Explorer: The Truth Revealed 😱

[RachelG]

The sauna isn't hot enough but the spa including infinity pool is great. Thank you to those people who aren't using it. More room for the relatively few of us who love it!

George says the same about the sauna!

[mrlevin]

Flossie, many thanks for your thorough review. I was on for your first segment as one of the 300 that had sailed from Miami. I would like to echo your comments about destinations; best staff and best run excursions on Regent in years. I would also like to give kudos to both Jeff the Executive Concierge and Dr. Fabio; unfortunately, we needed to use both of their services too often on this cruise.

 

One question for Flossie and the rest of you that were onboard with us:

 

Did you make an onboard booking (or bookings)? If so, for which ship? Or did you just make an open booking?

 

We made one open booking for a TBD cruise.

 

Marc

[GOARMY]

Re: Answer to last question. We made an open booking, TBD. If not before, will be exercised when celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary.

 

GoARMY!

[UUNetBill]

One question for Flossie and the rest of you that were onboard with us:

 

Did you make an onboard booking (or bookings)? If so, for which ship? Or did you just make an open booking?

We booked Explorer, Cape Town to Rio in January '19. Figured a crossing would be a welcome change from our last few port-intensive cruises.

[BarbarianPaul]

Bill....

Totally agreed! The atrium (aka the well described "void" of which you speak) is such an architectural oddity! For almost our entire cruise last November, I didn't even realize it was visible from whatever that level is named where the grand staircase originates, because there's no real cue to cause one's eyes to look up. It's hard to describe it really as an atrium...for me it looks more like some sort of ventilation shaft, albeit a sleek one. It can't provide altogether too much light either. Why even have it?

 

 

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[Gilly]

We also questioned the atrium, wondering if it was required for fire or smoke prevention reasons? Neither of us know one jot about naval architecture though, so we simply accepted it as "odd". At least the dust hadn't settled when we were on board - well, not that we noticed :cool:

[flossie009]

Maybe we should start another thread with suggestions as to how to make the 'atrium void' more useful or aesthetically pleasing.

 

Here are some ideas that are offered purely in jest:

 

1. Commission some mesh body sculptures to hang in the void - as Mariner but much larger and more numerous :eek:
   
2. A climbing wall :confused:
   
3. A vertical wind tunnel for indoor skydiving ;p
   

..............final review section and roundup later.........

[flossie009]

Open Decks

We didn’t spend that much time on the open decks of Explorer, but enjoyed the time that we did have in the sun.

Certainly, no sun-lounger hogging on our cruise as there were always plenty of spares available.

Explorer has some very good facilities on deck, but as previously reported there is no forward facing open deck for those ports with a memorable sail-in/sail-out; certainly this is a significant shortcoming

 

Pool deck (Deck 11)

Positives

• a beautiful pool; depth and size is excellent; steps at one end to enter the pool; heated to a very acceptable temperature
  
• good Jacuzzis with sun shades over
  
• attractive and comfortable sun loungers; including double loungers with individual back adjustment
  
• pool bar
  
• enclosed smoking area
  

Negatives

• too many loungers crowded together (space has been lost with large areas of raised timber decking either side of the pool)
  
• pool showers poorly positioned
  
• labelling of pool depths is incorrect ("in port" and "sailing" depths appear to have been transposed)
  

Sports Deck (Deck 12)

Positives

• good views from sun loungers
  
• jogging/walking track
  
• good range of deck sports, including putting greens, bocce (bowls), shuffleboard, paddle tennis, golf nets
  

Negatives

• 2 holes per putting green is confusing (means the 9 greens can be advertised as 18 holes!)
  
• shades on the round sun loungers have been removed
  
• motorised shades over sun loungers no longer operate
  

Infinity Pool (Aft, Deck 5)

We didn’t use this facility but it looks gorgeous. One guest told us that she found this to be the best place on the ship to watch the sail-out from Kotor :cool:

[flossie009]

In Conclusion

(Warning: This section is full of subjective opinion)

 

Did we enjoy our cruise? Yes indeed; in fact we can count this as one of the best. Attractive spacious ship,comfortable suite, good service from excellent officers* & crew, delightful fellow guests, reasonable weather and some interesting ports.

 

Did we like Explorer? Yes,very much.

 

Is Explorer our favouriteRegent ship? No………..We have thought about this long & hard to arrive at this ranking of Regent ships:

 

1. Mariner, 2. Explorer, 3.Voyager (We have never sailed on Navigator)

 

Will we sail on Explorer again? Yes, if the timing, itinerary and value looks attractive.

 

Have we any future cruises booked with Regent? Yes; two on Mariner and two on Explorer.

