JTor

The environmental policy on this ship is definitely one of their strengths. We are happy to drink the sparkling water generated and provided on board. They are absolutely opposed to single use plastic as anyone who loves the ocean should be. Perhaps some of the commercial sparkling water that is packaged in glass could be considered for water snobs.

Given hardly anyone smokes (even though more Europeans on this ship), there should be ONE outdoor smoking area plus the cigar lounge. And for sure NOT beside the jogging track which I think is the one you are mentioning. And not beside Crema as it prevents 95% of the people on board from being able to enjoy their coffee outdoors on a lovely day.

We were told onboard there is a “secret lounge” down there and indeed the platform is planned for watersports. No word on where/when they will use it. We had a 6 day sailing in the caribbean so were definitely in waters where it could have been used. Perhaps they are saving for longer sailings?

We had the champagne set up in our cabin without any request, though it’s possible the TA did the request. Certainly should be possible though as we were in the most basic cabin! Frankly, with free drinks (including champagne) everywhere on board I don’t know who uses the alcohol in the cabin, unless you have a big suite and are entertaining others there or something. I did meet one man on board who liked to have a special kind of liqueur with his BREAKFAST (!), so it made sense for him.

So glad you had a better experience! Ours was never fixed so to anyone else having problems DON’T WORRY. Contact your TA and they can do a work-around, get you checked in, make requests for dining and excursions, and send it all to you as PDF. If you try once and they don’t fix you up just give up on the website.

Another vote for EJ based on your stated preferences. agree with BigCruiseGuy you will hopefully love EJ based on your stated interests. Ship is gorgeous, food is the best at sea, it’s casual, the crowd is varied in age and origin and quite worldly. Oceania may also suit you at a lower price point, less inclusions (especially if you don’t drink). We found the Regent passengers quite non-diverse but perhaps that has changed.

Thank you to the OP for a thorough review. I was onboard early January and agree with many of your comments, pretty much all of the positives. My DH and me actually LOVED the coffee, perhaps it’s subjective. I agree the included wine list could be improved but I did NOT find any of the wines “undrinkable” or “faux” - we felt there was enough variety to find something for most dishes (but could improve; also, knowledge of wine servers was variable, some great, others need more training). Overall we felt everything on the ship was good to great and the only MAJOR fails for us were the website (agree with you in spades on that) and the lack of a library.

I’m not a beer drinker but my husband was pleased with the options both with and without alcohol

I had asked a few people about wine and beverage service before our sailing Jan.5 and you were all very helpful, so I will post my views here. Overall the ship did pretty well, better than Silversea, not as good as “oldCrystal” (we have not been on “newCrystal” yet). The Moet was available everywhere and served generously. The list of included wines was actually adequate (moreso than I expected on first reading) as there was a very light grenache which took the place of a Beaujolais or similar. At the same price level I do think they could have a FEW more options to cover the gamut of wine styles. The wine selection seemed a tiny bit odd to me, with some grape types and regions being a bit unexpected, but the wines were decent. We never felt the need to purchase an “extra” wine. However there are some improvements we suggest: 1. offer the included wine list at every meal, don’t try to peddle “wines of the day”; 2. there really should be a proper dry rose on offer, at least for warm weather sailings (sweet sparkling pink stuff does not count); 3. The knowledge level of the servers was quite variable and some could be better educated to suggest pairings with the food - no one should ever pour sparkling pink stuff from wherever when asked “is there a rose champagne?”. I can’t speak to premium liquors as I don’t seek them, however I do suggest having a cocktail list (beyond 2 or 3 featured cocktails in certain bars) for those of us who rarely order cocktails but want to be inspired by something special by the pool, and/or a “cocktail of the day”, which is often fun. I was disappointed that they did not have the frozen “umbrella drink” type cocktails which is something I like as a treat when I am on vacation. I did order a daiquiri one day and it was awful, not what I expected at all (I think it might have been a margarita). They did a very good Aperol spritz so from then on I stuck with that and was happy.

I’m puzzled as we were on the sailing beginning Jan.5 and were told the ship was only about half full. We did not experience shortage of anything on our trip. We were in the most basic cabin (which was wonderful) and they brought us down pillows when we asked.

