Explorer Lisbon to Cape Town Nov 28 until dragged kicking & screaming off

[flossie009]

On 12/1/2018 at 3:15 PM, flossie009 said:

Update to the post about officers & senior staff:

Apparently Andreas Piccinin is going on vacation on 07 December; Massimo Arzani will join Explorer on 17 December.

 

Correction: Massimo will not be joining Explorer until 19 December.

12 days without a GM on board  😮

I am sure the other highly competent staff will cope.

[Travelcat2]

1982CruzStart - wish that I could eat the food photos!  Hard to believe that we were eating that wonderful food just last week!

 

Agree with most of your observations about Explorer.  We have stayed in four different suite types on Explorer and the F2 suites do seem smaller than on Voyager or Navigator.  I think that the space is used up by the large bathroom (not complaining - love the bathroom and the storage in the suite in general).  Agree about the stairwells and also find the hallways narrow.  Despite these few items, I find the Explorer to be the most comfortable ship in the fleet - the areas where you can sit, read, chat, people watch, look out at the sea or work on your computer is perfect.  Also like their Coffee Connection.

 

In terms of using OBC's for excursions, it will be nice when we can book excursions and not have to pay in advanced and then get reimbursed when onboard.

 

Have to laugh about the confusion with who will be on which ship.  Massimo is "suppose to be" on Explorer on February 17th.  A friend on the world cruise was told that Massimo would be on Navigator.  Guess he needs to be in more than one place at a time.  

 

Keep your lovely reports coming!

Edited December 4, 2018 by Travelcat2

[flossie009]

The old photographs that decorate the corridors on the guest suite decks of Explorer are fascinating

 

 

 

 

 

 

Certainly worth a leisurely tour around all the decks to view these movie memorabilia 

[flossie009]

8 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

Have to laugh about the confusion with who will be on which ship.  Massimo is "suppose to be" on Explorer on February 17th when we sail but if that is the case, he will have been on the ship more than 3 months.  

 

Since Massimo is not joining Explorer until 19 December, 3 months will take him through to mid March.

 

Not sure where the confusion comes from although we were surprised he is coming on before Christmas as he was on our cruise on Mariner at the beginning of October.

[Travelcat2]

2 minutes ago, flossie009 said:

 

Since Massimo is not joining Explorer until 19 December, 3 months will take him through to mid March.

 

Not sure where the confusion comes from although we were surprised he is coming on before Christmas as he was on our cruise on Mariner at the beginning of October.

 

Can't find where I said that I was confused.  I did make a typo that I corrected within 2 minutes of posting.  If there is confusion, it would be with a Diamond Seven Seas Society member being told that Massimo will be on Navigator in January when he will likely be on Explorer.  

 

Sounds like Massimo is on his normal schedule (3 months on and 2 months off).  If he was on Mariner at the beginning of October, he likely went on vacation shortly thereafter and he will return to work in December.

[UUNetBill]

25 minutes ago, flossie009 said:

The old photographs that decorate the corridors on the guest suite decks of Explorer are fascinating

 

Certainly worth a leisurely tour around all the decks to view these movie memorabilia 

And if I'm not mistaken, different decks have different themes...old movies, classic cars, travel, etc.

[HotRoot]

According to our World Cruise documents, the General Manager from January 4 - March 20 will be Nickie Sheils.  March 8 to May 15 will be Andreas Piccinin.

[briar14]

I also love the old photos. It would take several voyages on Explorer to see all of them—sign me up!

[Travelcat2]

4 hours ago, HotRoot said:

According to our World Cruise documents, the General Manager from January 4 - March 20 will be Nickie Sheils.  March 8 to May 15 will be Andreas Piccinin.

 

Thank you. The World Cruise documents were correct!

[1982CruzStart]

Dinner was in P7 last night. Food & service was  very good. 

Started with the foie gras sliders sans the slider. Quite tasty. Went onto the surf & turf with crab instead of lobster. Oh yeah and a few truffle fries. Tasty but not as good as I had in Boston. 

[1982CruzStart]

DH had the shrimp cocktail and raved about how good they were. 

