DebbieH103
January 4th, 2009, 06:12 PM
This is extremely long, and I hope people will just read the sections that interest them, rather than blast me for the length.
Seven Seas Voyager Eastern Caribbean Holiday Cruise December 18 – 29, 2008
Summary
We had a great cruise. It was different being on a ship for Christmas, and I brought a tiny little tree for our room. We really enjoyed the dinners at all of the restaurants. I enjoyed all of the specialty restaurants a lot, and Todd’s favorite was Prime 7 by far. The dinners were good at Compass Rose, but they were starting to become similar after some time, as were the lunches. I enjoyed seeing what they were having on the pool deck lunch buffets, but Todd did not like the crowds.
There were some service glitches, but nothing that we hadn’t heard about in recent reviews or expected, and there was nothing even close to serious. A few people went out of their way for people, while some did not try at all and did not take ownership of the Regent experience. Most others were efficient. I never expected everything to be one person’s job, but having people willing to pick up the phone to help was appreciated when it was done and noted when it was not.
The cabin was very comfortable. Motion did not bother us. People in cabins around us were of no bother to us. We encountered no problems with smokers or children or rudeness.
We enjoyed the daily activities a lot and noted they were sometimes stingy with the tokens, but we know they may go away this year and hope that will not happen.
The evening shows were not spectacular, but we enjoyed what we saw.
We left more relaxed than we came, and I did not feel like quality had gone down from last year. Todd didn’t have any complaints except a thing here or there about the pool deck. We really enjoyed the other guests that we encountered on board, and everyone seemed to mix quite well.
Embarkation and Cabin
We had heard a number of stories about post dry-dock cruises and potential problems, but we had booked the cruise over a year in advance and did not even know about the dry dock at that time. We were looking forward to Christmas onboard and experiencing the new upgrades to the ship. There are still some areas where they were drilling and finishing things, such as the coffee corner, Signatures, and the walls in the hallways. This was pretty much wrapped up the first day.
We flew non-stop from Houston on Continental, so we were down to Fort Lauderdale by 10:30 and over to the terminal fairly quickly. We were allowed to line up for boarding promptly at noon. Only one family arrived before us, and we were second in our line, but they were a family of six (3 cabins), and there were a lot of problems with the new computer system. It took quite a while to get the photos taken and to get the cards done, but they got it all going. There was confusion with new staff in how to handle the fact that Todd had never sailed Regent and was rooming with me, but they straightened that out, too.
We kept a carry-on and let them take the two large bags. We were greeted politely and immediately were handed champagne and told that lunch was “upstairs”. I remembered everything about the ship, so no problem there. We headed straight to our cabin and found the stewardess and asked to leave our carry-on bags in the cabin and went up to La Veranda for the buffet lunch. There was already a line of about 20 people up there, but soon we were relaxing, and Todd was already bragging about the lunch buffet.
We went around the ship taking pictures of the newly redone areas. We’d been handed our Signatures reservation card at boarding. I made that reservation on the internet. Prime 7 was not available on the internet for booking, and the phone reservation I did never came through. None of the room requests for pillows or drinks came through, either for any rooms on board. At 2:30, they got the new computer system up, and while the staff learned how to book a restaurant, I waited over an hour to get a similar Prime 7 reservation to the one I had “confirmed” on the phone.
After that, we went to our cabin (category G, cabin 651) a little before 3 p.m. and she still was not ready, but Todd went ahead and changed in the bathroom, and we went out on the pool deck till the announcement that the rooms were ready.
By then, it was time for the muster, which was at 4:15 in Prime 7.
After that, almost nobody had their bags, and by about 5:40, Todd went after ours and waited 30 minutes while they searched one by one. We then were able to get ready for dinner.
I had given embarkation a poor rating before on my other Regent cruises because I would like to see more fanfare with canapés and would like a cabin introduction, baggage assistance, etc. However, it was nice to just go about becoming a resident this time and just get on with having a good time.
