Returning to Explora 1 after almost a year

[Host Jazzbeau]

6 hours ago, uktog said:

If you can ever stop here on a cruise it’s very special in my mind. I’ve decided if I run away that’s where I’m going - oops I’ve told folks where to find me. 

The junk mail has already started to arrive.  Greece is a little behind other parts of the world, so you'll soon have a dozen AOL floppy disks.  [Don't know if this joke translates to UK experience...]

[uktog]

Today we were in Paros - a pretty place but we were hampered by the fact you had to fight through crowds trying to embark ferries to get off the tender pier. Then we had the usual issue, no maps no information in the room a useless QR code linking to nowhere on the daily programme. If you’ve come from lines like Azamara or Viking this lack of information which is simple to offer guests really grates. It was of course another port of cancellation for excursions. 

Im not sure we found the best part of town but we discovered this lovely church. 
 

 

 

One very negative change we have noticed is the attitude to constructive feedback. I do hope future guests try and give it going forward but be prepared to be met by defensive responses not listening as we experienced last November with a different very visible General Manager. 
 

Two examples, we highlighted an issue to the general manager a week ago. Thanks to the efforts of other staff we have had a work around. However despite promising to get back to us, the general manager has not. He has walked past us a few times but not even a flicker of recognition. He seems oblivious to guests and their current circumstances, it’s like it’s beneath his role to interact-maybe he has a lot on his mind. That sets a bad tone. Contrast that with the Food and Beverage Manager and Cellar Master who are chatting to guests looking out for people needing things, simply carrying dishes or checking if beverage top ups are needed etc.

Today returning to the tender we met the Destination Experience Manager. We mentioned that more port information and maps would be useful. We were rather taken aback by the response. We expected even a sort of “you may have a point” or equivalent but no, we were left in no doubt it was our problem and they already did enough. Ouch. Ouch. How to make a paying guests feel like a village idiots. 
 

So for now we will do one more reflective post summarising the good bad and ugly compared to last November. We also next month will do an EJ1 to EJ2 reflection. 
 

However our summary is beautiful ship, amazing food but a lot still far from right, simple fixes but despite the guff elsewhere from favoured agents they are not a line that views constructive feedback from regular cruisers appropriately. It’s all our problem, they are right we do not understand the concept. This arrogance will kill this line 

Edited Thursday at 09:27 AM by uktog

[saminina]

Name of F&B manager begins with L?  He should soon be hotel manager.  Your comments are interesting and mostly about items in which we have no common interest beyond food.  

[uktog]

No begins with A and certainly also has the right personality for GM. We do also know L and would agree with your assessment 

[kool kruiser]

Uktog, I totally understand and appreciate all that you say. We would love to return to Explora but will not, until they stop disappearing up their own... For now, It's Crystal for us, they know how to run a fabulous cruise experience, or Azamara for itineraries. Let's hope Explora read through and act on the excellent critiques given on this board by your goodself and others.

[uktog]

So after a day off the ship what are our thoughts. 

We will categories them as

 

As good as before 

Better than before and now fine

Better than before but still needs work

As bad as before

Worse than before 

 

As good as

*the quality of the food offered throughout the ship

*the design of the ship especially layout of the Ocean Terrace suites

*the ease of embarking and disembarking 

 

Better than before and now fine

*the later opening of bars 

*the availability of entertainment after 2230

*the availability of all day/late evening snacks in the Explorer Lounge Deck 11

 

Better than before and still needs work

+the entertainment offering - the six singers are very good and versatile so it does offer a combination of options and shows. However add this to the fact the two guest acts over the two cruises also focused on singing - and the lady from the first week was identical genres to the onboard team it became same old same old. There needs to be a lot more variety (magicians, comedy, classical instrumentalist etc). 

 

As bad as before

*The hosts focus on speed and canned responses not authentic service. It was disappointing they never remembered  simple things eg even between two rounds of drink

*Need to pull back the speed, guests need to be able to sit down, gather their thoughts and organise themselves before they are pounced on. We are only talking a minute here would make all the difference. There is an obsession with clearing down tables when one person has finished something which personally makes it very awkward for the slower eater or drinker. It’s like they can’t wait to be rid of you - not really “hosting behaviour”. 

