Live Report

[uktog]

I would only bother if others issues were significant (eg relating to food quality entertainment etc). I see the items stated on the post not as issues more as niggles - I agree to a point about evening coffee though I have had beautiful coffees up sitting beside the whisky bar when I was onboard. For me, no ship 100% meets my “peculiarities”. I adapt wherever I go or learn to live with the tiny things. I could certainly do that easily on Explora 

[English Tim]

7 hours ago, uktog said:

I would only bother if others issues were significant (eg relating to food quality entertainment etc). I see the items stated on the post not as issues more as niggles - I agree to a point about evening coffee though I have had beautiful coffees up sitting beside the whisky bar when I was onboard. For me, no ship 100% meets my “peculiarities”. I adapt wherever I go or learn to live with the tiny things. I could certainly do that easily on Explora 

 I’d be interested to read about your experiences when you have a lot more passengers on the ship.

 

Ours have been completely different during this one week sector, but that is partly due to the change in demographics of the clientele.

 

it is not a niggle, when they close the open decks and take out of the equation many of the bars all afternoon and evening. It makes life quite challenging.

8 hours ago, saminina said:

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.

I’d be interested to read your survey of the 200 others that you refer to in my post!

[saminina]

Ten, two hundred, six hundred.  It is possible up to 629 fellow passengers could have, and probably do have a list much different than yours. 

[uktog]

We had a large number of influencers and agents on the ship so rooms were used for their presentations day and early evening. We never had a problem finding somewhere to sit/drink. We also had the annoyance of the models wanting us not to sit on sofas as it impacted on photos but we managed. They did alter the dynamics and what was available to us but I’d still call it a niggle. Like the lack of doorbell would be a niggle to me and I’d dismiss it as a situation that arose because of how you unfortunately had to use the room more than anything else. And for coffee before 7 I accept you can’t instantly get it outside your room I’m not sure why calling for room service to deliver to an agreed place is such an issue. Much more hygienic than open machines touched by many. 
 

My niggle was the lack of reasonable entertainment offering in the evening exacerbated by an over excited self focussed cruise director (who has fortunately moved on) - but again we moved on. 
 

For us we are thankful we’ve even been able to get away so I suppose niggles don’t get any real attention from us. 

[Waltershipman]

8 minutes ago, uktog said:

We had a large number of influencers and agents on the ship so rooms were used for their presentations day and early evening. We never had a problem finding somewhere to sit/drink. We also had the annoyance of the models wanting us not to sit on sofas as it impacted on photos but we managed. They did alter the dynamics and what was available to us but I’d still call it a niggle. Like the lack of doorbell would be a niggle to me and I’d dismiss it as a situation that arose because of how you unfortunately had to use the room more than anything else. And for coffee before 7 I accept you can’t instantly get it outside your room I’m not sure why calling for room service to deliver to an agreed place is such an issue. Much more hygienic than open machines touched by many. 
 

My niggle was the lack of reasonable entertainment offering in the evening exacerbated by an over excited self focussed cruise director (who has fortunately moved on) - but again we moved on. 
 

For us we are thankful we’ve even been able to get away so I suppose niggles don’t get any real attention from us. 

We must have experienced that same Cruise Director as well 

[English Tim]

2 hours ago, saminina said:

Ten, two hundred, six hundred.  It is possible up to 629 fellow passengers could have, and probably do have a list much different than yours. 

Thanks for such a useful contribution to the thread.

[English Tim]

1 hour ago, uktog said:

We had a large number of influencers and agents on the ship so rooms were used for their presentations day and early evening. We never had a problem finding somewhere to sit/drink. We also had the annoyance of the models wanting us not to sit on sofas as it impacted on photos but we managed. They did alter the dynamics and what was available to us but I’d still call it a niggle. Like the lack of doorbell would be a niggle to me and I’d dismiss it as a situation that arose because of how you unfortunately had to use the room more than anything else. And for coffee before 7 I accept you can’t instantly get it outside your room I’m not sure why calling for room service to deliver to an agreed place is such an issue. Much more hygienic than open machines touched by many. 
 

