Reflections on Voyager

[Captain Brook]

My wife and I just returned from the Voyager's Dec. 7 through 14 sailing. I thought I might offer some comments about our trip, as I have benefitted from others who have posted messages on this site regarding their experiences.

 

Our profile: I am 42 years old, and my wife is 38. I'm a commercial banker, and my wife is a management training specialist. We are from Dallas, TX, very happily married (12 years), no children...but lots of wonderful friends and family around us.

 

This was our fourth cruise (first on Regent), with two prior cruises to Caribbean (Celebrity's Galaxy 8 years ago, RCCL

s Jewel of the Seas 3 years ago), and one to Alaska (Celebrity Mercury approx. 5 years ago).

 

Overall: Was most impressed with Voyager and the cruise line, and despite some adverse weather conditions throughout much of the cruise, we had a really enjoyable time. Would most certainly recommend Regent and Voyager to those seeking a relaxing, low-key...'classy' cruise experience.

 

Highlights (and particularly relative to other cruise lines/ships I mentioned), and in no particular order:

 

(1) Service. Was good to outstanding throughout, but particularly in the dinner facilities. Personnel was well-trained, attentive, efficient. Do not expect perfection; however, expect people who genuinely (and generally)want to meet any reasonable request/expectation you may have.

 

(2) Entertainment. Much better than I expected for a smaller cruise ship. Voyager had a typically young set of dancers and singers who seemed to have great chemistry and dug deep to extract the most from their talents. Shows were more traditional, less flamboyant...but struck a nice chord considering the demographic and lower-key ambience of the ship. A 'standards' singer came on board for two nights, and was professional/entertaining. Orchestra was tremendous...best I've heard on any cruise ship. Pianist, guitarist, other entertainers throughout the ship were up to a high standard.

 

(3) Rooms. Spacious, attractive, comfortable. Bedding was comfortable, high-end all the way. Yes, we had flat screen panels with interactive TV allowing for daily briefings from cruise director, account information, access to +140 movie library with some newer movies (as we watched "3:10 to Yuma"). Beautiful, spacious bathrooms. Typical balcony. All-inclusive bar set-up was nice, although we are not big drinkers...but enjoyed crashing the frig for diet cokes, some occasional champagne, and some anniversary cake they brought to us mid-cruise! Cleaning service (Jennifer) was terrific all the way. Met or exceeded all expectations.

 

(4) Food. Best I've experienced on any cruise ship, and particularly at dinner. All specialty restaurants were very good to outstanding. Service in Signatures was notably incredible.

 

(5) Free-style dining and all inclusive. My wife and I are somewhat quiet folks...friendly, but just a little on the quiet side. We enjoyed dinner together in the evenings, just the two of us (contextual to an anniversary trip we were on). I've been on other cruises with table mates, which we have also enjoyed...but on this trip we truly enjoyed the non-pressured, relaxing opportunity just to show up for a meal (at any time) on our own and visit, people-watch, and take in some truly exquisite meals.

 

As to the all-inclusive, my memo to other cruise lines: THIS WORKS! Passengers enjoy this, and the ship's personnel seemed content with it. I noticed no particular let-up in service, although the comment I'd make here is that (to me) it seems to lend itself to more efficiency than perhaps friendliness in service. On other cruise lines, where tipping is encouraged, personnel and wait-staff seems to be more engaging...striking up conversations, making bigger productions out of their tasks, etc. You don't see that as much on Regent, although I will say it sets the table for, what I detected, more GENUINE interaction with the cruise staff. I found the cruise staff overall focused far more on service than 'production', and I just found that to be more 'real' and less overbearing.

 

(6) Ambience. Very classy throughout. Despite the fact that anyone can order drinks at any time, I didn't personally encounter (to my detection)drunk cruisers...a big 'turn-off' to me. The high-amp, party-all-night atmosphere was, let's just say, not as encouraged or in vogue on the Voyager cruise I attended. Obviously among 750 passengers you will have some of those who seemed inclined to 'star in their own movie' i.e. seeking to draw attention to themselves by engaging in exceedingly loud conversation at dinner, being really demanding of cruise staff for this or that...but just didn't see much of the 'cruise drunk' on this ship. To the contrary, the line seems to promote a refined, but unpretentious/relaxed atmosphere on their ship, and it's one I really enjoyed.

