jsea

I agree. Food quality thus far has been as good as any line I’ve sailed. I don’t have as diverse of experience as many others- but I’m comparing with Seabourn (both Encore-class and Venture), Crystal, and Celebrity (Luminae at The Retreat). And obviously all of the below is opinion only. Seabourn’s big win in Thomas Keller (controversial). I haven’t yet been to Marble & Co. but look forward to comparing. Service at TK is always top notch. The Colonnade is a notch or two below Explora’s Emporium. Crystal Endeavor’s culinary offerings were phenomenal, especially when you consider the cruise was out of Ushuaia to Antarctica. I would say they are (were) on equal footing with Explora. Celebrity is simply not in the same league. Which is frankly not surprising when you consider for how many people those kitchens have to cook.

Looks like it’s open today 🙂. Please excuse the blurry shot. It was taken from a moving vehicle.

Norwegian Joy is in port today at the premier “parking spot”.

As noted by Hank in his other post, Explora has partially reversed course and now guests are not required to take their luggage with them on 12 October should they wish to remain on the ship through the 13th.

Safe to assume the spa onboard has products for sale? I usually buy various items (e.g. face wash) to lighten up what I need to pack.

The email I received from my TA said The Edition Times Square (which opened in 2019 - the original Edition in the Flatiron District opened in 2015). I do hope Explora plans to use The Edition and not Hotel Edison as the latter would simply be unacceptable for the cruise brand. “If you would like to decline the invitation to the ceremony, Explora will reimburse you for the one night of the curtailed journey and, depending on your onward travel arrangements, can offer the following options: An overnight stay in The Edition Hotel Time Square (or similar) in New York Or A Future Journey Credit with a value of EUR 250 per person.”

My TA said Edition or similar. Sure would love to know what’s “or similar” 🙂

I emailed Explora and they said that spa bookings cannot be made online. Perhaps this is particular to my voyage.

This is likely an obtuse question - but where do you book spa treatments online? When I access my booking, all I see are shore excursions and in-room requests like pillows or bed arrangements.

I take it you have to call or work through your TA to book spa treatments in advance? I see no way to book online.

They do remain as a “highlight” near m the top of her page under “Crystal cruises”. She may have added this recently as I don’t recall seeing it earlier.

Stephanie Hollman (former real housewife of Dallas) is / was on the inaugural. She has posted some stories and the food looks great. Clearly a marketing agreement between her and the line and I make no quibbles about that. https://instagram.com/stephhollman?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

I am not sure if this applies to your cruise, but this is the fine print for our upcoming Beyond Mediterranean voyage: Family Legal Documents Should the last names of the parent sailing with their minor child differ, the parent is required to present the child's valid passport book and visa (if required) and the child's birth certificate (original, a notarized copy or a certified copy). The name of the parent(s) and the child must be linked through legal documentation.

Sphere Class seems to have some real intriguing features. First newbuilds from Princess that have piqued my curiosity since Grand Class (which was a let down to me, personally). As another poster mentioned above, the Piazza seems to have a real connection to the sea with lots of glass. In the early 2000s when Royal Caribbean’s Radiance class debuted, I was very impressed with the wall of glass that stretched the height of the Centrum. Coral Class seemed to come up short in comparison. The original Star Princess had the beautiful Windows to the World lounge perched forward above the bridge. This third iteration seems to also embrace sea views and I am all for their bringing back the name. The above is just my humble opinion.

We sailed when she was with Crystal. After 30 cruises, I don’t consider myself prone to seasickness, but the Drake was a new experience for me. I wasn’t bedridden, by any means, but I certainly didn’t feel 100%. We were in a Silver Suite and the door between the toilet and bathroom would slam open and shut during our Drake crossings. So our room steward jerry-rigged a hand towel sound deadener in the area is the door latch. She’s a magnificent vessel and I am glad she’s being well-cared for.

Thank you for your kind response. This is a question of curiosity: Le Labo only has a face oil “face wash” (that I’m aware of). Does the Villa include a face wash product?

We are booked this summer on Beyond. Previously in a Celebrity Suite, now in a Villa (heretofore sold out, one finally opened up and we snagged it). Questions about specialty dining: 1) Are there ever times when you cannot get into a specialty restaurant? We had already booked many venues. 2) The cruise planner allows us to book speciality dining again (at first when we moved up, it did not). It requires pre-payment via credit card, which is fine, but I suppose the charges will be reversed once onboard? Thanks in advance.