My niggle was the lack of reasonable entertainment offering in the evening exacerbated by an over excited self focussed cruise director (who has fortunately moved on) - but again we moved on. 
 

For us we are thankful we’ve even been able to get away so I suppose niggles don’t get any real attention from us. 

I guess the best solution would be to find the number for room service and then call it directly from the location you require the service. Calling from the room not an option as it would wake my wife.

 

with regard to going somewhere for a drink, several days the upper decks have been closed leaving very few options.

 

We love the Sky bar and the ever popular Irene

[uktog]

I was expecting you to call it from a house phone using the number in your room information and taking a note of it - that’s what I’d have done in the situation you had.

I suppose working abroad as a solo female in crazy places I’ve become very creative and adaptable in hotel/travel situations

Yes we had bars closed but never had an issue - you must have been unlucky. 
Are you going to give Explora another chance or seek a deal elsewhere in the future? 

[English Tim]

2 minutes ago, uktog said:

I was expecting you to call it from a house phone using the number in your room information and taking a note of it - that’s what I’d have done in the situation you had.

I suppose working abroad as a solo female in crazy places I’ve become very creative and adaptable in hotel/travel situations

Yes we had bars closed but never had an issue - you must have been unlucky. 
Are you going to give Explora another chance or seek a deal elsewhere in the future? 

Explora will be in our top four for when we search for a cruise, which is usually based on convenience, expected hot weather and price.

 

Maybe, I’m trying to give an honest appraisal I have come across as a bit negative, but generally we have had a wonderful time and been looked after extremely well.

[RlyLvn]

Has anyone heard how many passengers are on the next cruise leaving on Friday Transatlantic. 
I just spoke with EJ and they are saying it will be the busiest cruise yet. “Almost at full capacity”. 
 

Thanks. 

[Waltershipman]

11 minutes ago, RlyLvn said:

Has anyone heard how many passengers are on the next cruise leaving on Friday Transatlantic. 
I just spoke with EJ and they are saying it will be the busiest cruise yet. “Almost at full capacity”. 
 

Thanks. 

Will look forward to reading on board experiences 

[English Tim]

46 minutes ago, RlyLvn said:

Has anyone heard how many passengers are on the next cruise leaving on Friday Transatlantic. 
I just spoke with EJ and they are saying it will be the busiest cruise yet. “Almost at full capacity”. 
 

Thanks. 

I hope that is a genuine answer and not marketing spiel.

[Redking]

3 hours ago, English Tim said:

Explora will be in our top four for when we search for a cruise, which is usually based on convenience, expected hot weather and price.

 

Maybe, I’m trying to give an honest appraisal I have come across as a bit negative, but generally we have had a wonderful time and been looked after extremely well.

I for one have very much appreciated your review. One of the reasons I still turn to CC over other social media cruise groups is the better balance of experiences and opinions that assist in getting a feel for lines and ships. There seems to be a lot more cheerleading and Coolaid slurping in some of those other groups 😁 Again, thank you.

[English Tim]

I wonder if anyone can help me with a solution for what this pictured socket is for, which can be found in the bathroom. None of my devices fit the socket, except possibly my iPhone or iPad. If I want to charge my shaver or toothbrush, I have to use a socket outside the bathroom, which I find unusual. 

 

The second image is of the control for the underfloor heating, which we love.

[Dr. Cocktail]

34 minutes ago, English Tim said:

I wonder if anyone can help me with a solution for what this pictured socket is for, which can be found in the bathroom. None of my devices fit the socket, except possibly my iPhone or iPad. If I want to charge my shaver or toothbrush, I have to use a socket outside the bathroom, which I find unusual. 

 

The second image is of the control for the underfloor heating, which we love.

Loving your review!

 

My new shaver actually recharges on a usb port - 🤷‍♂️.

 

For our second sailing on E1, I brought a usb nightlight!

 

But …. an outlet would have been better!

[kool kruiser]

14 hours ago, Redking said:

I for one have very much appreciated your review. One of the reasons I still turn to CC over other social media cruise groups is the better balance of experiences and opinions that assist in getting a feel for lines and ships. There seems to be a lot more cheerleading and Coolaid slurping in some of those other groups 😁 Again, thank you.

