review published

[Mr Luxury]

4 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

I took the time to look up synonyms for ' final goodbyes'.

Indeed,we are seeing all sorts of stuff on the Internet these days 

[Dr. Cocktail]

5 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

I took the time to look up synonyms for ' final goodbyes'.

Still impressive that your computer was able to function through the Miasma of Negativity pervading this forum. I'm surprised that wifi was able to penetrate the cloud!

[morpheusofthesea]

14 minutes ago, Dr. Cocktail said:

Still impressive that your computer was able to function through the Miasma of Negativity pervading this forum. I'm surprised that wifi was able to penetrate the cloud!

"The best portion of a man's life are his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love. " Wordsworth

[travelberlin]

2 hours ago, Dr. Cocktail said:

Still impressive that your computer was able to function through the Miasma of Negativity pervading this forum. I'm surprised that wifi was able to penetrate the cloud!

Looking forward to your review from your cruise with Explora. When is that?

[vistaman]

3 hours ago, Mr Luxury said:

Indeed,we are seeing all sorts of stuff on the Internet these days 

do not forget the German "Lebewohl" 😝

[Dr. Cocktail]

3 hours ago, travelberlin said:

Looking forward to your review from your cruise with Explora. When is that?

End of the year!

[Nunagoras]

6 hours ago, uktog said:

When we board we will have very recent experience of Viking and will be comparing Explora with that. Viking is currently exceeding expectations and based on their marketing and PR Explora is supposed to be above that. Price wise it certainly is. So our benchmark will be is it worth that excess to us 

I'd to be very interested on reading your comments. Of course no included shore ex with EJ like on Viking, but some included booze against only basic wines and beer with Viking. Bear also in mind that Viking only sells to the English speaking markets, while EJ is global, but that would to be the most assertive apples-to-apples comparison, once ships do come from similar prototype at same shipyard for same pax number and arguably same industry standard. I was always skeptical on the "full luxury" market, once 900+ guests plus eventual kids aboard is a little bit too much for what that standards allow.

 

Have a wonderful sailing despite the bugs!...

[Hlitner]

12 hours ago, vistaman said:

some of the guests - as it were -  completely overwhelmed by the free Moët

when I said something on board about the not so great complementary wines : several especially young ones replied  : we do not care we only drink Champagne.

That is interesting, from a financial point of view.  I can see DW and I following a similar pattern.  While we do really enjoy wines, they must at least be drinkable (by our standards).  If the complementary wines are rubbish, we would probably drink a lot more of the Moet as the better option.  Moet will cost EJ more money than buying half decent wines in the $15-$20 range (wholesale).

 

Hank

[vistaman]

3 hours ago, Hlitner said:

That is interesting, from a financial point of view.  I can see DW and I following a similar pattern.  While we do really enjoy wines, they must at least be drinkable (by our standards).  If the complementary wines are rubbish, we would probably drink a lot more of the Moet as the better option.  Moet will cost EJ more money than buying half decent wines in the $15-$20 range (wholesale).

 

Hank

EJ obviously has a great agreement with Louis Vuiton Moët Hennessy .

[Lord Haw Haw]

4 hours ago, vistaman said:

EJ obviously has a great agreement with Louis Vuiton Moët Hennessy .

 

7 hours ago, Hlitner said:

That is interesting, from a financial point of view.  I can see DW and I following a similar pattern.  While we do really enjoy wines, they must at least be drinkable (by our standards).  If the complementary wines are rubbish, we would probably drink a lot more of the Moet as the better option.  Moet will cost EJ more money than buying half decent wines in the $15-$20 range (wholesale).

 

Hank

Not so, many these days only chose to have half a glass.

[bitob]

I’d like to hear comparisons from those who have regularly sailed regent ss and seabourn 

 

explora touts itself as a luxury line 

those 3 lines would be my benchmark

 

I would really like to hear about enrichment and entertainment. I’m sure food is not a problem 

 

Edited September 14, 2023 by bitob

[vistaman]

8 minutes ago, bitob said:

I’d like to hear comparisons from those who have regularly sailed regent ss and seabourn 

 

explora touts itself as a luxury line 

those 3 lines would be my benchmark

 

I would really like to hear about enrichment and entertainment. I’m sure food is not a problem 

 

there were 2 automatic piano's  ( a man came to put in  some IT figures  and you did receive half an hour Mozart for example)   and a poor piano player  - playing fortissime all the time  - unable to communicate in the various lounges  - he played in diffrenet places 

there was a quartet  not so great - an a guitar player  he was not bad 

there was a poet in residence   it seems Residence pax did get a book by him 

daily meetings of Solivagant ( singles ), Club Soda ( Bill W )  and Prism ( LGB.... ) 

no library   and art  for sale  pics from the ship in construction  starting at 2000€

cooking class at 150 € but no wine tastings, cocktail presentation or similar 

[bitob]

