Had booked an Alaska cruise on Explora 1 this year, and Explora cancelled it and said they were moving the ship to the Med. So had a nice incentive to re-book, and did for a 10 night Greece cruise in August 2024 on the Explora II. Just found out Explora has cancelled that cruise, and is moving to 7 day cruises, with “options” to book back to back for a combined 14 night cruise. Their reasoning is that “10-12 night” cruises are too long for most people”! Really? So for now, I am done with Explora, and moving back to Regent, Silversea or Oceania! Hopefully, Explora will get its act together and be more decisive on their cruise “journeys”.
In the meantime, we are booked on the new upcoming Regent Grandeur for 12 nights in the Caribbean in Feb 2024, and considering the upcoming Silversea “Silver Ray” in August 2024 in Greece, to replace the Explora II Greece cruise that was cancelled.
@@ryanmatthew511 Enjoy Seabourn as have been with them many times but personally think Explora pipped them to the post where food is concerned. Regent we are going to try shortly. Silversea we went on years ago so need to try them again to do an up to date review! 😊
I feel bad for your experience in dealing with the company. However , I am happy they moved to 7 days cruises. As a younger 40s couple with friends in our age range who want to luxury cruise, 7 days is the sweet spot. I've stayed away from luxury cruises as most of the people aboard skew way older and the trips were too long. I'm hoping Explora is leaning towards getting younger passengers who have the means to travel but are not retired yet. Your comment gives me hope that maybe they are catering to younger passengers who can afford to travel but can't take off 2 weeks from work.
Hello both, I've been working my way through all the videos on your channel. Would be interested to know which is now your fave line, having recently sailed with Regent, this with Explora and long time loyal customers of Seabourn? By the way, I love your videos - its lovely how you so enjoy your trips and you are so fair and balanced in your reviews. Thank you!
@@Kensingtoncruiser Thanks so much for watching ❤️ We’ve been asked so many times this question, we love them all! For dining Regent wins, for entertainment and events Seabourn wins, and for Uber chic contemporary Explora wins! Would happily sail with them all again. 🤗
@@theposhtravelblog That's a helpful summary - thanks! It will be interesting to see how Explora develops the product: I've seen a few comments online which suggest they are making changes (the fab welcome bottle of Veuve is apparently no more - they've changed brands, though that's not something that would bother us) and introduction of a Cruise Director/more entertainment.
@@Kensingtoncruiser Interesting. We liked the low key entertainment and had some great guest acts, no cruise director but that didn’t bother us we rather enjoyed it! 😂 They’ve switched out the Moet to a different brand (we wondered how they would make any profit the way it was being dished out!) and that’s sad to hear that they’ve dropped the Veuve. Nothing stays the same. Will have to go on again and do a review to see if it’s changed! 🤗
Thank you for your video. I have been looking at Mediterranean cruises and I came across the explora. We are cruising our first MSC cruise on November. We will be sailing in the YC. What is the difference in the rooms? Do you have a suggestion for time and itinerary for the Mediterranean?
Yacht club is meant to be amazing but we’ve never done it. Explora is a different product more akin to regent or Silversea cruises. We love June, July September and October in the Mediterranean 👍
How about a direct, point by point, comparison with Seabourn? From what I'm seeing, although this is certainly nice, I believe that the level of personal, individualized service is superior on Seabourn. The bathrooms are clearly inferior (single sinks, in-room commode, lack of walk-in shower and jacuzzi tub, etc. The design aesthetic, too, seems overly plain. All of that said, I'm willing to be convinced otherwise... 🙂 Variety of shopping and number of restaurants aside, in what specific ways (if any) is this a superior product/experience?
Hi, point by point may be an idea for a future video. Service wise we would say they’re equal, we are diamond members on Seabourn so have travelled many time with them. We love Seabourn but we really enjoyed this cruise in a different way, and to be honest the food onboard this ship was better in our opinion. We loved the different dining options especially the Asian restaurant. This cruise might not be for everyone, it’s not traditional cruising, it’s different, but for us it was perfect. The cabins were amazing, different to Seabourn again, yes single sinks, but huge walk in shower, and a bigger balcony with a daybed. You might go on it and not enjoy it as much as Seabourn, and Seabourn is excellent too, it’s personal choice at the end of the day and we loved it..
