Explora 1 live May 6, 2024

[Ashercat1]

Going to post lots of pictures from San Francisco. It’s  really beautiful and perfect weather 

Edited May 10 by Ashercat1

[rrrrtt]

50 minutes ago, cruisingxpert said:

Beautiful Lands End. San Francisco 

Perfect weather

 

The long-derelict Sutro baths.

[rrrrtt]

Had dinner at Anthology day before the ship got to S.F. where the curator of the current menu, Claude Le Lohic's L'O restaurant is located. 

 

Anyway, walked through the cafe this morning and espied some dude wearing a tricoleur collar which takes culinary talent for the right to wear one.  Walked by again and saw it was M. Le Logic onboard.

Edited May 11 by rrrrtt

[2SailingNomads]

12 minutes ago, rrrrtt said:

Had dinner at Anthology day before the ship got to S.F. where the curator of the current menu, Claude Le Lohic's L'O restaurant is located. 

 

Anyway, walked through the cafe this morning and espied some dude wearing a tricoleur collar which takes culinary talent for the right to wear one.  Walked by again and saw it was M. Le Logic onboard.

Food is subjective but in your opinion was it worth the price?  We considered it but some of the courses we were not thrilled with.

[rrrrtt]

14 minutes ago, 2SailingNomads said:

Food is subjective but in your opinion was it worth the price?  We considered it but some of the courses we were not thrilled with.

 

Well, had EUR 300 of OBC to burn so why not?  It was very good as I generally don't find French food to be exquisite as much as I like it (disclaimer, only eaten at 4 Michelin star restos in France, and only for bargain lunches, and the most recent one was Chinese...).

 

Also had the wine pairing of which you're actually offered refills except for the dessert (a Sauternes).

 

FWIW, the menu at L'O is USD 205/295 depending on courses (5/9) with a supplement of USD 105 for the wagyu beef which was sublime and exquisite if you've never tried it before.  Add in tax and tip not to mention wine pairing at the real McCoy .....   Man of the elderly cruisers next table commented it'd save them $400 over eating in S.F.

 

The chef came onboard for 10 days to train the crew to recreate the menu according to Vijay, the sous chef. 

 

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, 2SailingNomads said:

Le Commandant is the ONLY in the world PC2 ice class ship, it can go places no other ship except for Russian ice breakers can go.  We went to the geographic North Pole on it.  A true expedition ship like no other.  It is a totally different experience than being on Explora which is not an expedition ship nor claims to be.  Explora was a great ship for warm weather cruises with all the outside bars, deck space.  Now if they solve the lack of shaded places it would be even better.

 

[rrrrtt]

Re: food being subjective - a point much brought up at CC - I'm not one who is fussy about food (sailed on my share of mass market lines) but there are inconsistencies in preparation from one day to the next, as well as improper usage of premium products. The avocado toast at Fil Rouge this AM was so hard (the toast) my wife couldn't cut it with a steak knife.  The lamb chops this morning were seared better than the previous morning.  The bacalao in the Yacht Club was cut too thickly and wasn't soaked in milk sufficiently long enough to leach out the salt making for an extremely salty dish.

 

At Marble, my wife had a now-gone French prime rib which was either aged improperly or too long but the usually-delicious cap was rancid.

 

Some people don't care for European beef but I found the German Simmenthal beef was delicious. We eat grain fed beef too but are flexible.  Better Grass fed beef is a treat for us.

 

Pizza is also different day to day. Crust rather hard last night.

[Ashercat1]

57 minutes ago, rrrrtt said:

Re: food being subjective - a point much brought up at CC - I'm not one who is fussy about food (sailed on my share of mass market lines) but there are inconsistencies in preparation from one day to the next, as well as improper usage of premium products. The avocado toast at Fil Rouge this AM was so hard (the toast) my wife couldn't cut it with a steak knife.  The lamb chops this morning were seared better than the previous morning.  The bacalao in the Yacht Club was cut too thickly and wasn't soaked in milk sufficiently long enough to leach out the salt making for an extremely salty dish.

