Explora Journey 1 Inaugural

[KJB416]

9 hours ago, ljsanantonio said:

Have you heard any more on the August cruises?

We are also on the Aug. 8th - 15th sailing and we have heard nothing from Explora.  I am beyond stressed with trying to make contingency plans if the new inaugural cruise dates get pushed. This is very challenging to do in Iceland with hotel availability being slim to none. I really don’t know what to do about my car rental (we have 4 nights hotels with car rental pre cruise already booked) or outbound flights to get to Copenhagen as we fly out of there on Aug 17th and have non refundable hotel rooms there post cruise. It’s really a shame that they have had no communication with those cruising in August/September.  It’s been a week since they’ve decided to cancel the July 17th inaugural cruise and I feel an update would go a long way with easing some of the anxiety of not knowing what’s going to happen and just waiting for some news. 
 

This is definitely not how I want to be spending the weeks before a vacation. It sure does not feel luxurious in any way at this point.  

[uktog]

@KJB416 totally agree - it’s been so hard looking for a Plan B when we should have been packing and heading to the airport this weekend.

My travel agent is handling this at a very senior level and as I understand it they are making no progress - there seems no recognition of the impact on people who might have become very loyal to the brand.  However at least I know my cruise for Monday is cancelled, I hope you get an answer soon in yours and that it’s positive. 

Given how ineffective the issue of the cancellation message was if I was a news team looking to do a spicy piece I’d hang around Southampton port on Monday. I really hope I’m wrong but what’s the bet someone turns up not knowing the position. 

When I had a late cancellation once before each guest was communicated with and we had to click I button on the email to confirm receipt. I forgot to do my husbands separate email and he was followed up with a call the next day. That’s not happened here. Almost feels like an oh well let’s hope approach which isn’t what a high end line should be using in my view. 
 

 

[Ulsteinvik]

Portofkiel updated today its 2023 cruise list. Now Explora I is booked there for an overnight on 13 August 2023.

[nrc]

I am now told that the 8/8 cruise is a go.  I am completely exasperated with this experience.

[uktog]

10 minutes ago, nrc said:

I am now told that the 8/8 cruise is a go.  I am completely exasperated with this experience.

Glad for you that it’s happening though I can understand your exasperation 

[mungojerrie]

6 hours ago, uktog said:

there seems no recognition of the impact on people who might have become very loyal to the brand.

I think this is a very important point. Those of us who chose the early cruises are likely to be right on point for their targeted marketing. I know that we were enticed, and could have been great brand ambassadors. We have yet to have any communication from Explora Journeys regarding the 17th cancellation. We should have been in London right now, savoring a few days of anticipation for this voyage.

 

I'm so sorry for the stress those of you on the upcoming voyages are experiencing. And so sorry for your dashed travel plans uktog. 

[uktog]

Well today we should have been boarding at Southampton. At the 11th hour we managed to be able to fly over the south coast of England en route for Bordeaux. Our agent worked tirelessly despite the incompetence of some other cruiselines and we managed on Saturday to get confirmed on a Scenic river cruise and find flights. It’s not been smooth today, the transfers never happened and we’ve paid a pretty penny for many parts because it’s last minute but this view from our hotel room is mesmerising.

 

Never been on Scenic, hardly done much research, though we have river cruised before. We are trying to make lemonade leaving our agent to argue about the recompense in our absence. 
 

Good luck to everyone still in limbo re their plans. It’s definitely a case of how to lose goodwill before you even start. 
 

[daleandrews]

Hope you have a great trip!  (Maybe a shot of vodka in that lemonade?)

 

[mungojerrie]

Great news! I wish you smooth travels, interesting sights and conversation, and a generally wonderful trip. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

Are you doing the Beautiful Bordeaux 11-day itinerary?  I highly recommend Scenic, and especially their 11-day itineraries which are less hectic but also include more sightseeing than the typical 8-day cruises.  This will be a really tasty batch of lemonade!  

[Azulann]

Have a great river cruise, and I hope you can put the debacle of Explora  curse behind you.

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, Azulann said:

Have a great river cruise, and I hope you can put the debacle of Explora  curse behind you.

There may be many of us who would like to put "Explora Journeys" far behind us...but are locked-in with non-refundable fares.  That leaves us at the mercy of EJ (at least until they cancel) with no rights, no official information, and growing doubts that these EJ folks have any clue as to what it takes to operate a luxury product.  As a reminder (if they are reading) it all starts with good customer service/communication before the cruise!  It has oft been said that first impressions are important and lasting, and the EJ folks have done their best to give many of us a very bad first impression.

 

Hank

[uktog]

7 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Are you doing the Beautiful Bordeaux 11-day itinerary?  I highly recommend Scenic, and especially their 11-day itineraries which are less hectic but also include more sightseeing than the typical 8-day cruises.  This will be a really tasty batch of lemonade!  

Yes we are indeed doing the 11 day trip. Fingers crossed for a tasty batch 

[Host Jazzbeau]

Just now, uktog said:

Yes we are indeed doing the 11 day trip. Fingers crossed for a tasty batch 

Enjoy!  I have just sent overnight emails pulling the trigger on Azamara 6-16 Sept 2025 Portsmouth to Bordeaux and AMA 18-25 Sept 2025 Taste of Bordeaux [only 7 nights, but more non-wine focused excursions to please DW].  I'll also book air on my own, so I have three different vendors who can screw up my plans!

