mungojerrie

Not a peep from EJ directly. However our TA asked for our banking info and receipts. Evidently they will be reimbursing us via wire transfer. 

Great news! I wish you smooth travels, interesting sights and conversation, and a generally wonderful trip. 

6 hours ago, uktog said:

there seems no recognition of the impact on people who might have become very loyal to the brand.

I think this is a very important point. Those of us who chose the early cruises are likely to be right on point for their targeted marketing. I know that we were enticed, and could have been great brand ambassadors. We have yet to have any communication from Explora Journeys regarding the 17th cancellation. We should have been in London right now, savoring a few days of anticipation for this voyage.

I'm so sorry for the stress those of you on the upcoming voyages are experiencing. And so sorry for your dashed travel plans uktog. 

7 hours ago, uktog said:

I read over on Facebook that some agents are managing to negotiate more than 30% future credit. Is anyone aware of this and anything they can share? 

Hi uktog. I hope your re-grouped vacation planning is finding success. We have opted for a Silversea B2B Alaska cruise later this month. We live on the west coast of the US, so this will be a much simpler journey. After having to pull back all the previous arrangements we've made, simplicity is desirable. And while our luggage is now sitting in Southhampton, Luggage Forward has assured us it will be returned shortly.

I asked our TA to express our disappointment in the 30% future credit. He made the call and was told no, that the cancellation was a call made by MSC and therefore they have no insurance coverage and will not increase it. So I would be very interested to hear if others were able to negotiate a higher percentage. 

Wishing you good travels.

15 minutes ago, Bongomeme said:

Which cruise? Or should I say how far does the cancellation extend?

 

we are scheduled for sept 2 and I’m a little nervous. My heart goes out to all affected by the situation.

Sorry. The July 17th cruise.

According to our TA, the first cruise will be August 1st. We are very disappointed! Especially since I have an AirTag in my luggage, and it is currently on its way across the pond. We have been told that all our expenses will be reimbursed (cruise fare, air, luggage, transfers...), and that we will get (I think) 30% future cruise credit. Double drats.

Our TA just called. Cruise is cancelled.

Thank you for keeping our hope alive😄. 

Meanwhile, our luggage was picked up yesterday (Luggage Forward) and on its way to Southhampton.🙃

. 

My first attempt was 65 days out, via the check in button on the home page. I was not logged in , so the site wouldn't have known my sail date. Second successful try was at 59 days out, again with the button on the home page. I've noticed now that the button is gone from the home page, perhaps they've moved it. And when I do log in to my account, 'my bookings' shows nothing. They've got a ways to go to make this a good workable site.

Yay! I was able to check in this morning, and we have received our boarding passes, check in time and berth, and luggage tags. Starting to feel real, this is (for me) such a leap of faith to take the first cruise on a new line and a new ship😊. But someone's got to do it, eh? We've sailed on Regent, Silversea, and Seabourn and we are always looking for an even better fit with our preferences. Fingers crossed. It will be a lovely couple of weeks in any case! 

I was able to get into the check in forms (we are also on the first cruise), but it seems a bit buggy so I did not complete it. For example, I entered the correct info for my passport issue and expiration dates, yet in the finally summary page the system shifted the dates by one day. And it kept dropping the country code for our emergency contact and telling me the entry was invalid. So I just quit and will try again in a few weeks.

On 4/6/2023 at 4:00 AM, Belgian cruiser1 said:

but the beautiful words don't really paint an accurate picture

Had to laugh, as I suspected some of the descriptions for many of the excursions sound so absolutely almost too wonderful. If you've looked at the other Zeebruges experiences, is there one that does stand out to you? We are on the inaugural cruise and this will be the first port. We usually do on-our-own or private tours, but they've really put a lot into these descriptions to make them attractive, and unique. Thanks for your insights.

Hi Tapi, no need to apologize. So much is still a 'guess' as to all things Explora. My guess is that you've booked through an Ensemble Group travel agent, and they are providing you a credit towards shore excursions. I just received a brochure from my TA for 'Experiences', which turns out to be their name for shore excursions. Hope that helps.

Thanks Sunprince! Man oh man, nothing is straightforward any more. Just get us onboard! 

Thanks Kwaj girl, appreciate the updated info. I'm sure Regent is having a time staying on top of all this as well. Another Canada question in case someone has the answer. The recent (Friday) Regent email states we must register our arrival using ArriveCan within 72 hours of arrival to Canada. I've seen two different timeframes from the Canada site. One that says within 72 hours of embarkation, one that says within 72 hours of arrival. Anyone have info on tihs? Of course I'll double check this with our TA.