[1982CruzStart]

I feel that deck 8 is the perfect position on the ship. We are 4 decks down to CR and 4 decks up to get some exercise.  Easy walking to everything.  

We are docked in Cape Verde. Off on a tour this afternoon in small 12 passengers vans without air conditioning.  Should be interesting with a high of 82. The morning tour would have been cooler but with DH's medication it is too hard to do early tours unless we have no choice. 

After a day at sea we will have 2 early morning tours. Will see how that goes. 

[flossie009]

Today we are docked at Porto Grande pier in Mindelo harbour on the island of Sao Vicente; one of ten islands that make up the archipelago of Cape Verde.

This our first time visiting Cape Verde; on previous cruises the scheduled stop was cancelled due to various good reasons (medical emergencies, Ebola crisis).

 

The people and language of Cape Verde display its African and Portuguese roots.

In 1885 Mindelo became the switching station for the first TransAtlantic telegraph cable. It was also an important coaling station for steamships.

 

Cape Verde gained independence in1975. Lacking natural resources its developing economy is mostly focused on tourism and foreign investment.

[flossie009]

Our morning tour of Mindelo visited various squares and markets in the town, including the fish market which was not for the faint hearted 

 

Our tour ended with a taste of local liquor, coconut punch, while being entertained by music & dance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[flossie009]

22 hours ago, UUNetBill said:

And if I'm not mistaken, different decks have different themes...old movies, classic cars, travel, etc.

 

17 hours ago, briar14 said:

I also love the old photos. It would take several voyages on Explorer to see all of them—sign me up!

 

Glad that post brought back happy memories of Explorer.

 

Bill, you are correct; each guest deck has a different theme for the old photos on the corridor walls.

Being “sad”, I just had to check (and it gave me some exercise ............... going clockwise around each deck 😉)

Deck 6: Fashion

Deck 7: Automobiles

Deck 8: The beach

Deck 9: Movies

Deck 10: Cruising

Deck 12: Water sports

Deck 14: Transport

 

[1982CruzStart]

Our tour was highlights of Cape Verde. To follow are some of our sights. 

[1982CruzStart]

As you will notice there is a definite haze not just my crappy photography.  Our guide told us that it was caused by sand blowing from the Sahara desert.  You will see some pictures of yellow sand dunes and all that will be sand carried by wind & ocean currents from the African continent as their island is all made up of black rock. 

[1982CruzStart]

[Travelcat2]

1982CruzStart - Gorgeous photos.  Now is when your cruise will get really interesting.  Can't wait to hear all about it!

[1982CruzStart]

Just a little recap of yeaterday's tour. 

We have been warned repeatedly on the DS TV channel and on every bit of DS literature that we are in and will be in 3rd world countries until we get to Cape Town so be prepared for non-air conditioned buses and buses not up to NA and European standards. So we no sooner get on our bus when a woman says is this our bus or just a bus to take us to our bus. In chorus the rest of the bus said 'Nope this is our bus'.

 

Actually it was a great bus. It was one of their public transit buses and our group happened to have the largest of them so we had a group of 20 while every other group was to varying smaller.  With the windows all open it was very comfortable.  this by far was not anywhere near the worse bus we have been on in a 3rd world country. The doors closed, there were no holes in the floor so you could watch the road go by beneath your feet, my DH didn't fall through his seat once. It was a great bus. The only similarity was at one point the driver couldn't get it to start and thought it was the battery - deja vu.  Unlike the other time they called for help quickly but even before they had barely hung up he was able to get it going. Not like the other bus where they had to kick a couple out of their seats to find the battery under their feet and jump start it. I sure hope this woman doesn't run into any of the buses like we had on the east coast of Africa last time. 

 

This tour was a prime example of why Regent needs to invest in audio equipment.  Between the whistling wind and the noisy bumpy ride those of us at the back could barely catch bits and pieces of what our guide was trying to tell us. He was screaming at the top of his lungs to be heard but it just couldn't carry all the way to the back of our particluar bus. No idea how others fared but we might as well have not had a guide for most the trip.  He was very good and tried very hard but circumstances were working against him. 

