Review - Mariner Shanghai - Tokyo.

[clarky]

I would like to give a bit of back ground info on myself so that when reading this review you can judge if it is relevant to what you deem important in your cruise experience.  My husband and I are in our late 50's early 60's we have over 250 days on Seabourn, 150 days on Silversea and 60 days on Regent.  We sailed the Navigator for a month and loved that ship (even though I felt it was a little crowded at times).  We sailed on the Mariner in Nov/Dec 2018 and enjoyed the cruise experience very much.  We would sail on either of the three lines mentioned but the itinerary comes first for us.  In fact we have a Silversea cruise booked in June 2019, I will be taking my mother on the Voyager in August and we have a Seabourn cruise booked in February 2020.  In this review I won't go into the ports because there have been live blogs done of this cruise so I feel that is redundant.  What I will do is talk about the on board cruise experience.  I'm a positive person and I'm aware how fortunate we are to be able to vacation in such a luxurious way but want to give both the positive and negative views of our latest cruise so it may help others in selecting a cruise line that suits their needs whilst also giving a realistic view of what to expect and not what the glossy brochures portray.

 

The good:

Cruise director: John Baron is probably my favourite cruise director.  We sailed with him on Seabourn (his first actually) and then again on both Mariner cruises we have taken.  He is friendly, approachable a good entertainer (his show was really enjoyable) and a great trivia host.  We have also sailed with Marla (his assistant) on Seabourn many times and it is always nice to catch up with her.

Compass Rose and both specialty restaurants.  Food was very good at all three of these restaurants.

Wine: I feel Regent along with Silversea offer the best wines on any cruise line we have been on.  I also really appreciate the wine tasting of non revenue wines that Regent does.  I wish other cruise lines did this.  The selection of beer and spirits is very good.

Cocktails:  The best of all three lines as mentioned above.  Yes, Seabourn has this new mixology cocktail menu.  Very trendy but honestly IMO not as good as Regents offerings.  

Shore excursions:  I know a lot of guest really enjoy having the all included shore excursions.  I'm not a fan really as I like to do a bit of both and I know I could do that on Regent but I feel in some way I have already paid for these so I may as well take them.  I find I'm far more adventurous when sailing Seabourn or Silversea as I do a bit of both the cruise lines excursions an independent excursions.  Having said that I can not fault both the organization and the tours themselves.  They are as good as anything that you would pay for on either Silversea or Seabourn.   We did two tours that included lunch and both were a highlight of the trip.

Room Service:  I really like the way Regent handles room service.  You place your order and then they call you just before it arrives to your room.  We often have breakfast in our room and it is so nice to get this call and be ready for when it arrives.  Seabourn and Silversea call you after to ask how your food was and inform you that they are going to pick up the tray.  Every time! This gets annoying and feels somewhat disingenuous.  Also when you ask for a glass of Champagne from room service they bring you a bottle.  Seabourn will bring you a glass.  So kudos to Regent for that.

Quietness and stability of the Mariner:  This ship rides so smoothly in rough seas and we had a couple of days of those.  The noise insulation is very good.  Never heard our neighbour or any guests in the passage ways.  No vibration that we felt.

Breads:  My husband loves bread (french bread in particular) and I will agree with him that Regent has the best bread of the three cruise lines.  Crusty French bread and great artisan breads.

Internet: My husband is Tech person and he finds it very important to have good internet access so he can keep in touch with his business.  He appreciates that you can have multiple devices connected in your room. 

 

The not so good:

Waiting two hours to be served lunch in Compass Rose.  I later spoke with Ricky (Food and Beverage Manager) and he explained they were implementing a new ordering system and had some teething  problems. This did get better as the cruise went along.  We did get numerous apologies for the wait. He also let know that on our last cruise there were only 500 passengers on board and that this cruise they was at capacity with a full ship.

