My husband and I sailed On Explorer of the Seas on 10/8/11 for a five night cruise to Bermuda from Cape Liberty in Bayonne, NJ. We live in CT and the drive to the port took about an hour and a half. We left home around 9:00 am. The port was very easy to get to. We didn't hit any traffic. It was quick and easy to drop off our luggage and park the car. It cost $95 to park the car while we were gone. Very reasonable I thought.
It didn't take too long to check in and then we waited in the terminal for our shuttle bus to the ship. We tried the free coffee and cookies that were served. Not very good. Especially the coffee. (The food was much better on the ship.) We were called to board our shuttle bus a little before noon and in minutes we were on the ship.
The ship is big, but very easy to navigate once we got our footing. It was very clean. If you looked closely, you could see the wear and tear, but that didn't take away from the the beauty of the ship. We went up to the Windjammer Cafe for lunch. It was crowded, but we were able to find a table with no problem. The food was very good for a buffet. Lots of choices.
Cabin #7634. Good location, but across the hall from a staff room where supplies were kept. It got a little loud sometimes. The room was spacious, lots of room for all our stuff, and the balcony was fantastic. The bed was very comfortable to sleep in. The bathroom was small, but the two of us could fit in there to get ready.