Happy Cruiser 6143 Posted December 8, 2021 #26 Share Posted December 8, 2021 Interesting observation. In Yacht Club when I asked for nonalcoholic wine they looked at me like I had two heads. That request is easily accommodated on Celebrity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellalicious Posted February 12, 2022 #27 Share Posted February 12, 2022 On 10/14/2021 at 12:09 AM, neptuno said: To MSC's credit, they did offer an exceptional product when entering the US market twelve years ago: an outstanding shipboard experience at a remarkably low price. Perhaps they will enter the upscale market with pricing that will attract even the most critical. However, I totally agree they will have to improve their landside customer service. We cruised MSC 10 years ago and the service was crap (I can think of a few other choice words for it but that's the most polite one), my husband and I both had food poisoning at different times in the cruise, if you only spoke English 9 out of 10 times your shore excursion got cancelled because MSC refused to pay the guides an extra 5 euro to speak English on the tour and yes that is a fact as we got that information from one of the tour guides who had been told not to speak English as MSC refused to pay the 5 Euro, we were on a German speaking tour and no we don't speak German. At the end of the cruise they asked all of the passengers to critique them so we did, we ended up with almost 8 foolscap pages of complaints. We had a travel agent onboard who we made friends with and she said she will for the rest of her working life never recommend MSC Cruises to any of her clients. No one we met had a good word to say about them. Half the crew were fabulous the rest were MEH! It will be a bloody miracle if MSC can rise to the heights of RSSC, Silversea and any other Luxury Line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Host Jazzbeau Posted February 12, 2022 #28 Share Posted February 12, 2022 10 years ago is ancient history for a new cruise line. We cruised on Seaview in the Yacht Club in Oct. 2019, just before the Covid shutdown, and had an excellent experience with none of the problems you detail above. [See my blog for this cruise.] The 'ship with a ship' concept shows what MSC is capable of doing when they aim at luxury, and it was priced well below what Celebrity and NCL were charging for their lesser implementations of the concept [we had recently sailed on Celebrity Edge in the Retreat, so we had a valid comparison]. I am therefore looking forward to Explora to see if they can shake up the luxury-yacht sector in the same way. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Two Wheels Only Posted February 13, 2022 #29 Share Posted February 13, 2022 I believe that this is Explora I. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtA Posted April 10, 2022 #30 Share Posted April 10, 2022 Where are you seeing pricing on the website? I just see their offerings but no way to access pricing when I go to www.explorajourneys.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dolphin1313 Posted April 10, 2022 #31 Share Posted April 10, 2022 1 hour ago, AtA said: Where are you seeing pricing on the website? I just see their offerings but no way to access pricing when I go to www.explorajourneys.com You press the "Book a Journey" button which is on the upper right-hand side of the screen. Also, you want to make sure that you select the currency that you want in the upper-left hand side of the screen. Here's link for the US: https://explorajourneys.com/us/en/bookings.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Two Wheels Only Posted April 27, 2022 #32 Share Posted April 27, 2022 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helenb Posted January 6, 2023 #33 Share Posted January 6, 2023 Are there going to be any crossover benefits for MSC Diamond members? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Hlitner Posted January 9, 2023 #34 Share Posted January 9, 2023 On 1/6/2023 at 2:33 PM, helenb said: Are there going to be any crossover benefits for MSC Diamond members? Yes, there is an ongoing promotion (ends later in January). Diamond MSC folks can book the lowest category cabin and get a 2 category upgrade plus $500 OBC. I believe you need to mention this to your travel/cruise agent and also provide your Diamond #. Hank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daleandrews Posted January 9, 2023 #35 Share Posted January 9, 2023 And FYI there is an across-the-board fare hike coming on January 16 according to Explora's emails. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare travelberlin Posted January 9, 2023 #36 Share Posted January 9, 2023 23 hours ago, Hlitner said: Yes, there is an ongoing promotion (ends later in January). Diamond MSC folks can book the lowest category cabin and get a 2 category upgrade plus $500 OBC. I believe you need to mention this to your travel/cruise agent and also provide your Diamond #. Hank Yes, this promotion is valid until February 23rd. Good that Diamond members at MSC are being offered benefits on Explora. Ivi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare travelberlin Posted January 9, 2023 #37 Share Posted January 9, 2023 20 hours ago, daleandrews said: And FYI there is an across-the-board fare hike coming on January 16 according to Explora's emails. How do you receive mails from Explora? Ivi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Hlitner Posted January 10, 2023 #38 Share Posted January 10, 2023 1 hour ago, travelberlin said: Yes, this promotion is valid until February 23rd. Good that Diamond members at MSC are being offered benefits on Explora. Ivi A bit late in coming :). We were on the Seashore (Yacht Club) in October and I spoke to the onboard future cruise lady about booking Explora. She was very clear that they were being operated as two different lines and she could not even handle a booking. I told her I thought that MSC was making a huge mistake by not actively marketing to their Yacht Club passengers and she agreed. We have been looking at an October cruise on the Explora and there are a lot of available cabins. If they had marketed on all the MSC cruises I suspect it would be a different story. Hank 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daleandrews Posted January 10, 2023 #39 Share Posted January 10, 2023 1 hour ago, travelberlin said: How do you receive mails from Explora? Ivi Some months back I signed up on their website to receive newsletters. I've never actually GOTTEN a newsletter but every once in a while they send out a promotional email. I received one a couple weeks back saying there would be a January 16 rate increase. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankhi Posted January 12, 2023 #40 Share Posted January 12, 2023 I just booked 1/27/2024 from San Juan as a solo traveler. The price was significantly less than the usual double occupancy rate, plus early booking discount... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellalicious Posted January 12, 2023 #41 Share Posted January 12, 2023 The pictures of the ship and staterooms on their website do look impressive. I'm looking forward to hearing how those of you who cruise with Explora find everything. There is only one itinerary that interests me at the moment but so far it is only offered for 2023. I'm waiting for future itinerary releases probably 2025 since 2023 & 2024 are booked with 6 cruises on Silversea, Viking and RSSC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare At Sea At Peace Posted January 13, 2023 #42 Share Posted January 13, 2023 On 1/8/2023 at 7:05 PM, Hlitner said: Yes, there is an ongoing promotion (ends later in January). Diamond MSC folks can book the lowest category cabin and get a 2 category upgrade plus $500 OBC. I believe you need to mention this to your travel/cruise agent and also provide your Diamond #. Hank We signed up on their separate website and tried to book a cruise (12/13/2023) directly. A couple of issues and don't know if you or anyone can comment ~ 1. Couldn't find the Diamond MSC promotions that you mention. 2. Can't select a specific stateroom. Once selecting a category, they price it and give you a stateroom number. A message indicates that if you want to change your assigned stateroom or category you have to call them directly. Ships looks incredible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Hlitner Posted January 13, 2023 #43 Share Posted January 13, 2023 13 minutes ago, At Sea At Peace said: We signed up on their separate website and tried to book a cruise (12/13/2023) directly. A couple of issues and don't know if you or anyone can comment ~ 1. Couldn't find the Diamond MSC promotions that you mention. 2. Can't select a specific stateroom. Once selecting a category, they price it and give you a stateroom number. A message indicates that if you want to change your assigned stateroom or category you have to call them directly. Ships looks incredible. We always use decent cruise agencies because they take care of that kind of stuff plus give us a generous On Board Credit (which you do not get when you book direct). Two days ago we booked a September cruise and our cruise agent said there was no problem getting the 2 category upgrade plus $500 OBC for the MSC Diamond promotion. Our cruise agent said she only had to enter our Diamond number onto the booking record (you may not be able to do this when booking direct). Our cruise agent can also get cabin assignments. Hank 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiseCrew123 Posted January 13, 2023 #44 Share Posted January 13, 2023 Usually cruise with Celebrity but got an MSC status match so booked under the Diamond offer for September 2024 - very excited Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankhi Posted January 14, 2023 #45 Share Posted January 14, 2023 Does the MSC offer apply to all bookings? i.e. if I paid for an OT4 could you upgrade to a deluxe penthouse or are the upgrades only in the OT class? (waiting for diamond status match, so didn't receive the original email offer) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Hlitner Posted January 14, 2023 #46 Share Posted January 14, 2023 3 hours ago, frankhi said: Does the MSC offer apply to all bookings? i.e. if I paid for an OT4 could you upgrade to a deluxe penthouse or are the upgrades only in the OT class? (waiting for diamond status match, so didn't receive the original email offer) I am not sure. We simply requested an OT1 to OT3 upgrade. Keep in mind that all the OT cabins are essentially the same and the only difference is in location. Getting a Diamond Status match from MSC can involve lots of waiting. When we got the match (about 4 years ago) we waited months and finally managed to get through to the right person (with a phone call to MSC) who actually found our application info and processed while we were on the phone. These days, I doubt if you can even get to the right folks. As much as we love MSC's Yacht Club, their land-based USA customer service is awful. Hank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tgg Posted January 14, 2023 #47 Share Posted January 14, 2023 On 1/13/2023 at 12:10 PM, CruiseCrew123 said: Usually cruise with Celebrity but got an MSC status match so booked under the Diamond offer for September 2024 - very excited Thanks for mentioning the MSC status match. I went to the MSC web site, checked the table for the comparable Azamara level, and found out we would have diamond status. I filled out the form and submitted it. I don't know what this will mean on Explora - but it can't hurt.😄 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiseCrew123 Posted January 14, 2023 #48 Share Posted January 14, 2023 You get a two cabin upgrade and €500 obc if you book before 24 Feb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare travelberlin Posted January 14, 2023 #49 Share Posted January 14, 2023 I have also booked my cruise for 2024. With my diamond status, 2 category upgrade and US OBC. Looking forward to cruising with Explora. Ivi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare morpheusofthesea Posted January 14, 2023 #50 Share Posted January 14, 2023 On 12/8/2021 at 11:38 AM, Happy Cruiser 6143 said: Interesting observation. In Yacht Club when I asked for nonalcoholic wine they looked at me like I had two heads. That request is easily accommodated on Celebrity. "Times they are a changing." On the Seascape last week and told the sommelier I stopped drinking, he said they now offer non alcoholic champagne. I thanked him and tipped him anyway for the effort. If I can't get a 'kick' from champagne nor mere alcohol to thrill me at all, It's just not worth the calories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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