Explora named best new cruise ship of 2023 by Travel & Leisure

[Stickman1990]

Travel & Leisure have Explora top of their list of new ships in 2023 - they had some pretty strong competition 
 

https://www.travelandleisure.com/best-new-cruise-ships-of-2023-8607522?

[saminina]

Well, it looks like handing out the free passes to top suites has paid off with this placement.

 

After his (or her) mention of food and beverage in the same sentence, the rest written was read with a critical eye.  Food yes, but not to mention the up charge mere mortals pay at Anthology was a sin.  Or, perhaps they did not know there was a charge.  Guess they noticed Rolex watches were not being handed out.  Beverage....maybe they didn't drink wine from the included list.  And the included list for whisky is the weakest of any ship I travel.

 

Did I miss the outdoor fitness center?  It's possible because it looked enclosed on the one day it was visited.  A cold day, so perhaps it opens up.

 

Frette linens made in India are not Frette quality from Italy.  The Turkish robes were nice as expected.

 

Agree that it deserves to be top on the list.   Travel and Leisure....nice to know it's still around, I guess.

[Wheelhouse]

I have been on #1 Explora I and #2 Oceania Vista and in my opinion Travel and Leisure has those two ranked in the correct order.   Surprised that Regent's Grandeur follows.  I was looking at a 14 night cruise next August but at $16,199 pp ex-air for the least expensive cabin I am having a hard time finding value with that Regent cruise. 

[tfred]

T&L writeups are always puff pieces. Just enough info to make it real, but this isn't an in depth review - they never are 

 

If I was a T&L reader this piece would tell me there are other "better" cruise lines to look at that I haven't heard of 

[Stickman1990]

7 minutes ago, saminina said:

Well, it looks like handing out the free passes to top suites has paid off with this placement.

I believe almost every cruise line provides complementary cruises to travel publications from time to time - so Explora is certainly not alone in that and thus it wouldn’t be the reason they were named first on the list 

 

Extra cost for a selected dining venue - again not unusual - Silversea and Crystal have that and Regent and others do wine pairing lunches at an additional cost 

 

We found plenty of acceptable choices on the included wine list, I can’t come t on whisky but there was a good range of gins available 

 

Seriously - you expected Rolexes to be handed out? Yeah like that’s ever going to happen

 

Yes you did miss the outdoor fitness centre - it’s definitely there 

Having said that I do agree these industry awards are somewhat pointless - not just in the cruise industry but in others as well - they’re subjective or stacked with votes solicited by the companies. Hardly a critical assessment of the offerings. But then again if they’re going to persist with them then it’s better to come out on top of the list isn’t it 

[saminina]

Stickman, I enjoy reading your posts and we travel with same companies (mostly). 

Yes, I missed seeing the outdoor equipment.  Or, maybe not as I was on that deck once.

Even missed that bar until very late.

 

I can drink the included wine for a few days.  After that, it's my own brought on board.  Cannot afford their offerings.

 

Guess who you are reminding of with your first paragraph?

 

Anyway, back on Explora in a few weeks.

 

 

 

 

[Waltershipman]

3 hours ago, Wheelhouse said:

I have been on #1 Explora I and #2 Oceania Vista and in my opinion Travel and Leisure has those two ranked in the correct order.   Surprised that Regent's Grandeur follows.  I was looking at a 14 night cruise next August but at $16,199 pp ex-air for the least expensive cabin I am having a hard time finding value with that Regent cruise. 

I too have been on both Explora Journeys and Oceania Vista. Hands down Explora Journeys is and should be number 1

[maggie.1008]

I have four friends who recently sailed on the Grandeur. They were very disappointed in the food. For the price they said they would not go again.

[English Tim]

13 hours ago, Waltershipman said:

I too have been on both Explora Journeys and Oceania Vista. Hands down Explora Journeys is and should be number 1

We went on Oceana Vista in January and we were quite disappointed. We are looking forward to going on Explora journey 1 next month and we expect to have a much better experience, based on the information I’ve read on social media.

 

The fact that Heike is the general manager clearly shows the intent of this line.

[Waltershipman]

27 minutes ago, English Tim said:

We went on Oceana Vista in January and we were quite disappointed. We are looking forward to going on Explora journey 1 next month and we expect to have a much better experience, based on the information I’ve read on social media.

 

The fact that Heike is the general manager clearly shows the intent of this line.

Enjoy you will love it

[maggie.1008]

Hopefully Heike will be back ack on board on April 27th.

We have 12:30 pm boarding time. Will we be able to go straight to our cabin?

