We cruised to Alaska and it really is a once in a lifetime trip! The scenery is amazing and with all the wildlife, glaciers, and mountains around it is something you will never forget! The Explorer was very well maintained and has a lot of options for things to do. Unfortunately our cruise was rainy, windy, and cold so the pool deck was barely used so we got to know the inside of the ship very well. The casino is small, but doable. The dining experiences are fantastic, as I highly recommend the Sapphire dining room every night. It is just as good as the specialty dining experiences and changes every night. My daughter LOVES the kid's zone, Adventure Ocean. She came "home" (to our stateroom) every night with some fun story and fun theme nights. The shows were okay, as many were geared towards the older crowd, but the comedy was great.
This room is amazing!! We always get a balcony room, but opted for this room on the Alaska cruise because we figured it would be too cold to go on the balcony. Well we are so glad we did, and if you have the option CHOOSE THESE ROOMS!!! They are on the top deck (12) in the front of the boat. There is a HUGE window and you can see everywhere without even going outside. We saw everyone else outside in the gale-force winds and cold, while we were comfortable right in front of our window seeing the same things if not with a better view. We saw so many whales and wildlife right from our room! The ONE downside (and this was the only downside) was the fog horn. It is right above the rooms, so we were unfortunate to have the horn going off almost every night. It is really loud and it goes off anytime we are in fog. Which I totally understand they need to do, but the last night it went off every 5 minutes from 11pm to 4am, it was brutal.
This is a really cool port and city! We had to walk from the port to the city, but it is right downtown. It was so cool to be involved in the lifestyle there. My uncle went to Butchart Gardens and said it was amazing!