travelberlin

That is what I do. I use a napkin and do not touch the tongs. I also do not like buffets. Ivi

Thanks for the answers! I will try that. Any advise on how to customize preferences? Ivi

I am able to login fine in the Crystal webpage but I do not see a place where I can log out. Is this just me or is the log out option missing under our accounts? It says that we will be able to customize our preferences if we login but again I do not see a place to do that. For example, as a solo passenger, I would like the two beds put together. How to do that? Ivi

Which one is that?

My TA has contacted Explora to ask how long will the refund for my cancelled itinerary take. Explora says it will take 10-14 business days.

How was your cruise? Will you post a review? Were you traveling solo? I would like to know how is the overall experience for solo travelers. Ivi

It seems that the prices will not be published for the time being. You can only know how much the cruise you like cost via your TA.

Is this the refund of your full paid cruise what is missing? Or it is the refund of costs for hotels, flights and other costs? Ivi

Crystal has taught us a big lesson. We too are victims of that bankruptcy. Better to be careful, especially if an eventually rebooked cruise would be, outside of the refund limits from credit cards.

My TA tells me I should receive my refund between 7-10 days, maybe sooner. Another client of hers had canceled last Wednesday and received his refund today. So it seems that with the refunds Explora will do a good job. Ivi

Since Explora has cancelled my booked cruise twice, I will not rebook for a new itinerary. I have requested my travel agent to ask for the refund of my money. It might be a beautiful ship, but two cancellations within 8 months is just too much. Ivi

Please share your experiences on a separated thread once you are on board. You will be part of a privileged group whose itinerary has not been cancelled. That is certainly positive for you 😉

At least on the MSC yacht Club, the butler accompanies you and carry your luggage when you leave the ship. There are no butlers on Explora? Ivi

By the way if someone is interested in rebooking, it can only be done via a TA. Not directly online. We, clients are not able to see prices online. A quite intransparent booking procedure which will take additional time for TAs and clients in case of interest on an itinerary. Ivi

I think they have not formulated clearly. I think they mean rebook to another journey and get 30% off discount. However it is certainly difficult to trust Explora now, specially if the rebooked itinerary is one year from now. I have never imagined that this could happen to a new undertaking from MSC. What a pity! Ivi

I have received from my TA, the letter form Explora in which they cancel my itinerary. It is official for me now. The letter gives following options: “ Option 1 - Rebook on a new journey. Explora I is available for rebooking, and they can choose any of the available journeys. Explora II will be open for sales on September 7. Change to a different journey, and they will receive a 30% Future Journey Credit of the current journey's full value. Option 2 – Cancellation Your clients will receive a full refund of all funds paid for their journey. There is no Future Journey credit. “ Option 1 is not clear. Rebook for a different journey OR change to a different journey and get 30% future journey credit? 🤔 Ivi

I was not informed officially about the changes of itineraries or cancellations. I have learned via Cruise Critic. My TA in USA has received a PDF with the new itineraries and my cruise is not there. The new itineraries that my TA has received from Explora are the same that are circulating on Cruise Critic since some days ago and that where kindly shared by Cruise Member Bitob. Up to now there are not prices attached to those itineraries. My TA has contacted Explora on my behalf, requesting a letter from them in relation to the cancellation of my cruise and my options. Up to now, no answer from Explora. We will wait some days because there is a holiday in USA and probably nothing is going to happen until people return to work. As far as I now, Explora has contacted some TAs with a general information in relation to changes of itineraries and options but, officially no one seems to have received anything specifically for their cruise. Even in the Explora web page, I am unable to see the new itineraries. It is disappointing that we are learning about this changes via social media. And that even though there are new itineraries, those itineraries do not have prices attached to them. Hoping to learn from the experiences of other cruise critic members, and expecting the complete picture from the side of Explora in order to react. Ivi

Is there a B2 B discount when booking two consecutive cruises? Ivi

If you are even having difficulties to have a quotation for the cruise, how are you going to book? It might be wise to wait. Ivi

Explora has changed itineraries of their ships starting from middle May 2024. This means that many itineraries have been cancelled. Explora has apparently offered two options to guests. A) to apply for a full refund or B) to rebook with a discount equivalent to 30% of the total cost of the cancelled cruise. Many guests will be applying for refunds. I am starting this thread to share the questions and experiences specially in the refund process. My questions are: 1) have those guests that are applying for refunds now, received an official letter of cancellation of their itineraries from Explora? 2) some of us have already experienced a cancellation of a previous itinerary from Explora. In case we apply for the full refund due to this second cancellation now, what will we be receive? Are we just going to receive our paid deposit as refund or are we also going to receive a FCC for the amount of the previous cancellation? 3) Again for those guests that have already experienced the cancellation of their itinerary and rebooked once, if one decides to rebook again due to this new cancellation, is Explora recognizing the previous FCC of the first cancellation together with the new offer of 30%? 4) For those guests that have applied for a refund and this is their first cancellation, how long is it taking to get their refunds? Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts and experiences on this subject. Ivi

Wow! Please let us know when you get your refund.

Having met Heike during her time in Azamara, I very much doubt that she will be responsible for the mistakes that Explora is committing on board. What seems to be going on with Explora, I guess it is responsibility of a centralized management. This centralized management are a usual characteristic from MSC. Those of us who have sailed with MSC many times, know what to expect from that company. They have positive and negative aspects like every other cruise line. We cruise with MSC and we will most probably continue doing it, because we accept MSC’s particularities as long as we find an itinerary that suits us at a price we are willing to pay. Now, the problem with Explora, is that we have heard from their pre sailing marketing, how luxurious, special, etc, etc, etc, this cruise line was going to be. The prices attached to the cruises from Explora are high end and those of us who have booked with them had high expectations. We did not imagine things. We were promised that they were going to deliver the best of the best. However, up to now, this promise is not being fulfilled. Up to now every thing paying guest report about Explora is a “deja vu” from MSC. Ivi

Captains or other officers are also not visible at MSC ships. I guess Explora is following that route. Although we are not particularly fond of Captains celebrations or welcome parties, we do like to meet captain and officers. This is a nice custom on Azamara in which officers (with a couple of rather cold types who make an exemption) are always visible and making rounds. I wonder how is Heike feeling on this new environment. She has a wonderful attitude towards guests and it was always a pleasure to meet her on board the Azamara ships. Ivi

It sounds great. We were there this year. Took private transfers from Lisboa to Porto and viceversa. On the way to Porto we visited Coimbra and Aveiro. We have loved Portugal. I was planning to return with Explora next year but it seems that my itinerary has been cancelled. I have nothing official yet. Ivi

Please let us know…