Navigator Holiday Cruise Experience

[Sunprince]

Hi all, as new to Regent I wanted to post my thoughts on our recent 12 night Holiday cruise. This was our first time on Regent and our very first cruise. So we were very apprehensive about it, especially over the holidays.

 

Ship - we found the ship to be in good shape. All the public areas were in near perfect condition (carpet, furniture etc). We booked a Penthouse suite on the 11th deck and although it was in good shape, there were a few areas of the woodwork that were scratched/dinged and need repair. Overall we enjoyed the spaciousness of the cabin. We probably would not book the 11th deck again for a couple of reasons: 1) you could hear people walking/running on the deck above and 2) there is much movement of the ship. Speaking of that, much has been written about how the Navigator handles the seas. As others have said, not well. The best way I can describe it is that it feels like you are on an old Greek ferry. Lots of shudders, ups and downs etc Our first 2 days out of Miami were VERY rough, where Captain had the pool drained. I was seasick on the first morning (used the wrist bands and it worked for me; Bonine did not). If you are sensitive to motion, you should take precautions, but I would not avoid the Navigator just for this reason as there are other things that make up for it. As for vibration, it is definitely present in the aft, even while in port ( kind of like a low hum/rumble)

 

Other Passengers - a full ship. The best part of the cruise was meeting so many nice people. The people we met tended to be the regular regent guests. They made us feel young, as they kept telling us how "young we were". We are in our forties! Lovely people that were a joy to spend time with. There was a percentage of passengers that didn't seem to fit. It was easy to avoid them for the most part. We did have a lot of families and kids. It was not a major problem but they definitely monopolized the pool and hot tubs. It seemed that most of the families were on the 11th deck with us. I was worried on the first day when I spotted the crew removing the balcony dividers for the 5 cabins to the fore of us and the balcony divider of the 2cabins to the immediate aft of us. We had 2 poorly behaved boys immediately next door ( picture midnight banging into the walls, laying in the hallway floor fighting with brother while parent watched etc). I did complain to desk and also directly to mother. She was very gracious and apologetic, but it kind of was what it was. We did not let it ruin our trip

 

Food - very good overall. We usually eat late, and the head waiter (excellent) always found a table by the window in the same section. The only disappointment was New Years menu, where the service was slow, order was wrong and overcooked. I did not send it back as it was an exception to what was good food and service in the CR. We ate twice in Prime 7 which was excellent. We also ate twice in Setti Mari, which we thought was very good as well

 

Service - overall it was good to very good. There were a few issues which I'll comment on later but overall no major complaints. We found the staff to be helpful and always ready to please. Our butler, Adeep, was exceptional and yes we did give him an additional tip at the end of the cruise

 

Excursions - overall were good to average. We are not tour people but the ones we took were ok, not overly crowded (12 to 15 people).

 

Highs:

- we met great people

- enjoyed the ship and size despite its problems with movement etc

- food and service was very good

 

Areas to improve:

- movement of the ship

- La Veranda hours are too short for lunch, ESP when tours are returning at the same time. Hours should be extended to 2:30 or 3pm

- need more staff outside on La Veranda. Tables were not cleaned promptly and once you sat down we often waited for 10 or more minutes for someone to serve us

- in CR at dinner, staff start preparing tables for breakfast. Once 9:30 hits, they tend to stop serving passengers that are still eating and go on to their other duties. On a few occasions we found we had to flag someone down to get more wine, water etc. They really should not forget to think of the passengers first while still they are still finishing their meal.

- wifi, it is ridiculous to charge 99 cents a minute for wifi in this day and age, esp given the overall price of the cruise!

- included wine list - seems like it doesn't exist. I like to see the choices available but when I asked to see a list of the included wines I was consistently told there was not one. This was very frustrating as it took me a week to find out that they had a French rose, instead of the awful Berringer one. Once I figured out the system it was fine, but it took a lot of work and you had to ask. Otherwise they would just serve you the basic wines (some not that good)

- pool service on the 11th outside deck was lacking the first few days. Waiter would service the port side but ignore the starboard side and vice versa. I would have to go downstairs myself to get a drink. Also, there was an issue on the first day with the chair service on the 11th deck. We did not want to sit by the pool bc of the kids, so we always sat on the upper deck. The captain closed down ( due to wind which was not that bad), the port and starboard sides so no chairs could be set up. Mid way through the day we noticed staff assisting people setting up chairs on the port/starboard. After lunch, I asked a crew member to set up 2 chairs for us and I was told the deck was closed. By now there were over 15 people sitting on the deck, but the crew member told me they had moved the chairs there themselves. I told him I had watched staff set them up. So then he told me he would have to speak to supervisor, after waiting 15 minutes for someone to come back to me I decided just to move chairs myself. No one said anything and I never did see a crew member come to explain or assist

- the other issue I had with the pool bar was that Elvis, refused to offer me anything other than the basic Chardonnay (a terrible ontario wine). We had been enjoying an Australian Chardonnay at La Veranda for lunch and I asked Elvis for it at the bar. I was told it was only available at the restaurant. Not true, since the next day I spotted a pool server with it. Not sure what was up with this. Also, we found Alphonso at the pool bar to be rude and unfriendly.