La Veranda:  I can not tell you how disappointed we were in this venue.  Crowded beyond acceptable.  Extra tables were put in the walkway on both side of the buffet and whilst this was appreciated by guests trying to find a table it made the buffet even more crowded.  A full ship with early spring weather (some sunshine but mostly cool) and the Veranda could not handle the passenger numbers.  Management needs to have a good look at this problem.  Perhaps offering a special menu in Compass Rose for lunch to entice more passengers to dine there at lunch would help.  We just avoided going there as it was a disaster.  People bumping into one another.  Dishes running out (seafood platter) and people waiting in queues for 10 minutes to get a portion.  They just did not cope with the amount of guests trying to dine here.  People couldn't find a table, food running out, long waits for it to be replenished.  I also found the food here to be unimaginative.  This is where Regent falls down.  Seabourn's buffet is so much better in variety and quality.  I will say the pizza was good but honestly that was about it. Regent makes the best burger as sea I have ever tasted.  That is where the good ends.  Look at what Seabourn and Silversea do at night on their pool deck.  A real alternative dinning option.  The buffet on the Mariner for lunch is not great at the pool deck.  They had a Mexican buffet and Greek one day and that was just okay but they could really improve on the food offerings here.

Afternoon Tea:  Again this is an area where Regent falls behind the other two lines.  Chocolate afternoon tea.  Same tea bags that you can get in any venue and a couple of the cakes were still frozen.  If it is not a special afternoon tea event, you get a small buffet and an offering of tea bags.  Both Seabourn and Silversea have a tea selection which is served at your table and on Silversea a tower of afternoon tea snacks.  Some times we like to skip lunch and just do afternoon tea but we did not do this on Regent.

Entertainment:   Some good and some not so good.  The pianist Nicky was fantastic.  The Duo at the bar at the back of the ship are great in the disco but not really suited to pre- evening dance music.  An example of this is that we had a full ship and only 4 or 5 couples dancing.  They are not great and we had them on the last Mariner cruise as well.  Seabourn wins out in this regard as they have a trio and a guitarist and also a pianist so you have much more choice.  Silversea is about the same as Regent.  The guests entertainers were also a mixed bag.  The Australian entertainer was very good.  The Filipino vocalist who won The Voice (or something similar) was good the first night but not so good the second night.  The entertainment is not the most important part of a cruise for me but I do like to dance before and after dinner and we did not do much of this on this cruise as the Duo was really not good. 

 

Summary:

As you can see there are more positives than negatives and we really did enjoy this cruise.  Having said that we have never experienced so many little hiccups on one cruise before.  Yes, no cruise is ever going to be perfect or perfect for every guest on board but there were a lot of little hiccups that I have not mentioned. These hiccups happen on all cruise lines but on this cruise there were more than usual.  I have tried to be honest and balanced in my review as I think this helps perspective guests set their expectations and helps them to select a cruise lines that works for them.  I usually like to end my review with would I cruise on this ship again.  Well, yes and no.  I would not cruise Mariner on a cold weather cruise where there was a possibility of a full ship.  I would probably cruise Mariner again a hot weather cruise if the itinerary was right but it may not be my first choice.

 

 

[Hambagahle]

Thank you for writing this detailed and very balanced review.  I hope someone from Regent HQ reads it!  

 

On Oceania the Main Dining Room offers an "around the world" menu each lunchtime.  It is extraordinary - really good food coming from a specified (and announced) country each day.  Their Indian plate was really really good as was the Greek one.  Surely the CR could offer something similar?

[WesW]

Clarky; thanks for sharing your well written and very balanced review.  

 

Didn't the Mariner offer Al Fresco fare in the evening at the Pool Grill? 

[ronrick1943]

Great report, thanks for taking them time.  Really agree about High Tea, it's really not-it should be called Afternoon Dessert's with tea.

[Focused1]

Regarding afternoon tea, I agree that Regent falls short on it. We always mentioned this on surveys but it never seems to change. 

 

The best afternoon tea we have ever experienced at sea was on a recent Viking cruise. Lots of loose tea options served beautifully with savory and sweet cakes and sandwiches in their Wintergarden accompanied by live classical music. Can’t get much better than that. We weren’t enthralled by our other experiences on Viking but afternoon tea was superb. 

