Pictorial Review: Explorer of the Seas, Alaska, 3-10 June 2016

[nekzaadvakil]

Hi Everyone,

 

My name is Nick and I am a cruise addict living in Mumbai, India. DW and I just finished a dream holiday this year, one which we were planning (and saving up for) for 2-3 years.

 

Having cruised most of Europe since 2010, we really wanted to cruise to new destinations and more importantly cruise on Royal Caribbean's Oasis class ships. Since the Oasis class ships were usually in the Caribbean, we decided to plan a holiday to the United States.

 

Since airfares are frightfully expensive and long, we decided that we would take an extended time off work (3 weeks as compared to the usual 2 weeks that we do) and spend 3 weeks (roughly) as follows:

 

1 week on the Allure of the seas (Eastern Caribbean)

1 week in Las Vegas

1 week in New York

 

When we were budgeting and looking at hotels in New York, we realized that the cost of flying across to NY and hotels were prohibitively high. We discussed dropping NY off our itinerary and maybe doing a back to back cruise on the Allure since many reviews seemed to suggest that 7N on the Oasis class ships were not enough to see and experience everything that she had to offer.

 

I stumbled upon the cruise on the Explorer of the Seas from Alaska and the the cost of flying to Seattle and doing this 7N cruise was nearly the same as spending 7N in New York.

 

The thought of ticking multiple things off our bucket list really excited us. 2 new destinations (Caribbean and Alaska) as well as 2 new ships (Allure and Explorer) made our choice very simple.

 

So we finalized our holiday as follows (in 3 parts):

 

Part 1:

19th May 2016 - Mumbai to Orlando via Dubai (on Emirates)

20th May - Orlando

21st May - Orlando

22nd May - Drive from Orlando to Ft. Lauderdale, Caribbean cruise starts

22nd May - Ft. Lauderdale

23rd May - Nassau, Bahamas

24th May - At Sea

25th May - St. Thomas

26th May - St. Maarten

27th May - At Sea

28th May - At sea

29th May - Ft. Lauderdale (cruise ends)

 

Part 2:

29th May - Ft. Lauderdale to Las Vegas (via Cincinnati)

30th May - Las Vegas

31st May - Las Vegas

1st June - Las Vegas

2nd June - Las Vegas

3rd June - Las Vegas to Seattle

 

Part 3:

3rd June - Seattle

4th June - At Sea

5th June - Alaska inside passage and Juneau

6th June - Skagway

7th June - Tracy Arm Fjord

8th June - At sea

9th June - Victoria, BC, Canada

10th June - Seattle

11th June - Seattle to Mumbai via Dubai (on Emirates)

 

I've just finished with a detailed pictorial review of our amazing Caribbean cruise on the Allure of the seas, for those interested, the link to the review is in my signature below.

 

For this review, I will be touching upon (briefly) our pre-cruise stay in Las Vegas and focusing on our Alaskan cruise on the Explorer of the seas. I love reading reviews filled with pictures and my reviews are no different, although I like restricting it so that I don't give away too much.

 

The Travelers:

We had a pretty large group of people with us on this holiday. I was traveling with DW, her parents, DW's uncle and grandmother from Australia and a couple of my in-law's friends. My inlaw's friends didn't accompany us for the cruise, so we had 6 people in all for this cruise.

 

Staterooms:

We had originally booked 1 balcony stateroom (in-laws) and 2 interior staterooms (DW and me // DW's grandmother and DW's uncle). I was pretty bummed out about having an interior room for Alaska, but we had to cut costs somewhere. As they say, 7N in an interior cabin is yet better than no cruise.

 

I kept a close watch on the prices of this cruise as well as the Celebrity Solstice leaving on the same day (3rd June) from Seattle as well. Our first choice was the Celebrity Solstice since we had such an amazing time on her sister ship, the Silhouette in the previous 3 years in Europe. But the price difference between the 2 was way to high.

 

One fine Saturday evening, i noticed that the price for a GTY balcony stateroom on the Explorer was $999 which was alot less than what we were paying for the inside cabins and nearly half of what the inlaws were paying. I repriced our fares via the Royal Caribbean call center and we all managed to get Balcony staterooms. Now we were REALLY excited about the holiday. Our dream holiday was nearly perfect.

 

A couple of weeks later, we were assigned 3 balcony staterooms, nowhere close to each other but all on deck 9 and close to the elevators. Honestly we could not have asked for anything more. We were pretty pleased with our cabin allocations.