 

I highlighted the above small issues as constructive points to show that everything was no perfect. BUT, we really did have a great first Regent cruise and will return in the future.

 

A few other details:

- we booked regent air and paid deviation since we departed Toronto 3 days prior to start of cruise. Fights were with air canada and were overall good

- we took the hotel credit $300, as we were staying 3 nits in Miami and regents hotel was not to our liking.

- embarkation was simple and easy with few passengers and many staff to assist...excellent

 

As mentioned, we met some great people which were the highlight of the cruise. Overall it was very nice. Please feel free to ask any questions

 

Thanks

[TedC]

Thank you for an excellent report - the GOOD and the BAD or not so good!

 

 

Good to read that you even suggested where the Bad could have easily been GOOD!

 

I hope the BIG Wigs take note!

[RachelG]

Thank you for your review. Absolutely agree about the wait staff in la veranda needing to pay attention and clean off tables more promptly. We have encountered this and it is easily fixed as is the issue in CR near closing.

 

The motion issue is not fixable, and it is why we book a lower suite. Deck 6,7 or 8 is much less movement, and if you book forward, no vibration.

 

Glad you were happy overall. And rec trying a non holiday cruise to avoid the kid issue. As you say, it is what it is.

[RachelG]

Also, regarding the charge for wifi, I too find that annoying, but at least on regent, you can get included wifi after a few cruises. Unlike silversea or Oceania, where you always have to pay extra no matter how many days on board you have. Now that is REALLy annoying.

[TedC]

I noticed many Regent itineraries have FREE wifi along with shipboard credits and some discounted Biz class prices - check them out. I saw the perks on brochures sent to me.

 

Another good reason to get brochures!

[RachelG]

Yes, they do. Personally I think they should just include wifi for everyone.

[Baggywrinkle99]

I may be out of date but Silver and above pax used to get free Wifi and very welcome it was too. Has that changed?

[debijaynes]

Great review! We book deck 9 and feel little motion--we love motion and are usually disappointed. Have felt much more motion on some HAL ships in the past. We love the first nights out of the East Coast with the heavy seas --makes for great sleeping!

From the our first cruise we have never paid for internet time--don't know if that's our TA or we just got lucky!

I drink Santa Margherita and have not had any problems finding it anywhere on the ship. One night the bar where I was had none and they quickly ran to another to get it. I am not a wine snob by any means (clearly) but I have enjoyed some nice wines on our cruises.

Looking forward to our cruise next week.

Debi

[nanaof2]

I may be out of date but Silver and above pax used to get free Wifi and very welcome it was too. Has that changed?

 

from Regent Membership benefits page:

 

†Guests who obtain Silver-level by 9/30/14 will continue to receive the FREE Unlimited Wi-Fi Internet Access benefit. As of 10/1/14 the FREE Unlimited Wi-Fi Internet Access benefit will apply to guests who obtain Gold and above status.

 

Hope this helps:)

[Baggywrinkle99]

Thanks. We are currently silver and will move to gold during our next cruise so either way we're OK but only through lucky timing. I guess the change of policy is another manifestation of bean counters running the industry these days. We hardly use the internet anyway. It's one of the many intrusions of modern life we cruise to get away from for a few precious days. So far the sky hasn't fallen in.

Edited January 14, 2014 by Baggywrinkle99

[LindaM]

The service issues are what bother me. When I am on a mainstream cruise, I am quite laid back and really don't expect special service. On Regent, I expect them to do their job. When they don't, I wonder why their superiors aren't expecting them to.

[Sunprince]

I did want to mention an additional point that I forgot to include in my orginal comments. When in Barbados, we arranged for friends to join us on the ship for lunch and drinks. I want to give due credit to Regent as it was very well handled. Security on the gangway had our friends names and it was very easy for our friends to board the ship. We did have to arrange this 30 days in advance and provide names, passports numbers etc. We had a nice lunch and later in our suite, our butler arranged for champagne and a extensive selection of cheeses etc. It was very well done. Regent should have charged a nominal amount to our shipboard account but did not (I think my TA arranged this somehow). We walked our guests off the ship 45 min prior to departure. It was a great way to host friends and for them to get a small taste of the Regent experience. Well done!

[TedC]

Gratifying!

 

 

Good to see Regent still can be a "class act!"

 

I hope your guests enjoyed the experience.

[findacruise]

I know there can be multiple people named Adeep, but we had an Adeep for our butler in March on Voyager and he was outstanding. We seldom have a butler, but he made us want one in the future! (not that we will) He anticipated things that we didn't even know we wanted! Talk about getting spoiled.