Live Report

[English Tim]

Next week my wife and I will be joining Explora 1 and I’d like to do a live report. How do I start this?

[Beamafar]

Just now, English Tim said:

Next week my wife and I will be joining Explora 1 and I’d like to do a live report. How do I start this?

You just did. 👍😁

[Stickman1990]

You just did….

 

Bon Voyage and looking forward to hearing about your cruise

[Host Jazzbeau]

Just keep replying to this thread. We’ll all keep reading!  And thanks!

[English Tim]

We board on May 12, so I’m a bit early.

 

Originally we booked from LAX to Miami, one cruise, but we accidentally discovered that our cruise had been split in two and extended by three days. My UK TA was unaware of the changes until I notified them. It was a worrying time, but we had already booked flights.
 

I suggested to our travel agent that Explora give us the extra three days free of charge, rather than compensation for a cancellation. They agreed and fortunately we were able to change our arrangements. We have booked our transatlantic flight using a voucher and paying most of the fair by airline miles, plus taxes, fortunately there were still flights available for UK.
 

We also had to change internal flights, as after the cruise we were flying up to Washington to visit my sister-in-law, who lives in Delaware. We also had to change the car hire, but fortunately no change fees.

 

So now we are all set, but last weekend I was notified by an app that I subscribe to, Seatspy, offering two seats in British Airways first class, for an additional £400 per per person, which I considered excellent value and snapped them up. As the flight is just over 11 hours, I considered the top service and access to the Concord lounge at London Heathrow too good an opportunity to pass up. For comparison, I checked what the cost would be had we paid money and tickets are around £11,000 each way!

 

I imagine we will get an Uber from the airport to our hotel, which is the residence inn downtown Long Beach, where we stay for two nights using our hotel points. Apparently, there is a free bus which runs around the loop, visiting the main locations in Long Beach.

 

On cruise departure day, again we expect to take an Uber to San Pedro Cruise terminal.

[Jim Avery]

Tim, we look forward to following along with yall and thank you for taking the time to post.  We are booked on EJII in late November so are excited for this new line.  We love staying in Long Beach and have stayed onboard the Queen Mary a couple of times. 

Used to be a good restaurant onboard.  One time good, one time very noisy so some of the local nice hotels could be a better bet.  I did it mainly as I sailed onboard her as a child.  Anyway, hope yall have the best of times and love the food so much you gain a full stone....🍸

[English Tim]

Did anyone from the UK receive any documents prior to the cruise or is everything online?

 

Did anyone wear sneakers or sandals for dinner?

[rrrrtt]

If you've checked it, just be aware that the cruise seems to disappear from your account > 1 week before sailing.  

[Sidney68]

4 hours ago, English Tim said:

We board on May 12, so I’m a bit early.

 

Originally we booked from LAX to Miami, one cruise, but we accidentally discovered that our cruise had been split in two and extended by three days. My UK TA was unaware of the changes until I notified them. It was a worrying time, but we had already booked flights.
 

I suggested to our travel agent that Explora give us the extra three days free of charge, rather than compensation for a cancellation. They agreed and fortunately we were able to change our arrangements. We have booked our transatlantic flight using a voucher and paying most of the fair by airline miles, plus taxes, fortunately there were still flights available for UK.
 

We also had to change internal flights, as after the cruise we were flying up to Washington to visit my sister-in-law, who lives in Delaware. We also had to change the car hire, but fortunately no change fees.

 

So now we are all set, but last weekend I was notified by an app that I subscribe to, Seatspy, offering two seats in British Airways first class, for an additional £400 per per person, which I considered excellent value and snapped them up. As the flight is just over 11 hours, I considered the top service and access to the Concord lounge at London Heathrow too good an opportunity to pass up. For comparison, I checked what the cost would be had we paid money and tickets are around £11,000 each way!

 

I imagine we will get an Uber from the airport to our hotel, which is the residence inn downtown Long Beach, where we stay for two nights using our hotel points. Apparently, there is a free bus which runs around the loop, visiting the main locations in Long Beach.

 

On cruise departure day, again we expect to take an Uber to San Pedro Cruise terminal.

