Live Report

[English Tim]

Embarkation day has finally arrived and I watched the ship arriving and docking on the WebCam. As yesterday, the weather is cool and grey, but the forecast is very good for this afternoon.

 

See y’all on board.

 

ps the Carnival Venezia has recently docked at Long Beach cruise port. It looks quite ridiculous with the Costa funnel.

[Sidney68]

3 minutes ago, English Tim said:

Embarkation day has finally arrived and I watched the ship arriving and docking on the WebCam. As yesterday, the weather is cool and grey, but the forecast is very good for this afternoon.

 

See y’all on board.

 

ps the Carnival Venezia has recently docked at Long Beach cruise port. It looks quite ridiculous with the Costa funnel.

Excited. Spending my last few hours wandering along the Santa Monica boulevard and having a leisurely breakfast before heading to the cruise terminal. See you soon! 

[RlyLvn]

Hi English Tim we are boarding Explora in Miami. Are you staying on back to Europe?

Love your posts. Looks like you are having a great vacation already. 

We live in California and will check the ship out in San Diego on Monday. I am originally from the UK and was there a couple of weeks ago. 
 

Bon Voyage!

[English Tim]

20 hours ago, RlyLvn said:

Hi English Tim we are boarding Explora in Miami. Are you staying on back to Europe?

Love your posts. Looks like you are having a great vacation already. 

We live in California and will check the ship out in San Diego on Monday. I am originally from the UK and was there a couple of weeks ago. 
 

Bon Voyage!

No, we’re getting off in Miami, then flying to Washington to visit my sister in law.

[English Tim]

What a great first day on board, but we did make the mistake of arriving at the port too early and having to wait until 1130 to board.

 

We immediately met our old cruising friend, Heike, and I’m sure that she will do a brilliant job for the company and the passengers.

 

Sadly, I am a little under the weather this morning, something that happens to me occasionally due to a weakness my throat. a lovely young lady in the Emporium made me some honey, lemon and hot water.

 

I enjoyed a lovely crêpe with chocolate sauce and trimmings, yesterday lunchtime and we experienced the conservatory with and without its roof. I felt the temperature in there this morning was a little cool and I’ve made an enquiry to find out whether this is normal. I have no doubt that when the weather warms up in the next day or so the roof will be open and it will be very hot in there. 

 

Last night we had a Marble Grill dinner, which was really good, although at the beginning I felt there was a desire to upsell the wine. 
 

I am disappointed that they no longer provide my Moët champagne, but I had read about it on here so expected it to be the case. 
 

There are only 400 passengers on board, but they expect from Miami onwards that the numbers will increase dramatically.

 

The crew are absolutely wonderful, being genuinely friendly and have a great desire to be helpful.

 

One thing I miss, being an early riser, is the ability to help myself to a coffee in one of the lounges, which would then allow me to use my computer without disturbing my wife. Possibly, I could use room service and ask them to bring it to the lounge.
 

My wife would like to know if we can order caviar with our champagne, so maybe one of you guys reading this can help us with this question?

 

Today we are going to rent electric bikes and will need to keep moving to keep warm as the weather is a little bit cool and grey.

 

Please ask any questions and I will do my best to go an answer to them.

 

 

[uktog]

Very few cruise lines let you board before 1130. Better to take a very leisurely breakfast in your hotel and enjoy round there before moving to the port. 
Im sure they’d bring coffee to a lounge if you call from a house phone. 
 

[Sidney68]

54 minutes ago, English Tim said:

What a great first day on board, but we did make the mistake of arriving at the port too early and having to wait until 1130 to board.

 

We immediately met our old cruising friend, Heike, and I’m sure that she will do a brilliant job for the company and the passengers.

 

Sadly, I am a little under the weather this morning, something that happens to me occasionally due to a weakness my throat. a lovely young lady in the Emporium made me some honey, lemon and hot water.

 

I enjoyed a lovely crêpe with chocolate sauce and trimmings, yesterday lunchtime and we experienced the conservatory with and without its roof. I felt the temperature in there this morning was a little cool and I’ve made an enquiry to find out whether this is normal. I have no doubt that when the weather warms up in the next day or so the roof will be open and it will be very hot in there. 

 

Last night we had a Marble Grill dinner, which was really good, although at the beginning I felt there was a desire to upsell the wine. 
 

I am disappointed that they no longer provide my Moët champagne, but I had read about it on here so expected it to be the case. 
 

There are only 400 passengers on board, but they expect from Miami onwards that the numbers will increase dramatically.

 

The crew are absolutely wonderful, being genuinely friendly and have a great desire to be helpful.

 

One thing I miss, being an early riser, is the ability to help myself to a coffee in one of the lounges, which would then allow me to use my computer without disturbing my wife. Possibly, I could use room service and ask them to bring it to the lounge.
 

My wife would like to know if we can order caviar with our champagne, so maybe one of you guys reading this can help us with this question?

 

Today we are going to rent electric bikes and will need to keep moving to keep warm as the weather is a little bit cool and grey.

 

Please ask any questions and I will do my best to go an answer to them.

 

 

Sorry to hear that you are feeling a little under the weather Tim, I hope you feel better soon. I too await with interest regarding the caviar as that is something I really enjoyed on Seabourn 

[RJ2002]

Crema Cafe opens at 7:00am.  Agree with the suggestion to call room service for coffee earlier than that. 

[johng75370]

2 hours ago, English Tim said:

My wife would like to know if we can order caviar with our champagne, so maybe one of you guys reading this can help us with this question?

My understanding is that caviar only appears on the menu items (appetizer in Marble, eggs florentine in Fils Rouge); there is no caviar menu or 24/7 availability as on Seabourn or Silversea.  

