Random Notes, Navigator, SF-Vancouver LIVE

[tallship]

Hi Rich-

Good to hear Ginny is on the mend. For Juneau we booked the evening whale watch. Hard to believe it will be just a few days now.

 

What impressed me about the Viking line are the number of dining venues and the spa facilities with the snow sauna and the infinity pool....2 pools. Yet it still maintains a small and intimate feel. My TA is very excited and spent most of yesterday making early bookings.

 

What time is your flight out of Vancouver? Wondering if we are able to meet up?

[Mudhen]

Can I let her know your suite number?

 

Linda and Elizabeth will be in suite 941 on the May 29th sailing..........

[xrvlcruiser]

Rich,

 

I had the same reaction to the name Viking Star - my next thought was would the next ones be the Sea, Sky and Sun . . . . I knew there was a connection to RVL bu did not realize that Torstein Hagen had been the last CEO.

 

Glad Ginny is feeling better . . . .

 

Peggy

[xrvlcruiser]

Guess we're not the only ones who made the connection:

 

http://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/9275-viking-star-or-royal-viking-sun.html

 

 

The ship even has the swoopy bow. . . .

[Mr Rumor]

It's a misty morning here in Juneau, with a predicted high of 49. At least we don't have snow, which the captain announced was a possibility for today.

 

We're doing the Mendenhall Glacier and Whale Quest, one of about two dozen excursions being offered today. Truly there is something for everybody, and everyone's energy level.

 

Peggy, good internet sleuthing on your part to turn up the RVL Star and Viking Star comparison photos! There is no doubt where Hagen is getting his inspiration. I'm looking forward to poring over the Viking Ocean Cruises website as soon as I get back.

 

Tina, I checked our flight info back in the room and see that we're due to fly out about 1 p.m. on the 22nd. Not sure what time Regent will be getting us to the airport. When will you be arriving? It would be great to see you if possible. Are you traveling with your mom or husband?

[tallship]

Rich-

Traveling with hubby. We arrive the day before. Will send you info on email.

[xrvlcruiser]

Tina and Rich, Have fun! . . .Peggy

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Hey Tina, almost time for you! Have a blast!

[tallship]

Thanks, Wendy

Need to start packing

Looks like the weather will be fab

[purpleally]

I bet almost half the ship was down yesterday due to the rolling. And that was the evening our butler chose to serve us an Indian dinner in our room. I did ok not so much my husband. I did drag him out for the gold and above party.

 

Rain rain rain in juneau. I bailed last night on our 6 mile hike on the glacier and was able to score last minute Flavors of Juneau. Cooking class, glacier and Alaskan brewing company.

 

Off to listen to Bruce tell us about future cruises (and win 250.00 OBC)

 

Trying to decide LA to Papeete. Papeete round trip. Or Miami to LA Panama Canal. Or crossing Barcelona to Miami with Oceania.

Anyone care to weigh in?

[HanaleiSailor]

Aloha all,

 

Just had a look at the Viking site. TC writes above:

Looked at the Viking Ocean Cruise site -- it looks more like it would be in competition with Azamara (wine and beer with meals, etc.) I didn't read anything that sounded "luxury" to me - more in line with a premium cruise line. Guess we'll see how it is advertised. If passengers truly will not be nickeled and dimed, it be quite a draw to a large segment of the cruising population.

 

I don't know. The fact that the ship is all Veranda, has quite a few specialty dining options with no up-charge, will have included shore excursions, free coffees, teas, other soft drinks, plus wine and beer with meals, along with a pool with a retractable roof, and from the pictures, a really subdued classic Scandinavian design, this ship may very well be a "luxury vessel." They describe on the site that a drinks package will be available to make the experience more all inclusive, so if that is the only difference for some . . .

 

The two things that I saw that would give me pause booking Viking is that there is no mention of pre-paid gratuities, and at the moment, airfare prices are quoted separately, and the cost to upgrade to Business to Europe from the US stands at 3450.00 per person! That, for me, is the deal breaker!

