Heike's new home

[uktog]

Heike has now made it public, her new home is Explora Journeys in a fantastic senior role

 

Good luck Heike we will all be following with interest and some of us will be testing one of your early voyages

[asnaleah]

I hadn’t read anything about Explora, so I went to their website. Looks lovely!

[audobon_tx]

Big step up for Heike on an exciting new luxury cruise line.  Congratulations to her and to MSC for having the wisdom to hire her.

[RW75]

Grandma Cruising drew my attention to Explora, whom I was unaware of.  Suspect there will be many pages on this board with comparisons and grumbles from next summer if the product is as excellent as it looks and price point currently on offer remains at that level.  
I shall be dipping my toe in the Explora experience next winter. 

[Grandma Cruising]

19 minutes ago, RW75 said:

Grandma Cruising drew my attention to Explora, whom I was unaware of.  Suspect there will be many pages on this board with comparisons and grumbles from next summer if the product is as excellent as it looks and price point currently on offer remains at that level.  
I shall be dipping my toe in the Explora experience next winter. 

I thought the prices were very mixed. Caribbean cruises looked very reasonable, but some of the Mediterranean ones were very expensive.

Interesting that their prices are per suite, not per person.

[RW75]

Just now, Grandma Cruising said:

I thought the prices were very mixed. Caribbean cruises looked very reasonable, but some of the Mediterranean ones were very expensive.

Interesting that their prices are per suite, not per person.

Yes, you are correct now I think about it. I was looking at the Caribbean. Some were very expensive for others I scrolled by and didn’t actually look at closely. 

[takemewithyou]

7 hours ago, uktog said:

Heike has now made it public, her new home is Explora Journeys in a fantastic senior role

 

Good luck Heike we will all be following with interest and some of us will be testing one of your early voyages

Hope you come back and tell us all about it!  😀

[Baynanno1]

3 hours ago, Grandma Cruising said:

I thought the prices were very mixed. Caribbean cruises looked very reasonable, but some of the Mediterranean ones were very expensive.

Interesting that their prices are per suite, not per person.

Looks like a perfect fit for Heike!

I only had a look at the Mediterranean and somehow managed to miss that prices are per suite, which makes them a whole lot less expensive per person.

It does look lovely, but probably a bit big for our liking. It will be interesting to find out more details over the months between now and June 2023.

[LuAnn]

2 hours ago, Baynanno1 said:

Looks like a perfect fit for Heike!

I only had a look at the Mediterranean and somehow managed to miss that prices are per suite, which makes them a whole lot less expensive per person.

It does look lovely, but probably a bit big for our liking. It will be interesting to find out more details over the months between now and June 2023.

I didn't see where it mentioned the number of passengers....did I miss that?  I thought many of the prices looked pretty good and comparable to AZ and Oceania as well. 

[Baynanno1]

35 minutes ago, LuAnn said:

I didn't see where it mentioned the number of passengers....did I miss that?  I thought many of the prices looked pretty good and comparable to AZ and Oceania as well. 

There's some good information on Cruisemapper.

922 passengers at double occupancy, but can accommodate somewhere between 1400 and 1500. I can't remember the exact figure.

Edited September 13, 2022 by Baynanno1

[DS]

Thank, UKTOG.... I'm just emerging from a rabbit hole that made me go down!   Appears to start in summer 2023 with one ship, adds a ship a year for several years there-after.  One nit-pick about their web site ( similar complaints to Oceania).   They  list their cruises, sort of backwards-  starting with a very long journey that is really 4 or 5 or more smaller trips, and then give all kinds of combinations, but not the individaul pieces.   I'd rather build my own B2B to meet my time standards, etc.    Its hard to do the way they arrange it.   Azamara gives you the building blocks to build as long a trip as you want  (   I admit, I have not compared the prices of the "whole" versus the "parts"... that will be a task for another day...)    Again, Thanks for the update on Heike

[tgg]

2 hours ago, Baynanno1 said:

There's some good information on Cruisemapper.

922 passengers at double occupancy, but can accommodate somewhere between 1400 and 1500. I can't remember the exact figure.

 

I'm confused.  With 461 suites, how could they accommodate 1400 to 1500 passengers?

[aussie travel bird]

27 minutes ago, tgg said:

 

I'm confused.  With 461 suites, how could they accommodate 1400 to 1500 passengers?

I've read that some are multi occupancy suites (i.e. more than 2 persons) so that might account for the extra capacity.  All rooms are suites.

[SkystheLimit]

Website not very friendly.  It kept sending me to Instagram for specific cruises.  Huge Heiki fan just as I am of Russ Grieve.  Would do my best to cruise with them again on any cruise line. Of course, if I could have the ideal crew it would be all the best I've met on Azamara through the years.

 

 

[Riocca]

Like many I’ve had a look at their website, ships look lovely but again too big to get into some of the more unusual ports. Website itself is ok but not the best, prices as you would expect from MSC are competitive but t&c’s are off putting, early booking price requires 100% payment on booking otherwise it’s a 25% deposit. Although for U.K. bookings cancellation terms aren’t as bad as some £150 up to 150 days then 15% to 120 days 25% to 90 days etc.

[Lindy028]

Just had a look at their website, ship looks beautiful,  but agree the website is not the best. We have a big anniversary next year, we could be tempted. 

[LuAnn]

14 hours ago, Riocca said:

Like many I’ve had a look at their website, ships look lovely but again too big to get into some of the more unusual ports. Website itself is ok but not the best, prices as you would expect from MSC are competitive but t&c’s are off putting, early booking price requires 100% payment on booking otherwise it’s a 25% deposit. Although for U.K. bookings cancellation terms aren’t as bad as some £150 up to 150 days then 15% to 120 days 25% to 90 days etc.

Did not see that Riocca...thank you for pointing that out!

