The half way mark

[PaulaJK]

We are on this 35 day segment of Voyager and have just passed our halfway point. It has been a most pleasant voyage. Just a few notes as I know there are several blogs on this trip..and as always, this is personal opinion.

--Capt Dag is disembarking in Cape Town, to be replaced by "an Italian
captain".
--The crew works very hard to please. Love the Deck 11 crew. We have an excellent stewardess. The CompassRose crew is mostly good. The few weak encounters were due to language, I think, rather than inadequacy. The sommeliers are quite good. With our headcount, no one is stretched and service is quite good.
--There is the perenial division of full WC and segmenters. It might have been nicer not to have overheard a WC articulate her dislike of segmenters. She also felt that the line did 'more' for them. I have a somewhat contrary view....the segmenters pay a higher per diem [without a 'more'] and help keep the WC afloat. Since some WC have that attitude plus they have been able to form bonds/friendships, it might be nice if Regent gave a small party for the newly boarded so that they could meet each other.
--Kondrok is the new F&B head.........August his asst.
--Regent did an A+ job with the Bangkok overnight, all aspects of it.
--We have had several enjoyable guest lecturers. These are well attended.Sandra Bowern was most animated in her talks on the history & culture of some asian ports...and Stephen Mutkowski,who has the Mariani endowed Banfi chair at Cornell has given some excellent wine lectures...and I enjoyed the 'Spies in Spike Heels' lecture also.
--The # of popcorn movies during the first days of the cruise made me wonder but we've had some excelllent entertainers... in house Stephanie Baldwin &Jerry Vasi along w. Sally Jones, the fabulous Glenn Amer... last night, Jamie Stewart. I have not enjoyed the cast productions.
--I have always loved the Voyager Lounge. I recall nights when it was challenging to find a seat pre dinner. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case. There is no dedicated musical team there and this may be the cause. A band member plays a light keyboard pre dinner....it barely registers & no one bothers to dance. Can you believe that often only one table has people? After dinner, there might be the DJ machine and a mostly empty room...or some members of band riff some jazz after the show. I hope that something is done to reverse this.
--Rumors swirl about everything........One that I repeatedly hear is that there no longer will be gentlemen hosts/dancers.

[NCCruzQueen]

Paula, Thanks for posting your half point update. Interesting rumor about the Gentlemen Hosts. They do offer a service as Regent representative to single cruisers. I hope they stay. I have been a full cruiser on the 2008 Discovery Collection and also heard some full cruisers talk about the "segmenters." Not sure why some feel they are "better" or should receive more than others. That is the feeling I got. I had a great time meeting and still keep in contact with some of those seggies.

[Colonel(Ret.)Wes]

Paula, thanks for the half way update, glad you're enjoying your voyage.

[RachelG]

Paula, some people are just rude. I agree with you that I can't imagine how anyone would think Regent does MORE for the segmenters. Just the other way around. Oh, well.
Glad you are having a good time.
We have never spent much time in the Voyager Lounge due to the allowing of smoking. Much prefer the observation or horizon lounge for pre-dinner, and both seemed pretty busy our last 2 cruises.

[LOGHL]

We had been on the Voyager for 33 days from Sydney to HK. Have to agree with you... found the WC generally snobbish & cliquish.. Yet we had been on the Voyager the previous November as part of the WC, and that was not the case. My husband had commented that he never again wanted to be on a segment of a WC. We shall see, as I believe that it is some of the folks,who act like that, and we happened to come in contact with them, or should I say..weren't accepted by them. This was our least pleasant cruise with Regent, BUT I must say, the crew & staff more than made up for it with their warmth & attentiveness.

[Travelcat2]

We had been on the Voyager for 33 days from Sydney to HK. This was our least pleasant cruise with Regent, BUT I must say, the crew & staff more than made up for it with their warmth & attentiveness.

Sorry to hear that this was the least pleasant cruise. Apparently the crew & staff were great (as usual). . . was it other passengers or ???

Paula: Your insight is really appreciated. This is a subject that has been mentioned over the years -- particularly regarding the WC. We were segmenters on the 2009 Discovery Collection (Chelonia was on as well) and, with one exception, did not feel that we were outsiders in any way.

I do find it difficult to book a cruise that is not part of some longer itinerary. Not sure what the solution is.

Very surprised to hear that Capt. Dag will depart in Cape Town. As I recall, at least in the last two years, he stays until early October. Hope everything is okay with him.

