Explora ll maiden transatlantic - any special ceremonies new ports?

[TrinaLC]

It’s not the maiden voyage, but maiden trip across the pond with first ever port visits. Will there be special welcoming ceremonies? Maybe in the final port Miami?

[mike@sea]

Explora 2 has had its ceremony in Civitavecchia. I doubt there will be any other celebration.
Following your logic, there should be a celebration in every port the ship arrives for the first time. Never seen that happening on any cruise line. 

Hence, I would not expect any celebration on the upcoming transatlantic cruise.

[uktog]

Sometimes you get fireboat sprays on first visits.  Some ports even do a few minutes fireworks but Im expecting nothing.  In most ports there is a private plaque ceremony but that is usually on the bridge.  Only seen it done once in view of passengers

[TrinaLC]

2 hours ago, mike@sea said:

Explora 2 has had its ceremony in Civitavecchia. I doubt there will be any other celebration.
Following your logic, there should be a celebration in every port the ship arrives for the first time. Never seen that happening on any cruise line. 

Hence, I would not expect any celebration on the upcoming transatlantic cruise.

 

Most ships have “trophy rooms” with plaques from first time calling into port, pictures of ceremonies etc. It may be a dated concept with the huge number of builds coming on line. 

[Grandma Cruising]

9 hours ago, TrinaLC said:

 

Most ships have “trophy rooms” with plaques from first time calling into port, pictures of ceremonies etc. It may be a dated concept with the huge number of builds coming on line. 

Azamara ships have these in the corridor where the senior officers cabins are, which leads to the bridge. The only way passengers get to see them is if they do a bridge tour.

[uktog]

I doubt Explora would have such a “folksy” random collection of items (nice though it may be) on a wall even in the crew areas. It would offend the feng shui thinking that extends on both guest and other areas. There’s probably a committee in head office determining the location and position of each plaque if indeed it gets a non guest showing - that’s above the onboard pay grade 😀

Edited Saturday at 07:59 AM by uktog

[Hlitner]

15 hours ago, TrinaLC said:

 

Most ships have “trophy rooms” with plaques from first time calling into port, pictures of ceremonies etc. It may be a dated concept with the huge number of builds coming on line. 

Ahhh but I can just imagine a staffer or General Manager saying, "we are not most ships!"  EJ works hard at trying to convince folks that they are NOT a cruise line, but rather a floating resort.  Not sure a plague would be welcomed unless it was set in platinum and surrounded by a diamond crusted frame.

 

Hank

[Elizabethbea]

 Certainly on Explora 1 recently there were many plaque ceremonies--(not for the guests) which involved staff in much work. So, in this instance EJ is just like othr cruise lines... 

[PaulMCO]

Anyone want to bet their will be one.  Some here remember the New York maiden visit.  What better way than to have a party and invite a 100+ travel agents to board and spoil the embarkation day of the next cruise guests (and those doing a B2B).

 

Then again that first Miami embarkation cruise might have those 100 TA's and associated "digital creators" onboard making a nuisance of themselves for 8 days.

[Jim Avery]

19 hours ago, uktog said:

Sometimes you get fireboat sprays on first visits.  Some ports even do a few minutes fireworks but Im expecting nothing.  In most ports there is a private plaque ceremony but that is usually on the bridge.  Only seen it done once in view of passengers

Reminded me of QE2. She had hundreds 0f plaques from just about any port you could think of.  What you get with a 30+ year career as a 30 knot globetrotter.

[Waltershipman]

1 hour ago, PaulMCO said:

Anyone want to bet their will be one.  Some here remember the New York maiden visit.  What better way than to have a party and invite a 100+ travel agents to board and spoil the embarkation day of the next cruise guests (and those doing a B2B).

 

Then again that first Miami embarkation cruise might have those 100 TA's and associated "digital creators" onboard making a nuisance of themselves for 8 days.

Or in the alternative one might have their cruise shortened for a naming ceremony with TA and influencers like EJ 1 in New York in 2023

[mike@sea]

I am sure that plaques will still be handed to new ships when coming into port for the first time. But this is between the port authority and the ships officers and maybe parts of crew. Nothing a passenger will even notice or is being part of to my knowledge. 

Explora 1 arrival into NYC , where the ship was christened with respective festivities, cannot be compared to Explora 2 simply transiting for the winter season to the Caribbean. That’s only my understanding of course. 
 

EVERY cruiseline invites travel agents onboard, when a new ship comes into port for the first time and often thereafter. I do not understand some of the negative comments here against travel agents on board or influencer on board. Some might be annoying, but most are important for the cruise line. A lot of people here praise their travel agents. So why get jealous when they appear on board in order to get to know the ship ?

