jeffyd

We LOVED John as our CD on the Ovation last year (3/30/23 - 4/9/23). We have cruised a lot and across many different cruise lines and felt he was the best CD we've had. We are on the Ovation again this year from 4/26/24 - 5/18/24. Do you think he'll still be on the Ovation then? We hope so!

I agree with KayakCove. We were just in cabin 632 for the 2/4/24 - 2/15/24 Antarctica cruise and loved the Horizon Suite. Really enjoyed the extra room with couch and two chairs, no noise from above and a few steps outside access to the covered aft sundeck. One of the nice options for Antarctica for these rooms was dropping the window and taking pictures of the beautiful scenery without getting cold! Go for it!

We were on the same cruise as JanR and couldn't agree more. Atlas did a great job of communicating with us throughout the journey. We love Atlas and have now done both the Arctic and Antarctica with them and are ready to cruise again with them. I just posted a review from our Antarctica experience and it was second to none. I'd highly recommend them! https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=712453

I also forgot to add my impression of the Silversea Silver Dawn suite. I would say it was the same as I described above for the Regent Explorer. Very nice suite. Also, I believe all the cruise lines I mentioned above had walk in closets.

Like someone said, each cruise line’s website can give you the exact dimensions of every cabin for every ship. These are just my impressions and what I can remember since they all seem to run together! And these were all entry level cabins. EJ 1 - comfortable room, huge shower, heated bathroom tile floor, thickest bath towels we’ve seen, no curtain to make seating area separate, decent sized balcony with chaise lounge along with two chairs and table. Regent Explorer - comfortable room, good sized bathroom, curtain to make separate living area from bedroom, regular sized balcony Seabourn Ovation - comfortable room, very nice bathroom with two sinks, curtain to make separate living area from bedroom, regular sized balcony. Oceania Nautica - smallest shower we’ve ever experienced, would never sail this ship again but would try other larger Oceania ships PS: a little off topic but if you ever want to do an expedition cruise and still want luxury but not pay the Seabourn/Silversea prices, try Atlas Ocean Voyages. We did the Arctic with them last August and are doing Antarctica next month and can’t say enough good things about them.

You will all love EJ. We are just finishing up a 14 day journey with them and we’ve cruised all of the luxury lines and are leaning toward EJ as the best. We are in our mid 60’s but enjoy the vibe on EJ. Food is amazing and service is the best of all of them. There is a large mix of mid 30’s to mid 40’s ages onboard so it’s a nice range of people. We also feel Seabourn has a really good vibe and food and service there was also excellent. Regent is up there near the top for us as well. We felt the service on Oceania was a bit too impersonal for us and we didn’t feel the food was as good as the others. Silversea was a bit too boring for us but the food was good and we really loved the Jazz restaurant/club called the Silver Note. That was our favorite. You probably can’t go wrong with any of them but right now we’d probably rank them EJ, Seabourn and Regent. Happy Sailing! Jeff

You’re welcome. Have fun on your journey!

@gymfreak - I asked and was told the following about the passenger counts: 1. Our current journey only has 314 passengers! That’s one of the reasons the service is so responsive! 2. The next journey starting in Barbados will have 580 passengers. 3. The following journey will have 750 passengers which I was told was the highest passenger count they’ve had so far. I also want to mention another example of their onboard adjusting to passenger feedback. Myself and others filled out our surveys last journey and asked that they look into showing the NFL football games. This weekend they are showing all the playoff games on the big screen in the Astern lounge. All the games have been well attended and I know I, as a big NFL football fan, really appreciate the timely response to passenger feedback. They really are trying to continuously improve their product (which I feel is already excellent!).

Thanks. We will!

@gymfreak - I’m not sure what the count will be for your journey but I’ll ask next week and let you know. I also wanted to mention that the free wifi on this ship is the best I’ve ever experienced. We actually streamed an NFL football game the other night on our iPad without any slowdowns or glitches. Also the chaise lounge chair on the balcony is an added treat and so comfortable.

@travelwide - I just had amazing New Zealand lamb chops at Sakura last night and it was day 6 of the journey and the last night for most people. We are currently docked in Cartagena, Columbia and are doing the next leg of the journey which is 8 more days ending in Barbados. Yes, the menus don’t change but like others have said, there is so much variety on every menu, we have not been dusappointed. We LOVE this ship and the experience! The food is excellent and the service is the best we’ve had of all the luxury cruise lines. It may help that the first leg of the journey only had 510 people and we hear this next leg will have only around 480. But the attitude of every crew member to be willing to help is the best we’ve seen. In talking to them, many of them have come from high end hotels and airlines with an emphasis on customer service. It really shows and has enhanced our experience. EJ is not perfect but we’d go on them again in a heartbeat. Happy cruising to all!

