Alaskan Journey on Explorer of the Seas

Just back from my third Alaskan cruise - this one on Explorer. It was a great time with few issues. This is my experience and my opinion only.

We are a mature Diamond Plus couple on our 45th cruise -- 35 with RCCL. This was our fourth sailing on Explorer. My son, daughter-in-law, and grandson went with us.

We flew to Seattle two days prior to cruise day. I had snagged a room at Westin downtown for $130 per night through Priceline which was unbelievable for this hotel. Its location on Fifth Avenue is convenient to walking to the Public Market and other places. The monorail is next door to take you to Seattle Center which includes the Space Needle. We used Seattle Best Car Service which for $140 for the five of us included pickup from the airport and transport to the Westin (15-mile trip), pickup two days later from the Westin to the port (maybe two miles), and pickup from the port back to the airport. This is the most reasonable and easy arrangement I found and the driver was right there at all designated times. We will use her again.

I love Seattle and can't wait to return in September for our Pacific Northwest cruise on Explorer.

On way to hotel

Westin Seattle

View from Westin

We walked all over my second favorite city (second to Vancouver).

It was a short ride on the monorail to Seattle Center

Public Market

We ate a whole pound of cherries -- so delicious!

A visit to the gum wall was disgustingly intriguing!

Some memorable Seattle dining included

Biscuit B..ch

Had breakfast there. Delicious food, very small restaurant with very few tables including some outside

Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery

The Cuban Cristo on deep fried sourdough bread....oh my! And the grilled broccoli is amazing. I don't drink beer but DS did the beer flight.

On cruise day we were picked up as scheduled and arrived at Pier 91 about 11 a.m. We went directly on the ship after check in. We were in the Windjammer with plenty of available seating by 11:15. By the time we finished, however, tables were mighty scarce.

First exciting glimpse of the ship

View from the ship

Mt. Rainier

Solstice was there

And we're off

We explored the ship until cabins were ready promptly at 1 p.m. We had aft 1388 and my son had aft 7388. 7388 has the biggest and best balcony but 1388 is square shaped and as big as a junior suite but with regular bath and closet. The balcony is also very large.

Robes were already in the cabin along with nice toiletries. The bed was extremely hard.

A plate of cookies was delivered shortly after arriving.

We were invited to use the Concierge as well as Diamond Lounge. I doubt you can read all of this but here goes.

We almost always went to the Diamond Lounge for the views, to use the computer, or get a latte. We never get drinks in either lounge in the evenings as it is way too crowded. We use our three drinks on our sea pass at various bars.

To our amazement we found an invitation in our cabin for dinner with the captain on the first formal night. Us? Couldn't believe it, but gladly accepted. During the wonderful dinner with a special menu and free-flowing wine the captain said, "You know you are our top cruisers don't you?" We had no clue and never in a million years would imagine we would be top cruisers on any sailing but there were no Pinnacles on board! It was a great time and the captain was very funny. At the top tier party we were recognized and given a bottle of champagne.

The Captain serenading us.

There were no perks of any kind as top cruisers. We thought for sure we would get the available Royal Family Suite but they used it for Bingo. So much for offering upgrades to upper tier. If we didn't get one on this sailing, we never will. :(

Dining

We had breakfast each morning and most of our lunches in the Windjammer. We went once to the MDR for the tutti salad but they didn't have honey mustard dressing so that was a bummer for me. There is plenty of good food around, so if you can't find something good to eat, there's no pleasing you.

Although I had received confirmation that our dinner table for five would be on the rail, it was by a window but that was fine. As the week progressed we noticed the folks at the table next to ours ALWAYS showed up 20 to 40 minutes late but as soon as they arrived, the head waiter and two others literally ran to their table with food and taking orders. By night six it was getting ridiculous as even though they ordered their food at least 30 minutes after us, they received theirs before us. We mentioned it to the head waiter and he said it was because one person at that table needed gluten-free food. Huh? That doesn't even make sense. It was dinner at the Windjammer the last evening and we had some really good food immediately.

We also had a dinner at Giovanni's which was absolutely delicious as usual.

A plate of cookies was delivered shortly after arriving.

 

 

 

We were invited to use the Concierge as well as Diamond Lounge. I doubt you can read all of this but here goes.

 

 

 

We almost always went to the Diamond Lounge for the views, to use the computer, or get a latte. We never get drinks in either lounge in the evenings as it is way too crowded. We use our three drinks on our sea pass at various bars.

 

To our amazement we found an invitation in our cabin for dinner with the captain on the first formal night. Us? Couldn't believe it, but gladly accepted. During the wonderful dinner with a special menu and free-flowing wine the captain said, "You know you are our top cruisers don't you?" We had no clue and never in a million years would imagine we would be top cruisers on any sailing but there were no Pinnacles on board! It was a great time and the captain was very funny. At the top tier party we were recognized and given a bottle of champagne.

 

The Captain serenading us.

 

 

 

There were no perks of any kind as top cruisers. We thought for sure we would get the available Royal Family Suite but they used it for Bingo. So much for offering upgrades to upper tier. If we didn't get one on this sailing, we never will. :(

Entertainment

The ice shows were assigned by muster station. It was excellent as usual.

Something I had not seen before.

We attended the late night comedy show and the guy was hilarious. Wish I could remember his name.

The Love and Marriage Show is another we rarely miss and this one was enjoyable.

We participated in the always funny Majority Rules.