Not a single company these days will ignore influencer. And why should they? Their influence and as outcome, their very unique form of „marketing“ is much more powerful than any marketing firm can create these days. So why should Explora not settle for them and make sure they have a grand time onboard. 
 

…just my 2 cents of course…

Edited Saturday at 06:42 PM by mike@sea

[uktog]

I have no issue with travel agents coming on for port visits

I have no issue with small groups of agents staying onboard for a few days

What I really object to was the behaviour of the influencers I had to put up with when I was on a cruise I had paid very good money for.  They took over places, demanded you sat somewhere else so you did not spoil their shots and totally disrupted restaurant service for others.  

Am I jealous - no - but I expect courtesy from those who are onboard.  It really doubly grates if the disrupters are also on a freebie whereas we have spent £000s

[mike@sea]

I fully understand that uktog and I would have been equally angry. My remark did not go towards you. 😉
 

Management and staff on board need to be trained and advised how to deal with influencer, especially the entitled ones. No doubt. And Explora certainly did not shine here in the past.

 

But they are part of todays world, whether or not we like it. 
 

 

Edited Saturday at 07:03 PM by mike@sea

[Stickman1990]

2 hours ago, uktog said:

…the behaviour of the influencers I had to put up with when I was on a cruise I had paid very good money for.  They took over places, demanded you sat somewhere else so you did not spoil their shots and totally disrupted restaurant service for others.  

Seriously? So who made the demand of you? - the influencers or ships crew? if it was the influencer the answers simple - just politely decline the suggestion you move. They can schedule their use for a time when guests aren’t around 

 

Did you point out the disrupted service to the Restaurant manager or the F&B Manager? - what was their response 

[Stickman1990]

2 hours ago, mike@sea said:

I am sure that plaques will still be handed to new ships when coming into port for the first time. But this is between the port authority and the ships officers and maybe parts of crew. Nothing a passenger will even notice or is being part of to my knowledge. 

One line, at least, that I know - Crystal, has their plaque exchange ceremony in a public area (the main lobby area) and guests can watch (but don’t participate). The plaques then get hung in an area that is visible to guests

 

I think it’s quite nice that port authorities and the ships officers mark the inaugural visits to ports  

[uktog]

10 minutes ago, Stickman1990 said:

Seriously? So who made the demand of you? - the influencers or ships crew? if it was the influencer the answers simple - just politely decline the suggestion you move. They can schedule their use for a time when guests aren’t around 

 

Did you point out the disrupted service to the Restaurant manager or the F&B Manager? - what was their response 

Seriously yes

It was the influencers who asked us to move and we did initially decline to move but they made us feel very awkward indeed so we did move after a while

Yes, the General Manager was aware and indicated she had spoken with the group - 

[Stickman1990]

26 minutes ago, uktog said:

It was the influencers who asked us to move and we did initially decline to move but they made us feel very awkward indeed so we did move after a while

Yes, the General Manager was aware and indicated she had spoken with the group - 

You don’t strike me as shy - why wouldn’t you simply decline their request, I know I would 

 

Plus I’d report their request to the ships management 

 

It seems their request was out of line and the General Manager addressed it - case closed 

 

Just add it to the list of obnoxious guests on mobile phone calls on speaker or chair hogs etc - unfortunately not everyone is gracious enough to behave appropriately - some “influencers” included 

[Waltershipman]

4 hours ago, mike@sea said:

I am sure that plaques will still be handed to new ships when coming into port for the first time. But this is between the port authority and the ships officers and maybe parts of crew. Nothing a passenger will even notice or is being part of to my knowledge. 

Explora 1 arrival into NYC , where the ship was christened with respective festivities, cannot be compared to Explora 2 simply transiting for the winter season to the Caribbean. That’s only my understanding of course. 
 

EVERY cruiseline invites travel agents onboard, when a new ship comes into port for the first time and often thereafter. I do not understand some of the negative comments here against travel agents on board or influencer on board. Some might be annoying, but most are important for the cruise line. A lot of people here praise their travel agents. So why get jealous when they appear on board in order to get to know the ship ?

Not a single company these days will ignore influencer. And why should they? Their influence and as outcome, their very unique form of „marketing“ is much more powerful than any marketing firm can create these days. So why should Explora not settle for them and make sure they have a grand time onboard. 
 

…just my 2 cents of course…

In October 2023 our cruise was shortened by one night to accommodate a naming ceremony and yes it was not convenient nor pleasant. We lucked out being able to changed our air flught home easiky.

