My partner and I were on our third cruise for Thanksgiving (our second with RCI, the other was with Norwegian). It was a last-minute decision to take this cruise, which impacted some of our experience (see below), and because of my work schedule, we only had this one option of sailing on Explorer of the Seas. I had wanted to sail Celebrity out of Cape Liberty on their new ship, but I wouldn't have been finished with work in time to sail. Overall we had a good experience and we'll talk about each section below.

EMBARKATION: This was quite a mess, as you can read on many other reviews. The terminal is just as low-class as everyone says, however check-in itself was very easy and fast. The problem came when it was time for boarding. We were given a number (44 in our case) which was what we were listening to in order to know when it was our turn to board the bus to take us to the ship. Because the check-in lines were divided by which deck your cabin was on, and because the person who handed out the numbers for boarding was at the end of the line for checking-in, you could get a number much higher than someone one else who came and checked in later through a different line (I know that's kind of confusing to read, but trust me, it was a mess). Anyway, it meant that people who arrived in the waiting room after us got on buses before us, and then when they got closer to calling our number, they just called "numbers 41-47", which was basically the entire terminal. There was a stampede for the doors, which defeated the entire boarding process itself. It was also very difficult to understand what they were saying over the speakers, I can't imagine what people for whom English wasn't their first language were thinking!!

Disembarkation when we got back was the exact opposite experience. We chose the "Express Departure" option which meant you had to carry your own bags, but you got to leave before everybody else. It was very easy and we were off the ship and through customs within five minutes. Read more