Our stewardess explained that drydock was why there was no lotion in the room (and got some later) and what drinks they had available after I hunted her down over the lotion. Some pretty standard liquor was considered “premium” (like Jack Daniels and Gray Goose), and two of those could not be ordered. You could get one of those or two “regular”, so Todd chose Myers rum and Stoli. The fridge was stocked with Coke brand products, along with Miller beer, club soda, and tonic water. We took out what we didn’t want and put it in the cabinet next to the fridge.
The drapes were new in the cabin, and they were nice and thick. They were brown. They did a good job in separating the room areas and blocking light so that one of us could stay up or get up early. The new flat screen TV (not added in drydock but added since my cruise last year) was around 27 inches, and it swivels nicely for viewing in the sitting or sleeping area. There were 148 movies on it on demand, along with CNN, Fox News, TNT, and ESPN and the ship channels. It was 4 days into the cruise before the dining menus started showing up on TV. Our DVD player did not work, and it took 3 days to get it fixed. This was not a big deal except that there was a holiday DVD I wanted to see. We loved the interactive movies because it saved our place if we did not watch the whole thing, and you can do that with more than one movie so that if you each had started something, you could select and go back to either one. The system is like what I have seen on Delta and other airlines with the video on demand.
Our cabin worked very well for us, and our stewardess, Maria and steward, Nelson were excellent. They were so accommodating, and they adapted to our schedule and needs and were always there if we needed them and away if that is what we wanted. The bed had a nice green throw that we used on the couch a lot. We had plenty of hot water for two baths or showers back-to-back, and Todd is 6’ 3” and mentioned nothing other than that the shower was a little claustrophobic but fine.
I covered the cabin description in my previous review last year, and it was very similar. I had wondered if the closet would work as well for us together, but we did just great. Because there was a lot of other storage around the room, we managed to carry on in an organized fashion without having all of our stuff scattered and in the way. It was just a really relaxing setup.
Toiletries are now the “R” Regent brand and are much more generic than the former Aveeda that I loved. I liked the new grapefruity lotion, though some don’t. I also received an Anichini lotion that was less scented. The sizes were 2.7 oz., and they set them out at the tub, the sink, and the shower.
Room Service
We used this 3 times for breakfast and once for lunch. For breakfast, it routinely came 10 minutes before the time block that we selected. For lunch (mid-afternoon), it took almost 80 minutes. The variety was good. I missed the tomato basil soup, but most of the other selections were there from before. I like the curry vegetables and pesto pasta, along with the salad greens. Todd liked the grilled ham and cheese and the chef salad. Make sure for breakfast you select the number of items vs. putting an “x”. If we did as instructed, the order was perfect in every way. You can call for a bottle of wine any time, and there is a short list of wines available or just ask them what they have or order a type if you are not too choosy. Everything tasted good to us. When I Googled the in-room wine list, items there were mostly about $15 retail, but some were brought to us that were not on the list that were about $10. None of that mattered to us, I only looked them up for the report.
Daytime Activities
The main leaders of the daytime activities were Elda, the Assistance Cruise Director and Amanda, the Social Hostess. They are joined sometimes by the Regent Singers and Dancers. Very occasionally, Lorraine, the cruise director joined them, but she was more visible at night and also was trotting around being more of an architect, always on top of details. The social staff organized the games for tokens, such as Skittles, Bocci, 10-pin bowling, golfing into the net, Top Toss, Crazy Golf, Crazy Darts, various Baggo games and a number of deck game tournaments like ping pong, shuffleboard, and table tennis. Of course, there was the daily trivia during tea time. We attended at least 4 activities a day in the 11 day cruise and ended with 44 tokens. We were able to get a tote bag, two visors, a magnet, and a bookmark. There is talk (even in writing) that the tokens may go away in 2009, so I hope not because we loved working on getting things, and those on board were not competitive and enjoyed meeting up for these games.