*No port information or maps offered - Viking and Azamara both give us this. We indicated to the Destination Manager that this kind of thing would be useful. We were left in no doubt he didn’t agree and thought his destination talk gave more than enough information (we had reviewed it on tv, it did not)
 

Worse than before

 

*the failure of head office to properly provision the ship for a 14 night trip with no re provisioning planned. Basic maths would have told you there was not enough of certain wine types on board to last. We appreciate the efforts the F and B manager made to try and address an issue that was not of his making. 
* the attitude of some hosts - the I know what’s actually best for you - which left an exceedingly nasty taste in the mouth. Some Supervisors seemed to condone and even encourage yarn spinning. It was awkward when we had to call them out but at least they knew we knew. 
*the English language skills of several

Front line staff members. For us our stateroom attendant couldn’t communicate with us beyond set phrases and couldn’t process answers. As posted before it took 4 days to get the drink included with the room and we would never have got that if we hadn’t persevered and 11 days to get him to understand we wanted the coffee table left parallel to the patio door to ease mobility in the room. You would have thought after seeing the guest had moved that and a waste paper bin to (the same) new place every day that maybe that’s where they wanted it. This level of “hosting by a set rule book” isn’t premium

*Hosts now ignore the do not disturb sign. We left one card in the power unit to keep the sign on but on several times the host went in - on one occasion even after we had said to him (because of how we had papers laid out we’d been working on) we did not want the room servicing. He still went in and worse still tidied up the papers aaagh

*Officers, except the F and B manager are far less visible. We did see the GM one day and raise an issue with him. He noted it in his book. He said he would get back to us, he never did. He walked past us several times and never acknowledged us - maybe we are too polite we should have stopped him and asked! 
*Destination experiences totally unreliable now. Everything we booked was cancelled and we were unable to get any substitutes  The canned voice mail and letter we are sorry for any inconvenience caused doesn’t cut it. The attitude wasn’t of hosts who cared

* And worst of all unlike last year muzak is everywhere- there’s nowhere to lie out that escapes it and dining experiences are spoilt by it if you’re hearing isn’t great and you’d like to converse with your partner 

 

So was this a case of Journey 1 losing leaders to other companies plus good hosts to Journey 2?

 

Or has an arrogance crept in?

 

Certainly it did not feel with the exception of the F and B manager that anyone was interested in feedback unless you were telling them how wonderful they were. 
 

We did have a very nice cruise, we loved the food but it could have been so much better. 
 

In a few weeks time we hit EJ2 - then I can really work out if it’s a ship or company wide issue. 

 

[PaulMCO]

37 minutes ago, uktog said:

I count my comments as observations of where they can do much better and match what other lines do. 
 

I cannot follow why you feel the need to comment on my upcoming bookings- both bookings were made 11 months ago so your comment is not called for, I did not make a booking I already had it.
 

Believe you me given how the line behaved shortening my second cruise by two nights and initially declining any price reduction I did wonder why I was keeping the second sailing. But I kept it because it was paid for in the most part over two years ago for a cruise they cancelled and rebooked three times, the final cancellation being 10 days before sailing. I couldn’t face any more battles with MSC head office who had in that instance failed to fully comply with UK ABTA regulations 

Thank you Ann for the great day by day account.

Did you eventually get a a prorata refund for the shortened cruise.

[uktog]

31 minutes ago, PaulMCO said:

Thank you Ann for the great day by day account.

Did you eventually get a a prorata refund for the shortened cruise.

The next cruise - indirectly but it sucks in a way. It’s being given as OBC they wouldn’t do cash (against ABTA rules) but it was dragging on and on and they did finally agree a sort of recognition of the flight cancellation costs so we said to our agent who was also tearing her hair out with them, give up and take the OBC. 

