Review: Voyager 11 Night E. Caribbean 11/19 -11/30

[wingit]

This was our first Regent cruise. We’ve cruised on Holland, Princess and Royal Caribbean. Our expectations were fairly high and they were met.

We were in a G category suite in the forward part of the ship. It was a very nice room with nice amenities. Note: the flat screen TV had not been installed in our room at the time we debarked, but it sounded as though it would be installed very soon. Our stewardess was pleasant and efficient. We were given a bar set up with 1 bottle of Grey Goose vodka per our request. When we asked for another bottle later in the week, the stewardess said that we were allowed only 1. If we had initially ordered Absolute, we could have had 2. I guess the bar setup was one area that we were not up to speed on. We were under the impression that bottles of liquor would be replenished on request – but that’s not the case. It’s a small detail, but something to make note of. Beer was replenished whenever requested.

The food was very good. Our least favorite dinner spot was the Compass Rose. We ate there 2 nights. The food was good – but we didn’t feel it was markedly better than what we’d had on the mainstream lines. We generally preferred La Veranda – over the course of this cruise it changed from an Italian Steakhouse to a French Bistro. Excellent food, a bit more casual atmosphere. We ate at Signatures 1 night. I had the duck breast and my husband had a beef filet, both were superb. In fact my husband had beef in all the dining venues and said it was some of the best beef he’d ever tasted. Latitudes was also excellent. Some people we talked to weren’t keen on it, but we loved it. The Pool Grill was great and we had some excellent room service meals as well. There was a Fish BBQ one lunchtime and an International Feast another. Both were great.

We enjoyed the Pool Bar, Voyager Lounge and the Horizon. Great bartenders and convivial atmosphere.

Overall I would say that the service was quite good and in some cases excellent. My observation was that the crew seemed somehow happier than what I’d noticed on other ships. I guess this might be an overly broad statement – but it just appeared to me that most of the service staff on the Voyager were happy in their work.

We did not go to any of the big shows in the Constellation, but heard that most of them were very good.

We played Trivia everyday. There were 6 of us on our team and we did very well. Had a great time with that.

One thing that struck us was how easy it was to meet people, strike up conversations, and make friends on this ship. Everyone was so friendly and relaxed. It seemed to us that a good time was being had by all.

On the last cruise day there was a medical evacuation by the US Coast Guard. It was of course a personal tragedy for the people involved, but was extremely interesting to watch the evacuation. The coordination was impressive.

Well that’s all I can think of today, this, our first day home and back to reality. We really loved the cruise and think Regent is A-1. I will be happy to try to answer any questions anyone might have.

[Travelcat2]

Your review of the Voyager was extremely interesting. The fact that you have cruised before, and, this was your first Regent cruise gives a fresh perspective to the experience. Sometimes repeat cruisers can get overly picky (myself included) when it comes to service and food aboard Regent ships.

 

It seems both the staff and passengers of Regent are not certain what the policy is regarding alcohol in the suites. In your case, they did not replace the Grey Goose (even though you can have it at any of the lounges on board). When we were on the Navigator, we could not order cocktails from room service. It isn't a "problem" -- just confusing.

 

Just thinking about the food at Latitudes makes my mouth water. Do you know if La Veranda's change to French cuisine was temporary or if the change is more permanent?

 

It sounds like you really enjoyed your cruise. Thanks for taking the time to post and to remind us how great Regent is.:)

[RachelG]

Enjoyed your review. Would like to hear about the ports you visited and what you did there.

We raise certified Angus cattle, and I rarely order beef when we go out; however, I did a couple of times on the Voyager as did my husband. We both agreed that the quality was very high--as good as we are used to at home, which is saying a lot.

Travelcat, when we were on in June, La Veranda was a Mediterranean tapas place the 1st week and a French bistro the second. We enjoyed both very much.

[wingit]

Travelcat, we too thought the in suite liquor policy was odd. As you say, one can have the Grey Goose in any of the lounges, why not be able to drink it in your suite.

 

Regarding La Veranda menu - I think it changes midway during every cruise. Perhaps someone more experienced will correct that if I'm wrong.

[wingit]

Enjoyed your review. Would like to hear about the ports you visited and what you did there.

When planning the cruise we didn't book it because we were particularily excited about the ports of call - we were really most interested in experiencing a Regent ship. That said, the 2 ports we were most interested in - San Juan PR and St. Barts we hit on days that everything was closed. In the case of San Juan it was Thanksgiving and St. Barts it was Sunday. In St. Thomas and Tortola we wandered around the very typical shopping districts. On the 2 private islands my husband got off just briefly, but I didn't. Our last stop was Grand Turk. I wasn't feeling all that well so I didn't get off. My husband got off and walked around the cruise center and said it was very nice. I heard this from other passengers as well. Alas, I'm not the most informed source of info about the ports of call! Glad you enjoyed my review.

[BILLP1]

We did not have a problem getting additional bottles of Liquor in our room. We were in Cat F on the Mariner.

 

I think the room stewart has a lot to do with any requests you make. A lot of them do not understand the policy .