Same here. It irks that on other social media groups there seem to be a number of  TAs who simply permanently gush...

[uktog]

13 minutes ago, kool kruiser said:

Same here. It irks that on other social media groups there seem to be a number of  TAs who simply permanently gush...

I agree - I think your judgement will always be different if you have paid "full whack" for your cruise and thats the people I want to hear from.  Secondly the "gushers" want to stay in the pocket of the cruise line to get the best deals for their clients.  They are often also running facebook pages in tandem with travel agencies so you see comments like "I will have some good offers coming soon".  So of course we can only talk about the wonderful and post photos beside key players etc.  

On one Facebook site I was removed for answering perfectly valid questions of clarification pre cruise and another, when I had issues with my first reservation I got accused of being a troll and got vicious messages from someone who continues to gush to this day.  

I know here has a disadvantages in some eyes about not being able to message posters but I would say thats a huge plus.

[Redking]

9 hours ago, kool kruiser said:

Same here. It irks that on other social media groups there seem to be a number of  TAs who simply permanently gush...

I've had to search a few times to discover that a member is a TA or company employee. I've come across other things that just don't feel right/transparent but you can't quite put your finger on. Membership numbers that look very large, feels like cruise line influence but without transparency to name a couple. As the saying goes "trust your gut", without of course becoming a conspiracy theorist😂

[English Tim]

On 5/29/2024 at 5:57 PM, Dr. Cocktail said:

Loving your review!

 

My new shaver actually recharges on a usb port - 🤷‍♂️.

 

For our second sailing on E1, I brought a usb nightlight!

 

But …. an outlet would have been better!

We have a nightlight which is charged with the USB, but then lasts the whole cruise coming on only when there is movement

[English Tim]

I’m a cruise has finally come to an end and we are very sad to leave our lovely room .

 

The crew looked after us very well, including the medical staff who looked after me when I had to be confined to my cabin.

 

We disembarked the ship at 07.00 and were the 1st to leave with our luggage, which we took to the immigration desk, where we had to wait at least 15 minutes for the computer to load. The officer told us that they rarely use that terminal, which might have accounted for the slow computers. 
 

The Uber software was extremely slow but after about 10 minutes we were in our car heading for Fort Lauderdale Airport. The journey took about 45 minutes, including the driver missing the turn at the airport the fare was about $45.

 

We were very confused at the airport, as the officer said they don’t fly direct to Washington and it turned out we were in the American Airlines line, not JetBlue! 

 

We arrived at the airport in good time and now await our flight.

 

In closing, I would recommend the ship to anyone, as long as they don’t require an expansive amount of entertainment. It is a great source of relaxation and the crew are magnificent. The food was as good if not better than we have tasted on any cruise ship.

[Waltershipman]

17 minutes ago, English Tim said:

I’m a cruise has finally come to an end and we are very sad to leave our lovely room .

 

The crew looked after us very well, including the medical staff who looked after me when I had to be confined to my cabin.

 

We disembarked the ship at 07.00 and were the 1st to leave with our luggage, which we took to the immigration desk, where we had to wait at least 15 minutes for the computer to load. The officer told us that they rarely use that terminal, which might have accounted for the slow computers. 
 

The Uber software was extremely slow but after about 10 minutes we were in our car heading for Fort Lauderdale Airport. The journey took about 45 minutes, including the driver missing the turn at the airport the fare was about $45.

 

We were very confused at the airport, as the officer said they don’t fly direct to Washington and it turned out we were in the American Airlines line, not JetBlue! 

 

We arrived at the airport in good time and now await our flight.

 

In closing, I would recommend the ship to anyone, as long as they don’t require an expansive amount of entertainment. It is a great source of relaxation and the crew are magnificent. The food was as good if not better than we have tasted on any cruise ship.

Loved your posts thank you be well

[registrar]

Ditto!! Thank you!

[RJ2002]

Yes, thanks for all the reports from Explora, and glad you were able to make the most of the cruise despite your confinement.

[Grandma Cruising]

Thanks, your posts have been very informative and helpful.

[Jratlanta]

Most appreciative of your time and effort to share your experiences.  Stay well.