Voyager in Great Shape

Coming to the end of our first segment on Voyager; probably one of our best cruises on this ship. Stephane and Kseniia run a fantastic food and beverage department; food best we have had. Staff wonderfully trained. Margaret, Elda, and Sunshine Sarah run a great entertainment department. Captain Felice has gotten us to the end of our trip with no issues.

Internet, although difficult at times from our cabin, has been fine. Open space forward on Deck 12 shows why Explorer should never be used for Suez or Panama Canal transit but I still prefer Mariner for outdoor spaces forward.

On for another seven weeks; I am sure Captain Greene will run as tight a ship.

Marc

Marq, thank you for sharing! I hope that you will enjoy the remaining 7 weeks of your cruise and continue to share your experiences with us.

Marc (and Arlene) wonderful to hear y’all are enjoying your Voyager retirement cruises. We found the Voyager also an exceptional cruise experience earlier this year (Jan-Mar). Captain Felice also led for the first three weeks of our cruise, then was followed by Captain Green.

Margaret Lynn led her fab entertainment team (we had David as a/cd) flawlessly (despite being an Auburn Tiger (darn they pasted the Univ. Of Georgia bulldogs yesterday). If u find a moment, please give Margaret Ida and my very warm regards.

Like y’all we so much enjoyed our Voyager grand voyage this year, so much so, we booked the Mariner Grand voyage (circumnavigation of Australia) in December 2018/January 2019.

Please enjoy a few snaps of and our Voyager CD/Margaret (w/ida) and at dinner with us

below.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Sounds like a fabulous cruise. That’s a great line up onboard . Glad to hear you are having a great time. Look forward to more posts. Thanks, Jean.

Margaret really is a jewel. Keep having fun!

Our 63 night cruise on Voyager is sadly coming to an end; it has been an absolutely fantastic experience. Voyager may finally pass Mariner as my favorite ship; we will see when I am on Mariner next month. Anatoli is absolutely fantastic as GM; this has been our first cruise with him. Margaret was fantastic as has been Ray; Elda, Sara, and Nicola all wonderful.

Best trained crew. Even pool deck ran efficiently with Catalin calling the signals from the pool bar. I had one suggestion that all bar waiters on Deck 11 wear earpieces while Catalin have a microphone so he can instantly veer staff to guests; maybe I will bring some on my next cruise so they can experiment. :cool:

Stephane and Rico were both great as F&B. Kseniia is fantastic as Asst F&B and Avinash is a wonderful Head Bartender. All bartenders and assistant bartenders have been fantastic; I just hope Corporate reconsiders their decision not to let Asians be full Bartenders.

All restaurants have been running smoothly. Stephane (Chartreuse), Aleksandr (P7) and David are great at running the show. Food wonderful. No complaints at all. Christmas Eve, Christmas, and our Anniversary were all handled so specially; we are thrilled. I really like the dining reservation desk as so many people cancel their specialty reservations so we have had few issues getting in whenever we want.

Yes, a couple of hiccups along the way but nothing that takes away from a beautiful experience. As Regent has instituted a best price guarantee for onboard bookings; they couldn't/wouldn't lower price of this sailing (our fourth segment) in USA to fill the ship; therefore, we ended up with a very large Asian contingent (67 from Hong Kong alone) and 33 total nationalities; really changed the dynamic.

Bottom line; Great ship; Great management; Great crew.

So nice to read your review! We get on in about a month. I have always loved the Voyager. Do you know who will serve as the Captain, GM, and CD? (Feb 2nd Singapore - Sydney). I’m curious about your comment about Asians not being allowed to be full bartenders. What’s that about?

Yeah, that kinda got a raised eyebrow out of me, too. I'd never really paid attention to that before, but thinking back, I don't recall any Asian bartenders off the top of my head. Mostly Eastern Europeans, I think?

First let me admit that I have no expertise with respect to sourcing of Regent bartenders. However, as it was explained to me by the F&B manager on one of the HAL ships some years ago - virtually all the ships workers are sourced through contract agencies in various countries and these agencies generally specialize in certain categories of workers. Often they test and qualify and sometimes train perspective workers in the respective skill sets. Athe time, HAL used an agency in the Philippines for their bar staff and an agency in Malaysia for their restaurant staff. So, the bar staff was Philopino and the restaurant staff generally Malaysian. Although the restaurant staff may have served drinks, they could not be promoted or shifted to bar staff as they could not easily shift agencies.

I suspect (but do not know for certain) that there are similar factors at work on Regent.

Our 63 night cruise on Voyager is sadly coming to an end; it has been an absolutely fantastic experience. Voyager may finally pass Mariner as my favorite ship; we will see when I am on Mariner next month. Anatoli is absolutely fantastic as GM; this has been our first cruise with him. Margaret was fantastic as has been Ray; Elda, Sara, and Nicola all wonderful.

 

Best trained crew. Even pool deck ran efficiently with Catalin calling the signals from the pool bar. I had one suggestion that all bar waiters on Deck 11 wear earpieces while Catalin have a microphone so he can instantly veer staff to guests; maybe I will bring some on my next cruise so they can experiment. :cool:

 

Stephane and Rico were both great as F&B. Kseniia is fantastic as Asst F&B and Avinash is a wonderful Head Bartender. All bartenders and assistant bartenders have been fantastic; I just hope Corporate reconsiders their decision not to let Asians be full Bartenders.

