Live from Explorer...

Enjoy the cruise. However and this is where everyone likes different things. I read the line about the blue cheese stuffed olives in the Hendricks to my husband. He responded with - gross! Different stokes for different folks! He will stick with the cucumber in his Hendricks.

Also not meaning to hijack but couldn't help it...just picked up some anchovy-stuffed olives last week in Barcelona to take with us on th WC this January. NOT like pizza or Caesar Salad anchovies......these are quite mild and lovely in the martini. They'll be in the Stars Lounge fridge........ ;)

Also not meaning to hijack but couldn't help it...just picked up some anchovy-stuffed olives last week in Barcelona to take with us on th WC this January. NOT like pizza or Caesar Salad anchovies......these are quite mild and lovely in the martini. They'll be in the Stars Lounge fridge........ ;)

YES! They are terrific. We eat them all the time when we visit in the South of France. Agree they are not like the anchovies in a caesar. Good idea to pick up some for our cruise in Lisbon.

Thanks!

Ron

The last page or so definitely shows the differences of opinion regarding any experience on a cruise ship. Thankfully, we are back on the positive side. I say this because I know how disappointing it is to read that a ship has major problems and then find out that you worried for nothing. Again, expectations play a big part of a person's review of a cruise.

 

 

Had to laugh about blue cheese stuffed olives. They are a very time consuming thing to put together and bartenders that are willing to do them are rare as they have to do each one by hand. While I do not like gin and do not want cucumbers in my drink, I'd be happy just to have a few blue cheese stuffed olives. Having said that, I do hope to sample gin drinks on our upcoming cruise.

 

 

We asked for them once. We said we'd be willing to stuff them so they brought our table olives and blue cheese. Part of our fun was putting them together!

We asked for them once. We said we'd be willing to stuff them so they brought our table olives and blue cheese. Part of our fun was putting them together!

Google queen creek olive mill in Arizona. It is a local business that make fantastic stuffed olives. They ship. Oh, their olive oil is wonderful.

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These recent posts makes me more and more interested in booking the Explorer! Travelcat2 has reported on her experiences aboard the explorer and these posts seem more in line with recent reviews by others that have cruised aboard the most luxurious ship afloat!

These recent posts makes me more and more interested in booking the Explorer! Travelcat2 has reported on her experiences aboard the explorer and these posts seem more in line with recent reviews by others that have cruised aboard the most luxurious ship afloat!

Really think that you would like the ship. The only problem is that it spoiled us for the other ships. Hoping that our Mariner cruise will be so good that we won't be thinking about the Explorer all of the time. We are kind of hoping that when the second Explorer class ship launches in 2020 that the first ship won't be quite so popular so that we can sail her for the majority of our cruises.:D

These recent posts makes me more and more interested in booking the Explorer! Travelcat2 has reported on her experiences aboard the explorer and these posts seem more in line with recent reviews by others that have cruised aboard the most luxurious ship afloat!

We agree with TC. Explorer is our favorite ship, hands down, no contest.

But, we do sail the other RSSC ships for its itinerary.

We love the Transatlantic cruise on Explorer. Doing it again this year. It allows us to really enjoy the ship. Hope you enjoy the Explorer as we do.

Sheila

How is Barcelona today. Anyone on the ship wish to comment. You are on your way to pick us up......

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Dear all,

 

I just got off the Explorer (the travel stress being the reason for my late reply) and I will be working on my report shortly. As I mentioned before the service issues never disappeared... although after I spoke to some of the maitres in the restaurants they seemed to have given the others a "heads up". But that's not what I wanted. I dont need special treatment - I was looking for a relaxed and friendly luxury atmosphere.

Regent undoubtedly has perfect hardware, probably the best that is out there, but the software was (with a few excellent exceptions) not more than average. I heard the comment twice by supervisors that "We at Regent are the best" and you should have seen the faces when I told them that they simply were not. From my point of view the stiff and unrelaxed work atmosphere is not in the best interest of the guests (with ship's management being responsible for that!). The officers on deck would not even stop to say hello or at least hold a door open for you... The room stewards and stewardesses in contrast were always cheerful, up for a chat and funny - even those that were not even taking care of my cabin.

 

Quite a few crewmembers especially in the Food and Beverage department seemed very unhappy and stressed - no small talk, very few smiles. I was never - except for the lovely maitres in Prime7 and Compass Rose- adressed by name. Most of the things you have to actively ask for, e.g. peanuts with drinks, minibar set up, coffee after lunch, a champagne refill... It's not that everything was bad, I had great service by some, e.g. french Louise in Chartreuse or the guys in the observation lounge but all in all it was very far from a luxury service experience.

 

I will give you a few examples and you be the judge:

 

1) The minibar set up arrived 24 hours after I ordered it.

2) After returning from an excursions I asked if I could order a club sandwich to the cafe bar to have it with my cappucino: "No, you have to do it from your room via room service".

After I spoke to a maitre: "Well, this is our service standard".

