Live Report

[Waltershipman]

9 minutes ago, English Tim said:

I have now been given the get out of jail free card and so I am wondering and

Excellent 😉 ENJOY

[English Tim]

Absolutely amazing how quiet the ship is. It seems possible to have what you want when you want without joining any queues.

 

I think it is going to take me a little while to get more strength and didn’t realise how much Covid can knock you for six. However, I am determined to enjoy this beautiful ship and all it has to offer.

 

I would say to anyone who enjoys relaxation, excellent service and excellent food, to book ASAP. I am not on commission, but if it continues like this is going to be a very popular product. 
 

I am still very sad that the promised Moët Chandon has been replaced and such decisions might affect my future choices.

[Waltershipman]

4 minutes ago, English Tim said:

Absolutely amazing how quiet the ship is. It seems possible to have what you want when you want without joining any queues.

 

I think it is going to take me a little while to get more strength and didn’t realise how much Covid can knock you for six. However, I am determined to enjoy this beautiful ship and all it has to offer.

 

I would say to anyone who enjoys relaxation, excellent service and excellent food, to book ASAP. I am not on commission, but if it continues like this is going to be a very popular product. 
 

I am still very sad that the promised Moët Chandon has been replaced and such decisions might affect my future choices.

Thanks.Your Excellent reports confirm my decision to return next year.  Thank you 

[registrar]

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻!!!! So glad you can enjoy the ship again!

[English Tim]

I didn’t do much yesterday as although I’ve been allowed out I’m still feeling fairly weak so I’m taking things easy, which is not a bad thing to do on a cruise.
 

Two particular things of note were pre-dinner drinks in the Sky bar watching dolphins and a beautiful sunset and talking to the lovely hostess, Irene (picture below). I am not sure why there is a hot tub at that bar, as it seems an unlikely place.

 

We had dinner at Med Yacht Club, where we experienced extremely slow service, which is not what was required when we were very tired. 

[Jim Avery]

Glad to see you taking your medicine....🍹

[Atllindo]

2 questions for you, Tim:

1. What brand of champagne replaced the Moet?

2. Will they give you any form of future cruise credit for the dates you were confined to cabin?  

[English Tim]

18 hours ago, Atllindo said:

2 questions for you, Tim:

1. What brand of champagne replaced the Moet?

2. Will they give you any form of future cruise credit for the dates you were confined to cabin?  

1. Champagne Mercier - seems fine, but Moët Chandon had prestige.

 

2. nothing mentioned to date to be honest, the kindness, compassion and in room service was excellent and I am very happy with that.

[English Tim]

Yesterday, we visited Quetzal, Gauamala, which was an interesting destination in that it is obviously been designed as an access for Tours to Antigua. There is very little at the port apart from a little market and a couple of places offering food and drink. We had a little walk around and watched some iguanas before heading back to the ship to enjoy the peace and quiet. Neither of us are back to full health, so it is nice to be able to sit in these lovely warm weather places and enjoy the excellent service on board. It was very humid yesterday and as soon as we opened the balcony door, the mirror misted up. in the afternoon we had some violent thunderstorms, so it wasn’t a good time to sit in the outdoor hot tubs, so we went to the spa. The unisex sauna, steam room and salt relaxation room, together with the hydrotherapy pool offer great relaxation.

 

We had another fantastic dinner at Sakura and then we sat outside by the pool. The lighting and colours is fantastic so nice to sit and enjoy the moment. Heike came over and we had a long chat discussing our experience of cruising around the world.

 

Images

1. tree in cruise terminal area

2. Martinis in Explora lounge

3. Astern pool

Edited May 21 by English Tim
Add photos

[English Tim]

Yesterday, I attended my first fitness class since my demise in my cabin. It was bench Pilates and was quite challenging, but there were only three of us so plenty of space. Then we did a seminar on healthy living and it was the first seminar that I’ve ever been to where they weren’t trying to sell me something? 
 

Generally, I’ve been taking it pretty easy, because Covid still seems to take a fair amount out of you. 
 

We had breakfast at Fils Rouge and this was quite an experience. Rosy wanted a simple thing in an almond croissant, but they seem to do chocolate almond croissants but we’re still not sure whether they do a plain almond croissant. I also discovered that they do freshly squeezed orange juice, which apparently you can also get from room service and also in the Emporium marketplace. The restroom manager came to assist and was trying to answer any questions, but whilst Rosy was asking the questions, he seemed to look at me and answer me, which she was most upset about.