TA influencers on board are just fine and we enjoyed chatting with many TA'S.  On the plus side EJ gave us a refund for our canceled day of cruise along with a FCC which we are now using.   All good just not always good for all passengers. For those who read my posts I truly love the EJ experience

[PaulMCO]

5 hours ago, mike@sea said:

I fully understand that uktog and I would have been equally angry. My remark did not go towards you. 😉
 

Management and staff on board need to be trained and advised how to deal with influencer, especially the entitled ones. No doubt. And Explora certainly did not shine here in the past.

 

But they are part of todays world, whether or not we like it. 
 

 

Then did it go towards me since I made the comment. 

 

And yes on our last Explora I cruise the ship was full of badly behaved, chair and bar hogging, loud phone talking doing booking business in Creama, loud video recording TA's and influencers -- all from Miami.  This included special events that closed facilities.  Ship was empty so might as well stock it with non paying guests.

 

Yes every cruise line does it.  But Explora overwhelms the ship.  Did you experience any of the first Dec/Jan Miami sailings????

 

Yes I love my TA and he would not behave in such a manner.

Edited Sunday at 12:02 AM by PaulMCO

[Hlitner]

On 10/19/2024 at 5:16 PM, Stickman1990 said:

Seriously? So who made the demand of you? - the influencers or ships crew? if it was the influencer the answers simple - just politely decline the suggestion you move. They can schedule their use for a time when guests aren’t around 

 

Did you point out the disrupted service to the Restaurant manager or the F&B Manager? - what was their response 

We were on the voyage that ended in NYC for the EJ1 naming ceremony.   The day before we reached NYC (where we were to overnight) one of the Maitre'd's hunted us down while we were having breakfast to tell us that our confirmed dinner reservation, for the following evening, had been cancelled because all the restaurants were to be dedicated to only the VIPs!  The paying passengers had only one option, which was the buffet!  I would not be surprised if similar things happened in Miami.  We were also denied access to the main theater (for the naming ceremony) and were banished to the Explora Lounge (deck 11) where we were "allowed" to watch the onboard naming ceremony on a video screen!

 

There is more to the story, although it might bore most folks.  The day we boarded the EJ1, for our 18 day voyage, we received a phone call from our cruise agent (located in Florida) who had set-up a three party call with the Southeast USA Explora rep.  He wanted us to leave the ship, 1 day early (upon arrival in NYC) and offered us some money, a hotel room, and a hotel credit that would pay for most of a meal.  We declined the last minute offer (we were already aboard the ship) since we had no desire to go to that particular hotel (we are ex New Yorkers and know the city well) nor did we want to cut our booked, and paid for, cruise 1 day short.  Similar offers were made to others who were on our voyage (that was only about 50% of capacity).

 

 

Hank

[Stickman1990]

23 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

We were on the voyage that ended in NYC for the EJ1 naming ceremony.

Yes I remember that and how badly it was handled at the time. However that’s completely different than some wannabe influencer asking someone to move without any involvement by Explora 

 

[Waltershipman]

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

We were on the voyage that ended in NYC for the EJ1 naming ceremony.   The day before we reached NYC (where we were to overnight) one of the Maitre'd's hunted us down while we were having breakfast to tell us that our confirmed dinner reservation, for the following evening, had been cancelled because all the restaurants were to be dedicated to only the VIPs!  The paying passengers had only one option, which was the buffet!  I would not be surprised if similar things happened in Miami.  We were also denied access to the main theater (for the naming ceremony) and were banished to the Explora Lounge (deck 11) where we were "allowed" to watch the onboard naming ceremony on a video screen!

 

There is more to the story, although it might bore most folks.  The day we boarded the EJ1, for our 18 day voyage, we received a phone call from our cruise agent (located in Florida) who had set-up a three party call with the Southeast USA Explora rep.  He wanted us to leave the ship, 1 day early (upon arrival in NYC) and offered us some money, a hotel room, and a hotel credit that would pay for most of a meal.  We declined the last minute offer (we were already aboard the ship) since we had no desire to go to that particular hotel (we are ex New Yorkers and know the city well) nor did we want to cut our booked, and paid for, cruise 1 day short.  Similar offers were made to others who were on our voyage (that was only about 50% of capacity).

 

 

Hank

We too were on the voyage ending with New York naming ceremony and while I am a fan of EJ I will say they handled our end of cruise poorly.  We ended our trip 1 day early and returned home with a sour taste. The taste must have gotten better with time since we are returning to EJ in January. However one must never be too surprised by what Geneva has planned for paying passengers even if it totally inconveniences them. That is a downside of EJ sorry to say

 

I am hopeful that back of house will be better this time

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, Stickman1990 said:

Yes I remember that and how badly it was handled at the time. However that’s completely different than some wannabe influencer asking someone to move without any involvement by Explora 

 

LOL, if that had happened to me, the influencer would have been very disappointed in his/her influence.