The bitter truth about Regent!

[charltonkerry]

We have returned from our vineyard and vista cruise aboard Voyager, and I intend to do a review when I have better access to the Internet. However I know that there are a few people out there who are awaiting the news re my request for English bitter to be placed on board.

 

Yes, it was and it very much appreciated, Regent was very kind in supplying Fullers London Pride in bottles to my cabin with a few bottles scattered around some bars, unbelievable service.

 

Overall the holiday was great, but on the last night after I had submitted our customer comments form, a very unfortunate and in my opinion a totally unnecessary incident happened, I am wondering what I should do, drop it, or complain to the highest authorities, unfortunately I am not the type of person to complain, but, to be honest it totally ruined what should have been an enjoyable experience and it left a bad taste in my mouth, let me explain:

 

As you are aware I am British, but what you wont be aware is that i am extermely proud of this and of our history, and as you will probably be there's some celebrations taking place over the weekend regarding the queens diamond jubilee. In the horizon lounge they decided to put on as a tribute to the British, a Beatles night, nothing to get upset about so far. But unbelievably they decked the venue out with Australian flags, I complained to one person who shrugged his shoulders and walked away, normally I would leave it there, but on this occasion, I was seething at what I perceived as an insult to our great nation. I thought no, I not leaving it, so I had a quiet word with a dancer, who to his credit admitted he didn't know what the Union flag looked like but, would have a word with someone, I suggested that he ask for the cruise director (he was English, so in my opinion he should have realised the mistake before the show even went on and have corrected it) to come and discuss it with me, however this didn't happen.

 

Now the question is am I being over sensitive, or should I take this further, is it just simply an error or ignorance on somebody part or is it that an American company dosen't realise or care that they can insult one of there allies by using the wrong flag, I don't know, but I would like your feed back.

 

Perhaps I should explain that the Australian flag has the union flag in the top left corner with four stars on a background of blue.

 

Regards

Kerry.

[Gilly]

Kerry, I won't presume to suggest what further action you might take, but simply say that the Australians are celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of their Queen too.

[tallship]

Surely not something to let ruin your wonderful trip. Chalk it up to simple ignorance......or even that they made do with what they had on board

[charltonkerry]

Tallships, I think you are right. Anyway they still got my bitter on board, for which I think they deserve a lot of credit for.

 

Thanks, and of course you are a 100% correct Gilly, I hope my wording didn't upset any Aussies as it wasn't intended to.

 

As I said we really enjoyed the cruise, but unfortunately I won't be able to do a write up on it for about a week as our router blew up upon our return and I got to wait a week for a replacement one.

Regards

Kerry

[room010]

Ahem, she's the Queen of Australia too! I can understand why you're a bit miffed but I don't think it's worth making a big fuss about to be honest. Regent may have dropped the ball over the flag, but they did provide the right beer!

 

Let us know how the rest of your cruise went please!

[charltonkerry]

Room010, I think our posts crossed in the magic world of the Internet, hope my follow up comments amended my poorly worded post.

[room010]

No worries mate! And I'd still like to read your review when it's done.

[thebooler]

Spare a thought for us poor Scots. Glasgow City Council have next to nothing up in the city to celebrate the Jubilee of our wonderful Queen, yet spent over £15m on the Pope's visit recently!

We've actually had people complaining about shops and places of work putting up bunting, saying it's sectarian!

[Avondale]

No reason to complain. Perhaps, the Aussie's should. There are six stars on their flag, not four

[cruiseej]

It's certainly worth sending a note to Regent HQ. What you may or may not have realized is that the Beatles show in the lounge takes place every week. So it's possible they've been flying the wrong flag week after week, and will continue to do so until someone gets it corrected. Or perhaps they just made an honest mistake trying to dress up the stage this week with the flags due to the jubilee.

 

Back to your question about whether you are being over-sensitive. I certainly understand your patriotism and why you would be put off by seeing the wrong flag. However, I don't think it's worth being anywhere near "seething" angry. Someone tried to do something nice and screwed up. To me, it sounds like it was a well-intentioned, honest mistake.

 

-- Eric

[TedC]

" The Devil is in the details"

 

 

 

Sounds like you had a wonderful experience with a somewhat bitter end - dwell on the good and ignore the flag mixup.

 

 

( Almost nobody is perfect, and I'm not sure about the other guy.)

[Travelcat2]

Also happy to hear that you had a good experience on your cruise. Truly hope that you do not allow the experience with the flags leave you with a negative feeling towards Regent. It was a honest mistake and it is strange that this has not been brought to their attention previously.

 

BTW, we are enjoying the Queen's Diamond Jubilee on television. I hope you were able to see coverage of it on Regent -- they are very limited in terms of what channels they are able to receive on the ship.

 

Looking forward to your review next week.:)

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Now the question is am I being over sensitive, or should I take this further, is it just simply an error or ignorance on somebody part or is it that an American company dosen't realise or care that they can insult one of there allies by using the wrong flag, I don't know, but I would like your feed back.

