Bucket list cruise COMPLETED

The Explorer of the Seas is a lovely ship, with a great itinerary.  We had a virtual balcony interior stateroom on deck 10.  What a neat feature!  The room seemed very large & bright, with the "balcony" feature and the placement of the mirrors in the room.

The hot tubs were HOT (great on this cruise) and the pool water was warm. The spa was nice, especially the steam room & sauna.

The food was plentiful and good at the Windjammer buffet..  I enjoyed smoked salmon every morning for breakfast!  The crepe station was terrific.  I also noticed "Gluten Free Island" for those who need a special diet.  The main dining room had a nice menu.  We ate there for dinner most nights.  We did not try room service.  

We ate at one of the specialty restaurants, Giovanni's table, a nice Italian meal, with LOTS of food.

We enjoyed a sushi making class, at Izumi, where we made our own sushi, for lunch.  It was fun!

We also did the champagne brunch galley tour, bottomless champagne and a lovely menu based brunch after our tour of the galley.  The galley team seemed pleased to have us watching them at work.

The Alaska itinerary was good.  I personally enjoyed the enrichment lectures.

The shops had a nice selection of merchandise.

The ice rink was fun.  The ice shows had seating based on your muster drill.  It was a full house at the show I attended.

The photographers were all around.  We purchased a USB drive of our photos, quite convenient, and were able to share our photos immediately from our phones.

The coffee shop on the deck 5 was convenient for grabbing a snack or sandwich.  There was almost always a line for the specialty coffees and Ben & Jerry's ice creams.

I bought the soda plan.  They did need to work on keeping the soda machine full, on a couple of occasions the only non-calorie drink available was water....

Our cabin steward, Laida was amazing.  She was caring & efficient.  She even got me a kettle!  I enjoyed making a cup of chai tea whenever I felt like it.

All of the staff we encountered were pleasant & very helpful.

All in all, it was a really terrific cruise!