Live Report

[tiggertom]

Thanks for your report, safe journey home

 

[English Tim]

Having now returned to cold England, I’ve had time reflect on our cruising experience.

 

We had a wonderful time, made extra special by the tremendous service from a willing crew and the food was wonderful.

 

Our only concern is that if the marketing is very successful and the number of passengers is doubled, certain aspects of the ship may be a problem. On the second section of our cruise there were far more people in the buffet around breakfast time and this occasionally was an issue. With even more people I think lunch and breakfast could be a problem. 
 

Secondly, if the weather was cold or wet, I don’t think there are enough indoor facilities to satisfy the number of people. Only time will tell.

[Redking]

3 hours ago, English Tim said:

Having now returned to cold England, I’ve had time reflect on our cruising experience.

 

We had a wonderful time, made extra special by the tremendous service from a willing crew and the food was wonderful.

 

Our only concern is that if the marketing is very successful and the number of passengers is doubled, certain aspects of the ship may be a problem. On the second section of our cruise there were far more people in the buffet around breakfast time and this occasionally was an issue. With even more people I think lunch and breakfast could be a problem. 
 

Secondly, if the weather was cold or wet, I don’t think there are enough indoor facilities to satisfy the number of people. Only time will tell.

Thank you for your final impressions. I've not been on Explora, but as I said before,  your review feels balanced and informative.

 

Hope the temps improve in Blighty. Cheers from chilly New Zealand.

[Mommapadraig]

Thank you for your review. We are booked on Explora ll January 2025.I have a lot to learn before we travel! Do we need reservations for all of the restaurants or just Marble and Sakura? I read we can make them 60 days before our cruise. Did you do this? I don’t think we will book Anthology. I’ve looked at several past menus and it wouldn’t be anything that would appeal to my husband.I was also concerned about your quest for morning coffee. I thought they had an expresso machine and a kettle in each cabin. Is that not true or were you just being considerate for your sleeping wife? Thanks for your input! 

[English Tim]

3 hours ago, Mommapadraig said:

Thank you for your review. We are booked on Explora ll January 2025.I have a lot to learn before we travel! Do we need reservations for all of the restaurants or just Marble and Sakura? I read we can make them 60 days before our cruise. Did you do this? I don’t think we will book Anthology. I’ve looked at several past menus and it wouldn’t be anything that would appeal to my husband.I was also concerned about your quest for morning coffee. I thought they had an expresso machine and a kettle in each cabin. Is that not true or were you just being considerate for your sleeping wife? Thanks for your input! 

Yes, there is a coffee maker in the suite and yes, I was being considerate.

 

Reference restaurant bookings, we were unable to make any prior to boarding. The only ones requiring reservations were Marble and Sakura. Rules may change depending upon occupancy. I would say that on most nights we ate where we wanted.

[RlyLvn]

Hi English Tim I think you were one of the people who mentioned that there should be a night light in the Bathroom. 
FYI….EJ is listening…..today a night light was installed in the Bathroom. 

[uktog]

9 hours ago, Mommapadraig said:

Thank you for your review. We are booked on Explora ll January 2025.I have a lot to learn before we travel! Do we need reservations for all of the restaurants or just Marble and Sakura? I read we can make them 60 days before our cruise. Did you do this? I don’t think we will book Anthology. I’ve looked at several past menus and it wouldn’t be anything that would appeal to my husband.I was also concerned about your quest for morning coffee. I thought they had an expresso machine and a kettle in each cabin. Is that not true or were you just being considerate for your sleeping wife? Thanks for your input! 

On all sailings you can make one booking in each of Marble, Sakura and Anthology 60 days before departure either via your travel agent or by calling the service number for your country yourself. It’s easy to do - we had no issues doing it 

[John117]

14 hours ago, English Tim said:

Having now returned to cold England, I’ve had time reflect on our cruising experience.

 

We had a wonderful time, made extra special by the tremendous service from a willing crew and the food was wonderful.

 

Our only concern is that if the marketing is very successful and the number of passengers is doubled, certain aspects of the ship may be a problem. On the second section of our cruise there were far more people in the buffet around breakfast time and this occasionally was an issue. With even more people I think lunch and breakfast could be a problem. 
 

Secondly, if the weather was cold or wet, I don’t think there are enough indoor facilities to satisfy the number of people. Only time will tell.

Many thanks for all the info in your reviews and all the photos.

