Waltershipman

5 minutes ago, kool kruiser said:

Could somebody possibly remind me when dining reservations can be made, oplease.

 

Thanks

60 days out from embarkation through TA or directly with EJ ambassador on phone. ENJOY

Thanks so much

3 hours ago, KJB416 said:

We boarded Tuesday, August 8 at 1:20pm (13:20) with ease. I printed my luggage tags and heath questionnaire beforehand, but they will do it for you, but it saves time if you have it done. There were no lines. Rooms were not ready until 3pm approximately and bags would be delivered between 3-4pm. We went to Emporium for the buffet lunch and it was crowded but not terribly so. Plenty of seating the further back you walked into the restaurant. The food was great!  Prime rib, pizza and a risotto is what we sampled and all great!  The ship is beautiful and our OTI room is very comfortable. Balcony is nice. We had dinner in Sakura last night with premade reservations through our travel agent made about a month ago. It was full and tables are close, but it was fine and the sushi bar  was empty and anyone can walk in for dinner without reservation and order off the sushi menu only. food was excellent as was the service. They have Japanese beers in Sakura which they do not advertise so ask for a Sapporo if you like it with your sushi. 
 

The ship does not feel full and we had a hard time finding anyone is lounges before or after dinner. We do not stay up late but they do have late night dancing and DJ that start 10 or 11pm. Too late for us at this time in our lives, especially after full days of exploring. 
 

Breakfast at Emporium was easy and they have the same items as fil rouge but it’s just a buffet (you hand your plate to server and they put food on your plate and hand it back) instead of sit down service as far as I can tell.
 

The weather has been phenomenal as we cruise the coast of Iceland and i walked the jogging track and husband was able to swim laps in the observatory pool. It’s really warm in this pool area with the glass enclosure and it was crowded but not so much that you couldn’t find a chair. Plenty of chaise lounges available all around the decks and it’s a gorgeous day. We got one of the outdoor jacuzzis to ourself although I did see several people using them as I walked the track.  There are a lot of kids on the cruise, but no issues at all so far. Everyone is well behaved. 
 

The service has been excellent. They are having growing pains and finding out answers for you with follow ups, etc,, but everyone goes out of their way to accommodate us and we are enjoying the crew. It seems there are a lot of new crew, and I think it will all come together nicely as they learn their way, but everyone we have come into contact with has been wonderful. 

 

I did ask about reservations for Marble and Sakura our first day and, as has been reported, they are not offering second reservations at these venues on “this short cruise”. You are able to book anthology as many times as you like however. It also says nowhere ont he tv/menu for the restaurants that you are limited to one reservation per week of cruising. It says reservations are recommended only. I will report back at the end of our trip on how this goes for us. We are eating at Marble tonight. 
 

One thing to note that I am not happy about it that I booked my shore excursions or destination experience before our trip and paid in US dollars as it indicated was the cost. I have shipboard credit and I asked today if I could use the shipboard credit to pay for one of the tours in refund it US dollars and the ambassador I spoke to seemed like it was possible but had to check and when she called  back a few hours later she informed me it’s not possible to use the shipboard credit for the already paid for excursions. It’s also showing the price listed on board in Euro and it’s less than what I paid. I’ve asked them to look into it as I feel I’m getting the short end of the stick here as I paid before I got on the cruise and now I can’t use my shipboard credit and it’s cheaper to book it while on board. This so far is the only thing I’m not happy about. I hope we can get it straightened out and they at leak at charge me the going rate they are charging those that book while on board. 
 

I’ll try and answer any questions that come up but we have two busy days ahead with those now extremely expensive destination experiences I pre booked. 

So wonderfully informative thanks so much Have an amazingly great cruise

18 minutes ago, machotspur said:

 

Nice one - thanks for the tip. Yes, we too have booked Sakura & Marble & Co.

 

Hopefully in the future their system will get sorted so we can manage stuff like this online !   

I have booked that way successfully as well 

Would love to hear from passengers about the food on board as well as ambience of the ship

Thank you 

8 minutes ago, kelleherdl said:

I called the EJ Ambassador number myself. I got confirmation of my two reservations right over the phone. We like to eat early (6:30) so finding openings was a piece of cake. We have Sakura and Marble&Co. We are not interested in the supplement paid Anthology. I may also do one of the Chef’s Kitchen classes. I’m personally not worried about getting dining times. Even the Marketplace looks fabulous to us. But if the Master wants to invite us to dine with her I doubt we will decline. 😀

Love it and Agree i am looking forward to more posts about food from passengers

20 minutes ago, kelleherdl said:

I’m neither a TA nor an ‘influencer’, whatever that really means; nor a Residence passenger. So I will be commenting on my ‘steerage’ experience. 😀

Me too😊❤️

8 minutes ago, travelberlin said:

Well done. I remember those amazing prices for the first bookings. I hesitated too long to benefit from those prices. My booking already was at increased prices, but after January this year the prices increased further. When Explora cancelled my cruise for next year and offered a discount if rebooked, the discount could barely compensate the higher prices on a new itinerary. 
 

