ANYONE Booked EXPLORA?

[sidari]

I was talking to a friend who is a US travel agent recently who will sail on Explora doing Northern Europe, after I learned of the price I thought I would see what the UK equivalent cost was for the same entry level cabin.

The cruise is 16 night's All Inclusive and comes in at £16,400 for two people... 😱 Or + $19,000.

Think we will give it a miss 

[Two Wheels Only]

I'm waiting on a few reviews from Yacht Club guests who will hopefully answer a few questions that I have. I've seen some decent prices but I would have to lose some square footage if I keep the price the same as a MSC Royal Suite. 

[SirWolf]

2 hours ago, sidari said:

I was talking to a friend who is a US travel agent recently who will sail on Explora doing Northern Europe, after I learned of the price I thought I would see what the UK equivalent cost was for the same entry level cabin.

The cruise is 16 night's All Inclusive and comes in at £16,400 for two people... 😱 Or + $19,000.

Think we will give it a miss 

 

Most itineraries are $800+ per night/cabin but can go up significantly. Very few sailings are equally priced to MSC Yacht Club on newer ships.

 

.. one of the high-end sailings ..

29 Nights from Vancouver to Miami in August 2024 in Owner’s Residence (155sqm /1,668sqft) is $174,000.- 

Early Booking Benefit $156,720.- / 100% payment at time of booking.

[kelleherdl]

59 minutes ago, SirWolf said:

 

Most itineraries are $800+ per night/cabin but can go up significantly. Very few sailings are equally priced to MSC Yacht Club on newer ships.

 

.. one of the high-end sailings ..

29 Nights from Vancouver to Miami in August 2024 in Owner’s Residence (155sqm /1,668sqft) is $174,000.- 

Early Booking Benefit $156,720.- / 100% payment at time of booking.

We are Explora Journeys reservation #728, so very early booking. We are on the 16-night Iceland to New York inaugural, September 9, 2023. Fare is Exactly $800/night, double occupancy or $12,800 total for an OT1, the lowest class.  It’s a bucket list itinerary, a lot of great ports AND an inaugural call to New York.

 

Dennis

[morpheusofthesea]

Booked a two week cruise at end of December 2023. Maiden voyage is slated for mid July 2023, hoping for any 'bugs' to be smoothed out by December. Lowest cabin that suits us with a separate bedroom, walkin shower and balcony with lounges is a GP. $25,400 with a deposit of $6,350. Only discount is if paying in full at time of booking. $907 pp/pd In the ballpark with other suites with 732/226 sq ft. Room /balcony. Really can not imagine service can top service one already receives in any Yacht Club cabin. No one to be escorted in front of in long lines. Easy to be special treated when only 250-300 prima donnas out of 5000 guests verses 750 prima donnas out of 750 prima donnas.

P.S. Be careful your credit card company does not charge one a transaction fee. Our bank card did for $150.

Edited November 16, 2022 by morpheusofthesea
P.S.

[kelleherdl]

5 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Really can not imagine service can top service one already receives in any Yacht Club cabin. No one to be escorted in front of in long lines. Easy to be special treated when only 250-300 prima donnas out of 5000 guests verses 750 prima donnas out of 750 prima donnas.

I think this is all of us Yacht Clubbers’ major concern. Yes, the design concepts promise one of the most elegant ships at sea, but will the ‘experience’ wow us GP’s down in the Ocean Terrace Suites. 😀

[hamrag]

7 hours ago, kelleherdl said:

I think this is all of us Yacht Clubbers’ major concern. Yes, the design concepts promise one of the most elegant ships at sea, but will the ‘experience’ wow us GP’s down in the Ocean Terrace Suites. 😀

It'll be most interesting to hear your feedback. Certainly at a price point of 2 to 3 times YC Deluxe Suite expectations will be high! Certainly, it's way outwith our budget especially now as retirees!

Edited November 17, 2022 by hamrag

[kelleherdl]

4 hours ago, hamrag said:

It'll be most interesting to hear your feedback. Certainly at a price point of 2 to 3 times YC Deluxe Suite expectations will be high! Certainly, it's way outwith our budget especially now as retirees!

