CB BOARDER

8 minutes ago, johng75370 said:

I could have misread or misunderstood, but part of Explora being "different" is they eschewed the concept of a main dining room, so all restaurants are just restaurants, and not "specialty" in the way otrher cruise lines would treat them.   

I'll have to go back and do some research...Still concerning if no reservations are required but once you get on board there's no availability. Something doesn't sound right...

11 minutes ago, johng75370 said:

Seems like "once per cruise" limits to any of the dining venues would be spelled out clearly ahead of time; otherwise false or misleading advertising.  For example, Seabourn's Thomas Keller Grill has a similar restriction, but they state it on the website:  

 

Dining reservations for The Grill by Thomas Keller can be requested online prior to sailing, subject to availability.  Online reservations close 15 days prior to sailing. Due to high demand, online reservations are recommended, however, reservations can also be made on board. One reservation permitted per voyage.

I was assuming 1 reservation per specialty restaurant per cruise (like Oceania and others). However what concerns me is the "no availability" if one didn't pre book. I can't imagine not being able to sit every stateroom once per cruise in each of the complimentary specialty restaurants. There's no way they thought this was okay? But then again, I've been wrong before....

I guess I'll be calling Explora to make dining reservations as I'm not seeing it on their website. We're 30 days out so maybe it's still too early...

I hate it for you but I'm optimistic things will work out.....they typically do in these situations. Those 2 booked cruises are going to be epic (once you get this crap behind you).

Saw this on youtube. It's long and in German but has lots of good footage of the ship.

On 7/28/2023 at 2:54 PM, PaulMCO said:

How about Marble & Co.  These are posts from social media.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just remembered where I saw "Franck's" mashed potatoes before. Of course it was Oceania. Did he leave Oceania for Explora?

Sept 2nd can't come soon enough...Thanks for posting Paul!

11 hours ago, steamboats said:

Here is sort of an update with more information. The article is in Italian so you have to translate it. To sum it up:

 

A Danish competitor of Paroc did it´s own tests which the Paroc panels failed. Obviously the panels have to be fire resistant for at least 60 min. The test results are speaking of 43 or 50 min only. RINA (an Italian classification organisation) and Fincantieri are now conducting their own tests simulation the interior of the Explora I on land.

 

Looks like the results of the first tests are more optimistic...

 

steamboats

Thinking out loud, did Paroc self report or did the Danish company turn them in? Many manufacturers will have certified testing chambers for their own product design as 3rd party testing can get expensive. They also use them to test competitors products for obvious reasons (like this one)....

2 hours ago, steamboats said:

 

That´s the official statement by Meyer. They did not use this specific kind of panel on their newbuildts. They are using poducts by Paroc but not the one which lost their certificate.

 

steamboats

I believe the FT article stated 2 different panel models lost their certification. The first was in May and the 2nd this week. At least that's how I understood it....

As you stated neither panel was by Meyer.

According to the article, the shipyard was originally notified in May that one of Paroc's (manufacturer) fire retardant panel "models" lost certification. It wasn't until this week a 2nd style panel lost it's certification and the local distributor started recalling the panel(s).  The delay wasn't announced until after the 2nd panel failure which leads me to believe replacement panels weren't sourced until recently (which could be a little concerning). The article also states the panels are being recalled by the manufacturer (versus some governing body). I'll be interested to see how flag states and port of calls respond to this (if at all).

Very unfortunate for Explora, totally out of their control and the timing just plain sucks....

We're scheduled for Sept 2 thru Sept 9th. We've been super excited about this cruise hopefully they get this figured out. However, I have a few concerns like how many panels we talking about? I assume thousands. If that's the case and there's dozens of ships involved, it sounds like a supply chain nightmare. What's the lead-time on the replacement panels? Have they been ordered? Who gets first dibs.... Lots of unanswered questions....

Wasn't able to read the Ft article, was any this covered?

Hoping August 1st happens!

On now with Minor (IMO) disruptions.

No salt and pepper shakers in Terrace only.

Paper menus in all restaurants. Some of us actually like those better.

Meats cooked to order.

I believe the library cabinets are still locked.

Executive lounge is open.

We were told last night at dinner things would be returning to normal after 48hrs if no new cases were reported.

Staff seem to be in good spirits.

Only problem is the 48 hrs of rain......