 

Now that we've set the context, coming up will be our in depth review (with lots of pictures) of our cruise on the amazing Explorer of the seas and the beauty of Alaska.

 

Stay tuned...

 

Nick

Edited June 29, 2016 by nekzaadvakil
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[nekzaadvakil]

After completing our Caribbean cruise, we gathered our luggage and headed to the airport to catch our flight to Las Vegas to start the 2nd leg of our holiday. We took 2 large cabs to the airport, which was just a 15 minute drive away.

 

The flight via Cincinnati was not tiring at all and we landed in Las Vegas on time at around 5PM. We checked into our hotel, the Elara Hilton which was right on the strip.

 

Our rooms were HUGE, modern and came with some amazing views. We really liked our hotel, you could access the Las Vegas strip via the Miracle mile shops from the lobby of the hotel. This hotel does not have a casino which is a good thing since I love to gamble!

 

 

 

 

The hotel has an amazing pool at its lobby level and being a true Aquarian, I love being close to the water. The Elara Hilton was ensuring that we didnt miss the amazing Solarium of the Allure of the seas all that much.

 

 

 

 

Since we had travelled a fair bit, we decided to take it easy for the rest of the evening and walk around the miracle mile shops and for a bit. We eventually made it out to the strip and got my first glimpse of Las Vegas. DW had been to Las Vegas 3-4 times in the past as a child, but this was my first visit and I absolutely loved the buzz and vibrant atmosphere that this place had to offer. Part 2 of our holiday was off to a great start.

[Happyreb]

Looks fun - subscribing!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[Rosy1013]

Wahoo! been looking forward to this since your Oasis review! Can't wait to see more:)

[LuCruise]

Subscribing...what an amazing trip you went on

 

Sent from my ONE E1005 using Tapatalk

[nekzaadvakil]

Now those who have read any of my previous reviews will know that DW and I love to explore any new city we visit on our own. We love walking and really getting the feel of the city. And Las Vegas is made for walking.

 

Since this was my first trip, I really wanted to walk the strip, see the hotels (from both outside and inside); try all the amazing food I'd heard so much about, shop (of course) as well as gamble at least for sometime in the casinos.

 

 

 

Over the 4 days in Las Vegas, we managed to do alot. We walked down the strip to all major hotels like the Bellagio, Caesar's Palace (which we found absolutely amazing), Flamingo and the High Roller (las vegas eye); the Linq (where our friend was staying who had flown down from SFO to see us); the Venetian and Palazzo and of course the Wynn and Encore which we felt was the best hotel in Las Vegas.

 

 

The Wynn had an awesome outdoor seating area and bar where we spent quite some time soaking the amazing atmosphere. The drinks were reasonably priced and DW said that she had some of the best white cosmopolitans here.

 

 

 

On to the other side of the strip, we first visited the amazing M&M world. I am 36, but I was running around like a child in here, the place is filled with M&M merchandise and I could easily max out my credit card in there. I left with some great merchandise, this was my favorite!

 

[nekzaadvakil]

The M&M world is spread across 4 levels and DW literally had to drag me out of this place.

 

 

 

 

Seeing all these sweets we decided to grab something to eat. We headed to Caesar's Palace - to the Cheesecake factory. I absolutely love the food at Cheesecake factory and am so bummed out that they don't have one in Mumbai. The closest one is in Dubai and I make it a point to eat there whenever I visit my sister. The fried Mac and Cheese balls are to die for. The strawberry cheesecake is something I always order.

 

 

 

Caesar's Palace is huge and DW also loved this place since it had all her favorite shops - Zara, H&M, Victoria's Secret, Forever 21 - you name it, they had it. The apple store was also excellent, we picked up a new iPhone 6S for DW and the staff were really helpful. We spent quite sometime shopping in this hotel and this would honestly be one of our top picks when we visit Las Vegas again.

 

Edited June 30, 2016 by nekzaadvakil

[Clarea]

Beautiful photos!

[nekzaadvakil]

Over the course of the next few days, we pretty much followed a strict schedule: Explore-Shop-Eat-Gamble-Sleep-Repeat.

 

Since it was pretty hot during the day, we spent time inside the hotels and casinos and walked the strip at night to get a good feel of the place. Las Vegas is beautiful both from the inside and outside.

 

 

 

 

 

The nights were very pleasant and apart from a couple of people who were happy high, the crowd was well behaved and had a nice party atmosphere.