[UUNetBill]

15 minutes ago, Focused1 said:

Regarding afternoon tea, I agree that Regent falls short on it. We always mentioned this on surveys but it never seems to change. 

 

The best afternoon tea we have ever experienced at sea was on a recent Viking cruise. Lots of loose tea options served beautifully with savory and sweet cakes and sandwiches in their Wintergarden accompanied by live classical music. Can’t get much better than that. We weren’t enthralled by our other experiences on Viking but afternoon tea was superb. 

I'm not much of an afternoon tea person, but that sounds like a great way to spend an afternoon.  We've got something like 87 nights on Regent and I think I've been to maybe 3 afternoon teas.  That one that Viking put on sounds like something I'd be interested in, though.

[DavidTheWonderer]

I agree about the buffet on Seabourn being far superior to Regent’s. I also agree about The Trio on Seabourn being most excellent, especially compared to The Spontaneous Duo on Regent. Since we agree on so much, clearly the OP is an intelligent and discerning person. 

 

Easily the best afternoon tea is Oceania. But for me that doesn’t outweigh the things I don’t get along with on Oceania. 

 

Overall I still tend to prefer Mariner. 

 

Aren't we lucky little hotdogs to have such great choices? 

 

 

[Silver Sweethearts]

Alas - when we were on Silversea's Silver Spirit late last year, there was no afternoon tea at all.

[clarky]

Wes,  it was really too cold to eat out on the pool deck at all and after looking at the offerings during the day it did not entice us to eat there the couple of evenings  when it was warm enough.  

I write reviews on our cruises because I have garnered such a lot of insight from other guests reviews and I would like to pay it forward to help others make informed decisions.  Also as we all know things change all the time with cruise lines.  I don't like the Champagne offered on Seabourn (nor do many passengers but despite the complaints about this Seabourn has not listened). The bottles of Molton Brown have gotten smaller over the years (offered on Seabourn).  I like the Champagne offered on Regent and Silversea and the wine.  The aftertoon tea, pre- dance music and buffet are a let down on Regent and better on Seabourn. However if management read these reviews or listen to the comments on our comments papers then things may change. We are very lucky we have such choice in cruise lines.  I hope to try Crystal in the future now they have open dinning.  We are probably going to do more expedition cruising in the future.  We have a Kimberley cruise booked for August 2020 with an Australian Company Coral Expeditions on their new ship.  I will be reviewing all the cruises we are taking this year and next year.  Will be interesting to review my Voyager cruise in August.

[Johnthesailor]

We are on the Mariner now. Unfortunately, the situation did not improve.  In general, the food is excellent but LaVaranda is somehow way overcrowded, the food there is generally uninspiring and on at least one day it was dried out and very over salted.  Ordered a burger from the outside grill and it took over 30 minutes.  Same for the adjoining table.  Salads were hard to come by and buffet bowls often empty or missing. Had the "burger special" at the pool grill one day and they ran out for a while of the precooked burgers.  

 

Food in the restaurants was excellent.  Waitstaff harried but excellent as well.  Bottlenecks in kitchen as dishes sometimes took a very long time to come and on several occasions delivered incorrectly or out of sequence.

 

one evening a wine steward insisted that there was only one red and one white on offer and I knew this was incorrect but he insisted.  I went to the bar to get what I wanted with dinner.

 

Bar staff were consistently excellent 

 

In general, still a great cruise.  Mariner had always been our favorite but I don't think so any longer.  Having come off the Voyager about a month ago the difference was striking.  Perhaps the Mariner needs a new F&B manager.  Voyager has the best in the fleet (Daniela) who was ever-present and Between her and Chef Kelly the dining experience on Voyager was consistently perfect.  Mariner, not quite so but still overall good.  Hopefully this will change prior to our next cruise on Mariner around South America later this year.

