Voyager XMas Cruise - Mixed Bag of Very Good and Very Bad

[TxnAquarian]

Hello everyone,

 

I will write a more detailed review later, but I just wanted to mention some thoughts I had about the Voyager's 10-day Eastern Caribbean Xmas cruise (Dec 18-28). Previously I have been on Navigator and Mariner several times. Overall, we had a great time - but Regent is obviously suffering from some very serious service issues.

 

The Good:

 

First off, I want to say that the Voyager is now my favorite Regent ship. It is stunning and the layout and use of space is excellent. It is arguably the most elegant ship afloat. Everything from La Veranda down to the Constellation Theater is well thought out and creates a relaxing, beautiful environment. I loved the library - one of the coziest spots afloat.

 

The cruise staff were great! Everyone from Lorraine (CD) to Chris (ACD) to Nicola (Social Hostess) did an awesome job of trying to create enthusiasm onboard - and let me tell you, this was one of the least enthusiastic groups of passengers ever. The events were well-run (although poorly attended) and it was a real pleasure to sail with this team. I will happily sail with the lovely Lorraine again!

 

Grand Turk & St.Barts were my 2 favorite ports on this cruise. I won't go into detail about them, but Grand Turk was the biggest surprise and St. Barts is always a pleasure.

 

Prime 7 was one of the best dining experiences I've had onboard any ship. I dined there twice and was overwhelmed by the stellar service, perfectly presented and prepared food and elegant, clubby atmosphere. I'll admit, I was a fan of Latitudes back in the day. But Prime 7 is a worthy replacement and one that I will recall fondly long after this cruise. Andrew, our Scottish server, embodied hospitality and warmth.

 

 

The Bad:

 

There is some vibration issue going on with the back of the ship. My suite was 1051, right in the back, and the vibration was so bad at times that I literally had to put 3 or 4 pillows over my head in order to drown out the noise to sleep. I have never experienced this, and I am wondering if anyone else has had a problem with this. My parents were located mid-ships and they didn't experience this.

 

Regent has taken an all-style and no-substance approach to food (at least judging from our cruise). With the exception of Prime 7, meals were disappointingly hit-or-miss. The dishes looked amazing, but turned out to be bland and unappetizing. Breads were stale. The chips at the Tex-Mex buffet were stale. Desserts were bland. I am not a foodie by any means, so I was able to live with the poor food. But it was surprising considering how consistent Regent has been in the past. On a side note, the pineapple and watermelon served onboard were wonderful. And the Thai Pumpkin Soup in Compass Rose is not to be missed. It was amazing!

 

Service was shockingly bad on this cruise. Regent has obviously cut back on staff and it shows. Dining room servers were hurried and irritated. Drinks were ordered that either never appeared - or we got a double order of what was requested. I ordered a burger at the grill one day and it never appeared. After waiting for 30 minutes, I asked the gentleman at the grill about it and he seemed annoyed that I was inquiring. I ended going to La Veranda instead. It was so obvious some of the staff didn't want to be there, that it was a little awkward. I was walking down the corridor one day and said "Good Morning" to a butler passing by. He ignored me. In Compass Rose, it was difficult to get a server. And once we did, the delay between courses was way too long. Orders came out undercooked or overcooked or totally wrong. It was all very weird. The only staff who were friendly were the ones who remembered me from the Mariner in 2007. Otherwise, it felt like a bother to ask anyone for anything.

 

 

All in all, this was a fun cruise. I met some great people. And the ship is amazing. But I am hoping Regent can get some of their service issues rectified. I will stick with other luxury lines for the next year, but will definitely be back to Regent and give it another shot.

 

 

 

Michael

[aksmusic]

hi

 

My hubby and I were on the same cruise. I think food is very subjective and overall, we thought the food was really good and didn't get stale bread. Prime 7 was really fab in our opinion. the only complaint I would have about compass rose is that over time the menu can get a little repetitive.

 

However, I do have to agree about the service. Although we didn't have such a bad experience as the original poster, and our stewardness was really nice, we did think that the service was a bit underwhelming at times. It was small things, like calling the stewardess and not getting any response, or sometimes the service was slow in compass rose.

 

I have noticed that the prices have risen considerably beginning in 2010 for all cruises. I don't think based on the service that those prices are justified, even with included excursions.

 

looking forward to your full review.

