Onboard Explora 1 (Sept 25- Oct 13) with Hank

[Hlitner]

13 minutes ago, Waltershipman said:

Yes

Since we have been on the ship, they have only had one kind of donut which seems to be plain with some chocolate icing.  One negative is that the pastries do not change.  Apparently the offerings are all governed from the home office in Geneva.  The onboard chefs (we have met two) have the skill to do a lot more, but are constrained by company policy.

 

Hank

[jsea]

1 hour ago, Waltershipman said:

Quality 

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.

[aururab]

@Waltershipman - Thanks so much! My husband is very particular about his butter, and has been known to bring his own when on vacation! ha ha

Paul Gauguin has President's unsalted butter which met his tastes, but otherwise this is our first luxury cruiseline 😉

Edited October 4, 2023 by aururab

[Waltershipman]

10 minutes ago, jsea said:

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.

The Emporium staff is fantastic  as are the offerings . Total 1st class

 

I think its much better than Seabourn by a lot although  we totally enjoyed Seabourn too

[jsea]

19 minutes ago, Waltershipman said:

The Emporium staff is fantastic  as are the offerings . Total 1st class

 

I think its much better than Seabourn by a lot although  we totally enjoyed Seabourn too

Agree. And the variety is quite nice at The Emporium. More diverse selection than anything I’ve seen at sea before. I’ll be curious to see if they can handle a ship at full capacity with the same degree of efficiency.

[kelleherdl]

39 minutes ago, Waltershipman said:

The Emporium staff is fantastic  as are the offerings . Total 1st class

 

I think its much better than Seabourn by a lot although  we totally enjoyed Seabourn too

They need to turn the heat up on the pancake griddle. It takes entirely too long to make my fresh blueberry pancakes. 😀. The young lady cook has never been to a Waffle House. 😀. She does do a wonderful job, and they are delicious. When she would see me coming each morning she would immediately start a couple. Their training is so rigorous she even temperature checks them to ensure doneness. Which to my thinking is over the top, but I can wait. 

[Whipsnade]

All unsalted unless you order differently. 
Bread is baked with European flour not American flour which is “enriched”. That is why all baked goods are superb. They have flour milled just for them in France. 
Best breads on the ocean!!!

[Waltershipman]

Best bagels ever as well

[jsea]

Perhaps this is new, but there are wayfinding placards and stanchions throughout the ship.

 

[jsea]

To keep it balanced, here are my quibbles

thus far:

 

• Pools and hot tubs are mostly empty / closed. The exception is The Conservatory.

• AC in cabin cannot keep up with the radiant heat from the sun. I wonder what will happen on warm weather itineraries.

• Boutiques need some lower end merchandise / sundries.

 

Having a fantastic time. Service is amazing. Staff seem eager to please and I’ve noted zero aloofness from the crew.

[KJB416]

42 minutes ago, jsea said:

Perhaps this is new, but there are wayfinding placards and stanchions throughout the ship.

 

These were on our sailing in early August. I’m glad you’re having a great time! 

[java spot]

48 minutes ago, jsea said:

To keep it balanced, here are my quibbles

thus far:

 

• Pools and hot tubs are mostly empty / closed. The exception is The Conservatory.

• AC in cabin cannot keep up with the radiant heat from the sun. I wonder what will happen on warm weather itineraries.

• Boutiques need some lower end merchandise / sundries.

 

Having a fantastic time. Service is amazing. Staff seem eager to please and I’ve noted zero aloofness from the crew.

I will be very interested in how the ship is able to handle the warm weather also.  In the chilly climates of Iceland and Greenland I, along with many other passengers, found the ship very chilly. My cabin thermostat never was in sync with the requested temperature. I wore my down jacket every time I left my cabin and sometimes even inside the cabin.  I think they need an HVAC engineer to attend to the issue. 

[Stickman1990]

2 minutes ago, java spot said:

I will be very interested in how the ship is able to handle the warm weather also.  In the chilly climates of Iceland and Greenland I, along with many other passengers, found the ship very chilly

We were on the same cruise as you and never found the ship chilly. The thermostat in our suite worked well and we were able to regulate the temperature to suit our needs

 

My wife feels the cold but certainly didn’t need anything beyond her normal cardigan around the ship

 

I think temperature and aircon are second only to food in terms of varying opinions on the same thing….

[Waltershipman]

12 minutes ago, java spot said:

I will be very interested in how the ship is able to handle the warm weather also.  In the chilly climates of Iceland and Greenland I, along with many other passengers, found the ship very chilly. My cabin thermostat never was in sync with the requested temperature. I wore my down jacket every time I left my cabin and sometimes even inside the cabin.  I think they need an HVAC engineer to attend to the issue. 

Cabin temperatures, excellent and air conditioning is working. Great, we just had learned how to work it

[CJANDH]

1 hour ago, jsea said:

Perhaps this is new, but there are wayfinding placards and stanchions throughout the ship.