The other daytime activities included a Caribbean lecture series of port talks and history and an art series and a couple of political lectures. There were daily bridge games, board game meets, needlepoint, and organized socials for a number of affinity groups (such as veterans, solos, etc.). There was also an Imax deep sea video that was well attended. The video was beautiful, though the ship did not have capabilities to represent an Imax experience.
A separate program was going on for Club Mariner, the holiday program for kids. They had games such as a scavenger hunt and who am I, and they also did singing and instruments, and they even performed for us. Almost 10% of the guests onboard were children. The children were from diaper baby to teenage. Except for the diaper babies in the pool and the occasional squawking, the kids were no bother at all and mixed well with each other and the adults. There were also a number of guests in their 20s, and everyone I talked to had been to many places.
There were several fitness activities each day that included walking, weights, step, cardio, Pilates, and Yoga. There were also dance lessons held a number of times in the fitness center. The gym has a number of machines that have the satellite TVs attached, and they give out the headphones.
I’d have liked to have seen a cooking demo or wine and food lecture, and several other guests mentioned it. At the very least, I would have loved a handout on what went into making the gingerbread houses.
Evening Activities
Almost every evening after trivia for me (except the night they were broken) started with the hot tub before dinner. Sometimes Todd joined me, and if not, someone else was usually there or joined me. I would stay 30 minutes to 90 minutes. They close the pool bar at 6 or 6:30, which was a bit inconvenient, and if he chose, Roman would close 10 minutes early or so. Now and then, we would go to the casino at this hour. They closed the tables until 9 pm if you did not catch them in time.
One night was the captain’s welcome. The party had gone on an hour before the captain arrived at the end. Another night was the Seven Seas Society party. They had a huge bowl of caviar and shrimp cocktail that were self serve, and they had staff passing out wine, champagne, and kir royales. The international ballroom dance champions performed briefly at this party.
Another night, the crew capers show was early in the evening (last night). This was one of the best shows of the cruise, and I cried like a baby. The crew did dances and numbers local to their countries, and there was a parade around the room with so many proudly walking for us. They received a couple of standing ovations.
There was also a captains farewell party.
Each evening, the observation lounge had a cocktail hour, and they had appetizers there. The same ones were served in Voyager (and probably Horizons). I went there one night in Curacao to watch the sunset over the harbor and chatted for an hour with Brigette, one of the dancers in the shows. She is from Missouri, where my family lives, and we had a nice chat. They had some tasty little burritos. I also enjoyed listening to Jerry with his singing and guitar. One night, he had a Beatles show that was very good. There was also piano up there sometimes.
On Christmas Eve, there were carolers before dinner. They performed in the atrium in the old time costumes, and they included guests in some of the singing.
The 3 song and dance shows from the Regent Singers and Dancers were a jazz show, Listen to the Music (70s), and Champagne (30s and 40s). We enjoyed them all. Todd really liked the jazz show, and we both liked Listen to the Music. The costumes were not very elaborate, but the shows were entertaining. There was a pianist a couple of nights, and he was included in some of the other games around the ship sometimes, as was Jerry. There was a comedian, Steve Middleman one night. I enjoyed it. Todd didn’t think he was that great, though I must admit that I feel asleep the last 5 minutes! There was a soprano one night, accompanied by a clarinet player, and he played another night, as well. The last night, there was a flutist. The international ballroom dancers were incorporated into a couple of the shows.
Late one afternoon, they showed Mama Mia.
The weakest show was the holiday show. There was not anything that was elaborate. Amanda did read the Bible story from Luke, which I appreciated, and the Club Mariner group performed for us.
There were services early in the evening for mass and Hannukah, and then there was a crew and guest interdenominational service late at night on Christmas Eve (that was mostly a mass) and another on Christmas day.
We attended a couple of the late night activities – Name That Tune Murder Mystery and Liar’s Club. Those were quite enjoyable, and we were glad we stayed up for them.
