Explorer Lisbon to Cape Town Nov 28 until dragged kicking & screaming off

[boblerm]

Kathy and Susan,

thanks so much for sharing your experiences and you photos on this fabulous trip, I greatly enjoyed following.

Bob

[Hambagahle]

I love "The Nellie" as we call the Mt Nelson...one of the first places I ever visited in Cape Town over 60 years ago - was back there in 2001 and it had barely changed!  Your dinner must have been wonderful.  And so are your photos!

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Again, great pix!  Did you have a big fancy camera?  

[Catpow]

7 hours ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

 Did you have a big fancy camera?  

A small Canon G9X point and shoot.  Lightweight and easy to use...

[flossie009]

Happy New Year

 

So, here goes on the promised summary of our recent vacation.

We will break it up into a few posts and sections to make it more digestible.

 

 

Overview

It was an excellent cruise with a good mix of ports and sea days. We chose it firstly for the itinerary, secondly as it was on Explorer and thirdly to get away from UK December weather. The 24-night cruise plus 3-day post cruise did not disappoint.

We met some interesting people from diverse backgrounds and made new friends.

Recording our experiences on this blog was fun and it was interesting to compare our thoughts with the other bloggers.

 

 

Getting to/from the ship

We booked our own air both ways with airmiles on BA. Although BA rightly attracts regular criticism, both our flights were comfortable and on time.

 

We had a short flight going out to Lisbon from LHR the day before embarkation, a pre-booked taxi to our Lisbon hotel, Corpo Santo (recommended), and then the following morning a leisurely breakfast and a short taxi ride to the ship.

 

Check-in and boarding Explorer in Lisbon was the most efficient we have seen for a long time. When we arrived at the new Lisbon cruise terminal it was a little confusing as to where to deposit the luggage; there were no porters but there were plenty of airport style luggage trolleys.

Explorer staff handled check-in on shore. Yellow Fever certificates were collected, together with passports.

There were no queues to speak of and we were on the ship well before noon.

 

Disembarkation in Cape Town, luggage retrieval and transfer to our post cruise hotel was, for us, very smooth. This may have been because we were unaware of the “requirement” to go to the theatre before leaving the ship.

 

After the post cruise package we were transferred to the airport for our overnight flight to London on the top deck of an aged 747; arriving in LHR at 04:45 on 26 December. This meant we were back home, and largely unpacked, before most of our neighbourhood were awake.

With only 2 hours time difference between South Africa and the UK, jetlag was not an issue.

[flossie009]

Ports

We enjoyed all the ports. This cruise gave a unique opportunity to sample some of the sights, sounds and cultures of some very interesting countries.

Having left Europe we were faced with countries with many challenges - limited infrastructure, unstable politics, lack of education and much poverty.

Even South Africa, looking prosperous on the surface, has 50% of its population living below the breadline.

 

It was a shame, but totally understandable, to miss Togo. Fortunately Captain Serena turned this into an opportunity to go around “Null Island”. We all received two “Crossing the Equator” certificates – one Southbound & one Northbound - within 40 minutes of each other and both close to zero Longitude

 

 

Life on-board

Captain Serena and all her officers were friendly and efficient. We like all the ship’s officers we have met but Captain Serena must be the most interactive and friendly of the bunch; always to be seen around the ship chatting and smiling.

 

F&B was generally good. The majority of our meals could not be faulted; one or two fails but not many.

Some annoying shortages started developing half way through the cruise, particularly some wine varieties. Sufficient stocks were obviously not loaded in Europe before setting off for West Africa. Either a problem in ordering or maybe a container went missing.

 

The Entertainment team, under Margaret Lynn, worked hard. The members of the Production Cast are very talented and there was a varied selection of guest performers.

Plenty of activities were scheduled for sea days.

We were surprised to find only one lecturer on the ship for this cruise, but he was a good presenter with some interesting and relevant talks.

 

Destinations staff were very helpful and rose to some interesting challenges.

Handling tour check-in, bus ticket assignment and disembarkation for tours needs review as many guests either do not listen to simple clear instructions or simply choose to ignore them.

