johng75370

I respect your opinion; they definitely made some design decisions that preclude events like an on-deck dance party or having a library. We had a great time regardless recently and plan to be back, but I can see how things people might be used to on other ships are not going to be present on Explora.

Here's a link to the French Bloom website: https://us.frenchbloom.com

They have a NA bubbly called "French Bloom" in white and rose that is not bad, and an array of NA "alcohol" from Ovant. I believe they have other wines and beers but did nit check them out. Bartenders happy to mix up custom mocktails.

Hi JTor - We've seen this with other cruise lines ( Old Crystal, for example) where the preboarding experience was severely lacking compared to the onboard. Same here at Explora. Here's what I hope are helpful to put you at ease: 1. Boarding process was very smooth and well staffed. If we showed up with just passports and smiles would have been the same as showing up with extensive paperwork. As long as final payment was made you should be fine. A call to Explora directly should confirm that. 2. I would recommend prebooking restaurants, either through your TA or by calling directly. We did it through our TA and we got our booked times at Marble, Sakura, and Anthology. The onboard experience has been great for us, despite some preboarding issues, so I hope you have the same.

It can be hard to find for booking online (but I think it is there); but how we usually use it is to extend a massage; they will use it to make a 60 minute massage into a 90 minute. Hope that helps.

Currently on Explora 1 and each day there are 2 sit-down restaurants open (Asian and Med), along with the buffet offerings. Plus they now are keeping open a burger bar until 3:30pm on port days for people coming back late from excursions. While we remain big fans of Seabourn this is one area they need to step it up a bit by offering lunch in the Restaurant on all days.

Yes, it seems like they have changed their earlier policy that was reported here on CC about not providing or stocking it. In general they seem to have really taken early feedback to heart and made changes. Wish I had any feedback at this point to provide to them, but it has been pretty flawless. We even had an "Explora Moment" when we boarded - the security team at Port of Miami confiscated flowers we bought to bring onboard for our cabin because "Explora does not allow that" (and they claimed they checked with Explora on this); we realize now they were taking it for themselves. When we talked to a real Explora host they said there was no such policy, apologized, and they would have a word with POM security...we later found a nice bouquet in our cabin as their way of making up for the issue. Unexpected and left us impressed.

Correction: had dinner at Marble last night and no issue getting Pelligrino. Could be they are loosening up on that. My travel agent made the arrangements; I was able to see it in my booking as a special request.

No extra charge, but it had to be arranged ahead of time. In general (so far) it is not available at the bars or Emporium, just in your cabin if you reserved it ahead.

Just boarded, and the mineral water we pre-ordered (Aqua Panna and Pelligrino) was in our cabin in large glass bottles (1l and 750ml). Strange thing is we asked for Pelligrino and they told us only Perrier, but happy we ended up with what we wanted.

FWIW, here is the menu currently showing for Ovation on the Source app. With other culinary changes going on at Seabourn this menu should likely be updated/revisited. menu_template_-_the_retreat_-_2023 (1).pdf

I've heard from others that you get the $50 credit per day, along with a daily bottle of nicer champagne - making it a really good deal if you plan multiple spa visits and to buy revenue champagne. Hopefully others who have done that can confirm, but it is what I have heard onboard (from people who did it). A couple of considerations: if your itinerary has cold or bad weather The Retreat may not be that useful. On the other hand, there is a massage space in The Retreat, so if you want an outdoor massage it's the only option onboard. Personally, I have done it once and really enjoyed it and would do it again, but would be itinerary-dependent (and wine offering dependent) as to the value for buying it for the whole sailing. As @Mr Luxury highlighted, it used to be Bollinger as the champagne and (IMHO) better wines than are currently showing, but I would still take advantage of it depending on itinerary.

In addition to the menu posted by @Covepointcruiser if your next booking is on Encore then you should be able to access the menu through the Seabourn Source app. If you click on “view more” for Dining options, you’ll see the lounges listed including the Retreat. The bar menu you can access there is the full menu, including food and drinks, and does change from time to time.

Are they offering spa specials or discounts if you book multiple treatments? Thanks in advance.

