Juneau, Skagway, sailing through Endicott Fjord, being on the Explorer of the Seas. It was all such an amazing trip. Alaska is beautiful and so scenic.
Something that I really enjoy about cruising is meeting so many people from so many places around the world. On our sailing we had a totally of 3,373 guests from 30+ countries. You make cruise friends and just seeing so many people having a fun time together is something that's super refreshing in this day and age.
Embarking:
I have to say, the actually embarking process went smoothly, though we had a couple hickups later in the day. Moving through the Port of Seattle was really fast and easy and before we knew it we were on board. While checking in we realized that my first name on my reservation was spelled wrong, but I quick trip to the desk once on board and it was fixed. Then we had a little table fiasco when we went to dinner.
Earlier in the day we sent some of our group to the main dinning room to make sure we were all going to be seated at the same table as we had three cabins total, with two different reservations. We thought that was all cleared up until we got to our new table, and there were people already there. We had to wait a while to get a new table for that night, but from there on out we had the table they changed us to. Embarkation days are always the most rough around the edges, in my option, and all things considered it wasn't terrible.
Staterooms:
My only other cruise experience was in a ocean view stateroom with a porthole, so I was curious on how I was going to like being in an inside stateroom this time around. Though it was definitely different, it wasn't bad. There were three of us in the room and there was plenty of space for all our clothes, toiletries, and whatnot. I missed not being able to gauge what to wear for the day since I had no idea what the weather looked like in the outside world until I left my stateroom. The room was always made up nicely by our stateroom attendant every day and we never had any problems. And unless I can get a porthole room for nearly the same price as an interior, I don't mind getting an interior room again in the future. Next time I would take a small travel alarm clock though, as I was using my phone and because of the timezone changes it wasn't always on ship time.
The Explorer:
At first I was a bit disoriented trying to figure out the layout and what not, but by the end of day 2 I was feeling pretty confident when I needed to get places. The design of the ship is nice and the Royal Promenade has a nice atmosphere to it, especially since the lighting changes based off the time of day. There were two bars each on decks 4 and 5 and Schooner Bar and Crown & Kettle Pub were my favorites. The Palace Theater is large and beautiful and the Star Lounge is a great place for game shows and has a small stage and dance floor. The Sapphire Dining Room is three decks high and very classy. My only real complaint is that there aren't really any good spots to just peek out a porthole and see the outside world. You pretty much can't tell what it's like outside until you go out on deck.
The only negatives I have is that since the casino has an entrance from the Royal Promenade, if you were sitting/standing too close you could definitely smell smoke, which isn't pleasant. Definitely an inconvenience, especially since at home smoking isn't allowed in public buildings, but definitely didn't ruin our vacation. Then it was just hard to find the other people in our group at times. We had three staterooms total, two forward and one aft, so we were nowhere near each other. Getting something like the Wave Phones that Disney has on their ships would have been really useful.
Dinners:
Going to the Sapphire Dinning Room is the best choice for breakfast (and lunch if possible), especially with food allergies. Even though you never knew who you were going to get as your waiter each time, everyone we encountered always seemed to know what to do once we mentioned our gluten allergies. We were always offered gluten-free toast and they made us gluten and dairy free french toast almost every morning (once I found out they could make that, that's all I ordered!). Though it's definitely better than it used to be, I'm sure my friends out there with food allergies can understand that it's a gamble if your server actually understands your allergies, but I never felt that way on the Explorer.
As far as Windjammers the layout, size, and waiters were big pluses. Having waiters there to bring you drinks is really nice and one day after my sister sat down with a plate of french fries one of the waiters brought over a plate of ketchup for her without even asking. That was awesome! The food it's self is definitely underwhelming and non of us really were a fan, though it worked for a quick lunch. They do have a section they call the gluten-free corner as well.
When it came to food, dinners were definitely best on the ship. The menu each night had a variety of meats, which I appreciated. As far as my gluten and dairy allergies, the were willing to make whatever they could so I would be happy. The cold soups I got most nights were fabulous, even with the fruit combinations I wasn't too sure about. We loved our waiters and they took really good care of us, especially us with allergies, though they didn't have the same wow factor as on our previous cruise.
Entertainment & Activities:
There was no lack of shows and games to do while on board. In fact, there wasn't enough time to do everything I wanted! There was trivia, trivia, and more trivia. Everything from shuffleboard to napkin folding class. So much fun stuff to do. Most of the main shows in the Place Theater every night were really enjoyable. The ice skating show, Spirits of the Season was amazing. Like, I couldn't stop talking about it the rest of the day, it was so great. From the music choices to the performers. It was all awesome.
Something that I loved is that there's no lack of live music and entertainment. The disco street party was run and there was lots of live music to be found. Like one evening when we walked out of the dinning room and there was live singers in the Royal Promenade. I never got to catch a full game show, but I saw parts of a couple and they all looked fun. Then there was the 50's & 60's Dance Party that I got to be team captain with Heart, which was super fun. Then there was David Curtis at the piano bar every night. Definitely a highlight.
Ports:
Our ports were Juneau, Skagway, and Victoria. We were docked and Juneau and where originally supposed to in Skagway, but to do a landslide we found out the day before that we would be tendering. Given that tendering wasn't the original plan, the whole process was really smooth and seamless and you wouldn't have guessed that we were originally supposed to dock.
The only port any of us did any excursions was in Juneau, three of us went up the Mount Roberts Tramway and the rest of the family took a tour up to Mendinahll Glacier. Both were good experiences and I was really glad I went up the tramway as the view was so worth it.
Skagway we explored on foot, which was easy to do given the small size of the town. We ended up heading back to the ship at the perfect time as the weather was starting to get cold and windy. In Victoria we walked to Fisherman's Warf then downtown. We saw the legislature building and The Empress then stopped in some shops in the area. On the way back we took one of the water taxi's back to Fisherman's Warf and then walked back to the ship.
Crew Members:
There are some great crew members currently on board the Explorer. Heart, from the Philippines, is part of the Cruise Director Staff and is full of excitement and energy! Then there's Sylvia from Slovakia. She has so much passion for everything and was a blast to be around. Dan Dan, our cruise director, was awesome. Watching the morning show everyday with him and Amy, the activities manager, was always great.
Disenbarkment:
Other than disembarkation taking forever, it did go smoothly. There was around a 40 min delay on all the disembarkation groups, so we spent a lot of time sitting in Studio B waiting for our number. We realized we were up earlier than we needed to be and would definitely take it easy next time.
Summary:
All in all I had an amazing trip. Alaska was gorgeous, the Explorer was wonderful, and everyone in the family had a good time. The highlight of the ship for me was all the evening entertainment. There was so much going on I couldn't even fit it all in every night. Disco party, anyone?!? I'm definitely interested in sailing with Royal Caribbean again, hopefully in the Caribbean or Bahamas next time.
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