 

(7) Internet cafe. Spacious, affordable (relative to other cruise ships I've been on that tend to 'fee you to death' on this service)...just a great facility by cruise ship standards.

 

(8) Nice touches/little things. Regent really does this well i.e. letting us board a little early vs. published embarkation, no rush disembarkation (as we had a later flight), unsolicited anniversary dessert deliveries, better-than-asked-for service touches in various places throughout the ship, complimentary umbrellas, water, towels, etc. offered at various port stops, etc., etc.

 

(9) Cruise director (Jamie Logan), captain, staff in general...all terrific.

 

Lowlights (and there weren't many):

 

(1) The weather. Obviously, out of anyone (but God's) control. We ran into a tropical disturbance that, due primarily to up to 50 to 55 mph winds and resulting wave swells, rocked us pretty good for a couple of nights. EVERYTHING was moving on the ship. That said, RCCL's new ship Liberty of the Seas, a HUGE cruise liner, was ported in San Juan the same day we were and I asked passengers if it was any better on their ship during the rough night before. (It wasn't.) Once the seas calmed toward the end of our cruise, I found Voyager to be as 'stable' as any ship I've been on.

 

(2) Spa staff. Was a little less impressive to me and seemingly out of step with service on rest of the ship. It's a younger staff, and they just seemed to be going through the motions. I only used them for a haircut, and I may have just caught them on a day. I initially asked the stylist "How are you doing today?" and she replied, "Not very well, thank you." I said I was sorry and asked if I should come back at another time, and she said no. That was about the extent of that conversation! Again, this was after the night we got tossed around due to the storm, and so this may have had an effect. Still, on other afternoons, and passing by the sign-up station on the way to the fitness room, they just honestly were not that friendly. Still, this is contextual to the OUTSTANDING service elsewhere throughout the ship (and, notably, I was pleased with the results of my haircut!)

 

(3) Ship size. Smaller ship, a few less amenities. It's a trade-off with Voyager...service for size. But service and ship were beautiful, and (because of the smaller size), less crowded, less waiting, etc.

 

(4) Need for some updates. This is just a really ticky-tack comment here, but I believe this is a 4+ year old ship, and probably just needs a dry-dock before much longer for some subtle replacements...carpet, some furniture, etc. This is definitely understandable, and probably on their schedule. Everything was super clean throughout, but a + 4 year-old, heavily used ship will always show some signs of wear....although not what I'd at all consider substantial.

 

I'll stop there. Thank you, again, for those of you who have provided valuable information to me in the past, and I hope this in some way returns the favor.

 

Finally, cruising, and life, is about attitude. Take time to be thankful for these kinds of experiences, and take time to share encouragement and love to those who are taking care of you, including staff on a cruise ship...and certainly your friends, family, and the less fortunate around Christmas time. God bless! - Mike Brookshire

[Captain Brook]

Somehow I managed to post this thread twice. To the Board monitor: Feel free to delete this one. Thanks!

[RachelG]

Thanks for your report and comments. Very in line with what we experienced on Voyager--actually, my only negative was the spa staff because they talked my husband into a lot of stuff that he thought was included but then was changed extra for. I would have known, having been to a lot of spas in the past, to ask. But he didn't, so ended up paying a lot more than he expected.

The lady doing the exercise programs was outstanding however, so I am not including her in the negative assessment.

[parisbully]

Thank you for the review. I have been curious about the all inclusive. We have been on RSSC many times but not since it switched to AI. We are going on Voyager next year and we will be using the all-inclusive as my husband loves his beer and wine - although not to the point of no return....FYI, Voyager is going into dry dock 12-8-08. Still quite a while.

[cruzadict]

Just curious to know where you found the information about the dry dock of the voyager as the December 8th 2008 cruise is still being advertised on their UK web site.

[parisbully]

It was on a previous post. I checked and it is no longer on the US website.

[Margate Cruiser]

This is our second week on and the first was just great except a little bad weather. But we were so happy to see and hear David Howarth at the piano. He is such a Great artist. Don't miss his next show.