We always try to make a forward booking while on-board; the benefits (low deposit, discount, price guarantee & ability to move the booking) make this a no-brainer, particularly for UK guests (albeit the £-$ exchange rate is against us at present)

 

 

Final comments on Explorer

Explorer is a beautiful ship with some very good facilities. The additional restaurant, Pacific Rim, is superb. We found the Art around the ship OK and not too intrusive; we particularly liked the photographs in the corridors of the accommodation decks.

 

During the design of the ship, Regent, and their consultants, appear to have used the mantra “space = luxury”. Certainly the ship is very spacious but there are a number of locations where space appears to have been wasted or misplaced.

 

Since the ship was launched there have been a number of criticisms regarding some aspects of the design, specification and construction. We found all these criticisms to be perfectly valid but none of the issues spoiled our enjoyment significantly, albeit a few were annoying.

Some have described many of the criticisms as “nitpicking”; we disagree, as for us it is attention to detail that defines luxury.

We look forward to Regent and NCLH taking note of passenger and staff feedback on Explorer and feeding this into the design and specification of Explorer 2.

 

 

* Senior officers & staff during our Explorer cruise:

Master: Rosario Vasta(Barcelona > Venice); Stanislas Mercier de Lacombe (Captain Stan) (Venice > Rome)

Staff Captain: Abhijeet Kumar

Chief Engineer: Luca Griggi (Barcelona > Venice); Antonino Lagana (Venice > Rome)

General Manager: AndreasPiccinin

Food & Beverage Director: Daniela Oancea

Executive Chef: Aurelien Dumeylet

Dining Room Manager: Maria Tancredi (Barcelona > Venice); Vladimir Cavic (Venice > Rome)

Cruise Director: John Barron

Assistant CD: David Nevin

Social Hostess: Caron Moran

Executive Concierge: Jeffrey Potts (Barcelona > Venice); Joerg Anders (Venice > Rome)

Cruise Consultant: GudrunWerner

Destinations Manager: Roland Moonsamy

 

Miami executives on-board for the25th anniversary Cruise (Barcelona > Venice):

Jason Montague (President& CEO) &

Jason O’Keefe (Director,Marketing & Seven Seas Society)

This concludes our review :champagne-toast:

We enjoyed preparing the series of posts as they brought back happy memories; Thanks for tagging along.....................

 

Tomorrow we may try posting one or two photos if we can manage to learn a new skill ;)

Edited May 9, 2017 by flossie009

[DeepFreeze63]

In Conclusion

(Warning: This section is full of subjective opinion)

 

Did we enjoy our cruise? Yes indeed; in fact we can count this as one of the best. Attractive spacious ship,comfortable suite, good service from excellent officers* & crew, delightful fellow guests, reasonable weather and some interesting ports.

 

Did we like Explorer? Yes,very much.

 

Is Explorer our favouriteRegent ship? No………..We have thought about this long & hard to arrive at this ranking of Regent ships:

 

 

1. Mariner, 2. Explorer, 3.Voyager (We have never sailed on Navigator)

 

Will we sail on Explorer again? Yes, if the timing, itinerary and value looks attractive.

 

Have we any future cruises booked with Regent? Yes; two on Mariner and two on Explorer.

We always try to make a forward booking while on-board; the benefits (low deposit, discount, price guarantee & ability to move the booking) make this a no-brainer, particularly for UK guests (albeit the £-$ exchange rate is against us at present)

 

 

Final comments on Explorer

Explorer is a beautiful ship with some very good facilities. The additional restaurant, Pacific Rim, is superb. We found the Art around the ship OK and not too intrusive; we particularly liked the photographs in the corridors of the accommodation decks.

 

During the design of the ship, Regent, and their consultants, appear to have used the mantra “space = luxury”. Certainly the ship is very spacious but there are a number of locations where space appears to have been wasted or misplaced.

 

Since the ship was launched there have been a number of criticisms regarding some aspects of the design, specification and construction. We found all these criticisms to be perfectly valid but none of the issues spoiled our enjoyment significantly, albeit a few were annoying.

Some have described many of the criticisms as “nitpicking”; we disagree, as for us it is attention to detail that defines luxury.

We look forward to Regent and NCLH taking note of passenger and staff feedback on Explorer and feeding this into the design and specification of Explorer 2.

 

 

* Senior officers & staff during our Explorer cruise:

Master: Rosario Vasta(Barcelona > Venice); Stanislas Mercier de Lacombe (Captain Stan) (Venice > Rome)

Staff Captain: Abhijeet Kumar

Chief Engineer: Luca Griggi (Barcelona > Venice); Antonino Lagana (Venice > Rome)

General Manager: AndreasPiccinin

Food & Beverage Director: Daniela Oancea

Executive Chef: Aurelien Dumeylet

Dining Room Manager: Maria Tancredi (Barcelona > Venice); Vladimir Cavic (Venice > Rome)

Cruise Director: John Barron

Assistant CD: David Nevin

Social Hostess: Caron Moran

Executive Concierge: Jeffrey Potts (Barcelona > Venice); Joerg Anders (Venice > Rome)

Cruise Consultant: GudrunWerner

Destinations Manager: Roland Moonsamy

 

Miami executives on-board for the25th anniversary Cruise (Barcelona > Venice):

Jason Montague (President& CEO) &

Jason O’Keefe (Director,Marketing & Seven Seas Society)

This concludes our review :champagne-toast:

We enjoyed preparing the series of posts as they brought back happy memories; Thanks for tagging along.....................

