Dr. Cocktail

The Beginning Back to cruising! After four long years the time had come to return. First, a little about myself as it can help frame a review. I started cruising when I was 25 (and was practically dragged on board by my best friend!) and was instantly addicted. My partner and I are both in our late 50’s (in my case, unfortunately only for another few days!) and we have recently tended to cruise on/in “ships within a ship”. These have included The Haven, The Retreat and the Yacht Club. Our previous smaller, luxury ship sailings were a mixed bag for us. Now, as I am about to turn 60, my usual unfiltered comments (that have gotten me into trouble before) that follow will become increasingly “free” … My review will sound SUPER critical but as I’ve stated before, this is Cruise critic, NOT Cruise Sycophant! I will preface this statement by saying we had a FABULOUS time but noted many shortcomings, some easily fixed and some not. I’m going to jump from topic to topic and maybe occasionally contradict myself. Now I KNOW I’m going to ruffle some feathers …. I’m placing my critical thoughts among MANY “True Believers” who have sailed many times and have hundreds of nights booked. I have no allegiance to Regent and hopefully bring an experienced eye after sailing on, well, almost everyone! I have tried to be honest and convey what I experienced - your experiences may well have been different. The goal is to be helpful for others, like me, who were/are considering Regent. The Night Before We booked our flights and hotel independently and took the cash credit as I like to micromanage all that stuff. We stayed at The Savoy in South Beach for one night before our cruise - it’s a tiny 31 room Art Deco gem with great rooms. The lobby, while nice, is really only one front desk person but the pool, rooms and beach more than make up for it. We used Uber Comfort for all of our transfers and all the rides were in nice, new cars with great drivers.

The cruising world is changing by the day - we can hopefully discuss it one day otr if our paths cross on an Explora voyage! I'll be the one with the empty glasses around me!

I just got off Regent and while I didn't totally love it (review to follow!), looking forward, ALL the Oceania and Regent 7 night itineraries for the next few years ARE THE SAME WESTERN ROUTE!!!!! Perhaps the cutbacks at NCLHI have resulted in a lack of maps ...

Enjoying everyone's comments but ..... this is one of THE big selling points for me! It's funny how we all view things differently. I love covering a much larger distance and starting off/finishing off in a warmer climate. Once I'm on a plane, I don't really care if it's three or five hours!

That was one of the main reasons we chose the YC over the Haven ... We like the Haven more but couldn't resist the offers! Their increased prices are very similar to Regent but Regent includes Air Fare and Shore Excursions. It's all still a work-in-progress.....

Very interesting .... as Hlitner said, it's basically setting the clock back (more or less...) to the original pricing. Still .... I am very intrigued and after getting off of Regent a few days ago, ready to try something new!

Thanks for your prompt response!

Thanks! I have yet to receive it .... I was looking at December of 2024.

Does anyone know if the promo is still running? It originally had an expiry date of February 24....

It's very apparent that many of us are having/had the same problems with a "sort-of" fix ... They obviously have to know with the number of emails that they're getting that it's an issue!

Posted October 5…. But could be earlier

I have been an extremely vocal booster of Explora on these boards but .... they really have to get serious about their website issues and fast.

I have found that while I can't sign in on my iPad, it will let me sign in (with the error messages described) on my Mac .....

Will do but I won't be on until November .... I remember decades ago chatting with the Hotel Manager on Celebrity Zenith (Horizon?) outside while docked in Bermuda. I was soooooooo excited about the launch of their announced "megaship" Century (!) and was musing about sailing on the Inaugural in December of 1995. He said: "we'll see you in March". I responded: "no, the Inaugural is in December". He repeated: "We'll see you in March!!!!". My response? "Ohhhhhhhhhhh, I seeeeeeeeeeeeee........." He then went on to tell me that what can go wrong WILL go wrong on any new ship, let alone the first of a series.... I'm an early adaptor but not fully crazy! ps .... at the time at 70 000 grt, Century was beautiful and spacious with 1800+ passengers .... A fantastic size for a ship in that it can offer lots of choices but even better with 900 passengers!

Of course they dangled cash! Good people don't come cheap! I think it's no secret that the "big three" are in financial doo-doo (highly technical, but it gets the point across...) Carnival owes an ASTONISHING 32 billion, RCI 19 billion and NCLHI 12 billion (all numbers are approximate) while MSC owes about 11 billion. All of the cruise lines are cutting back where they can - getting rid of older, inefficient ships and cutting down on operating costs (usually food) wherever possible. Carnival has been trying to sell Seabourn for years.... It's hard to figure out how much profit MSC shipping makes as they're a private company but after some digging, financial writers say a good starting number for 2022 would be 20 Billion USD ... but it could be much higher! They can easily lend (and did) cash to their cruise division with plenty left over to fund a new luxury division. TMI?!

It's interesting .... I just don't have the same reticence or skepticism expressed by many here! I'm willing to be an early adaptor and have booked a couple of cruises at the initial pricing. I love the ship's design with vast amounts of deck space and the absence of a show lounge! The entertainment could be interesting but the partnership with Steinway looks especially promising. The dining venues look beautiful and someone like Franck Garanger ain't leaving Oceania after 19 years (after heading up Silverseas for the 4 years before that) unless he thinks that there's something that he can accomplish. MSC, unlike RCI, NCLHI and Carnival is awash in cash and ready to start exerting their power across different cruise categories. Worst case scenario for me? I have some less than ideal cruises. I'm willing to take the risk!

I think that you can get a pretty good idea of F & B when you see who they've hired... https://explorajourneys.com/ca/en/life-on-explora/dining They are hiring/hiring away the best they can get.

An interesting interview with Explora's first captain .... https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/people-opinions/master-explora-i-serena-melani-waving-flag-female-captains

Full disclosure: I once had to save one of the deck stewards who was “attacked” by one of those said entitled guests. He then turned his attention towards me but quickly backed down. I NEVER raise my voice and am told it’s quite scary! I repeat myself: it will be bad the first few hours until people realize that the rules apply to everyone.

How Oceania did it was elegantly printed cards with the time shown when the card was left. If the card was still there in 30 minutes, it and the belongings were moved to a table. Easily managed by a single crew member.

We have a winner! Its kinda' crazy .... I'm stressing about my upcoming Splendor cruise but looking for forward to my cruise on Explora 1. The images of the various pool decks are frankly astonishing in their variety and skillful use of every square foot.

One of the main reasons I booked Regent was not worrying about chairhog nonsense… I (incorrectly) assumed that there would be enough chairs for everyone…🤦‍♂️ While it was over a decade ago, Oceania ruthlessly enforced the 30 minute rule… it took about 2 days for people to realize that the rules applied to EVERYONE. Afterwards, there was a natural ebb and flow of supply. You didn’t stress about leaving your chair as you knew there would be another available when you came back. Caribbean Sailings + Paddle Tennis Court + trip to Target for Chairs and Umbrellas = solution!

Whoa, whoa, whoa .... is this something new on CC?

Could you kindly tell me who I was being snarky to? I thanked Mike for owning up to a problem - most companies will simply brush you off and then tried to put a positive spin on it. Your looking at my response the way that you did says a lot more about your personality than mine.

I'm editing as I'm writing .... I was going to say just get it at Shoppers, Rexall or Costco but it seems to have been discontinued in Canada this past year. It was for business, not quality or health reasons. Some pharmacies may still have some old stock ....