Your upgrade sounds great value, unfortunately I haven’t been notified of such an offer so may look at the app you use in the hope that we get a similar deal! We fly on Wednesday and have a few nights in LA before joining the ship on the 12th. I look forward to meeting you next week. I will too be adding my thoughts to this thread; CC members posts have certainly been of great interest and help to me in the lead up to the cruise. 

[Noggins]

1 hour ago, English Tim said:

Did anyone from the UK receive any documents prior to the cruise or is everything online?

 

Did anyone wear sneakers or sandals for dinner?

All our documents were on-line - including luggage labels. (not very luxury - but things do improve!)

 

Sneakers or sandals will not get sneered at nor cause a scandal....

 

It sounds as if we might have a few things in common..... Seatspy (and an Explora cruise) for starters. I'm guessing there is an BA AMEX Premium Plus card and, probably, Head for Points involved in the mix too? The Concorde Room is definitely worth a visit!

 

Looking forward to your postings (And Sid's).

 

Adrian

[English Tim]

2 hours ago, Noggins said:

All our documents were on-line - including luggage labels. (not very luxury - but things do improve!)

 

Sneakers or sandals will not get sneered at nor cause a scandal....

 

It sounds as if we might have a few things in common..... Seatspy (and an Explora cruise) for starters. I'm guessing there is an BA AMEX Premium Plus card and, probably, Head for Points involved in the mix too? The Concorde Room is definitely worth a visit!

 

Looking forward to your postings (And Sid's).

 

Adrian

All of those useful travel tools. 😉 

[English Tim]

2 hours ago, Sidney68 said:

Your upgrade sounds great value, unfortunately I haven’t been notified of such an offer so may look at the app you use in the hope that we get a similar deal! We fly on Wednesday and have a few nights in LA before joining the ship on the 12th. I look forward to meeting you next week. I will too be adding my thoughts to this thread; CC members posts have certainly been of great interest and help to me in the lead up to the cruise. 

in order to utilise this upgrade, one must book an Amex 2-4-1 fare in business class and then hope that seats in First become available nearer to travel, indeed using Seat Spy, as Adrian noted.

 

We look forward to meeting you.

[Sidney68]

50 minutes ago, English Tim said:

in order to utilise this upgrade, one must book an Amex 2-4-1 fare in business class and then hope that seats in First become available nearer to travel, indeed using Seat Spy, as Adrian noted.

 

We look forward to meeting you.

Thank you Tim, unfortunately we didn’t purchase our business class tickets on that Amex offer, never mind. The f nothing else I have now found out about Seat Spy 😊

[English Tim]

21 minutes ago, Sidney68 said:

Thank you Tim, unfortunately we didn’t purchase our business class tickets on that Amex offer, never mind. The f nothing else I have now found out about Seat Spy 😊

Could you upgrade using Avios?

[English Tim]

Started to look at the weather forecast for LA and it’s looking good, especially with the disappointing stuff in south west England. The left-hand image is of my son Luke and myself after a 50 km cycle ride last week and the second image is of my wife, Rosy.

[KJB416]

On 5/1/2024 at 1:45 PM, English Tim said:

in order to utilise this upgrade, one must book an Amex 2-4-1 fare in business class and then hope that seats in First become available nearer to travel, indeed using Seat Spy, as Adrian noted.

 

We look forward to meeting you.

I’m looking forward to your trip and following along with you. I am using the BA Visa companion 2-4-1 business class fare in October for an Explora II cruise and I’ll look into Seat Spy and cross my fingers for the upgrade!  Thank you so much for posting about it as I’ve not heard of it and I hope it’s compatible with the BA Visa companion ticket. 
 

Safe travels and we’ve used Modern Elite Wordwide as a car service 2 times recently and they are very professional and reliable. It may be more expensive than an Uber (I prefer Lyft), but I’m sure more comfortable. https://www.moderneliteworldwide.net.
 

You could also check out the Belmont Shore (2nd street) area if taking a ride share is something you’re open to you once you land at your hotel. Nicks Restaurant is a favorite in that area. 

 

 

[Sidney68]

On 5/1/2024 at 11:01 PM, English Tim said:

Could you upgrade using Avios?