 

Of course we’ve already identified some more expensive excursions we could use the credit on but have zero confidence they’ll run and we are going to end up buying wine to carry home to use up

the obc!! 
 

They could be so good but won’t be until their head office leadership listens and begins to understand what running a non mass market operation is about 

[KJB416]

Thank you for your honest opinions and for sharing your cruise holiday with us and providing the good, the bad and the ugly!  
 

We board E II a week from tomorrow, so I’m also wondering how it will compare to our past two cruises on E I. I think the lack of provisions is the biggest issue for me and I don’t even drink wine, also your room attendant is unacceptable (moving the table back evey day is ridiculous and organizing the papers!). It shows disorganization and lack of care and attention to their clientele and that does not equate to a luxury vacation we expect with the price we’re paying and more importantly with what they are marketing. 

I’m curious as to what happened with your OBC since they cancelled your excursions?  I thought I read you had quite a lot due to all

the previous cancellations and problems you’ve encountered with EJ over the past 18 months. 
 

ETA: I see your post above about the OBC. 
 

 

Edited Saturday at 03:03 PM by KJB416

[uktog]

Yea the OBC relates to our EJ2 cruise. I cashed out our credit balance (had paid for excursions before boarding in sterling). Again a shoddy process and no communication- if I had not asked I would have assumed as Viking ,Azamara, Seaborne, Silverseas  etc do auto refund of credit balance goes to your card. You get NO communication if you’ve a credit balance but they don’t refund cards you have to cash out (in Euros) before leaving the ship. Evidently it can take several months to get excess credit back if you don’t cash out. A simple communication to guests would solve potential problems but who cares 😀 

So we have a large amount of uninsured Euro cash we are now carrying around our post cruise adventures 

 

A simple communication would avoid misunderstandings but I doubt EJ wants to know !!!

[cruisr]

4 hours ago, uktog said:

So after a day off the ship what are our thoughts. 

We will categories them as

 

As good as before 

Better than before and now fine

Better than before but still needs work

As bad as before

Worse than before 

 

As good as

*the quality of the food offered throughout the ship

*the design of the ship especially layout of the Ocean Terrace suites

*the ease of embarking and disembarking 

 

Better than before and now fine

*the later opening of bars 

*the availability of entertainment after 2230

*the availability of all day/late evening snacks in the Explorer Lounge Deck 11

 

Better than before and still needs work

+the entertainment offering - the six singers are very good and versatile so it does offer a combination of options and shows. However add this to the fact the two guest acts over the two cruises also focused on singing - and the lady from the first week was identical genres to the onboard team it became same old same old. There needs to be a lot more variety (magicians, comedy, classical instrumentalist etc). 

 

As bad as before

*The hosts focus on speed and canned responses not authentic service. It was disappointing they never remembered  simple things eg even between two rounds of drink

*Need to pull back the speed, guests need to be able to sit down, gather their thoughts and organise themselves before they are pounced on. We are only talking a minute here would make all the difference. There is an obsession with clearing down tables when one person has finished something which personally makes it very awkward for the slower eater or drinker. It’s like they can’t wait to be rid of you - not really “hosting behaviour”. 

*No port information or maps offered - Viking and Azamara both give us this. We indicated to the Destination Manager that this kind of thing would be useful. We were left in no doubt he didn’t agree and thought his destination talk gave more than enough information (we had reviewed it on tv, it did not)
 

Worse than before

 

*the failure of head office to properly provision the ship for a 14 night trip with no re provisioning planned. Basic maths would have told you there was not enough of certain wine types on board to last. We appreciate the efforts the F and B manager made to try and address an issue that was not of his making. 
* the attitude of some hosts - the I know what’s actually best for you - which left an exceedingly nasty taste in the mouth. Some Supervisors seemed to condone and even encourage yarn spinning. It was awkward when we had to call them out but at least they knew we knew. 
*the English language skills of several

