We are a well travelled bunch and holidays are so special, but we are relatively new to cruising. We had never been to New York and when we found that the Explorer of the Seas was sailing from here at the Easter holidays we didn't need much convincing to book. New york was fantastic we spent the weekend there we were amazed and squeezed in as much as we could. We stayed at the Hyatt regency jersey city - what a hotel right on the edge of the Hudson river, fantastic views of the statue of liberty and the Manhattan skyline. Rooms superb very clean, and the staff were the font of all knowledge. The hotel is in reality at 30 steps from the PATH train and 1 stop later you are in new york. The hotel was great as being in new jersey it was only 10 minutes by taxi to the cruise terminal. Only down side they don't do a kids menu which wasn't great, and the swimming pool is tiny so no lap swimming for anyone who is thinking about it. Anyways enough about New York its FAB.... Our tickets said to be at the terminal for 1pm, we got there about 12:15pm, the taxi took about 20 minutes getting into the dock yard, its a old navy terminal so nothing special to look at. On first seeing the ship , she looked impressive HUGE and alot bigger than our last cruise ship. We got out of the taxi and we went straight to a RCI employee who was taking your suitcases, all done very quickly and without any hassle, it was very busy and for anyone with small kids keep an eye out as there are small fork lift trucks going back and forth with the luggage. We joined a queue and quickly got inside a large marquee to check in, it is split into deck numbers and went very smoothly in all took about 20 minutes. Once this was done we didn't have to wait and were ushered onto a bus to take us about 200 meters to the ship - seemed silly but must be policy. We boarded and were told that Windjammers cafe was open and serving lunch but cabins wouldn't be ready till 1.30pm. We didn't have the WOW factor as we entered the ship as they have you board then take an elevator to deck 11 so you don't see the main atrium or the royal promenade, we found this strange as with a Disney cruise you enter the atrium when you board and straight way its WOW. Cabin 8216 (deck 8) starboard side fwd. great location, quiet, because

its above the bow of the ship when in the caribbean you can see flying

fish. Cabin itself too small, dated and faded, needs a face lift, bed Read more