Yikes, we board on Feb 3rd. Now here's the dilemma, do I tell the 3 other couples we convinced to go on this cruise with us about the situation? Obviously, I will. However I will wait a couple more days to see if thing get better.....

If using an airlines credit card to pay for a cruise that includes air and the airline that O books is the same as the branded card do the benefits of the card fully apply on the flight? For example, many airline cards allow the first checked bag free. If I use an AA card to pay for a cruise that includes flights on AA would we get the free checked bag (and the other benefits that card offers)?

It works with Delta Skymiles CC.

I am currently in this ste. and can tell you it is extremely annoying, thump thump thump and the vibrations. Although we complained, Oceania is quite content on doing nothing at all.

We had friends in 12017 last month. They mentioned the issue but also said it wasn't worth complaining about. Most of the "thumping" came early in the morning and they're late sleepers.

On the other hand, for the price one pays for these suites you shouldn't have to deal with this inconvenience. Not sure there's much they really can do without relocating the fitness center and we all know that's not going to happen.

Just out of curiosity - do you know how much O charged per person for this transfer?

Not exactly sure but I would guess around $199.00pp. As mentioned previously, we paid around $100.00 total for a party of 4.

We reserved a private transfer from our hotel (next to the Patheon) to the cruise port on viator dot com. Cost was around $120.00 for a party of 4.

The "free" internet is causing a bandwidth issue. This was our 5th cruise with Oceania and the first time I couldn't connect VPN to the office.

Getting emails on my phone with wifi wasn't a problem but very slow.

For what it's worth, our Butler said they had IT person on board to fix the internet a few weeks ago. However he said it only got worse....

Where did you get the information that you couldn't check your luggage until two hours before your flight?

 

I believe you might be misinformed. There is a certain amount of time before you can use the self serve check yourself in kiosk, but if there is someone at the desk you can check your bags sooner and go on in through security. I just did this a week or so ago.

 

Depending on what country you're in and what airline you're on this might be different, but in most places it's not.

We flew home from Nice on Sunday via Air France. Arrived at 7:30 am for a 10:30 flight, was told by the ticket agent we could not check bags until 8:30.

We booked a private van transfer with viator dot com for under $100 US (Monaco to Nice).

On Oceania ships:

No charge for anything and everything drinkable without alcohol. No charge for still water, nor charge for sparkling water, no charge for soda, no charge for juice, no charge for coffee, no charge for tea, no charge for smoothies.

You forgot Milkshakes!:D

I've worn jeans to the specialty restaurants however I always pair it with a sport coat. I don't make it a habit but I've done it before.

Out of our control, yes. But under the control of the people who bottled the water and sold it. Usually a company or the people who work for the for the company.

Touche' - Kind of like the passengers on a cruise ship........

I just read an article about 4,000 people falling ill with Norovirus in northeastern Spain. They all drank bottled water contaminated with human fecal matter. This goes to show sometimes it's out of your control no matter how diligent one is.

Not sure it will help but you may want to check out the SilverSea Galapagos and Celebrity Xpedition forums/threads as I believe both ships are based out of Ecuador.

We booked a heavily discounted "O" Med cruise with our TA about a month ago. The price included "O" air, Olife and prepaid grats (from TA). As previously mentioned, most sailings are wide open this summer due to a couple obvious reasons and Oceania is trying to fill a plethora of empty cabins. It doesn't help they have an extra ship (Sirena) in the Med to fill this summer.

With that being said and considering the price we paid, I find "O" to be a great value for the money. Ship size, suite size, food quality, itineraries, etc... are the reasons we keep coming back.

We've sailed both Royal & celebrity over the past 7 or 8 years and IMO neither compares favorably to "O".

If you're going to be in Copenhagen pre-cruise and if you like gin and tonic, I enthusiastically recommend you track down some Hven gin to bring on board. Last summer dining at Amass, I was served the best gin and tonic I've ever had. The restaurant used Hven Gin along with Fever Tree Indian Tonic water (the Gold colored label). No cucumber. No lime.

 

But the bigger surprise about the drink was the low quantity of tonic water. The waiter said they make the drink with equal parts gin and tonic. Since returning home, that's the ratio I've used to make our gin and tonics, typically using Blue Coat gin.

 

When we got home, I wrote to the Hven company about buying some gin locally and was told they do not ship to the US.

While in Copenhagen a great place to enjoy that Hven Gin and Tonic is a bar called Curfew. Finely crafted cocktails is all they do and believe me you won't be disappointed.