Navigator - Just returned from Rome to Venice cruise

[dcl]

Just returned Saturday from Rome to Venice (HOT & STICKY !) - Navigator cruise.

 

APPEARANCE - Excellent

- Recently replaced carpet, wall coverings, etc.

 

FOOD - Excellent

- But the # of selections each dinner has been reduced on the dinner menu.

 

SERVICE - Most Staff is very friendly, but service varied.

- Gone are the days when ladies are escorted and seated at the dining tables.

- Gone are the days when the plates are carried to your table for you.

- Get use to asking 2 or more for some items in the restaurant, bars and from your maid service in your cabin

- A ship crew member no longer escorts all Regent shore excursions and coolers with water are no longer provided during the excursion. Be sure to grab some before leaving the ship.

 

PROBLEMS

- When we arrived the shower was stopped up.

- Half way through the cruise an awful sewer smell start coming out of the bathroom. Supposedly, whoever fixed the shower reconnected the pipes wrong.

- We had a triple, but the maid constantly only left 2 sets of towels and only 2 chocolates at night.

- A/C in our cabin wasn't too good, always much cooler in the hallways. Fortunately wasn't on deck 10 where the A/C barely worked at all in the cabins.

 

Supposedly all this will be fixed when back in dry dock in December

 

TOTAL Experience - Excellent

[Travelcat2]

We are quite surprised to read your posting. I'm wondering if your experience was a "fluke" week or if things have gone downhill fast. We were on the Navigator at the end of March, 2007 -- the head chef was not on board that week and the food was not up to Regent standards. Service, air conditioning ws great. Have you been on the Navigator previously?

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Wow, some of this is surprising, some not. We were on Nav last December right after its soft refit. They were still fixing things up, like the PA speaker in our ceiling. Our AC also was not the best.

 

I certainly remember having my plate carried a number of times. However, table service during the day in Portofino's was slow. Staff were all extremely friendly and good-willed. There just didn't appear to be enough of them sometimes in the dining rooms.

 

Food quality was mostly great.

 

I didn't think about the Regent staff participation in excursions, but you're right, there wasn't any--then again, it was just the Caribbean, don't see why they would need to send someone on a snorkeling trip. We'll see what Voyager does this December.

[cruiseluv]

I was surprised that still after your comments you would rate the cruise as "excellent", so I surmise everything else must have been great.

 

Of your list of issues the ones that would really bother me would be the A/C not working properly and having to ask several times for the same thing at the bars or restaurant. The latter really annoys me. The food could be great, but if I have to be chasing somebody for a diet coke, it detracts from the enjoyment.

 

Sorry you had that happen, The last time I was on Navigator was in July 2005, prior to changes in carpets, bedding, etc. and everything was 100% great. I hope that it's not going downhill as I love the Navigator.

[dcl]

Traveling with a few ladies, you get feed back about not being escorted and seated at tables and not having dishes carried for you.

I'm sure most men, like myself, don't find these items as big deals anyway.

 

A/C could have been a lot better in the cabins, but you did get cooled off, it just took an extra 15 minutes.

 

A cooler of water taken on excursions so you could enjoy cold water and available at the tender pier, would have been nice. In the past Radisson always did it.

I noticed Seaborn Cruises still does, they shared a couple of ports with us.

 

Talking with a crew member, he did make a comment that Regent was making a number of cut backs.

And yes, you do notice it. - But I would overall still rate my vacation experience as excellent.

 

The food was still delicious, fellow passengers were very friendly, the cabins are comfortable and the Regent shore excursions covered everything you expected.

 

I personally enjoy the Mariner and Voyager more, but have already booked another cruise on the Navigator.

[JoAnne B]

Some of your comments are really troublesome. At a time when Regent is raising fares and trying to position itself as luxury, obvious cutbacks wouldn't seem to be a wise business decision. I've never viewed her as a finely tuned ship, but it sounds like she's moving backwards. How are you not escorted to the table? That seems like a basic courtesy. Having to repeat requests is irritating at best. Were you aware of any circumstances that might have been stressing the crew? Staff shortages? New staff? Changes in ship's officers? Weather issues? I hope it's only a temporary lapse.

JoAnne B

Houston

[Wendy The Wanderer]

If you mean having cold water available as you leave for an excursion, and available at a table as you return (in hot weather), I'm surprised, this has usually been the case.

 

As for escorting you to your table, do you mean your waiter did not lead you to it, or do you mean that each lady was not led there by the arm by a waiter? If the latter, give me a break.