Usually there is someone performing around the pool mid-afternoon; I think it rotates between performers (“The Band” or “The Trio”). Good mix of shaded and non-shaded space to enjoy it from. FWIW, I like how they always have sunscreen and other sun stuff available by the patio bar and sky bar, so if you decide to hang out at the pool to enjoy the music you don’t have to go back to cabin for sunscreen.

Or after it's ended 🙂

It usually is not, but if they want a “better than usual” Sushi dinner on formal nights they offer a Kaiseki menu which has some items special to that night, FYI. Here is a link to a post from 2019 showing the Kaiseki menu: https://boards.cruisecritic.com.au/topic/2674969-earth-and-ocean/?do=findComment&comment=57783236

Here’s a few general thoughts/comments: - In 9 years of sailing on Seabourn I can barely count on one hand any time I’ve shared an elevator, waited for an elevator, or felt crowded in almost any part of the ship. YMMV, but that’s been my experience. - If they judge an area to be too crowded looking (i.e. Observation Bar for pre-dinner cocktails), the other similar places (like The Club) will typically not be crowded at all. - The Restaurant is very easy to not be seated near other people, and especially if it is open for lunch or breakfast, should they want to dine inside - Some events will have people close together (such as trivia, or entering the theater for a show or Captain’s reception), but otherwise seems pretty easy to keep distance - The theater can get relatively packed, so they will need to judge that for themselves. Enrichment/lectures are hardly ever crowded. - Deck 5 pool outside The Club is often not crowded; the hot tub at the front on Deck 7 is also often empty. - Ovation also offers the Retreat which is not usually booked up, although you have to pay extra. If they want an outdoor massage, lunch in their cabana, or higher quality wine pours the Retreat might be a good option Hope that helps, but in general if the crowd is going left and your parents are going right they will have a lot of space to themselves.

If you arrange flights with Seabourn Air they will handle the transfer - and for late night flights before they have provided a day room with transport from the ship to hotel, and then hotel to airport. We last did this a couple years ago, so it may have changed (more recently we have done their disembarkation transfer where there will provide lunch and a group waiting area such as a conference room at a hotel for afternoon departures). Worth looking into, and sometimes the airfares are better through Seabourn.

As more reviews roll in from other very experienced travelers (Hank, Floris, Saminina in particular), my expectations for Explora have gone up. While there are some things that are probably not going to be to my liking it really sounds like they have put together a competitive product in the luxury space. Had a great voyage on Odyssey last month, and will be trying out Explora next month, so will be interested to see if it changes our plans going forward. We like smaller ships and likely will find Explora too big; I’d assume SS will suffer the most from Explora entering the market because their appeal (at least from their most vocal fans) is that the ships are new and and have more dining options - Explora appears to have massively one-upped SS in those respects. Seabourn innovating at a quicker pace recently is likely driven by competition like SS and Explora.

I’ve had that situation before, where the bookings shows as OB but we got to select our cabin ahead of time. I always assumed it was a “special” because of the TA relationship/volume with Seabourn, but often OB’s are priced the same as V1’s so maybe it is related to that. In our cases once the cabin was assigned it did not change.

Thanks for the great reporting from onboard, and the many amazing food pictures shared!

It was pretty messed up for us checking in for December sailing: - website check in got us to confirmations saying we checked in; then checking booking showed we were not checked in - App would not let me check in because passport has my full middle name, reservation had just first name - TA contacted Explora, and they somehow worked it out; got our e-ticket and boarding pass - App still shows we are not checked in, but website shows we are. All’s well that ends well - we do have our boarding passes.

Never had any issues with either line, or Crystal or Cunard Queens Grill. Celebrity only stocked our cabin with small bottles, but they would leave 6 at a time; the other lines all provided liter bottles. No special pull or powerful TA, we just simply asked and it was taken care of. Sometimes on SB they have Voss, which is a nice surprise when they do.

If they was all about the environment they would be loading wine onboard in casks and serving it in carafes, instead of loading pallets of glass bottles. Same argument as the water, and to some palates may be just fine while helping the environment 🙂.