 

We have just booked on Explora 1 for 10 days in October 24 having had our Silversea cruise cancelled for the second time in a row. I have a couple of questions if you get a mo that I haven't been able to get answered elsewhere.

 

Is there a pull out washing line in the shower given there are only 2 small self serve laundries on board (says another reviewer)

 

We have booked an OT1 which seems quite big but other reviews have said the wardrobe is too small, the bathroom is too small and the sitting area is "cosy". If that is true where did all the space go?

 

I note your comments regarding the food service if the ship is full. I had the same concern when we tried Viking just after Covid when the ship was only half full. Is the problem that the buffet is not really a buffet and too many dishes are prepared freshly?

 

Thanks 

 

 

[Mommapadraig]

1 hour ago, uktog said:

On all sailings you can make one booking in each of Marble, Sakura and Anthology 60 days before departure either via your travel agent or by calling the service number for your country yourself. It’s easy to do - we had no issues doing it 

Thanks. Does anyone ever get to dine twice in Marble? We are on a 10 day cruise.( I just re read your answer…cruise length probably doesn’t matter)  We’d pass on a reservation for Sukura to go to Marble twice. 

Edited June 6 by Mommapadraig

[uktog]

Just now, Mommapadraig said:

Thanks. Does anyone ever get to dine twice in Marble? We are on a 10 day cruise. We’d pass on a reservation for Sukura to go to Marble twice. 

Unless the ship is full it’s very easy to get more than one speciality booking especially if you can be flexible on timings. There’s a desk set up on Deck 5 that’s staffed 8-6 and the staff there are really helpful. On our 17 nights onboard even though we were over run by freeloaders we got 3 in Marble and 4 in Sakura (the lower Marble score was personal choice). One day we only decided at 4pm to see if there was space. 

[uktog]

6 hours ago, RlyLvn said:

Hi English Tim I think you were one of the people who mentioned that there should be a night light in the Bathroom. 
FYI….EJ is listening…..today a night light was installed in the Bathroom. 

We had a night light in November- I wonder if some had gone missing and the suite host hadn’t checked 

[Mommapadraig]

11 minutes ago, uktog said:

Unless the ship is full it’s very easy to get more than one speciality booking especially if you can be flexible on timings. There’s a desk set up on Deck 5 that’s staffed 8-6 and the staff there are really helpful. On our 17 nights onboard even though we were over run by freeloaders we got 3 in Marble and 4 in Sakura (the lower Marble score was personal choice). One day we only decided at 4pm to see if there was space. 

That’s good news. I’m making notes! 

[RJ2002]

6 hours ago, uktog said:

Unless the ship is full it’s very easy to get more than one speciality booking especially if you can be flexible on timings. There’s a desk set up on Deck 5 that’s staffed 8-6 and the staff there are really helpful. On our 17 nights onboard even though we were over run by freeloaders we got 3 in Marble and 4 in Sakura (the lower Marble score was personal choice). One day we only decided at 4pm to see if there was space. 

 

Be sure to load the Explora app to your phone.  I was familiarizing myself with it one day early in our cruise and discovered you can reserve restaurants through the app as well.  I think this might only be available once you are onboard.

[English Tim]

6 hours ago, John117 said:

Many thanks for all the info in your reviews and all the photos.

 

We have just booked on Explora 1 for 10 days in October 24 having had our Silversea cruise cancelled for the second time in a row. I have a couple of questions if you get a mo that I haven't been able to get answered elsewhere.

 

Is there a pull out washing line in the shower given there are only 2 small self serve laundries on board (says another reviewer)

 

We have booked an OT1 which seems quite big but other reviews have said the wardrobe is too small, the bathroom is too small and the sitting area is "cosy". If that is true where did all the space go?

One section of the wardrobe is full length and the other, half length.  There is plenty of space in the bathroom but a heated mirror would be useful.  There was definitely no nightlight that we could see, so we used our own. Perhaps I should’ve asked the steward,  but we didn’t see him on the first day. There was no washing line in the shower, which we were disappointed about.

 

Sitting area was a decent size I think a whole suite was very well laid out.

6 hours ago, John117 said:

 

I note your comments regarding the food service if the ship is full. I had the same concern when we tried Viking just after Covid when the ship was only half full. Is the problem that the buffet is not really a buffet and too many dishes are prepared freshly?

 

Thanks 

 

 

We managed to eat in one of the speciality restaurants each night, although my belt of Covid meant room service for four nights, but sometimes from the Marble and Sakura menus.