[Baynanno1]

22 hours ago, tgg said:

 

I'm confused.  With 461 suites, how could they accommodate 1400 to 1500 passengers?

My statement said 922 passengers at double occupancy.

 

It continued on to say - can accommodate somewhere between 1400 and 1500.

 

A look at the link below will show you that every suite can accommodate 3 or 4 guests.

 

https://www.cruisemapper.com/cabins/MSC-Explora-1-2014

 

 

[laurieb]

They do all appear to be very spacious.  Love the Hawaii itineraries. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

Hard to say how many family groups will book a ship this expensive, so I have it filed as 922 (double occupancy) in my cruise ship Excel chart.  Explora is attracting a lot of interest among the Crystal refugees – this number is right between the two Crystal ships [even after their downsizing a few years ago] and the space ratio is much better than Symphony.  I usually take a wait and see attitude toward new cruise lines [proved right with Atlas... but maybe they can still fix their problems], but I think MSC has a real leg up with their experience with the Yacht Club.  This [along with Oceania's new class of ships and Viking Ocean] is what Azamara must prepare to compete with.

[Riocca]

5 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Hard to say how many family groups will book a ship this expensive, so I have it filed as 922 (double occupancy) in my cruise ship Excel chart.  Explora is attracting a lot of interest among the Crystal refugees – this number is right between the two Crystal ships [even after their downsizing a few years ago] and the space ratio is much better than Symphony.  I usually take a wait and see attitude toward new cruise lines [proved right with Atlas... but maybe they can still fix their problems], but I think MSC has a real leg up with their experience with the Yacht Club.  This [along with Oceania's new class of ships and Viking Ocean] is what Azamara must prepare to compete with.

But can these new bigger luxury ships complete with Azamara’s ability to get into the unusual ports? If you’re happy with Le Verdon instead of The centre of Bordeaux, Cadiz rather than Seville how about Le Havre not Rouen the list goes on. I’ve seen Viking in the container port near Marseille rather than docking in the town as Azamara does.

If your destination is the glitzy new cruise ship that’s fine, but while Azamara can offer a premium experience and access these unusual locations I will keep booking. My fear is that when Azamara get new ships, and it’s going to have to happen, they will go the same route as Oceania, Viking and Explora.

[uktog]

13 minutes ago, Riocca said:

But can these new bigger luxury ships complete with Azamara’s ability to get into the unusual ports? If you’re happy with Le Verdon instead of The centre of Bordeaux, Cadiz rather than Seville how about Le Havre not Rouen the list goes on. I’ve seen Viking in the container port near Marseille rather than docking in the town as Azamara does.

If your destination is the glitzy new cruise ship that’s fine, but while Azamara can offer a premium experience and access these unusual locations I will keep booking. My fear is that when Azamara get new ships, and it’s going to have to happen, they will go the same route as Oceania, Viking and Explora.

I suspect some ports will actually limit ships access anyway and you are going to have to be under 250 passengers to get in never mind the technology and environmental boxes you need to tick. That’s already happening in Norway and Spain and France are reconsidering their river access rules. It’s only a matter of time before we lose Rouen and Seville to all but river boats. So it’s probable looking ahead that even at 700 guests Azamara is “in trouble”. If we want to be very close in, it’s going to have to be niche lines. 

I remember Larry Pimintel talking about the economics of ships sizes in terms of build cost and fixed running costs. He highlighted then that a fully qualified and experienced all round cruise ship master commands the same salary regardless of vessel size.  If you read between the lines in that presentation to stay small but best return on investment 900-1000 is the sweet spot. 
 

Having sailed Viking (and let’s ignore for the minute the crew interaction levels) from an all round guest experience that size is perfect- big enough to offer more overall guest space and small enough to avoid feeling like a number whilst still accessing pretty good parking spots.   A Viking vessel with Azamara crew would have an awful lot to commend it. 

[Riocca]

2 hours ago, uktog said:

I suspect some ports will actually limit ships access anyway and you are going to have to be under 250 passengers to get in never mind the technology and environmental boxes you need to tick. That’s already happening in Norway and Spain and France are reconsidering their river access rules. It’s only a matter of time before we lose Rouen and Seville to all but river boats. So it’s probable looking ahead that even at 700 guests Azamara is “in trouble”. If we want to be very close in, it’s going to have to be niche lines. 

I remember Larry Pimintel talking about the economics of ships sizes in terms of build cost and fixed running costs. He highlighted then that a fully qualified and experienced all round cruise ship master commands the same salary regardless of vessel size.  If you read between the lines in that presentation to stay small but best return on investment 900-1000 is the sweet spot. 
 

Having sailed Viking (and let’s ignore for the minute the crew interaction levels) from an all round guest experience that size is perfect- big enough to offer more overall guest space and small enough to avoid feeling like a number whilst still accessing pretty good parking spots.   A Viking vessel with Azamara crew would have an awful lot to commend it. 

Sadly this is the way things are headed, we’ve already lost Venice, in the meantime we will make hay while the sun shines.

Once the inevitable happens we will have to review our travel requirements.

[uktog]

Indeed, I suppose as we would not want a shock landing we have been dallying elsewhere and will do so both in terms of oceans and rivers in the coming few years.  At least we will then know who has a tick and who does not.  (Oh and MSC Yacht Club certainly does not get a tick but I'm hoping Explora Journeys is that step up they are claiming it is or our experimental booking will be a one and done!)

[Riocca]

On 9/14/2022 at 9:19 AM, Lindy028 said:

Just had a look at their website, ship looks beautiful,  but agree the website is not the best. We have a big anniversary next year, we could be tempted. 

Jut noticed the website is Versonix Seaware the same company producing Azamara’s new system and presumably the website as well, hopefully Azamara’s will be better.