 

Wi-Fi was woefully slow.

 

 

The ship

Explorer is a beautiful and spacious ship with excellent suites and public areas ……… but has some annoying anomalies. We gave a full review of our thoughts earlier in the year that may be found on a previous thread.

Some of the issues identified on Explorer will hopefully be rectified on Splendor. However the basic ship layout is inherent in this ship “type” and therefore cannot be altered significantly.

It is doubtful if any of the faults, such as the theatre auditorium or aft “stairs to nowhere” can ever be rectified on Explorer, even during a 2-3 week drydock.

[Travelcat2]

This thread has been an eye opener for us.  As mentioned previously, we seriously looked at this itinerary and decided against it. After reading almost all posts and viewing the lovely photos from this cruise and reading the current blog from Explorer (Cape Town to Cape Town), we would take the latter cruise again but feel that the Lisbon to Cape Town is just not for us.  So guys - thanks for the blog and for saving us quite a bit of money

[flossie009]

Post-cruise

The 3 day included post cruise “Winelands & Wildlife” was very enjoyable.

Although the content of the tour was excellent, we sometimes found the organisation to be lacking.

• Why not split the group between various hotels?
• Why try to check in 200 people at the same hotel at the same time? We were lucky as we were on the first bus; some had long queues.
• Why have all seven buses, with 200 people on board, going to the same venues at the same times? Simple to change the order of visiting venues or even split the group into 3 and have each sub group doing the days in a different order.
• Flight transfer arrangements could have been given at start of the tour or even before leaving the ship; but instead were not available until 5pm on the last day. With some guests having flights later that evening it did not engender confidence or allow peace of mind. This also led to unnecessary lines/queues at the hospitality desk.

For us, one of the highlights of the post cruise was the “picnic lunch” at the winery on day 2. The description did not do justice to the case of gastronomic goodies that was served with fine South African wines in a beautiful garden setting. Sublime. 

 

Cape Town is a beautiful city with friendly people but, as with many cities around the world, tourists need to be on their guard. At least two of the guests taking the post cruise in Cape Town had separate unfortunate experiences – one with a scam and one had her necklace snatched.

 

 

Other bits & pieces 

As mentioned previously, Yellow Fever certificates were collected at the start of the cruise. However I am not sure what would have happened if a guest did not have the certificate or a waiver.

 

During the roll-call for this cruise there was some debate about obtaining necessary visas before the cruise (either direct or via Regent) or leaving it for Regent to arrange during the cruise (for countries where this service was offered). In the event we were glad we left this until we were on board as the ship cancelled its call at Togo and one of us opted not to go ashore in Ghana. In both cases we were not charged as the visas were not issued.

 

Prior to the cruise we received multiple warnings from Regent regarding having sufficient blank pages in our passports. In particular Regent told us that South Africa required two consecutive blank double pages. In the event we both finished the cruise with the same number of blank pages in our passports as we set out with. All the immigration officials en route, including SA, were extremely accommodating in always finding spaces for their rubber stamps on existing partially filled pages.

 

Reactions to Regent and this cruise from other passengers were mixed. Mainly the comments were positive but some were negative:

• Those new to Regent from mainstream cruise lines were very impressed. Some from other luxury/premium lines professed to be slightly underwhelmed.
• Some who had been on Regent/Radisson some years ago thought it had deteriorated.
• Some were put off Regent before cruise started because of difficulty booking included excursions. Although finally sorted it left an initial bad impression.

Our photos were all taken with an iPhone SE. They were re-sized with an App called “Image Size” to allow easier upload/download via the poor WiFi on Explorer.

 

The chocolate from Sao Tome is good but not great; Swiss producers do not need to panic 😉

 

 

 

Sorry this summary ended up being somewhat long & rambling but we thought it might be of some use for those considering a similar itinerary and/or Explorer in the future.

