sasejm

Thank you for referring to the Points Guy article. I read the article yesterday and applied for a status match last night using my Hyatt Explorist card and got a response this morning. I now have Gold status with MSC and will provide my MSC membership # to my TA to see if there will be any benefits available for the 2 Explora Journeys cruises I booked. I got a solo rate of 14% on one cruise (Carribean) and 15% on the other cruise (Africa), over the double pp rate. We, DW & I always cruised in midship solo rooms on both Crystal Symphony & Serenity and that is why we picked midship solo on Explora I & II.

In August, we booked the first two week Caribbean cruise for November 2023 and the price has increased $7300.00 for two in the GP category. That's over 30% of our original total cruise fare. At this rate, I'm not sure I'll ever book another cruise with Explora Journeys.

Yeah, I just noticed the category I booked a few months ago, increased by $2100.00 for 2, for a two week cruise.

If you haven’t already contacted Explora Journeys for confirmation, I would definitely call them or email them and get clarification. If you are on a back-to-back cruise, you might get 1 bag per segment. You might find you are on more than one segment.

If you have a residence suite, you shouldn’t have to worry about the location of the laundry room since laundry, dry-cleaning and ironing are all included in the price of your cruise. If you have a penthouse suite, you’ll receive 1 bag of laundry per person during the cruise. Lastly, if you have a standard suite you get 1 bag of laundry per suite during your cruise. Hopefully, this will help a little. I agree with you in that there should be a laundry room on all decks with suites.

I cleared out all cookies, used Germany and the price was cheaper by $1278.00. Thank you FlyerTalker.

I used a VPN and changed the location to Singapore from the USA and somehow it used the USD for the price, which didn't change anything.

I too am a former Crystal cruiser and after losing thousands as a result of Crystal's bankruptcy, I'm not about to pay in full until the final payment is due. I booked with the 25% deposit.

Yes, it looks very good on paper.

Here is a link to updated culinary details on the Explora I: https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/28033-explora-journeys-unveils-culinary-details-for-explora-i.html