Alaska Glacier from Seattle on Explorer
Explorer of the Seas Cruise Review to Alaska - Inside Passage
Contributor Level:
Second Mate
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 12
Helpful Votes: 357
7 Night Alaska Glacier (Seattle Roundtrip)
Sail date: August 17, 2018
Ship: Explorer of the Seas
Cabin type: Inside
Cabin number: 6257
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 6 years ago
Review summary
Very satisfying cruise to Alaska on one or our favorite Class (Voyager) ships. Overall a very typical RCCL cruise with a few very minor flaws.Embarkation
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
We ate 6 of 7 nights in the Main Dining Room. The entrees I selected were excellent 4 nights and very good the other 2. Others at my table had entrees they rated excellent on the two nights I had very good entrees, so maybe I just made the wrong choice. Starters and Desserts were excellent every night - we often had two or more starters and even then there were difficult choices. Our waiter often offered to bring more. In addition to the nightly 4 or 5 specialties, there was a set menu available every night including prime rib, grilled salmon, roasted chicken, vegetarian, and pasta if you weren't interested in the specials. You could order lobster at an additional cost - if the one complementary lobster night was not enough for you. One fellow diner got his fill of lobster by getting two lobsters on the night lobster was the entrée (our waiter did ask if he wanted another one when he finished). We did not eat at any specialty restaurants - why spent extra when the dining room food was so good and you have you own personal wait-staff? Buffet was typical RCCL - wide variety of selections, all very good but nothing I'd consider elegant dinning. We ate one dinner at the buffet when we returned from visiting Juneau late. The buffet gets crowded at main meal times (8 - 9 AM Breakfast and 12 - 1 PM Lunch) so we only ate there for late Breakfast or early / late lunch. During main meal times, we ate at the Dining Room - still usually a short wait to be seated. Dining room had made-to -order dishes, but lacked the vast variety of the buffet (although you could get a made-to-order omelet in the buffet also).
Onboard Activities
I prefer running out on the track (the scenery is spectacular), but sometimes the weather and climate forced me inside to the fitness center (which is very well equipped). My daughter swam laps in the pool (just to get a photo of her swimming with the glacier or snow covered shore in the background). She also skated on the ice rink. Even with a limit on the number of skaters, it tended to get crowded. Even though posing for pictures and using selfie-sticks were prohibited, many parents often ignored the bans creating areas of traffic jams. At this time of year, there were many school-age passengers on the basketball court so I did not get a chance to shoot some hoops.
Entertainment
The shows in the theatre were excellent. The non-showroom entertainers ranged from very good to excellent. The Ice Show is always entertaining with the added suspense of skaters doing flips and jumps on a constantly tilting surface (yes there were some spills, but the passengers are aware of the uneven footing on even a large cruise ship). The many games and trivia contests were very entertaining, but sometimes too crowded for the venue. I don't think you get the same atmosphere if you move them to the larger lounge or showroom.
Service and Staff
The cabin room steward provided excellent service, as expected. We asked for, and were provided with, ice buckets daily. The Dining Room staff provided excellent service with two minor exceptions: when lobster or grilled giant prawns were served, a few times the staff did not remove the shells for some diners; a few times coffee for dessert arrived late, when we were nearly done with dessert. So this is really a 4.5. I only bring it up because we have often had perfect service on previous RCCL cruises. Drink service in the Buffet was spotty (there are drink counters for you to get your own drinks) - but fairly typical for RCCL and Princess. The Shore Excursion Staff was very friendly and helpful - even providing advice on safely getting to the Mendenhall glacier on our own much more cheaply than using the various shuttle and tour services.
Ship Quality
The Voyager Class ships are our favorite - big, but not too big. We did see some signs of age - some areas where the paint was chipped off. This is again more of a 4.5 rating. Although the Ice Rink is on deck 3, you cannot access it easily on deck 3 from the forward stairs.
Cabin / Stateroom
The cabin was as we expected. We had views of the promenade and an above view of all the parades and dance parties taking place there (although we did go down to the promenade to participate in some of the shows). The layout of the cabin was convenient to watch the promenade area and provided room to just relax inside.
Ship tip
Traditional Dnning provides the same table with experienced passengers and the same Wait Staff to dote on you every day.
Thumbs up
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Ports of call
The Explorer docked far away (well maybe a mile walk) from the shopping area. Our previous visits to Juneau were on the Radiance which docked at the shopping / downtown area. No complementary transportation to the downtown area was provided by RCCL. Did not take an excursion. The Shore Excursion staff was very helpful in advising us on getting to the Mendenhall Glacier on our own safely and much less expensively than the other tour and shuttle providers.
Spent some time shopping in town. Took the afternoon train to the summit - well worth the trip.
Excursion to the Butterfly Center and Butchart Gardens was very good. Really need more time than 1.5 hours to really see the whole Garden.