This review will be pretty in depth, since I've found the detailed reviews on this site and others extremely helpful in planning our vacations. If you're looking for the two-second summary, the Explorer is (for the most part) beautiful, the food is wonderful, the service is good, the entertainment is top-notch, and we had a great time. :)
For some background: I'm 27, my husband is 29, and this was our fourth cruise together and our first ever on Royal Caribbean. We previously sailed on the Caribbean Princess, Carnival Conquest and Carnival Miracle.
We live in Michigan and I hate flying, so when possible, we cruise out of the East Coast so we can drive there. It takes us about 10 hours to get to the New York/New Jersey area by car, and it's worth it for me — less stress, and easier to take more luggage! :) This was our first cruise out of NJ; our last cruise, on the Miracle, left out of NYC.