 

At Marble, my wife had a now-gone French prime rib which was either aged improperly or too long but the usually-delicious cap was rancid.

 

Some people don't care for European beef but I found the German Simmenthal beef was delicious. We eat grain fed beef too but are flexible.  Better Grass fed beef is a treat for us.

 

Pizza is also different day to day. Crust rather hard last night.

For the most part, the food has been well above average. Not remotely comparable to mass market, cruise line menu. I believe the problem is more in getting Service well trained, and passengers requesting very specifically how they want their foods prepared. By that I mean, temperature, level of darkness,. I’ve been very specific and I’m for the most part. Gotten exactly what I wanted. I’m giving this cruise line time to get it act together. Specifically in the culinary department I’ve booked two additional cruises for me as an overall cruise line. it has my vote. 

[rrrrtt]

Food ingredients are no doubt top notch for the most part but there are various failings in how they're prepared for at least some of them. It's taken us until the upcoming Last meal on this cruise to realise that we'll have to analyse if the dish can be cooked right onboard, or is likely to be.  We don't like sending food ,- or even leaving uneaten food -  back as we're not food wasters.

 

  In addition to my examples above, my wife ordered the daily wok special at Sakura for lunch.  Cut of beef and sauce wasn't what is traditional for what the description was.  In addition, no gas in ship kitchens so the wok doesn't get anywhere near as hot as it should for wok frying. The noodles and vegetables were just a wet mess as a result. Even saw a huge amount just sitting in the wok stewing away.  Then again, this would be the same for any cruise ship.  Also had the teriyaki beef for lunch 3x on this short cruise and it's come out different every time.  Today was the worst at merely o.k.

 

Walked through the buffet for dessert and my wife saw there was what was labelled at Pekin duck (their spelling) on a spit.  We had a closer look and the skin was definitely not any thing  close to a Peking duck.  We just had one at a Michelin starred (not that we thought it deserved it) restaurant in Vancouver prior to boarding.  My wife hasn't had many before she met me (definitely not a feature in the continent where it originates) and she said even she knew it wasn't right M.

[cruisingxpert]

6 hours ago, rrrrtt said:

Had dinner at Anthology day before the ship got to S.F. where the curator of the current menu, Claude Le Lohic's L'O restaurant is located. 

 

Anyway, walked through the cafe this morning and espied some dude wearing a tricoleur collar which takes culinary talent for the right to wear one.  Walked by again and saw it was M. Le Logic onboard.

We are doing Anthology tonight and wish we had known they were having it on another night

[cruisingxpert]

On 5/8/2024 at 4:20 PM, saminina said:

Maitre 'd or restaurant manager.   Just identify as man or woman will suffice.  Thank you....

Abigail is still Maitre'd in Sakura

[johng75370]

21 minutes ago, cruisingxpert said:

We are doing Anthology tonight and wish we had known they were having it on another night

Apparently they don’t have a very firm schedule, it’s based on if they have enough tables booked. When we booked we were told it may or may not be open as they had not yet gotten to six tables (it ended up working out).    Hope you enjoy!

[rrrrtt]

1 hour ago, cruisingxpert said:

We are doing Anthology tonight and wish we had known they were having it on another night

 

Our first reservation for the day at Astoria got cancelled because they said there were only the 2 of us.

 

Count yourself very lucky as you may have Claude Le Lohic supervising the kitchen or dressing up the dishes prior to serving if not doing the cooking

[cruisingxpert]

4 hours ago, rrrrtt said:

 

Our first reservation for the day at Astoria got cancelled because they said there were only the 2 of us.

 

Count yourself very lucky as you may have Claude Le Lohic supervising the kitchen or dressing up the dishes prior to serving if not doing the cooking

We did have Claude overseeing the dinner. Amazing dinner.

[Waltershipman]

5 hours ago, cruisingxpert said:

We did have Claude overseeing the dinner. Amazing dinner.

Amazing and fantastic you were very fortunate