Explora 17 November - 6 December

[mike@sea]

@uktog Thank you so much for your answer. I would be OK with Euros. But still.  
I will review my „booked“ excursions for my March B2b and better cancel one or two costly ones, then possibly rebook them only once onboard, when it is definite that they are scheduled. Thinking e.g the  Levi’s Highligts and Four Seasons lunch one, which I am not so sure about anyways and which is quite pricey. 

Thank you so much for all your comments and posts here over the  past months. After all those negative experiences beforehand I m really happy for you, that you are having such a great time!

Edited November 29, 2023 by mike@sea

[maggie.1008]

Can you please find out how long Heike will be on board?

[Tyler919]

Not surprisingly the entertainment still pales in comparison to the rest of the experience. That said, Michael Washington, who appears to be new aboard? Was fabulous last night. Energetic and talented, he performs in Las Vegas and it felt like a Vegas show and the band stepped up to his level and it was easily the best show so far on this leg.

Upstairs in Explora lounge last night the two vocalists with piano accompaniment were much more like watching a rehearsal which was unfortunate.

Hoping we see more of Mr Washington.

[Corriegr]

1 minute ago, Tyler919 said:

Not surprisingly the entertainment still pales in comparison to the rest of the experience. That said, Michael Washington, who appears to be new aboard? Was fabulous last night. Energetic and talented, he performs in Las Vegas and it felt like a Vegas show and the band stepped up to his level and it was easily the best show so far on this leg.

Upstairs in Explora lounge last night the two vocalists with piano accompaniment were much more like watching a rehearsal which was unfortunate.

Hoping we see more of Mr Washington.

Personally we have enjoyed the band in the Astern even if we were the only couple in there the other night … they played a good mix of classic pop rock and well worth a visit just for a change.

[Waltershipman]

15 minutes ago, Tyler919 said:

Not surprisingly the entertainment still pales in comparison to the rest of the experience. That said, Michael Washington, who appears to be new aboard? Was fabulous last night. Energetic and talented, he performs in Las Vegas and it felt like a Vegas show and the band stepped up to his level and it was easily the best show so far on this leg.

Upstairs in Explora lounge last night the two vocalists with piano accompaniment were much more like watching a rehearsal which was unfortunate.

Hoping we see more of Mr Washington.

Excellent news thanks

[uktog]

3 hours ago, Tyler919 said:

Not surprisingly the entertainment still pales in comparison to the rest of the experience. That said, Michael Washington, who appears to be new aboard? Was fabulous last night. Energetic and talented, he performs in Las Vegas and it felt like a Vegas show and the band stepped up to his level and it was easily the best show so far on this leg.

Upstairs in Explora lounge last night the two vocalists with piano accompaniment were much more like watching a rehearsal which was unfortunate.

Hoping we see more of Mr Washington.

He’s a guest artiste he was on last cruise as well. The two in the Explora lounge are the resident artistes every show looks like a rehearsal with them 

[uktog]

4 hours ago, maggie.1008 said:

Can you please find out how long Heike will be on board?

Mid January I believe 

[Alethers]

On 11/29/2023 at 4:41 PM, mike@sea said:

@uktog Thank you so much for your answer. I would be OK with Euros. But still.  

I have had one excursion cancelled by the ship, and another that I’ve just chosen to cancel.  
 

One warning, an excursion I wanted to do was full a few days ahead of time, even with low passenger numbers onboard.

 

I checked the refund process again just now with the excursions desk and like others have said, if you don’t spend onboard then they will refund you at the end of the trip.  It has to be cash, but they did just tell me that they can refund in USD instead of Euros if a passenger prefers.

 

They’ve also assured me that anything I spend onboard will come first from my non-refundable credit which I have as part of my holiday booking, and only then if that runs out would they start taking from the refunded excursions.  

Edited November 30, 2023 by Alethers

[joseph123]

On 11/29/2023 at 11:05 AM, Alethers said:

She said that to rectify the problem they are looking to increase the plastic part that runs across the front of the pool….so at least they don’t need to rebuild it!

Is this actually a pool? Looks more like a large hot tub. Is it large enough to actually swim in?

[kelleherdl]

8 minutes ago, joseph123 said:

Is this actually a pool? Looks more like a large hot tub. Is it large enough to actually swim in?

No.  It’s a soaking pool.