 

Aloha from Hanalei

[Travelcat2]

"Luxury" is not the definition of all-inclusive. I believe that Azamara was the first non-luxury cruise line to include wine (and beer?) with meals. There seems to be a trend for cruise lines to include more and more in their fare. IMO, this is a great trend.

 

While reading the website for the new Viking ship, the words "luxury" and "premium" were not used. It is possible that Viking would rather not compete in the "luxury" market. There is a lot that they offer that could draw customers from Princess, Holland America and Celebrity....... possibility even main stream cruise lines.

 

This is certainly only my opinion -- based on how the ship is being advertised. This could be the start of more all-inclusive (or partly inclusive) sailing. There is certainly nothing wrong with that. There have been land based all-inclusives for years. In the 1980's our international travels included stopping at Club Meds. At that time they included wine and beer at lunch and dinner. In some ways I wonder if we could have appreciated Regent as much if we had not started where we did.

 

Didn't mean to get off track -- just saying that what Viking is offering looks great but doesn't look like a cruise line that will be competing with Regent.

[Mr Rumor]

TC2, I missed your earlier question regarding whether or not we heard any sounds of falling ice at Hubbard. I didn't. But we weren't there that long because of the weather. And, because of all the ice chips everywhere, we didn't get that close. By 9:20 a.m. we had begun our sailaway.

 

HanaleiSailor, I'm afraid I stoked an off-topic discussion of Viking Ocean Cruises by responding to Tina/tallship's comment. That said, I think you made some excellent observations. I'll add that Viking has begun to dominate the fiercely-competitive river cruise market, and with up to five more Viking Ocean ships on the way I have no doubt that Viking's plan to be a dominant force in upscale cruising as well. Just don't know at this very early stage if their biggest impact will be on Regent or Oceania. Again, I think Viking's move into ocean cruising deserves its own thread.

 

The steady light to moderate rain today only had a moderate effect on our visit to the Mendenhall glacier because of the very nice visitors' center there that allowed us several great views. And the rain had no effect on the "Whale Quest" portion of our excursion. I'd rate it "four tails," as in four whale tails actually spotted. Miraculously I managed to photograph one of them with my little Canon. We also saw sea lions and bald eagles. The 90 or so Regent passengers seemed as pleased as we were by the experience.

 

Tonight there was a pre-dinner program in the Seven Seas Lounge, the "007 James Bond Martini Cocktail Event." It was a full-cast production, even including CD Lorraine, who closed the show with "Live and Let Die." Great job, Lorraine, you need to sing more (as if you're not busy enough)!

[Mr Rumor]

Double post! Thought I had lost my post so I refreshed. . .

[xrvlcruiser]

Rich,

 

I saw something on Facebook I think you'd enjoy . . rvl related. Will you send me your email?

 

Peggy

[Travelcat2]

TC2, I missed your earlier question regarding whether or not we heard any sounds of falling ice at Hubbard. I didn't. But we weren't there that long because of the weather. And, because of all the ice chips everywhere, we didn't get that close. By 9:20 a.m. we had begun our sailaway.

 

 

It occurred to me after asking the question that the snow has probably not melted enough for the calving to begin. When the ice falls away from the glacier, it sounds like loud thunder. The first time we sailed to Alaska in May, we could not sail to Tracy Arm because the ice in the water had not melted enough..... however, the temperature in Juneau was 80 degrees. The second time we sailed to Alaska - also in May, we were able to get up close to Hubbard Glacier and sail to Tracy Arm but the weather everywhere was much colder than the previous trip. Wish it were easier to predict these things.

[Mr Rumor]

Peggy, try this e-mail; rwllc1995atgmaildotcom. You have me curious! Might not be able to check this e-mail account until I get home, however, because at the moment I can't remember the password.