 

Best, John

[freddie]

John - We enthusiastically agree with you that Daniela is a marvelous F&B Manager and a true rising star on Regent.  We anticipate seeing her soon in the role of GM, which would be well-justified, as it was with Franck Galzy.

[Travelcat2]

3 hours ago, Johnthesailor said:

We are on the Mariner now. Unfortunately, the situation did not improve.  In general, the food is excellent but LaVaranda is somehow way overcrowded, the food there is generally uninspiring and on at least one day it was dried out and very over salted.  Ordered a burger from the outside grill and it took over 30 minutes.  Same for the adjoining table.  Salads were hard to come by and buffet bowls often empty or missing. Had the "burger special" at the pool grill one day and they ran out for a while of the precooked burgers.  

 

Food in the restaurants was excellent.  Waitstaff harried but excellent as well.  Bottlenecks in kitchen as dishes sometimes took a very long time to come and on several occasions delivered incorrectly or out of sequence.

 

one evening a wine steward insisted that there was only one red and one white on offer and I knew this was incorrect but he insisted.  I went to the bar to get what I wanted with dinner.

 

Bar staff were consistently excellent 

 

In general, still a great cruise.  Mariner had always been our favorite but I don't think so any longer.  Having come off the Voyager about a month ago the difference was striking.  Perhaps the Mariner needs a new F&B manager.  Voyager has the best in the fleet (Daniela) who was ever-present and Between her and Chef Kelly the dining experience on Voyager was consistently perfect.  Mariner, not quite so but still overall good.  Hopefully this will change prior to our next cruise on Mariner around South America later this year.

 

Best, John

 

John - please say something to either the F&B Director of the G.M.  They can and usually will make it better.  There is no excuse for what you are describing.  I know that they have been hiring new people to train for Splendor.  The “wine steward” sounds as if more training is definitely needed.  I am not a confrontational person but if a wine steward told e that there were only two wines, I would  immediately be speaking to the Restaurant Managere and would escalate if that did not work.  The only way for them to fix this is to let the right people know what is going on.

 

Please let us know what happens when you discuss this with someone who can fix it.

[clarky]

John, what you described is very similar to what I reported.  We spoke to Ricky (Food and Beverage Manager) about our experiences and whilst food delivery did become more efficient in Compass Rose nothing changed at the Veranda.  What I failed to mention was that it took us 5 tries to get into Sette Mari.  It got to the point where the staff were getting very embarrassed about not being able to accommodate us.  They kept telling us that if we came at 6.30 p:m we could get a table.  We did not want to eat at 6.30 so eventually put our name down on a wait list for 7:30.  They called the bar to let us know that a table was available and we immediately left the bar and headed to the restaurant.  When we arrived they told us they had given our table away as someone was waiting for a table of 4.  I became very annoyed (something I try to avoid on holiday) and insisted that they make a table of 4 immediately.  This they did but what a fiasco.  I understand it is first come first served but Dine anytime?  Not true on this cruise.  John, we asked to be seated at Romeo's table in Compass Rose every night as his service was amazing, never a wait for food and no mixed up orders.  We had breakfast at compass rose as we could not handle the mayhem of the Veranda and Putu really looked after us.  Like I mentioned we have never been on a luxury cruise with so many hiccups and I hope like me you mention this in your comment cards.

[Johnthesailor]

Well, they flagged us after the mid cruise comments.  Lots of apologies.  But, the F&B manager never was seen or bothered to call. Romeo, the waiter, was excellent - one of the best we have ever had.  As I said, a whole bunch of hiccups but excellent waitstaff.  Obviously, something wrong with the process, not the waitstaff.  So it is the chef or the F&B manager or both.  Clone Daniella!  And chef Kelly. We will see if it improves on our next Mariner cruise - if not, well, no reason for us to bother with what was our favorite ship.

And, it is annoying not to be able to get into The Italian at night unless you come early or very late.  We don' t even try anymore.  

 

Still, an excellent sailing.  But enough imperfections that after the next two or three booked sailings that we are tempted to try others.  Shame as we are so close to Titanium but the cruise is what is important.