[Dr. Cocktail]

7 minutes ago, joseph123 said:

Is this actually a pool? Looks more like a large hot tub. Is it large enough to actually swim in?

It’s a plunge pool - there are three other pools.

[uktog]

I’ve just gone to the Bal Mythos but because the noise alert warning kept going off on my watch and I’ve sensitive ears (we were at the back of the room) we gave up. I’m not sure many guests understood what was supposed to be happening. It started 30 minutes later than advertised. 
We decamped to the Explora lounge but the artist has just stopped at 2200 although her start was advertised as being 2130. We’d assumed a little more entertainment 
 

[youngestof9]

I've thoroughly enjoyed your day by day. We sail in January San Juan to Barbados.

 

Would anyone know which pier it will dock in in San Juan? That information seems impossible to come by!

 

Can restaurant reservations be made ahead of time? Must you call that in?

 

Thank you!

[uktog]

1 minute ago, youngestof9 said:

I've thoroughly enjoyed your day by day. We sail in January San Juan to Barbados.

 

Would anyone know which pier it will dock in in San Juan? That information seems impossible to come by!

 

Can restaurant reservations be made ahead of time? Must you call that in?

 

Thank you!

I’m not sure they’ll know the dock yet. They change all the time.  You can call in one reservation at Sakura and Marble ahead of time. Fils Rouge and Med Yacht are open seating. 

[youngestof9]

Just now, uktog said:

I’m not sure they’ll know the dock yet. They change all the time.  You can call in one reservation at Sakura and Marble ahead of time. Fils Rouge and Med Yacht are open seating. 

THANK YOU!

[Tyler919]

A nice rainbow welcome to Curacao 

[uktog]

In Bonaire we had a ships excursion, entitled Beach Break and Island tour. It actually would have been more accurate if it had been titled island, tour and beach break.  However, the description made it very clear. The beach break did not come until after lunch, but some had not read the script so not everyone seemed to fully enjoy. What we thought was actually it was an excellent day.  This costs €440 for two and we were away from the ship for seven hours.  
 

The group of 16 was divided into two minivans with the German speakers, going in one with the owners wife and the rest of us going with Rafalino the owner. He is an absolute fount of knowledge in particular relating to where to find the island wildlife and this really made the tour for us.

 

We had been to the island previously and had done an island tour, albeit from Celebrity on a larger coach, which was actually three coaches going in convoy and a lot of the time it was a fast drive past what was happening. This could not have been more different, Rafalino took the road gently and being on a smaller vehicle, we could use narrow roads, meaning we saw the best of the coastal scenery  we were able to pull in as circumstances allowed either to take pictures out the open windows or on occasions to get out of the van to take photos. 
Sometimes we met up with his wife’s van but most of the times we were travelling on our own, and very rarely were we in a convoy  

 

There is so much wildlife on the island, and they are doing a lot to try and conserve the marine life in particular by creating no diving zones which they’re using for scientific purposes to monitor the coral growth versus elsewhere where diving is allowed. 

donkeys roam the island freely and are not fed by the islanders they live on the scrub. However, if donkey is in distress, there are sanctuaries to help them.  

The Clearwater on the coastal road was unbelievable. You could even see fish from the van.

On our previous time in the island flamingo spotting meant seeing pink blobs in the distance, that was certainly not the case on this trip and we saw so many in various different circumstances. Rafalino never promised wildlife. In fact, his phrase is, I only promised when I know because I can see them.

the first time the two groups met up together was at the cactus distillery quite an unusual and simple operation was explained to us and we had the opportunity to taste and, in addition, filled brioche buns with hams and cheeses and avocados were provided.

 

I do not know who was expected to eat all the rolls we would’ve had enough for the whole ship  such was the generosity of the hosts. I found the cactus liquor, very pleasant dear husband decided to be brave given that it was Saint Andrews day Scotlands patron Saint so he decided to try the whisky brave man. Let’s just say it focuses on strength rather than quality.

After the distillery, we headed to see the slave huts. Last time we went to the we could get few pictures because there were about 90 people milling around the replica huts . This time it was beautiful and easy. 

