Dr. Cocktail

Gary: I hear you but …. (and this is directed at many on these boards!) …. post Covid, it’s a different world out there. We all know that I’m an Explora cheerleader as I simply love the onboard product. I’ve given up trying to do ANYTHING on the Seabourn website for my upcoming cruise as it’s basically nonfunctional. Our friends who are Regent Gold were treated ABONIBABLY by Regent this past week regarding their upcoming sailing. I’m hoping that they post their story on the Regent boards. All the cruise lines are feeling the same pressures and are having just bizarre customer service issues. My point? It’s messy out there!

We all know that I’m an Explora cheerleader in spite of the ridiculous web site but… It’s SPECTACULAR in comparison to the My Little Pony Seabourn website….. a train wreck! No excuse for either site!

140 Euros for the dinner and 60 for the wine but agreed, still too pricey!

Oh, you're asking for a heated (cooled?) debate on this one! I'm a 60 year old guy who still frequently wears a jacket to dinner and had no problem in any of the venues. It was all pleasantly tilting into the cool zone!

This is a great video of the ship's arrival in Barcelona ... if you scroll to the 5:00 mark and beyond, you will easily see how all the back decks line up and where the hot tubs are.

Without insulting you, have you checked on TripAdvisor (Cruise Critic's parent!) for the Lamanai Ruins under tours? Viator is also a TripAdvisor company. There may be some available that are already "prepackaged" as such.

You really should bring this up with the General Manager. It's not particularly acceptable....

If you call EJ, they will send you a PDF of all of the available excursions. Much easier to browse through.

So funny .... I don't eat cereal or granola, yogurt or drink OJ (except as a matrix for vodka) so my eyes wouldn't catch those as being missing! Now as to the bread selection, I will defer to uktog and say that they were spectacular! I like the poached egg/avocado toast/egg specialty station and there actually were omelette stations. I particularly liked the smoked fish station along with the assorted charcuterie and cheeses. But - we'll never convince each other!

I’m rather surprised by your comments re luxury standards breakfast. I’m curious to hear who you feel does it better?

My guess is that there are a lot of new staff as the more experienced ones have left for/are on vacation before they board E 2. I've seen this sort of thing on other cruise lines when they launch a new ship.

It’s all good … until it isn’t! We’ve had sooooooo many delayed arrivals over the years in Fll, Mia, NYC and Cape Liberty with reasons ranging from medical emergencies to port traffic to 🌫️ fog….. People on the other boards blithely dispense (lack of) wisdom and say “I’ve never had a problem” but they’re not the ones paying for your new flight if you’re late! They also haven’t witnessed people FREAKING OUT because they’ve missed their flight. And it’s just not a matter of coughing up a thousand dollars 💵 to get back to Alabama - with flights being overbooked, you could be stuck for a day or two. The answer ALWAYS lies in 🍷🍸🍹and 🥟🥠🫒. As I tell my friends, if you can afford the cruise, you can afford the lounge pass!

On our arrival in Miami in March, US Customs sent TWO agents for 600+ passengers and crew…. and MANY were from Europe whose clearance was EACH 5 MINUTES. It literally took hours to get off the ship….

Np! I would try to book a cabin on the port side of the ship or more specifically, the side OPPOSITE from the Crema Cafe. The cafe allows smoking on its outside seating.

We sailed in a PH on deck 7 aft with no noise issues whatsoever.

Antholo-Gino’s? Antony-gy? Pastology?

Honest - that wasn’t a feature when we were on!

You have to ask at reception.

True, true….🤔

Did you lose a bet?

You mean it’s NOT A Small World After All?!

I have agreed with many of your posts and statements but these two? I dunno….. There’s really no way of knowing why Explora was launched ….. I would be more suspicious of MSC’s seeing the incredible success of Viking and thinking that they could do better AND have a product that they could sell globally. The Yacht Club formula was basically to revive the old First and Second Class system with a twist - common entertainment facilities but with a private hotel component. As for the marketing - I’ve stated this before and can’t state this enough - Explora is NOT just an “All Yacht Club Ship” just as Regent is not an all “Haven” ship and Silversea is not an all “Retreat” ship. They are extremely different animals catering to clients with very different needs and expectations.

I was literally chatting with my agent last week about this same issue. She has seen an uptick in interest in Regent because of their "all-inclusive" nature. Many of her clients literally want to make one booking and have someone else handle the rest. We have friends who are long-time Regent cruisers and again, they like Concierge and above cabins so that the pre-departure hotel is included. They were shocked at our Recent Celebrity Apex sailing that involved individual bookings for: 3 flights, three private transfers, one hotel, 7 theater tickets, three museums, one Norwegian State Railway ticket, one Geiranger bus tour and one shore excursion!

We are (were?) frequent Haven cruisers and have no immediate plans to return. We do, however, have three more Explora sailings booked! As I've stated on these boards, I'm just off Celebrity Apex which was 8 weeks after my second Explora. The eye twitching is abating but I still have PCSD!

Absolutely .... but, um, it's been only 9 months! I know that I'm a cheerleader for Explora - but - there are a LOT of industry interviews in print and video with statements from the Vago family. They point blankly state that they don't have to care about pleasing shareholders. As a wholly owned family business that has been around for over 50 years, they take the long view on most everything. Again, they have stated (and people can scoff) that they plan on dominating the luxury segment. Back to your initial quote - I think that a "reasonable time" for a start-up cruise line would be 5 years to see where you stand. Celebrity didn't make any money for their first 8 years until they were bought out by RCI.