travelwide

7 hours ago, 2SailingNomads said:

Totally agree!

Thank you. Quite a few people think one menu per restaurant is OK for a premium brand line. Waiting for new menu's and less TA' s on board to consider booking another EJ cruise. Very disappointed in the product.

On 5/11/2024 at 9:05 AM, HappyInVan said:

 

I can confirm that there are many travel agents and influencer guest of Explora on some sailings. I stumbled.into the tail end of a private function. Turns out that there about 150 pax in their 20s and middle age in that meeting.

 

BTW the guy holding the meeting mentioned...

 

They had no plans for a loyalty program. A 5% discount was available when booked on a ship. 

 

Not interested in large groups. Max in his opinion was 20 total.

 

Then, he mentioned to the influencers that there was one free host room for every 10 paid bookings. And so on.

 

I was not spying on them!

On our December sailing there was a fairly large group of TA's.  We did not like the vibe on the ship. Too much attention being paid to them. It is interesting that the ships are still being filled with them. 

We are not rushing to book another cruise on EJ. Was hoping to be a cheerleader. Much preferred Regent product. Or MSC YC.

If EJ is reading this, you need to have a different menu for each night. Not one menu for each restaurant. And please posters, don't tell me you were good for 14 days with one menu. I've read your post. No need to reply here. My message is to MSC management.

4 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Have to upgrade to streaming in order to view any Youtube, like "Tiptoe through the Tulips." posted here. The cost to those residing in the YC is an additional $10 per day per person for 2 devices. So for us we started on the second day of this cruise for $60 each added to our shipboard accounts. The show last night was "Premier" all about different movies highlighting famous tunes with singing, dancing and acrobatics. Second seating standing room only. CD Ted is short and sweet at the beginning introduction, about a 60 second 'howdy do' and on with the show. Went to Le Cabaret Rouge as well, it was really well attended this second night. First night there were only 6 of us in attendance. Unfortunate for many as the performance of Sara, a lead singer from the Chora Theatre performances, only does the one show on the first night. This second show night we are introduced to some new acts. It is important to get to the LCR early to get good seats from the second night on as there are 450 seats and only 150 are good viewing and the few on the top level appear like good seats, but one will find the whole ship standing behind your chairs, coughing all over you waiting for someone to leave, which will be you if you have any sense. It was us last night being coughed all over in both venues, the LCR and in the Chora Theatre. Our only consolation is that we will be back. Soon.

You are a smart man.......run from them. Our experience has been the coughing starts in the middle of the cruise. Back to Top Sail Lounge for safety.

On 4/20/2024 at 3:34 PM, morpheusofthesea said:

Well, we are finally on the ship and unpacked. Some observations of note. We were escorted onto the ship by our butler in small groups of 8-10 in the Yacht Club to fit easily in the elevator. I quickly noticed that our butler's card had the elevator over ride function. I have since tried ours and it does not work on the elevators. Our cards were scanned in the terminal and not when we boarded the ship which was also a first. Our butler stop our elevator on deck 7 casino to see if we could check-in at our muster station before getting to our cabin to drop off our carry on luggage. No the pink ball cap muster station scanners do not come on duty til 11:30am. We first went to the cabin and discussed what we would like with our butler. Went to lunch in the YC Restaurant and was happy to see Ercan as maitre d'. He looks like Nicholas Cage, the actor with dyed black hair.His assistant hostess is Anna from Nicaragua and sommelier is Christian.

   We have two Yacht Club Directors this cruise again.  Larysa from Ukraine who has been a favorite head butler is now acting assistant YC director with Moustafa. Larysa will be leaving the end of this week to take over as YC Director on Fantasia. Taking her place as new head butler in the YC is long time favorite head concierge Eva. (Last time we heard Eva was leaving to get married, building a house and starting a new business.) Things are fluid at MSC. 

  Went to muster station after lunch and it was a breeze and everyone can use the elevators. Best muster of any cruise line.

 Taking her place as new head butler in the YC is long time favorite head concierge Eva. (Last time we heard Eva was leaving to get married, building a house and starting a new business.) Things are fluid at MSC.

What a surprise. We always had a great experience dealing with her at the front desk. Maybe you can do some sleuthing and see if she ever got married. Last time we spoke to her she was throwing in the MSC towel. One never knows who will show up where on the ships and in what position.

5 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Just the opposite....you are tooooo nice !