Seven Seas Voyager Eastern Caribbean Holiday Cruise December 18 – 29, 2008
Summary
We had a great cruise. It was different being on a ship for Christmas, and I brought a tiny little tree for our room. We really enjoyed the dinners at all of the restaurants. I enjoyed all of the specialty restaurants a lot, and Todd’s favorite was Prime 7 by far. The dinners were good at Compass Rose, but they were starting to become similar after some time, as were the lunches. I enjoyed seeing what they were having on the pool deck lunch buffets, but Todd did not like the crowds.
There were some service glitches, but nothing that we hadn’t heard about in recent reviews or expected, and there was nothing even close to serious. A few people went out of their way for people, while some did not try at all and did not take ownership of the Regent experience. Most others were efficient. I never expected everything to be one person’s job, but having people willing to pick up the phone to help was appreciated when it was done and noted when it was not.
The cabin was very comfortable. Motion did not bother us. People in cabins around us were of no bother to us. We encountered no problems with smokers or children or rudeness.
We enjoyed the daily activities a lot and noted they were sometimes stingy with the tokens, but we know they may go away this year and hope that will not happen.
The evening shows were not spectacular, but we enjoyed what we saw.
We left more relaxed than we came, and I did not feel like quality had gone down from last year. Todd didn’t have any complaints except a thing here or there about the pool deck. We really enjoyed the other guests that we encountered on board, and everyone seemed to mix quite well.
Embarkation and Cabin
We had heard a number of stories about post dry-dock cruises and potential problems, but we had booked the cruise over a year in advance and did not even know about the dry dock at that time. We were looking forward to Christmas onboard and experiencing the new upgrades to the ship. There are still some areas where they were drilling and finishing things, such as the coffee corner, Signatures, and the walls in the hallways. This was pretty much wrapped up the first day.
We flew non-stop from Houston on Continental, so we were down to Fort Lauderdale by 10:30 and over to the terminal fairly quickly. We were allowed to line up for boarding promptly at noon. Only one family arrived before us, and we were second in our line, but they were a family of six (3 cabins), and there were a lot of problems with the new computer system. It took quite a while to get the photos taken and to get the cards done, but they got it all going. There was confusion with new staff in how to handle the fact that Todd had never sailed Regent and was rooming with me, but they straightened that out, too.
We kept a carry-on and let them take the two large bags. We were greeted politely and immediately were handed champagne and told that lunch was “upstairs”. I remembered everything about the ship, so no problem there. We headed straight to our cabin and found the stewardess and asked to leave our carry-on bags in the cabin and went up to La Veranda for the buffet lunch. There was already a line of about 20 people up there, but soon we were relaxing, and Todd was already bragging about the lunch buffet.
We went around the ship taking pictures of the newly redone areas. We’d been handed our Signatures reservation card at boarding. I made that reservation on the internet. Prime 7 was not available on the internet for booking, and the phone reservation I did never came through. None of the room requests for pillows or drinks came through, either for any rooms on board. At 2:30, they got the new computer system up, and while the staff learned how to book a restaurant, I waited over an hour to get a similar Prime 7 reservation to the one I had “confirmed” on the phone.
After that, we went to our cabin (category G, cabin 651) a little before 3 p.m. and she still was not ready, but Todd went ahead and changed in the bathroom, and we went out on the pool deck till the announcement that the rooms were ready.
By then, it was time for the muster, which was at 4:15 in Prime 7.
After that, almost nobody had their bags, and by about 5:40, Todd went after ours and waited 30 minutes while they searched one by one. We then were able to get ready for dinner.
I had given embarkation a poor rating before on my other Regent cruises because I would like to see more fanfare with canapés and would like a cabin introduction, baggage assistance, etc. However, it was nice to just go about becoming a resident this time and just get on with having a good time.
