This is gonna be lengthy, so sit right back while I tell a tale, a tale of a fateful ship.... This review will have tips that are worth knowing, sprinkled in with observations and general knowledge. We had cruised on Explorer's sister ship, the Mariner , 5 years ago, so we were familiar with her layout. I have to say that I spent HOURS online at this site and others trying to glean any information I could get, because we had never sailed from New York before and also because the Explorer was in dry dock in January. I became concerned with the amount of negativity about Cape Liberty, the food, the ship, the staff, the passengers, the everything...that was posted. And of course, once read, it's like trying to unsee something you've already seen. But, I went into this with a positive attitude and I am pleased to report I was able to sustain it throughout the entire trip. My husband and I are both mid 40ish, traveling with 2 teenagers, boy and girl (14 and 15 respectively) and my parents, mid 60ish. The embarkation and debarkation portion of this review is written from the view of driving ourselves to/from the port, because said husband absolutely, positively refuses to fly. We are from Michigan and it is typically an 11-12 hour trip in good conditions to get to the port. Luckily, we came in between snowstorms-we passed a section of I-80 that was still being cleaned up, 2 days after the fact, from a 30 car/20semi pile up. We stayed at a Comfort Inn in Fairfield, NJ (1-973-227-4333) less than 30 miles from Cape Liberty. Due to them not keeping to our request of a 1st floor room and the elevator being broken, we were given our rooms for $55 plus tax. Can't beat that! I mention this hotel because it has the most outstanding Italian restaurant on the premises I have ever encountered. We luckily got in without reservations as it only has seating for about 30 persons. The food presentation and amount of food (enough for a lumberjack or Oprah) was phenomenal. My dad, who is very hard to please (but doesn't think he is) raved about his meal well into our cruise and also mentioned it on the drive home. We tried an appetizer of fried green olives because this is something we'd never encountered before. They were awesome.

Embarkation-In one of the reviews that I really enjoyed by a retired policeman, he mentioned that he'd rather be early and wait in the terminal than come later and have to wait in traffic. We all agreed on that philosophy. Nothing worse than sitting in traffic in a place you are unfamiliar with and not knowing what's going on. I checked www.seascanner.com to see where the ship was and saw it was just docking at 7:00 a.m. Another cool site is www.marinetraffic.com and that is helpful within a few hours of the ship arriving or departing from Cape Liberty. It gives the actual (not scheduled) position of the ship. Being as our ship had arrived, we packed up and left for the terminal and arrived there at about 9:15. Minimal traffic, dropped our bags with a porter (tip them) at the side of the white tent and drove up a little, turned left and in between the buildings was the parking attendant. You pay $19 a day up front and it was $228 for our 12 day cruise. The parking attendant actually had us go across the street to a closer parking lot as they were attempting to snow plow the main lot once the debarking passengers left. The lot we ended up in, was a stone's throw from the ship. The Statue of Liberty was right there across the river with Manhattan in the background. Might I mention it was about 34° and this is very weird when a person is used to getting on a ship tropical climates. From the parking lot (which has a HUGE amount of handicapped spots-so no worries for those folks) we walked a short distance to the white tent again and went through security, were given a number and a health form to fill out. They sat us in the lounge where you could enjoy lemonade and coffee with cookies. At 10:30, we went partially back out toward where we came in after they called our number and you present your health form, passport, credit card if you are charging on your sea pass account and online reservation check sheet to the RCI personnel and BINGO, you've got yourself a sea pass! They process the Platinums, Diamonds and suite holders in a separate area because they get priority check in and they get on the buses first. Being as we were one of the first to arrive, we were on the bus right behind them. That being said, they started buses for regular passengers at about 12:00. We enjoyed sitting in the lounge people watching, but were becoming concerned that we weren't seeing any kids around our children's ages. There ended up being about 94 kids in their age group and that was plenty. We were told that some cruises have had up to 1350 kids on board. I will take a moment here to thank the powers that be, that ours was not that populated. Ok, I'm back. The bus ride was about 1 minute. And there we were. In writing this, I wish there I am. You cannot enter your stateroom until 1:30 (or perhaps a few minutes sooner) when they release the rooms. Keep this in mind when carrying on, because you will be dragging this around with you until then. The Windjammer was already open and that's where we headed. So glad we were early because later people arriving had a hard time finding a place to sit. As soon as you are done eating, be nice and leave so other people can enjoy their first meal too. This is a great opportunity to explore your new surroundings. We had signed up for My Time Dining when we reserved our cruise (all gratuities are paid in advance-room attendant included) but remember this. Reservations are suggested even on the first day. On our particular cruise they had allowed for 400 MTD's. I talked to one passenger who tried to get MTD when reserving her cruise and it was already full, so reserve early. We stopped by the reservation desk, Deck 5 dining room and made a 6:15. That is the time we picked for the entire cruise, (when arriving for dinner we made the next night's reservation every day), and were so blessed to get the same table next to the windows every single night. The reservation ladies were absolutely gorgeous and a delight to work with. I want to take the time here to thank our absolutely wonderful waitstaff, Romeo (Head Waiter-amazingly entertaining and gracious), Venito Braganza (Waiter-very efficient and funny-even though we didn't get to hear him sing...), Ritish (Assistant Waiter-always, always smiling and happy AND singing) and Jackson (Assistant Waiter-always smiling and attentive-especially knowing how my family likes bread.) It was a pleasure to know them for 12 days. So, in summary MTD worked exceptionally well for us. The time we picked got us in behind the herd going in at 6:00 for main seating and we never once had to wait.

Food-after reading so many negative things about the food, I was almost apprehensive about what we would encounter. All I can say is, those people who complained should consider the millions upon millions of people starving around the world and basically stop sounding like fat cat capitalistic pigs. People from other nations already think that that is what we are like, so let's not add more fuel to the fire. The food was wonderful. There's no need to go into the amount of food, which is almost embarrassing. One of the big favorites of ours was the Tutti Salad in the Dining Room for lunch (on sea days). You get in line, point out what all you want, they put it together and toss it, you eat. Another fave, (taken from a tip on this site) was the mini croissant sandwiches from Cafe Promenade-open 24/7), and if you are a scone lover, watch for the cranberry scones. They had those on two different nights. Windjammer is open 6:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. (if you like sushi, it's available every evening!) Room Service is 24/7 and free unless between 12 a.m. and 5 a.m. -then there is a $3.95 charge). My dad was recently diagnosed with Diabetes and he did very well because of all the sugar free choices and he was able to keep away from the potatoes, rice, bread etc. Read more