When we boarded we were told the passenger count was in the 600's but not sure how accurate that is. There was no line for dinner at Fil Rouge last night around 7:30 and today it doesn't seem too crowded around the ship. Don't have any counts on future journeys. Did trivia today and that was well attended but not crowded. So far we are very pleased. Good luck on everyone's future trips!

Just wanted to let everyone know we just boarded today and the ship is amazing! It was the fastest embarkation we’ve ever exoerienced and we’ve cruised a lot. We arrived at 11:45 AM at the Miami port and were sitting down having lunch by Noon. And the choices and quality of food in the Emporium Marketplace were some of the best we’ve seen. Suites were ready around 2:00 and our OT1 is comfortable with plenty of storage space. Ate at Fil Rouge and the service and food were excellent. The show after dinner with a few singers and the Explora band was very good. Caught the Explora Trio doing Classic Rock and requests in the Astern Lounge and they were also really good. Our first day has exceeded our expectations and we’ve done Regent, Seabourn, Silversea and Oceania all within the last year. Explora so far ranks up there with them all and better in some aspects but it’s still early. I’d say give this cruise line a chance. They have a lot of potential!

Thanks uktog! We just heard from our travel agent that she got us a new room for both segments so we won't have to worry about the luggage. Thanks also for the tip about the transit card and skipping the new arrivals process. We board EJ1 in 3 days and are very excited to see what the EJ experience is like!

We are going to be on the EJ1 from Jan 5, 2024 to Jan 11, 2024, then on the next segment from Jan 11, 2024 to Jan 19, 2024. We ended up booking these at two different times and thus have two different Booking #s and two different cabins since the same cabin was not available when we booked the second segment (though the two cabins are only 8 cabins apart on the same deck and the same side of the ship). We are in an OT1. My question is, has anyone had a similar experience either on EJ or even another cruise line and what did you have to do on the transition day (in our case Jan 11, 2024 when we'll be in Cartagena)? Do we just pack up all our clothes and set them out the night before like the passengers that are leaving that day? Will someone take our bags to our new cabin or do we need to get off the ship and get them and go thru getting back on the ship like the new passengers? Can we get off the ship and go on an excursion that day and just make sure we're back on prior to the sail away time? etc., etc. for things I'm not thinking of! 🙂 We've never had this situation so just wondering if others have and how it was handled? I called Explora customer service and they weren't sure and said just work it out when we get on the ship during the first leg. I'm good with that but was just cuious if others had this experience and what it was like. Thanks! Jeff

Thanks mapleleaves! That's exactly what I was looking for. I'm good to go.

Thanks happy_ours. And just to clarify, I meant that Oceania said it would take 30 minutes for them to shuttle us from the Fusina dock where the ship is to the Venice Cruise Terminal for us to get taxis, busses, etc., not the time it takes to get to the airport. Sorry for the confusion. Also, do you remember how much the taxi cost? Thanks again.

We will be on the Oceania Nautica and disembarking at the Venice Cruise Terminal on Friday Oct 27, 2023. Our ship will be docked over at the Fusina dock across from Venice from the night before (Thurs Oct 26th) so I assume we can disembark any time after 7 AM or so on Friday Oct 27th. Oceania told us they will shuttle us between Fusina and the Venice Cruise Terminal for disembarkation and that the shuttle takes approx. 30 minutes. We have a 1:35 PM flight out of Marco Polo airport and was hoping to just walk out of the terminal and grab a taxi to the airport. Will there be taxis waiting there and is there a flat rate from the Cruise Terminal to the airport and if so any idea how much that costs? There'll be two of us with the normal checked bag and carry on bag each. Also, what time would you suggest we get the taxi for a 1:35 PM flight? Thank you! Jeff

You're welcome! Glad it was helpful. And yes, I think you have the right volume of items. The only other thing I forgot to mention was having a nice warm gaiter around your neck to keep you warm. The best are the merino wool types, which would also be best for the fleece type items you were talking about investing in but the merino can be more expensive so a regular fleece top would work. Here is a link to a merino wool gaiter for an example. It keeps your neck warm and if the winds whip up while you're out on the zodiac boat, you can cover your face/mouth with it too. https://www.amazon.com/Merino-Gaiter-Women-Forest-Green/dp/B09BG76VQ6/ref=sr_1_19_sspa?crid=2X7RF5U6KF0IR&keywords=women's%2Bcold%2Bweather%2Bneck%2Bgaiters&qid=1693443745&sprefix=gaiters%2Bfor%2Bcold%2Bweather%2Caps%2C146&sr=8-19-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9tdGY&th=1 Have fun when you go as well!