A sore point Tim. I found out a few weeks ago that my executive club had been hacked and all my avios used apparently with Qatar Airways. Whilst BA investigate my account has been locked. I’m not expecting this to be quick resolution 🙄

[English Tim]

Exciting news to have Heike back on board and the ship leaves Vancouver today, ready for us in Los Angeles on Sunday.

 

Now, we have another ‘live from’ thread, which will give all of us excited people lots more to look forward to.

[English Tim]

Well, we are getting ever closer and this morning we complete online check-in for the flight and leave home very early tomorrow morning so will have to have finished packing tonight, as I find it very easy to forget things. It’s not packed the night before. I put all my electricals, like iPad and power leads in my backpack on the day of Travel and then it should be fairly easy to load them into the Taxi.

 

I am a volunteer guide at the local hospital, so this should keep me busy this morning, which is a good thing as I tend to get a little bit excited, even at my grand old retirement plus age! Later I have to pick up all my medicines from the chemist, which I tried to do yesterday but the doctors had forgotten to order them. I said what am I supposed to do for my diabetes, If I run out of medicine and they didn’t have an answer to that.

 

We have checked in for our Hotel in Long Beach and they promised an upgrade if available at check in , so will report on that tomorrow.

 

Have a great day, everyone.

 

ps I really don’t know why, when I dictate my posts, they never put a capital letter at the beginning of the sentence, which I find really frustrating.

[Waltershipman]

23 minutes ago, English Tim said:

Well, we are getting ever closer and this morning we complete online check-in for the flight and leave home very early tomorrow morning so will have to have finished packing tonight, as I find it very easy to forget things. It’s not packed the night before. I put all my electricals, like iPad and power leads in my backpack on the day of Travel and then it should be fairly easy to load them into the Taxi.

 

I am a volunteer guide at the local hospital, so this should keep me busy this morning, which is a good thing as I tend to get a little bit excited, even at my grand old retirement plus age! Later I have to pick up all my medicines from the chemist, which I tried to do yesterday but the doctors had forgotten to order them. I said what am I supposed to do for my diabetes, If I run out of medicine and they didn’t have an answer to that.

 

We have checked in for our Hotel in Long Beach and they promised an upgrade if available at check in , so will report on that tomorrow.

 

Have a great day, everyone.

 

ps I really don’t know why, when I dictate my posts, they never put a capital letter at the beginning of the sentence, which I find really frustrating.

Happy cruising looking forward to both your posts and observations 

[maggie.1008]

I just got off the ship on Monday. We had a smashing time, you are going to love Explora. 
My new favorite cruise ship. 🛳️ Cheers, Heather 

[English Tim]

We are now at London Heathrow waiting for our flight to Los Angeles. We had an okay breakfast in the Concord room, but the booth was very tight for space and for someone of my height I found it challenging. A beautiful morning and we hope for more of the same when we land in Los Angeles.

[Sidney68]

Safe trip both 

[maggie.1008]

Weather is perfect in LA today, cheers 

[English Tim]

Yesterday, after our long flight from the UK, we were very tired, but remembered the instructions for getting an Uber and after a 5 minute wait, we were on our way. Traffic was heavy and it took about an hour for the ride to Residence Inn LB Downtown, well we were quickly checked in to a lovely room overlooking the harbour. It has a large fridge and even a dishwasher, which we don’t expect to use. We had a good night sleep and then a nice breakfast, all be it on plastic plates. 
 

This morning we rented electric bikes and cycled back across the harbour to have a look at the Queen Mary and Carnival Panorama, which we couldn’t get very close to due to the thousands of people milling around. Some seemed to be towing their baggage a long way.

 

we then cycled back over the harbour and then around Shoreline Village before heading up the beach and having lunch and coffee at a very nice coffee shop, just off the beach. When we set out this morning, the weather was cool but this afternoon it had got very warm and sunny, which will hope will be the case tomorrow when we leave on our cruise. An Uber should take about 15 minutes and cost around $20. 

 

The pictures below show Rosy in her warm coat this morning and me by the coffee shop after the Sun had come out.