We sailed on the Explorer of the Seas out of Bayonne on July 3, 2008. It was the New England/Canada cruise and, I believe, the first Canada cruise of the season from Bayonne. We live in New Jersey. so getting to Bayonne was easy. (We wanted to avoid flying at all cost!) We booked two interior rooms for three people: my wife, my teenage daughter and me. Getting the extra room for my daughter was a luxury but worth it, especially for a nine day cruise. We booked far enough in advance to reserve adjoining rooms with a connecting door. We also avoided the fuel surcharges! The interior rooms were fine as we spent little time in them.
There was a line of cars when we arrived in Bayonne around noon but it moved. We were given some vague instructions as our car neared the luggage drop off but we ultimately figured it out. I noticed as we pulled up to the luggage drop off that people were still leaving from the ships arrival that morning. (How they can ready a ship to go out again that quick is pretty amazing, especially one that carries 3,400 passengers.) The long-term parking is next to the luggage drop/departure building. It cost $144.00 for a nine night cruise. Not too bad. A limo or town car would have been at least $125 each way. We could have walked to the departure building from where we parked but a shuttle was right there. It took no more than a half hour to check in, get our sea passes, get our picture taken and get bussed over to the ship.
We left port late due to a manpower shortage because of the upcoming holiday. But, because we had the second dinner seating, we were able to be on the top deck when we sailed under the Verrazano Bridge. It appears that ship just clears the bridge, people actually cheered. (Have your camera ready.)