Hello from Mariner - Hong Kong/Bangkok 10/2007

[SFImporter]

Everything is ship-shape and Hong Kong was quite fantastic. Today we are in our first stop in Vietnam. Quite an amazing country in it's own right.

 

Criticism for Regent: Disembarkation was quite the horror today. Everyone was up early trying to get food because it seemed that all excursions happened at the same time. Clearance for the port was delayed, which was fine. Someone came over the loud speaker and told everyone to relax in one of the many lounges.

 

Okay fine, but then there were no further announcements. Suddenly people were able to disembark, so everyone rushed to get off - which caused a huge rambling, disorganized line that too forever to clear.

 

For a top-rated cruise line - you'd think this was the first disembarkation Regent had ever seen. It would have been much smoother if they chose a site on the ship for each excursion to meet. Then we could have orderly organized and been able to exit without waisting precious vacation time.

 

Food has been great - though service in Compass Rose is definitely off. Still the servers there have to put up with a lot of demands. They just seem to be forgetting parts of orders - or serving one person and then waiting 15 minutes before another person's food comes up. Not up to snuff there.

 

Signatures and Lattitudes are rocking though. Lattitudes especially has been a great treat with their family style service.

 

Pondering on whether to do the "free" junk boat sailing tomorrow. Big party on deck tonight with a BBQ and local talent - followed by an illusionist/magician later in the evening (maybe too much for one night?)

 

Last night was the broadway show tribute. Pretty awful, but those starved for entertainment seemed to enjoy it. It was pretty much a simple update of the SAME show that was performed three years ago when we did the Alaska leg. That portion of the entertainment line-up really needs a good shake-up. I know, it's only kids at sea putting on a show - but they could do better.

 

Enjoying Asia though - and the views from the balcony have been amazing - especially Hong Kong at night and pulling into the Bay of Tonkin. Great lectures on the history of these nations as well (always a Regent highlight!).

[Donaldm]

Thanks for the update on the Mariner's activities; please keep them coming.

My wife and I left the ship in Hong Kong October 10th after boarding in Alaska. In our experience, the ship's staff handled shore excursions fairly well, however those who left before the announcements would often get better seating on buses. In Korea, for example, we got the last seats on a tour bus and our vision was half blocked by black-out tape on the windows.

Getting immigration clearance seems to be a problem. In Russia, many of the tours were supposed to leave in the morning. After waiting two or three hours for clearance, the cruise director told us to go have lunch as they were postponing all the tours until the afternoon. The ship stayed in port an extra hour or so to allow the tours to be completed.

As to the shows, I believe all the entertainers are leaving at the beginning of November to be replaced by new entertainers and shows.

Will the ship be stopping in Myanmar? We received a note in our cabins saying that Regent was thinking about skipping it because of the political situation there.

[petlover]

SFImporter, doesn't sound like things are going well ....quite surprising to read so many negatives in one report. We'll be onboard in 6 weeks so I hope things improve by then. I have about 350 nights on Regent and have very rarely had any kind of negative experience as you have. Glad you're enjoying Asia, your itinerary sounds great.