 

Yes, you are being oversensitive. But then again I agree that if they do it week after week it should be corrected.

 

On our recent Navigator cruise, we had a lot of British onboard, and so they had a Commonwealth event in the show lounge. Champagne, toasts to the Queen, very nice. But when they announced the different nationalities onboard, they forgot Canadians! I immediately protested, and of course, they corrected it, plus they gave us numbers of how many from each country were onboard.

 

Since the assistant CD (Chris Martin) onboard Navigator is actually British, I doubt if they would have made that same mistake on Beatles Night when he's aboard!

[charltonkerry]

Thanks, everyone it is obvious that I was being oversensitive then. My wife got it right, shut up and enjoy the show, being the ever listening husband this is exactly what I did.

 

No it didn't spoil my view of the holiday, which was great fun but very tiring with something like 13 ports in 14 days, weather was pretty good as well. But probably the best part was the friendliness of my fellow passengers, having never been to America it was a pleasant and welcome bonus.

 

More to follow in about a weeks time.

 

Regards

Kerry

[2old4this]

We have returned from our vineyard and vista cruise aboard Voyager, and I intend to do a review when I have better access to the Internet. However I know that there are a few people out there who are awaiting the news re my request for English bitter to be placed on board.

 

Yes, it was and it very much appreciated, Regent was very kind in supplying Fullers London Pride in bottles to my cabin with a few bottles scattered around some bars, unbelievable service.

 

Overall the holiday was great, but on the last night after I had submitted our customer comments form, a very unfortunate and in my opinion a totally unnecessary incident happened, I am wondering what I should do, drop it, or complain to the highest authorities, unfortunately I am not the type of person to complain, but, to be honest it totally ruined what should have been an enjoyable experience and it left a bad taste in my mouth, let me explain:

 

As you are aware I am British, but what you wont be aware is that i am extermely proud of this and of our history, and as you will probably be there's some celebrations taking place over the weekend regarding the queens diamond jubilee. In the horizon lounge they decided to put on as a tribute to the British, a Beatles night, nothing to get upset about so far. But unbelievably they decked the venue out with Australian flags, I complained to one person who shrugged his shoulders and walked away, normally I would leave it there, but on this occasion, I was seething at what I perceived as an insult to our great nation. I thought no, I not leaving it, so I had a quiet word with a dancer, who to his credit admitted he didn't know what the Union flag looked like but, would have a word with someone, I suggested that he ask for the cruise director (he was English, so in my opinion he should have realised the mistake before the show even went on and have corrected it) to come and discuss it with me, however this didn't happen.

 

Now the question is am I being over sensitive, or should I take this further, is it just simply an error or ignorance on somebody part or is it that an American company dosen't realise or care that they can insult one of there allies by using the wrong flag, I don't know, but I would like your feed back.

 

Perhaps I should explain that the Australian flag has the union flag in the top left corner with four stars on a background of blue.

 

Regards

Kerry.

 

Kerry "Good on yah, mate!" Had that been a celebration of America's signing of the Constitution (4th of July) and the party walls had been decorated with some other nation's flags, I would have done much more than complain - For sure! I would have sought management and bypassed the dancer. An email to CEO Mark would have been part of my follow up. I know the feeling of love for one's country and you Brits worship your country for good reason. I see that display you suffered through as thoughtless in the extreme by those in charge of the decorating. Jack Morris

[Arizonasunshine]

I'm an American, if Regent were celebrating a significant American holiday and used flags of another country I would be upset, and I doubt that I would be the only American that felt that way. You should let Regent know what happened, I am sure that they would want to correct this.

[hondorner]

Was the Beatles show performed by the ship's singers and dancers, or by 4 rather humdrum impersonators and called "Beatlemania"? If the latter, the special effects were probably their own, not done by the ship. That group performed on riviera during the Christening cruise, and it was the only low spot in the entertainment that cruise.

[Travelcat2]

I still think this was an honest error. My British DH finds images of the British flag upside down more times than I can remember. He simply blames it on ignorance. I wonder how many Americans reading this thread would know how you can tell if the British flag is right side up? While I know the difference between the Australian and British flags, some people see the Union Jack and think of Britain -- always in a good way (IMO).

[TravellersTwo]

Kerry "Good on yah, mate!" Had that been a celebration of America's signing of the Constitution (4th of July) and the party walls had been decorated with some other nation's flags, I would have done much more than complain - For sure! I would have sought management and bypassed the dancer. An email to CEO Mark would have been part of my follow up. I know the feeling of love for one's country and you Brits worship your country for good reason. I see that display you suffered through as thoughtless in the extreme by those in charge of the decorating. Jack Morris

 

 

I'd be upset if anyone celebrated the "signing of the Constitution" on 4th of July regardless of the flags used. The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776 not the "Constitution".

[wripro]

I sincerely doubt that this was an intentional affront. Just an error on some staff member's part. If this is the only problem you encountered on your cruise I would count yourself lucky. At least Regent tried to do something to commemorate the Jubilee. probably more than most other cruise lines.

[charltonkerry]

The ship entertainers undertook the Beatles songs.

