Exploring Explorer--Live--September 14-24--Rome to Venice

George and I are presently in the BA lounge at ORD awaiting our flight to LHR and onward to FCO in BA business class (on AA miles) to set off on another adventure. We are really excited to be sailing on the Explorer for the first time.

I have my tape measure packed to take all those measurements people have been wondering about. If you have anything you want me to measure, just ask. I already have the mattresses, the cabin, the balcony, and bathroom on the list. And I will probably just throw in the closet for good measure.

We are visiting some our favorite ports (Amalfi and Catania) but have lots of new places to explore. As usual, George has his cowboy hat and boots, so feel free if anyone is reading this onboard to come up and introduce yourself. He never met a stranger.

We are looking forward to seeing the new ship and checking out the new dining venues. I am a little worried about the G cabin as it has been reported to be small, but this is a very port intensive cruise with a port every day. So it is not like we will spend a lot of time in the cabin.

Looking at a G, it does appear to be smaller than some of the other ships, but it's still larger than some of the other luxury lines. Besides, I'd much rather be in an Explorer G cabin than my office. :D

Enjoy your cruise!

Rachel, please explain this "upgrade" you missed? Isn't the ship full?

Have a great time!!!

Marc

Rachel, Dennis and I are so looking forward to your posts from the Explorer (positive, negative or anywhere in between). We both respect you and your balanced posts.

Safe travels and enjoy every moment of your vacation (you work hard and deserve it):)

Jackie

Rachel, please explain this "upgrade" you missed? Isn't the ship full?

 

Have a great time!!!

 

Marc

The ship is full apparently, but there may be an up sell offer.

Very much looking forward to reading about your experience as we are taking the same route (in reverse) on Explorer in April. Enjoy and please let us know which shore excursions you enjoy as well!

Have fun, Rachel! We are looking forward to reading all about it!

Rachel - hope you have a wonderful time, we were supposed to be on this segment, and was looking forward to finally meeting you and George, but in Oct we decided to switch to the March TA b2b, more bang for the buck and lots of sea days. So looking forward to all your posts and hopefully pictures. Hope your up sell comes thru. Bon Voyage.

"Tape Measure" reminded me. Please see if there is a tailor aboard. Years ago, DW had a gown altered aboard; we may need this for New Years cruise aboard the Explorer. Thanks, this should be an interesting thread!

Jim C

"Tape Measure" reminded me. Please see if there is a tailor aboard. Years ago, DW had a gown altered aboard; we may need this for New Years cruise aboard the Explorer. Thanks, this should be an interesting thread!

Jim C

I can confirm there is a tailor on board. I have just used his services.

Thanks. Of course one answer leads to another question. When I informed DW that a tailor was onboard the explorer, she asked "can he hem a sheath gown to shorten it?".

What tailor can't! But PLEASE ask.

The back story on this is that she tripped on her gown during a "Formal" night on a Mariner cruise and stabbed her calf with her high heel. We had a $5000 bill from ship's doctor and I thought I might have to buy the blood soaked cabin. All ended well as the cabin was cleaned to pristine condition and her leg healed without cosmetic surgery and with only tiny scarring. But once bit; twice shy!

Your help is appreciated.

Jim C

We have arrived in Rome and are safely checked in at the airport Hilton. I too can confirm that the onboard tailor can do any sort of alteration as I have previously used this service in the past.

Met some nice folks on our flight from LHR that are on the ship as well. And saw the representative with the big regent sign at luggage claim. We do our own hotel and transport, so will see everyone tomorrow.

Have a great cruise and look forward to your posts.

Have a great cruise and look forward to your posts.

Rachel:

Glad you arrived safely to Rome. Have a wonderful cruise!!!

Z and TB

Have the Best Ever! Or even fine and dandy should be fine and dandy. Actually, I suspect you'll love Explorer. Not sure if we'll ever make it on board, but fun to hear about it. (I'm beginning to look at a 17-day Voyager cruise in June that's considerably less expensive than the 12 (!) day Explorer cruise I was hoping to be able to manage (cost-wise). REALLY want to do Iceland and Norway, but may have to wait until maybe Voyager does it again.