[popper]

My husband, daughter, parents and I were also on this cruise.

Some crew really stood out as personable, friendly and very helpful. The Scottish waiter in Prime 7 was indeed very personable and knowledgeable.

 

We ate breakfast in La Veranda most mornings and had a very good crew of servers there that were friendly and remembered our order preferences - it was sad to say goodbye to them at the end of the cruise.

 

The elder bar tender in Horizon lounge was consistently rude and unfriendly. Our first night on board he refused to let me carry a second glass of wine to my mother's cabin. Insisting we order room service (we had ordered wine from room service, but after an hour and a half waiting for it, decided to try to procure it ourselves...)

 

Many of the wait staff in Compass Rose were good, we tended to eat earlier when it was less busy, it was more rushed and disorganized during the mid-dinner hours - having said that there were several large extended family groups dining together and some REALLY high maintenance passengers making demands of the waiters, rudely demanding menu changes, wanting food off-menu and generally acting way too entitled!

 

I witnessed several exchanges where passengers were so rude and unappreciative of the staff that it was embaressing, I felt badly for the crew and wanted to apologize on their behalf!

 

Tea time and Trivia was well attended (and rather competitive), you needed to get there early to get a seat - the Horizon lounge is a more cramped space for tea than the location on the Navigator, so the servers seemed a bit cranky there most of the time.

 

The ship was lovely, public areas, casino, library, lounges all well appointed.

 

The spa was a bit disorganized, but they had just switched over to Canyon Ranch and the spa techs had only been on board a few days. The spa was expensive, but then we didnt realize until we got home that an 18% gratuity was already included, must have missed the fine print.... so we ended up tipping very well indeed!

 

we booked excursions online the minute they became available for every port and booked Prime 7 and Signatures online too. Some passengers said they didnt know about booking online and were dissapointed to not have excursions or restaurant availability.

 

Pool bar service was a bit slow on some days, the pool bar bartenders were not very happy chaps, but again the ship was fully booked and there were some demanding passengers.

 

There were lounge chairs reserved around the pool from early in the morning with books/towels on them - occupants might show up an hour or two later, there were notices in the daily program saying items would be removed if unattended, but it never happened. That was annoying - again, rude passengers...

 

There were very few updates from the bridge - on prior Regent cruises we had a mid day position/weather/'hey it's me the captain' update. This captain was spotted quite often, but whenever we saw him he was huddled with other senior officers looking concerned and in serious discussion. Captains MacNeil and Romeo gave more updates and seemed more relaxed and friendly. Not a big deal, I don't cruise to rub elbows with the captain...

 

A stand out memory was pulling out of St Maarten on Christmas eve - there were 5 ships in port that day, including Voyager (MSC, RCL, QM2, Pullmantur). As we were setting sail the ships all "talked" to each other by blasting their ship whistles - the Queen Mary 2 providing a very loud, deep GOODBYE - it was very cool.

 

Best free excursion was by far the America's Cup 12 metre challenge in St Maarten - very invigorating and exciting!

 

On the last night a pre-dinner 'James Bond 007' Martini cocktail / trivia event in the theater was held. It was really well done and a lot of fun, many guests commented that we could have used something like that earlier in the cruise to get the passengers involved.

 

All in all a great cruise, can't wait for the next one - although the same cruise next year is 50% more expensive (fingers crossed for special offers in 2010!)

[WesW]

TxnAcquarian, AskMusic, Popper; thanks for the very useful Voyager feedback.

[TxnAquarian]

Popper, I must piggyback on two comments you made.

 

First of all, a lot of passengers on this trip were indeed very rude. I was taken aback by some of the behavior towards the staff and it was pretty madening to watch. On day at Bingo, the letter/number coordinate did not light up on the board when it was called. After a big to-do in which Chris the ACD was trying to calm down some passengers who were irritated by this, one of the guests yelled out to the poor girl (one of the ship's singers) who was calling the numbers, "What kind of idiot are you that you can't see the number didn't light up? You'd think they could hire someone for this job who could f****g read!" There was also a day at trivia in which some people booed at the host when they didn't agree with an answer. It was all quite horrifying and uncivilized.

 

And, yes, the sailaway from St. Maarten was incredibly special when all of the ships acknowledged each other and the Queen Mary 2 let out a huge blast. All of the passengers from QM2 were shouting to our ship wishing us a "Merry Christmas". That was an unforgettable evening.