 

They measure rainfall in feet in Ketchikan (three and a half so far this year) so it was a pleasant surprise to be welcomed by partly sunny skies when we docked this morning. The skies opened us on us a short while later, as we made it to our catamaran, but, after that, we had almost no rain and enjoyed periodic bursts of sun. All in all, one of Ketchikan's better weather days.

 

Our Misty Fjords and Wilderness Explorer was terrific, and I highly recommend it. We were on the water about four and a half hours, and made it as far as Rudyerd Bay, called the "masterpiece" of Misty Fjords National Monument, with its steep granite cliffs and waterfalls. Magnificent!

 

Our boat came equipped with a guest Tlingit artist, Red Trout, who briefly addressed the passengers (most of whom were cruising with the other three ships--I counted only a dozen or so Regent passengers), but who spent most of his time working on a small eagle carving, for a wall hanging. Ginny became absorbed with his work (she is a craftsperson, too, working at times in wood) and wound up purchasing the piece, which Red Trout will be mailing to us. So you could call Ginny one happy camper today.

 

Tonight it's the last of the Jean Ann Ryan productions, a new show called "Piano Men," featuring the music of Elton John and Billy Joel. We'll be there, front-row center!

 

Rich

[xrvlcruiser]

Thanks Rich . . . . enjoy when you get home . . .

 

Peggy

[tallship]

Rich-

We are booked for the same 5 hour boat trip in Ketchikan but am worried as there is rain in the forecast. Do you think it will still be worth doing?

[count florida]

This is our 13th year and more than 340 nights sailing with RSSC (both versions) and it's our preferred cruise line, even though we've complained for some years about deterioration in service and food, among other things, since the name change (i.e., starting BEFORE the Apollo takeover). But on our last three cruises (Dubai-Athens-Istanbul on Voyager; Monaco-Rio de Janeiro on Mariner, and now San Francisco to Vancouver on Navigator) we've noticed substantial improvement.

 

Yes, dinner in Compass Rose could go a bit faster - we missed the first 4-5 minutes of the movie which started at 8:30 last night, despite being one of the first tables (for 4) seated when Compass Rose opened at 6:30. We did not, and perhaps should have, mentioned we wanted to make the movie. The Internet service is MUCH IMPROVED from our experiences on the Mariner last fall, but the need constantly to re-sign in, at first for every document download, now once or twice an hour, is madness. It does keep the use of the limited Internet bandwidth down, however.

 

REVISING TO ADD: This is the fourth time I’ve tried to review and post this to Cruise Critic, but each time I have to log back in to the ship’s Internet, get to and log back into Cruise Critic, re-type the heading, find and copy the post from Word to Cruise Critic, and post it. But it comes back and says it can’t display the web page. Are they afraid of Cruise Critic? Or am I just that much slower than everyone else who’s (obviously successfully) post to CC from here? The first time I had to retype everything, by the way; I just made sure I did it in MS Word. We use the Internet for everything; this is just plain ridiculous!

 

Our initial experience with wait staff in both Sette Mari and room service was so stiff and unfriendly that my DW, who rarely complains, wrote it up in the mid-cruise comment. The very next day, Dining Room Manager Franco called to get the details and to apologize. Since then, it's been all smiles and much friendlier wait staff - he must have had an impression on all of them, because the attitude is much better in all venues. Franco Lampis, who joined the Navigator in San Francisco, is the dean of Regent's dining room managers and in our experience, likely the best afloat.

 

Everything else about this cruise has been over the top, Terry Breen is always terrific, the new song, dance and aerialist shows are superlative, and the singer Franco Spoto is very good; we just wish he do some more American classics from our great musicals: Oklahoma, West Side Story, Music Man, Porgy and Bess, High Society, etc. over his national opera offerings. Even the movies have been great, ARGO and Zero Dark Thirty were both very good, and we hadn't yet seen either! In the first, Lorraine W, the cruise director, was going around, crouching/crawling to insure she didn't interfere with peoples enjoyment of the film, bringing them popcorn! Lorraine is THE BEST, but that was over the top!