[English Tim]

4 hours ago, uktog said:

Very few cruise lines let you board before 1130. Better to take a very leisurely breakfast in your hotel and enjoy round there before moving to the port. 
Im sure they’d bring coffee to a lounge if you call from a house phone. 
 

Thanks, Heike suggested the same.

[English Tim]

Today, we once again hired electric bikes, but this time it was a lot more challenging as a lot of the time we were on busy roads, albeit in cycle lanes. We paid $55 for 4 hours.

 

For the cruise out of San Diego, there was a commentary on what we might see, including Sea Lions and Dolphins, which we were lucky enough to spot. The problem with the commentary was that it was very difficult to hear outside, as the tannoy wasn’t very loud. I have reported this and they are investigating. All the lucky people that stayed inside perfectly audible commentary and no doubt they turned the volume up, it would’ve been too loud inside.

 

Rosy has just gone off to a yoga class and I am going to indulge in the hot tub, then we are both going to the unisex sauna.

 

Dinner tonight is at Fil Rouge-and although we were told it was walk-ups only, we were able to book a table for 7 pm.

[English Tim]

Sadly, it looks like I will have to postpone my trip report as I’ve been isolated to my cabin for five days, unless there’s anything you want to know about my cabin!

[Stickman1990]

3 minutes ago, English Tim said:

Sadly, it looks like I will have to postpone my trip report as I’ve been isolated to my cabin for five days, unless there’s anything you want to know about my cabin!

So sorry to hear that - best wishes for a speedy and full recovery 

 

I guess you can give us some feedback on the medical care and costs involved 

 

Also interested on where they let you order from for dining - that gets dealt with differently on the various lines 

 

 

[Waltershipman]

13 minutes ago, Stickman1990 said:

So sorry to hear that - best wishes for a speedy and full recovery 

 

I guess you can give us some feedback on the medical care and costs involved 

 

Also interested on where they let you order from for dining - that gets dealt with differently on the various lines 

 

 

Ouch

Do you have covid. And yes interested in the quarantine protocol and reasons. Hope you feel better wishing you all the best

[English Tim]

17 minutes ago, Stickman1990 said:

So sorry to hear that - best wishes for a speedy and full recovery 

 

I guess you can give us some feedback on the medical care and costs involved 

 

Also interested on where they let you order from for dining - that gets dealt with differently on the various lines 

Room service is my friend.

17 minutes ago, Stickman1990 said:

 

 

 

[English Tim]

3 minutes ago, Waltershipman said:

Ouch

Do you have covid. And yes interested in the quarantine protocol and reasons. Hope you feel better wishing you all the best

Yes

[Sidney68]

Sorry to hear this Tim, I do also hope Rosie is well. I am sure you are being well looked after however, if you do need anything picking up offshore or from the ship please do let me know and I can drop it to your cabin. Wishing you a quick recovery 

[Waltershipman]

12 minutes ago, English Tim said:

Yes

Thank you be well quickly

[Noggins]

36 minutes ago, English Tim said:

Sadly, it looks like I will have to postpone my trip report as I’ve been isolated to my cabin for five days, unless there’s anything you want to know about my cabin!

What rotten luck, Tim - hope you're feeling better very soon.

But it does give the opportunity to return to the debate around books in the room and whether they are carefully curated EJ books or just past guest leftovers. Tim, do you have any books in your room?! If so, are any in English and worth a read?

Adrian

[Waltershipman]

12 minutes ago, Noggins said:

What rotten luck, Tim - hope you're feeling better very soon.

But it does give the opportunity to return to the debate around books in the room and whether they are carefully curated EJ books or just past guest leftovers. Tim, do you have any books in your room?! If so, are any in English and worth a read?

Adrian

When we got off the Oceania Vista in February my DW tested positive for Covid so she obviously caught it while om board.  You just got on so your contact point seems pre cruise perhaps 

 

Be well Tim 

[uktog]

Sorry to hear of your quarantine. Did you test yourself or did the ship test you?

From timing possibly picked up en route maybe first class wasn’t the way to go!

 

Do you get any pro rated future voucher as other lines do?

 

And is your wife free to move around the ship or is she also restricted. 
 

Hope the weather is good and you can enjoy your balcony 

[maggie.1008]

So sorry Tim ! Bad luck. Wishing you a speedy recovery. 

[English Tim]

30 minutes ago, uktog said:

Sorry to hear of your quarantine. Did you test yourself or did the ship test you?

From timing possibly picked up en route maybe first class wasn’t the way to go!

 

Do you get any pro rated future voucher as other lines do?

 

And is your wife free to move around the ship or is she also restricted. 
 

Hope the weather is good and you can enjoy your balcony 

I reported sick and they tested me. It was quite shock, as I only recently had a booster.

 

at this point, I am unsure of the financial implications but I’m very lucky with my wife wishes to stay with me, although years free to move around and she has tested negative. Hopefully, by tomorrow we’ll have got rid of this horrible grey cool weather and at least I can sit on the balcony. At the moment it is too cold and I spend a lot of time in bed..

[English Tim]

1 hour ago, Sidney68 said:

Sorry to hear this Tim, I do also hope Rosie is well. I am sure you are being well looked after however, if you do need anything picking up offshore or from the ship please do let me know and I can drop it to your cabin. Wishing you a quick recovery 

Thanks for the offer, but with my wife’s love, that is all I need.

[maggie.1008]

Tim, please refresh my memory and let me know your itinerary. 

We just missed seeing Heike by one day. We sailed with her a few times on Azamara. 

Can you please find out what her schedule is for next year. I assume she will be going to Explora  2. 

Hoping for warmer weather and smooth seas for you to enjoy.