 

 

[nekzaadvakil]

We also had the opportunity to have some amazing food that I was itching to try much before setting foot into the United States.

 

We had some amazing SPICY Thai food at a place called Arawan Thai Bistro on the E Sahara Avenue. Some of the best Thai food we'd had, comparable even to the authentic Thai food we've had on our numerous trips to Bangkok. Being Indians we can really handle spicy food and they made it brilliantly.

 

 

The restaurant was also close to the famous Pawn Shop belonging to the Pawn Stars. We love that show here in India, so we really wanted to go check it out. Unfortunately none of the Pawn Stars were at the shop when we went (they usually come in really early in the morning) but it was yet good to check it off our places to see.

 

 

More food pictures of the various things we tried:

 

 

 

We also had a chance to visit Gordon Ramsay's BURGR on our last day in Vegas and we were so upset that we didn't try this place earlier. I had the Hell's Kitchen Burger while DW (whose a vegetarian) had the Vegetarian burger (they have only 1) and we both thought that these were the best gourmet burgers we'd ever had. Absolutely brilliant.

 

 

 

[nekzaadvakil]

We had a really good time in Vegas. We also sometimes got lucky in the casino! Was teaching DW how to play Roulette on one of the machines and a $1 bet got us $36 in one of the first 3 spins. Beginners luck. I think it was in the Palazzo/ Venetian casino and we walked out with around $100. Which promptly was spent on shopping.

 

 

Our hotel, the Elara Hilton was also excellent. We would probably stay here again if the prices were comparable. It was so central to everything and the rooms were clean, modern and comfortable. With no resort fees either, this makes for an amazing hotel stay. And the pool area was just top notch.

 

 

After 5 fabulous nights in Las Vegas (a city I wanted to see for the last 21 years); it was finally time for part 3 of our holiday, the Alaskan Cruise.

 

I love seeing this on my cruise countdown- Cruiseday Woohoo !

 

 

Coming up: Our Alaskan cruise on board the amazing Explorer of the Seas

[jimbri]

Photos are great!

[A&L_Ont]

Hello Nick.

 

We are currently looking at this cruise for next summer so to read your review is perfect timing for us. We loved Vegas when we were there. Looks like you enjoyed it there too.

 

Andrew

 

Edit: we hit Burger as well and enjoyed it.

Edited June 30, 2016 by A&L_Ont

[shipshape sam]

Ready to get onboard!

[Mellkoh]

Wow, great travelog!! Enjoy your cruise! You'll love Victoria, but I'm a little biased on that front, living very near there, and all! [emoji12]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kbklcamp]

Gorgeous photos😎 Enjoyed your Allure review so much and can't wait to read the Explorer review. We will be on it soon.

[Missusdubbya]

great review, thankyou!

[nekzaadvakil]

Thanks everyone for your kind comments.

 

Mellkoh - We were not expecting anything great in Victoria, and as always, this turned out to be one of our favorite days. The city is gorgeous and DW and I need to now plan a holiday to Canada.

 

Andrew - You can't go wrong with the Alaskan cruise. Our excursions were top notch in both Juneau and Skagway, will be posting tons of information and pictures a little later.

 

kbkl - Thank you for your kind words. Allure was amazing, it is my new favorite ship, but the Alaskan cruise was just brilliant. Never did we imagine that we'd see such amazing places so far away from home.

[A&L_Ont]

Thanks everyone for your kind comments.

 

Andrew - You can't go wrong with the Alaskan cruise. Our excursions were top notch in both Juneau and Skagway, will be posting tons of information and pictures a little later.

 

Nick, I didn't say it earlier but we have actually sailed there twice as we loved it so much. Thus our possible third trip, to take our son his inaugural cruise there.

 

Our first time was our honeymoon which was our first ever cruise. Our second time was because we wanted to return prior to kids. Let's just say there is a really good chance he was conceived on our second cruise there.;) TMI, I know. We now know he is old enough to appreciate the scenery and not get to bored so we think it is time to return.

 

When we sailed they were either north/south bound or mainly out of Vancouver so to see and read about your trip from Seattle will be interesting. I will gladly follow along to see what fun things you and your family got into.

 

Andrew

[BecciBoo]

The food porn is killin me man!

 

There is the best coffee shop in the Venetian on the canal, with espresso to die for and wonderful pastries. Hope you found that one!

 

We did Alaska on Radiance and of all our cruises it was our favorite. Going back on Celebrity in September....

