Thoughts on Regent Mariner from 1st time cruiser

[JSA123]

Hi everyone, as I gleaned so much useful information from these boards before venturing on our first cruise, thought it might be helpful to report back. As a bit of background, my husband and I booked a relatively last-minute cruise with Regent (Rome-Venice on Mariner) at the end of August. Neither of us has ever cruised before, so really didn't know what to expect. On the whole, we thoroughly enjoyed it, and would probably book with Regent again although would look at the competition also. Here's a brief rundown of our conclusions :

 

Ship :

 

We thought the Mariner was great. Just the right size. Big enough to have the amenities we wanted, but small enough to be easily navigable.

 

Rooms :

 

Better than I expected (Penthouse Suite). Hated, hated, hated the decor (orange and brown are not my favourite colours!). However, it was well designed with lots of good storage. When I first saw the bathroom I was pretty horrified at the size of it, but - again - it was well thought out and storage was good. I thought it a little disingenuous of them to describe the bath tub as 'full-sized' but better to have a bath tub than not.

 

I could have taken or left the butler service. He was a sweet guy, very helpful, but really we didn't need him.

 

Food :

 

When it was good, it met expectations but this was probably only just over half the time. Signatures was excellent. Prime 7 was disappointing - steak overcooked, lobster 'mushy' and we could only get one reservation so no way of knowing whether we were just unlucky or this was normal. Compass Rose was patchy, but seemed to improve as the cruise went on. On deck themed BBQs were pretty good and made an enjoyable change to eating in the restaurants every night/lunch.

 

Drinks included :

 

Overall, we enjoyed this. We are not massive drinkers and probably prefer a good bottle of wine to unlimited amounts of so-so wine, but it was refreshing to be able to order what we wanted when we wanted. They did a pretty good job with cocktails.

 

Entertainment :

 

Better than expected. We didn't take advantage of the entertainment very often, but were generally pleasantly surprised by the quality - except for the comedian who we thought was dreadful!

 

The casino was great - staff were friendly and helpful and we spent many a pleasant hour there.

 

Excursions :

 

For us, these were pretty disappointing but this was largely due to the fact that we booked so late I think. Many of the ones we were most interested in were fully booked so we couldn't get on them. I thought the Regent staff were less interested than they should have been in helping us to find alternatives. It seemed to us that the success or otherwise of the tours depended largely on the tour guide. Those who were simply going through the motions were seriously boring, but the ones who were passionate about their subject really made even the mundane seem interesting.

 

Overall, then, very enjoyable and we thought Regent did a pretty good job.

[Linda VH]

Oooh! Thank you for the info on the casino. We are "casino rats" and I have to say I have never been to a show on a cruise ship except for QM2's Planetarium. Left my wine with a waiter in the casino, went to the show and yep, back to the casino :D

[JPR]

If steak and lobster weren't right at Prime 7, send them back! We've generally had fantastic lobster and steaks but occasionally there is a problem. Ask for a quick additional appetizer to tide you over. Gurantee the second serving will be excellent...

[UUNetBill]

If steak and lobster weren't right at Prime 7, send them back! We've generally had fantastic lobster and steaks but occasionally there is a problem. Ask for a quick additional appetizer to tide you over. Gurantee the second serving will be excellent...

I've usually had great meals at Prime 7, but on our last cruise on the Mariner, my steak was overcooked, too - in hindsight, I probably should have sent it back, but I preferred to eat with my wife rather than after her. Probably the only dining miscue on the entire cruise, and in the grand scheme of things, really a very minor issue.

[TedC]

JSA123, too bad you didn't have rose-colored glasses to change decor colors.

 

Guess you're not NFL Cleveland Browns fans!

[JSA123]

Yes, probably should have sent it back. However, one of my pet hates is eating separately from my husband so I didn't bother. Food quality was one of the major reasons for choosing Regent, so the food quality generally was a little more than a minor problem for me but, that said, so much of what we experienced during the cruise was great that I got over it soon enough!

[JSA123]

Haha, not sure who Cleveland Browns are, but guess I wouldn't share their colour choice...

[Nigella]

Thanks for your thoughts JSA. We've not yet sailed with Regent so your comments as a newbie have been helpful.

[JSA123]

Thanks for your thoughts JSA. We've not yet sailed with Regent so your comments as a newbie have been helpful.

You're welcome, but bear in mind we haven't cruised before at all so were perhaps a little naive in some of our expectations.

[TedC]

Haha, not sure who Cleveland Browns are, but guess I wouldn't share their colour choice...

 

Cleveland (Ohio) Browns are an American pro football team . I don 't like their brown and orange uniforms either - UGLY!