You needn't 'tiptoe through the tulips' here. "The phrase "tiptoe through the tulips" means to be very careful or to move slowly and quietly. In Victorian times, tulips were seen as a symbol of love and passion. Unlike roses, tulips don't have thorns, and even after they're cut, they still keep growing, which is why they're often linked with everlasting life."

You are a man of great and varied knowledge! Get on that ship already, we want to hear the stories.

Welcome back....Will be following.

3 hours ago, Fogfog said:

Curious, Are NCLs, Oceania and Regent loyalty programs all separate? Is there reciprocity like Celebrity and RCCL share?

No, there is no reciprocity. Know this from experience. 

Hope everything is OK. No posts for one day? Your fans want to hear more!

5 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Another was overheard saying back, "I don't know if I'll make it to 2026".

I take this to mean do I want to take a Regent cruise I booked for 2026 if this is their entertainment?

I think Regent is misreading what type of entertainment guests in their 70's would like to see. None of the shows you have posted are exciting to me.

Appreciate whatever you can find out. Glad to hear things are getting better.

Good evening MOTS! Can you ask Vishnu if he knows where Robert Moik is now. He was HD on the Miami MSC ships.

Enjoy your cruise. I am expecting more from Regent than what you are reporting.

Glad to be following you through another great experience! Oops, isn't that an EJ word. 🙂

On 1/11/2024 at 5:38 AM, morpheusofthesea said:

Here. Yacht Club vs Regent Suite Class. When was your Explora cruise. Had friends on November 4th cruise and they will not return. By our cruise everything changed. We found nothing to complain about, just an over bearing, high and mighty, Entertainment Manager (Cruise Director) who threw us out of the Journey Lounge, only to be seen standing around the closed doors and invited back in by a bar waiter inside the JL (I tipped him $5 for the nice gesture).

December 13 -22. I hope they are learning from prior cruises and making adjustments. I did not pay for a shakedown cruise.

Will wait for future feedback before booking again.

Was the CD/EM  a female Barbie from Cape Town?

@Stickman1990 We were on a 9 night cruise that finished on 12/22. At least John got one extra day to savor the chops. Not happy to hear that they still do not know how to properly provision the ship.

@samininayou are right...spend my money somewhere else. Will not adjust my thought process to eat from the same food choices.

Happy trails in 2024.

6 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Thank you, you are always very nice. March Spring Break. Due to the 'hordes' of the "wider audience" and the many horror stories that occur on most cruise ships at this time, we decided to try Regent Grandeur in a suite and compare it with our favorite MSC Seaships in the Yacht Club. Got home and in spite of our being 'thrown out' of the Journey Lounge before 8pm (show starts at 8:30 and the performers do their practice an hour before showtime) on Explora, we booked a third cruise on Explora. Called our travel agent lo look into a price. She was able to get an unadvertised special discount off our cabin because we just got off the ship (it appears Explora will give some additional days after ones cruise to make a decision to book another cruise equal to having booked on board). P.S. Just like MSC, if one should call in and receive negative information , call back and speak to another more amenable Explora representative.

  One must have a great butler on MSC to navigate the ship especially outside the YC. And Spring Break the demand for their services is extreme.

Was on Regent Mariner, their old ship, on September 28th and felt we had a better experience than on EJ.  I am saddened to say that. We love the YC experience and thought EJ would be a great alternative.

Just did NCL new years family cruise. Never again that time of year. 

Where will you be posting Regent live?

@jeffyd....can you let me know if they run out of lamb chops? On day 4 they were gone. Also,did they get new daily menus in the restaurants? Each restaurant has their own lunch and dinner menus but they do not change the selection on a daily basis. Every day it's the same lunch food and same dinner food in that restaurant.

This is where Regent and Crystal rise above EJ. 

Your threads are never too long. When can we expect the next live from? Happy new years.

Agree with the sliding doors. They need more time to be broken in. We hardly ever met anyone on the elevators.

6010 needs to be reclassified to a lower level cabin category. It is not large. Regular balcony in YC is bigger than the one on Explora. 

3 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

In an effort to align with their commitment to sustainability practices printed copies of this daily program have to be picked up at guest services….had DW add a printed copy of the DP to our butler list. Yacht club we always got one delivered the night before.

Last cruise it was on our bed at turndown. Changes already.

Getting off tomorrow.  Will be following along. 

@MOTS... getting off tomorrow. Your numbers are accurate. Will you be posting live? Dying to get your opinion of the cruise. Especially dining situation and the entertainment. Happy sailing.

Excellent!

Regarding smoking,  we are in 6020 with no smoke smell issues.

Stop stressing....just show up before the ship sails and all will be goid.