Miami round trip-Nov 3 to 17-Personal thoughts etc

[Stickman1990]

3 hours ago, uktog said:

A lot of influential travel purchasers were onboard last cruise and they gave very critical but constructive feedback that will support the arguments for change. 

Ha - they’ve had plenty of them onboard over the last 3 months haven’t they - how many more are going to be coming onboard and providing feedback 

 

It sounds like it’s gone backwards on the entertainment front since we were onboard - 3 guest entertainers in 19 days is simply not acceptable if they want to be considered a luxury brand 

[kool kruiser]

14 hours ago, Stickman1990 said:

Ha - they’ve had plenty of them onboard over the last 3 months haven’t they - how many more are going to be coming onboard and providing feedback 

 

It sounds like it’s gone backwards on the entertainment front since we were onboard - 3 guest entertainers in 19 days is simply not acceptable if they want to be considered a luxury brand 

On our back to back, one excellent cabaret violinist performed in both 7 day segments. The second 7 dayer had an additional motowny 3 girl group, so 2 in the 7 days. The first segment also included Tanya's superb solo show, every bit as good as a guest entertainer.

[kool kruiser]

On to today's offering ...

Drinks

We are not particularly knowledgeable or expert in this area. We tend to only drink alcohol in the evenings, a cocktail before dinner, wine with and a martini or similar afterwards.. Coffee, tea and soft drinks, including water, during the day. We see no need to pay upcharges and were more than happy with the wine and other included beverages. 

Like others, we thought the lobby bar looked great but was impractical, with a lack of seating. The piano was sited so that it looked impressive but could hardly be heard when a modicum of passengers were present.

Bar staff were ...interesting. From our crew chats we discovered that some had been recruited as specialist bartenders and were terrific in all respects. However, some others clearly had little experience, as evidenced by their lack of knowledge and constant reference to their hand held devices. A tad disappointing. Drinks were generally well made, although we had a couple of misses regarding composition...no real issue.

We loved... pink as well as standard champers being available. The excellent staffing levels, resulting in prompt service. The crew's warmth and friendliness, coupled, in the main, with very high standards. The excellent coffee and the terrific crema coffee lounge, the best spot to passenger watch !! The provision of sommeliers in every restaurant, who were all very knowledgeable and helpful, not attempting to upsell and explaining unfamiliar offerings etc. The wide range of sakes provided with no upcharge in Sakura.

Room for improvement... include wine listings in every restaurant menu.Replace the dull nuts and crisps offered with pre-dinner drinks with pukka canapes, as other luxury lines do. Expand the drinks menus with regard to cocktail and martini suggestions.

 

That's all for now. Sorry, there may be a delay before my next instalment.

 

[gymfreak]

15 minutes ago, kool kruiser said:

That's all for now. Sorry, there may be a delay before my next instalment.

Many thanks for your insightful information.

We board in January and all information on the new line is very welcome

[uktog]

Changes to the entertainment will start to be seen on the Christmas cruise. More variety in guest artistes for a start 

[kool kruiser]

It will not surprise you that today I follow drink with...you guessed it...

Food

Sorry to merely repeat what others have said but this was simply, overall, by far the best food we have ever enjoyed on a cruise. In our entire 14 nights, although, of course a small number of dishes were not to our particular liking not once did we need to return/reject a single dish. The consistency of delivery was unbelievable and the quality outstanding.When I come to my improvement suggestions a bit later please do bear in mind that they are made within this context. I would mention that we always took breakfast and lunch in the buffet, utilising the outside terrace when weather permitted (it was sometimes TOO hot, believe it or not !). Dinner was always in one of the four no-upcharge restaurants, save for our final night when we sampled the buffet. No anthology for us, as felt no need to spend so much extra when so much great food was available anyway.