 

Tomorrow we may try posting one or two photos if we can manage to learn a new skill ;)

 

Thanks Flossie for reviving fond memories. DW and Iwere on from Miami to Venice (our 8th Regent cruise). Loved it! Madeus “Platinum”; you bet we sent out a lot of laundry. Fantastic ship (we had alsobeen on for New Year’s) especially the F cabins.

 

DW sent Jason M a thank you note and some ideas for the“new” ship as well as suggested doable fixes for Explorer.

 

To piggy-back on your format:

 

Our Best Cruise – The staff was the best group that wehave had on Regent. Regent management really did make the “25thanniversary cruise” special.

 

Love the Explorer! If it is our favorite remains to beseen. I think so but DW isn’t convinced. We have Voyager and Mariner (as wellas another Explorer) cruises upcoming. Oh what a burden to decide.

 

Because we already had 3 Regent cruises booked, we didn’tbook another while on board. Also, I want to see the new itineraries that aresupposedly due out in October 2017.

 

Most of all, I thank the many terrific people that wesailed with for so much enjoyment. Apologies to those in Compass Rose with us;I'm sure you heard our laughter.

[irishwitchy]

Flossie, thank you for the very well rounded review and the formatting - much easier to read!

[UUNetBill]

In Conclusion

(Warning: This section is full of subjective opinion)

 

Did we enjoy our cruise? Yes indeed; in fact we can count this as one of the best. Attractive spacious ship,comfortable suite, good service from excellent officers* & crew, delightful fellow guests, reasonable weather and some interesting ports.

 

Did we like Explorer? Yes,very much.

 

Is Explorer our favouriteRegent ship? No………..We have thought about this long & hard to arrive at this ranking of Regent ships:

 

1. Mariner, 2. Explorer, 3.Voyager (We have never sailed on Navigator)

 

Will we sail on Explorer again? Yes, if the timing, itinerary and value looks attractive.

 

Have we any future cruises booked with Regent? Yes; two on Mariner and two on Explorer.

 

* Senior officers & staff during our Explorer cruise:

Master: Rosario Vasta(Barcelona > Venice); Stanislas Mercier de Lacombe (Captain Stan) (Venice > Rome)

Staff Captain: Abhijeet Kumar

Chief Engineer: Luca Griggi (Barcelona > Venice); Antonino Lagana (Venice > Rome)

General Manager: AndreasPiccinin

Food & Beverage Director: Daniela Oancea

Executive Chef: Aurelien Dumeylet

Dining Room Manager: Maria Tancredi (Barcelona > Venice); Vladimir Cavic (Venice > Rome)

Cruise Director: John Barron

Assistant CD: David Nevin

Social Hostess: Caron Moran

Executive Concierge: Jeffrey Potts (Barcelona > Venice); Joerg Anders (Venice > Rome)

Cruise Consultant: GudrunWerner

Destinations Manager: Roland Moonsamy

 

Miami executives on-board for the25th anniversary Cruise (Barcelona > Venice):

Jason Montague (President& CEO) &

Jason O’Keefe (Director,Marketing & Seven Seas Society)

 

Thanks Flossie for reviving fond memories. DW and I were on from Miami to Venice (our 8th Regent cruise). Loved it! Made us “Platinum”; you bet we sent out a lot of laundry. Fantastic ship (we had also been on for New Year’s) especially the F cabins.

 

DW sent Jason M a thank you note and some ideas for the “new” ship as well as suggested doable fixes for Explorer.

 

To piggy-back on your format:

 

Our Best Cruise – The staff was the best group that we have had on Regent. Regent management really did make the “25th anniversary cruise” special.

 

Love the Explorer! If it is our favorite remains to be seen. I think so but DW isn’t convinced. We have Voyager and Mariner (as well as another Explorer) cruises upcoming. Oh what a burden to decide.

 

Most of all, I thank the many terrific people that we sailed with for so much enjoyment. Apologies to those in Compass Rose with us; I'm sure you heard our laughter.

