Kissing Seahorses

I am currently onboard Explora. In the past, I have regularly sailed traditional "luxury" lines including Regent, Crystal and the "premium" line Oceania. Explora isn't a "traditional" cruise line. They don't want to be. They want to appeal to a different clientele than the traditional ships, younger, more active, less jaded, they want to appeal to people that haven't even considered cruising before. I have eaten in all the Restaurants and the only (epic) fail was Anthology and I understand they are already considering a change of concept for that venue. I disagree with one of the previous poster that has said there wasn't enough variety in the restaurants. All the menus are varied and have starters, main courses of fish, fowl, meat and vegetables and are always beautifully presented. Marketplace is the main breakfast venue and is large and set up in stations. This allows everyone to see what is on offer and also there are very short waits for food. I personally like it better than any other buffet type venue I have seen on any ship. The food is very good and much of it is prepared to order with minimal wait times. This ship is beautiful. The best I have ever seen. The Italians do style and design very very well. To me, one of the key elements of "luxury" is space. This ship has more space in the common areas than any other ship. My late partner would often bristle at being seated "cheek to jowl' in restaurants on land or at sea. On Explora there is none of that. Even the coffee venue is spread out and has lot's of comfortable seating in groups of 2 or 4 but most of the chairs are easy to move so it is easy to add to these sizes. They also have snacks, mostly sweets and yogurt in the morning and grilled panini and other sandwiches in the afternoon if you need a small bite. The outside venues are also large and spacious. Deck 12 has alot of chaise lounges and sun beds as well as a run/walk track that encircles the entire deck. Explora needs to improve their communication. Obviously pre-cruise, and during the cruise they need to improve how they inform passengers when things change as they inevitably do. In a conversation with the GM, who is quite visible onboard, he seems to be very aware of this failing. I don't intend to be an apologist or a cheerleader for Explora and I know that many have been harmed by the delays and cancellations, etc. but I just wanted to give my perspective which is primarily positive. I think that as with all new concepts and products, there is plenty of room for improvement but I am glad that a line has finally stepped outside the traditional mold and decided to be different. If you are wedded to the traditional format for cruising, this may not be for you.

Thanks for your review. I was on this itinerary as well and I agree with your observations about 98%, I think I enjoy all the restaurants more than you although I think Compass rose is probably the best "main diningroom" in the business. Your comments on the ports were spot on. My experience with the internet/wifi was much different. I paid for the upgrade, $9.99 per day but I think it makes all the difference however you are only allowed to be on one device at a time per suite so if both are heavy users it won't work well because you would be constantly kicking the other person off.

My apologies for thinking this was a new tax. This was the impression I was under and like I mentioned I hadn't seen any discussion of what I consider to be a pretty egregious tax.

I have not read any discussion of this on Cruise Critic but there is a new 25% VAT tax on all onboard purchases made in bars, boutique and spas. It does not apply to services in the spa but on products purchased there. This applies to days at sea between ports of call. The jewelry boutique has announced an indeterminant discount as the remainder of this Voyager cruise and the majority of the following cruise are within Brazilian waters. Yesterday, I participated in the already somewhat pricey Wine Pairing Lunch and the Sommelier called to make sure I knew that the tax was on top of that. Luckily, most things are included on Regent, but if you are a fan of Premium Wines, this may be a consideration.