Just now, vistaman said:

there were 2 automatic piano's  ( a man came to put in  some IT figures  and you did receive half an hour Mozart for example)   and a poor piano player  - playing fortissime all the time  - unable to communicate in the various lounges  - he played in diffrenet places 

there was a quartet  not so great - an a guitar player  he was not bad 

there was a poet in residence   it seems Residence pax did get a book by him 

daily meetings of Solivagant ( singles ), Club Soda ( Bill W )  and Prism ( LGB.... ) 

no library   and art  for sale  pics from the ship in construction  starting at 2000€

cooking class at 150 € but no wine tastings, cocktail presentation or similar 

That sounds disappointing. We love live music and good lecturers and entertainment. Is that totally absent?

[florisdekort]

1 hour ago, bitob said:

I’d like to hear comparisons from those who have regularly sailed regent ss and seabourn 

 

explora touts itself as a luxury line 

those 3 lines would be my benchmark

 

I would really like to hear about enrichment and entertainment. I’m sure food is not a problem 

 

We are Seabourn regulars and are sailing Explora on 20 October. I’ll definitely post my observations. 
 

[vistaman]

please find enclosed a daily programme - I took a "random" one 

programme.pdf

[PaulMCO]

6 hours ago, vistaman said:

please find enclosed a daily programme - I took a "random" one 

programme.pdf 990.06 kB · 22 downloads

do you have a sample sea day???

[vistaman]

1 hour ago, PaulMCO said:

do you have a sample sea day???

no i am sorry   I threw away  several daily programme  

[vistaman]

the "random" disembarkation without  assistance

disembarkation.pdf

[uktog]

44 minutes ago, vistaman said:

the "random" disembarkation without  assistance

disembarkation.pdf 355.91 kB · 6 downloads

That’s no different from most lines. You put your luggage out the night before for assistance with handling 

[vistaman]

1 hour ago, uktog said:

That’s no different from most lines. You put your luggage out the night before for assistance with handling 

yes but they inquire about the hours of your flights and provide assistance ( as done on ms europa last year in hamburg - )

[Tapi]

On 9/8/2023 at 4:54 PM, vistaman said:

My review is published and all the items I wrote  are the truth in full.

Thanks for the review! 
 

I have a question for you. Did you walk along the promenade on deck 5 (specifically on the port side)? Just curious if there’s anything that would make OC1 staterooms (the ones right above on deck 6, overlooking that promenade) truly undesirable due to their close proximity. 
 

I’ve done staterooms on other cruise lines overlooking the promenade one deck below, and that hasn’t hindered my enjoyment. But I don’t know what to expect on Explora (in terms of obstructions, too close proximity, lack of privacy, etc). I’ve looked for videos and photos online, but I still haven’t found what I’m looking for. 
 

I read that on this ship, the starboard side of the promenade is a smoking section, so the staterooms on that side are an automatic no-no for me. 
 

Thanks for any feedback that you may provide! 

Edited September 21, 2023 by Tapi

[vistaman]

34 minutes ago, Tapi said:

Thanks for the review! 
 

I have a question for you. Did you walk along the promenade on deck 5 (specifically on the port side)? Just curious if there’s anything that would make OC1 staterooms (the ones right above on deck 6, overlooking that promenade) truly undesirable due to their close proximity. 
 

I’ve done staterooms on other cruise lines overlooking the promenade one deck below, and that hasn’t hindered my enjoyment. But I don’t know what to expect on Explora (in terms of obstructions, too close proximity, lack of privacy, etc). I’ve looked for videos and photos online, but I still haven’t found what I’m looking for. 
 

I read that on this ship, the starboard side of the promenade is a smoking section, so the staterooms on that side are an automatic no-no for me. 
 

Thanks for any feedback that you may provide! 

No I did not  but I saw the smoking section -  I never smoked and I do hate it 

[gymfreak]

36 minutes ago, vistaman said:

No I did not  but I saw the smoking section -  I never smoked and I do hate it 

We are going to be in 6028 which I believe is above the Crema cafe  Would live to know if anyone in this location has suffered from smoke rising to the balcony. As a non smoker I would find this intolerable  May have to try relocate 

[Tapi]

56 minutes ago, vistaman said:

No I did not  but I saw the smoking section -  I never smoked and I do hate it 

Thanks again Vistaman