 

 

 

 

Michael

[scb]

I am appalled. :( No wonder the staff were out of sorts!

[Island Cruiser]

We were on board from Rio to Ft. Lauderdale. Just one cruise between yours. Mostly same staff. We heard lots about rude passengers on our cruise but didn't have the painful experience of seeing rudeness personally. Steven, in P7, is an absolute gem. He's a gem in CR at breakfast and lunch too. We enjoyed consistently great service all the time including breakfast in CR. We noticed the "prime" deck chairs "reserved" at 7:30 am. Regent should enforce the no reservation policy or dump it. The officers on our cruise were quite distant and the captain clearly uncomfortable speaking to an audience. I could have cared less. IMO you are experiencing an upgrade in the quality of the CD. Others will differ. We found the food quality wonderful in all venues except LV. All in all ours was a great cruise as I hope yours will prove to be too. There were glitches of course. But I don't expect to take any glitch-free vacations. Pat

[Island Cruiser]

Oops, I should have identified Andrew as the P7 star waiter, not Steven. Andrew was also sensational at breakfast and lunch in CR. Andrew is a Scot. Steven is another of the sensational waiters. He is English. He worked in CR as a waiter along with Joey the head waiter who is also sensational for dinner and in LV at breakfast and lunch as a server in the careteria line. We had great service from many other wonderful waiters including Adorable whose services we have enjoyed since our first Regent cruise in 2003. Pat

[Travelcat2]

There is something happening with the quality of Regent passengers. Although we have only sailed with Regent since 2004, this type of behavior was not reported until recently. Actually, the first time I read about this behavior was on the Alaska itinerary last summer (coincidentally, this is when "free excursions" began).

 

People on mainstream cruise lines, with thousands of other passengers, tend more towards saving seats around the pool, etc. There are also many, many people with a history of cruising mainstream that can now afford Regent (partially due to the excessive all-inclusivity).

 

Before you flame me -- I am not judging people -- rather noting the differences in the type of cruising. Luxury lines tend to be quite sedate. There simply is not a need to save seats, cut in line to embark, disembark before you are requested to, etc.

 

Most of the present crew on the Voyager are the best we have seen. If there is a problem, I would tend to believe that it is caused by rude passengers. When we were on the Voyager last month (and early this month), we did not have one moment when the service was not excellent.

 

IMO, Regent needs to decide who their target market is and cater to them.

 

Out of curiosity, does anyone know what percentage of passengers on this cruise were repeat customers?

[old grump]

I have to agree. Martha and I were also on the Rio-FLL cruise as our forth Regent cruise and it's the first time I recall so many folks rushing to the front of almost any line formed, indifference to fellow cruisers and in general, behavior that would be frowned upon by my mother who taught me some sought of manners. The Regent crew work long hours away from their families and in most cases do it in a cheerful manner, so I cringe when I see the " ugly American " in action.

Pardon the spelling, but it's getting late and past happy hour!:)

[cruzndiz]

Jackie: I'm ready to be flamed here too.....but this is almost exactly what I was saying last year when I made the comment that I hoped Regent DIDN'T discount their fares and continued marketing to a more upscale crowd

[MrMojoRisin]

I agree with Pat's comments earlier (not surprising as we seemed to agree on most things!).

 

One of the rudest passengers I came across on the Rio - FLL leg was, I know, staying on for the Caribbean cruise. If he was, then perhaps there were others as well.

 

I don't think the rudeness of certain passengers is necessarily a factor of the more inclusive, lower fares policy. People are rude or they are not - simple. Our cruise was our first on Regent - I'm not sure if we will be able to go again - but it did seem to me that, based on an unrepresentative sample I admit, those rude passengers were repeat passengers.

[hondorner]

I am a teensy bit dismayed to see the assumption that it is the lower fares that are the cause of the rudeness. This has an element, perhaps unintended, of elitism, something I am a bit concerned about when considering a luxury cruise. You see, our budget is such that we must sacrifice a bit to take a luxury cruise or even an upper premium cruise like Oceania, but we "clean up Real Good" and manage to "pass" without rude or boorish behavior.

 

Considering some of the examples set in the past year by "role models" like Joe Wilson and town hall meeting instigators, is it not surprising that some think it permissable to act out?

