Noggins

1 hour ago, English Tim said:

Did anyone from the UK receive any documents prior to the cruise or is everything online?

 

Did anyone wear sneakers or sandals for dinner?

All our documents were on-line - including luggage labels. (not very luxury - but things do improve!)

Sneakers or sandals will not get sneered at nor cause a scandal....

It sounds as if we might have a few things in common..... Seatspy (and an Explora cruise) for starters. I'm guessing there is an BA AMEX Premium Plus card and, probably, Head for Points involved in the mix too? The Concorde Room is definitely worth a visit!

Looking forward to your postings (And Sid's).

Adrian

7 hours ago, BWIVince said:

The challenge with commissions is that someone has to do the work and get paid for it.  At least in the US travel industry, it’s never been a choice of commission-funded travel agents or book direct and save the commission.  
 

No matter what anyone claims, in direct booking scenarios, the supplier just takes on the labor of managing the booking, and funds that in lieu of paying an agent for that support….  And for the most part, what the customer gets in lieu of a professional agent when they book direct, is a minimum wage, high turnover (or worse, outsourced) call center that gives them a lower level of (often incorrect or frustrating) care for pretty much the same price.  Suppliers may advertise direct booking savings or price match guarantees, but their contracts with their preferred partners guarantee price parity, so most booking channels end up with the same prices anyway (and better service).

 

I can’t comment on Explora’s commission rates because I don’t know how that’s constructed, but I will say that a 20% base commission would be problematic at best because of how commissions are tiered.  Normally, commissions come in two flavors — base commissions and overrides.  Base commissions are the same for every agency everywhere, and is customarily around 10% for most suppliers (though some companies have chipped away at that, with varying results).  Overrides are paid on top of commissions and vary by agency — these are considerations for things like sales volume, or membership in a buying consortium.  So if I was an agency that was a member of XYZ Consortium, I might get a commission of 10% on a booking, plus an override of 4%.  In rare cases, a supplier may also offer a promotion, which would be a third type of compensation — sometimes non-cash — on top of both the override and commission, to really help sell.

 

So if 20% is the total amount after overrides and promotions, that would be generous but not unheard of…. But if the 20% is just the commission, that’s a different story.  
 

I’ll add one more comment, because things are slightly different for new cruise lines starting out.  Most overrides and preferred supplier agreements are based on 2-5 year sales data.  New travel suppliers don’t have that with anyone, so overrides become more of a sore point than a go-to, causing new companies to temporarily turn more to slightly bigger base commissions or bigger promotions until they can get long-term consortium or preferred supplier agreements in place, which takes a few years.  That may also explain part of the 20% amount, but still sort of leaves open how it’s arrived at.

 

Vince

Thanks Vince, inciteful as ever and with additional layers of knowledge helpfully shared.

Adrian 

9 hours ago, BWIVince said:

Not saying this is the case, but this is the type of scenario I was mentioning.  Here I could see consortiums or agent groups pushing back on getting paid less for the same work on the award booking, and Crystal just throwing in the towel on the cruise fare credit as a remedy.  

I suppose I sort of knew it but reading the other day that Explora apparently pays 20% commission still made my eyes water. And at that level significant losses for  TA's could arise if Crystal applied the awards to the commissionable fare.

But what do we think about our TA's earning 20%? (and I assume Crystal pays similarly). The only way to test this, in my opinion, is to consider how I would feel if I had the choice of a net price from the cruise line (keeping the maths* simple, a fare 20% cheaper) and then how I would  feel when my TA invoiced me for around 20% of my cruise cost. That could be quite a chunky invoice. And suppose I had 2/3/4 + of those invoices every year. Would I value my TA's input that much? Would their input justify those fees on a routine basis? Would I always / sometimes choose to simply book direct and take the chunky saving?

I can think of other (financial  product) markets in the UK where there has been a maturing from products being purely commission based to being net priced with 'agents' charging fees for their services.

* yes, mathematics is, in English, a plural so that 's' on the end is essential!

Adrian 

Only because it has not been mentioned, I would say the main issue with the lifeboats / tenders is whether your cruise is tender port intensive. If it is bear in mind the early morning (generally) commotion and noise from the tenders being readied and lowered. A surprisingly noisy activity.

