Recap of Voyager Cruise

[cAPS lOCK oN]

We got back this weekend after a 10 night Lisbon roundtrip cruise on Voyager. We preceded the cruise with 3 nights on our own in Lisbon, which we loved. The cruise itself went north from Lisbon with 4 stops in Spain, one in Portugal and two nights in Bordeaux. We'd never been to any of the ports, so this was an attractive itinerary for us.

 

The Ship

 

We were on Voyager 10 years ago, our first Regent cruise, so we knew what to expect. It's not as glamorous as Explorer and Splendor, our last two cruises, but it's a very comfortable ship. Apparently a refurbishment somewhere along the removed the cabinets that were beside the TV, so we initially thought we would be short of storage (we overpacked as usual). But it wasn't a problem at all. The bathroom was a definite down grade from the superior suites on our last two cruises, but adequate.

 

We had no complaints with any of the public rooms. The extra seats at the pool bar were much appreciated! In short, it was, to us, still a very comfortable ship and we wouldn't hesitate to book it again.

 

Food

 

Everything was perfect, save for one lukewarm steak. 

 

Service

 

All of the staff that we interacted were Regent-quality. We had dinner the first night at Compass Rose and were seated in Marissa's section. She was great! We asked to be seated in her section the rest of the cruise. Several other people did as well, so we weren't the only ones that liked her. I always think it's important to find wait staff in CR that you click with, and we did.

 

Speaking of Regent-quality, like always Destination Services was poor. They were no help when we asked questions, partly because I don't think they'd ever been in any of the ports. Hilariously, the two channels devoted to Destinations were blank for the entire cruise until the last night when they showed Windows Media player errors. They did run the tours smoothly, which at this point is about all I hope for.

 

Entertainment

 

It was a very port-intensive cruise, so we didn't take in many shows. The CD was Cullie and he was excellent.

 

Tours

 

We took six Regent tours, and cancelled two more (due to stamina issues). We also had one more tour (San Sebastian) cancelled as its port was closed due to weather. We mixed "free" excursions and paid ones.

 

Our favorite tours were a day at Santiago de Compostela (7.5 hours, $79). It was a magnificent day in one of Christianity's most revered sites, and included a fine lunch in a 5 start hotel.

 

Our other favorite was "Pintxos and Old Town" in Bilbao. It combined an enjoyable tour of this fascinating city along with pintxos (like tapas) in a tavern. The amount of delicious food was overwhelming and came with two full size glasses of their good local wine (other drinks were available too). Most everybody gave out before the last course, which was Basque meatballs. Somehow this was a free tour. I highly recommend this, and recommend that you arrive hungry!

 

We also liked "Dine with the Locals" in Bordeaux ($149), where we had dinner at a woman's home with 2 other couples. It was a good evening, albeit a tad overpriced.

 

I should mention the city tour in Bordeaux. It was 2.5 hours, and you could choose the "free" version or the small group version, which was $89. We had some OBC and picked the small group tour. Our group was only slightly smaller than the group taking the free tour making this really overpriced for a short tour. Maybe Bordeaux is just an expensive city.

 

We had good guides for every tour, with only slight accent issues.

 

Disappointments

 

The internet was terrible, and it was Skylink. When it worked we got 3 mbps down, and 2 mbps up. Since we were in or near a port every day we just used 5g. Our plan treats international data the same as domestic data, so there was no reason to wrestle with the ship's internet.

 

The on-deck barbecue was on the day we were overnighting in Bordeaux. We had dinner in town, and there were a couple of chateau dinners that had sold out quickly so it didn't make sense It was a shame as we were looking forward to the event.

 

I was also looking forward to San Sebastian. But it was a tender port (our only one) and was inaccessible.

[Pcardad]

44 minutes ago, cAPS lOCK oN said:

 

 

The internet was terrible, and it was Skylink. When it worked we got 3 mbps down, and 2 mbps up.

FYI - that is about 10x faster than what you would get without Starlink.

[RetiredOnVacation]

On 7/1/2024 at 8:20 PM, cAPS lOCK oN said:

The internet was terrible, and it was Skylink. When it worked we got 3 mbps down, and 2 mbps up. Since we were in or near a port every day we just used 5g. Our plan treats international data the same as domestic data, so there was no reason to wrestle with the ship's internet.

Totally agree about the poor Internet. Given that it's Starlink (much better than the previous Inmarsat) it was galling not to be able to enjoy that in suite! 

We got 2.6mbs down/1.3mbs up in public areas, but half that in suite, but only when squatting on the floor behind the suite door with phone on floor to get a signal under the steel cabin door! Mostly un-connectable in suite bed/lounge, and totally zero on balcony! 

The ship needs to have a much better mesh network installed, with in-suite routers imo!