[wingit]

I think you're right, BillP1. Our room stewardess, while perfectly good at keeping the room tidy, did seem a little inexperienced. I was not quite confident that she actually knew the policy.

[jhp]

Wingit, I enjoyed your review, and thank you for taking the time to post it! I agree that this particular room steward(ess) did not know the policy. Since the all-inclusive policy has been introduced, I have requested one liquor selection and one wine at the onset, and sometime into the cruise have requested another bottle of wine, and it has always been delivered. Prices went up when AI was introduced, and it should be included.

[farago]

My wife and I were on the same cruise.

 

As regards shore excursions, we did at least one at each stop. It was my impression that excursions, in general, were not that popular, but that might reflect the demographic of the passengers as many of the excursions we did were 'active'.

 

Regent sent someone to accompany each tour even when there were only 4 people on it. I thought this was a very strong plus point.

 

Princess Cays: Regent organised a beach party and provided drinks and a barbecue. We swam and enjoyed it.

 

San Juan: I had hoped to go to Arecibo put it was, of course, closed for thanksgiving. We swapped to a long hike in the rain forest. We enjoyed the hike but could have done with more information about the flora. The bus trip to the forest was interesting as we saw the outskirts of San Juan and some of the countryside. We also walked around Old San Juan which was very quiet and enjoyable.

 

St Thomas: We went on a Kayak and Snorkel trip. This took us out of our comfort zone as neither of us had done these activities for many many years. We enjoyed it a lot but could have spend a lot longer on each phase. We felt the instruction could have been better for us beginners.

 

St. Maarten: In the morning we did the America's cup challenge with about 30 Regent guests. Brilliantly organised by a mostly UK crew they spilt us between two boats. Each person was appointed to a role. These were either active or less active so all types were catered for. We chose the most active roles of 'primary grinders'. The boats race each other and it is a remarkable experience. In the afternoon we went on a bus trip to see the island. The views from the hills were beautiful. There were two fairly long 'stops' for shopping which I felt was two too many.

 

St Barts: We did the semi-submersible expedition. A chance to see the wildlife under the ocean around the reef and wrecks. We saw turtles, shark, barracuda and many other fish. Interesting but not an excursion I would repeat. As it was Sunday the town was quiet but we enjoyed exploring the back streets.

 

Tortorla: A bus trip around the island followed by a boat trip around the island. The boat trip had to be curtailed as the seas in the Drake Passage were too rough. Again the bus trip was worth it for the views,

 

Cayo Levantado: We did the Cave Mangrove and Rain Forest expedition. There is a 45 minute each way speed boat trip to get to the caves. again it was quite choppy and this got a bit boring. The Caves were originally occupied by the local Indians who have left simple paintings on the walls. The caves were not as well organised as you would expect in the US or Europe so you had to be very careful when walking around.

 

Grand Turk: We did the Dune Buggy 'adventure'. This allows you to see the whole island as is very good fun. Our buggy needed the brakes fixing at each stop and was very tricky to drive but I am sure that this was an exception.

 

I hope that this provides some useful feedback.

[NCCruzQueen]

We were given a bar set up with 1 bottle of Grey Goose vodka per our request. When we asked for another bottle later in the week, the stewardess said that we were allowed only 1.

 

wingit, Grey Goose is considered a premium liquor. That may be the reason for just one bottle.

[hvsteve1]

I thought they had done away with the in room liquor when they went to the all inclusive policy. From what I see on CC, I guess that is not the case. We don't really drink the stuff in the room and tend to bring it home. On Mariner, when the cruise was ending, we hadn't touched the two bottles we had ordered so asked to exchange it for one premium vodka so as to have less to carry. Our (still Scandanavian) head housekeeper recommended Chopin as that was the most expensive brand they carried. She instinctively knew how I think:p . On Navigator we took home two bottles of wine, as we really don't drink hard liquor at home but do have the occasional bottle of wine. I thought the policy was always pretty clear that you got one bottle of premium or two of regular and that was it. The earlier posters comment about not being able to get drinks from room service on navigator seems at odds with other postings I've seen since the new all inclusive policy, though the comments a remember were complaints about the qulity of the drinks.

[Travelcat2]

Hopefully the all-inclusive policy will become clear soon. I believe all the contradictory stories have happened. When room service indicated that we could only order a bottle of vodka -- not by the glass (category D), I assumed it had to do with the difficulty that could be involved in getting food from the kitchen, drinks from the bar and then delivering it to the suite quickly.

 

Thanks for the information on Latitudes. The menu did not change on our Voyager trip last year -- our upcoming trip on the Mariner is 11 nights so it would be nice to dine at Latitudes twice with different menus.

[bogey]

We were on the same cruise and I really enjoyed reading your perspective. We would agree with many of your comments, particularly about the food. We found the food quality to be wonderful everywhere. La Veranda was our favorite venue and Compass Rose our least favorite. We heard some complaints about Latitudes, but I think the complaints we heard were from folks who just didn't enjoy Asian cuisine.

 

We loved the all-inclusive aspects of Regent cruising. It was our first Regent cruise and hopefully not our last. Having said that, we did have some less-than wonderful experiences.