Thank you for this excellent find. Coincidentally, I came back to this thread due to something new I discovered when creating a dummy booking for our 2023 North Pole journey. There is now a $2800 “business class” option for the Paris - LYR charter. Surely this is what it’s for. I applaud Ponant for giving us options. One aspect of our Seabourn Venture Svalbard / Greenland expedition cruise that felt decidedly non-premium was the whole charter / transfer experience from Oslo to Longyearbyen.

At 13:32 in the below video it shows the adjacent motion studio which has lots of space for yoga / stretching and also one multi-function weight machine. Venture’s gym setup is very much superior to Silver Endeavour (which was too small / poorly laid out / narrow in our opinion).

We also wrote about the negatives and never heard back. Cruise itself was great. Loved Venture. Going to give Ponant a try next summer to see if they can do it better.

Slightly off topic, but we were on Venture in August and also had a lackluster transfer / charter flight experience from Oslo to Longyearbyen. Despite being in the top suite on the ship, Seabourn gave us a tiny box of a room overlooking a noisy alley at the pre-cruise hotel. The charter flight left at 4:30a and there was not great organization. Lots of waiting in lines. Once we arrived to Longyearbyen there was also a lot of standing around. Not very luxurious or relaxing. It may be part of expedition cruising, but I agree that Seabourn could do more to make these experiences more 5-star.

Very helpful - thanks!

Does anyone know at what time the Ponant charter flight typically departs Paris for Longyearbyen on this voyage? We did an arctic sailing on Seabourn Venture this year and the charter flight left Oslo at 4:30am with a required 2:45am departure from the hotel. It was miserable especially considering we were required to take a tour of Longyearbyen and then kill time on our own until boarding commenced in the early afternoon. We arrived into Oslo from the United States the afternoon before and it was a draining few days. Hoping to avoid a similar misery this time, we are arriving into Paris very early the day before the charter flight and booking another night to guarantee ability to checkin upon arrival. But then I started thinking about booking SAS from Oslo into Longyearbyen the day before boarding and staying at the Funken Lodge. And simply forfeiting the included Paris charter flight. If anyone has any sage advice, feel free to share. Thanks.

I’ll second that. Emed was easy when we used it for our Venture cruise last month. I have family that used it for a Celebrity cruise with similar ease.

This is delayed (took me longer than anticipated to catch up to the 'real world' upon returning home), but we had a fantastic time. You have done an excellent job of reporting so my comments will be brief. My perspectives are influenced by our Antarctica trip on Crystal Endeavor last year. Venture highs: - crew (they all seem happy and I hope that has to do with the cruise line allowing them to take zodiac trips, do polar plunges, etc.) - ship itself (beautiful and well-designed); seemed to handle rough seas well - will be curious to see how she does in the Drake Passage; plenty of outdoor space for viewing scenery; pool deck with hot tubs is wonderful (Endeavor's pool is indoor - which has pros and cons; but major con is that it is a shared space with the buffet with tables nearly right on the edge of the pool - so often you will have an audience dining overhead while you are taking a dip) - captain's navigating capabilities and getting us up close to wonderful scenery - sushi option at night in the Club - high def wildlife / scenery camera beamed to shipboard TVs - watching the glaciers calve in a zodiac with a very knowledgeable guide in Greenland - gym (layout and size superior to Endeavor) - spa (also superior layout compared to Endeavor) Venture neutrals: - sometimes long lines to get in zodiac; to us, calling three groups at a time but telling them to arrive 5 minutes apart wasn't very successful at crowd management; I did appreciate keeping the life vests in our suite, as on Endeavor you kept them in a locker in the mud room and that led to more crowding in a very tight space - "hikes" ashore were hardly that - would be nice to have some more active options for those who choose, but I realize with polar bears at some sites that is more challenging - would be nice for Seabourn Square offerings to continue beyond 6; so you could stop in for a coffee or tea or gelato after dinner Venture lows: - Longyearbyen boarding day - ungodly early hour, followed by a tour that was two hours too long made for a rough day which postponed jet lag recovery We look forward to see what itineraries Pursuit will be doing and plan to be aboard a Seabourn expedition ship again in the future. Thankfully for those who like this type of cruising (on newer, more capable vessels) currently we are fairly spoilt for choice with Silversea Endeavour, Ponant, and Viking, amongst others...