Explora cruises from the eyes of clients

[TER777]

I haven’t seen a wine list. The wines are on display in Emporium Marketplace. 5 or 6 each red and whites. 

[Nunagoras]

7 hours ago, TER777 said:

I haven’t seen a wine list. The wines are on display in Emporium Marketplace. 5 or 6 each red and whites. 

As on any other aspect: Soft opening is there for a thing; to get all the bugs sorted out. They'll have a wine list when they realize what works and what not so much.

[travelberlin]

58 minutes ago, Nunagoras said:

As on any other aspect: Soft opening is there for a thing; to get all the bugs sorted out. They'll have a wine list when they realize what works and what not so much.

Or most probably they will not have a wine list because if they run out of a particular wine they do not have to justify it. It happens in many cruises that after a while several wines are not available any more at MSC .

Ivi

[Stickman1990]

15 hours ago, travelberlin said:

In addition, long lines for the restaurants Sakura/Marble and only two types of included wine available to choose from: one red and one white?

Both these restaurants take reservations in advance - so if you have one then you won’t be standing in line

 

It is simply impossible that they would serve only two all inclusive wines - that is ridiculous to suggest 

 

I’m not referring to your post Ivi but there seems to be some pretty silly posts starting to appear on some of the groups with misinformation - it’s not deliberate but simply people stating things without the knowledge of the real situation - we’re now at the point where you need to remember that everything you read on social media is not necessarily true 

[Dr. Cocktail]

2 hours ago, travelberlin said:

Or most probably they will not have a wine list because if they run out of a particular wine they do not have to justify it. It happens in many cruises that after a while several wines are not available any more at MSC .

Ivi

This is how it is on Regent .... there's no available printed wine list.

[Nunagoras]

10 hours ago, Dr. Cocktail said:

This is how it is on Regent .... there's no available printed wine list.

Perhaps at that market level it's worth to consider that part of the available items will come from whatever else they can have at each region they're on, so this month available items can vary to the next month on a different region. It makes sense.

[travelberlin]

53 minutes ago, Nunagoras said:

Perhaps at that market level it's worth to consider that part of the available items will come from whatever else they can have at each region they're on, so this month available items can vary to the next month on a different region. It makes sense.

That would be very nice. I hope they will use regional wines. 
 

Ivi

Edited August 23, 2023 by travelberlin

[travelberlin]

11 hours ago, Stickman1990 said:

Both these restaurants take reservations in advance - so if you have one then you won’t be standing in line

 

It is simply impossible that they would serve only two all inclusive wines - that is ridiculous to suggest 

 

I’m not referring to your post Ivi but there seems to be some pretty silly posts starting to appear on some of the groups with misinformation - it’s not deliberate but simply people stating things without the knowledge of the real situation - we’re now at the point where you need to remember that everything you read on social media is not necessarily true 

Terry, you are right.
 

The person who posted that info on the two wines has corrected himself. The poster makes a serious impression, providing well balanced information.

Since at MSC there were really just one red, one white and one rose to choose from as part of one of the beverage packages, and Explora is showing some teething problems, it was not too difficult to believe that being MSC the parent company, maybe that was the case.

I am glad to hear it is not. 

Ivi

Edited August 23, 2023 by travelberlin

[Wheelhouse]

Plucked this comment off the net.

 

“Complimentary transfer to Zeebrugge”

So the daily says. Nothing like that in the reality though.

We disembarked 1.5 hours after the ship docked in port. Nothing outside (no gazebo, no one from Explora staff), just one bus with a driver who could not speak English. This bus took us to the cruise terminal, where again no one from Explora was present. Only people from Aida and security stuff. We asked to security only to find out that we had to go back to the ship and take another bus (which one?). We waited again, and finally someone from Explora staff came, only to realize that there is no shuttle service to city of Bruges, instead this shuttle takes you to the local small town, where you have to take a train (not free) in order to go to Bruges.

[TER777]

The sushi bar in Sakura is walk up, no reservations. You can order off the sushi menu as well as the starters on the main menu. 

[FlyerTalker]

2 hours ago, Nunagoras said:

Perhaps at that market level it's worth to consider that part of the available items will come from whatever else they can have at each region they're on, so this month available items can vary to the next month on a different region. It makes sense.

 

So they can print up a daily menu, but can't print up a weekly wine list?

 

There's one explanation - they choose not to provide a list to their customers.  Be it laziness, corporate policy or whatever, someone has decided there should not be a list available to the paying guest.  And Explora is not the only cruiseline to do this.

