My wife and I booked this cruise as our early 25th anniversary celebration. We had never been to Bermuda, and the opportunity to spend a couple of nights in New York City was a plus. This was our second cruise on the Explorer, the last having been way back in 2004. That was our first week long cruise and really cemented our love of cruising. Coming from Florida, you can imagine the looks we got when we told people where we were from, flying into NYC to sail the Explorer. Yes I said, I know we have cruise ships in Florida!

Because of the length of the cruise, we flew into Newark after work the night before. Hotel shuttles are fun late at night, especially when you are schlepping luggage across the air train. But we arrived and got a decent night sleep in Newark. The next morning, the hotel arranged a car to take us to Bayonne. The first thing you notice are the large tents and then you notice there is no terminal on the side of the ship. Well, being always flexible, we checked in and discovered we have to take a short bus ride over to the ship. Easy enough and we were on the ship very quickly.

The ship itself is still in good condition. Yes, you see the occasional rusty spot outside, or the missing lights on the elevator, or the jets on the hot tub not quite working properly. But after sailing on the Monarch last year, the Explorer is really in nice condition. Read more