I have not done an Antarctica expedition yet but have done an Arctic expedition with the Atlas World Traveller a few weeks ago and I think your list looks good. Antarctica may be a little bit colder than the Arctic but probably not by much. I just wore a set of long underwear under my waterproof trousers and that was adequate and kept me warm. I just wore that combination all day during expedition days and it worked fine. Here is a link to the product I got on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Thermajohn-Thermal-Underwear-Fleece-X-Large/dp/B018DQI504/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=2BSNDJJOHI5C1&keywords=Thermajohn%2BLong%2BJohns%2BThermal%2BUnderwear%2Bfor%2BMen%2BFleece%2BLined%2BBase%2BLayer%2BSet%2Bfor%2BCold%2BWeather&qid=1693315231&sprefix=thermajohn%2Blong%2Bjohns%2Bthermal%2Bunderwear%2Bfor%2Bmen%2Bfleece%2Blined%2Bbase%2Blayer%2Bset%2Bfor%2Bcold%2Bweather%2Caps%2C225&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1&psc=1 For the expedition days, the parka and vest they give you to keep is more than adequate to keep you warm and I didn't wear any other type of jacket or windbreaker with it but just had my long underwear top and some type of long sleeve fleece top of some kind over the long underwear top. You may want a windbreaker type of coat with a hood for the non-expedition days when you may be out on the deck when it's windy, chilly or rainy. I found my windbreaker underneath the vest they gave me worked well for those days. Here is a link to a windbreaker type product on Amazon for an example: https://www.amazon.com/Columbia-Glennaker-Packable-Jacket-X-Large/dp/B0058YHL4G/ref=sr_1_6?crid=4G84O7ZNNOFH&keywords=windbreaker&qid=1693314935&sprefix=windbreak%2Caps%2C168&sr=8-6&th=1&psc=1 Have fun on your cruise. You will love Atlas. We really enjoyed our cruise. Feel free to ask any other questions. We're planning to do an Antarctica expedition with Atlas in Jan 2024. We did a "drive by" Antarctica cruise with Holland America in Jan of this year and spent 4 days along the northern peninsula of Antarctica and loved seeing all the whales, penguins and other marine life but really want to step foot on the continent! Safe Travels! Jeff

Hi MamaFej. I just submitted a detailed review of our trip under the World Traveller reviews but it may take a day to post. Bottom-line, we LOVED it! We are already looking to book an Antarctica expedition with Atlas in Jan 2024. The ship is gorgeous both inside and out. The staff is excellent and it was some of the best service we've had on a cruise ship. The food is very good but probably not quite up to Regent and Seabourn's but still very good. We did not go hungry! Saw tons of wild life but not the elusive polar bear. Go for the 2025 Arctic expedition with them, you won't regret it. We're ready to do it again! If anyone has any questions let me know. Jeff

Thank you both for your quick replies. I appreciate it!

We're thinking of booking an Explora Journeys cruise on Explora I for early 2024. Does anyone know what if any difference there is between Ocean Terrace Suite 1s (OT1s) and OT2s other than what deck they might be on? If I can figure out the shade of blue differences I see on various deck plan websites, it looks like there are OT1s on Deck 7 that don't look too bad. Was just curious if anyone knew the benefits of going from OT1 to OT2 (and for that matter going up to OT3 or OT4)? Thanks for any insights. Jeff

We're doing the Arctic voyage out of Longyearbyen on Atlas World Traveler from Aug 6-23, 2023 so I'll post something when we return. It looks like a pretty good itinerary with several days for expeditions in Svalbard as well as stops in Honningvag, Tromso, Hammerfest and the Lofoton Islands. We're spending a few days ahead of time and doing the Norway in a Nutshell tour out of Oslo. We love the small ship experience but have not been on a ship this small so we'll see. We've also never done an expedition ship so we're looking forward to that. We did Azamara Pursuit to Croatia last fall and loved it. We just did Seabourn Ovation to the Caribbean in April and liked it slightly better than Azamara and didn't think anyone could top it. But then we just did Regent Seven Seas Navigator this month and it slightly beat out Seabourn. I'm hoping Atlas brings their A game!

Thank you both for your responses. Given the relatively low cost of the taxi and the fact that we’ll be tired from cross country travel and have several suitcases, we’ll most likely do the taxi. And yes, we’re staying at the YWCA at 733 Beatty St. Thanks again. Jeff