Explorer of the Seas Review
Already counting down the days till my next cruise
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We drove less than an hour to Port Liberty and I can't even imagine having to take a flight to a cruise again. It is such a pleasure to leave from Port Liberty if you are within driving distance. There was no line to leave off our luggage, no line to go through security, only one line for check-in but it moved quickly. We arrived at the port at about 1:20 and we were on the ship by 2:30. Unfortunately we did not pack our swim suits in our carry-on, because the pools were open and practically deserted. Who knew! But we did head over to the Windjammer (along with everyone else) for lunch. It was very crowded, and hard to find a table. I was worried that it would be crowded for the whole cruise but it was never crowded again after that.
We had ocean view cabins on Deck 3. If it had been just me and my husband we would have upgraded, but we had 3 kids along so we economized since we needed two staterooms. But the staterooms were not bad at all and had more than enough storage for 9 nights. Very comfortable beds. No complaints there at all.
Dinner in the dining room was great the first night but was hit-or-miss all the nights after that. This is a minor complaint though - overall I was very happy with the food. And of course, if we ordered something we didn't like we could have just ordered something else, but I can't bring myself to waste food like that, so I didn't do that. The appetizers were almost always exceptional. Desserts were mediocre. The portions are small, which is deliberate so you can feel free to order several things. One other minor complaint - it took a long time to get a drink at dinner. Our server (who was otherwise great) never asked us what we wanted to drink. When I did order from him, it took a long time to come, and would arrive quite some time after my dinner arived. I suspect this was not his fault, but was due to long lines at whatever bar he had to go to to get our drinks. After a couple nights of this we learned to just get our own drinks at the Crown and Kettle pub on our way to dinner so we already had them when we sat down.
Cabin Review
Cabin 3260 - quiet location, plenty of storage space, well-kept up. Only down side was that it was a long trek to the front of the ship because you had to go to Deck 5 or Deck 11 to cross. Next time I will request a cabin toward the front of the ship for convenience.