We arrived at the port around 11:45 and were onboard the ship within 15 minutes. We parked at the port in parking deck G and the price per day has gone up to $15, so it was $105 for the week. I had planned to do shuttle parking for $8 a day but with such a busy week leading up to this trip I didn't get around to booking it so we just opted to pay the higher price. Wow, this is a big ship! We spent a good amount of time exploring the ship before heading up to the Windjammer to get some lunch. The selection in the Windjammer was great. They had the two buffets lines on each side and then they also had two additional buffets, one which was Asian inspired called Jade. It always had some Asian dishes to choose from and occasionally it had some great Indian curry dishes as well. I was very budget minded on this cruise having just done a cruise in Dec. and Feb. so I opted for the inside cabin. Boy did we luck out, we didn't get upgrade to an ocean view but we did end up in cabin 1637, a handicap cabin on deck ten. This was my first time staying in a handicap cabin and all I can say is I want to be handicapped for the rest of my cruises!! All kidding aside the handicap cabins really are great and provide plenty of room for someone in a wheelchair. The bathroom and shower were very large and the shower had a seat that folded down from the wall and lots of railing. There was also railing provided on both sides of the toilet as well as a phone should you need to call for help from inside the bathroom. While I am on the subject of the handicap room, I also want to mention that there was a lady on the cruise that was traveling with two dogs. I am familiar with blind people traveling with their help dogs. I found out that the dogs traveling with this lady were her heart attack dogs, trained to help or call for help in case she were to have a heart attack. I was pleased to know that Royal Caribbean would allow her to bring them onboard. I heard a few people make comments about being concerned about how the dogs use the bathroom on the ship but as far as I can tell the dogs did not cause any problems. The cabin also was in a great location on deck ten. Just a few steps away from the stairs up to the Windjammer and pools up on deck 11. The pool deck was nice and we found it possible to find seating on either the pool deck or on the deck above the pool pretty much anytime during the cruise. There were a fair amount of chair savers but they didn't pose a problem. There were alot of kids on this cruise but they were very well behaved for the most part and I never felt overrun by kids which was a concern since we were cruising during spring break. The only place were the rules could have been better enforced was the hot tubs, which were always filled with kids. Your only chance of getting in a hot tub was the two located in the Solarium, which were usually available and they did do a great job of keeping the kids out of there.

We had requested second seating but were a bit disappointed to find out we received main seating. We opted to go stand in the line at the dining room to see it we could switch. We were told told it was very unlikely that we would get our request as the number of names on the wait list was very large. On the second day of the cruise we found out they had given us second seating and taken us off the wait list. That night at dinner we were surprised to find out that they decided to open up all the back rooms of the dining room and accommodate all the guest who requested second seating. So while we entered through the dining room we actually had dinner in a small room way in the back of the dining room. Our waiter told us that they NEVER open those rooms and that he had never had to wait on tables back there. While it felt alittle isolating, and wasn't as grand as dining in the spectacular three level dining room we were thankful at the same time because the back room was very quiet and intimate and we had amazing tablemates. This cruise had an usually large amount of international guest onboard so our table mates consisted of a German family (only dad spoke English), a young couple from Venezuela (neither really spoke English) on their honeymoon, and a family from Miami (mom spoke Spanish). So when you put all of us together some how we were able to communicate and we had a wonderful time dining together throughout the week. It really felt like a cultural experience! It was rare to be on the elevator with someone speaking English. I loved that about this cruise. I could write an entire book just describing the ship, so I am not going to do that. Instead I will give my overall impressions. Cabins Wonderful accommodations and the new bedding was very nice and very comfortable

Food Breakfast -Only ate in the buffet for breakfast and the selection and quality was good. Offerings pretty much stayed the same every morning the only thing I noticed that changed would the offering on the Asian bar called Jade in that some morning it would had fried rice and some mornings it would have a stir-fry. The breakfast buffet had - variety of fruit, pastries, breads, pancakes, waffles, french toast, ham, bacon, pork sausage, turkey sausage, smoked salmon with all the trimmings to make a good lox bagel, yogurt, variety of cereals, grits, eggs (3 kinds with - ham, shrimp, or salmon or plain) an omelet station, oatmeal, etc. etc. coffee, juice, milk. Great breakfast selection,. Lunch - Only ate in the buffet and the offering changed daily but there was a huge selection that usually include a seafood selection, poultry and ham or some type of red meat. The assign bard would have wonderful stir-frys and curries. They also had you standard hamburger, hotdog, and french fry line. Was kind of disappointed that they did not offer a veggie burger option here like they do on NCL and Carnival. But overall great selection and choices on the lunch buffet and the quality was pretty good. Dinner - Only ate in the dining room and I must say that the food in the main dining room was hit or miss. The menu was pretty uninspired in my opinion and the deserts were lacking. I usually order the seafood entree since I don't eat red meat and they were all just so-so, really nothing special. Not much more to say here, I definitely did not go hungry but the dining room food is just okay. Shows The production shows I felt were very good and well choreographed. Talented singers and dancers. The comedian was very good as well. But the must see show that was truly wonderful is the ice show Planet Ice! That was a fantastic show, truly amazing! Ports We visited San Juan, St. Maartin, St. Thomas, and Nassau. San Juan - We just walked around and visited the fort. Great day, great shopping, great pina colada at Barrachini Restaurant. For those of you who do not know - guest departing on cruise out of San Juan with early morning pre-flights or late departing post-flights can leave their luggage at Barrachini for no charge. It's a great service and from their website you can receive a free pina colada coupon which is to die for as they are the original home of the pina colada. St. Maartin - We used SXM tours and did the 6 1/2 hour full island tour with Bernard. This is a great tour. You really get to see the whole island. The bus is very nice and the tour guides very good. It is $30 pp and you get shopping time in Marigot on the french side and 3 hours at Orient beach along with shopping time in Phillipsburg. Great tour and I highly recommend it. Bernard was great and gave us free beers and sodas on our ride back to the port along with a free handmade photo album as a gift for booking a tour with him. St. Thomas - We went to Coki Beach which has very very good snorkeling and is a great locally owned and operated beach. We also visited the Wyndham Hotel which is a beautiful resort hotel across the bay from Coki Beach. The Wyndham's beach however is not nearly as nice as the beach at Coki. We walked to the Wyndham from Coki which I do not recommend but it was fun and we found a great art gallery on the way they called Kilnworks that had beautiful local pottery along with original oil paintings and lithographs. Prices ranged from $20 for the pottery to a few thousand for some of the paintings. I bought a lovely signed limited edition lithograph of a painting of trunk bay by a local artist for $35 so I was thrilled!!! We also saw many locals cleaning their catch of the day and found a great little corner store that had ice cold Red Stripes for $1.50. Sometimes the best excursions are the ones you don't plan! Nassau - Been there done that so we just spent the day at the beach and did a little shopping at the Straw Market. Just don't care for this port at all. I really enjoyed this cruise and loved the Explorer of the Seas. Am I hooked and will I only do the mega-ships from now on? Honestly - I am still waffling over whether the ship was too big. We never did completely learn our way around without having to use the ship maps and ironically this cruise may have been too smooth. You couldn't feel any rocking at all and I kind of missed it. Kind of didn't feel like you were on a ship at all unless you were looking at water. I will definitely sail on a mega ship again but I think my heart belongs to the mid-sized ship.