 

As we ate a large breakfast, we skipped lunch, but I resisted and had a crêpe at about 3 o’clock.

 

We haven’t yet found the ideal place to go for pre-dinner drinks, but the sky bar on deck 14 offers great friendly service and brilliant views of the sunset. The previous day it was pouring with rain so we went to the explorer lounge on deck 11, with most people still on tour, it was very quiet.

 

After dinner there was a small army of workers doing something to the pool on 10. We haven’t discovered exactly what they were doing.

 

We went to bed at 9 pm and I went straight to sleep, which is almost unheard of, so I must still be fairly weak, which is a great shame having looked forward to this cruise for a very long time, but we are in great hands for being looked after.

 

Once again, I’d like to emphasise how tremendous the crew are and how good the food is.

I haven’t yet discovered much entertainment, so I can’t comment on that.

[CJANDH]

9 minutes ago, English Tim said:

The restroom manager came to assist

The restrooms are kind of hard to find. LOL.

[English Tim]

Today, we are in Puntarenas, Costa Rica. It has been a very hot morning with my Weather app saying it was 35 Celsius, feels like 46.
 

We decided not to take a tour and go for a walk instead. Rosy walked as far as the lighthouse, but I decided to sit on the bench halfway and wait for her to return. We saw a few iguanas, but not a lot else. One interesting thing was, we wanted to buy a couple of stamps and so we found the post office, but they seemed reluctant to sell any stamps until we bought postcards but eventually said they would sell us the stamps but we would have to return there to post them. Surprisingly, very few people seem to speak any English, even in the post office. I asked a young man to translate, but he claimed not to speak English although you would’ve thought they teach it in the schools. Eventually, his mother offered to assist, but by this time, the post office found an English speaking employee.

 

Hopefully now the postcards are on their way.

 

After returning to the ship for lunch, Rosy decided to return to the beach to swim.

Edited May 22 by English Tim
Correction

[Host Jazzbeau]

10 minutes ago, English Tim said:

Today, we are in Puntarenas, Costa Rica. It has been a very hot morning with my Weather app saying it was 35 Celsius, feels like 46.
 

We decided not to take a tour and go for a walk instead. Rosy walked as far as the lighthouse, but I decided to sit on the bench halfway and wait for her to return. We saw a few iguanas, but not a lot else. One interesting thing was, we wanted to buy a couple of stamps and so we found the post office, but they seemed reluctant to sell any stamps until we bought postcards but eventually said they would sell us the stamps but we would have to return there to post them. Surprisingly, very few people seem to speak any English, even in the post office. I asked a young man to translate, but he claimed not to speak English although you would’ve thought they teach it in the schools. Eventually, his mother offered to assist, but by this time, the post office found an English speaking employee.

 

Hopefully now the postcards are on their way.

 

After returning to the ship for lunch, Rosy decided to return to the beach to swim.

That's better than the experience we had in Kamloops, BC.  After waiting on line at the Post Office to buy stamps, we were berated by the PO employee about Americans who think they can use US stamps in  Canada.  Hello???  We are here buying your darned stamps...

 

The joke's on him:  now we just email.  Stamp-free and lovin' it!

[uktog]

We use Touchnote when we are away using our own  photos to make the cards.  They get printed and posted in your own country so arrive in a few days. Unless the recipient is a stamp collector it’s the simplest thing to do 

[English Tim]

3 hours ago, uktog said:

We use Touchnote when we are away using our own  photos to make the cards.  They get printed and posted in your own country so arrive in a few days. Unless the recipient is a stamp collector it’s the simplest thing to do 

Great tip, thank you.

[English Tim]

Today the day started with rain it was very overcast and we thought, not another day like yesterday, but it’s soon brightened up and it has been beautiful. We went on a tour for a boat trip down the canal and saw lots of wildlife including crocodiles and monkeys. 
 

We returned and went for a walk around the port, hoping to find a recommended ice cream store, but Google Maps was not our friend so we returned with no ice cream.

 

It was quite interesting, with the staff thinking we were new passengers you thought they would’ve remembered our faces, so we enjoyed the drinks and had to keep pretending we were new passengers, in order to get to the lift.

