My wife and I went on the 12 day Explorer of the Seas cruise from Cape Liberty, Bayonne, NJ leaving January 16th. I am 46 and my wife is 45. We are from upstate NY and like leaving from the NY/NJ area since we don't have to fly. This was our 6th cruise and our second with Royal Caribbean, both on the Explorer of the Seas. Our previous cruises were the Norwegian Dream, the Norwegian Dawn, the Norwegian Spirit and the Holland Noordam. We are quite active and enjoy all the activities and amenities on board.

Embarkation

This was a relatively painless experience for us. We took a bus shuttle down from Albany, NY to the pier. Our luggage was unloaded and we went in to the registration area. There was a short line where we gave them our Set Sail Passes. They gave us our SeaPass cards, we had our photos taken and then we went to the waiting area with our pier shuttle number. It was around 11:00am at this point. We had coffee and a cookie while we waited for our number to be called. Just before noon our number was called and we boarded the bus to the ship. We were on board by a few minutes after noon. Our room wasn't ready yet, so we brought our carry-ons with us to the Windjammer for lunch. If you can get the Honey Stung Chicken while it's fresh and hot, it's very good. It used to only be available on embarkation day but now you can order it anytime you want from room service. After eating, we went to our room which was now ready. We dropped off our carry-ons and made reservations for our first night of My Time Dining. Our luggage had not arrived yet so we headed out to explore the ship. Soon it was time for the mandatory muster drill. We did not have to bring our life jackets to the drill. Ours was inside in the Columbus dining room. We went outside to watch the ship narrowly squeeze under the Verrazano Bridge. It was cold and windy but we got some good shots so it was worth it. We were told that the NY Jets - New England Patriots playoff game would be on at the 19th hole lounge near Dizzy's but it was closed for a diamond members function. This meant that the only public area to see the game was at the Weekend Warrior Sports Bar on the Promenade. Much too small for everyone interested in the game, so we went back to our room to watch. Our Jets won which made a great start to our cruise. Since we had MTD, we ate in the Columbus dining room. Read more