 

Flossie - thanks again for the thorough review - very detailed, easy to read, and very informative. I agree with pretty much every point you all made. I also liked your suggestions for uses for the 'Atrium Space', especially the indoor skydiving - that would be a blast to watch. Barring that, they could install rappelling ropes for when the tiny keyhole elevators are full, or it could be a nice laundry chute...or you could incorporate part of one of Marc's ideas and have drone races in there (which would help take care of the dust issue at the same time). Or maybe a spiral slide that you could hop on for an express trip to Compass Rose. So many options.

 

DeepFreeze - glad we got to meet (albeit briefly) in CR. And yes, we heard your laughter - it was infectious. :D That's one of the signs of a good cruise - people enjoying themselves. Glad you enjoyed your cruise. I think it was one of our best, too. Definitely in the top seven!

 

Hope to run into you all again in the near future.

[Gilly]

Since the ship was launched there have been a number of criticisms regarding some aspects of the design, specification and construction. We found all these criticisms to be perfectly valid but none of the issues spoiled our enjoyment significantly, albeit a few were annoying.

Some have described many of the criticisms as “nitpicking”; we disagree, as for us it is attention to detail that defines luxury.

We look forward to Regent and NCLH taking note of passenger and staff feedback on Explorer and feeding this into the design and specification of Explorer 2.

 

 

Flossie, though we have nodded our way through each of your posts, it is in this summing up that you've captured our own conclusions about Explorer almost to the letter. Thanks for taking the time to offer such a thoughtful and well structured review :*

 

Loved your suggestions for the atrium :D Oh my...

[PaulaJK]

Great review...every aspect, every way. Find myself sorry that it has come to an end.

[WesW]

S&D/Flossie009, outstanding review--thanks so much for sharing with us.

 

Your exceptional Explorer word pictures and the Explorer tour & review video linked below (found on Jason O'keefe's FB page) helped bring the Explorer to life in Ida's and my imagination.

 

http://lynn.besttrip.tv/regent-seven-seas-explorer-ship-tour-and-review

[warburg]

Flossie, many thanks for your thorough review. I was on for your first segment as one of the 300 that had sailed from Miami. I would like to echo your comments about destinations; best staff and best run excursions on Regent in years. I would also like to give kudos to both Jeff the Executive Concierge and Dr. Fabio; unfortunately, we needed to use both of their services too often on this cruise.

 

One question for Flossie and the rest of you that were onboard with us:

 

Did you make an onboard booking (or bookings)? If so, for which ship? Or did you just make an open booking?

 

We made one open booking for a TBD cruise.

 

Marc

 

 

Greetings, Marc. We were also on Explorer for the April TA. While on board we booked the December 8th Caribbean cruise on Explorer. We enjoy cruising, and live within 25 minutes of Port of Miami. Sailing again on Explorer is very appealing and extremely convenient. Very enjoyable ship.

Mary

[flossie009]

Some photos of Explorer:

 

Atrium (spot the golf balls)

 

Atrium (from Compass Rose)

 

Atrium 'void' (suggestions required)

 

Approach to Compass Rose

 

Compass Rose

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[flossie009]

......some more photos of Explorer

 

Prime 7

 

Chartreuse

 

Pacific Rim (let us pray for a spicy Thai Green Curry)

 

Pacific Rim

 

La Veranda

 

Pool Grill

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[flossie009]

............and a few more

 

Meridian Lounge

 

Theatre seating

 

Culinary Kitchen - ready for action

 

Culinary Kitchen - the results

 

The joy of free laundry

 

 

 

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[flossie009]

........and yet more......

 

 

Easter

 

 

To infinity and beyond..........

 

 

Pool Deck (no chair hogging today!)

 

 

Welcome Home

 

 

Dance Party in the Atrium (before it got too crowded for photos)

........sorry everyone is a bit blurred......they must have been drunk....

 

 

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[flossie009]

Photos of some of the ports we visited

 

 

Rothschild Villa near Monte Carlo

 

 

Garden view from Rothschild Villa

 

 

Pisa (sorry the photo isn't vertical)

 

 

Coliseum, Rome (no games today)

 

 

Vatican Square (sorry, the Pope would not come out for a 'selfie')

 

 

Lunch in Naples

 

 

 

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[flossie009]

.........these are the final photos.........

 

 

Kotor

 

 

Breakfast in Sicily

 

 

Gondola in Venice

 

 

Sailing out of Venice

 

 

Dubrovnik

 

 

Tuk-Tuk (excursion transport in Dubrovnik)

 

 

 

Here endeth our review of our April Explorer cruise.................and a long wait till our next Regent vacation.......

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[borntocruz]

Flossie--Thank you for this! Loved everything about your review. Much appreciated!!

:D

[RachelG]

Thanks so much for the report and pictures. Brings back lots of fun memories.

[Isklaar]

What a wonderful review Flossie. It's been an absolute pleasure to read and very informative.

Thank you for the lovely photos too.

 

Aperol spritz at breakfast? ;p