 

We were disappointed in the food and beverage service. Some orders got confused. We ordered drinks in more than one venue which never arrived. I ordered a burger from the pool grill that never arrived. (Yes, I re-ordered and it was delivered with an apology.) We went for several mornings at breakfast without a coffee refill ever offered until we asked. Compass Rose service was always slow. The one exception was Latitudes where the service was up to the standards we'd anticipated.

 

We did experience a lot of engine vibration (we were in an aft Penthouse on deck 7 near the laundry room.) Additionally we had a lot of creaks and groans in our cabin when the ship moved much at all. These did not seem related to our position on the ship. We met two couples who had the same problems in amidship suites.

 

Finally, I thought the ship could have done a much better job planning the itinerary. We had two extended port visits --- San Juan and St. Barts. Unfortunately, we were in San Juan on Thanksgiving and the city was essentially shut down. Then we had the same experience with our Sunday visit to St. Barts. Seems to me that the order of ports might have been changed, but I understand there are a lot of variables to deal with in that regard. In the alternative, I would have hoped that the line could have come up with some interesting shore excursions to provide something to do in those ports where most things were closed.

 

I am sorry to sound like a complainer. This was a very nice cruise and we do hope to return for another Regent cruise. My "complaints" are just comments from a first-time Regent cruiser who'd been expecting a bit more after reading all the wonderful comments on this board.

 

Bogey

[RachelG]

Latitudes menu did not change when we were on last summer, but we still ate there twice as we really like Asian food--it was good enough to eat twice. Only problem was that one of the appetizers and one of the main dishes had duck in them, and my son is deathly allergic to duck. They didn't have anything to substitute, but gave us larger amounts of the non-duck containing menu items.

Signatures and La Veranda both had menu changes 1/2 way through.

 

I agree that they should have done some preplanning of the itinerary considering that everything was closed on Thanksgiving. Same sort of thing happened to us in Greece 2 years ago--everything was closed because it was election day. Fortunately, the car rental place wasn't, so we made a quick change of plans, rented a car, and explored the countryside. It turned out to be one of our favorite days.

[Travelcat2]

It sounds like you had a good cruise -- even with the few issues that could be better. The vibration issue has been discussed at length on these boards. It is mostly felt aft and in suites on the upper decks. There are times when the vibration is stronger -- perhaps having to do with speed of the ship, wind conditions, etc.

 

I have read other posts regarding Thanksgiving at different ports. There may have been options available through private tour companies (many times they are as good or better than Regent tours -- usually less money). I'll keep the holiday issue in mind when we cruise around holiday time -- probably will treat it as a sea day and just stay on board.

 

The Compass Rose service issue is also getting a lot of "press" on these boards -- I think this is a good thing -- Regent may realize that they are a bit short handed in that area and improve it.

[BILLP1]

The ports and dates are listed with each cruise at least a year in advance. In the future for your convience check when you book which ports are scheduled on Sundays and holidays . Probably save you some dull port days...

[bogey]

You're absolutely right. It was silly for me to think that Regent would, when they scheduled these port visits lasting from 0800 to 2300, have something in mind for their passengers to do during these extended times in port.

[RachelG]

They should know when Thanksgiving is--though I would have noticed that too and planned accordingly if I had been on the cruise. However, one wouldn't necessarily expect everything to be closed down on a Sunday in St Bart's. And the time we were on, when everything was closed due to election day, we really had no way of knowing in advance.

[wingit]

For our part, we were expecting that things would be closed in San Juan on Thanksgiving and on St. Barts on Sunday. We took a cab ride around town in San Juan and saw some sights. On St. Barts we walked around the town and then walked to a nearby beach for a swim. Since we anchored at St. Barts overnight, I know some people went ashore when we got there (the night before Thanksgiving) and partook of the nightlife/club scene. Sounded as though they had a great time.

[JoAnne B]

It's my understanding that there is a two-bottle limit, one if a premium brand for each segment of a cruise. When a fellow passenger complained on the crossing, he was told by the hotel director that the limit was "company policy" and could not be bent. This doesn't seem to be a change from the pre-all-inclusive policy. The only difference is that they don't replenish automatically with the start of each segment, just on request. However, this limit doesn't seem to apply for wine or beer. Whenever I ordered dinner in my cabin, they brought a full bottle without question. Each time the room steward asked if I wanted him to open it, so I could have ordered and set it aside unopened.

JoAnne B

Houston

[canadagal]

Nice review! It was an enjoyable read so thanks for taking the time to post it. I agree that the AI policy is confusing. Why can't you get a cocktail from rooms sevice if you order it? Seems there are still some kinks to be worked out as some people get additional bottles and other do not. All inclusive should mean just that......without any extra stipulations attached.

I was really happy to read that on the shore excursions they have added the Regent accompaniment. Yeah! I hope that is their new policy and not just for this particular cruise and ship.

Pat

[Mrs. Howell]

Great reading about the Navigator on the site. Getting ready to sail on January 7! Has anyone done the St. Thomas Ocean Racing Challenge or the Sea Kayaking at Peter Island tours?

 

Thanks a bunch,

MH