 

We are now looking forward to our first experience of Seven Seas Navigator, which we board in March for a cruise from Hong Kong to Singapore ............. Can’t wait 😎

[flossie009]

24 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

This thread has been an eye opener for us.  As mentioned previously, we seriously looked at this itinerary and decided against it. After reading almost all posts and viewing the lovely photos from this cruise and reading the current blog from Explorer (Cape Town to Cape Town), we would take the latter cruise again but feel that the Lisbon to Cape Town is just not for us.  

 

Where is the current Explorer blog to be found on CC? as we would love to follow along.

........ or are you referring to the posts on the RSSC FB page

Edited January 1, 2019 by flossie009

[Travelcat2]

RSSC Social Club (not really a blog but gorgeous photos with short commentary).  We have done that itinerary previously and it was amazing!

[liptastic]

Flossie thanks very much for your live blog and this summary of your cruise.   Jean. 

 

[lprp]

On 12/24/2018 at 5:20 PM, flossie009 said:

Our third day on the Winelands & Wildlife tour was excellent.

 

After an early breakfast we set off for the long 2+ hour coach trip to a private game reserve.

After a welcome drink we boarded 4x4 vehicles for our game drive across a desert landscape.

We encountered rhino, giraffe, lions, zebra, wildebeest, eland, springbok, hippo and elephant.

 

 

 

After a good buffet lunch, with much wine & beer, we reboarded the coaches for the journey back to Cape Town.

 

On the way to and from the Game Reserve we passed through some stunning scenery 

 

Fields of grape vines 

 

A Township for agricultural workers

 

 

 

Tonight we will probably go down to the V&A Waterfront with friends.

Then up late tomorrow, check out of the hotel and go to the airport for our Christmas Day overnight flight to London Heathrow.

 

 

Thanks to everyone who posted on this. We are currently on Explorer doing Cape Town to Cape Town. The staff, as ever, have been fantastic, as has the food in all eateries.

Sadly we’ve missed 2 ports thus far, Luderitz in Namibia and Maputo in Mozambique, the former due to high tides making tender dangerous, the latter apparently due to “strong seas” between Durban and Maputo making it uncomfortable for guests and crew, however we have heard that it was more likely due to a”mix-up” regarding requirements for Yellow Fever certificates or waivers (we were given no information from Regent or our TA that they were required. I also checked the UK Govt website and determined that they were not. However, as we have them and they live in our travel wallet, we brought them with us. We were not asked for them ,but others were when they boarded, they didn’t have them, nor did many others.🤔

With regards to running out of supplies - I have one that will cause a sharp intake of breath from fellow Brits....

....we ran out of Twinings English Breakfast Tea 🤬! There was some decaffinated, but, what’s the point of that at breakfast?

 

Flossie, we are on the Winelands & Wildlife tour post cruise and I would be interested to know if the game reserve you visited was Aquila?

Thanks again

[flossie009]

53 minutes ago, lprp said:

With regards to running out of supplies - I have one that will cause a sharp intake of breath from fellow Brits....

....we ran out of Twinings English Breakfast Tea 🤬! There was some decaffinated, but, what’s the point of that at breakfast?

 

Flossie, we are on the Winelands & Wildlife tour post cruise and I would be interested to know if the game reserve you visited was Aquila?

Thanks again

 

No English Breakfast Tea 😱 

Just have a Bloody Mary with your cornflakes & boiled egg ................. start the day properly 😉

 

Yes, it was Aquila that we visited.

Despite the "information" that you are given, the vehicles used are covered against the hot sun - open at the sides. A fairly bumpy ride, but well worth it.

(not one of my photos - this was taken off the web)

 

[Gilly]

Thank you @flossie009 for taking the time to share your thoughts.  That's an itinerary we'd love to do were it not for the fact that we need to be at home at that time of the year.  I really enjoyed following along and we'll just hope that one year, Regent will create a different time slot for that route - maybe offering it in the opposite direction, perhaps, as part of the seasonal  repositioning programme?

