Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas is on her way to Australia, where she will soon be the largest cruise ship to sail in that region.

Photo by Raul Soler

Explorer of the Seas departed Southampton, England today and will sail for 42 days through Europe and via Dubai, India and Asia before arriving in Perth, Australia on November 13.

Once Explorer of the Seas arrives in Perth, she will offer a 16-night itinerary around the southern half of Australia and New Zealand, before arriving at her new homeport of Sydney on November 28.

On that same day, sister ship Voyager of the Seas will be in Sydney harbor as well and both ships will be present to meet for what is sure to be a great photo opportunity.

Explorer of the Seas arrives in Australia just months after receiving a multimillion dolar makeover back in April.  She features a number of new additions and improvements including

• FlowRider surf simulator
• New restaurants
  • Chops Grille
  • Giovanni's Table
  • Izumi
• two new bars
• Virtual balcony staterooms
• Panoramic staterooms
• Complete refresh of all public spaces and staterooms

Guests sailing on Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas can purchase a dining package that gets them access to three specialty restaurants for one low price.

Photo by sky0000547

The Fine Dine package costs $45 per person, per cruise and includes 

• 1 dinner at Chops Grille
• 1 dinner at Giovanni's Table
• Unlimited 20% off at Izumi

Royal Caribbean claims dining at these venues without the package would cost $75, netting guests a $30 savings.

Fliers for the packages are available on Explorer of the Seas and started appearing onboard earlier this summer.

Royal Caribbean has been experimenting with offering dining packages throughout this year.  Earlier this year, unlimited dining packages have been offered on a few Royal Caribbean ships.

Royal Caribbean is offering free cruise fare for third and fourth passengers for guests in a triple or quad occupancy stateroom on Explorer of the Seas sailings to Alaska in 2016.

The deal is valid on 7-night round trip Explorer of the Seas Alaska sailings between May 20 – September 9, 2016.

The deal offers free cruise fare for third and fourth passengers in a triple or quad occupancy interior stateroom.  If you book a balcony stateroom, third and fourth passengers will be eligble for a "cruise savings" instead.

In addition, all staterooms booked qualify for Buy One Guest, Get Second Guest 50% Off promotion.

If you book a qualifying cruise to get third or fourth passengers, all other charges, including, but not limited to, government taxes and fees, are not included and apply to all guests.

To qualify for this promotion, eligible sailings must be booked between July 3 and July 31, 2015.

Offer open to residents of the United States or Canada.

Royal Caribbean has added two new cruises to the end of Explorer of the Seas' season in Australia, keeping the ship down under for a little bit longer.

In April 2016, guests can choose from a 12-night New Zealand itinerary and a 24-night transpacific voyage from Sydney to Seattle.

Passengers who were booked on the repositioning cruise to Alaska have been offered, "a range of alternative itineraries to rebook" according to Cruise Critic.

The New Zealand cruise will make stops at Picton, Wellington, Napier, Tauranga and Auckland.

The 24-night transpacific cruise will make stops at Nomea, Vanuatu's Mystery Island and Vila, Suva, Honolulu and Lahaina before ending in Seattle, Washington.

Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas is back in service after a dry dock refurbishment and she's sailing from Southampton, UK.

The refurbishment took place over six weeks in Cadiz, Spain.

The changes to Explorer of the Seas include:

• Complete refit of the pool deck
• Addition of Flowrider surf simulator
• Addition of 24 new panoramic staterooms
• Addition of 80 virtual balcony staterooms
• New outdoor movie screen by the pool
• Stateroom televisions have been upgraded to flat screen televisions
• New restaurants
  • Chops Grille
  • Giovanni's Table
  • Izumi
• ​​Refit of the main dining room
• Addition of R-Bar

Royal Caribbean’s UK and Ireland managing director Stuart Leven commented, “To all intents and purposes this is a brand spanking new ship operating in the UK market this summer."

Explorer of the Seas began cruising to the Canary islands this week and will make Southampton her home port until the fall, when she will reposition to Australia.

Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas is in the middle of a drydock refurbishment in Cadiz, Spain and we've found some photos of the ship getting some work done. Enjoy!

Photos above by Puerto de Cádiz

A photo posted by Jesus (@jesuscollants) on Apr 5, 2015 at 11:41pm PDT

Thanks to Scott Sanders for alerting us to these photos!

A few guests aboard Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas are reporting a giant 40 foot wave struck Explorer of the Seas causing damage to the ship's lifeboats.

Photo copyright Cruise Critic Message Board Forums / Merion_Mom

A Cruise Critic message board member, Merion_Mom, reported that two life boats were torn from their position along side the ship and struck the Promenade deck.

Additionally, some sea water penetrated damaged doors on deck 4 and there were some elevator outages for a short period of time.  No injuries were reported and the ship is able to continue on its normal course.

Photo copyright Cruise Critic Message Board Forums / Merion_Mom

The ship's captain indicated that despite the lifeboat damage, there are still enough space on the deployable life boats and rafts for all guests.

Royal Caribbean announced today that Explorer of the Seas will have to change its itinerary and skip its planned stop in Bermuda due to the expected path of Hurricane Gonzalo.

Bermuda officials have asked Royal Caribbean not to visit the island while recovery efforts are underway.  As a result, the October 18 sailing of Explorer of the Seas will instead sail north to Canada.

Explorer of the Seas will now call to Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Monday, October 20, from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and St. John, New Brunswick, on Tuesday, October 21, from 09:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. 

Royal Caribbean will compensate passengers for the change in plans by offering them a future cruise certificate worth 25% of the cruise fare paid for their sailing. This certificate may be used for a future cruise on any Royal Caribbean ship. 

Raul Soler recently returned from his cruise on Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas.  He took some great shots and we wanted to share these photos with anyone interested in seeing how the ship looks these days or just wants a quick "mental escape" aboard one of Royal Caribbean's beautiful ships.

All photos were taken by Raul Soler.