[kool kruiser]

6 hours ago, uktog said:

We had a night light in November- I wonder if some had gone missing and the suite host hadn’t checked 

We also sailed in November and definitely no bathroom nightlight in our OT1. Hotel Manager Heike was well ware of this issue and said it was on the ''to do'' list. Great that this seems to be happening now and will no doubt be reflected on Explora 2.

Maybe uktog is referring to the nightlights beside the bed ?

[kool kruiser]

7 hours ago, John117 said:

Many thanks for all the info in your reviews and all the photos.

 

We have just booked on Explora 1 for 10 days in October 24 having had our Silversea cruise cancelled for the second time in a row. I have a couple of questions if you get a mo that I haven't been able to get answered elsewhere.

 

Is there a pull out washing line in the shower given there are only 2 small self serve laundries on board (says another reviewer)

 

We have booked an OT1 which seems quite big but other reviews have said the wardrobe is too small, the bathroom is too small and the sitting area is "cosy". If that is true where did all the space go?

 

I note your comments regarding the food service if the ship is full. I had the same concern when we tried Viking just after Covid when the ship was only half full. Is the problem that the buffet is not really a buffet and too many dishes are prepared freshly?

 

Thanks 

 

 

We usually cruise in a simple balcony cabin and fthought our OT1 entry level balcony was, all in all, terrific.No problem for us at all, size-wise.

Sorry, no clothes line in bathroom, something the Hotel Manager was well aware of and sympathetic to it's silly omission. No doubt this has been fed back but who knows ? DW loves on-board launderettes and had no problem in securing machines on our roughly 50% capacity cruise.

As for Emporium, absolutely right that this is not a buffet at all in the traditional sense. I am sure your thoughts are spot-on and I would hope that issues arising when the ship is fuller will be ironed out with experience. Perhaps an approach could be to go for the made to order options first and then visit the ''ready to go'' stations (eg breads, juices, cereals, cold cuts, etc ) whilst waiting ?

Don't worry unnecessarily,your understandable worries are, in all honesty, of little concern.

[reposado]

On 6/6/2024 at 1:32 AM, uktog said:

On our 17 nights onboard even though we were over run by freeloaders 

 

Not saying you're wrong just curious how can you tell they were freeloaders(im assuming influencers or travel agents)?

[johng75370]

2 hours ago, reposado said:

Not saying you're wrong just curious how can you tell they were freeloaders(im assuming influencers or travel agents)?

There are small telltale signs, especially the influencers :). 

If it isn't how they seem to dress just slightly differently than the average paying passenger, then the entourage and camera crew might also give it away.  OR if you check Instagram and see that these same "fellow passengers" are tagged as "paid partnerships" (freeloaders).

 

Travel agents are harder, but over the course of a few days when you realize that over 50% of people you've met "just happen" to be travel agents (and all previous cruises were never more than 10%). 

 

[mike@sea]

I am no longer on social media but I must say, the pictures are fabulous! And they probably represent a very good (understated) marketing for Explora too. Not bad at all. I am quite impressed. Thank you for sharing.  
 

It goes without saying though, that the photo shooting should not in any way annoy paying passengers or interfere with passenger processes on the ship. Which must be ensured by Explora staff. 
Discretion as well as information to boarding passengers, that the occasional photo shooting will take place during the voyage should be self evident to EJ, as they cannot assume this is acceptable for everyone, not even with prior notification.
That would be my expectation at least. 

[uktog]

Some of us were trying to use that pool when Mr Green Suit was posing and his minders were shooing us away. The problem is these people come with an extensive retinue, so easy to spot.  They take over bars (inside and out) and are very noisy In restaurants. On the same cruise we’d a woman constantly having bar drinks remixed and poured whilst she filmed them or walking around filming and talking into her iPhone but unaware she was about to bump into guests etc 

[mike@sea]

20 hours ago, uktog said:

Some of us were trying to use that pool when Mr Green Suit was posing and his minders were shooing us away. The problem is these people come with an extensive retinue, so easy to spot.  They take over bars (inside and out) and are very noisy In restaurants. On the same cruise we’d a woman constantly having bar drinks remixed and poured whilst she filmed them or walking around filming and talking into her iPhone but unaware she was about to bump into guests etc 

I would have not left the managers office, until he agreed that no such behavior continued, along with a „We are so sorry this is happening“, followed by an invitation to Anthology for a free dinner as an excuse along with a written We are Sorry note. 

Unbelievable and there is no excuse whatsoever from EJ to let any of this happen.