 

(Can't believe you're on board again before our next jolly and I still haven't found the green-with-envy emoticon)

[lprp]

On 1/2/2019 at 2:23 PM, flossie009 said:

 

No English Breakfast Tea 😱 

Just have a Bloody Mary with your cornflakes & boiled egg ................. start the day properly 😉

 

Yes, it was Aquila that we visited.

Despite the "information" that you are given, the vehicles used are covered against the hot sun - open at the sides. A fairly bumpy ride, but well worth it.

 

Thanks @flossie009, really looking forward to it now 😎 (hopefully I’ve got the hang of the “quote” thing now 🙃)

[flossie009]

23 hours ago, Gilly said:

 

(Can't believe you're on board again before our next jolly and I still haven't found the green-with-envy emoticon)

 

Happy New Year, Gilly

Our philosophy is "to do it while we can" 😄

Plus we thought we would get a few future cruises booked before/in case the £ plummets again over the Brexit mess.

 

Really looking forward to trying Navigator despite some who give it such a panning. It does appear to be a "Marmite" ship 😉

[Gilly]

Happy New Year to you too, @flossie009!

 

I agree 100% with your sentiments - we are off on a jolly next week because the cruise we booked doesn't leave till April.  Can't be hanging around here waiting that long     We have two (longish) cruises in our ticket box and an assortment of other trips, thank goodness, so I really mustn't grumble.

 

We liked Navigator.  It seemed strange at first because everything was so close to hand, but we grew to appreciate that and we disembarked feeling very positive about the ship and the friendly atmosphere on board.   I guess your HK - Singapore is part of the World Cruise, too?

[UUNetBill]

4 hours ago, flossie009 said:

Really looking forward to trying Navigator despite some who give it such a panning. It does appear to be a "Marmite" ship 😉

 

4 hours ago, Gilly said:

We liked Navigator.  It seemed strange at first because everything was so close to hand, but we grew to appreciate that and we disembarked feeling very positive about the ship and the friendly atmosphere on board. 

I must be one of the oddballs, too, since I love Navigator.  I think Gilly hit it on the head with the 'friendly atmosphere' comment.  I know there are some who won't book cruises on the Nav, but I wouldn't hesitate to sail on her.  She's probably my second favorite ship just behind Explorer.

[Gilly]

 

51 minutes ago, UUNetBill said:

 

I must be one of the oddballs, too, since I love Navigator.  

 

@UUNetBill how does it go?  "You may say that, I couldn't possibly comment"  

 

Navigator also wins hands down with me for having the best designed theatre in the fleet, IMHO.  Not a bad seat in the house!  

Edited January 3, 2019 by Gilly

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I too love Navigator, although I don't think I'd want to be on a cold weather cruise again, since it does get a bit "intimate" at times. 

[Gilly]

7 minutes ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

I too love Navigator, although I don't think I'd want to be on a cold weather cruise again, since it does get a bit "intimate" at times. 

 

Yes, I can imagine that.  We were sailing the Indian Ocean so it wasn't a problem!

[flossie009]

@Gilly, @UUNetBill & @Wendy The Wanderer,

Thanks for reinforcing the positive comments about Navigator.

Warm weather in the Far East for us as well so should be good 😎

[Travelcat2]

19 hours ago, UUNetBill said:

 

I must be one of the oddballs, too, since I love Navigator.  I think Gilly hit it on the head with the 'friendly atmosphere' comment.  I know there are some who won't book cruises on the Nav, but I wouldn't hesitate to sail on her.  She's probably my second favorite ship just behind Explorer.

 

At least your first choice in ships is good  As you know, we no longer book the Navigator but it's good that so many people like her.  At the moment I'm trying to figure out how a "live" thread from the Explorer became a Navigator thread!?

[UUNetBill]

11 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

At the moment I'm trying to figure out how a "live" thread from the Explorer became a Navigator thread!?

Just the nature of the beast, I guess.   

[Travelcat2]

1 hour ago, UUNetBill said:

Just the nature of the beast, I guess.   

 

Agree however, when topics change (on several posts), CC members that are not reading the thread are missing information ..... which in this case is about Navigator.  Starting a new thread would be helpful.  JMHO!