My husband and I have sailed on the Explorer before, and always sail out of Bayonne, he refuses to fly. We live close by so we left our home at around 11:30 on 2/24. Our daughter dropped us off. Drop off was quick, the line to get into the terminal was a little long but it didn't take long. By 12:45 we were in our cabin. And as everyone else does, we headed to the Windjammer for a little lunch.
Our cabin: Honestly, I have already forgotten our cabin number, deck 10, first cabin with balcony behind the Bridge. We were told that because we were right in the front that we may be woken very early when they dropped anchor but we never heard it once. Our cabin was nice, same as always but the sofa was really stained. Our attendant was very good, always kept things picked up. He supplied us with plenty of ice for our wine. We don't like to go out every night so having in room movies to rent was a nice touch. Only thing is you can't pause it to run to the pool bar for a drink.
Dining Room/Windjammer/Room Service: Our waiters Ajay and James were so good to us. They had a table of people right next to us that only spoke French, and they didn't speak French at all, so they had their hands full, but still managed to take care of all of their tables. The Windjammer is ok, but you have to figure out what time to go, because there are times you will not find a table, people like to sit and chat and should really take their coffee's to go so that others can sit down and eat. They have a recording all the time asking to be considerate of others and leave your tables as soon as you've eaten. You can't get mad, and let it ruin your trip, honestly they don't even realize what their doing half the time. Pizza and little sandwiches on the Promenade good as usual. We usually order coffee for the morning and then go to the Windjammer or the Dining room. For breakfast I really enjoy the Dining room service, again, you have to plan your time to avoid the crowds. With 3,000 plus on board it can get quite tricky, but we're getting pretty good at it. The food was good and plentiful.