HAPPY SAILS!!!

Have a wonderful cruise!

September 14,2016--civitavecchia Italy

Thanks for all the well wishes. Poss, Iceland and Norway are definitely worth doing for sure.

So we are off. After spending the night at the Rome airport Hilton (extremely comfortable beds but no water pressure--George said it was a good thing he wasn't all that dirty), we were picked up by our driver for the 50 minute trip to the port north of Rome.

We arrived just after 2 big buses loaded with passengers, and there was a huge line. But it moved very quickly, and we were all checked in within 15 minutes.

The first step onto the ship--WOW! Huge chandelier with impressive staircase. Beautiful bronze and blue color scheme. The details are really over the top. We immediately spotted several friends whom we have sailed with before.

We were originally in a G2, but my wonderful travel agent realized as soon as she saw one that it would not be to our liking. The bathrooms are just tiny. The ship was oversold, but she was able to work a piece of magic, and we got an upsell to a D, which is significantly larger.

We were able to get into a G and have a look. I did not have my tape measure as it is in the checked bags. But here is my impression. The bathroom is very small, definitely a one person at a time bathroom. There is a single sink and shower only. It reminded me of a bathroom on a river ship, though the tile and decoration are beautiful. The color scheme is dark blue, grey, and cream, same as in our D suite.

The G closet is a walkin, but totally different configuration that on any of the other regent ships. It is very long and narrow with very little hanging space. My clothes would fit, but George would have to go somewhere else.

The bed is definitely a regular size queen. The sitting area is adequate but no chair, just a love seat. Balcony is about the same as on Mariner. Square footage is one more square foot than the basic suites on Mariner, but it is set up differently and just seems small. It would be great if a person is traveling solo though.

At the lifeboat drill, we heard lots of grumbling from people who are in G suites.

The D suite is huge. More storage than we could ever use. The safe is enormous. You could definitely put a laptop in there plus a bunch of other stuff. I could see doing a world cruise easily. The balcony is huge, over twice as big as a regular balcony on the other ships, with lots of area in the shade. There are two regular chairs plus a large table and lounge chair.

The bathroom is very large and has both a tub and a shower. No mirror in the shower, unlike the other ships, but that is probably a good thing for most of us. And no seat in the shower, but it is good size. Two sinks and lots of cabinet space.

We have a sofa, good sized table that can be used as a dining table, no extra chair other than the one at the desk. The desk is long with lots of storage. There are plenty of electrical outlets.

In both suites, the decor is VERY elegant and up to date. Air conditioning in our suite is working great. Lighting in the bathroom is excellent, better than on most other ships I have been on, and there is a lighted makeup mirror. They do have the European style electrical system where you have to put a keycard in the receptacle to get the electricity in the room to work. That means if you want to charge electronics while you are at dinner, you have to put something in the slot to make it worked. I am using my concealed carry license for this purpose!

George had a hankering for pizza. So after checking in, we walked back into town. We found the most wonderful buffalo mozzarella pizza. It was a hot walk in the sun but it was worth it.

Upon return, I unpacked while he napped. He says the bed is outstandingly comfortable. Then we had life boat drill. On this ship, you do not have to go out on deck for the drill due to the way the lifeboats are secured to the ship--not enough room.

We enjoyed sail away from our HUGE balcony. Then dinner at chartreuse. It was truly amazing. The decor is beautiful to start, with chartreuse as the main color theme accented with beige and brown. I do see a problem with the large areas of beige of the carpet as that is going to show even the slightest stain. But it looks great now. The restaurant is at the aft of the ship, and we had a lovely table for two at the far aft Windows which are floor to ceiling.

Our waiter is one we have known before from Mariner, so we had a good time catching up. I started with a mesclun salad with lemon dressing which was delicious. George kept stealing my fennel. He had a beet and goat cheese salad, similar to what we have had in P7 before, and said it was very good. We split a delicious cheese soufflé then both had the cream of artichoke soup, which rivals the mushroom soup in signatures as the best thing I have ever put in my mouth. I could just eat a big bowl of that for dinner and be fine.

