The typical first day onboard getting into the room and getting organized, meeting our wait staff, Vincent and Venis, and whatnot. Just after we pulled out and came back down from the deck we hung out on the balcony for a while. While out there a NYPD chopper came by waving, that was pretty cool, but I didn't have a camera readily available and missed the shot. You definitely get a nice view of Manhattan and the statue of Liberty while leaving the Bayonne cruise port, but she is at a bit of a distance.

Explorer is the first of the newer ships I have been on. The Prominade was quite nice, but was always packed and near impossible to find a seat unless you went at very odd times. When I did get down there it was nice to people watch. Later on the first evening we watched the first prominade parade from up a couple of floors with old people damn near climbing our backs.