 

Soon we will be going to talk about crossing the Panama Canal followed by a few drinks, again.

 

 

 

 

 

[English Tim]

Today, Saturday 25th of May many people are up very early to take their claim for a place in what they perceived to be a good spot, even if it meant blocking the view of other people or standing in the flowers. The promised commentary couldn’t be heard unless you were inside the Explora lounge. I mentioned this last week and was told they would try and improve, which they failed miserably. I cannot understand with such an important event why they can’t broadcast over the ships intercom to the public areas. Anyway, enough of the complaints I decided a good spot would be further back on deck 11 enjoying breakfast in virtual isolation. The earlier rain had meant that some of the seat covers were a bit damp, which I didn’t discover until after sitting on them. I enjoyed our delicious breakfast pictured below.
 

Rosy and I went to bench Pilates and were the only two in the class, followed by a soak in the outdoor hot tub, which still hasn’t been made into a proper hot tub, after the complaints that the temperature was too high. My perception, this morning is that Explora are not very good at responding to criticism, even if justified.

 

The food and service cannot be improved, but some of the facilities can.

 

We have now discovered that sitting on our balcony is a great place for an excellent view of the wildlife on the banks of the canal.

 

 

[KJB416]

35 minutes ago, English Tim said:

Today, Saturday 25th of May many people are up very early to take their claim for a place in what they perceived to be a good spot, even if it meant blocking the view of other people or standing in the flowers. The promised commentary couldn’t be heard unless you were inside the Explora lounge. I mentioned this last week and was told they would try and improve, which they failed miserably. I cannot understand with such an important event why they can’t broadcast over the ships intercom to the public areas. Anyway, enough of the complaints I decided a good spot would be further back on deck 11 enjoying breakfast in virtual isolation. The earlier rain had meant that some of the seat covers were a bit damp, which I didn’t discover until after sitting on them. I enjoyed our delicious breakfast pictured below.
 

Rosy and I went to bench Pilates and were the only two in the class, followed by a soak in the outdoor hot tub, which still hasn’t been made into a proper hot tub, after the complaints that the temperature was too high. My perception, this morning is that Explora are not very good at responding to criticism, even if justified.

 

The food and service cannot be improved, but some of the facilities can.

 

We have now discovered that sitting on our balcony is a great place for an excellent view of the wildlife on the banks of the canal.

 

 

The jacuzzis on my recent trip up the West coast were mid temp as well. It was absurd. The only one that was somewhat comfortable, but not for long as it was just too cool, was the jacuzzi outside the sky bar. They were never hot on my trip even when we told a crew maintenance worker they were too cold. So weird. When I was in Iceland they were hot. 

[English Tim]

1 hour ago, English Tim said:

Today, Saturday 25th of May many people are up very early to take their claim for a place in what they perceived to be a good spot, even if it meant blocking the view of other people or standing in the flowers. The promised commentary couldn’t be heard unless you were inside the Explora lounge. I mentioned this last week and was told they would try and improve, which they failed miserably. I cannot understand with such an important event why they can’t broadcast over the ships intercom to the public areas. Anyway, enough of the complaints I decided a good spot would be further back on deck 11 enjoying breakfast in virtual isolation. The earlier rain had meant that some of the seat covers were a bit damp, which I didn’t discover until after sitting on them. I enjoyed our delicious breakfast pictured below.
 

Rosy and I went to bench Pilates and were the only two in the class, followed by a soak in the outdoor hot tub, which still hasn’t been made into a proper hot tub, after the complaints that the temperature was too high. My perception, this morning is that Explora are not very good at responding to criticism, even if justified.

 

The food and service cannot be improved, but some of the facilities can.

 

We have now discovered that sitting on our balcony is a great place for an excellent view of the wildlife on the banks of the canal.

 

 

 

[English Tim]

2 hours ago, KJB416 said:

The jacuzzis on my recent trip up the West coast were mid temp as well. It was absurd. The only one that was somewhat comfortable, but not for long as it was just too cool, was the jacuzzi outside the sky bar. They were never hot on my trip even when we told a crew maintenance worker they were too cold. So weird. When I was in Iceland they were hot. 