I've also gone ahead and download the ArriveCan app, set up an account, and entered passport and uploaded vaccine info for myself and my DH. I would not want to depend on ship's wifi to accomplish this! Just a heads up if you're headed to Canada that you can do the initial setup early.

Well,  for us it's more like the side view mirror. Still, thankful for where we're at right now. In any case, appreciate Sunprince's post as we're boarding Mariner on the 10th and it is always great to get tidbits of good news.

We use Luggage Forward every time we cruise. It just makes life so much easier for us, especially now that it has become physically more difficult to manage heavy items. We have never had any issues, and in fact they have gone out of their way to help in a jam. We had shipped our luggage, California to Miami and then decided last minute to reschedule our cruise. They tracked down, intercepted, and returned our bag to us. We are using them again in April for the Mariner Canal cruise. I would recommend them based on our experiences.

We have used Luggage Forward many times and have used them twice in the last six months, shipping our luggage to Silversea and to Regent. I saw nothing to make me feel that their service has degraded during covid.  I have read the account on the Seabourn thread, and it does sound like a nightmare but… not our experience. In fact, LF went out of their way for the Regent cruise. I had shipped our luggage on Dec 22^nd for the Jan 3^rd Explorer cruise. About a week after shipping, we started to get uneasy about going through with the cruise and ended up rescheduling. Luggage Forward provided excellent support and communication to us in locating our bag, intercepting it, and returning it to us. 

You asked about debarking, and that is the only area I wish were handled differently. But I suspect it would be the same process with any luggage service. Ideally, I’d just like to leave the luggage to Regent to forward on. But the protocol (at least for US and Canadian ports) has been to walk the luggage yourself through customs/border control and then meet up with a Luggage Forward rep outside for the transfer. It works smoothly most of the time, but we did have once in Vancouver where it was a total zoo and it took more than 30 minutes of back and forth calls to find each other.

An interesting and long  boarding process today. We arrived at the cruise terminal at 2pm and finally onboard at 4pm, the new testing process was very slow with only three testing stations. It was “shift forward by a couple of chairs” for an hour and a half. Tested. Wait 25 minutes for results. Then onto the ship. I’m sure they will improve the process for the next cruise. But we are here now, our first Silversea experience, and loving it so far! 216 passengers. It’s unfair to compare to any previous cruise as there is a 2-1 staff to passenger ratio. They are all over us trying to help. Our butler Ram is amazing thus far. Dinner at Atlantide was fabulous. The only onboard hiccup has to do with the IT problems. I had booked spa appointments but none were transmitted by corporate. And was told the manicurist is in quarantine (related to the shift from green to yellow CDC status?). But I feel a huge “ahhhhhh” just being back on the water. And so grateful to be here.

We are also counting the hours before we board today! Anxious to pass the antigen test, there are 5 of us and fingers are crossed. I learned there are 212 passengers on this sailing, but several no shows at the airport. Doesn’t mean much, as Tom and I were no shows:). We decided to fly in on Friday, just to avoid any possible flight delays on Saturday. Unfortunately we failed in our attempts to inform Silversea of the change.

I would also like to add my thanks to Lois and others who gave us insight on what to expect. So appreciated!

Here are some pictures of the jacket we received for Alaska in 2018. It was especially nice for the zodiac excursions. Additional layers the I found helpful were base-layer items I bought from backcountry.com which were warm but light. I found a base layer topped with a shirt or light sweater was perfect. Then added either a fleece jacket or the Seabourn jacket depending on precip. And if you plan to do any of the kayak or zodiac excursions, water-proof pants are recommended. 

We are on the Eurodam now, and ate at the PG last night. Food and service were great with one exception, the mushroom raviolis were tough and gummy. Both the waiter and manager were prompt to offer anything else I would like and were very apologetic. We started with crab cakes and caviar, then their amuse Bouche was like a lobster flan and it was delicious. I had the raviolis and my DH had the pork chop with a side of asparagus. Finished with soufflé and molten chocolate cake. Service from our waiter, Frank, was excellent. 

Thanks! I just saw your email and sent a reply with my info. Truly appreciate this!

Just booked the July 23rd 2018 Alaska cruise, and I'm hoping someone has a referral coupon? Thanks in advance, you can contact me at chrisfog@earthlink.net.