 

I have managed to submit my review officially with the difficulty I am having with my Internet connection at home, a copy of which is below, suggest you go and make a nice cup of tea if you intend to read this.:rolleyes: sorry about the spelling mistakes, these have been corrected on the review but for some reason I couldn't copy the revised Version.

 

 

 

This is my review of our very first cruise on voyager and also with Regent, hope you find it interesting, informative and hopefully not to boring.

 

Departure / flight / check in etc

 

Documentation arrived and was first class, with all the necessary bits and pieces included, including luggage labels, which seems a bit of a rarity now days. We travelled to Heathrow on the Saturday night prior to our early morning departure on Sunday. We travelled fom the dreaded terminal 5, and stayed in the extremely nice and for a 5* hotel I thought reasonably priced adjoining the terminal, the curry I had was outstanding.

The flight in business class was good as was the checki in and passage through the airport. Arrival in Barcelona went to plan as did the meet up with the meet and greet team, with 2 other British couples we where transferred to the ship via a nice private taxi, all very easy and all ours fears of problems, getting last etc where totally unfounded.

Check in was very easy and painless, I think it took less than 5 minutes, we where informed where we could get food and drink before our cabins where ready prior to the manditory life boat drill, again all very simple and professionally undertaken.

 

Cabin

 

We where in an A grade cabin, the room was the best laid out I been in in all our cruises, whilst not being the largest, the space usage is exceptional, bathroom all marble with a full size bath and a separate showers, the freebies where good and covered all our needs. The bed was large and extremely comfortable and made me decide to treat ourselves to a new mattress upon our return, the sheets etc again where all top quality.

The fridge was fully stocked with various soft drinks and the requested London gin was in the drinks cabinet, just a question with "free" drinks ever where when are you meant to drink the wine and gin? The butler was great and answered all our question and found my requested bitter which Regent specially ordered and supplied for me, brilliant service. We have never used room service for our breakfast as often as we did, partly because of the early starts on this very port intensive cruise and also because the food was good and importantly hot.

The cabin assistant was a pleasure and totally unobtrusive.

 

General ship comments

 

The pool area was strangely quiet at the start of the cruise, but filled up more as the cruise progressed, all areas where well decorated with plenty of space, bars where well stocked, we didn't used La Veranda often, as when we are on holiday we liked to be spoilt and find service not to be of our liking.

We went to both the speciality restaurant with signatures being our first port of call, thought the room was nice and well laid out, Marion loved her food, however unfortunately I am allergic to fish and shell fish, which meant my choice was extremely limited, quality was however good.

Prime 7 was ideal for me and I loved my steak, but I thought the room layout to be inferior to signatures, to me it was a bit dull and dingy.

Compass rose was very good apart from 1 meal which was a plain steak, it was totally unedible, I did complain but I think my accent let me down as the waiter just smiled and walked away. We eventually found an excellent waiter who had a good sense of humour and wouldn't rush you.

Wine selection, we only disliked 1 white wine, which when you are on a fortnight holiday and I guessed that we sampled around 28 wines.

The theatre was well laid out, with a good sound quality, the guest performers where excellent, but unfortunately the same cannot be said of the house entainers, the best I could say of them where that they where poor.

 

Trips / coaches

 

Well organised, meet in theatre and nice short walk normally to the coaches, we found the descriptions to be accurate, but for some reasons passengers either didn't read or thought the descriptions of the servitiy of the inclines / steps where inaccurate, which unfortunately they where not. Coaches where all modern and had air conditioning, we had no problems with guides, although there where a few grumbles with various guides normally the accent being the main problem.

 

Overall view

 

We both enjoyed the whole experience, the service offered was often exceptional, the staff I believe put themselves out to help / please you. Probably the worse moment from my point of view was the welcome home do, I found it terribly embrassing, but that's probably my British reserve coming out. Would we do it again, I am pretty certain that we will.

 

Sorry for the length, but I hope you enjoyed it.

 

Regards

Marion and Kerry

[Travelcat2]

Really enjoyed reading your lovely review. Now you see why so many of us rave about Regent. While not perfect, it is the the right fit for us. I agree with all of your points -- both positive and the less than positive. Be sure to let us know when you book your next Regent cruise.:)

[newlondon]

TravellersTwo, Thank goodness someone else caught Jack's booboo. He is very interesting and I enjoy his posts. I put his mistake on dates down to the same honest effort Regent made on the flags.

[charltonkerry]

Drid, they certainly didn't play that song, first time I ever heard it as well. Be interesting to see what Paul plays tonight, hope everyone is enjoying the concert from Buckingham palace, nice to see some decent weather after yesterday, I am assuming it is being widely broadcast as I don't think you'll see many better line ups.

[Swyre]

If there happened to be more Aussies on board than British, then as the Queen is as much the Queen of Australia as the UK, then it could be argued that it was right and proper to display the Australian flag.

 

P'raps the most sensitive approach would have been to have a display of flags from all the Commonwealth countries but I'm sure the CD has more pressing calls on his time!

 

R