Miami

December 13^th, 2023

Today is the day! We are due to board at 12:30, and I was so excited. I looked out the window of our hotel room, and there she was, hiding behind a Regence Seven Seas ship. We will be on her in a few hours.

I had planned to spend the morning sunning myself and swimming in the hotel pool until it was time to take a taxi to the port.

It wasn’t to be. Firstly it was pouring with rain and a gale was blowing, and secondly we discovered last night that we needed to get some paperwork sorted out, and it needed to be done as soon as possible.

Wearing our rain jackets that are fine for Pacific Northwest drizzle, but no match for a Miami downpour, we headed out in search of somewhere to get a money order.

The place that we had found online turned out not to be where Google Maps had it, but we were able to find where it actually was meant to be. Except it wasn’t. There was nothing at the address, it was an abandoned building.

Then, to my surprise, we saw little robot cars running up and down the side walk, probably delivering food. Not something you see every day at home. I was intrigued.

We failed to find somewhere to get a money order, however, the UPS office we were looking for was nearby, so we took refuge from the deluge and went there to print up the form we had saved to a thumb drive. No such luck, their machines are not compatible with Apple machines, so no luck printing. Luckily we were able to email a version of the form to the assistant and she could print it. We filled it out, had it notarized by the lady assisting us, bought a stamp and an envelope, so we were almost there, except we still needed a money order.

We headed out into the pouring rain and gale force winds in search of a money order. After another 2 unfruitful attempts to secure a money order, we were finally directed to a nearby post office. Low and behold, we were able to get a money order, and could return to our hotel in the rain happy that we had had a successful morning.

By the time we returned to the hotel, totally soaked and bedraggled, it was time to get a taxi to the ship. No time to dry off, I was eager to get on board.

We arrived at the ship at our appointed time, 12:30. The check in process was very simple. We were directed to a table where a man scanned our passports (we had already done this prior to check in online) and took new photos (I had taken a rather good one of myself for the online check in, and now this was replaced with a very soaked and windswept version of myself).

We were given our room key cards, and directed towards the ship. We were on board and drinking champagne by 12:45. All very civilized.

Our suite wasn’t ready yet, so we then went to the Emporium, which is the buffet equivalent.

where I had a delicious Mongolian beef stir fry, and then the announcement was made. Our suite were ready! So we headed off to see what our accommodation was going to be like for the next 9 days.

Wow is all I can say! The suite is beautiful, so spacious and elegant. A glass shower door. No plastic curtain. I love it! It might be hard to leave after only 9 days.

No Veuve Clicquot alas, but there was a nice bottle of Moet and Chandon in the ice bucket, which went down very well.

Our suitcases arrived a few minutes later, and we set about unpacking. So much storage space, and great coat hangers. It was all a real treat.

Next we set off to explore Explora 1.

She is very modern, and doesn’t feel like a ship at all. The marketing materials describe her as an elegant large yacht or luxury hotel, and this is so accurate. Lots of marble, crystal and glass. Somewhat minimalist. Simply beautiful. You could easily feel you were in a land based Italian boutique hotel. Just gorgeous. And well laid out. Although there are 14 decks, it is so easy to find your way around. It took me years to figure out Queen Mary 2. In half an hour we had got Explora 1 totally figured out. Nice, but on the other hand, where is the challenge?

It was too cold and rainy to try out the infinity pool, but I didn’t have time to do that anyway as I spent most of the afternoon trying to track down the events manager so I could get our group’s cocktail party organized. I failed miserably in this task, but got to meet a lot of really helpful staff members. There is something really friendly about this ship. So easy to settle in to 

There are 6 restaurants on board. No buffet as such and no main dining room. The Emporium, which is where we had lunch, is the equivalent of a buffet I suppose. It has several stations where you can request cooked to order dishes. Sort of like an upscale food court. From what I saw at lunch, it is excellent.

Then there are 2 restaurants where you do not need to make reservations, Fil Rouge and the Mediterranean Yacht Club, 2 restaurants where you do need to make dinner reservations, Sakura and Marble and Co, and then there is Anthology, where for a mere $205 you can have a meal inspired by a Michelin chef, with an extra $81 for a wine pairing. I’m not sure we will be going there.

Tonight we opted for Fil Rouge, the French restaurant, and it didn’t disappoint. The food was excellent, and the rustic baguette a real winner. Best of all they had a mango and passion fruit souffle for dessert. My kind of meal.

After dinner we went to the Journey Lounge where the cruise director (she has some funny title for what she does, I’ve forgotten it already) introduced the speakers (luminaries) and entertainers (artistes) for this cruise (journey). They have strange titles for everything here, it’s like learning a new language, which will not be useful any more in 10 days time. Explora speak for crew members is hosts, which I find quite confusing, but I will get used to it.

After the introductions, there was the evening entertainment with 2 of the artistes singing. Some of it was actually quite good, and I really enjoyed the Billy Joel songs, except the artiste then said he would be performing a Billy Joel show tomorrow night. Seems like a bit of repetition to me.

After the show we headed up to the Explora lounge at the front of the ship. This is no Commodore Club. It is a large, beautifully furnished, well laid out room, but it feels soulless. Still, it is good to be back on a ship again. And this one is certainly a winner in many respects. 9 days is way too short a time to spend on her. I am already dreaming of a long cruise, sorry, journey.

When we returned to our stateroom (suite), surprise, surprise! We found the missing papers for which we had spent the morning trying to send away for copies. We could have relaxed at the hotel instead of fighting the elements and getting all upset because everything was such a challenge. Well, not to worry – at least I got to see, and nearly get run over by, those cute little robot things. So the whole expedition wasn’t entirely wasted.