 

I had been reading posts that said there was no directional signage or deck plans posted around the ship. As a result I spent some time copying deck plans for eac deck with public areas into a word document that I have printed out to take on my cruise in March. Maybe I didn't need to go to this effort. Anyway, in case anyone wants a guide to carry with them, I have attached the file below.

Explora I deck plan.docx

[Waltershipman]

9 minutes ago, CJANDH said:

I had been reading posts that said there was no directional signage or deck plans posted around the ship. As a result I spent some time copying deck plans for eac deck with public areas into a word document that I have printed out to take on my cruise in March. Maybe I didn't need to go to this effort. Anyway, in case anyone wants a guide to carry with them, I have attached the file below.

Explora I deck plan.docx 516.79 kB · 3 downloads

Guest services will also provide a map of the ship and deck locations of venues

[Whipsnade]

Plenty of signs everywhere. Impossible to get lost. 

[Hlitner]

2 minutes ago, Waltershipman said:

Guest services will also provide a map of the ship and deck locations of venues

One joke is that many folks cannot even find Guest Services :).  A bar tender at the lobby bar told us there are more than a dozen inquiries (every day) for directions to Guest Services, Dining Reservations Desk, Destination Experience Desk.  None of these have any signage, which management seems to feel makes it all classy.  

 

Speaking of signage, this ship has what I call "EJ Speak."  So, for example, the ship is not a ship or a cruise ship but a "vessel."  The Cruise Director is not a cruise director but an Experience Manager.  Crew members are hosts.  Having spend a lot of time on cruise ships the terminology is sometimes humerous.  One day, during his noon update, the Captain actually had the nerve to say that the update was for passengers and crew instead of for guests and hosts!

 

Hank

[maggie.1008]

Hank, I am enjoying your review. I am feeling better about booking Hawaii trip now. 
How do you think the ship will handle sailing from Honolulu to Vancouver in late April?
We have always been on a bigger ship for that itinerary. 
 

Cheers, Heather 

[Waltershipman]

2 minutes ago, maggie.1008 said:

Hank, I am enjoying your review. I am feeling better about booking Hawaii trip now. 
How do you think the ship will handle sailing from Honolulu to Vancouver in late April?
We have always been on a bigger ship for that itinerary. 
 

Cheers, Heather 

I defer to Hank who has been on board longer than i. I can tell you that you will not regret being on this ship. I had some doubts based upon what on had read on CC before recently boarding. That was my mistake.  Even given the home office blunders the ship crew food and ambiance are way high excellent. One excellent ship and great experience 

[maggie.1008]

Smashing news. I am sure things will continue to improve, especially when Heike returns. 

[kelleherdl]

36 minutes ago, Whipsnade said:

Plenty of signs everywhere. Impossible to get lost. 

I agree. Every elevator entrance had the deck plan. Your floor is highlighted. You enter any passageway off the elevator and very good signage directed you. I found signage on the ship to be excellent. I still miss the HAL elevator day of week carpets though. I may know where I’m at on the ship, but I don’t know what day of the week it is.😀

[jsea]

1 hour ago, CJANDH said:

I had been reading posts that said there was no directional signage or deck plans posted around the ship. As a result I spent some time copying deck plans for eac deck with public areas into a word document that I have printed out to take on my cruise in March. Maybe I didn't need to go to this effort. Anyway, in case anyone wants a guide to carry with them, I have attached the file below.

Explora I deck plan.docx 516.79 kB · 8 downloads

We must be reading the same posts because prior to boarding I was under the impression one needed to leave a trail of breadcrumbs in order to not get lost 😂.

[Stickman1990]

1 hour ago, maggie.1008 said:

How do you think the ship will handle sailing from Honolulu to Vancouver in late April?

 

 

At 60,900 tons Explora 1 is larger than many luxury cruise ships which sail the world without any issues. As it is very new it is equipped with all the technology to handle the seas including stabilisers 

 

We really didn’t experience any heavy seas on our recent Iceland/Geeenland cruise and we didn’t feel any uncomfortable. Having said that there will always be some guests who wear bands and patches and the ships hospital can provide drugs to help. The alternative is a Ginger Cosmos cocktail dispensed at most of the ships bars

 

[morpheusofthesea]

4 hours ago, java spot said:

I will be very interested in how the ship is able to handle the warm weather also.  In the chilly climates of Iceland and Greenland I, along with many other passengers, found the ship very chilly. My cabin thermostat never was in sync with the requested temperature. I wore my down jacket every time I left my cabin and sometimes even inside the cabin.  I think they need an HVAC engineer to attend to the issue. 

Yes. Having had the same problem in the Yacht Clubs. We pushed the thermostat up to the highest/warmest (5 red lights) setting last week on the Seascape. What is unusual is we have stayed in this same cabin multiple times (Royal Suite, not that it should matter). We normally have to set this thermostat at 2-3 green lights. I asked the butler why is this so. He explained that the prior occupants wanted it very cold in the cabin and had maintenance come to the cabin to 'adjust' the thermostat to accommodate them and not having it 'adjusted' back to normal operating settings.

Edited October 5, 2023 by morpheusofthesea