Hello, all. Just got back from the 12/12/04 sailing to Eastern Caribbean on the Explorer. Great ship, great service. I'm sure it will take a day for my equilibrium to normalize. The last souvenir you have from a trip like this (the good kind, not the bad kind) is that your body still thinks it's on the ship for a day afterward.
There were three couples travelling between ages 29 and 52, and we had balcony cabins next to each other on Deck 6. None of us have children. One couple got engaged the first night so we spent the rest of the trip celebrating with them. We had an absolute blast. We each had a bottle of champagne from our travel agency waiting in our rooms when we arrived.
I have to say that reading past reviews helped me greatly in making good decisions while on the cruise. The experience exceeded most of our expectations. The amount of detail on past cruise reviews was excellent. I will add my own personal observations and tips.