My husband and I decided to take a vacation without the kids (aged 6 and 2) this summer. We had previously sailed on the Navigator and the Monarch. We loved our cruise on the Navigator but were really disappointed with the Monarch. Since we were leaving the kids with my parents, we wanted less than a week. When I first started looking, shorter cruises only had smaller ships and we did not want to repeat that mistake again. Things could have changed since we cruised on the Monarch but we really felt after our cruise on the Navigator that the smaller ships would not be able to satisfy us. Finally I found this cruise on the Explorer. It was a perfect length and on a ship in the same class as the Navigator.

I read tons of reviews and was a little concerned the Explorer was starting to show it's age. We are happy to say that, yes, some of the chairs might show some wear and our carpet/curtains in our stateroom aren't exactly the "in" thing now, it was nothing like I had pictured. I didn't walk onto the ship thinking that it was gross or disappointing (like my thoughts on the Monarch). Our room was great. The couch could be replaced. It had some stains and wear. No tears but wouldn't hurt to be replaced.

I wasn't sure how it would be to only sail to one destination but I loved Bermuda. It was gorgeous and very clean and the local people are very nice. They are very helpful but not harassing or trying to get you to buy something (unlike Mexico/Caribbean islands). We purchased bus/ferry passes and just did what we wanted when we arrived. We took a bus to Horseshoe Bay on our first day. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! It was very busy. I blame this on the fact that it was a local holiday (Hero's Day) and Bermuda had some rainy weather the days before. A Norwegian cruise ship was docked in Bermuda as well and it was it's first day of sun/no rain so I think everyone was trying to get to the gorgeous beach! Cash is needed for both the bus passes and to rent chairs/umbrella's at the beach. Read more