 

Thanks for all your input.  We have "been around the block" and we're surprised at this cruise in contrast with the Voyager just several weeks ago.  Still a good cruise but just not what we are used to.

 

The bar staff is excellent!

 

Best,

John

Edited April 22, 2019 by Johnthesailor
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[clarky]

John, you give me hope that when I take my mother of the Voyager in August I will have a better experience.  After my experience on the Mariner I was second guessing myself about having booked a Regent cruise for her 80th Birthday.  I'm at the point now where I do not have loyalty to any cruise line no matter what benefits I receive.  My preference is probably Seabourn but we had an average cruise with them in the Philippines last year. We have had great cruises on Silversea but one not so good.  I think a lot depends on the chef and the Hotel Manager as you mentioned.

 

What a problem to have.  We really enjoyed the ports on our last Mariner cruise and made the best of the experience we had.  Keeping enjoying yourself.

[DaveFr]

Clarky and John,

 

I'm sorry you had subpar experiences on the Mariner.  Hopefully your next cruise will be much better.

 

I think it's important to recognize, though, that staff assignments on Regent cruises are not static.  The staff move around between the Regent ships.  There is no guarantee that staff such as the F&B Manager and the GM will still be on a particular ship in the future.  Even if the staff you want is still assigned to a particular ship, they may be on a two or three month vacation when your cruise sails.

 

If you expect certain staff members to be aboard your future cruise, you may be setting yourself up for a poor experience.  I think the most effective thing you can do is to let Regent management in Miami know about your problems on the recent Mariner cruise.

 

Dave

[Cool Fool]

On 4/22/2019 at 12:08 AM, clarky said:

John, what you described is very similar to what I reported.  We spoke to Ricky (Food and Beverage Manager) about our experiences and whilst food delivery did become more efficient in Compass Rose nothing changed at the Veranda.  What I failed to mention was that it took us 5 tries to get into Sette Mari.  It got to the point where the staff were getting very embarrassed about not being able to accommodate us.  They kept telling us that if we came at 6.30 p:m we could get a table.  We did not want to eat at 6.30 so eventually put our name down on a wait list for 7:30.  They called the bar to let us know that a table was available and we immediately left the bar and headed to the restaurant.  When we arrived they told us they had given our table away as someone was waiting for a table of 4.  I became very annoyed (something I try to avoid on holiday) and insisted that they make a table of 4 immediately.  This they did but what a fiasco.  I understand it is first come first served but Dine anytime?  Not true on this cruise.  John, we asked to be seated at Romeo's table in Compass Rose every night as his service was amazing, never a wait for food and no mixed up orders.  We had breakfast at compass rose as we could not handle the mayhem of the Veranda and Putu really looked after us.  Like I mentioned we have never been on a luxury cruise with so many hiccups and I hope like me you mention this in your comment cards.

This is what happened to us on the Mariner 1 1/2 years ago; so sad to see that nothing has changed. I sense the problem with Setti Mari is systemic, either short staffing or not enough tables (they close 1/2 of La Veranda at night). The battle to try to get seated is exhausting and inconsistent with a luxury experience. 

[clarky]

Cool Fool, you are right that they only open half of La Veranda at night and this may not be a problem when the weather is pleasant and some guests want to eat out under the stars on the pool deck.  On our cruise the evenings were too cold to eat outside at night and perhaps they need to think about opening more tables in Setti Mari on cool weather cruises.  I know a lot of people have their favourite cruise line and that working their way up to a certain status accruing days is an incentive to keep loyal but after our experience on Mariner it would not matter how many days we had and what extra benefits we were offered I would not book on Mariner again.  I'm keeping an open mind about our Voyager cruise but it is probably the last chance I will give Regent. Fingers crossed.