We loved...the buffet, as is now well known is all served by the warmest most friendly serving staff. Yet again, passenger feedback has been listened to and we found great flexibility shown when requesting offerings. The food was wonderfully fresh and the layout a brilliant concept, with numerous stations. So so many memorable items but I simply have to mention the baguettes, together with the breakfast pains aux raisins and brioche, the best we have ever had, even on land !

The offerings in all four eateries were great and, once again, so many standouts. amazing to be able to order dover sole every night in two separate locations and also to get lobster, a real luxury for us Brits, any night.

I know that a current cruiser, who I absolutely respect, may not agree but we really loved the afternoon tea experience, including clotted ( not just whipped ) cream. The trolley method allowed us not be given so many items that we really didn't want, with a sumptuous dinner on the horizon and would be wasted if the tiered cake stand method was utilised. We soon discovered that the best way for us would be to order our rolls/sandwiches alone after the offerings had been described. Once finished, the very attentive waitstaff would promptly clear our plates and ask whether we would like  a further selection from the trolley. More often than not, we were simply not tough enough to resist !

Our best dish ever (amongst so many great ones !)...the duck starter in Sakura, sensational !

Room for improvement

As is well documented, we could only make a single reservation before boarding for Marble and Sakura, although we were on a back to back. The reservations desk lady advised that we could make additional reservations two days before the second leg started. A system that, like exploraspeak, is too silly for words !

Too frequently there were language comprehension issues with the buffet serving staff and finger-pointing was often needed. These positions need to be filled by only those who can communicate effectively.

We arrived at Fil Rouge and also Med Yacht Club on one occasion each, when a number of others arrived with us at the same time. It was abundantly clear that the galley could simply not cope with such a significant number of simultaneous orders. It was politely explained to us that orders were prepared ''a la minute'' but the delays were awful and led to a slippage in service standards from the front of house team, who became frazzled by the disgruntled passengers. Remember that we were only half full so I dread to think what might happen on a near full capacity sailing. This experience was in such stark contrast to all of our other visits.

I know this may surprise but we had ''outgrown'' and, frankly, ended up a tad bored with the non-changing menus, particularly in the two walk-ins, by the end of our time onboard. My personal view would be to introduce a menu comprising a selection of each restaurant's  ''classic'' dishes , coupled with daily specials. The current policy would also deter people booking long trips or making frequent return visits to the line. JMO !

As is so often the case with a ship's coffee shop, Crema's food offerings, whilst perfectly acceptable, we found to be bland and seemingly never changing. A missed opportunity to differentiate from the competition, which seems to be the Explora mantra elsewhere.

 

we are away for the weekend but more to come soon....

[gymfreak]

1 hour ago, kool kruiser said:

we are away for the weekend but more to come soon....

Thank you. The reports are fabulous . Eagerly awaiting more…….

[Roel94]

Interesting read. I heard there is entertainment problems. Glad the food is good.

on the new Ritz find the music lacking and no special entertainment coming on weekly  but one  guy at 9 pm who needed to tender home.

Ritz dinner menu changes every three days so you know it is somewhat different every three days. 
 

Seems both lines have the common problem of music.

[Nunagoras]

17 hours ago, Roel94 said:

Interesting read. I heard there is entertainment problems. Glad the food is good.

on the new Ritz find the music lacking and no special entertainment coming on weekly  but one  guy at 9 pm who needed to tender home.

Ritz dinner menu changes every three days so you know it is somewhat different every three days. 
 

Seems both lines have the common problem of music.

Those new luxury lines are competing with a same, declining, talent base against the established luxury lines, plus the new extremely luxurious hotel base in Saudi Arabia. They'll need time to adjust. I hope one day they can have their own established talent base, trained as such on western schools, but while this doesn't happen, those lines will live with what they have for the foreseeable future. EJ does adds to the cart that longer learning curve due to it being a southern Mediterranean business.

[kool kruiser]

Back in harness, so...

