bobothecruiser

Hello uktog. Do you know how / where to get a half-decent cup of tea on this ship?

Upright should read UKTOG. This text correction kills me

Uptight is correct. To 2 am each day.

Jim, as this will be your first cruise, I’ll share our experience on our first cruise 30 years ago. Our teenage son and daughter were with us. First dinner when the waiter came for our dessert order, our son asked “Can I order 2 desserts?” The waiter replied, “Let me explain something. On this ship there are no rules. You make the rules”. After that, whenever our son ordered anything, at any meal, any time of day, the waiter would write down the order and then say “And to follow …?

I recommend you go for the “snacks” menu in Explora Lounge on deck 11. You will enjoy waiter service for both food and drink. As others have said, using “in suite dining” would necessitate deferring your lunch to mid afternoon. Each to their own, but you’d need to pay me (a lot!) to use EM at any time of day or evening. We paid a premium price and expect at-table service, which is available to a very high standard for all meals every day. We try to avoid the buffet on all ships. By the way, Explora Lounge on deck 11 is also where they serve Afternoon Tea each day. 4 pm to 5 pm.

The smoking thing is a bit odd, because on Deck 5 the only way to step outside is from the cafe and you then step out into what we like to call “coughers’ corner” and be engulfed in smoke. When we queried the fact that there was no door to step out on the smoke-free port side, we were told we could walk through the Anthology restaurant and out into Anthology’s external seating area. We are on Deck 7 starboard not far above coughers’ corner and haven’t been troubled by smoke on our balcony.

First, you must be aware that the 2 main restaurants (Fil Rouge and Yacht Club) have no shortage of tables so it’s just “walk up any time” and there will be a table for you. No way to book, no need to book, and no waiting. For Sakura and Marble & Co we were restricted to 2 reservations before we boarded. That seems fair, to give everyone a chance. Because we are on B2B we then received in our cabin an invitation to make further bookings for our 2nd week. You can book on the App, or at the helpful desk on Deck 5. It has crossed my mind to go to ask if we could make further visits subject to late availability, but TBH Sakura and Marble & Co are very popular and appear to usually be full, so I didn’t bother asking.

I’m on board Explora I and yesterday spoke to the on board “Future Journeys” man. He confirmed that they don’t yet have any knowledge of itineraries beyond February 2026. He also stated that previously-published itineraries which included several Middle East ports have been radically changed due to the instability in that region, so for coming months both ships will do Mediterranean in Summer and Caribbean in Winter.

Re the Explora Lounge "snacks". There is a menu. Salads, mezes, club sandwiches and the like. All freshly made to order. Excellent. Waiter swerved. Why fight in the buffet? Here is the tuna salad I had today.

We're on the same cruise(s) as UKTOG on Explora I. Yesterday evening my wife drank her customary Chardonnay while I had the NZ Sauv Blanc with my 1st course. No indication of any shortage, unless the "hosts" are hoarding them for us I like a red with my main course; I was told they've run out of the Argentinian Malbec but have Italian Malbec. I prefer the Chilean Cab Sauv. This is our first time on Explora Journeys. We've been with 10 other cruise lines including Regent and this is the best ever in our experience. By the way, the Explora Lounge is on Deck 11 not Deck 10. (Perhaps UKTOG doesn't want folks to find it - joke) Our only disappointment has been with the buffet - I hate buffets. We used the buffet when coming aboard on 13th September but sine then have had lunch every day in the Explora Lounge which serves excellent "snacks". They are too wonderful really to be named mere "snacks". When we used Regent we considered it was better than most, but not really worth the extra price - with Explora Journeys we think it IS worth the extra price.