 

We're very encouraged about the turnaround we've noticed, even the contracted services (casino, boutiques) and the news about the approval to precede with the new Seven Seas Explorer, so much so we're booked on a 26 day Baltic to Med back-to-back on the Voyager AND bought a future cruise certificate, in case something else comes up in the meantime. The new Indian Ocean 30 day excursion seems a bit long; if it could be booked from Mumbai for 23 or 24 days, we'd do it, but 30 shortly after 26 is a bit much, we both think.

[OrpingtonT]

1. Thanks, Mr Rumor and purpleally, for your continuing and excellent reports from Navigator. In spite of the weather you seem to be enjoying and making the most of your cruise.

 

2. Best wishes, Tallship, on your cruise. Hope the rain ceases and the weather improves for you.

 

the news about the approval to precede with the new Seven Seas Explorer,

 

3. That is the first bit of news I have heard about the new ship. Has it really been given the go-ahead to build at long last.

 

4. Good to hear from you again, count florida. your views are always interesting.

[tallship]

Tom- many thanks for the good wishes.

 

CountFlorida - what is a future cruise certificate? Never heard of buying one of these.

[Mudhen]

Hey "Count Florida" (aka Pat and Mike!),

Just read your report and glad to hear that the little Navigator is doing well. Our daughter and I(Linda) will be on the May 29th sailing and we're happy to hear that all is well.

We probably will not use the internet except in the most minimal way, as we're only on for a week......not enough time to do everything, much less play computer!! hahaha! Keep us posted on your latest travels.........

Best,

John and Linda W. (Monaco-Rio crossing)

[Mr Rumor]

After reading Mike's (count florida's) great post, there are a couple things I want to comment on, starting with Regent's new build, which has not been officially announced (would like to know your source, count!).

 

While on our Skagway White Pass Scenic Railway excursion, I encountered an Italian fellow cruiser on our car's platform (he was on the next platform), enthuisiastically taking lots of photos. He was wearing a jacket with the words "Oceania Cruises, Riveira, Newbuild Project Team." The word "Newbuild" caught my eye. I thought, what the heck, and blurted out a question: "Are we ever going to get a new Regent ship?" His immediate, confident reply: "End of 2015. It will be built from scratch, so it will take a year and a half." He has the credentials to speak confidently, working with, or for, Fincantieri, the huge Italian shipbuilder that he says will be building the new Regent ship. He added that his job is to "put the equipment in, in the galleys, etc."

 

So, you can mark the spring of 2017 on your calendars for the debut of the Regent Explorer. Just wonder why it has taken so very long. Apollo announced its plans to build a new Regent ship when it purchased the line in 2008.

[Mr Rumor]

Thanks, Tom, it has been my pleasure to take everyone along on this cruise. I'm delighted that purpleally and count florida have contributed their observations.

 

Tina, interesting that you should ask your specific question about the Ketchikan Misty Fjords and Wilderness Explorer excursion because the boat's naturalist commented to me that it has poured so hard the day before that Allen Marine considered cancelling the excursion that day. "But I'm so glad we didn't," she said, "because, despite the rain, everyone enjoyed themselves so much." So I say, don't cancel!

 

OK, back to count florida's post. Despite his comment that since midcruise it has "been all smiles" in Sette Mari, the best we got last night was a wan smile from one of the servers. Worse, the lapses in service were disconcerting. We were immediately offered Prosecco, but no white or red wine. We had to ask for our water glasses to be refilled, and we weren't offered coffee with our dessert. When we looked around at the dessert stage of our meal to see if, perhaps, the wait staff was stressed by a packed room, we counted seven empty tables! So it is back to Compass Rose, and Putu, our outstanding server, for the last two nights.

 

I do totally agree with Mike that the new/retooled Jean Ann Ryan shows have been excellent. We loved "Piano Men" last night, and consider it our favorite of the four.

 

Rich