Itinerary, Excursions etc

As we were in the Caribbean, we would only have been tempted by the more adventurous ship tours. We are not beach people so did not research these options, although I would imagine that they could be reached from all ports. When it comes to this aspect of our cruise holiday, we are, quite frankly, value driven. The options that appealed were, in our view, too pricey and we thus did everything independently, based on my pre-cruise research. Others have commented that their booked tours were cancelled by Explora so maybe take up is not great at current price points.

Our back to backs had a mix of regular stops such as Antigua and St Kitts, together with smaller ports on other islands, such as Spanish Town in BVI, rather than the usual Tortola. This proved to be a mixed blessing. Although the ports were very quiet and relaxed, there were limited excursion options available. Spanish Town was great for the Baths or a beach visit, but not much else. Deshaies in Guadeloupe was similarly great for the beautiful Botanical Gardens or a Death in Paradise tour but that was about it. We went to the Baths independently and ditto the Botanical Gardens. We are quite confident ashore on our own and managed everything pretty easily, due to our research, etc. Of course, we saved lots of dosh by avoiding the ship offerings. In St Kitts we organised the Scenic Railway trip easily as independents and saved again. With another lovely couple, we organised a trip around Antigua with a charming local at the quayside, at $30 each plus admission fees to Nelson's Dockyard etc. A steal !

We heard that the ship organised trip to the Baths was a disaster and we know a couple who received a full refund. However, they definitely did not enjoy the same terrific experience as us !

The biggest itinerary negative was definitely Samana in the Dominican Republic. On the basis of our research we decided to make this an additional day on board. This was extremely wise as we constantly heard of our fellow passengers alighting from the tender, seeing what a dump this place was and immediately returning to the ship. Others chanced it with local operators but did not seem to enjoy their experience. Not sure why Explora went there...

We loved...the ease of disembarkation and re-embarkation at every port of call, together with the exemplary tender operation customer care. The great tour descriptions in the app. The abundance of cool flannels, drinks etc shoreside at all ports. The excellent berths.

Room for Improvement... we really missed the usual printed port guides delivered to our cabin. The dearth of port information in the daily printed programme. The absence of a destination guest speaker onboard. Hopefully these issues will be addressed.

 

More soon...

[Lord Haw Haw]

Could you confirm if the tenders are air conditioned?

[uktog]

16 minutes ago, Lord Haw Haw said:

Could you confirm if the tenders are air conditioned?

Yes if you count the open doors, did not experience any other format on our cruise but a door or the front window was always open as conditions allowed it

[saminina]

I prefer tenders that have no A/C.  Avoids arguments over where thermostat should be set.

Edited December 11, 2023 by saminina

[crvng4mr]

8 hours ago, kool kruiser said:

Back in harness, so...

Itinerary, Excursions etc

As we were in the Caribbean, we would only have been tempted by the more adventurous ship tours. We are not beach people so did not research these options, although I would imagine that they could be reached from all ports. When it comes to this aspect of our cruise holiday, we are, quite frankly, value driven. The options that appealed were, in our view, too pricey and we thus did everything independently, based on my pre-cruise research. Others have commented that their booked tours were cancelled by Explora so maybe take up is not great at current price points.

Our back to backs had a mix of regular stops such as Antigua and St Kitts, together with smaller ports on other islands, such as Spanish Town in BVI, rather than the usual Tortola. This proved to be a mixed blessing. Although the ports were very quiet and relaxed, there were limited excursion options available. Spanish Town was great for the Baths or a beach visit, but not much else. Deshaies in Guadeloupe was similarly great for the beautiful Botanical Gardens or a Death in Paradise tour but that was about it. We went to the Baths independently and ditto the Botanical Gardens. We are quite confident ashore on our own and managed everything pretty easily, due to our research, etc. Of course, we saved lots of dosh by avoiding the ship offerings. In St Kitts we organised the Scenic Railway trip easily as independents and saved again. With another lovely couple, we organised a trip around Antigua with a charming local at the quayside, at $30 each plus admission fees to Nelson's Dockyard etc. A steal !

