Alaska: Explorer of the Sea - Day 2 - At Sea

Day two aboard the Explorer was a sea day. As much as I love going to different ports, sea days are always my favorite as there's always so much going on around the ship. I was the first one awake in my stateroom, so I went up for breakfast at Windjammers by myself. None of us ended up being huge fans of the buffet, but it got the job done. The first time I went in there I didn't realize just how far it went back. Windjammers is huge! And in the back they have the Gluten-Free Conner, which is really nice. For breakfast I got some bacon, fruit, and potatoes.

Windjammers is on Deck 11 which is also the pool deck.

More exploring around the ship.

They have these ship maps on a bunch of the decks.

The Crown & Kettle, an English Pub on the Royal Promenade.

Crusing = doing all the trivias! And loosing at them all. Seriously.

Jacob, one of the Cruise Director Staff.

That morning I made a short room tour video of our stateroom, to give you all an idea of what it's like.

Back at Windjammers, this time for lunch. I got a salad from the salad bar, fruit, rice, potatoes, chicken, carrots, cinnamon raisin bread, and orange jello.

This was also the day we got to see the ice skating show, Spirits of the Seasons, which was phenomenal! There's a total of four performances during the cruise and they're divided up by muster stations and is in Studio B. Since we had multiple staterooms in different sections of the ship, we didn't all get to see it together, but it didn't end up being a big deal. We also got second row seats, so the view was great.

The skaters were fabulous, the music choices were spot on, and it was so much fun to watch. The funny thing was there was this one guy who I thought looked like a young Gomer Pyle and when we met up with the rest of the family, who had seen the show earlier in the day, my sisters thought the exact same thing!

The guy in the yellow and black striped shirt was the best! So much personality.

Day two also happens to be one of the formal nights. Seeing everyone dresssed so nicely on the ship is always fun. Before dinner (we had 5:30pm seating) we went to Evening Trivia: Movie Quotes at the Schooner Bar. I told you we did a lot of trivia. But don't mistake that for being good at trivia. We never won a single one.

Heart, one of my favorite crew members, was hosting it that evening. I'm really sad this is the only photo I got of her as she was always super fun to chat with and great at hosting activities.

When you test your exposure and you sister poses like this:

Gotta have a good photo from Formal Night, am I right?!

This photo is the best, as it was the first time I was actually photobombed without knowing until afterwards. Thank you guys for being awesome.

This is the kinda stuff that happens at our dinner table every night.

I got some kinda beef (like I said, I'm terrible at remembering cuts) which came with some potatoes and veggies. Whatever sauce/gravy stuff they put on the meat, it's amazing and so flavorful.

After dinner was the Captain's Welcome Aboard Reception in the Royal Promenade. There was live music, champagne, and the captain and officers came out.

Dan Dan, our cruise director. Loved watching him and Amy on the Morning Show every morning.

The show that night was Invitation to Dance, which is a bunch of ballroom dance numbers with live music. The Palace Theater is a great size and my sisters and I sat in the front row, which was awesome.

When you exit the theater, there's a flight of stairs that take you up to deck 4 (the one where I got photobombed). After the show I'm going up those stairs and at the Schooner Bar I come across this:

I ended up spending the rest of my night there, and every night from then on. The way he combines music, the audience, and innocent bypassing people is pure magic and ending the day every night there was one of the best parts of the trip.