Front line staff members. For us our stateroom attendant couldn’t communicate with us beyond set phrases and couldn’t process answers. As posted before it took 4 days to get the drink included with the room and we would never have got that if we hadn’t persevered and 11 days to get him to understand we wanted the coffee table left parallel to the patio door to ease mobility in the room. You would have thought after seeing the guest had moved that and a waste paper bin to (the same) new place every day that maybe that’s where they wanted it. This level of “hosting by a set rule book” isn’t premium

*Hosts now ignore the do not disturb sign. We left one card in the power unit to keep the sign on but on several times the host went in - on one occasion even after we had said to him (because of how we had papers laid out we’d been working on) we did not want the room servicing. He still went in and worse still tidied up the papers aaagh

*Officers, except the F and B manager are far less visible. We did see the GM one day and raise an issue with him. He noted it in his book. He said he would get back to us, he never did. He walked past us several times and never acknowledged us - maybe we are too polite we should have stopped him and asked! 
*Destination experiences totally unreliable now. Everything we booked was cancelled and we were unable to get any substitutes  The canned voice mail and letter we are sorry for any inconvenience caused doesn’t cut it. The attitude wasn’t of hosts who cared

* And worst of all unlike last year muzak is everywhere- there’s nowhere to lie out that escapes it and dining experiences are spoilt by it if you’re hearing isn’t great and you’d like to converse with your partner 

 

So was this a case of Journey 1 losing leaders to other companies plus good hosts to Journey 2?

 

Or has an arrogance crept in?

 

Certainly it did not feel with the exception of the F and B manager that anyone was interested in feedback unless you were telling them how wonderful they were. 
 

We did have a very nice cruise, we loved the food but it could have been so much better. 
 

In a few weeks time we hit EJ2 - then I can really work out if it’s a ship or company wide issue. 

 

Thanks so much.  I hate Muzak.  Is it actually in every restaurant and by every pool?  
The lack of English skills and ignoring guest’s requests is also pretty startling.  We only have our room made up every three days and do not want turndown service.  I can pretty well manage turning down a bed as I do it every night LOL.  As such we always have the do not disturb sign on.  Plus we are late sleepers so if a room stewardess ignored the sign my DH would be very upset.

 

Maybe I am old fashioned but the adage of the customer is always right seems to be unknown on Explora.  There are ways to listen to guests and make them feel they are taking their observations seriously.  It seems that being dismissive is the go to.
 

Your observations have been extremely helpful and we now are prepared for what we may encounter on our cruise.  Thank you for taking the time out of your holiday to post.  I am sure the weather was better then it is now in the Border Counties.

[uktog]

We did not find a Muzak free pool, bar or restaurant. We did however manage to persuade a host to drastically reduce the volume in the seating area outside the lounge on deck 11 which made for a much nicer cocktail with sunset. Some hosts will oblige others say they have to ask their manager….

You are so right, engaged listening rather than defensive dismissal leads to a much more positive guest experience even if the end result is the same. The F and B manager was an excellent example of engaged listening. 
Be aware, the room information systems are rather intelligent- being out of the room but with do not disturb switched on doesn’t work unless one of you leaves your Explora room key in the master unit. My ploy to use an old card from a previous cruise didn’t work. Therefore the host knew we were out of the room and in he went regardless. 
 

I hope you have a really lovely cruise, there is a lot to like, the food is excellent and the range of fresh cook to order at lunch and dinner in the Emporium is extremely good. Their daily pre-made salad bowls are a particular treat - here’s one 

 

 

I would also recommend the Tuna Poke bowl from Room Service or the all day menu in the Explora Lounge Deck 11

[Wheelhouse]

On 9/26/2024 at 8:16 AM, uktog said:

No begins with A and certainly also has the right personality for GM. We do also know L and would agree with your assessment 

Might A have worked on the Azamara Journey?  That gentleman was on our February cruise and I had a chance to speak with him frequently.  He constantly looked for feedback.

 

Its very unfortunate that you had a poor room attendant.  The nice Kenyan lady we had for our sixteen days was as attentive as any we have ever had.  She was certainly markedly superior to the veteran Oceania guy we recently had on the Vista.  My complaint about him to housekeeping was so severe that he was put off the ship the next day.