@@theposhtravelblog Fair enough. I admit to being very intrigued at the notion of the food being better here, as I've always been very pleased with Seabourn's offerings. Perhaps we'll give it a try at some point, though we've pretty much got our travel booked for the next 18 months or so currently. Still, there's always time for another trip, right? 🙂 Cheers for the reply and I do think that point-by-point comparisons between directly competing products would make for excellent videos. -Ken
@@kbalch Seabourn food is amazing as well, but we just loved the varied dining options on Explora. Our dining guide is going on tomorrow so will give you an idea. As you say there’s always space to slip in another week 😂 life’s very short! 🥂
hi There, I am an avid cruiser and love Silverseas, Seabourn and sea dream yacht club. How would you compare the food and service to those other lines. Thank you for your response. mitch
We are diamond members on Seabourn, and have been on Silversea albeit quite a few years ago, and we think this is some of the best food we’ve had at a sea. Love the different restaurants and everything was top notch. Service amazing too, as good as the rivals. 🥂
I see they are advertising solo cruises at 15% single supplement, which interests me. However, when I go on the website and search for cruises as a singleton, I can’t find any cruises at all.
Yes they told us they are offering from 15% supplements which is one of their benefits. If there’s a particular cruise you’re interested in we can find out for you. Contact us through www.aquamarinetravel.co.uk and we can ask the question.
Too much beige but still a beautiful ship though. I just wish there were more color schemes around the interiors. And i am not really seeing any elements of it being an "ultra luxury ship" compared to Crystal serenity or seven seas splendor.
We loved the beige and the muted tones, gave it a really upmarket feel. In our opinion this is an ultra luxury ship, you need to try it to appreciate it.. 🥂👍
Beige? More like 'mushroom'! These colours are the same on all almost every ship these days. It is boring, The designers are all doing the same things. The cabins/suites are too fussy. Bad design. A lot of work for the stewards. The bathrooms are very badly designed.
Thank you , just planing to book Caribbean cruise from 1st of march 2024 from bridge town to Miami .could u please tell me dress code ? Casual smart . .or any dress code ?. Thanks
Yes of course, we are planning on doing a dress code video, so will get that on. It’s smart casual/casual elegant basically every night. Jacket optional, but I did wear one on a couple of nights (definitely in Anthology)Ladies tended to dress up in smart trousers and tops or a dress. Equivalent of going out to a nice restaurant at home. More relaxed in the buffet I would imagine but we didn’t eat there in the evenings as the other restaurant choices were amazing. Have a lovely cruise, we thoroughly enjoyed it and can’t wait to get back on! 🛳️🥂
Also if you need any help with making your booking we would be delighted to assist! We own www.aquamarinetravel.co.uk in the uk 🇬🇧 Best wishes Christina
Depends on where you go and for how long. You need to check online or with a travel agent for the cost this is just showing you the ship. It is luxury though so price comparison would be Regent or Seabourn.
Cannot get over the depressing amount of brown on the ship. No color at all. Cabins look exactly like an MSC cabin. I was excited for this ship, but maybe the next one will be more colourful
Please, did you pay out of your own pocket for this cruise? Obviously, not! As I'm tired to hear words: stunning, lovely, great, brilliant, etc. Would be nice if you pay your own money $$$! People who do it, review ship differently! It's too much sugar & praise here! 😂😂😂
Yes we did pay for the cruise and it was stunning, lovely, great and brilliant and in fact it’s our new favourite cruise! You’d better get on it and try it for yourself!!
Excellent overview stuart "amazing " .
Great review. I'm glad I found your channel.
Had booked an Alaska cruise on Explora 1 this year, and Explora cancelled it and said they were moving the ship to the Med. So had a nice incentive to re-book, and did for a 10 night Greece cruise in August 2024 on the Explora II. Just found out Explora has cancelled that cruise, and is moving to 7 day cruises, with “options” to book back to back for a combined 14 night cruise. Their reasoning is that “10-12 night” cruises are too long for most people”! Really? So for now, I am done with Explora, and moving back to Regent, Silversea or Oceania! Hopefully, Explora will get its act together and be more decisive on their cruise “journeys”.