We heard that the ship organised trip to the Baths was a disaster and we know a couple who received a full refund. However, they definitely did not enjoy the same terrific experience as us !

The biggest itinerary negative was definitely Samana in the Dominican Republic. On the basis of our research we decided to make this an additional day on board. This was extremely wise as we constantly heard of our fellow passengers alighting from the tender, seeing what a dump this place was and immediately returning to the ship. Others chanced it with local operators but did not seem to enjoy their experience. Not sure why Explora went there...

We loved...the ease of disembarkation and re-embarkation at every port of call, together with the exemplary tender operation customer care. The great tour descriptions in the app. The abundance of cool flannels, drinks etc shoreside at all ports. The excellent berths.

Room for Improvement... we really missed the usual printed port guides delivered to our cabin. The dearth of port information in the daily printed programme. The absence of a destination guest speaker onboard. Hopefully these issues will be addressed.

 

More soon...

Do you mind sharing some info on how you explored the Baths once you got into Spanish Town? Getting there and back from the port.

[kool kruiser]

13 hours ago, crvng4mr said:

Do you mind sharing some info on how you explored the Baths once you got into Spanish Town? Getting there and back from the port.

No problem.

On alighting the tender there was a desk manned by local tourist board representatives, who will be pleased to assist in any way they can. We took a shared transfer to the top of the baths, cost $5 each. When there, we bought tickets from the booth, cost $3 each. We then walked down a path, past a shop/bar to the beach, where the baths walk ends. We rented some lockers for our clothes, not sure but I think they cost about $5 each. Took off our summer clothing etc and walked back up the same path in our swimwear to the ticket booth, where we started our Baths experience. There is a beach bar at the beach where the walk ends but we decided to change, walk back up again to the start and have a drink at the bar there. We then found a bus to transfer us back. Make sure the bus is going to our jetty at Spanish Town and not to the ferry across to Tortola.Cost $5 each again. Total cost, excluding drinks less than $20 each, a snip !! We paid for everything in cash.

Hope this helps.

[kool kruiser]

So, today I reflect on...

The crew...I can only concur with everyone else and simply say...wonderful ! Explora's recruitment policy has clearly paid off. We spoke to some lovely people really enjoying their first cruise contract, having previously worked in top end hotels. On the other hand, all of the senior crew members who we engaged with had come across from other luxury cruise brands and were highly experienced. The overall standard reached was so high, bearing in mind that passenger operations had only started some three months earlier. Remarkable. Contrary to some early reports, the word 'no' did not seem in their vocabulary and everyone was so eager to please. It was also noticeable how senior crew members 'rolled their sleeves up' when necessary and did not simply stand and direct junior staff, as we have experienced on other cruises. 

A word here about Captain Diego, who was accompanied on our trip by his charming wife and cute son. An extremely gracious, personable and classy act, a great asset for Explora.

Finally, it was great to share some thoughts with Heike, a terrific Hotel Director who never goes into automatic defensive mode and who really has drive to iron out the glitches and build on such a great start for a new brand and ship. Thanks Heike for allowing me (Colin) to make some constructive

comments and suggestions. Thanks also for finding my contact lens when it popped out, you're a star !

We loved...the warmth, friendliness, professionalism, kindness, help...in other words...everything !

Room for improvement...onwards and upwards !

 

Home stretch coming...

[Wheelhouse]

3 hours ago, kool kruiser said:

No problem.