Our stewardess explained that drydock was why there was no lotion in the room (and got some later) and what drinks they had available after I hunted her down over the lotion. Some pretty standard liquor was considered “premium” (like Jack Daniels and Gray Goose), and two of those could not be ordered. You could get one of those or two “regular”, so Todd chose Myers rum and Stoli. The fridge was stocked with Coke brand products, along with Miller beer, club soda, and tonic water. We took out what we didn’t want and put it in the cabinet next to the fridge.
The drapes were new in the cabin, and they were nice and thick. They were brown. They did a good job in separating the room areas and blocking light so that one of us could stay up or get up early. The new flat screen TV (not added in drydock but added since my cruise last year) was around 27 inches, and it swivels nicely for viewing in the sitting or sleeping area. There were 148 movies on it on demand, along with CNN, Fox News, TNT, and ESPN and the ship channels. It was 4 days into the cruise before the dining menus started showing up on TV. Our DVD player did not work, and it took 3 days to get it fixed. This was not a big deal except that there was a holiday DVD I wanted to see. We loved the interactive movies because it saved our place if we did not watch the whole thing, and you can do that with more than one movie so that if you each had started something, you could select and go back to either one. The system is like what I have seen on Delta and other airlines with the video on demand.
Our cabin worked very well for us, and our stewardess, Maria and steward, Nelson were excellent. They were so accommodating, and they adapted to our schedule and needs and were always there if we needed them and away if that is what we wanted. The bed had a nice green throw that we used on the couch a lot. We had plenty of hot water for two baths or showers back-to-back, and Todd is 6’ 3” and mentioned nothing other than that the shower was a little claustrophobic but fine.
I covered the cabin description in my previous review last year, and it was very similar. I had wondered if the closet would work as well for us together, but we did just great. Because there was a lot of other storage around the room, we managed to carry on in an organized fashion without having all of our stuff scattered and in the way. It was just a really relaxing setup.
Toiletries are now the “R” Regent brand and are much more generic than the former Aveeda that I loved. I liked the new grapefruity lotion, though some don’t. I also received an Anichini lotion that was less scented. The sizes were 2.7 oz., and they set them out at the tub, the sink, and the shower.
Room Service
We used this 3 times for breakfast and once for lunch. For breakfast, it routinely came 10 minutes before the time block that we selected. For lunch (mid-afternoon), it took almost 80 minutes. The variety was good. I missed the tomato basil soup, but most of the other selections were there from before. I like the curry vegetables and pesto pasta, along with the salad greens. Todd liked the grilled ham and cheese and the chef salad. Make sure for breakfast you select the number of items vs. putting an “x”. If we did as instructed, the order was perfect in every way. You can call for a bottle of wine any time, and there is a short list of wines available or just ask them what they have or order a type if you are not too choosy. Everything tasted good to us. When I Googled the in-room wine list, items there were mostly about $15 retail, but some were brought to us that were not on the list that were about $10. None of that mattered to us, I only looked them up for the report.
Daytime Activities
The main leaders of the daytime activities were Elda, the Assistance Cruise Director and Amanda, the Social Hostess. They are joined sometimes by the Regent Singers and Dancers. Very occasionally, Lorraine, the cruise director joined them, but she was more visible at night and also was trotting around being more of an architect, always on top of details. The social staff organized the games for tokens, such as Skittles, Bocci, 10-pin bowling, golfing into the net, Top Toss, Crazy Golf, Crazy Darts, various Baggo games and a number of deck game tournaments like ping pong, shuffleboard, and table tennis. Of course, there was the daily trivia during tea time. We attended at least 4 activities a day in the 11 day cruise and ended with 44 tokens. We were able to get a tote bag, two visors, a magnet, and a bookmark. There is talk (even in writing) that the tokens may go away in 2009, so I hope not because we loved working on getting things, and those on board were not competitive and enjoyed meeting up for these games.