Oh no what a shame 🙈 maybe you will get to go on them one day as they are excellent .. 😊
@@theposhtravelblog Thank you for your reply. I love your UA-cam vids! Watched them all and they are great!
In the meantime, we are booked on the new upcoming Regent Grandeur for 12 nights in the Caribbean in Feb 2024, and considering the upcoming Silversea “Silver Ray” in August 2024 in Greece, to replace the Explora II Greece cruise that was cancelled.
@@ryanmatthew511 Enjoy Seabourn as have been with them many times but personally think Explora pipped them to the post where food is concerned. Regent we are going to try shortly. Silversea we went on years ago so need to try them again to do an up to date review! 😊
I feel bad for your experience in dealing with the company. However , I am happy they moved to 7 days cruises. As a younger 40s couple with friends in our age range who want to luxury cruise, 7 days is the sweet spot. I've stayed away from luxury cruises as most of the people aboard skew way older and the trips were too long. I'm hoping Explora is leaning towards getting younger passengers who have the means to travel but are not retired yet. Your comment gives me hope that maybe they are catering to younger passengers who can afford to travel but can't take off 2 weeks from work.
Looks stunning and we definitely have some interest
Hello both, I've been working my way through all the videos on your channel. Would be interested to know which is now your fave line, having recently sailed with Regent, this with Explora and long time loyal customers of Seabourn? By the way, I love your videos - its lovely how you so enjoy your trips and you are so fair and balanced in your reviews. Thank you!
@@Kensingtoncruiser Thanks so much for watching ❤️ We’ve been asked so many times this question, we love them all! For dining Regent wins, for entertainment and events Seabourn wins, and for Uber chic contemporary Explora wins! Would happily sail with them all again. 🤗
@@theposhtravelblog That's a helpful summary - thanks! It will be interesting to see how Explora develops the product: I've seen a few comments online which suggest they are making changes (the fab welcome bottle of Veuve is apparently no more - they've changed brands, though that's not something that would bother us) and introduction of a Cruise Director/more entertainment.
@@Kensingtoncruiser Interesting. We liked the low key entertainment and had some great guest acts, no cruise director but that didn’t bother us we rather enjoyed it! 😂 They’ve switched out the Moet to a different brand (we wondered how they would make any profit the way it was being dished out!) and that’s sad to hear that they’ve dropped the Veuve. Nothing stays the same. Will have to go on again and do a review to see if it’s changed! 🤗
Very excited as we will be cruising November with them! Thank you for the review!
Have a wonderful cruise, it’s amazing ❤️🚢🥂
Lovely…
You guys are fabulous 😊🤗... Thank you for the show, really state of the art ❤️😊
Thanks so much for the lovely comments ❤️
Thank you for your video. I have been looking at Mediterranean cruises and I came across the explora. We are cruising our first MSC cruise on November. We will be sailing in the YC. What is the difference in the rooms? Do you have a suggestion for time and itinerary for the Mediterranean?
Yacht club is meant to be amazing but we’ve never done it. Explora is a different product more akin to regent or Silversea cruises. We love June, July September and October in the Mediterranean 👍
I've already watched and was curious to know your opinions on to how they all compare
Lovely video. Thank you
How about a direct, point by point, comparison with Seabourn? From what I'm seeing, although this is certainly nice, I believe that the level of personal, individualized service is superior on Seabourn. The bathrooms are clearly inferior (single sinks, in-room commode, lack of walk-in shower and jacuzzi tub, etc. The design aesthetic, too, seems overly plain. All of that said, I'm willing to be convinced otherwise... 🙂 Variety of shopping and number of restaurants aside, in what specific ways (if any) is this a superior product/experience?