On alighting the tender there was a desk manned by local tourist board representatives, who will be pleased to assist in any way they can. We took a shared transfer to the top of the baths, cost $5 each. When there, we bought tickets from the booth, cost $3 each. We then walked down a path, past a shop/bar to the beach, where the baths walk ends. We rented some lockers for our clothes, not sure but I think they cost about $5 each. Took off our summer clothing etc and walked back up the same path in our swimwear to the ticket booth, where we started our Baths experience. There is a beach bar at the beach where the walk ends but we decided to change, walk back up again to the start and have a drink at the bar there. We then found a bus to transfer us back. Make sure the bus is going to our jetty at Spanish Town and not to the ferry across to Tortola.Cost $5 each again. Total cost, excluding drinks less than $20 each, a snip !! We paid for everything in cash.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for this.  I'll follow these instructions in February rather than paying $155 pp for the ship's tour.

[kool kruiser]

Final thoughts today...

 

Smokers

I agree with others who have observed regarding the smoking areas. Our cabin was above the smokers area outside Crema but fortunately we did not smell anything. However, we were unable to enjoy a coffee outside as we did not want to be joined by smokers. We are regular walkers on the jogging track and were surprised to see another smoking area en route. Fortunately very few smokers on our trip. Finally, there is very strong cigar smell leaking from the cigar lounge which could be sorted.

 

Conclusion

As I mentioned in my spoiler alert on my initial post, we had a great time. We try to balance the pluses and the minuses (for us) and we felt the former far outweighed the latter. Bearing in mind the newness of the line, ship and crew, we expected glitches and they were far fewer than we envisaged. Having followed these boards and other social media regularly before our cruise, it is clear that Explora are carefully reviewing critiques and amending/improving constantly.

Our principal concern is how the ship will cope in various areas with a near capacity loading and we look forward to hearing from passengers on such cruises.

Our plans for 2024 and 2025 are largely likely to be destination driven and Explora will almost certainly not offer what we need. However, we will eagerly follow the evolution of the offering, including the further ship roll-outs and would certainly consider travelling with Explora again.

Thanks to all those who have been kind enough to post some positive words on my ramblings and also to those who may have differing perspectives for not flaming me. Hope this may have been of help to fellow ccers.

 

Colin

 

[gymfreak]

11 minutes ago, kool kruiser said:

Thanks to all those who have been kind enough to post some positive words on my ramblings and also to those who may have differing perspectives for not flaming me. Hope this may have been of help to fellow ccers.

Many thanks Colin for such a comprehensive and thoughtful review 

[uktog]

Colin this is a really good balanced assessment of your experience - I am just finishing mine but there is a lot of overlap in our experiences and thoughts going forward.  

[kool kruiser]

1 minute ago, uktog said:

Colin this is a really good balanced assessment of your experience - I am just finishing mine but there is a lot of overlap in our experiences and thoughts going forward.  

In turn, your posts were really helpful before our first AZ cruise. Thanks for those !

[HappyInVan]

Thanks. Much appreciated. 😄

[Noggins]

Well done, Colin - about as comprehensive and useful a review as I have ever read! (maybe Steph dictated it to you and you just typed her words?! No, wait, she'd never get involved in such an activity - for too many more important things to do!)

Were you always expecting to do a Caribbean trip or was your original booked trip changed? I thought I remember you mentioning quite a different itinerary.
Our early March trip is getting nearer and, naturally, we are in trepidation of it being a sell-out cruise....

 

[kool kruiser]

On 12/16/2023 at 5:22 PM, Noggins said:

Well done, Colin - about as comprehensive and useful a review as I have ever read! (maybe Steph dictated it to you and you just typed her words?! No, wait, she'd never get involved in such an activity - for too many more important things to do!)

Were you always expecting to do a Caribbean trip or was your original booked trip changed? I thought I remember you mentioning quite a different itinerary.
Our early March trip is getting nearer and, naturally, we are in trepidation of it being a sell-out cruise....

 

Thanks Adrian, as ever, for your really kind words. Steph is far too busy being a domestic goddess to get involved in cc matters !!

I know that Elaine and you will have a lovely time.

We were lucky, our cruise didn't change at all. 

Seasonal; greetings to you both

Colin

 

[ronrick1943]

Great report, thank you for taking the time.  We are considering this line.