It was our first Royal Caribbean cruise since Splendour of the Seas in 2009 and although we enjoyed the cruise it became apparent very quickly how cutbacks have caused standards to drop dramatically on Royal Caribbean.
We started our trip with 4 days in Orlando and then went on a 9-day cruise to the Caribbean.
We were looking forward to visiting Haiti for the first time, then revisits to Aruba, Cuacao and Bonaire before our BA flight home.
We had problems with our booking prior to the trip and details of flights and transfer were not confirmed until late on.
On arrival at Orlando Airport we had difficulty in locating our transfer taxi to the hotel which was booked by RCI through HolidayTaxis.com.
The hotel, The Florida Hotel and Conference Centre, was excellent and staff very helpful.
They managed to sort out our car for transfer to the Explorer of the Seas at Port Canaveral and embarcation was relatively stress-free.
However, when we got on board, because the boarding had not been staggered, everyone went straight to the buffet for lunch, as cabins were not ready, and there was a total log-jam both inside and outside the Windjammer on the lifts and stairs and entrance halls as thousands tried to get in.
Total chaos! The ship looked and felt very tired and it was later revealed that this was the last trip before the Explorer sailed to Europe for a refit before starting an itinerary out of Southampton prior to a new posting to Australia.
The cabin was as expected but it was apparent why the ship needed a re-fit.
We chose My-Time dining and although we always booked times in advance there always seemed to be a wait.
We were encouraged to sit at the same two-person table each night when we would have preferred to sit on a larger table to be able to mix with different guests.
The service was very poor – it usually took around 30 minutes from being seated to getting the first course, which often made it impossible to get to a show on time.
The food portions were small, with a scarcity of vegetables but was nicely presented and an acceptable quality.
The only downside was food was never hot and we had to send dishes back, particularly soup, to warm it up.
The two waiters were overworked and there was no wine waiter.
Their attention waned as we neared the end of our meal and it was always difficult then to get a waiter’s attention – or more coffee.
The restaurant managers looked totally disinterested as two of them wandered around clutching their mobile radios, but not interacting with guests.
The entertainment was sporadic, but the shows were good.
There were no guest speakers and port information was poor.
The ice skating show was colourful and very enjoyable but there was only one ice show over the 9-day period.
The two formal nights were were badly supported and those of us in tuxedos were a rare sight.
There were as many passengers ignoring the dress code as those in lounge suits and ties.
Haiti was a disappointment.
Perhaps we hadn’t studied the itinerary closely enough because we weren’t expecting to dock at Labadee and only have access to RCI’s own beach.
The facilities there were good if you wanted to use the beaches and water sports and fly on a hire wire over the waves, but if you wanted to see something of Haiti and its people you were vastly disappointed.
The other three destinations, which we had visited before, were enjoyable.
Prior to return to Orlando we tried to get clarification on our transfer to the airport via our voucher provided by RCI through Holidaytaxis.com.
However, we were told quite emphatically that were were booked on the transfer shuttle coach and the voucher was nothing to do with RCI.
We tried to press this further but the girl was dismissive and unhelpful on reception so for a quiet life we decided to go on the shuttle.
We were unable to log-in to book seats and check-in on-line but as our flights had been booked through AA on a code-share flight with BA the reference number we had was rejected as “booking incomplete.” We also faced a similar problem at the airport on trying to check-in using the automatic machines, but again this was rejected and we had to wait for three hours before our flight and join the queue before being able to do so.
As I said earlier, we enjoyed our trip, but the standard was barely 3-star and the ship making its last trip before a re-fit should not have been used as an excuse for lower standards.
I’m afraid we wont be using Royal Caribbean in future and will stick to Princess, P&0 or Cunard for future cruises.