For our main courses, George had the veal filet, which he declared as just ok but not special. I had the scallops which were perfectly prepared with a side of asparagus. I hate over cooked asparagus but this was fine.

They have a proper cheese trolley where you can choose your cheeses, all French. So good! And a choice crackers with two types of water crackers, and not a ritz cracker in sight.

The Broadway cabaret show was just ok. Solid female singers, but the guys were ho hum. We will see how it goes. So far, not as good as JAR.

Pizza in civitavecchia

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Bathroom and closet in D suite

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Rachel:

Enjoying your posts so far - I have a favor to ask of you. When you locate that all important tape measure, can you please measure the desk area. I hear that it is long but narrow - will one be able to use a large notebook computer and open legal files and have room to work. I know that I should not expect a proper office desk, but curious as if one can actually do "real" work at the desk.

Thanks

gnomie :)

Great to see you and George again, Rachel-- if only in a photo.

Makes me sad what you reported about the G suites. A real shame, since they're not any smaller than G on Mariner, that they're less pleasing/comfortable. Sounds like a poor design job. Probably the form over function mistake ("mistake" imho). If you possibly could, would you please actually measure the ^#!* G bed. I have an email from a supervisor in the reservations office who has said that he has "absolute confirmation" that the bed is a "European King." 69" wide I think he said, as on Mariner. If it's really a queen, like 63-64" (which is what I've suspected all along and exactly what others have reported), I absolutely need to have a "friendly" little conversation with the chap. (a nice fellow otherwise)

I'll have to think long and hard about booking the more expensive "F" suite (anticipating the report about G, I've been thinking long and hard for weeks, but not really getting anywhere; I suspect we'll need to wait to see if Voyager does that itinerary, at lower cost, where G suits us fine. But Jack would be 87 for the 2017 itinerary; even at best, not a whole lot of time left.)

Do you happen to know if the F cabins have the same color scheme in the bathroom as your D? I know that most people probably think that the whole black and white thing is quite elegant (and I like it in clothing), but it's too glitzy/sterile for our taste. Perhaps the lower suites have a less "elegant" color scheme?

I'm so glad that you received that upsell to D. Nothing like traveling in that kind of comfort and style! I know that you'll continue to enjoy this wonderful cruise. May there be many more.

I would steal your fennel too!

I am so happy to see a grab bar by the toilet - that is something that we mentioned we would like to see when we were invited to the Explorer preview in New York City last year.

We never realized how important this is until we had a cruise with very rough seas and for people who have problems with their balance, this will be quite helpful.

I am so glad to see they listened - can't wait to show my Mom - she will be very pleased.

gnomie :)

Gnomie, the desk is 72 inches long and 17 inches wide. Definitely large enough for a laptop but the files will have to go on either side. My husband brought a whole suitcase of legal files with him. The other option would be the table which is square and 28 inches.

Poss, the bathroom and suite color scheme is the same, and I find it really pretty. There is more grey in the bathroom than just black and white, and when you see it in person, it looks really nice, not stark.

Agree about the grab bars. Very well placed, and the tub is not hard to get in and out of like on Mariner. It is like a regular bathtub, and has well placed grab bars as well.

Great picture Rachel. And thanks for the info on the D suite, which is the same layout as the F, except I believe the balcony is larger in the D.

Your dinner in Chartruse sounds wonderful, can't wait to try it. If you have a chance, could you take a look at the alternative venue's and see if it appears any of them can accommodate tables of 9 or 10? My guess is probably tables of 8 are the largest, but just curious as there will be 9 of us who like to dine together on the March cruise.

Looking forward to more pictures and reports. Somewhere I had seen a link to your blog, but now can't find it, can you put it up again please?

Have a wonderful time.

Thanks Rachel for your detailed descriptions of the suites and that terrific photo - the bathroom is lovely and looks quite luxurious with the inlaid tile. Enjoy and please continue to send updates and further information about the ship!