Cocktail Sweet & Sour Mixes

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Juli - this is now really off topic. However, comparing a PH suite on Crystal to a regular suite on Mariner brings up a ton of issues which I will not go into on this thread. Suffice it to say that anyone can look at the price of a Crystal PH suite and compare it to the price of a suite on Mariner (even Mariner's large PH suites) and Regent customers will likely be blown away by the price of the Crystal PH suite. (Note: It would be helpful if posters compared similar itineraries). The small suite sizes on Crystal is a fact - not someone's opinion.

 

This is one of many reasons why it is best to discuss Regent and not make comparisons. Trying to say this the nicest way possible. Posters from Crystal come over to Regent to advertise/defend(?) their favorite line. Interestingly, Regent customers do not do this. All of the luxury cruise lines are different and attract different customers.

 

In terms of opinions, that is all my posts are (unless stated otherwise) - just my opinion. Most of the time "debates" (vs. arguments) are helpful as it is good to get all sides of an issue. Debates help most of us. You (the poster) will what they want from the debates. However. no one should expect to change someone else's mind. Debating (as done in high school and college) is not a bad thing.

Jackie,

What is off topic to you is not off topic to others that post on this board.

I was comparing a Penthouse A on the Mariner with a Penthouse Suite(PS) on the Serenity......Not a Crystal Penthouse Suite(CP)!! You are mixing up the Crystal Penthouse Suite which there are only four of them on the Serenity and two on the Symphony. There are three types of suites on Crystal: A Penthouse, Penthouse Suite and a Crystal Penthouse Suite.

I wasn't comparing the lowest suite on a Regent ship to a PH or PHS on Crystal. I was comparing apples with apples.

The fares are about the same when comparing the Penthouse A's on the Navigator and Mariner to a Penthouse or Penthouse Suite on the Serenity and Symphony. No one will be blown away with the fare comparison. I would subtract the air on Regent as we use miles to fly abroad.

Please read what I was comparing before commenting in the future as you to tend to get things mixed up.

The Crystal Penthouse Suites are expensive and would be comparable to a Master Suite on a Regent ship.

BTW we cruise on Regent.......so I am not coming over here to advertise for Crystal.

Wow...fifty (now 51) posts on lime juice. For those that like cocktails (foo-foo or otherwise) made with fresh lime, lemon, orange, mango, or any other juice...ask for it and I feel certain that the Regent bartenders will bend over backwards to please. I would imagine that if the demand for fresh juices increases, the F&B folks will find a way to make it more effiicient to meet passenger expectations while keeping within their budgets. That happens all over the world in the restaurant and bar business.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why some need to always have the last word or must set themselves above others regardless of number of cruises, frequent cruiser status, cruise lines traveled, countries visited, or number of posts. FYI, I. will not lose any sleep worrying whether this is on topic or not! :-).

Now, back to contemplating the shelf life of fresh citrus juice!

Must agree that 51 posts about juice is rather a lot. Perhaps we can stop the non-productive arguing and just accept that some people think that having fresh juice onboard a ship is important and others do not. IMO, telling posters what to or not to do isn't helping the situation. Staying on point, IMO, is important. Again, there is a. very good reason that I indicated that some posts were off topic but, due to "rules" I cannot explain. If it were up to me, we could discuss anything and debate forever without making it personal, however, I do not own this site and therefore....... (well, you can probably figure it out).

Your honor, the defense rests.

Your honor, the defense rests.

Sounds more like the prosecution than the defense...

CruisetheCs, Your post 46 is spot on.

Now that this thread is (hopefully) nearing its demise let us summarise:

• 22 posters have taken an active part in this thread
  
• The majority would like Regent to consider moving more towards the use of fresh juices etc rather than pre-mix
  
• Many feel that if other luxury lines can do this then Regent should be able to
  
• One poster (with 25% of posts on this thread) believes that it would be impractical for Regent to provide more fresh juice and that attempting it would significantly increase Regent cruise fares
  
• One poster believes that anyone requiring cocktails made with fresh ingredients should just move to other cruise lines
  

Personally I believe that "luxury" is all about these sort of service issues, rather than the cost of art on the ship or putting pianos in the top suites

I love Regent but will always encourage them to improve the product. A company that ceases to improve year on year will not survive in the highly competitive cruise market

I'm wondering if there is a lack of staff to handle a lot of the seemingly no brainer improvements that are mentioned. On our April Mariner cruise, we noticed that the crew in all departments that we observed seemed stretched to the limit. There didn't seem to be a particularly demanding crowd on board. It would be a shame if the usual terrific crew simply can't keep up.

