Waltershipman

19 minutes ago, Nashna said:

It appears that Explora Journeys is targeting the upscale working luxury market. This market is not likely to take 14- to 21-day sailings. I've had difficulty finding MSC YC and Explora itineraries that fit my needs. Perhaps they will have one ship dedicated to longer itineraries when they get more than three ships.

Will also attract a younger group of passegers 

16 minutes ago, Nashna said:

It appears that Explora Journeys is targeting the upscale working luxury market. This market is not likely to take 14- to 21-day sailings. I've had difficulty finding MSC YC and Explora itineraries that fit my needs. Perhaps they will have one ship dedicated to longer itineraries when they get more than three ships.

Great Nancy 

We booked an 8 night 2025 cruise and will spend a few nights in Miami

All the best to you let us know about your EJ further thoughts

18 minutes ago, Ashercat1 said:

6 days. This is my first Sailing on Explora Journey.  I have a 14 day cruise booked for December 2024.

 

 

Good morning this is day two of the cruise. So far everything is lovely. Ship is beautiful, service is great, food is divine. And accommodations are super comfortable. Going to post several pictures from yesterday beginning walk onto ship and a few around the ship photos.

Wonderful beautiful fantastic

43 minutes ago, Noggins said:

we were on Sirena - in a PH - when she first went to Cuba. An emotional FDR was first ashore. (and we had a fascinating tour that day - another lifelong memory made) We were also on Marina's the maiden crossing. A lovely ship, we thought at the time - but we always had a soft spot for the 'R's.

EJ eclipses all of those, of course. It's in a different category. But comparisons are relevant nevertheless.

Agree 

Enjoy and we will keep in touch I am sure

28 minutes ago, Noggins said:

thanks, I remember it - but I have never sailed on the vista and nor has the OP which may be as well as it's a comparison with the older ships that interests me more. Vista is not on my hit list - not now we have Crystal back - and EJ, come to that!

Excellent I was on the Sirena in 2020 when Covid hit and got back March 8. We were in a PH and enjoyed it actually enjoyed this R ship better than Vista as we found Vista had a feeling of being crowded.Our PH was lovely and felt big. We loved EJ when we sailed last October and have booked it again 

All the  best to you and I enjoy your posts

5 minutes ago, Noggins said:

I see you are highly versed in all things Oceania. It would be interesting to to hear your comments comparing EJ to O ships. There are some elements of EJ that reminded us of O - restaurants in particular but also 'vibe'. 

Have a wonderful time (and don't spend too much of it posting here!).
Adrian

In February while cruising on the vista, I did a comparison between ocean vista and Explorer journey. It's in the explorer journey Message board with comparison

22 minutes ago, Ashercat1 said:

Looking forward to boarding in an hour or two. Will post check in photos. Hope to meet  you on board. Here’s a photo of Explora journey 1 coming into Vancouver this morning. Also a photo of me and Catherine, my friend who will be sailing as well. I’m standing behind the chair. Her sister Lorraine will be joining us, and I will post pictures of the three of us later.

Excellent If you are able in Santa Monica Chinois on Main is our favorite restaurant anywhere

ENJOY and look forward to your posts

On 4/29/2024 at 5:19 AM, Dr. Cocktail said:

 

We've sailed twice and did a few catamaran excursions where we chatted with a lot of people.

Basically everyone had been on Regent/Silversea/ and particularly Seabourn.  While there were many cruise first timers, there were extremely few people who had sailed on a premium or mass market line before.

 

On our second sailing we actually travelled with our friends who generally do Regent and Silversea.

 

I spoke to management on board and was told that Explora II will have a lot more shade and I would be getting more too on her return to Europe. We're also shade monsters and didn't find it a huge problem as we would just move once or twice a day. There's waaaaay more shade than the Regent Explorer Class Ships and it appears that there's basically no shade at all on Siver Nova and beyond.

 

We sailed with 400 on our first trip and between 600 and 700 for our second and the ship strangely felt much better with the additional passengers! Just a nicer vibe although it made second visits to Sakura and Marble next to impossible.

Happy sailing

1 hour ago, Ashercat1 said:

Really excited to board Explora Journey 1 tomorrow in Vancouver.

Follow me along with my friends on this new adventure. I’ll try to post comments and photos as if you were here with me.

if you have questions, I’ll do my best to answer them. 