3) Showing up at Pacific rim for our reservation, the maitre was busy clearing a table so I eye-contacted another supervisor in uniform. She finger-pointed to the maitre signalising me that I have to wait. I later asked the maitre who the other woman was: "That was my boss".

4) Chef Salad delivered to the room without the dressing. Had to call again, dressing delivered after another 20 minutes.

5) See photos... Tables in the Cafe and the Pool Grill.

 

So, there will be a lot to write about in my report and OF COURSE THERE WERE A LOT THINGS ON THE POSITIVE SIDE AS WELL. It's the sort of "It was an excellent cruise, BUT..." report...

 

I'm very much looking forward to all your comments.

All the best,

M&P

A cappucino and a club sandwich? :)

Just got off the Explorer today, totally agree with M&PGermany.

The ship is absolutely beautiful and our stateroom wonderful but the service and food was inconsistent. The staff was nice and overall friendly but service varied from excellent to poor, even on the same day. I know we were not the only ones to notice the problems because we heard many others talking.

Most the problems had to do with food preparation and service. Order medium rare meat and get it well done, order over easy eggs and get them over hard (numerous times), wrong food delivered, mix up on food orders, ordered food not delivered, no drink orders taken throughout an entire meal, & plates stacking up on tables.

The onboard shows were very good, tours enjoyable and ship extremely clean.

Room attendants did a good job, except they kept delivering other peoples laundry and letters to our room. Got tired of calling room steward to correct mistakes and just ended up delivering the wrongly delivered items to the correct cabins myself.

We are not demanding individuals, we really try to be friendly, considerate and nice to staff and servers. So when we get to the point where we just say service was inconsistent then it really was.

 

Regent really needs to correct these problems because if you are going to advertise as a 5 or 6 star cruise then it needs to be more than just a beautiful ship.

Did you discuss these issues with the General Manager,F&B Director or anyone else? Did you mention these issues on the Mid-cruse comment card? Letting onboard management know that there are issues is crucial since once you disembark the ship, there is nothing that they can do to correct the problems.

While we would love for the service to be perfect, it cannot improve if we don't speak up. We learned years ago that Regent will correct whatever they can while you are onboard. However, if you think about it, if they are not told about the issues and end up reading about it on Cruise Critic, there is nothing they can do.

Travelcat2,

Yes, we did fill out the mid cruise forms and mention our observations. We were on a 2 week cruise and filled out 3 of the 4 forms given to us. We did not fill out the last one because we did not see any point since we saw no improvement and it would have simply been a repeat of previous forms submitted.

We were contacted numerous times while on board, they seemed very concerned, we were also given several possible reasons for the existing problems. We tried to be understanding but errors just kept happening.

We were not the only ones who mentioned the problems, besides hearing others talk about it we actually observed passengers discussing some of these problems with maitre'd and management.

We cruise a lot and know that cruises are not going to be perfect all the time. But when you pay 5 star prices you just expect more than what we received.

As I stated before, the Explorer is a beautiful ship. I really wish our experience had been more positive because I would love to sail on her again.

Travelcat2,

Yes, we did fill out the mid cruise forms and mention our observations. We were on a 2 week cruise and filled out 3 of the 4 forms given to us. We did not fill out the last one because we did not see any point since we saw no improvement and it would have simply been a repeat of previous forms submitted.

 

We were contacted numerous times while on board, they seemed very concerned, we were also given several possible reasons for the existing problems. We tried to be understanding but errors just kept happening.

 

We were not the only ones who mentioned the problems, besides hearing others talk about it we actually observed passengers discussing some of these problems with maitre'd and management.

 

We cruise a lot and know that cruises are not going to be perfect all the time. But when you pay 5 star prices you just expect more than what we received.

 

As I stated before, the Explorer is a beautiful ship. I really wish our experience had been more positive because I would love to sail on her again.

Really sorry to hear that no one tried to address your concerns. Although this is unusual, it really doesn't help you. You paid a lot of money for your cruise should not have experienced anything less than top service.

Travelcat2,

Yes, we did fill out the mid cruise forms and mention our observations. We were on a 2 week cruise and filled out 3 of the 4 forms given to us. We did not fill out the last one because we did not see any point since we saw no improvement and it would have simply been a repeat of previous forms submitted.

 

We were contacted numerous times while on board, they seemed very concerned, we were also given several possible reasons for the existing problems. We tried to be understanding but errors just kept happening.

 

We were not the only ones who mentioned the problems, besides hearing others talk about it we actually observed passengers discussing some of these problems with maitre'd and management.

 

We cruise a lot and know that cruises are not going to be perfect all the time. But when you pay 5 star prices you just expect more than what we received.

 

As I stated before, the Explorer is a beautiful ship. I really wish our experience had been more positive because I would love to sail on her again.

