I sailed on the Explorer of the Seas out of NJ on February 23. This was my 4th cruise but my 1st on Royal Caribbean and my 1st out of NJ. (I have sailed on a 7 day Princess Cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale and 2-3 night Carnival’s out of Port Canaveral). I went on this trip with a friend of mine. We are both 30 year old single females. We booked the cruise about 5 weeks before based on the price for length of time.

Embarkation: We were staying on Deck 10 and arrived at Port Liberty around 11am as advised by the guest ticket booklet. Check in went fast but we had to wait until almost 1pm for our bus #23 to be called to get on the ship. Once we got on the ship we had to wait another half hour for our room to be ready which was OK because we just wanted to eat lunch and explore. Once we went to our room I was surprised that we had plenty of room for all of our stuff. It was an interior room with no window.

Entertainment: I feel that Cruise Director Leigh Xuereb and his entire staff were the best part of the entire cruise. The Sail Away Party on night 3 when leaving Port Canaveral was great! A bunch of finger foods everywhere. We danced the entire time. The 70’s party on day 5 was a lot of fun. The cruise staff did a good job of making sure people were dancing and having a good time by starting a conga line and posing for pictures. The Quest Game show was hilarious and so much fun. Next time I will remember to wear pants though because it involves a lot of running and jumping around. Aside from the parties anytime the cruise staff was around they always interacted with the guests. Leigh, Andre (the Activities Director), Helmi (another staff member) and all took the time to talk with us more than once and make sure we were having a good time. The staff was very entertaining and I would choose to go on another cruise if I knew the majority of them would also be on there. The ice skating show was great. We were assigned by muster station and able to sit in the 2nd row. Since they told us the first day which day we were assigned we were able to plan so we didn’t miss it. The Chamber bar could use a revamp but the Silent Party that they had was a lot of fun. Guests were given headphones and could change the station and dance to a different song than their partner. I had never participated in anything like that and thought it was a great idea. I wasn’t a big fan of the Broadway style shows. I felt like it was a lot of singing and focus on the main singers. The first comedian Jeff Nees was funny during the Adult Show but the second one that was brought on later in the week Jimmy Carroll was not entertaining. The Edge Effect was a 6 man vocal band that performed one night. They were great! Read more