Of course on the plus side, once the tenders are off for the day there is no question of any view being obstructed!

Adrian  

Now listen, this is getting ridiculous - how can there possibly be over 16k views of this thread? If I had realised at the outset that there would be more than, say 250, I would have taken a bit more care over it. (and if I had known it would reach such numbers I might have written to Mr Explora Journeys and tried to do an 'if we reach 15k views can I have a free cruise - or maybe a tote bag?' deal with him.)

A few weeks of further reflection have confirmed that an EJ cruise is definitely for repeating. I have cast around a little for a future cruise and find it all very confusing. There are some astonishingly keen prices for a week in the Caribbean but there are also some extremely high prices in other parts of the world. To add to the confusion TA's seem to have prices all of their own and there's a rumour that at least one TA offers a significant refund on the fare once you arrive home. How odd.

8 hours ago, Roland4 said:

Our first, and hopefully last, itinerary disruption was just announced by the Captain. The forecast for Santorini tomorrow is for 50 knot winds in the anchorage, so our stop has been cancelled. We are instead going to Nafplion, which is certainly not Santorini, but we were there on Esprit in 2017 and quite enjoyed it! And the side benefit is we don't have to get up at 00:Dark-Hundred as we would have had to do for our very early tour departure!!!!! 😁

Santorini has been ruined by the hordes (although I have not checked how many ships were due tomorrow). The only good way to spend the day on a Santorini stop is making it a sea day and enjoy an empty-ish ship. IMHO, of course, Nafplion is a much better stop (and is not naff). Enjoy!

19 hours ago, maggie.1008 said:

Hopefully Heike will be back ack on board on April 27th.

We have 12:30 pm boarding time. Will we be able to go straight to our cabin?

You're going to have to try a bit harder than this, Heather! What you meant to say was 'will I be able to go straight to my Penthouse Suite and will our Host be there to greet us?'......

If you need a full glossary of Explora speak you only have to ask.

😎

1 hour ago, tfred said:

out of MIA, there are no good direct choices to LHR. Weird BA Club seat arrangements, DL 1-2-1 through ATL or JFK.  You would think that MIA would be better served

 

VS is dated but at least they are friendly   I think they are still using past good tidings of flights past. Sooner or later that goes away. 

We flew VS LHR - MIA on a 350 with the latest seat configuration (and bar) that was a totally different experience to the return VS journey from Barbados with the old 787 seat. The new seat even has a door. Well, they call it a door. 'Flap' describes it better. But in any event better than the old BA seat which is still on some of the MIA flights - notably the 380. Although even then the forward cabin on the 380 upper deck is a good option as long as you are travelling with your partner and book a pair of seats with a window.

Two decent options, with the LHR Clubhouse possibly swinging the final vote for VS.

But to be fair, JB, were they ever going to say (and they don't need to - imho) 'hey guys, we got it all wrong - we're very sorry and we're going to try harder. Please bear with us whilst we adopt and listen to our first customers much better ideas and advice'.....?

Who knows what they really think!

13 hours ago, Boatdrill said:

 

With respect I ask why do you cruise ?

Everything you like to do, you can do at home. 

By reading random 'live reports' from that section of CC (look for the tab at the top of the page if you'd never noticed it) I discovered that people cruise in all sorts of different ways. So much so that it is actually quite addictive - and certainly eye opening!! It hasn't resulted in my having any wish to change the way we cruise......but it has made me careful not to be as judgmental as I might naturally be! 

11 minutes ago, If_this_is_tuesday said:

I almost always have gone solo and always took the cheapest cruises i could find so that was Carnival and NCL and one Costa in europe for bucket list pyramids and Nile river. I switched to MSC years ago and feel they are the best value but certainly not the best quality line. But after trying Yacht Club i have the itch for better lines.

Finally the question is my cruises are pretty much drinking, eating, and watching sports on tv. I'm wondering if the tv channels out of Florida are the same as on MSC in the USA. And it seems Explora ships don't have a sports bar? If Explora isn't a good fit what cruise line is? Unless i'm reading the rates wrong it seems a few cherry picked cruises are about the same price in Yacht Club and Explora.