Another we attended was a pretty good production show.

The promenade party was called Britannia something. It was different.

One side of Boleros has been transformed into The Tavern with extremely uncomfortable seating. The opposite side of Boleros is now an art gallery. I did not like this transformation at all. It has a Wii area that attracted the kiddos and at night they had karaoke. There wasn't even standing room for karaoke in this very small space. I loved the former Boleros and in my opinion it was a bad move (but they didn't ask me!!).

The Royal Family Suite or Crown Loft Suites, etc. are almost always used as a revenue stream at bingo anymore if one is unoccupied....K.O.

Yeah, I know, but it would have been so nice...................

Sailing along toward Juneau

Thank you for an excellent review, so far, and great pictures! I am originally from Alaska and will also be sailing her on the Pacific Coastal to San Francisco on 9/23/2016. Looking forward to more of your review as your cruise continues. I wish you a wonderful time with your family!

Ports:

Juneau

We rented a car and visited Mendenhall Glacier and toured the salmon hatchery. We also stopped at Chapel by the Lake and drove the picturesque road north.

Mendenhall Glacier

It was cool and raining while there.

Chapel by the Lake

Thank you for an excellent review, so far, and great pictures! I am originally from Alaska and will also be sailing her on the Pacific Coastal to San Francisco on 9/23/2016. Looking forward to more of your review as your cruise continues. I wish you a wonderful time with your family!

Thanks. We'll be visiting Oregon for the first time on our Pacific Coastal sailing. Can't wait!

Ports Continued:

Ships in Port of Juneau

After returning the rental car we shopped around town for a while before returning to the ship.

Skagway

We took the RCCL Liarsville Salmon Bake excursion that included a salmon bake, entertainment, and gold panning. The salmon was excellent with a wonderful glaze and they also had delicious chicken, beans, slaw, salad, cake, etc. and the best cornbread I've ever eaten. The show was cute. Gold panning was unlike what I've done before. I have a pendant with a fair amount of gold we panned a couple years ago on another excursion but on this one each of us only found about three flakes (which they said is all they put in each pan).

Mmm mmm good!

We got off the bus in town and spent some time browsing the shops in charming Skagway before the long walk back to Explorer.

Endicott Arm & Dawes Glacier

Tracy Arm had too many ice flows to safely navigate so the captain took us through Endicott Arm to Dawes Glacier. I have been to Tracy and I would not have known the difference if the captain had not announced it. We were up on the helipad at 5:45 and it was very cold. The slow sail through the fjord was serene and stunning.

The staff brought out hot soup and hot chocolate. That sure hit the spot!

After a good while up there we went down to the outside of deck four for more gorgeous views where they also had hot chocolate.

Ports Continued:

Victoria, BC

We took the $10 round trip cruise shuttle from the pier to downtown and first checked out the grounds of the Empress Hotel and surrounding area. They would not allow us inside the hotel.

Ports Continued:

Victoria, BC

From there we walked a very long way to Craigdarroch Castle and did the tour. It was lavish and interesting but not what I envisioned a castle to be. It was chopped up into many small furnished rooms but no big ballrooms and such as I expected.

From there we walked around town for quite a while and grabbed a sandwich at Tim Horton's before heading back toward the ship. It was a short walk past the ship to the small Fisherman's Wharf which was quite fun.

Wildlife spotted! This guy was right there along the street.

Fisherman's Wharf

Ports Continued:

Victoria, BC - Fisherman's Wharf

We watched folks feed the seals and checked out the cute floating houses.

I loved this area but soon it was time to head back to Explorer for the final evening on board.

Debarkation

I inquired and there was no luggage valet in Seattle. We were number two off the ship and it was very quick retrieving luggage and getting through customs. Our ride was there within two minutes and off we went to the airport for the five-hour flight home.

General

The Solarium has no roof so after the first day it was too cool in there. We saw lots of children in the pools and hot tubs on the pool deck in 50-55 degree temperatures. Don't know what their parents were thinking.

The one time we walked back there the Flowrider was open for business and the lines were long despite the temperatures mentioned above. Those people were crazy!

Lots of people were ice skating when I stopped in one day to watch.

I forgot to mention the band One Love under entertainment. I really liked them.

We spotted a few whales and saw many sea otters. Concierge Jorge in the Diamond Lounge has a keen eye and was spotting wildlife for us.

Internet was extremely slow although I thought all ships now had VOOM.

There were about 500 children on this cruise. They did their usual running around and pushing all the elevator buttons, but I've experienced a lot worse.

Our stateroom attendant was very good to us and was duly rewarded. Two towel animals took up residence on our bed.

DS was offered a drink card about half way through the cruise. A day later a bartender whispered in my ear as to its availability as though it were a secret and I declined. First cruise I have seen it on. I saw nothing in the Compass about it but certainly could have missed it.

This was a wonderful cruise on a great ship. Of all my 45 cruises, Alaska remains my favorite. I hope everyone gets the opportunity to experience the beauty of this last frontier.

Thank you for the wonderful review and beautiful pictures. We board the Explorer in August for our first Alaska sailing!

Thank you for the wonderful review and beautiful pictures. We board the Explorer in August for our first Alaska sailing!

My pleasure! You are going to love it. Enjoy.

Thank you OP for the review and amazing photos. I've sailed to Alaska three times and can say I never will get tired of looking at pics and seeing what other people select to do!

Great shots of one of my favorite Canadian cities, Victoria!