[cruzndiz]

Crips v bloods...........Jets v Sharks...... and now it's WCers v Seggies......aye carumba, when will it ever end??!! :p

Reading this thread, I started to get a little nervous, but then remembered I'm the life of the party so I'm sure the WCers will be :( when I disembark in Lima!

[Travelcat2]

Crips v bloods...........Jets v Sharks...... and now it's WCers v Seggies......aye carumba, when will it ever end??!! :p

Reading this thread, I started to get a little nervous, but then remembered I'm the life of the party so I'm sure the WCers will be :( when I disembark in Lima!

Enjoyed your post:-) Actually, when "we" (the group of us) embark on the Mariner in January, we'll be on the first segment of "Circle South America". There is no way we will see the type of behavior that is apparently going on with WCers v Seggies. It will be a fun cruise -- no drama -- just great food, wonderful service and incredible people!

[commodore2010]

We are on this segment as well, and so far the cruise has been fantastic.

There is no problems with the service or staff on this ship. In talking with many passengers, there does not appear to be any service downfall in the Voyager at all. This is my first Regent cruise since the change of ownership and all I see is improvements in the ships and the service remains excellent. All positive from me. Sorry to disappoint some.

* Can't believe the posts about Dag leaving....is it really a big deal? He cracks me up in the morning. It always sounds like he has had about 7 whiskeys before his announcements.
* Bangkok overnight was fabulous.
* Food in Prime 7 is just ok and hit miss. The steaks lack flavor for prime meats and I'm just not sure why. A few other passengers have the same opinion. Prime Rib is great as well as the seafood. Overall enjoyable.
* CR food has been very good as long as the menu is to your liking.
* Nice touch to have the Singer in Signatures for a few nights.
* Liked the ABC/CBS news reporter talks about Vietnam war and politics. Sorry forgot his name.
* Casino is killing me on this cruise. LOL.
* Avoid Voyager lounge because of the smokers in the back.
* Cruise Director Jamie and wife are good. Like Journeys videos, gives you a feel for the ports to be called on.
* Butler and stewardess are awesome.
* Excursions have been very good overall. We were wait-listed for a couple, one cleared. The other one we just showed up in the Constellation and asked if there were any no shows. There was. It does seem that some passengers sign up for more excursions than they will take and then just no show instead of telling the excursion desk so they can clear someone off the waitlist that REALLY wants to go.
* No problems with being a segmenter on this cruise. Have met many friendly WC passengers. There are snobs/jerks everywhere in life, but I haven't met them yet on this cruise.

[Colonel(Ret.)Wes]

Thanks for your upbeat report Commodore.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Very surprised to hear that Capt. Dag will depart in Cape Town. As I recall, at least in the last two years, he stays until early October. Hope everything is okay with him.

I don't think you really thought that out, Jackie. Dag does take a vacation in there again, he doesn't stay on the ship from January to October. He was not the captain when we cruised Voyager in June, for example.

[Travelcat2]

I don't think you really thought that out, Jackie. Dag does take a vacation in there again, he doesn't stay on the ship from January to October. He was not the captain when we cruised Voyager in June, for example.

He no doubt does take a vacation in addition to the long one. The end of the WC makes sense. . . . he returns sometime in the summer when the Voyager visits his home (not sure if they do that every year). I just know that he was gone October - Jan. in 2008 and 2009 -- didn't mean to make it sound as if this was his only vacation (just a rather long one:-)

A couple of people have mentioned smoke in the Voyager Lounge. The last two times we have been on the Voyager, the smoke has wafted up, probably through the vents, into the computer area. We only noticed this at night.

[lkakers]

Crips v bloods...........Jets v Sharks...... and now it's WCers v Seggies......aye carumba, when will it ever end??!! :p

Reading this thread, I started to get a little nervous, but then remembered I'm the life of the party so I'm sure the WCers will be :( when I disembark in Lima!

I'm with you, Cruzndiz! Hubby and I must be exceptionally personable, because we (segmenters) had a great time with WC'ers on our Mariner cruise last May. 'Course, the ship was only a little more than 1/2 full, and the I suspect the WC'ers thought that a couple in their 30s showing up for some of the games was a bit of a novelty... :rolleyes:

[JPR]

We did Osaka-Hong Kong last October, and became friends with several WCers.
It depends less on Seg vs. WC than on the cruisers' personalities...

[traveller333]

no problems here mixing segment guests with those on full worldcruise. I've felt quite welcomed by those already afloat. Personalities either mesh or not. Obviously those on a full worldcruise have had more time to develop relationships amongst each other but I was never treated as a 2nd class cruiser in anyway.