[dcl]

Wendy,

 

Water was available on a table on the ship before exiting as usual, but nothing was setup outside on the dock, on the tender dock, or in coolers on the buses of Regent shore excursions. Which it use to have.

 

Ladies use to be escorted by the arm to their table. Now, they just walk in front leading the group to the table.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Right. As for the ladies, I believe if you are a single lady alone you still get escorted arm-in-arm. Frankly I found it vaguely outmoded and paternalistic otherwise. But perhaps it's different ship-to-ship (although I'm pretty sure it was available on the dock coming back on Navigator excursions last winter.) I'll be on Voyager in just over 3 months, so I'll watch out for this. And for the plate-carrying.

[redcisco]

Very odd... we went on Navigator June 2 - 9 in Med and did not encounter anything you did. I never had to carry my plate, and was always escorted to the table -- up in Portofino they did it to just poke fun at my husband who was two steps behind me! Always with a smile. And never had any other trouble.

 

I didn't mind the water not being outside anymore, as it would always get hot or look like we were camping but reaching into a cooler. I always just grabbed a bottle from the table mentioned above. And it was HOT when I was there - air worked fine!

 

Strange how people can experience the same thing but have different feelings on it.

[pammy]

We were on the same cruise. the ship was full. 503 passengers which is probably why the waiters were busy at the tables and not escorting. We have been on 9 Regent cruises and found the personel on board to be working as hard as they could to keep everyone happy. There were a number of children on board and though well behaved they do demand alot of the servers time. The pool bar was constantly making all kinds of virgin drinks for them. I know the people we talked to were glad the following week would have 100 less people and no children so they could catch their breath. The food was very good and our group of 6 never had a problem finding something we enjoyed plus there is always steak, salmon and chicken. We love the new beds and soft goods in the cabins. The pillows are some of the best we have ever had outside of home. Hopefully Regent won't cut corners. We are willing to pay for good service and qualitiy but they will lose us if these things slip. We sailed Oceania 3 times and got tried of being nickled and dimed even in a Vista Suite.

[cruiseluv]

That explains a lot of things.

 

These ships are not designed to carry children. I don't care if they have a "Mariner program" to keep them entertained. The size and layout of the public areas , pools and decks are just not set out for this. When we started cruising on Regent my children were 6 and 11. It never crossed my mind to bring them on their ships. First, they would have been bored to tears, second they would have probably gotten into trouble trying to design their own entertainment! LOL!

 

In our Baltic cruise 4 years ago there was only 1 family with young children. The kids basically took over the hot tubs and pool with their inflatable toys and nobody would say anything to them. Next thing you know, the little girl is running around the pool deck, slipped and hit her head against a table. It was only a bad bruise, but something worse could have happened.

 

This is sending red flags for me in terms of booking any future cruise during the summer.

[dcl]

Yes, the ship was full and that's a nice thing about Regent ships.

Even though full, you never really realize or see the crowds.

There were no lines for the dining rooms, no long lines for the tenders, no problem getting a seat in the show room and they don't overfill the excursion buses.

 

Having sailed on Regent cruises for over 20 years, I do see changes. Not always for the best, but nothing that has made me want to stop cruising with Regent.

 

- And Yes, The new beds are very comfortable

 

I think a numbers of small issues will be fixed on the Navigator when they dry dock her this December.

[atlgacruisers]

We were on the same cruise and just returned from the 8.25.07 leg as well from Venice to Athens. We did have much fewer people on the 2nd leg (virtually no kids) and you could notice that the ship didnt seem as full (though I beleive it was) just from the absence of kids.

 

We however, had a little different experience. The escort of the ladies is no biggie for us. We did have our plates carried on several occasions on board (which is no biggie either to us but is a nice touch). We did notice the smell one day on the first week but it went away quickly.

 

We went on 7 or 8 excursions over the two weeks and I think on all but one we did have a Regent escort with us on the trip. I think they are just along to make sure that everyone makes it back. Though they are fun to talk with as you make the excursion.

 

Overall, like you, we felt the cruise was EXCELLENT. No big problems or inconveniences at all. We were very pleased with the all inclusive aspect of the trip as well. Once I have some time to clear my head I will try to give a trip report with pictures etc. Cant wait for the next one. The Navigator was great!

[dcl]

Navigator (Rome to Venice) Pictures - Enjoy

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/91663221@N00/collections/72157601734406837/