This was out first cruise, and it turned out to be an excellent experience overall. My boyfriend and I went on the Explorer of the Seas for the 9-night Caribbean cruise that visited Bermuda, St. Martin/St. Maarten, St. Thomas, and San Juan (Puerto Rico). We set sail in the beginning of July, so we had warm weather throughout the cruise.
Since the ship was setting sail from Bayonne, New Jersey, on the advice of our travel agent, we flew into the Newark airport and took a $42 cab ride to the pier (admittedly, I was a little bit surprised by the price because it is only about a 15-minute ride).
Getting on board was a bit hectic (involving a very large holding pen), but once we were on board, we were set. We got to head on to the ship and get something to eat for the half-hour until our cabin was ready. Our luggage arrived within a few hours, and by then we had already participated in some of the on-board activities. Of course, we had an interior cabin without windows, meaning the room was very small and we had no windows (with the lights off, you couldn't see your hand in front of your face, but you could see the glow-in-the-dark dot they placed on the inside of our cabin door). Of course, we really didn't care too much about the room - as long as it had a bed and a shower we were happy, since we didn't plan on spending much time there.