Just finishing our Alaska to Eastern Russia and Japan cruise on the explorer. Probably the worst cruise of my life. The ship was very nice, crew and ship's staff great. The expedition team for the most part was good with the exception of the expedition leader, who was dysfunctional. The expedition staff members failed to work together, we booked this specifically for the chance to see Bears and wildlife in Alaska and Eastern Russia. No Bears seen on the entire trip. Saw more wildlife in the short visit to Dutch Harbor than any of the Zodiac excursions. The zodiac excursions were about an hour long at most, in the morning when it was foggy, then back to the boat with nothing to do but use the gym, eat, drink and nap. The expedition team attempted to fill the "down" time with a few lectures some were good, most were boring and not very informative. The weather didn't help, we skirted a cyclone off of Alaska and had to miss some excursions there, We were told that they were not allowed to use the Zodiacs for excursions in Alaska anymore, just as tenders. In Russia the excuse was that the Russian authorities would not let them land or get close to any wildlife.
Many others onboard felt the same way, a good deal of people had multiple trips on the Explorer and said this was unusual and poorly run. They said most of the other trips were better with multiple excursions each day and actually saw wildlife up close.
The hot tubs were closed for most of the trip and only opened after I complained to the hotel manager.
It would have been great if they cleaned the outside of the window during the cruise. room was nice, bed very comfortable, bathroom tight, shower good
The offered a 45 minute Flightsee, some of the flights saw a couple of bears from great distance, we did not, planes were small float planes and uncomfortable. they offered a walking tour to town to see the cannery but no wildlife despite it being booked as a wildlife tour. When I question the expidition leader, I was told he felt it was not safe to walk outside of town