[popper]

on the Christmas cruise some of the rudest behaviour noted was from those in higher level suites or some of the folks in the large extended family groups. it was as if they felt they had paid more and were therefore entitled to demand more. Most that I encountered were prior Regent (or Silversea) passengers.

 

I suspect 'standard' cabin folks like me that save their pennies for this special treat every couple of years were very appreciative to be on board!

[PaulaJK]

I've just caught up with these posts. Wow! Luckily the New Year's cruise seems to have a friendly, happy mix of passengers with greetings on deck and easy casual conversations. I haven't observed any rude behaviors. Perhaps your pax did negatively influence the crew's responses because on this cruise they seem very friendly with their continuous greetings. And certainly we have not experienced any of the service omissions or commissions that you did.

 

There is no question that with a fully booked cruise the crew is stretched. We leave our cabin at 8am and it is not serviced until after lunch. At first we wondered whether are stewardess was competent but saw the cabin well maintained and observed that she had a large number of cabins to service solo. For us it is also observable that the DR staff is squeezed at dinner but we are a party of four that is happy to chat and leisurely proceed. The pool bar staff is busy but also rather [characteristically] unsociable; don;t know what gives there. Wonderful Jose is in the Horizon bar. Service in the Voyager Lounge is a bit slow at happy hour but the lounge is quite crowded.

 

Sorry for your disappointment as a cruise is too large an investment to walk away from unhappy.

I'm sorry for your experience as a cruise is too large a committment of time, energy and finances to have a disappointing experience.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I agree with horndorner that wealth is not an indicator of polite behaviour. Yes, we had a few boorish types on our Rio-FLL trip on Voyager. And I'm sure they had plenty of dough. I'm betting that normal folks like us who, as you say, "clean up nicely", are a pretty decent bunch. Hate to say it, but in my past experience, the most boorish, nasty, rude people on Regent ships are the "captains of industry" types, and sometimes their wives. Apologies to any captains of industry! :cool:

 

I also would point out that rudeness does not equate to "ugly American". There were definitely boorish Brits onboard too, and who knows, probably boorish Canucks.

[OrpingtonT]

I was beginning to get worried about our, full, April cruise on Mariner. I hate the idea of seeing the chairs on the pool deck reserved and staff too busy to exchange greetings or fill up your wine glass or be stressed to the point of not fulfilling their duties. Especially as I have persuaded our son and his wife to forsake Seabourn, where nothing is too much trouble, for Regent to join us.

 

But I like your attitude, PaulaJK, and I am hoping I won't get " But it isn't like this on Seabourn" all through our voyage.

[RachelG]

I have been appalled by the rude behaviour of some guests a couple of times. Thankfully, they are usually few and far between on Regent, but it sounds like the recent Christmas cruise had more than a few.

 

Not an excuse, but I can understand how this would contribute to the staff being stressed and not at their best.

 

Stephen and Andrew are however both outstanding waiters. I am that they were at least in good form, as I expect is always the case with them.

 

The vibration at the rear of Voyager has been well documented in multiple posts on this board. I avoid any suite back of the last set of elevators due to this.

[Travelcat2]

I am a teensy bit dismayed to see the assumption that it is the lower fares that are the cause of the rudeness. This has an element, perhaps unintended, of elitism, something I am a bit concerned about when considering a luxury cruise. You see, our budget is such that we must sacrifice a bit to take a luxury cruise or even an upper premium cruise like Oceania, but we "clean up Real Good" and manage to "pass" without rude or boorish behavior.

 

Considering some of the examples set in the past year by "role models" like Joe Wilson and town hall meeting instigators, is it not surprising that some think it permissable to act out?

 

IMO, Regent passengers are not elitists. In fact, everyone is very laid back and relaxed. No one knows or cares how much money the other passengers have -- we are all there to enjoy the cruise and the company of others.

 

I probably did not express my point of view very well. Passengers on mainstream cruiselines are used to having difficulty getting seats on the pool deck -- the only way they can do so is to save them very early in the morning. It also can take forever to disembark from the ship so many take their own luggage (which apparently causes another line for those waiting to disembark). The whole feel is completely different than on a luxury cruise.

 

It seems that since the pricing on Regent is the same as some large ship cruise lines, people have booked Regent without really researching the culture/differences between mainstream/premium and luxury cruising. They may embark on Regent with the same mindset as if they were boarding a 3,000 passenger ship instead of sitting back and letting Regent handle everything. There is no need to rush to the front of lines as if you are going to miss something. This is the area where I feel the lower prices is causing apparent rudeness by passengers who are saving seats, cutting in lines, etc.