[Travelcat2]

1 hour ago, clarky said:

Cool Fool, you are right that they only open half of La Veranda at night and this may not be a problem when the weather is pleasant and some guests want to eat out under the stars on the pool deck.  On our cruise the evenings were too cold to eat outside at night and perhaps they need to think about opening more tables in Setti Mari on cool weather cruises.  I know a lot of people have their favourite cruise line and that working their way up to a certain status accruing days is an incentive to keep loyal but after our experience on Mariner it would not matter how many days we had and what extra benefits we were offered I would not book on Mariner again.  I'm keeping an open mind about our Voyager cruise but it is probably the last chance I will give Regent. Fingers crossed.

 

I understand your feelings about Mariner but wonder why you aren't trying Explorer.  It is an amazing ship!  Note:  Voyager was our favorite ship ........ until Explorer was launched.

[Johnthesailor]

A new F&B manager just came aboard the last 2 days or so whom we had met previously on the Explorer.  We met with him briefly last night and he is aware of the small but numerous issues and will work to correct them.  We had met him previously on the Explorer and all was good there.  I believe (but can't be 100% sure) that he said he was on vacation but was asked to get to the Mariner ASAP.  Anyway, although we just have a few days left I am hopeful the small glitches will be quickly corrected and the next cruise will be perfect for those boarding.

 

I want to stress that we still had a good cruise with great food in most venues.  Just that LaVaranda was not as good as usual and the kitchens seemed to get backed up at times.  And it might not have been fair comparing to the perfect experiences on the Voyager cruise we just got off a few weeks ago

 

My accolades to Regent for recognizing the situation and flying in an expert to fine tune the process.

 

Best,

John

[clarky]

Hi John,  glad to hear Regent are listening.  We feel the same as you.  We really enjoyed our cruise and always look for the positives but there were just too many hiccups on our cruises to give the Mariner a great review.  Travelcat2 I liked the itinerary offered on the Voyager.  I don't want to be in a position where I only choose a cruise based on where one ship is sailing.  Even if there are more facilities offered on the newer Regent ships surely service and food quality should be consistent  on all their ships.

[Travelcat2]

John, do you mind if I ask who the F&B Director that came onboard is?  

 

Clarke - I do understand where you are coming from in terms of selecting an itinerary rather than a ship.  I also agree that food and service should be consistent on all Regent ships.  In general, we find the food and service to be consistent.  However, I’ve heard that, due to the debut of Splendor, there have been many new hires and promotions.  This causes me to wonder if some things are suffering as a result of this.

[Johnthesailor]

Jackie, 

 

New F&B manager is Vladimir.  Positive Change is readily apparent.  Yesterday I saw him on multiple occasions checking food stations and talking to guests.  I heard (but do not know as a fact) that he slightly expanded  or changed LaVaranda serving hours to accommodate the "crush" of diners. Even one of the waiters commented on his leadership.  Glad he is aboard.

 

and I want to restate -it has been a good cruise and now is likely to be a great one.  Regent shines!

 

Best, John

[Travelcat2]

1 hour ago, Johnthesailor said:

Jackie, 

 

New F&B manager is Vladimir.  Positive Change is readily apparent.  Yesterday I saw him on multiple occasions checking food stations and talking to guests.  I heard (but do not know as a fact) that he slightly expanded  or changed LaVaranda serving hours to accommodate the "crush" of diners. Even one of the waiters commented on his leadership.  Glad he is aboard.

 

and I want to restate -it has been a good cruise and now is likely to be a great one.  Regent shines!

 

Best, John

 

Vladimir is wonderful and should make a very positive change on Mariner.  It is a shame that it took changing F&B Directors to have things improve.  Ricky has a wonderful reputation as a F&B Director and Vladimir was recently promoted to this position (on our Explorer cruise).  Maybe having someone new to the position is more of a positive than I thought........ especially when the person has years of experience with Regent.

[WesW]

Hi John (and Jan), Vladimir was our F&B manager during our South Pacific cruise on the Mariner last November.  He was everywhere making sure food & beverage standards were met or exceeded (at Deck bbq/ party, our Meet & Mingle (50+ cruise critics), et. al).  Photo of Vladimir (Left) below:

 

 

Edited April 26, 2019 by WesW