Hi, point by point may be an idea for a future video. Service wise we would say they’re equal, we are diamond members on Seabourn so have travelled many time with them. We love Seabourn but we really enjoyed this cruise in a different way, and to be honest the food onboard this ship was better in our opinion. We loved the different dining options especially the Asian restaurant. This cruise might not be for everyone, it’s not traditional cruising, it’s different, but for us it was perfect. The cabins were amazing, different to Seabourn again, yes single sinks, but huge walk in shower, and a bigger balcony with a daybed. You might go on it and not enjoy it as much as Seabourn, and Seabourn is excellent too, it’s personal choice at the end of the day and we loved it..
@@theposhtravelblog Fair enough. I admit to being very intrigued at the notion of the food being better here, as I've always been very pleased with Seabourn's offerings. Perhaps we'll give it a try at some point, though we've pretty much got our travel booked for the next 18 months or so currently. Still, there's always time for another trip, right? 🙂 Cheers for the reply and I do think that point-by-point comparisons between directly competing products would make for excellent videos. -Ken
@@kbalch Seabourn food is amazing as well, but we just loved the varied dining options on Explora. Our dining guide is going on tomorrow so will give you an idea. As you say there’s always space to slip in another week 😂 life’s very short! 🥂
hi There, I am an avid cruiser and love Silverseas, Seabourn and sea dream yacht club. How would you compare the food and service to those other lines.
Thank you for your response.
mitch
We are diamond members on Seabourn, and have been on Silversea albeit quite a few years ago, and we think this is some of the best food we’ve had at a sea. Love the different restaurants and everything was top notch. Service amazing too, as good as the rivals. 🥂
Have a look at the dining guide we’ve put on our channel and it will give you some idea..
I see they are advertising solo cruises at 15% single supplement, which interests me. However, when I go on the website and search for cruises as a singleton, I can’t find any cruises at all.
Yes they told us they are offering from 15% supplements which is one of their benefits. If there’s a particular cruise you’re interested in we can find out for you. Contact us through www.aquamarinetravel.co.uk and we can ask the question.
Too much beige but still a beautiful ship though. I just wish there were more color schemes around the interiors. And i am not really seeing any elements of it being an "ultra luxury ship" compared to Crystal serenity or seven seas splendor.
We loved the beige and the muted tones, gave it a really upmarket feel. In our opinion this is an ultra luxury ship, you need to try it to appreciate it.. 🥂👍
Beige? More like 'mushroom'! These colours are the same on all almost every ship these days. It is boring, The designers are all doing the same things. The cabins/suites are too fussy. Bad design. A lot of work for the stewards. The bathrooms are very badly designed.
@@stephencard6808 and it’s absolutely wonderful! 🥂🤩
Thank you , just planing to book Caribbean cruise from 1st of march 2024 from bridge town to Miami .could u please tell me dress code ? Casual smart . .or any dress code ?. Thanks
Yes of course, we are planning on doing a dress code video, so will get that on. It’s smart casual/casual elegant basically every night. Jacket optional, but I did wear one on a couple of nights (definitely in Anthology)Ladies tended to dress up in smart trousers and tops or a dress. Equivalent of going out to a nice restaurant at home. More relaxed in the buffet I would imagine but we didn’t eat there in the evenings as the other restaurant choices were amazing. Have a lovely cruise, we thoroughly enjoyed it and can’t wait to get back on! 🛳️🥂
Also if you need any help with making your booking we would be delighted to assist! We own www.aquamarinetravel.co.uk in the uk 🇬🇧 Best wishes Christina
Are excursions included?
No excursions are at extra cost 😊
cost cost cost????????
Depends on where you go and for how long. You need to check online or with a travel agent for the cost this is just showing you the ship. It is luxury though so price comparison would be Regent or Seabourn.
Cannot get over the depressing amount of brown on the ship. No color at all. Cabins look exactly like an MSC cabin. I was excited for this ship, but maybe the next one will be more colourful
Please, did you pay out of your own pocket for this cruise? Obviously, not! As I'm tired to hear words: stunning, lovely, great, brilliant, etc. Would be nice if you pay your own money $$$! People who do it, review ship differently! It's too much sugar & praise here! 😂😂😂
Yes we did pay for the cruise and it was stunning, lovely, great and brilliant and in fact it’s our new favourite cruise! You’d better get on it and try it for yourself!!