[KJB416]

26 minutes ago, maggie.1008 said:

Hopefully Heike will be back ack on board on April 27th.

We have 12:30 pm boarding time. Will we be able to go straight to our cabin?

We had a 1pm and 1:30 boarding time in LA and we got there around 12:30-12:45 and were put in seats and they had a first

come first served sort of order. We were

taken straight to our cabins by 1pm. 
 

Food and service has been excellent and everyone knows our name and greets you as such. We also love the resident entertainers and prefer their shows over the special guests. I think we have 590 on board. A lot of TA’s and those with cameras and recoding devices unfortunately, but it honestly has not deterred from our enjoyment of the cruise.  The crew is what makes the trip so special and it’s been a very fun time with an enjoyable and friendly crowd of fellow passengers. I look forward to trying Explora II. 

[Waltershipman]

1 hour ago, KJB416 said:

We had a 1pm and 1:30 boarding time in LA and we got there around 12:30-12:45 and were put in seats and they had a first

come first served sort of order. We were

taken straight to our cabins by 1pm. 
 

Food and service has been excellent and everyone knows our name and greets you as such. We also love the resident entertainers and prefer their shows over the special guests. I think we have 590 on board. A lot of TA’s and those with cameras and recoding devices unfortunately, but it honestly has not deterred from our enjoyment of the cruise.  The crew is what makes the trip so special and it’s been a very fun time with an enjoyable and friendly crowd of fellow passengers. I look forward to trying Explora II. 

With your passenger count does the shop feel roomy and we're you able to dine freely at all venues

 

Thank you

[maggie.1008]

Could you please find out the passenger load on the Hawaii to Vancouver leg? 

[KJB416]

3 hours ago, maggie.1008 said:

Could you please find out the passenger load on the Hawaii to Vancouver leg? 

Rough number is 300+ for the next cruise 

 

our cruise supposedly had half travel agents out of the 500+ passengers, not sure how accurate that is, but seems definitely possible. 

 

The ship is full in a good way; second dinner reservations are not something we tried for. 

[Dr. Cocktail]

11 hours ago, Waltershipman said:

With your passenger count does the shop feel roomy and we're you able to dine freely at all venues

 

Thank you

Good morning!  We had between 600 and 700 on our sailing (I can't remember!) and the ship felt no more crowded than the 400 in November. Second reservations were a problem -we weren't successful but our friends who ate early got in a few times.

[Waltershipman]

1 hour ago, Dr. Cocktail said:

Good morning!  We had between 600 and 700 on our sailing (I can't remember!) and the ship felt no more crowded than the 400 in November. Second reservations were a problem -we weren't successful but our friends who ate early got in a few times.

Excellent thank you so very much as we are working on a possible new booking that may have more passengers than our cruise in October.  Thank you for letting me know

 

Enjoy

[maggie.1008]

Thank you. Hopefully most of the TAs are getting off in YVR today!

[Noggins]

19 hours ago, maggie.1008 said:

Hopefully Heike will be back ack on board on April 27th.

We have 12:30 pm boarding time. Will we be able to go straight to our cabin?

You're going to have to try a bit harder than this, Heather! What you meant to say was 'will I be able to go straight to my Penthouse Suite and will our Host be there to greet us?'......

If you need a full glossary of Explora speak you only have to ask.

😎

[maggie.1008]

😆😜

[vistaman]

On 4/17/2024 at 1:48 AM, saminina said:

Stickman, I enjoy reading your posts and we travel with same companies (mostly). 

Yes, I missed seeing the outdoor equipment.  Or, maybe not as I was on that deck once.

Even missed that bar until very late.

 

I can drink the included wine for a few days.  After that, it's my own brought on board.  Cannot afford their offerings.

 

Guess who you are reminding of with your first paragraph?

 

Anyway, back on Explora in a few weeks.

 

 

 

 

Well on Regent the special wines are very reasonable and the choice of complimentary wines is very elaborated - same on SS with reasonable prices especially for Champagnes and Italian white.  After 2 days on Explora  i refused to drink the complimentary wines and went to buy some extra bottles in Southampton aside those I brought already from home🤑

[vistaman]

On 4/18/2024 at 6:32 AM, KJB416 said:

Rough number is 300+ for the next cruise 

 

our cruise supposedly had half travel agents out of the 500+ passengers, not sure how accurate that is, but seems definitely possible. 

 

The ship is full in a good way; second dinner reservations are not something we tried for. 

some of those TA usually are abusing the free drinks especially the bubbles  !!