Corey44

Thank you so much all who have responded! Indeed, while everyone’s personal opinions will differ, each response is helpful! I will be booking first thing in the morning….. with realistic expectations. I have travelled enough to know nothing is perfect, but at the same time am very excited to try something new. Thanks again, and I will try to post an objective review of our trip in the future with the hopes that it will be helpful to someone else!

Yes of course…. Didn’t mean to insinuate I’d wear flip flops and tee to dinner! We are always appropriate for the venue….. but casual chic fits our vibe much better! Thank you for the cabin suggestions….. is there a way to see exactly which cabins are available? The website didn’t seem to make that easy….. only seemed to be assgning me a specific cabin. Thank you all for your responses!

Hello everyone- just recently found the cruisecritic website and am amazed at the amount of information. Thought I'd ask the experts for some advice on booking an Explora cruise, as many people on here seem to be extremely knowledgeable and helpful! Background if it's helpful: My wife and I, mid to late 50s, have traveled extensively, but have never cruised before. Honestly, it never seemed attractive to me because I picture crowds of people and germ-filled dining rooms. I know that's not accurate, but nonetheless that's what oftentimes comes to mind when i see advertisements for those huge ships. And i understand why some people love them, but it's just not me. We don't "live large", but when we travel, we find it worthwhile to pay extra for nice accomodations (think Four Seasons, Peninsula, etc), and premium classes on airlines if it's a long flight. That being said, our idea of a perfect night on vacation might be sitting at Schooner Wharf in Key West with flip flops and a tee shirt listening to an acoustic guitar with a draft beer. Hopefully that gives you some insight into what we like? So I started researching cruises as i've got a milestone birthday coming up and my wife is wanting to "take me" on a trip to celebrate lol! I was ready to book on Celebrity Ascent in a celebrity suite, as the retreat deck looks nice (we like the sun) and the suite looked new and spacious. However, the itinerary that was available for our dates in November were awful. I started researching more "luxury lines", but they seemed to miss the mark for us, with what appeared to be limited outside spaces for dining on the ships, and limited pool areas. I had never even heard of Explora ships, but it popped up when I was trying to get on the Oceania website. Explora seems very attractive to us because it's a new ship, it has lots of sundecks with seemingly lots of chairs available (less chair hogs?), and great food but in a more casual atmosphere (the idea of putting on a suit or jacked for dinner in the Carribean honestly seems crazy to me). I found a 7 day itinerary from Barbados to Miami this November on Explora II, which i've been reading on these boards just finished sea trials but has been postponed for some time as far as its inaugural cruise. My questions are: From my description, do you experts who have sailed on multiple cruiselines on tons of cruises think Explora might be a good "first ship" for us? Any recommendations for a "better fit"? Do you think it's safe to book the explora II in November? Will the kinks of the new ship be ironed out by then? I imagine we would spend a lot of time on our balcony.....the entry staterooms look very nice, but the balconies appear very narrow (width-wise....side to side, even the "grand terrace".) For lots of balcony time, perhaps a penthouse would be better?......do all the penthouses have the same basic balcony width? (I can't fully tell from the website......the indoor "dining table" etc in the penthouses don't really matter, its the size of the balcony that would make a difference for us). And on Celebrity website, you could see a map of the whole ship, and pick which suite you wanted......I can't seem to find that on the Explora website? Lastly, I always book my own vacations. The only time I don't is when I do all the research, and then call my virtuoso agent to actually do the exact booking I found in order to get the extra amenities. However, I don't think my usual virtuoso agent is up to date with Explora. Does anyone have someone they would recommend for a TA to book this? It looks like tomorrow (July 8th) is the last day for a promotion, so hoping to take advantage of that! Or should I just book on the website myself? Thanks in advance for any advice/input!!!