Laundrettes are free, clean and easy to use. However, choose your moment carefully as often busy 🙂

thanks for the suggestion, did try this, didn’t solve our problem. But agent has obtained documents for us (thank goodness for agents with “pull” - can’t imagine what we would have done if we booked with them direct….)

yes we will be onboard!! our agent escalated and escalated and finally she was able to send us our documents. Explora never fixed our “online accounts”

thanks that helped me! We now do have documents but it took our travel agent pulling rank and bypassing the people she was “supposed to” talk to to solve the problem

so happy yours got sorted but the systems problem still exists, we are 2 weeks from cruising with no bookings linked to our accounts and unable to get documents. I do not understand how anyone can find this acceptable or how this company can hope to survive if they are taking our money and then not letting us get the documents we need to board….?

Just curious if the spa is empty and excursions being cancelled on board? There may be some who are happy to pay these prices but we will not be booking “add-on” experiences at these prices. One of the reasons we have embraced the luxury segment in cruising is so that we can pay what we agree to and then not have to think about money again. It’s less about what you “can pay” than it is about not being made to feel you are just a walking dollar sign to the company and the people serving you. For me anyway it takes away a lot of the enjoyment.

I was just sent the same price list for our upcoming cruise and needless to say I replied “no thank you”. We are sailing to Cartagena, where one of the best 5* hotels in South America offers 1 hour massages at the equivalent of $80 CAD. Contrast that with the cheapest massage on the ship at 220 EUROS which is about $320 CAD…. 4 x the price… I do realize (and have paid) that there is a premium for the convenience of going to the spa on the ship but 4x the price of a 5* hotel?!!! Insane and definitely not in keeping with the rhetoric, “we are not a cruise….”

It’s December and they have not fixed it. We’ve had no communication from them at all. We sail in just over 2 weeks, have no documents, and cannot link to our booking from their website at all. So we can’t get documents, book excursions or dining, etc. Attempts by our agent to escalate have so far been totally ineffective. I am heartened by the fact that others on this forum have SOMEHOW been allowed on board but it’s still very stressful.

Hi everyone on board, We have a cruise specialist agent and they are normally very good but they have tried to help us deal with Explora and we are still getting no where.. We are told they do not send cruise documents, we can only get them electronically on their website.. We have not been able to do this because we can’t figure out how to “link”our booking to our newly created account. I have tried to call them, the agent has called them, I’ve emailed etc and we are getting no where.. Someone did finally respond and promised to do it but 2 working days later it still isn’t done.. How did you get your documents and get on the ship? Were you unable to book dining/spa/excursions until you were on board? this is so disappointing compared with what we are used to on other lines (oldCrystal, Silversea etc). Not to mention my 86 y/o mother is coming with us and has her own booking and is NEVER going to be able to navigate this… I will have to do it for her but I cannot use my email on her account so there likely will be no solution other than me making a physical trip so I can sit at her computer with her and do it with her so the email “authentication” comes when I am present.. Definitely NOT an elderly-friendly policy!!

We are booked Mombasa to Mumbai. Just have to hope 1.5 years is long enough to resolve the diplomatic crisis with India so we can get a visa!!

Just remember that the best bread 🍞 in Italy is from France. Wonderful nation, great dishes but not noted for their bread.

So glad you enjoyed Toronto. It’s our home. Tough 3 years but that’s true every where. Makes me happy that visitors are still impressed 😁

Thanks for posting and explaining the drink list. What does “cruise wine “ mean, is it “red or white “, no choice? Ponant may not be for me… also apparently no Aperol, another problem…

OK great. hello from University Avenue.

Vistaman: thanks for posting the bar list. This is very encouraging to me! how great that they have 0% sparkling wine, beer and cocktails! And the only spirit I need to know about is the aperol for a spritz, which I'm hoping they will make for me with the 0% sparkling wine so it is even lighter in alcohol 🙂 Dr. Cocktail: sorry I offended you, not the intention. Don't slam me for being Canadian though, apparently Americans just voted us the 2nd best country in the world, after Switzerland and before Sweden... Another very good piece of news: I emailed Explora to ask about the included wines and they provided me with the whole list! (attached). It's fine for me, I like gruner and Provence rose and there is a good St-Emilion too. However, I like a lot that they are open with this list. We did several cruises with Silversea and despite other favourable aspects, the policies on the wine programme drove us crazy..... there was no list.... they ran around every day with "suggested" wines and it was like pulling teeth to find out what else you could have.... we finally met with the sommelier and he physically showed us the wines and we wrote them down (very nice of him) - never did understand why the list was top secret. So I am very happy about this response! Complimentary Wine List.pdf