 

The roads are made of rocks like cobblestones so were so rough that my watch (that records my steps) thought i was hiking up a mountain. I recorded probably 9000 steps and 60 or 70 floors all just while riding along. Easiest exercise i ever did. 

 

The itinerary said we were going to the top of the highest mountain to see the view. So we are climbing narrow bumpy roads as we wind our way up to the top of the mountain. We get about 2/3's or so on our journey when the same woman says to the guide. We have to stop, i don't want to go any higher. Well first there is no stopping as there is no where near to turn around and the guide is not going to just stop part way up cuz this woman doesn't like the ride any further. Geez.  

 

the view from the top would have been quite spectacular if it hadn't been for the hazy skies i mentioned earlier.  Now the windy bumpy trip back down the mountain. this time passing an occassional bus in very specific places a long the road. 

 

Our itineary included a glass of the local punch. Well it did have a punch but if you call a shot of straight alcohol, punch, then we had a glass of punch.  We stopped by a beautiful beach and the guide decided we would enjoy the 'punch' in the bus then whoever wanted to walk down to the beach could. Now to be fair he never called it punch he called it what it was a bottle of their local liquor.  Now all i heard him call it was grog though i am pretty sure that isn't what it is called but i am sticking to what i heard.  It is a good thing he opted to do it on the bus because there were only 4 of the 20 people who got off the bus to walk down to the beach.   I stuck my hand into the water so i could say i was in the atlantic ocean off the coast of Africa. 

 

Another sea day today. So i am gearing up for another day of nothing. Yahoo!!!

[1982CruzStart]

Dinner last night was once again CR. We have a table in the back we like and ask for it each time. 

Jade does a very good job for us. 

I had jumbo shrimp cocktail, pear and roquefort salad and crispy duck. All quite delish. For a non spicy eater like me the cocktail sauce was a bit spicy so I just regulated how much sauce I slathered on them. 

 

[1982CruzStart]

Lunch was in P7. They have a reasonable selection & small portions. 

We both had the cucumber stuffed with carb salad. Quite yummy.  I had the yellowfin tuna salad. It was very good. 

[flossie009]

Must agree with 1982CruzStart that the starter of Pear with Roquefort and the main course of Crispy Duck were very tasty last night in Compass Rose.

 

Unfortunately we missed the production show (Peggy Lee) last night as we had dinner with four new found friends. The evening turned into a barrel of laughs fuelled by cocktails in the Meridian bar before and some very acceptable wines with dinner.

Finally had to leave Compass Rose before we ran into breakfast 

 

Speaking of wine we were glad to find that our favourite NZ Sauvignon Blanc is now back in stock after a few days when they had to serve the very acceptable Oyster Bay as an alternative.

According to the Head Sommelier, he had to scrounge some cases of Villa Maria from Oceania Marina when we were docked together the other day 😀

[flossie009]

Lazy sea day on deck today.

The Pool Deck on Explorer is beautiful, but like many areas of the ship has some mildly annoying design and layout quirks.

The pool itself is excellent, but what is the reason for the wide raised timber decking each side which takes up space for no purpose?

Why have the entrance to the pool showers facing the Pool Grill rather than being easily accessible from the pool?

Plenty of very comfortable sun loungers, some double, but why butt them so close together and with the first row hard against the pool surround decking? It makes negotiating between and around the loungers very difficult without disturbing your neighbours.

 

Still these are are all minor first world problems - the weather today was perfect; sunny, warm and with a light breeze 😎

[flossie009]

This cruise has attracted a diverse mixture of friendly, well travelled guests - with varied nationalities and age groups.

 

Split of guests by nationality:

U.S.A.: 378

Australia: 69

U.K.: 69

Canada: 54

Switzerland: 42

Germany: 28

France: 10

Netherlands: 10

New Zealand: 5

Poland: 5

Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Italy, Norway, Sweden, South Africa: 4 each

Peru, Portugal: 3 each

Hong Kong, Iceland, Japan, Taiwan: 2 each

Spain, Hungary, Ireland, Mexico, Malaysia: 1 each