ENJOY 

42 minutes ago, JanR said:

Wow.  Just ran across this thread and was surprised at the comments.  We absolutely loved our time on the Explora.  Is it the perfect ship?  No.  But I would suggest after sailing Regent, Oceania, Viking, Atlas, and suite-level on the four largest cruise lines that no ship gets it right all the time.  

 

However, we thought there were many, many things that Explora gets right.  

1.  The huge number of pools and hot tubs are almost comical.  I get the point of limited shade at some of the pools, but there seemed to be more than enough shaded areas in other pool areas.

2.  The Food.  Superior than our cruise on the Regent Splendor and the Oceania Marina by a mile. The Emporium Market place also is easily the very best buffet at sea compared to the ships we've sailed.  

3.  Cabins.  When the basic veranda is the nicer than of the Concierge Suite on the Splendor (which is also nice), what's to complain about?

 

I'll also note that the Captain was probably the best captain I've ever sailed with .  DW and I are both retired Army Officers and were on-board during the ship's safety drill.  We watched as she (the Captain) went by each station talking to the crew members and getting their feedback then giving selected crew members praise in here public announcement address closing the drill.  That and other things we saw made it clear that she is one of the coveted terms in the military:  A Leader. 

 

As a result, crew on the ship are happy.  In one-on-one conversations they confessed to us they loved the leadership on the ship as well as the perks (like free wifi) that they get.  We always believe that a happy crew makes for a happy ship which translates to a great cruise--which is what we had.

 

I would imagine that the reason why their itinerary has so many 7-day sailings is due to only having one ship and trying to get more passengers to try the line.  I would imagine that there are more people who would give a cruise line at this price point a try for 7 days than committing to a 3-week or more journey.  As the additional ships join the fleet, I would expect for the itineraries to become more diverse in location and duration.

 

May two cents...

Your mileage may vary...

 

 

Love you 2 cents actually right on

On 4/29/2024 at 5:19 AM, Dr. Cocktail said:

 

We've sailed twice and did a few catamaran excursions where we chatted with a lot of people.

Basically everyone had been on Regent/Silversea/ and particularly Seabourn.  While there were many cruise first timers, there were extremely few people who had sailed on a premium or mass market line before.

 

On our second sailing we actually travelled with our friends who generally do Regent and Silversea.

 

I spoke to management on board and was told that Explora II will have a lot more shade and I would be getting more too on her return to Europe. We're also shade monsters and didn't find it a huge problem as we would just move once or twice a day. There's waaaaay more shade than the Regent Explorer Class Ships and it appears that there's basically no shade at all on Siver Nova and beyond.

 

We sailed with 400 on our first trip and between 600 and 700 for our second and the ship strangely felt much better with the additional passengers! Just a nicer vibe although it made second visits to Sakura and Marble next to impossible.

Enjoy your posts a lot

1 hour ago, TrinaLC said:

Not sure the 7-14-21 day plan will work for us - each would represent a different 7 day cruise out of Miami (for example) but any 7 day cruise out of Miami is something we’ve done a million times (or so it seems). We will never again cruise the Jamaica loop. 
 

Seems like if we want longer cruises to places not normally within the 7 day radius we won’t be doing Explora. Shame, we already have two TAs booked but that may be it for us. 

Just booked an 8 night carribean 2025 at good daily rate. Previously was on EJ last October at much higher daily rate. EJ offers superb product IMHO 

10 minutes ago, edgee said:

David, I guess it depends what you compare it to. Immediately after you and I were on Vista I cruised on Celebrity Ascent. Obviously, Vista is uncrowded compared to those sorts of larger ships..I could really see the differences, although we were in the Retreat, which for us alleviated somewhat the crowding issue. On the other hand, we recently completed a transatlantic on Regent Splendor, which, by comparison makes Vista seen crowded.

We were on the celebrity solstice in the retreat Last year and enjoyed it very much. We had the option of going to all restaurants and all specialty. However, when we looked into the dining room, it was extremely crowded. We have just booked a caribbean cruise for next winter, returning to explore journeys which we loved 

Glad to hear from you and your experiences all my best 

1 hour ago, edgee said:

Problem is pervasive. We'll respected cruise reviewer Gary Bembridge recently did a YouTube review on Vista...see below. Says he loves Oceania but will not sail Vista again due to noise between cabin issue.

 

https://youtu.be/5aOXEYQXQW0?si=Kx-4RmEZA3bo3DB9

 

Ed I thought Vista felt crowded generally 

1 minute ago, maggie.1008 said:

Fil Rouge has been our favorite. We will try Marble tonight and Sakura tomorrow. 
We also signed up for a five course wine pairing lunch in Anthology. 
90 euros pp.