The fresh fruit discussion seems like an easy fix, especially since the direct competition seems to be able to deal with it. I'm trying to think of a parable that might be easy to understand. What if a way to replace cocktail mix with the fresh fruit stuff could be found but the great homemade mushroom soup had to be replaced with the premix base? It would cost less, certainly help with the storage problems and could be made to be OK with the addition of fresh sliced mushrooms in the same way that a splash or squeeze of a lime slice should be OK. Of course it sounds ridiculous but people have certain expectations when cruising on Regent and it should be up management to figure out how to get things done.

Now that the subject has been hashed up in great detail, I imagine that the Regent folks who monitor the CC board will find a way to get their product on equal footing with the competition.

I don't know if Regent management has anyone monitor these boards, or if they take any action based on what is posted here.

But I do know they read and respond to the mid-cruise and end of cruise comment cards.

If fresh juice is an important issue with you, make sure you write about it in those two venues. And to add weight to your comments, tell everyone you meet on board and everyone you deal with on your roll calls to mention the issue on their comment cards. And when you go to the Captain's cocktail party, put the word on the F & B director. And when you go to the repeaters cocktail party, tell everybody you meet.

While that might still only be a small number out of all the passengers, the fact that it is a common 'complaint' from a pocket of people, especially repeaters on up to Titanium, might get some positive response.

CruisetheCs, Your post 46 is spot on.

 

Now that this thread is (hopefully) nearing its demise let us summarise:

• 22 posters have taken an active part in this thread
  
• The majority would like Regent to consider moving more towards the use of fresh juices etc rather than pre-mix
  
• Many feel that if other luxury lines can do this then Regent should be able to
  
• One poster (with 25% of posts on this thread) believes that it would be impractical for Regent to provide more fresh juice and that attempting it would significantly increase Regent cruise fares
  
• One poster believes that anyone requiring cocktails made with fresh ingredients should just move to other cruise lines
  

Personally I believe that "luxury" is all about these sort of service issues, rather than the cost of art on the ship or putting pianos in the top suites

 

I love Regent but will always encourage them to improve the product. A company that ceases to improve year on year will not survive in the highly competitive cruise market

Unfortunately, your summary is not accurate.

-No one posted that ".....to provide more fresh juice and that attempting it would significantly increase Regent cruise fares". Rather, I said that it would cost Regent more money to provide fresh juices and it could be another thing that could raise cruise prices (not quoting myself but the word "significantly" is incorrect).

- I did not say that anyone requiring fresh juice should go to another cruise line. As I often say (and still believe), if anything that Regent does or does not do is a deal breaker, try another luxury cruise line. I often follow that statement with a comment that many people that go to other cruise lines (including ourselves), return to Regent and are a bit more accepting of things that may have upset us in the past.

Comparing the cost of pianos and other decor on Explorer and service (or juice) on the ship is, IMO, comparing apple to monkeys.

Your count of 22 posters posting on this thread was of interest. Out of the 22, at least one has not been on Regent (according to their post). With up to 2,640 passengers on Regent ships every week, I wonder how many people have complained about Regent using Sweet and Sour in their drinks. Many things have changed on Regent over the years - the latest being their menus. You can now have lobster, filet mignon and a variety of other items every night. This obviously is costing more money. This shows me that Regent is willing to change and to meet the expectations of the majority of their guests.

I'm not sure if has been determined if ANY drinks (margaritas, etc.) on Seabourn, Silversea or Crystal are made with a mix or if ALL of them are made with fresh oranges, limes, pineapple, etc. As has been said, Regent does use quite a lot off fresh fruit. Several drinks require muddling fresh fruit to which they add alcohol and "simple syrup" (a liquid that is half water and half syrup - heated so it turns into a syrup that is easier to blend into the other ingredients in the glass).

P.S. Juli - As much as I would love to take credit for calling drinks on Crystal "foo foo drinks", I have no way of knowing what their drinks are like. I quoted the term as it was used by another poster on this thread.

Correcting a typo in the last post. "Simple Syrup" is equal parts water and sugar (not syrup). There are no additives or preservatives.

TravelCat , if you would stop perpetuating and defending this thread it will disappear. Many posters disagree with you. Some of us must agree to disagree. Geez