We also did not have zoom by the salt flats unlike before, but two stops firstly to understand the canal and salt bed drainage system, and to see how it worked, and then to stop at the saltbox where you’re allowed to collect and takeaway as much rock salt as you want. 

this provided a little challenge when we got back to the ship as the ships  security insisted in checking all my salt blocks and seemed to think at a point that they would have to be held by them until end of vacation. I have absolutely no idea why and when I queried it the second officer said no, that’s no problem you can keep it !! No idea what that was about. 

on the way to lunch, we saw an osprey who had just caught her lunch and was settling down to enjoy it by the seashore. 

Soon, it was our turn to enjoy our refreshing light lunch at a small, private beach resort  - a choice of prawns or teriyaki beef with salad and cocktails and water also served  the prawns were delicious. 

then it was time to head for our loungers, where we had about 80 minutes relaxing time -  those who went in the water noted, although they went almost half of my mile out, the water still did not reach their knees, but it was all very relaxing

 

Rafalino said on the way home, he hoped he could surprise us, and he did - a very large flock of flamingos he had seen previously were still in water very close to the road, and on the promise not to get too close we were allowed out of the van to take some lovely photos i’m including one taken with no zoom to show the number of lovely birds that were close by 

we really enjoyed this day and would recommend it to others. However  I know overall the feedback was not as high as ours because people were disappointed at how little time they spent at the beach.  It really worked for us.

Edited December 1, 2023 by uktog

[Corriegr]

47 minutes ago, uktog said:

In Bonaire we had a ships excursion, entitled Beach Break and Island tour. It actually would have been more accurate if it had been titled island, tour and beach break.  However, the description made it very clear. The beach break did not come until after lunch, but some had not read the script so not everyone seemed to fully enjoy. What we thought was actually it was an excellent day.  This costs €440 for two and we were away from the ship for seven hours.  
 

The group of 16 was divided into two minivans with the German speakers, going in one with the owners wife and the rest of us going with Rafalino the owner. He is an absolute fount of knowledge in particular relating to where to find the island wildlife and this really made the tour for us.

 

We had been to the island previously and had done an island tour, albeit from Celebrity on a larger coach, which was actually three coaches going in convoy and a lot of the time it was a fast drive past what was happening. This could not have been more different, Rafalino took the road gently and being on a smaller vehicle, we could use narrow roads, meaning we saw the best of the coastal scenery  we were able to pull in as circumstances allowed either to take pictures out the open windows or on occasions to get out of the van to take photos. 
Sometimes we met up with his wife’s van but most of the times we were travelling on our own, and very rarely were we in a convoy  

 

There is so much wildlife on the island, and they are doing a lot to try and conserve the marine life in particular by creating no diving zones which they’re using for scientific purposes to monitor the coral growth versus elsewhere where diving is allowed. 

donkeys roam the island freely and are not fed by the islanders they live on the scrub. However, if donkey is in distress, there are sanctuaries to help them.  

The Clearwater on the coastal road was unbelievable. You could even see fish from the van.

On our previous time in the island flamingo spotting meant seeing pink blobs in the distance, that was certainly not the case on this trip and we saw so many in various different circumstances. Rafalino never promised wildlife. In fact, his phrase is, I only promised when I know because I can see them.

the first time the two groups met up together was at the cactus distillery quite an unusual and simple operation was explained to us and we had the opportunity to taste and, in addition, filled brioche buns with hams and cheeses and avocados were provided.

 

I do not know who was expected to eat all the rolls we would’ve had enough for the whole ship  such was the generosity of the hosts. I found the cactus liquor, very pleasant dear husband decided to be brave given that it was Saint Andrews day Scotlands patron Saint so he decided to try the whisky brave man. Let’s just say it focuses on strength rather than quality.

After the distillery, we headed to see the slave huts. Last time we went to the we could get few pictures because there were about 90 people milling around the replica huts . This time it was beautiful and easy. 

We also did not have zoom by the salt flats unlike before, but two stops firstly to understand the canal and salt bed drainage system, and to see how it worked, and then to stop at the saltbox where you’re allowed to collect and takeaway as much rock salt as you want. 

this provided a little challenge when we got back to the ship as the ships  security insisted in checking all my salt blocks and seemed to think at a point that they would have to be held by them until end of vacation. I have absolutely no idea why and when I queried it the second officer said no, that’s no problem you can keep it !! No idea what that was about. 

on the way to lunch, we saw an osprey who had just caught her lunch and was settling down to enjoy it by the seashore. 