[uktog]

We went single vendor flights hotel transfers and still it was screwed last night as they never came to collect us at the airport but they are reimbursing the taxi onboard the boat so good quick response. 
Being such late bookers our excursion plans cannot be finalised until onboard but we were impressed about the variety on offer - so we can do both wine and non wine 

[Mr Luxury]

5 hours ago, Hlitner said:

There may be many of us who would like to put "Explora Journeys" far behind us...but are locked-in with non-refundable fares.  That leaves us at the mercy of EJ (at least until they cancel) with no rights, no official information, and growing doubts that these EJ folks have any clue as to what it takes to operate a luxury product.  As a reminder (if they are reading) it all starts with good customer service/communication before the cruise!  It has oft been said that first impressions are important and lasting, and the EJ folks have done their best to give many of us a very bad first impression.

 

Hank

You only get one chance to make a first impression 

[happy cruzin]

2 hours ago, Mr Luxury said:

You only get one chance to make a first impression 

EXACTLY!!

[CJANDH]

12 hours ago, uktog said:

Never been on Scenic, hardly done much research, though we have river cruised before. We are trying to make lemonade leaving our agent to argue about the recompense in our absence. 

We have river cruised with Scenic several times. Once on board you will love them. However their communication from HQ is not much better than Explora.

[kool kruiser]

13 hours ago, uktog said:

Well today we should have been boarding at Southampton. At the 11th hour we managed to be able to fly over the south coast of England en route for Bordeaux. Our agent worked tirelessly despite the incompetence of some other cruiselines and we managed on Saturday to get confirmed on a Scenic river cruise and find flights. It’s not been smooth today, the transfers never happened and we’ve paid a pretty penny for many parts because it’s last minute but this view from our hotel room is mesmerising.

 

Never been on Scenic, hardly done much research, though we have river cruised before. We are trying to make lemonade leaving our agent to argue about the recompense in our absence. 
 

Good luck to everyone still in limbo re their plans. It’s definitely a case of how to lose goodwill before you even start. 
 

I have felt your pain through your posts following the cancellation and entirely agree with your thoughts regarding Explora's approach. Very different from what was indicated previously.

Delighted that you have managed to get an alternative and wishing you a well-deserved and enjoyable cruise. Knowing where you live (!!) please take care in the current extreme weather conditions.

[Pitts27mf]

We're scheduled for the Panama Canal cruise in March of 2024.

There are several red flags for me:

1. They scheduled their first sailing way too soon after they expected to receive final certification. Given the magnitude of that project, they should have expected something to go wrong. It did, and they weren't prepared. Somebody skipped Management 101.

2. This is not their first delay, although it's the first one where passengers were booked. Only a year ago, they expected to be sailing in May. 

3. The response from their corporate office to all of you who've booked canceled cruises is atrocious. Branding and differentiating are what cruise line management is all about. They should have been all over you guys to make sure that you're beyond pleased with their response. They've certainly differentiated the brand, and not in a good way

One thing that I'll be very interested to hear about is the dining experience. For us, it's a great idea to get rid of the main dining room. The inference is that passengers will be dining in specialty restaurants every night. Super idea. However, I wonder if those specialty restaurants have the capacity to do that once their cruises reach full capacity or close to it. If they don't, the default restaurant will be Emporium Marketplace. That venue looks okay, but it appears to be a glorified buffet. Regardless, it's even a step below a main dining room. It's definitly not a fine dining venue. So, the good news might be that you don't have to deal with a main dining room, which most of us are not crazy about, and the bad news might be that you can't get into the specialty restaurants every night and have to eat in the Emporium. If that's the case, I would have preferred that they keep a main dining room. This is one thing that I'll be quite interested in hearing about from people who are finally able to take a cruise on Explora.

I wish everybody who has a booking on the near-term cruises the very best, and I hope that the company will come through and provide you with a great experience. The concepts behind this brand are excellent. I hope they are able to execute much better than they have so far.

[CruiseCrew123]

I was booked on the cancelled Panama Canal In sept 2024. Now on Explorer 2 a month after the inaugural cruise .  Worried ? Absolutely!!!!!! 
 

 

[KJB416]

Well I’ve paid for my shore excursions (per Explora’s request) and booked our dining reservations for our Aug. 8-15 sailing. I had checked in my husband and I over a month ago, received the printable bag tags etc., but my husband is still getting emails from EJ for him to check in. 
 

This has been, and continues to be, a very stressful situation that I feel I have no control over. I truly hope the Aug. 1 cruise sails and my cruise thereafter and we can report back that once on board the service and treatment far exceeded any of our expectations. I’m looking forward to be wowed and taken care of since it’s been a pretty miserable past few weeks and until that ship has left the Monfalcone dock, I will not be resting easy. 

[Pitts27mf]

First, all the best for your cruise.

 

Were you able to get specialty restaurants for each evening?

[KJB416]

Thank you!  I had my TA book Sakura and Marble and there was no issue. I understand that you can book additional nights once on board, but only one night per restaurant before the cruise. We are not interested in pre booking Anthology. 

[Mattsudds]

Some good news has emerged from a usually very reliable Italian shipping website. https://www.shippingitaly.it/ The site says that MSC can take delivery tomorrow, which is in fact earlier than expected with the delay. This has been made possible after the builder, the manufacturer and the classification society did some fresh tests on the types of panels. It seems that based on those fresh tests and all other installed precaution/ prevention measures, the ship passes ‘class’.