 

 

[kelleherdl]

6 hours ago, travelberlin said:

That would be very nice. I hope they will use regional wines. 
 

Ivi

I trust that won’t be the case in the Caribbean. 😀😀😀😀

[Camillus112]

2 hours ago, kelleherdl said:

I trust that won’t be the case in the Caribbean. 😀😀😀😀

In the Caribbean, be sure to ask for rum.  Apart form the well known Piña Colada, you should try a Cuba Libre with Don Q rum (probably Bacardi Gold will be the only one available suited for this drink).  As a dessert wine, Captain Morgan will do.  If feeling very adventurous and if available, what about Ron Barrilito from Puerto Rico?

[kelleherdl]

29 minutes ago, Camillus112 said:

In the Caribbean, be sure to ask for rum.  Apart form the well known Piña Colada, you should try a Cuba Libre with Don Q rum (probably Bacardi Gold will be the only one available suited for this drink).  As a dessert wine, Captain Morgan will do.  If feeling very adventurous and if available, what about Ron Barrilito from Puerto Rico?

Thanks for the suggestion, but the post I quoted addressed regional WINES. 

[TER777]

~400 on board on turnaround day 9/24. 
 

Debark instructions letter delivered 10:14pm this evening. Then I knew what time to put luggage out by and when to leave the ship. Room for improvement here. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

13 minutes ago, TER777 said:

~400 on board on turnaround day 9/24.

Good thing it wasn't just a few more, or your ship would be in the Bermuda Triangle with a "404 not found" error message.  🤣

[PaulMCO]

Complementary WINE LIST.    This did come from my TA.  Do not know if this is a sample list or what is currently on board... 

 

 

Complimentary Wine List (1).pdf

[travelberlin]

15 minutes ago, PaulMCO said:

Complementary WINE LIST.    This did come from my TA.  Do not know if this is a sample list or what is currently on board... 

 

 

Complimentary Wine List (1).pdf 173.62 kB · 6 downloads

Thank you! That looks good 👍 

Ivi

[machotspur]

1 hour ago, PaulMCO said:

Complementary WINE LIST.    This did come from my TA.  Do not know if this is a sample list or what is currently on board... 

 

 

Complimentary Wine List (1).pdf 173.62 kB · 17 downloads

 

We disembarked this morning and can confirm that the list includes all of the wines we tried over the past few days. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

It looks like a very nice selection of wines.  Quite a few that I would be happy to try.

[goldengatecruisers]

I am not privy to the goings on with the other social media sites but I hear comments are coming in fast and furious and not always positive or encouraging.  For those of you onboard can you share if guests are still lining up to dine at Med Yacht and Fil Rouge?  I have also heard the dining experience in some venues is not exactly open and spacious, with tables being very closely packed together.  While it is understandable these early voyages may have some growing pains I am a little worried the overall ambience and experience may not be the luxury that is marketed.  Curious to hear from past Crystal and Silversea guests who are sailing Explora now.  I have full payment due for a long voyage in the early months of 2024 and I am trying to gather as much info as I can so I can make an informed decision as to whether to stick with the Explora sailing.

 

Thank you to all who are contributing on this thread and others.  Your comments are appreciated.  Thank you to those who have posted daily programs, menus, wine lists etc.   All of this information is helping form a picture of what a day on board will look like.

 

 

[skyhoosier]

Those of us who boarded in Copenhagen to UK had no shuttle offered in Hamburg and when asked "I don't know" was their only answer.  Brugge was worse as one was offered but did not exist.  Like Wheelhouse posted, there was not one staff member who had the right info, although they all thought they did.  Daily sheet says to check the timings on the schedule for the shuttle into town at the exit; there were no signs, no info, nothing about any shuttle.  Exit staff had no info and said to go to Reception.  I went to Reception who said "Check with the Exit staff" and so it went.  The only shuttle was a 2 minute bus ride to the port gate to join the queues of Aida passengers buying  bus tickets into Brugge with a schedule posted that showed the return was too late for Explora passengers, and a long line for taxis. 

[machotspur]

22 hours ago, goldengatecruisers said:

I am not privy to the goings on with the other social media sites but I hear comments are coming in fast and furious and not always positive or encouraging.  For those of you onboard can you share if guests are still lining up to dine at Med Yacht and Fil Rouge?  I have also heard the dining experience in some venues is not exactly open and spacious, with tables being very closely packed together.  

 

Mrs machotspur and I disembarked on Thursday.