 

All restaurants have been running smoothly. Stephane (Chartreuse), Aleksandr (P7) and David are great at running the show. Food wonderful. No complaints at all. Christmas Eve, Christmas, and our Anniversary were all handled so specially; we are thrilled. I really like the dining reservation desk as so many people cancel their specialty reservations so we have had few issues getting in whenever we want.

 

Yes, a couple of hiccups along the way but nothing that takes away from a beautiful experience. As Regent has instituted a best price guarantee for onboard bookings; they couldn't/wouldn't lower price of this sailing (our fourth segment) in USA to fill the ship; therefore, we ended up with a very large Asian contingent (67 from Hong Kong alone) and 33 total nationalities; really changed the dynamic.

 

Bottom line; Great ship; Great management; Great crew.

Marc and Arlene:

Congratulations on your great adventure. What a way to start retirement. Mary sat me down this morning for the "final" edit. About 500 photos left from the thousands taken. This review reminded us of how much enjoyment we got from our Dubai to Singapore leg. We plan to do HK to Shanghai in 2020.

Best for the New Year,

Jim C

Great to read all this upbeat news about the Voyager. What is the decor and furnishing like following its refit. We were very disappointed with those aspects of the Navigator following its refurbishment and also the Explorer. We found the decor too dark - all those browns - and the furniture was much too heavy both in weight and in appearance. I hope Regent learned lessons and used a different and better interior designer for the Voyager and will do so in March for the Mariner and in due course for the new ship.

Great to read all this upbeat news about the Voyager. What is the decor and furnishing like following its refit. We were very disappointed with those aspects of the Navigator following its refurbishment and also the Explorer. We found the decor too dark - all those browns - and the furniture was much too heavy both in weight and in appearance. I hope Regent learned lessons and used a different and better interior designer for the Voyager and will do so in March for the Mariner and in due course for the new ship.

While we won't be on Voyager until March, both the Voyager and Mariner are reportedly going to have the same style, colors and design as Explorer and Navigator. I understand that some people don't like the decor and others (like myself) love it. Having just gotten off of the Mariner (whose colors and furniture I don't like), we look forward to seeing the "new" Voyager and eventually the "new" Mariner. IMO, there will always been some that like and dislike the decor. While I would not decorate my home in those colors, I find them elegant on the Explorer.

The one thing that I'm not happy about (based on comments from people that have been on the Navigator and Voyager) is the lack of drawers in some of the suites. Unlike suiters on Explorer that have loads of drawers, the refurbished ships have had drawers and storage space removed (again, according to what posters have stated).

I much prefer the look of the new/refurbished ships - the darker hues - to the previous décor. I've only seen Navigator and Explorer in the last year or so but I was impressed with the change in Navigator.

All personal taste, I know.

I noticed the lack of drawer space compared to the previous cabin layouts, but as we never sail more than 14-15 days it's not a major factor for us. I can see where it would be a problem for a longer cruise, though, especially if you're visiting different climate zones. I wouldn't mind seeing some drawers and the overhead barware cabinets return (and I'm sure the cabin stewards would appreciate it, too). Maybe someday we'll be able to get loose for 30, 40 days or more...and then we can be bothered by the lack of storage, too! :D But I don't see that happening as long as our big black furbaby is still with us. Now if only Regent would have a nice luxurious kennel and dog run aboard....

They removed storage?? What did they do with the space? Sounds dumb

They removed storage?? What did they do with the space? Sounds dumb

Yes - very dumb!

While we won't be on Voyager until March, both the Voyager and Mariner are reportedly going to have the same style, colors and design as Explorer and Navigator. I understand that some people don't like the decor and others (like myself) love it. Having just gotten off of the Mariner (whose colors and furniture I don't like), we look forward to seeing the "new" Voyager and eventually the "new" Mariner. IMO, there will always been some that like and dislike the decor. While I would not decorate my home in those colors, I find them elegant on the Explorer.

 

The one thing that I'm not happy about (based on comments from people that have been on the Navigator and Voyager) is the lack of drawers in some of the suites. Unlike suiters on Explorer that have loads of drawers, the refurbished ships have had drawers and storage space removed (again, according to what posters have stated).

When I got off the Voyager in October they had old cabinets, really old. Kind of an oak color. They had not been upgraded.

Cabinets above desk gone. We travelled for 63 nights in regular sized suite with both snorkel gear and parkas for Harbin; not an issue. There is a side table at end of couch; we stored a lot of stuff under that table. Also, the main table is so much bigger that it ended up being used a lot for papers and computers.

All F&B and Housekeeping staff are actually employees of Apollo Management Group. Going forward, only female europeans will be "bartenders." All "assistant" bartenders were Asians (Philippines or Indonesia). However, an Asian can be "head" bartender, even in new system. Avinash is a fantastic head bartender with eyes always open and a very strong work ethic.

Marc

When I got off the Voyager in October they had old cabinets, really old. Kind of an oak color. They had not been upgraded.

Curious as to what category suite(s) you noticed. I may be under the misimpression that all suites were upgraded.

Marc- not sure how this fits into what you posted but a favorite European male bartender on Mariner was just promoted. Sorry to hear that "going forward" bartenders will be female European's as we have found at least 50% of them unfriendly in the last couple of years (with a couple of outstanding exceptions like Olga) and some are unwilling to try to make a "different" drink.