When you’re cruising on Royal Caribbean’s ship Explorer of the Seas, make sure you make time to hang out at our favorite bar, the English pub, Crown & Kettle.
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Where is the Crown & Kettle?
This English pub is on Royal Caribbean’s cruise ship, Explorer of the Seas. When we started planning our week-long Caribbean cruise, we were so excited to know there would be an English pub onboard!
Following the long tradition of English pubs being named after two disparate objects, Crown & Kettle is situated on the 5th deck Royal Promenade. The Royal Promenade is their open-air breezeway that contains the Cafe Promenade, shops, and Crown & Kettle.
Atmosphere at the Crown & Kettle
Inside the pub, there are a number of small tables, all for two or four people, but they are positioned pretty close together. While we were there, the interior of the pub was almost always empty, so our group of 12 was able to take over multiple tables on a number of occasions to drink, play card games (that we brought), or listen to live acoustic music.
There are also tables outside on the Royal Promenade that are served by Crown & Kettle, and those tables were almost always occupied, as it made for great people watching. The pub is located across from the Cafe Promenade, the only food establishment open 24 hours that’s included with your cruise fare, and yes, you can take food from the cafe into the pub to relax and have a drink with your snacks.
The atmosphere is very casual, with two bartenders and often a server too, allowing you to obtain drinks quickly. Due to its central location on the ship, it’s also a great place to meet up while munching on some pizza from Cafe Promenade.
A few nights during the cruise, Crown & Kettle would have a live guitarist to entertain guests. You can find out which nights by looking at the Cruise Compass left in your room each day or by checking the Royal Caribbean app. We had a good time watching Andre perform acoustic versions of modern and classic rock and pop songs. On the second-to-last evening of the cruise, half of our group came in and listened to him for a while and he took requests (if he knew how to play them). It made for a very fun evening.
Crown & Kettle is usually open until midnight, unless guests are still there. If you want to keep drinking, it seems like the bartender will keep serving you until they have to give the bartender a break.
Drinks at the Crown & Kettle
The drinks were quite good too. It was the best place to drink whiskey on the ship, as it had more options than most of the bars. And while you could get Old Fashioneds at any of the bars on the ship, Crown & Kettle was the only bar that served it with a single large ice cube (how they’re meant to be made). The single large ice cube keeps your drink from getting watered down too quickly because the ice melts slower, so even though it seems like a small thing, it makes a big difference to us as whiskey lovers!
They also offer a number of specialty cocktails, including their take on a Long Island Iced Tea that was very tasty, a good beer selection, and even a few beer cocktails. If you have the Deluxe Drink Package, everything except the super-high-end spirits will be included.
Our Verdict
Needless to say, Crown & Kettle was our favorite bar hangout spot on the Explorer of the Seas. We highly recommend spending an evening there while on your cruise - or at least an afternoon with your snacks from the cafe!
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