Soon, it was our turn to enjoy our refreshing light lunch at a small, private beach resort  - a choice of prawns or teriyaki beef with salad and cocktails and water also served  the prawns were delicious. 

then it was time to head for our loungers, where we had about 80 minutes relaxing time -  those who went in the water noted, although they went almost half of my mile out, the water still did not reach their knees, but it was all very relaxing

 

Rafalino said on the way home, he hoped he could surprise us, and he did - a very large flock of flamingos he had seen previously were still in water very close to the road, and on the promise not to get too close we were allowed out of the van to take some lovely photos i’m including one taken with no zoom to show the number of lovely birds that were close by 

we really enjoyed this day and would recommend it to others. However  I know overall the feedback was not as high as ours because people were disappointed at how little time they spent at the beach.  It really worked for us.

We did the four hour historical and cultural

tour in the afternoon … EUR 180 for two and great afternoon out going all over the island and learning so much . Our Dutch guide was great fun and our guitar playing singing bus driver the real star of the show … his version of My Bonnie is truly not to be missed. 
 

Our big bag of salt rocks were in our ruck sack and obviously showed up on scanning as security girl said  we were taking back plenty of salt!!!!

 

 

[Tyler919]

My wife took two snorkeling "explorations" over the last two days and I was surprised that neither had a ship representative accompany the tour.  When I asked about it, I was told that only where a volunteer was available and did not have a conflicting schedule did they accompany these trips. My memory, admittedly weaker than I'd like, of other cruises (Regent and Crystal) we always had a ship representative on each tour. I admit assuming this was pretty standard policy. It is obviously not policy here.  Do any of you have specific knowledge of other all inclusive lines?

[uktog]

6 minutes ago, Tyler919 said:

My wife took two snorkeling "explorations" over the last two days and I was surprised that neither had a ship representative accompany the tour.  When I asked about it, I was told that only where a volunteer was available and did not have a conflicting schedule did they accompany these trips. My memory, admittedly weaker than I'd like, of other cruises (Regent and Crystal) we always had a ship representative on each tour. I admit assuming this was pretty standard policy. It is obviously not policy here.  Do any of you have specific knowledge of other all inclusive lines?

My experience on Azamara is there was usually a ships escort particularly on the more active trips. The only people who seem to go out with Explora tours are the photographers taking scenic shots they frame and sell for 4-800 euros. Hope all their tour companies have good instructions in case of issues on hikes etc

[Roel94]

On 11/21/2023 at 1:49 PM, Mr Luxury said:

The veal and lobster dish looks dreadful.

The mashed potato is too runny surely and why would they smother it in bearnaise sauce and bisque jus on the same plate.

Looks are everything 

[safarigal]

23 hours ago, Tyler919 said:

My wife took two snorkeling "explorations" over the last two days and I was surprised that neither had a ship representative accompany the tour.  When I asked about it, I was told that only where a volunteer was available and did not have a conflicting schedule did they accompany these trips. My memory, admittedly weaker than I'd like, of other cruises (Regent and Crystal) we always had a ship representative on each tour. I admit assuming this was pretty standard policy. It is obviously not policy here.  Do any of you have specific knowledge of other all inclusive lines?

On Cunard and Silversea we have always had a ship representative with us - it was often one of the speakers or dancers, so it was lovely to chat with them. I do think it is strange that they could not find someone to go with them. 

[uktog]

1 hour ago, Roel94 said:

Looks are everything 

Not on this ship it’s not superficial like other lines their approach to quality is far more than lip service 

[Roel94]

On 11/29/2023 at 12:05 PM, Alethers said:

I just ran into Heike, the General Manager, who was at the Helios pool.  She said that to rectify the problem they are looking to increase the plastic part that runs across the front of the pool….so at least they don’t need to rebuild it!

 

I tried to take a photo to show but not sure it’s obvious.  There’s a clear plastic section to the slight left of the middle of the photo.  That will need to be extended right around the pool.

This should have been before ship sailed. Surprised it was not done.

[uktog]

6 minutes ago, Roel94 said:

This should have been before ship sailed. Surprised it was not done.

A lot of issues do not come to light until the ship sails and the motion of the ocean highlights them. Likewise issues with guests and staff using places only come to light. It’s like snagging a new building. So an unfair criticism - should there have been as many- who knows but this was the prototype vessel