Oh Graham this is a stretch for us retirees as well. We will only be taking one ‘larger’ cruise next year. It’s just such a nice itinerary and we always did want to try a luxury line, even as new as Explora. I think we technically get a TA out of it as it goes from the European half of Iceland to North America. Joann would never take a traditional TA due to the number of sea days.  😀

 

Dennis

[Nunagoras]

Explora seems a great product with a rough start point. Beautiful ships made of the same Viking Oceans prototype with different insides, so viking like ships sometimes priced at Regent/Silversea/Seabourne/Hapag-Lloyd price tag, Worth to note that nobody pays brochure prices these days. Back when they started selling I received a promotion, don't remember if from one of my favorite TA's or direct from them due to MSC Voyagers Club membership with some nice deals for the "sample cruises", way below Viking, but that was before the ship delivery delays.

 

There is consensus on the financial industry here that most hard industry sites in Europe are now cutting on one work shift, at least on certain departments to accomplish the, mostly mandatory, 15% winter energy savings because of the gas crisis over the Russian war in Ukraine. That, alongside the supply chain constraints coming from the persistent pandemic effects in Asia are set to make even further delays than the ones we now have as certain. I hope the best for this venture to come!

 

Either way, now MSC has 3 things in the market:

>A baseline mass market line.

>A small premium product inside the mass market line.

>An arguably top luxury line for the global markets.

 

So; what does they need to feed all the market at Italian style? They need a mid-market tag classical cruising premium line on the likes of X/Princess for the 2,000-3,000 passengers segment, where JIMHO, most of the real cruise money really is from the 50-70 years old generation! Oh, guy: See HAL: They'll to die the day their oldster cruiser passes away. Don't worry: That day there will 10 individuals celebrating their 80th anniversary, more than ready to take his seat!...

[hamrag]

2 hours ago, kelleherdl said:

Oh Graham this is a stretch for us retirees as well. We will only be taking one ‘larger’ cruise next year. It’s just such a nice itinerary and we always did want to try a luxury line, even as new as Explora. I think we technically get a TA out of it as it goes from the European half of Iceland to North America. Joann would never take a traditional TA due to the number of sea days.  😀

 

Dennis

😂😂

 

Iceland is fantastic and, I guess for Florida residents the weather is secondary! We did a 3/4 port Iceland cruise from the UK in the month of June a few years ago, so the days and evening were light and long. One of our sons did Iceland about a decade ago in the same September month as you plan and had very temperate and mostly sunshine weather....which would be unusual TBF.

 

My recollection of Joann is that, like me, she enjoyed the sunshine but I guess long sea days North Atlantic in early Autumn is less attractive. We are scheduled to fly to Barbados in 10 days time, and eagerly anticipating our Antilles cruise!

Edited November 17, 2022 by hamrag

[SirWolf]

Explora offers some itineraries priced the same or even lower than MSC Yacht Club.

 

Example:

Explora ~ 14 Nights Caribbean

Embarking Miami ~ 11/03/2023

Ocean Terrace Suite OT1

$ 10,800

 

MSC Seascape ~ 14 Nights Caribbean 

Embarking Miami ~ 11/04/2023

Yacht Club Deluxe Suite

$ 10,838

 

Explora advantages:

• Cabin with walk-in- closet

• Gratuities included

• All Restaurants included

 

We already booked a repo-cruise in October 2023 in MSC Yacht Club, otherwise the Explora cruise would be tempting.

We are looking into Alaska cruises of Explora in 2024.

[kelleherdl]

3 hours ago, SirWolf said:

Explora offers some itineraries priced the same or even lower than MSC Yacht Club.

 

Example:

Explora ~ 14 Nights Caribbean

Embarking Miami ~ 11/03/2023

Ocean Terrace Suite OT1

$ 10,800

 

MSC Seascape ~ 14 Nights Caribbean 

Embarking Miami ~ 11/04/2023

Yacht Club Deluxe Suite

$ 10,838

 

Explora advantages:

• Cabin with walk-in- closet

• Gratuities included

• All Restaurants included

 

We already booked a repo-cruise in October 2023 in MSC Yacht Club, otherwise the Explora cruise would be tempting.

We are looking into Alaska cruises of Explora in 2024.

To make the Explora cruise a way better deal is that the Seascape 14-day is a run-of-the-mill back to back Eastern/Western whereas the Explora is a unique itinerary.

My friends really pushed hard for us to book that one as well, but that would have been a bridge too far.