 

Impossible for anyone to give you advice to be able to rely on based on your brief summary but what can be said, I believe, is:

~ if what you like about Yacht Club is the nicer accommodation and better food but go elsewhere on the ship for your 'entertainment' and 'vibe' then Explora is probably not for you.

~ if you'd enjoy classy (but not stuffy) bars and restaurants and can survive without a sports bar / 'sports bar crowd' around you then you may be OK. (don't get me wrong, plenty of people on board like sports!) 

~ my guess is that you'd be lucky to find any other like minded singles amongst the c600/750 passengers you might be sharing the ship with.

~ you don't mention a need for shows etc etc such as MSC offer. Don't assume there is anything like the equivalent.

If I were you I would spend time reading threads here getting a sense of the sort of people you'll likely be around as well as spend time considering the facilities and the ship's hardware.

Finally, I've had a think about any other line that you might want to consider and can't think of one that fits your specification. Ship within a ship is a neat concept that works well for many. Have you tried NCL's Haven? Princess have some nice options to upscale the experience.  If you're determined to go beyond what you've already found and liked and definitely don't need big ship facilities then perhaps Explora is the one to chance your arm on. 

Good luck.

ps it's not Tuesday, it's Wednesday....😎

11 hours ago, CJANDH said:

Your thoughts are welcome anyway.

Ah - now I need to come up with something sensible to say.....

Here's my very best effort:

Chris, your table certainly makes for interesting reading. I would not have expected Regent to appear to be such good value (relatively). It opens up a huge number of points for debate!

~ most importantly this is Explora's maiden season and if ever there is a time to play with your pricing models it is now. They will surely have studied the comeptition's prices and persuaded themselves there are multiple reasons why their prices should be higher / lower. I am pretty sure that pricing will 'evolve' over the next few years. Demand will be key.

~ the Caribbean tends to be the cheapest place to cruise. Do cruise lines cross subsidise cruises in different parts of the world? Do they go to the Caribbean because they have to, to satisfy demand and accept that prices have to be moderated - or is it a myth and lower prices are compensated by higher passenger numbers (on average) and hence higher profits.

~ I feel Explora is much more a warm weather ship than it is a worldwide (cold weather included) cruise ship. So many of the appealing aspects of the design relate to being outside. It remains to be seen how the 6 ships are deployed but it could be another reason for pricing to evolve. 

~ I have never understood the relationship between prices of one category room vs another. I think it is generally assumed the larger the room, the larger the margin - and certainly the larger rooms seem to sell out quickly (but is this true of Explora this year? why so many TA's etc in the larger rooms?). The fact that Explora has a LOT of standard rooms suggests to me that it is that market that is the key to success or failure of the operation. Inevitably the larger rooms get more than their share of the limelight and I don't suppose the cheap seats got much of a metion when Rolex were being enticed on board! And who pays who for them to be onboard??

Then there is the ship design apropos the larger rooms.

Chris, I remember you saying throughout your cruise how disppointed you were with the room location. Invariably the large rooms are (mostly) at the back of ships with sometimes a few at the front. Everyone knows that midships is the best place to be if the ocean is in motion and the very worst place is at either end. And yet these large rooms sell, even for ocean crossings. (I know because we had a corner owners suite for a crossing once. Yes, just the once)  

The majority of Explora's competitors do not have public space at the back of the ship. The big rooms get to enjoy the best views undisturbed by pools, open deck space, bars etc. That Explora have designed a ship that combines the two has appeal but not if, like Chris, you are disturbed by the noise. (I would definitely be disturbed!) Perhaps the issue is going to be compounded come fuller ships and short cruises given the strong focus on encouraging children on board. With a first grandchild due any day I've got to be careful what I say but children on a luxury cruise ship? I'm not so sure.... (especially when, as we saw, parents put their children on separate tables in the restaurants so they are undisturbed by them - never mind the rest of us!! Not the way we parented our children. Harummph!)

If ever there was a case of 'do your homework' it is when you are considering spending a lot of money on a cruise. (If anyone is interested to know my hourly rate for private consultations then do let me know)

Hi Chris - I'm sure we'd all be piling in with replies if only you'd not limited your interest to replies from Residence guests. There are not too many of those. Most of us are in the 'cheap seats'!