I'm sorry, too, that they didn't get your issues resolved. I know that we've had to mention problems in the past (and for what they're charging, we shouldn't have to) but Regent has usually been very responsive. I've also overheard others complaining about lapses in service. Although in my experience it seems like a small percentage of passengers experiencing problems, even 1% or 2% is too many. I know that no ship or crew can be perfect, but it seems like there's a common thread in most complaints (slow drink service, nonexistent pool bar service, cold or lukewarm sides at dinner, waiters going MIA, etc.).

Although I'm probably not the most vocal Regent cheerleader on this forum (;p), it's no secret that I love the line and the product - but I agree there are some issues that still need worked out. Hopefully someone from Regent is reading these comments and they can influence some changes throughout the fleet. Now is the time to start ramping up the game, because having to staff yet another ship in just a year and a half will be an even bigger challenge - I hope they learned some things after launching Explorer!!

We are also sorry that Explorer did not rectify the situation. We truly were hoping to have a positive experience so as to make Regent our new "go to" cruise line.

Just so you understand what we were dealing with, here are 3 examples:

Ordered eggs "over easy", they were delivered "over hard" so we nicely stated that there was a mistake that we ordered "over easy". They apologized, took the eggs back to be replaced. A while later they deliver the new eggs, they were "over hard". As we explained to the wait staff that we had ordered "over easy" the maitre'd stopped by, we explain what was happening and he said he would personally make sure we got the eggs "over easy".

He returned shortly later and placed the eggs on our table, they were not only "over hard" they were "extremely over hard". The maitre'd asked if they were okay, my husband looked at him surprisingly and stated "No, does this look like 'over easy' and did you look at the eggs before you delivered them?" My husband showed him the extremely cooked yolks. The maitre'd looked stunned then took his plate and said he would get a new order. At this point we just said forget it that we would go to the cafe for a pastry and we left breakfast.

This not only happened in buffet but it also happened in the Compass Rose. In the Compass Rose, I ordered an egg "over easy", bacon on the soft side and toast on the light side. They delivered my egg "over hard", my bacon crisp and my toast was nearly burnt. The waiter, who did not deliver the meal, was really upset. He showed the maitre'd his order slip showing that he had submitted the meal the way I had requested it, which was not what I received. They apologized and reordered my meal which came out with an egg "over hard", crisp bacon and toast a little better. The waiter was now furious as was the maitre'd who said he would personally take care of it. I told him to forget it and just bring me a waffle.

Even once in the buffet we had our omelet ordered delivered then snatched away from us just we started to eat and given to another table, where they told the wait staff that it wasn't their order. The wait staff then returned to our table and just dropped the plates on our table again, walked away abruptly without saying a word.

This gives you just a small taste of what we experienced. We tried to not let these things bother us that much but by the end of the second week it was difficult.

We tried to not let these things bother us that much but by the end of the second week it was difficult.

Pretty discouraging about what you had to endure especially after bringing the matters up multiple times. Sincerely appreciate your impressions even if they paint an unfortunate scenario experienced.

I guess I won't order eggs.

If a waiter had done that with my breakfast order I would have told him I do not eat "second hand" food and asked him to re-order and then I would have called a Maître d'Hôtel and complained... nicely but firmly. What a disgusting thing to do!

All these stories are not what I would call a 5-star-luxury service...

Been on Regent many times. However, Oceania does have the best food! Wonderful steaks all the time & excellent Italian restaurant!

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I have to agree with Judy. Oceania MDR offers the finest dining at sea. Best food and best service. And I am a Regent fan with 10 cruises done and 2 more booked. Also 10 on Silversea,2 on Seabourne,1 Cunard and a bunch on the old Royal Viking Sun. I hope Regent will catch up to Oceania MDR.

From our perspective, Oceania's MDR does not meet our expectations (quality). Tried dining there twice and found the food unsatisfactory (service was fine). The only dining venue we love on Oceania is Jacques (better than Signatures or Chartreuse In my opinion). The steak house and Italian restaurant are different but equal.

It is our hope that Regent continues serving food as they have been for years. In my opinion, there is a reason why Regent is a luxury cruise line and Oceania is premium-plus. Again, the service on Oceania is excellent (on par with Regent).

IMHO it is a waste of time to compare/debate O with Regent. This is a Regent thread. O is a completely different product. Have sailed on many O cruises in penthouse, owner, and Oceania suites, Regent is a different experience. Have been on Regent many times, as well as the other premium lines. They are all different and have their pluses and minuses.

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IMHO it is a waste of time to compare/debate O with Regent. This is a Regent thread. O is a completely different product. Have sailed on many O cruises in penthouse, owner, and Oceania suites, Regent is a different experience. Have been on Regent many times, as well as the other premium lines. They are all different and have their pluses and minuses.

 

 

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Agree with you but must say that having three live threads from the Explorer is wonderful but confusing. I believe that Oceania pops up because the TS of one of the threads is from Oceania and is taking their first Regent cruise (BTW, they like Regent food perhaps a bit better). In situations like this, comparisons do tend to come up.