This is an impartial review from someone who absolutely loves Royal Caribbean.

The cruise consisted of my parents, brother & sister, fiancE, and my parent's friend's family. It was my third cruise & my fiancE's second. We have only been on the Explorer. There is a reason for that. We absolutely love this boat.

We set off on a Thursday morning & drive the three hours to Bayonne. I wouldn't trust MapQuest too much. I took the GPS but took a hard right when I should have just gone a soft right. Thankfully there are many signs posted so we were able to get to the port right around 11am. Upon arriving, there were many cars waiting but there were people directing, so we were able to pull up, unload, tip a porter to take our bags and go into the holding cell that is the Port of Bayonne. When we got in there, we quickly went through security and got our Sea Passes. I asked for an upgrade but the ship was full so were denied. We sat in the main area for about 30 minutes, ate cookies and lemonade, and then were whisked away on busses to the ship. Once we got on the ship, we quickly went up to the Windjammer to eat lunch. I like lunch up there because you can get whatever you want. I usually had pizza, hamburger, and fries. After that, we checked out our room. We were on deck 8 aft. We were normally on forward but it didn't matter, seemed the same to me. I liked it there because it was close to the online area. After we did our room thing, we had the muster drill. It was outside but uneventful. It is just bad going back to your room because everyone is trying to squeeze through the doors and down the stairs. It's bad but short. After the muster, we went up top, had a drink & watched us take off. We had first seating dinner so we couldn't see under the bridge and didn't have time to wait. We left port late due to another cruise ship leaving before us. After dinner, which was great, we went to the welcome aboard show. Do not miss the shows because you always learn something new & they are most enjoyable. After the show, it was off to try our luck at the casino. I learned how to play roulette, lost, and then we went to bed since we were beat from the trip in the morning. Read more