 

Dennis

[UPNYGuy]

they arent trying to *go after* the Y/C guest so to speak, they are trying to keep them in house and keep them from going to Regent and Seabourn. It is a logical progression. There is some bleed in there (I know some pax that sail on both Regent and Carnival, but that is the exception, not the norm)

[Hlitner]

On 11/18/2022 at 1:33 PM, UPNYGuy said:

they arent trying to *go after* the Y/C guest so to speak, they are trying to keep them in house and keep them from going to Regent and Seabourn. It is a logical progression. There is some bleed in there (I know some pax that sail on both Regent and Carnival, but that is the exception, not the norm)

Very true.  We were recently on the Seashore, in the Yacht Club, and stopped to chat with one of the Future Cruise folks who had nightly hours in the YC.  We asked her if MSC was promoting Explora and was it possible to book Explora from the YC.  She said it was now being handled as a completely separate company and the future cruise folks (on MSC) did not have anything to do with Explora.  To me, it seems like a lost opportunity as those who book the YC would be the perfect group for marketing purposes.  

 

I will mention that we also cruise on Seabourn (which is a favorite line) and it is a completely different kind of experience than being the YC.  We enjoy both types of cruises but being in a "ship within a ship" is quite different than being on a luxury cruise line.  Our question is whether Explora Journey's will be a true luxury line or will it morph into more of a Premium product like Oceania or Viking.  Time will tell.

 

Hank

[UPNYGuy]

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

Very true.  We were recently on the Seashore, in the Yacht Club, and stopped to chat with one of the Future Cruise folks who had nightly hours in the YC.  We asked her if MSC was promoting Explora and was it possible to book Explora from the YC.  She said it was now being handled as a completely separate company and the future cruise folks (on MSC) did not have anything to do with Explora.  To me, it seems like a lost opportunity as those who book the YC would be the perfect group for marketing purposes.  

 

I will mention that we also cruise on Seabourn (which is a favorite line) and it is a completely different kind of experience than being the YC.  We enjoy both types of cruises but being in a "ship within a ship" is quite different than being on a luxury cruise line.  Our question is whether Explora Journey's will be a true luxury line or will it morph into more of a Premium product like Oceania or Viking.  Time will tell.

 

Hank

 

I personally believe (and this is only an assumption) that it is going to like an Italian version of Viking Ocean. Viking already offers a European product, so guess that is easy for me to make that assumption in that comparison.  The ships are roughly the same size.

[Hlitner]

12 minutes ago, UPNYGuy said:

 

I personally believe (and this is only an assumption) that it is going to like an Italian version of Viking Ocean. Viking already offers a European product, so guess that is easy for me to make that assumption in that comparison.  The ships are roughly the same size.

We already see some key differences from Viking.  It does not look like Explora is going to have any prohibition against kids and Explora includes tips as well as all beverages.  There is also a big difference in "space ratios."  Viking puts 930 on a 43,000 ton ship but Explora puts about 900 on a ship that is over 60,000 tons.  While Viking has a passenger space ratio in the 40s, the Explora ships will be around 70 which is competitive with vessels of companies like Seabourn.

 

Actually, the Explora ships are nearly 50% larger than the Viking ships and carry about the same number of passengers.

 

Hank

[UPNYGuy]

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

We already see some key differences from Viking.  It does not look like Explora is going to have any prohibition against kids and Explora includes tips as well as all beverages.  There is also a big difference in "space ratios."  Viking puts 930 on a 43,000 ton ship but Explora puts about 900 on a ship that is over 60,000 tons.  While Viking has a passenger space ratio in the 40s, the Explora ships will be around 70 which is competitive with vessels of companies like Seabourn.

 

Actually, the Explora ships are nearly 50% larger than the Viking ships and carry about the same number of passengers.

 

Hank

 

so I was partially correct, but more of a luxury product vs viking.

[kelleherdl]

13 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Very true.  We were recently on the Seashore, in the Yacht Club, and stopped to chat with one of the Future Cruise folks who had nightly hours in the YC.  We asked her if MSC was promoting Explora and was it possible to book Explora from the YC.  She said it was now being handled as a completely separate company and the future cruise folks (on MSC) did not have anything to do with Explora.  To me, it seems like a lost opportunity as those who book the YC would be the perfect group for marketing purposes.  

 

I will mention that we also cruise on Seabourn (which is a favorite line) and it is a completely different kind of experience than being the YC.  We enjoy both types of cruises but being in a "ship within a ship" is quite different than being on a luxury cruise line.  Our question is whether Explora Journey's will be a true luxury line or will it morph into more of a Premium product like Oceania or Viking.  Time will tell.

 

Hank

From what I have seen the marketing and sales at the corporate level is a separate company, but from the ‘travel agent’ level Explora Journeys is working with the more experienced MSC agents. So there is some cross fertilization. I happen to know one of the marketing folks at Explora US, and one of the agents that is working closely with Explora. Just by chance.

 

Dennis