Excellent time on the Explorer doing a 7 night run from Seattle and back. We came very close to cancelling this booking based on a series of bad no, scary terrible reviews on here. By happenstance some folks I know had just come back from a trans-Pacific crossing on this ship, they had nothing but good things to say about it, That soothed our concerns.
I found the ship to be very well designed with interesting public areas, easy elevator/stair access, and good traffic flow. The decor is pretty hip and interesting.Embarkation was a breeze, the easiest I've encounter over 6 cruises. Showing up at 2 instead of 12 probably helped make that so. We explored the ship for a bit, had something to eat and went to our cabin to find our luggage already in the room waiting for us. (Thanks Putau!)
The ship is interesting enough that 5-6 days in we were still discovering new cool nooks and crannies. We had one night of active seas where we lurched around to the point where the officers closed the outer decks, but the ship's stabilizers did a great job smoothing the ride. No one I spoke with mentioned being sea sick. .
Walk the bridge, it's not that hard.
Lots to do.
Pretty flowers, lovely Canadians and good beer.