 

Enjoying the review.

Edited July 1, 2016 by BecciBoo

[BecciBoo]

Wow, great travelog!! Enjoy your cruise! You'll love Victoria, but I'm a little biased on that front, living very near there, and all! [emoji12]

 

Then what is your advice for what to do at night there. We get there at 5:30 and leave at midnight:o Probably need just one thing to do with that time frame. We thought we may just sit on our balcony and watch the city lights...

[linkerbink]

I'm looking forward to the rest of your review. My sister and I will be cruising Alaska on the Explorer next year. We were there before and are looking forward to returning. The Explorer is an old friend of ours, having been ported in Bayonne NJ for a number of years and have sailed on her 4 times.

Edited July 1, 2016 by linkerbink

[nekzaadvakil]

Day 1: Seattle

 

We had a short flight from Las Vegas to Seattle and we were charged up to be back on a cruise ship. Depression always sets in when I leave a cruise ship knowing that in all probability its going to be at least another 11-12 months before we can get back on another ship. This time, the time period between 2 cruises was less than a week !

 

We landed in Seattle airport and got all our bags. We bid goodbye to my in-laws friends who were going back to India from Seattle. We decided to take the cruise shuttle from the airport since it was very convenient. We just had to drop off our bags at the airport and they would be delivered to our staterooms later in the day. I think it was around USD 25 per person and we thought it was good value instead of loading and unloading all our bags in 2 cabs (we were yet 6 people with over 12 bags!)

 

Seattle airport is beautiful.

 

 

 

Our drive from the airport to the cruise terminal took less than 45 minutes. It was the most entertaining bus ride I had ever taken. Our bus driver was clearly in the wrong profession, he could have easily been a stand up comedian. It was clear that he enjoyed doing what he did and it was such a good introduction to Seattle.

 

We arrived at the cruise port (Pier 91) and saw 2 ships - the Explorer of the Seas and the beautiful Celebrity Solstice. From the exterior, the Explorer is starting to look her age, especially when you have the ultra modern Solstice on the other side. DW and I immediately started wondering if we made the right decision to travel on the Explorer instead of the Solstice.

 

 

 

Our first choice was the Solstice since it would give DW's family (her grandmother and uncle who had joined us from Australia) a chance to experience BOTH cruise lines (since we had just finished with the Allure of the Seas). DW and I both wanted to sneak our way to the Solstice to munch on the Mast Grill burgers, a practice we follow just before sailaway.

 

Yet with equal excitement we boarded our ship, the Explorer and made our way to the Windjammer after keeping our carry on bags in our rooms. Our rooms were ready when we boarded since we boarded just after 1 PM.

 

We had 3 veranda staterooms rooms, all on deck 9 -

9302 - DW and my room - starboard side - aft

9648 - the in-laws - port side - aft

9550 - granny & uncle - port side - right next to the front elevators

All 3 staterooms had the bed by the balcony.

 

We also saw this hilarious sign posted on a cabin close to ours.

 

 

After the mandatory drill, we headed up to the pool deck for the sailaway party. Seattle looked absolutely gorgeous from the ship and it was excellent weather as well.

 

 

Having just sailed on the Allure a week ago, most of us thought that the Explorer was not going to live up to our expectations. No Boardwalk, no modern solarium, a much smaller royal promenade, no central park ! However this ship has a charm of her own. Within the next 2 days, the staff and the ship really grew on us and many from the group said that they actually were having a better time on the Explorer. The food on the Explorer was brilliant and we had some of the best service (and food) we've ever had in any Windjammer/Oceanview cafe.

[nekzaadvakil]

Here are some pictures of our room and balcony.

 

 

 

The room definitely has had an upgrade and shows no signs of age whatsoever. We love the modern design and layout of the rooms on Celebrity's S class ships and this room was not that far away at all. The big difference is in the balcony. These balconies were paired in 2 and slanted outwards a bit which made it feel more private and larger as well. The beautiful Solstice visible from our balcony.

 

The sail away from the pool deck was also amazing, here are a couple of more pictures. Absolute party atmosphere - its one of the best feelings in the world, the moment you've finally started your holiday that you've worked hard for and have waited for and planned for so long.

 

 

 

After spending sometime on the pool deck, we made our way down to the Royal Promenade. Although smaller than the Allure (again I'm only making comparisons since we were on it a week ago); the Royal Promenade on the Explorer is beautiful.

 

 

[Naomigruis]

Following.