 

On the other side of the coin are passengers like you (meaning "hondorner") who want to know as much as you can about cruising on Regent. We were the same way when we made the decision to take our first luxury cruise. It just occurred to me that there are some similarities between going from land vacations to cruises or mainstream to luxury, or visiting other countries. When I am traveling to a another country, I read about the culture and customs to make sure I do not inadvertantly act in a way that would be offensive to the people. In some countries, as you may know, it is not rude to push in line in front of someone.

 

Being rude to the crew is another thing altogether and certainly does not have to do with pricing of the cruises. Nor does the size suite you are in We have stayed in everything from a regular to a master suite -- we do not change personalities with the suite size (in fact, when we did a last minute upgrade to a master suite, we didn't want to tell anyone -- just did not want to be judged).

 

For whatever reason, there were postings of very rude behavior (towards staff) on a leg of the Discovery Collection in November and now on the Christmas cruise. Hopefully this is not something that will continue into the new year.

 

Don't worry unnecessarily about your upcoming cruise -- I am absolutely positive that you will enjoy your Regent experience.:)

[neviboy]

We too , Hannah and Neville, were on Rio to Ft.Laud. Our 11th. Regent. On the subject of service, in early years of Radisson/Regent, most of the crew were European. Due to many factors, the crews are now mostly from the Philippines with the language AND the culture differences. This accounts for the lack of 'warmth' between passengers and crew. In years past, for example, bartenders, always loquacious, knew our drinks and always had a 'chichat.' On this cruise they seemed to be wary of anyone acting friendly, and seemed to be on edge. Except for the stewardesses. They only dealt with a limited number of guests, however.

We did not observe any rudeness except on the one day at tea when trivia disturbed the tranquility of that relaxing area at the blunt end of the ship.

I wish you all a contented new year, especially the friends that we met on board.

Maybe you can join us on our Sept. 5th. cruise on Mariner.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Neville I wish I had gotten the name of the young kid who worked the Observation Lounge. Quite often he was the one who was nearest the door when we went in during the day, and gave us a huge face-splitting grin. He was a really nice kid, very young, toothy smile. I found many of the Philipino(a) staff were very friendly if you engaged them. Some were a bit skittish, I admit. One of the bartenders in the same OL was like that. She was not really up to snuff.

[aksmusic]

I do agree there were some rude passengers, particularly in the Compass Rose in the busy nights. I contribute this to partly to the ship being full, and to the decrease in the service staff. The Compass Rose service was slower than I remembered on previous cruises.

 

However, I disagree about the discounting and attracting "less civilized" passengers. At $4,000 pp, I can't really see that as a discount - even if it's mostly all-inclusive, it still is quite steep for a normal working person.

 

Most people we met were repeat Regent customers.

[wripro]

Regarding people saving pool side chaises from 7:30 AM and not using them I simply don't understand why any of us would not simply remove the book or towel or whatever is being used ourselves. If I came up to the pool and there were no chaises available and I saw a bunch of them unused and reserved I would check my watch and exactly thirty minutes later I would remove the article and hand it to the nearest crew member.

[Travelcat2]

Regarding people saving pool side chaises from 7:30 AM and not using them I simply don't understand why any of us would not simply remove the book or towel or whatever is being used ourselves. If I came up to the pool and there were no chaises available and I saw a bunch of them unused and reserved I would check my watch and exactly thirty minutes later I would remove the article and hand it to the nearest crew member.

 

What you are saying is very logical. Unfortunately (or fortunately), most Regent guests are very polite and would not want to remove another passenger's belongings. IMO, this should be taken care of by the crew. While we are not people who enjoy the sun (raised in it). . . we do like to sit in the shade for a few minutes. On our cruise last month, there was never a chaise available during the day. It was frustrating to see that no one seemed to care about this. Obviously, even a half full ship cannot accommodate all passengers on the pool deck. It is up to Regent to remove the belongings of chaise hogs.

[wripro]

Travelcat2,

 

I agree that the problem should be handled by staff. However when it is not I would have no problem handling the belongings of people who are thoughtless enough to hog a chaise all day without considering anyone else's needs, whether they are Regent passengers or Carnival passengers.