When we boarded in Los Angeles, they were hot, but after complaints received all the temperatures were reduced which is absurd.

[English Tim]

Yesterday, we had an unusual stop at the San Blas Islands. it was an extremely humid day and promised not very friendly weather, but as it turned out, we were very lucky.
 

We didn’t go out in the morning to the first of these islands, but clearly some who did had an interesting experience with one of the tenders apparently running a ground. I happened to be sitting next to some of the affected people on the second outing, which is how I heard about. As this is a factual report, I will leave any explanations to anyone actually involved, but an announcement was made for those affected to meet the captain in a lounge to discuss the matter.

 

The plan was for anyone that wanted to go shopping should go on the morning tenders to the first island and in the afternoon tenders would go to a different island for those that wanted to go to the beach, which we did. Having not fully recovered, I decided against swimming in the sea but Rosy enjoyed snorkelling and I lent my gear to another couple apparently there were a lot of fish, which are accounted for the pelicans swimming nearby. The crew were very kindly serving wine and beer and cold towels which were very welcome as it was extremely humid. 
 

we stayed for about 90 minutes and then returned to the ship for a very welcome shower.

 

We then rested for a bit before trying to attend the port talk for the next day, but strangely they had decided to move the venue and they were about four times as many people as the worst suits. The cruise director suggested we watch it later on the TV, which was totally unsatisfactory as we wanted to enjoy the evenings festivities and the following morning we were to go to the port.

 

unfortunately, the weather was such that they had decided to close the upper decks, which took out many of the bar options. The design of the ship doesn’t seem to have taken into account what might happen if it’s either too wet or too cold to use the outside bars. 

[English Tim]

Yesterday we visited Cartagena. I love the port because of the little zoo within the cruise terminal. We decided in the morning to go straight into the old city and look at the animals in the afternoon after we put some more insect repellent on.

 

We decided to take an Uber in and out of the city and initially had some problems, as it thought that maybe Uber is blocked to try and get more business for the more expensive taxis we persevered, using my data allowance as opposed to the Wi-Fi and paid about 5 or 6 dollars each way, which we were very happy with. Unfortunately the cathedral seemed to be closed but we were able to walk through the very colourful streets, pestered by many hawkers.

 

We soon became very hot and sticky in the humid weather and decided to return to the ship for lunch.

 

 

[English Tim]

Rosy and I have been discussing some of the quirks on this ship, as opposed to our experience on cruises over the last couple of years.

 

One major issue is that there is no doorbell and so it is very difficult to hear when someone knocks at the door and this was particularly relevant when I was ill, because I didn’t want to go and open the door and get close to anyone, even though they were wearing masks. I wanted to keep my distance in fairness to them. What’s the tend to do if they cannot get an answer? Is to call you on the phone and sometimes you can’t get to the phone quick enough.
 

Another issue for us, is that we used to love going for a coffee and maybe a liquer and sometimes chocolates in the lounge prior to going to bed. The coffee bar closes at 7 pm. Further to this, the only way of getting an early morning coffee, prior to 7 am is via room service and if for example your partner likes to lie in it’s not good to have someone knocking at the door bringing coffee and having to turn the light on. it was suggested to me that I could go to a lounge and order room service to be delivered there, but this is not very practical
 

Yesterday, I touched on the issue of what to do for a drink in the event of cold or wet weather, as the majority of the bars are outside and often closed in the event of bad weather, which leaves few alternatives.

 

I don’t like the choice of champagne, so I usually have Kir Royale.
 

As these are, I think, my only major concerns, clearly there is a lot that they are doing right!

[RlyLvn]

Thanks Tim for your live reporting. We have been following you since you left LA. 
Hope you are recovered from Covid and are ready to enjoy the land portion of your trip. 
 

We are flying to Miami tomorrow from LA to spend a couple of days before boarding Explora for the Transatlantic. 
 

Your updates have been very helpful. 
 

We will be in your home country for a couple of weeks in June visiting family. 
 

Take Care and enjoy your days at sea before Miami. 

[saminina]

Almost everyone has issues with this line.  It's new and different.  Figure it out for yourself.  It either fits, or not. 

 

Thanks for listing what is bothersome to you.  It has nothing to do with what would make my list.  And two hundred others.  I'd list mine, but most would find it irrelevant to theirs.

Edited May 29 by saminina