 

More than one poster has posted on social media their real concerns as to the restaurant set up on Explora being flawed.

In short the number of seats in the 'table service' restaurants equate to around 65% of the number of guests onboard, on a full ship. This means that they expect a third of the guests to eat in the buffet self serve restaurant (Emporium Marketplace) or take room service (or to have a high level of table turning). This, to any seasoned cruiser on luxury ships, is complete nonsense. 

 

We were only onboard for a 3 night 'quickie trial cruise' and chose to dine in Sakura, Marble & Co and Fil Rouge.

The first of these was chaos, with incredibly slow service, delivered by very stressed out crew. (I was told by the Maitre d' that a system glitch on the reservation system had partially contributed to this).

The second night in Marble & Co was fine, in fact the two servers and the sommelier were excellent.

The third night in Fil Rouge was truly unpleasant. A packed restaurant with the servers all over the place, with little indication who was looking after which tables etc. We didn't hang around for the full meal as the whole experience was not good.

 

The shame is that we enjoyed all of the food we were served and would rate it at least as good as - or better - than our extensive experiences with Silversea/Seabourn/Regent. The willingness and at times professionalism of the servers was at times equal to, or better than the other three.

 

Whilst some may put this down to new ship 'teething problems' I do not subscribe to this. In my opinion - based on observations and discussions with crew and officers -  I do not believe that Explora/MSC have the customer service ethos that is a prerequisite to delivering a 'ultra luxury' cruise experience  (and this is coming from someone who is often critical as to the performance of the other three I mention).      

 

 

 

[machotspur]

On 8/24/2023 at 11:21 PM, Host Jazzbeau said:

It looks like a very nice selection of wines.  Quite a few that I would be happy to try.

 

Yes - we too were quite happy with the inclusive selection and found the sommelier in a given restaurant quite willing to go and find an alternative (suggested by us !) if we didn't care for the wine being offered to us.  

[Nunagoras]

12 minutes ago, machotspur said:

 

Mrs machotspur and I disembarked on Thursday.

 

More than one poster has posted on social media their real concerns as to the restaurant set up on Explora being flawed.

In short the number of seats in the 'table service' restaurants equate to around 65% of the number of guests onboard, on a full ship. This means that they expect a third of the guests to eat in the buffet self serve restaurant (Emporium Marketplace) or take room service (or to have a high level of table turning). This, to any seasoned cruiser on luxury ships, is complete nonsense. - Yes, they have incredibly done some mistakes. E1 is basically a Viking ship prototype with the distinctive E modifications... We don't have those complaints on V boards. I believe we didn't have them ever either. But, by the way: No triplets for kids on V either, nor Casino, nor kids clubs... E could had easily became such a V "white brand" for the international non English speaking world... Forget!...

 

We were only onboard for a 3 night 'quickie trial cruise' and chose to dine in Sakura, Marble & Co and Fil Rouge.

The first of these was chaos, with incredibly slow service, delivered by very stressed out crew. (I was told by the Maitre d' that a system glitch on the reservation system had partially contributed to this). - Arguably true on a new ship.

The second night in Marble & Co was fine, in fact the two servers and the sommelier were excellent. - Like they should be!...

The third night in Fil Rouge was truly unpleasant. A packed restaurant with the servers all over the place, with little indication who was looking after which tables etc. We didn't hang around for the full meal as the whole experience was not good. - They'll need to correct that ASAP.

 

The shame is that we enjoyed all of the food we were served and would rate it at least as good as - or better - than our extensive experiences with Silversea/Seabourn/Regent. The willingness and at times professionalism of the servers was at times equal to, or better than the other three. - Wonderful.

 

Whilst some may put this down to new ship 'teething problems' I do not subscribe to this. In my opinion - based on observations and discussions with crew and officers -  I do not believe that Explora/MSC have the customer service ethos that is a prerequisite to delivering a 'ultra luxury' cruise experience  (and this is coming from someone who is often critical as to the performance of the other three I mention).      Well... MSC's owners are Italians. In fact I believe them as being very good on many things from cargo transportation to mainstream cruising, but they do things "the Italian way". They may effectively to settle on what will be a very successful product, but not at RSS/SB/SS level. Maybe at O/VO/A level with an Italian twist and marketed to such a younger demographics, possibly for "short-haul" cruises, think: Entry level luxury for the ones that still have a job and wish for a short holiday time their jobs permit. There is no one providing it right now in the Industry.Maybe that'll to be their success point. There is a place for them, but from the beginning I suspected R/SB/SS wouldn't be their most direct competitors.