Adrian

3 hours ago, maggie.1008 said:

This will be my 70th birthday cruise. How did that happen?

My waist might get larger and my liver will be hanging by a tread but I will have a smashing time.

So sorry to say that I am not as clever as you with my writing skills and technical ability.

Happy to answer any questions along the way.

We will fly from San Francisco to Honolulu on Hawaiian Airlines brand new Dreamliner aircraft. Treating ourselves to first class.✈️

We have friends in Hawaii meeting us for two nights before we board the ship on thr 27th.

 I have high expectations for this cruise and have been following along since the early stages.

I have four friends who are disappointed in the new Regent Grandeur 

They are getting off the ship today in NYC.

I enjoyed your review and all the best to you and yours.

cheers, Heather 

Oh my goodness - I've been calling you by the wrong name all this time! Many apologies - but I think you may see how it came about....?🤔😎

As one who also has a 70th this year I think you have found a fine way to celebrate - but remember to stay focused on feeling (and behaving 👀?) many decades younger.... 

Have a blast.

Adrian

22 hours ago, maggie.1008 said:

We have moved to a Penthouse suite for our Hawaii cruise. Does the Penthouse come with any complimentary laundry? Also can you order cocktails and wine from room service? 
Many thanks 😊 

Well done, Maggie - sounds like a great move. You'll not want to leave that lovely spacious room. Perhaps you'd consider using some of your time there writing up a nice day by day account of your trip - for us all to enjoy here?!

Adrian

2 minutes ago, Noggins said:

I posted the then current included wine list in the March 'live from' thread.....

 

 

Rather unhelpfully, you copy the link to the specific post, check to make sure you've posted something sensible and find CC doesn't actually take you back to the right place....... You're looking for post number 63 on Page 3. Be warned though, the list was already getting out of date. We found the wines OK with a Cab Sau our preference - which we ended up going back to several times (and may mean they have run out of that - sorry).

I posted the then current included wine list in the March 'live from' thread.....

15 hours ago, uktog said:

Thank you Adrian, you sum up why we booked again spot on - there were elements of the onboard experience that were spot on perfect for us.  My enthusiasm for Azamara has waned - the limitations of older boats and lower quality (though still broadly acceptable) have impacted on how happy we are onboard.  

Azamara certainly wins on their itineraries particularly their country intensive ones.

Both are plagued by back office issues and neither seem to be cracking it.  The room issue is not resolved, they are still not accepting the owed the customer any duty to put them in a room in a broadly similar location on the move.  Their updated offer is a room on the original deck but not near midships and on the different side (and yes a jacuzzi risk one).  We have declined!

Based on the current experience, I can't see us booking EJ again unless they really sort out their back office

 

Oh, sorry, I hadn't realised you had become disenchanted with Azamara. Our own experience, plus that of friends and brother has been very positive - particularly in regard to early Onward problems that were resolved very generously. But, I guess we all draw our own conclusions based on our own specifics! We have a soft spot for the old R7's since our early Oceania days - even though they are very dated in some ways (think shower!). Obviously the Azamara product is not in the luxury sector but for the price we thought the value was terrific.

As for EJ - if I'm right in thinking your unresolved trip is a TA then absolutely avoid a jacuzzi risk room as there'll be plenty more ship movement than we had in the Caribbean....

6 hours ago, uktog said:

My poor travel agent is tearing her hair out - and she is a very competent well informed agent.

We reached a resolution (or so we thought) on the shortening of the cruise which did involve modest reduction in price (not the per day equivalent) and an agreement to cover the two hotel nights bed and breakfast which we though was fair.  

 

Then they came back and said sorry we are only able to book room not b and b in the hotel.  My agent pushed back (as she had independently booked us two other nights in the hotel as we were arriving a few days early on a b and b basis no problem).  Eventually although not ideal we accepted a small additional amount of OBC (not sure having been onboard and experienced their rate of cancellation of excursions what we will use it for!).

 

But now we have this allocation of a different less good location room for the shortened version cruise - EJ did not give everyone the rooms they previously had.  They cannot give her any logical reason why we were given a different room in the same category but on a different side, floor and moved to the back from midships.  They are now trying to get a "fix" - its disgraceful that the response to my agent was not an :oh goodness yes we need to sort that but rather a feeble set of excuses all of which my agent has had to push back on and now is waiting to hear back on a "possible resolution".  Its not that the cruise was one that was already open for bookings, it is one that they created as a result  of changing the original one, so all guests should automatically have been allocated their existing rooms on the new voyage.