I was very disappointed about the cancellation of my cruise out of Brasil for next year. Apparently the itinerary was not selling well. Somehow, the image I had about Explora being reliable, changed. I am looking forward to my new cruise with Explora but I am not booking another cruise with them until I learn more about how their concept is working of having different restaurants and not a main one. I hate lines and I do not like limitations. For example deciding months in advance where to eat to make a reservation and only once per journey in a particular restaurant? We will see how that works for me.

 

It will be interesting to learn the opinions of guests about the dining experiences and concept.

 

Ivi

 

8 minutes ago, travelberlin said:

Well done. I remember those amazing prices for the first bookings. I hesitated too long to benefit from those prices. My booking already was at increased prices, but after January this year the prices increased further. When Explora cancelled my cruise for next year and offered a discount if rebooked, the discount could barely compensate the higher prices on a new itinerary. 
 

I was very disappointed about the cancellation of my cruise out of Brasil for next year. Apparently the itinerary was not selling well. Somehow, the image I had about Explora being reliable, changed. I am looking forward to my new cruise with Explora but I am not booking another cruise with them until I learn more about how their concept is working of having different restaurants and not a main one. I hate lines and I do not like limitations. For example deciding months in advance where to eat to make a reservation and only once per journey in a particular restaurant? We will see how that works for me.

 

It will be interesting to learn the opinions of guests about the dining experiences and concept.

 

Ivi

 

Yes awaiting input from boarded passengers thank you I am booked fir October 

1 hour ago, kelleherdl said:

There is a possible alternative view. We booked three EJ cruises early on. We avoided the absolute first cruises because of possible last-minute ship delays (did happen) and possibly teething pains (may be happening). Our first cruise is Sept 9, second Nov. We will be paying truly fabulous fares for those two, less than equivalent Yacht Club YC2’s with far less interesting itineraries. We are absolutely looking forward to these cruises, even if we will need to ‘endure’ some hiccups. 

Excellent perspective 

1 hour ago, InsGuy3 said:

Same here. We are on in November and would appreciate your feedback.

Will definitely do that. I suspect that earlier passengers such as you and us will have had a fair amount of cruising  experience so for better or not there will be a tendency to compare. I do look forward to others sharing their real experiences and impressions. I woll do that while on the cruise

I suspect it will be excellent 

Thanks 

Would appreciate if you are able to give some feedback on food and overall ambiance of rhe ship Many thanks

Will be on board in October 

10 minutes ago, Dr. Cocktail said:

I think that the bathrooms, while nice, are way too small for a newly built luxury ship.

 

I see that tubs are generally being phased out of newbuilds on Oceania and Regent so I guess this is what people want.  I think that dual sinks are an expectation these days so this is a also bit of a miss.

 

Hows the food onboard thank you

Thanks much

1 minute ago, LuiK said:

I would state, that the dresscode is casual up to smart casual outside of the pool areas. You only see a few (obviously) non paying guests in less than that like wearing shorts and t-shirts… 

Hiw are people dressed for evenings thank you

How are people dressed casual or otherwise for both day and evening

2 hours ago, LuiK said:

How should it be resolved that for over 900 guests there are only approximately 100 seats at Sakura and Marble… and even with all other restaurants approximately 300 people have to end up in the buffet each night? It‘s a design flaw of the ship! And even if they cramp the restaurants to the last seat it is no fun, when you have to share tables at a (not so) luxury cruise.

 

On the German website of Explora there is no information about mandatory reservations for restaurants and that you are only allowed to dine once in Sakura and Marble. People were rushing to reserve seats after boarding or managed to reserve onshore – I don't know and I don't care.

 

We pay 1.000 Euro per night. You can get the buffet on MSC and waiting for seated dining in queues for less than 100 Euro per night. When we want to dine in a seated setting, we will get that and will not end up in the buffet because of Explora‘s mismanagements and misplannings – if a table looks available we will make a scene until we are seated. End of story.

 

Here are the opening hours:

 

 

Is The food excellent on board?? Thank you very much

5 hours ago, PaulMCO said:

It is the Pool bar -- do you drink port at the pool???

Do you kniw how many people are on this 1st sailing  thank you  i am new to cc posting

Greetings

Do you know how many people are on the ships 1st sailing  i go down the way andcwant to pre-book restaurants if possible. Thank you