Embarkation: We were anxious to try the Bayonne port as we could drive to Port Liberty and not have to worry about flying during the winter. We were surprised that there was no connection between the port and the ship and that we had to take a bus to get to the ship. This caused delays in getting passengers on board in a timely manner. RCCL now distributes only paper luggage tags. The flimsy tag must have torn off because one of our suitcases got lost. By 8:00 p.m., long after the ship had left port, we still did not have our bag. After numerous calls to Guest Services, we finally went up to the desk and located our suitcase just sitting there with about 25 other pieces of other luggage without tags. The moral: download luggage tags, reinforce them and use sturdy ties to attach them to your suitcases.

The storm that affected this sailing caused a very rocky start to the trip. The crew did a stellar job of handling the Explorer during 26 foot waves. We were lucky that it didn't have much effect on us. Unfortunately, the dining room on the first formal night was pretty empty.

Cabin: We were in a balcony cabin #7278; the decor was about what we expected for a ship of this age. Carpets and draperies were a little dirty, there was rust along the balcony and the mattress was soft. What we didn't expect was the number of items that broke during our voyage. The refrigerator broke, the toilet broke and the closet door broke, causing us to have to call for maintenance over and over. Worst of all, the cabin door lock broke. After returning to our cabin late one night, neither of our door keys worked. Without going into too much detail about wasted time and several trips to Guest Services, we were finally told that security would have to let us into our cabin. It appears that the battery in the lock had died. The staff wanted us to stay in our cabin the following day so that the carpenter could change the battery. There was a heated discussion when we told them that we had an excursion reserved for that day. Read more