: About the Reviewer: Age: 50 - 65 Cruise Experience: 2 - 3 cruises Traveler Type: Couple Stateroom Type: Inside wounderful cruise by yl from scottsdale az Sailing date: Sep 2008 Pros: relaxing, luxurious Cons: too much food great cruise,very relaxing, wounderful ship, amazing food, shows,service is excellent but you better have some close friends or good company with you,otherwise you can fiind a lot of people in different age category with different interests/ most people in our cruise were more then 70- 80y/old. Ship Details: Ship Quality Dining/Food Stateroom Quality 3 times a day they my room,lines are amazing, silk/ Ship Staff Quality Entertainment & Activities all shows are amazing, we really had a good time with all shows Read this user's port of call reviews: Halifax, Nova Scotia; Quebec City, Quebec; Sydney, Nova Scotia; Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island Collapse List of Ports Ports of Call: Halifax, Nova Scotia peggy cove, Don't Miss: side walk in port Quebec City, Quebec very interesting city, very charming,but not enought yime to go around Don't Miss: downtown and around 3-5 miles Sydney, Nova Scotia not too much to see around, pastoral country style Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island very relaxing country, villages 9 out of 13 people found this review helpful. Did you find this review helpful?
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