[uktog]

6 hours ago, Wheelhouse said:

Might A have worked on the Azamara Journey?  That gentleman was on our February cruise and I had a chance to speak with him frequently.  He constantly looked for feedback.

 

Its very unfortunate that you had a poor room attendant.  The nice Kenyan lady we had for our sixteen days was as attentive as any we have ever had.  She was certainly markedly superior to the veteran Oceania guy we recently had on the Vista.  My complaint about him to housekeeping was so severe that he was put off the ship the next day.

He did. 
I wonder if the Kenyan lady was the lovely host looking after the rooms further down the hallway. She was so nice always chatted to you, calling hello whenever you passed a room she was working in. We noted this girl was on shift and started work very promptly each day. Ours was never around and wasn’t for saying anything other than his stock phrase each morning- when are you going out today. Sadly even with that information he never timed our room cleaning right! 

[PaulMCO]

10 hours ago, uktog said:

when are you going out today. Sadly even with that information he never timed our room cleaning right! 

and that is our definition of a great suite attendant (or suite host in Explora speak).  Being invisible is good. Come back from a coffee and suite is done, comeback from dinner and all done and lights turned down.

 

We had one attendant that would always rearrange our hanged garments.  That was just too much.

[uktog]

As we are creatures of habit, good attendants often tell us how easy it is to time servicing our rooms. We like the invisible ones too - we are not looking for a new best friend!

 

 Yes this boy reorganised our toiletries in the bathroom to our annoyance - true our toiletry types were not “grouped together” but split so we knew the “started bottles” vs the still to start. I wish he’d spend time cleaning the smears off the magnifying mirror from the previous guest. I had to eventually ask that he did that! 

 

For DH rearranging hanged clothes would have tipped him over the edge 😂

[cruisr]

9 hours ago, uktog said:

As we are creatures of habit, good attendants often tell us how easy it is to time servicing our rooms. We like the invisible ones too - we are not looking for a new best friend!

 

 Yes this boy reorganised our toiletries in the bathroom to our annoyance - true our toiletry types were not “grouped together” but split so we knew the “started bottles” vs the still to start. I wish he’d spend time cleaning the smears off the magnifying mirror from the previous guest. I had to eventually ask that he did that! 

 

For DH rearranging hanged clothes would have tipped him over the edge 😂

After 40 years together I am still not allowed to rearrange my DH’s clothes or toiletries and i never would as i respect his wishes.  If a room steward/ess tries to rearrange things he will complain, loudly.  Actually now i am thinking  no service in the room lol.

Edited yesterday at 12:20 AM by cruisr

[Host Jazzbeau]

3 hours ago, cruisr said:

After 40 years together I am still not allowed to rearrange my DH’s clothes or toiletries and i never would as i respect his wishes.  If a room steward/ess tries to rearrange things he will complain, loudly.  Actually now i am thinking  no service in the room lol.

We view it as a game: can we ‘break’ the cabin attendant before the end of the cruise?

[uktog]

Question to @CruiseCrew123 have you received an electronic survey yet?  They have our email addresses but neither DH or I have anything (we have checked our spam as well). 

[CruiseCrew123]

Got the survey on Saturday but no reply to our trip feedback 

[uktog]

9 minutes ago, CruiseCrew123 said:

Got the survey on Saturday but no reply to our trip feedback 

We have again not got a form. 
I will follow up with the call centre

I doubt they will respond to feedback though 

[ChilledGecko]

We received an email each on Saturday. 

@uktog you must be on the naughty list!

[uktog]

54 minutes ago, ChilledGecko said:

We received an email each on Saturday. 

@uktog you must be on the naughty list!

Yes dear guests we want your feedback but only if you are saying we are absolutely wonderful 😂😂😂

[Elizabethbea]

I am sure its not personal . These e mails go out to all pax. 

[avalon244]

16 hours ago, Elizabethbea said:

I am sure its not personal . These e mails go out to all pax. 

Agree with you on your opinions on this and other closed threads. Some people just love to complain.