Two things keep me coming back to Royal Caribbean. The ships, and the ships' crews. If it wasn't for these two things, I'd probably never set foot on another anything 'of the seas' in my life. This was our seventh cruise, and our third with Royal Caribbean, all three being on Voyager Class ships.

These ships are outstanding. Vibrant and exciting, yet filled with quiet spaces where one can relax as if the noise and bustle of the world had simply been turned off at the flick of a switch. And so it was with Explorer.

After a few rain-soaked days in our second favorite city in the world, we took an $80 Town Car ride from 32nd Street to the port at Bayonne. What a dump! Bayonne may well have served its country proudly as a navy base, but as a cruise port, it sucks! The approach road is totally unsuitable and the baggage drop-off too small and very poorly organized. Hence there was a huge line of cars and it took us around half an hour from arriving at the port gate to actually getting out of the car. There we were greeted by surly porters who were arguing amongst themselves and who were clearly irked by having to do their jobs. Read more