The other daytime activities included a Caribbean lecture series of port talks and history and an art series and a couple of political lectures. There were daily bridge games, board game meets, needlepoint, and organized socials for a number of affinity groups (such as veterans, solos, etc.). There was also an Imax deep sea video that was well attended. The video was beautiful, though the ship did not have capabilities to represent an Imax experience.
A separate program was going on for Club Mariner, the holiday program for kids. They had games such as a scavenger hunt and who am I, and they also did singing and instruments, and they even performed for us. Almost 10% of the guests onboard were children. The children were from diaper baby to teenage. Except for the diaper babies in the pool and the occasional squawking, the kids were no bother at all and mixed well with each other and the adults. There were also a number of guests in their 20s, and everyone I talked to had been to many places.
There were several fitness activities each day that included walking, weights, step, cardio, Pilates, and Yoga. There were also dance lessons held a number of times in the fitness center. The gym has a number of machines that have the satellite TVs attached, and they give out the headphones.
I’d have liked to have seen a cooking demo or wine and food lecture, and several other guests mentioned it. At the very least, I would have loved a handout on what went into making the gingerbread houses.
Evening Activities
Almost every evening after trivia for me (except the night they were broken) started with the hot tub before dinner. Sometimes Todd joined me, and if not, someone else was usually there or joined me. I would stay 30 minutes to 90 minutes. They close the pool bar at 6 or 6:30, which was a bit inconvenient, and if he chose, Roman would close 10 minutes early or so. Now and then, we would go to the casino at this hour. They closed the tables until 9 pm if you did not catch them in time.
One night was the captain’s welcome. The party had gone on an hour before the captain arrived at the end. Another night was the Seven Seas Society party. They had a huge bowl of caviar and shrimp cocktail that were self serve, and they had staff passing out wine, champagne, and kir royales. The international ballroom dance champions performed briefly at this party.
Another night, the crew capers show was early in the evening (last night). This was one of the best shows of the cruise, and I cried like a baby. The crew did dances and numbers local to their countries, and there was a parade around the room with so many proudly walking for us. They received a couple of standing ovations.
There was also a captains farewell party.
Each evening, the observation lounge had a cocktail hour, and they had appetizers there. The same ones were served in Voyager (and probably Horizons). I went there one night in Curacao to watch the sunset over the harbor and chatted for an hour with Brigette, one of the dancers in the shows. She is from Missouri, where my family lives, and we had a nice chat. They had some tasty little burritos. I also enjoyed listening to Jerry with his singing and guitar. One night, he had a Beatles show that was very good. There was also piano up there sometimes.
On Christmas Eve, there were carolers before dinner. They performed in the atrium in the old time costumes, and they included guests in some of the singing.
The 3 song and dance shows from the Regent Singers and Dancers were a jazz show, Listen to the Music (70s), and Champagne (30s and 40s). We enjoyed them all. Todd really liked the jazz show, and we both liked Listen to the Music. The costumes were not very elaborate, but the shows were entertaining. There was a pianist a couple of nights, and he was included in some of the other games around the ship sometimes, as was Jerry. There was a comedian, Steve Middleman one night. I enjoyed it. Todd didn’t think he was that great, though I must admit that I feel asleep the last 5 minutes! There was a soprano one night, accompanied by a clarinet player, and he played another night, as well. The last night, there was a flutist. The international ballroom dancers were incorporated into a couple of the shows.
Late one afternoon, they showed Mama Mia.
The weakest show was the holiday show. There was not anything that was elaborate. Amanda did read the Bible story from Luke, which I appreciated, and the Club Mariner group performed for us.
There were services early in the evening for mass and Hannukah, and then there was a crew and guest interdenominational service late at night on Christmas Eve (that was mostly a mass) and another on Christmas day.
We attended a couple of the late night activities – Name That Tune Murder Mystery and Liar’s Club. Those were quite enjoyable, and we were glad we stayed up for them.