 

To add to her woes, our other EJ cruise which is a b2b has had one leg drop off the system - though EJ are assuring her the other leg is there, neither she or I can see it.  They are looking to get a IT fix.......

 

Obviously, we will not be booking any more with EJ.  Their systems are not to be trusted and their "ambassadors" seem to give experienced travel agents answers that cannot be correct in the hope they do not realise that and go away.  Its a shame because despite some limitations (is there actually a perfect line out there? -  I doubt it) we did feel EJ had a place in our vacation plans.

Having read your experiences with EJ over the inaugural voyage it seems amazing that you are having such a bad time again. One wonders why you would even consider giving them a further chance - except that it is a very nice ship and they do do a lot of things very well.....

As the days pass following our own experience onboard I am increasingly conflicted over my views and am still processing how the experience matches up against that on other ships. It is certainly a different experience and mostly a very positive one but I am held back in my enthusiasm partly over the 'management feel' of the operation. I know you are a Azamara enthusiast and, to a degree, like Crystal, I feel that is another line where the managememnt 'feel' is markedly different. It's not an overiding issue - but could easily become so if the EJ back office were to continue in the vein you have experienced extensively. 

I hope they sort out your room satisfactorily - and don't accept one under the deck 11 jaquzzis!

Adrian

21 hours ago, kool kruiser said:

Thanks Adrian for, as ever, brightening up my days with your terrific missives. Everything you say was very much in accordance with our November trip, although the entertainment and enrichment seems to have improved a tad.Hope we meet again real soon. Love to E.

Colin

That's very kind, Colin but, some would say, it is much more important to know what the lovely Steph would have to say about this thread. (But sadly I know what that might be - it would start along the lines of 'why on earth.....') 

I had read your own Explora review, of course and others besides and it is true that both enrichment and entertainment did exceed my (low) expectations. For enrichment I expected nothing (we had 2 sea days) and got one 'proper' speaker (who, unfortunately I wasn't overly impressed with) and one 'destination' speaker who was pretty dreadful. For entertainment the band were amongst the best, the lounge singers excelent (but not with the support / staging to make it comparable to a traditional ship's theatre show) and the two piano / singers very good but with the usual / unsual problem of either having no audience (Explora Lounge) or were disconnected from the audience by virtue of being on a landing one storey above everyone (Lobby Bar).

It looks like our respective plans for the next 12 months or so are laid but who knows when something might pop up as an extra unexpected opportunity!

Best to you both.

Adrian

Thanks Chris - and I'm sorry we didn't get to meet up.

Sorry also for the quality of the humour - and all those extra 'u's'. (I don't know what you think you're doing dropping your own 'u's' like that - how long have you been over there??)

With so much being written in different threads on comparisons and summaries I think I may leave my summary thoughts a little briefer than I had planned. It's hard not to be controversial or shot down in flames! I think (I hope) it was clear we had a jolly good time. The EJ misteps were relatively minor in the context of the whole and I do appreciate that our dietry preferences are a factor in of our lack of satisfaction with the set menus. (but don't get me started on EJ saying they can't print things on paper because of the environmental impact. Many of the menu items have environmental impacts that are off the scale. Enough said...)

What I will say is that, for us, EJ would be a good choice for a particular itinerary or 'offer' whereas our previous go-to line, Crystal, would get our booking rather more readily. Crystal feels more like home, more like a ship where 'Corporate-itis' doesn't exist. Crystal on board management seem to have an attitude of 'we own this and it lives or dies by how we deliver' - whereas EJ felt more like a performance from generally well trained folk performing to a Head Office script. 'If it goes a bit wrong don't blame us, we're just doing what we were told to do'.)

So that's it. As they say in Hollywood - 'It's a wrap.'

Or as they say in Ealing Studios, London - 'OK chaps, I do believe we're done. Jolly good show.' (OK, I'm guessing)

Adrian

Ah - but there is a final postscript.......