Like most of you we are seasoned cruisers with 68 cruises on 13 different lines.

We are Wowed by Explora 1. In my humble opinion they are better than all the luxury and premium lines we have been on. 
We love our Penthouse cabin and would choose the same again. 
I also don’t understand the complaints from others. Anyone we have spoken to on the ship is gushing with praise. 
I just wish they would do the same Hawaii itinerary next year. 

Fantastic 

8 hours ago, saminina said:

Restaurants in order of least likely to disappoint IME.

Med Yacht

Sakura

Buffet

Fil Rouge

Marble

 

 

AGREED although I might switch and place Med Yacht below Fil Rouge thanks

6 minutes ago, grmmybtty said:

 

We’ve been to Chinois both in Venice and Beverly Hills. Both are great.

ABSOLUTELY 

8 minutes ago, clo said:

We don't make it to SoCal very often but when we do we certainly will go there. Thanks.

You will be happy thanks

51 minutes ago, clo said:

You said just what I was thinking. And we come to really like the more intense, authentic flavors. But some others never have the opportunity of upping their game. I've read here rave after rave about Red Ginger so.... 🙂 Also I'm not a huge fan of Asian fusion. Although someone mentioned a great place in SoCal.

It was me who mentioned Chinois on Main in Santa Monica our favorite for 40 plus years fir Asian fusion 

53 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

Explora Journeys are an exception for a number of reasons;

(1) EJ didn't exist prior to COVID so there's no way to do a "before and after" comparison. Perhaps if EJ existed prior to COVID you'd be saying "They're as good as they always were but prices are 50% higher now". 

(2) It's part of the MSC group which is privately owned and is believed to not have run up the level of debt publicly traded cruise companies did during the COVID shutdown because the profitability of their cargo ship operations was sufficient to subsidize any cruise business losses.

(3) As a privately owned company MSC doesn't answer to Wall St. and can take the path back to normal profitability its private owners want, not the path that investment bankers and its creditors want. The publicly traded companies are under great pressure to return to normal profitability and repay COVID debit at the rate Wall St. wants.

You are truly correct

9 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

But if you pay the increased prices to receive what you hope you used to have on any line, and we all keep reading that isn’t happening, where is the solution? Agree. Prices are up. Significantly. If one pays those prices, it seems fair to expect some type of value. 
Hiltner, really enjoying your live and balanced updates. Seems like your overall assessment is pretty positive. Your issues (excursions, etc) seem valid and should be addressed by O. 
Agree, Malta is one incredible sail in. Loved every minute of it! 

It is difficult to find post-COVID quality even at increased prices. And that's unfortunate. I hope that the pruce increases would result in maintaining quality but not necessarily so. My experiences on Explora Journeys the exception but at high prices 

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

We agree regarding Polo.  Keep in mind that our cruise is longer and what is good the first time can fade as one has more chances to test the menus.

Absolutely correct. You a truly fortunate to travel as you do a true blessing 

2 minutes ago, Waltershipman said:

I trust Hanks opinions having sailed with him and agree Explora Journeys is best food at sea and compares to high end restaurants on land.

 

Red Ginger and Polo were our favorites

I think from my 40 plus years of cruising I have personally  had food far better than O's current food offerings. Some were on Crystal  Silver Sea maybe 12 years ago Azamara 9 years ago and the like 

11 minutes ago, ak1004 said:

 

Personally I found Hank's observations and review very objective and balanced. I share his view of Red Ginger, despite this being a favorite restaurant of many O cruisers. I don't think anyone would claim that every meal on O (or any other line) is excellent. Same for most restaurants on land (there are some exceptions of course). But Hank also said the O food is second best only to Explora, which speaks volume.

I trust Hanks opinions having sailed with him and agree Explora Journeys is best food at sea and compares to high end restaurants on land.

Red Ginger and Polo were our favorites

11 minutes ago, clo said:

I can't remember. If we only get two res at the specialties per cruise/segment, can we do two at Toscano? I loathe watermelon 🙂 and now the sea bass (aka Patagonia tootthfish doesn't sound so wonderful either. Plus honestly, having lived in the West with a plethora of Asian cuisines, "fusion" is usually my first choice.

Thanks for weighing in as usual.

 

Try Chinois on Main in Santa Monica California for best fusion I've ever have eaten. The mix is French Asian

It's wonderful when in California