Brummijam

On Explorer there were two shows nightly one was on at around eight o clock and the other was on just after ten o clock. Quality of the shows was ok, The entertainment team need to understand that very loud does not mean that the quality of the shows will be better. Some productions were so loud people were walking out. 

On Explorer the dress code was dress to impress, a few men were in tuxedo or dinner jackets or kilts and ladies were in cocktall dresses or smart dresses.

also a lot of men were wearing smart trousers and shirt with or without tie.

Latitude restaurant opened at 18:30 every night.

Just returned from Explorer repositioning cruise to Barbados, Tobacco sales on board are good value. Golden  Virginia rolling tobacco @ £31 for 250 g that was including 15% discount. Equivalent uk price £120 plus. Everybody who was buying seemed pleased with the pricing.

enjoy your cruise 👍. We loved it.

Thanks for the reply, very much appreciated.

Keep well.👍

A similar question but regarding the Explorer for the homeward bound flight from Barbados 

What happens to luggage when you put it outside of your room on the night before disembarking the ship?  Do you have to colour code label your suitcases and find them on the dockside to load into the coach for the airport transfer or are they taken straight from the ship to the airport and loaded straight into the TUI aircraft ?

Extra legroom and premium can now be selected when booking.

 

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Hi Pensioncruiser

Hope you had a good holiday.

When we booked the Palma seats (which are standard aisle seats )were booked at the same time as the extra extra legroom seats for the return leg from Barbados.:)

Keep well.

It is usually easier to wangle an upgrade in hotels. If you book a bog standard room and ask reception if they have sea view or balcony room available most will move you for free.

Done it a few times, just got to be prepared to stay in bog standard room if the hotel is full.

We booked our holiday on 25 June for 27 October holiday and the booking for the holiday was done online. On the same day telephoned tui and picked our seats for the outbound flight to Palma and also for the inbound flight on Dreamliner from Barbados.

Phone them and they should let you do it over the phone.

On our second trip on the Spirit there was a bottle of fizzy wine in the cabin compliments of TUI with a welcome back onboard note. Otherwise nothing at all.

On well, at least I've bit a great urinary to look forward to. We've got an act cabin this time ,so looking forward to that.

I don't think premium customers get preference, all of the toilets are the same size.:')

Hi

 

Has anyone been in cabin 5047 or 5049 or 6050 on the dream, and if so could tell me if there is a bath in there for definate please.

I know that it is saying yes there is on the cabin review sheet but the cabins have since been renovated etc and just wondered if anyone had been in one of them recently.

 

Many thanks

We were in 6064 outside plus on the dream earlier this year and we had a bath with shower. It had a decent size square window also.

Hope this helps.;)

That's still a lot, we cruise twice a year and if we are lucky we get 2 "Beach" hols as well.

Our extra legroom seats are next to a window. Can't think why anyone would want to climb over us?.

I think that the reference was to the middle row of extra legroom seats;)

I realised it had gone up but just dug my paperwork out for this year and it was actuall £728 for out/return for us both.

 

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Well that works out at £182 each on both outward and return trips which in my opinion is acceptable but another £100 + each on top of that is overestimating it’s cost against its value.

Ahh well as I said “extra legroom, tray down, legs up.;)

My wife and ma in law have been taking cruise holidays for years, I am recently retired and started going on cruise hols with my wife. We have been in inside cabins and then outside cabins and now we have progressed to balcony cabins. on the eariier trips inside was ok then we move up to outside and are saying"this is better" now Balcony is king. Its a bit of a reflection on life as we always seem to want better.

Maybe suite next ? who knows.

Wow that’s unbelievable!!!! Looks like it’s trays down, feet up for all of the flight.

As an aside I looked on the tui site to see how much it would cost to upgrade to premium one way Birmingham to Barbados in April thinking if it was a couple of hundred pounds each we would treat ourselves, it came out at six hundred and thirty pounds for the two of us, That’s pretty well the cost of one adult for a week in the canaries in January. Talk about taking the Pee.

Keep well.

Dreamliner is great, bright and comfortable, can recommend premium, have noticed problems in rear of plane with extra legroom seats, some passengers taking short cuts!! Think I would recommend the central seats if you are a couple much more comfortable.

 

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Hi Pensioncruiser.

Not sure what you mean “ some passengers taking shortcuts “ surely they aren’t climbing over you to get to the other aisle??:o

As another poster has said you would probably get the best deal from a travel agent, they have more flexible deals at their disposal, booking online is fine when it is a straightforward flight/trip but face to face negotiation is usually far more productive.

PS. Twenty eight day holidays sounds brilliant.

Are the balconies the same size on deck nine and deck ten? If they are that seems like a strange decision by marella.

My wife has just come back from an Explorer cruise, she was on deck ten in a larger cabin and she had a hammock a sun lounger and a small table and two chairs.

Good afternoon Pensioncruiser. We didn’t know that so thanks for the advice. It’s a very steep learning curve for us from med trips to carribean so all help/ tips appreciated.

Keep well.

;)

No charge for changing your seats. Just go onto the “Choose Your Seats” bit on your “Manage Booking” bit on the website, check what is still available and choose the ones you want.

That’s great, I did see that but was wondering if there would be a charge for changing, A lot of companies seem to put an “Admin” cost onto anything like this.

Thanks for your reply, Keep well.

Hi vitalsign. Previously it has always had the Dreamliner wings logo on the booking page but yesterday it just said TUI and thats why I asked the question. ��

 

Hi Pensioncruiser.

Thanks for the tip. We have decided to do both the outgoing cruise in October and the return cruise in April. We had booked a window and a middle seat for the Barbados to Birmingham flight, But thinking about changing to middle row seats as its an evening flight so it will be dark for most of the trip anyway. yet to pick seats on the second trip but middle row sounds likea good idea.

Keep well both.��

another question....... As mentioned above we have already booked seat numbers for the Barbados to Birmingham flight and they are showing on the aircraft plan in my bookings. Would it cost me anything to change them online? we would like to go for the centre row instead of window and middle seat.

Thanks Pensioncruiser.

You should be on commission fromTUI. ;-)

I haven’t seen the brochure as we do all of our booking online. I will get my wife to pop into the tui shop and sort it from there.

Once again thanks for your help, very much appreciated.

Keep well.

Thanks for the prompt answer Pensioncruiser.

We fly out from Birmingham to Barbados and the ship stops off At Southampton and then Newcastle on the way back. There isn’t anything on the marella site about a transfer back to Birmingham from Southampton and just wondered if there was anything organised or do we sort it ourselves

Another question........ Do tui organise a coach to get us back to Birmingham from Southampton ? If not any recommendations would be welcome.