If you here at the beginning you may remember we left an unwell cat at home. He ended up needing 24/7 care from the family as he slowly declined. He had some better days now and then but immediately on our return he reached the point of no return - and we had to say goodbye. He was a real character and a fine cat. We buried him in the grounds last night. RIP Tonto.

I may have dreamt this but did I hear they only were interested in the views of those travelling economy class, who were on the left side (surely Explora wouldn't use port and starboard terminology - so, 'cruisey') and whose name began with an N?

I received it by email.

It was in my junk folder and I think it was dated today.

I have been promising a few more comments on our ('standard') room. Here goes....

Corridors are just what you're used to - nicely done with occasional large, framed pieces of art.

Room doors are in pairs - very close to each other. We never set eyes on our neighbours. This arrangement means bathrooms are back to back with a neighbour who is further down the hall - although we never heard their vacuum toilet. (possibly because the room was empty!)

Could you hear anything through the walls? Well, yes we could. Loud voices and a child's voice could be heard - but not clear enough to hear conversation.

The room was very well thought through, in the main and of all the luxury lines we have experienced this was probably the best for this category type. It was unusual to have an extensive hot drink set up coffee machine and kettle.

The fridge gets a mention too on account of the door design which allows for one bottle. Not seen that before in this sized fridge.

The space in the wardrobe is compromised by putting the dressing table in there - and the bathroom door is on the right hand side. On the other hand the safe is in the bedroom - in a drawer 

We are fairly light packers these days and we both only took slightly more than we needed. Unusually we needed to use all the bedroom storage in addition to the wardrobe.

Temperature control was very accurate and responsive.

Power to the room required a key card in a slot by the door. Some other random card did not activate the power, so no cheating! It was slightly annoying as it meant you couldn't leave a phone on charge over breakfast, for instance, unless you left one of your room cards in place. Opening the veranda door did not appear to switch off the a/C. Speaking of which that door was heavy and the opening / closing handle needed considerable strength!

The usual problem of 2 people being unable to pass at the foot of the bed existed. I this case due to the, admittedly, useful shelf 

The display shelves / room divider was a nice feature. (Yes, all nailed down. Pinch anything and a notice advised such action would lead to 'a charge being conveniently made to your account'!)

Light switches were, as is the way these days, a little complicated and it took several days to even begin to know which switch did what. But at least it gave some nice lighting options and effects. Slightly controversial were the motion activated night lights hidden in the bedside tables / night stand. There was one on both sides of the bed.

They were certainly handy in the night but light sleeping partners might be disturbed by having their light activated as their partner tried to creep to the bathroom.

Unfortunately once you reached the bathroom things were not so clever. There was only one switch operating the very bright lights. There was also very limited power options in the bathroom. If there was a shaver point it was very well hidden. My strong advice would be to bring your own night light which could be powered from here .. USB A or C

Whilst on the bathroom, it was great. The toilet was very good at cleaning itself! The walk in shower very spacious and the counter top offered good space.

The main problem was the steaming up of the mirror. The no door shower and the lack of an extraction vent in the shower meant the steaming up was rapid and slow to clear. Much has been said about the slightly unnecessary heated floor when a heated mirror would have made far more sense. A bit of a rookie error (even we have not made that mistake in bathroom renovations at home!) especially as there is no shaving / makeup mirror either.

The shower (Grohe - just like home .) is great but does not use the latest push button technology. Consequently the usual opportunity to test your reflexes applies. Can you turn on the shower and remove your arm before cold water catches you?!

You can see that bathroom products are locked in place. We like the products and bought some in the shop to take home. I'm not a fan of the refill nature of things on hygiene grounds. The sink hand wash was a free standing dispenser as per the shower item.

Finally, back on power outlets. The room was very well provided. US / European and USB A/C everywhere 

Any questions, just ask.

Adrian 

14 minutes ago, uktog said:

We are UK passport holders, we filled in no form anywhere either on the ship, the port or at the airport. 

when we arrived in Barbados by air last March we had to visit the terminals to produce the required document for entry. It was a complete zoo and in the heat and humidity too. Which is why I felt the need to be forarmed this time given that the Barbados government  guidance had not changed. All that happened on the ship was that the immigration officer took a photo of the passport - nothing more.