Question: Regent Seven Seas – a six-star cruise line or a pretender?

[oldcruiser59]

I sailed on the Regent Seven Seas Navigator with my wife and 11-yr old son August 14, 2009 for 7 days, Athens (Piraeus) to Istanbul. My previous cruise experiences have been on Seaborn, Crystal and Lindblad/Nat. Geo. (small ships in Galapagos and Baja). I am not particularly picky about things and although I give almost anyone the benefit of the doubt if their heart is in the right place, I do notice things and, if things don’t go well, those things stick in my craw. Anyway, the things I noticed (but would never complain about) are towards the end of this review, after “You’re OUT!!!). I had, admittedly, somewhat high expectations of Regent, as I had originally chosen a 12-day itinerary on Oceania and my wife and agent ‘upsold” me to Regent, as a definitive step-up from Oceania. As the title to this review portends, I was disappointed to the core with many aspects of the cruise that, in my opinion, leave no doubt as to the answer to question where Regent Seven Seas belongs in any “rating” of cruise lines.

First, the good. We had a basic room which, on the Navigator, is stunning and huge (even without the generous balcony) relative to anything I have experienced on Seaborn or Crystal in the same general category. 24-hr room service. So, if your idea of a perfect cruise is sitting in the room, reading or watching videos and living off of room service, you’ve come to the right place. Room service food was reported to be good by my son, who enjoyed it several times. We only had the “fixings” delivered for some caviar we had, all good.

Now, the misery.

This was to be a designated family-oriented cruise, replete with a kids program in 3 age groups. There were between 50 and 60 kids on the cruise (representing over 10% of the passengers on board). When we inquired after boarding, we were told that the two women who ran the program were “asked to leave the ship” at a prior cruise port. No explanation, no apology, no alternatives, just mystery. Further inquiry yielded no details or explanation. I can say with 100% assurance that if this had happened on Crystal, they would have flown new staff from another location, co-opted crew from other duties or otherwise figured out how to deliver on a promise so essential to the concept of family cruise “vacation” (i.e., mom and dad can have some time together alone) and the number of affected passengers. Not with Regent. Had there not been a ping-pong table on board, the seas would have been littered with parents jumping from the rails. We had the opportunity to dine with some of the senior staff one evening and danced around the subject – but they were all tight-lipped to the end. Unbelievably, we learned a day before disembarking, that the staff asked to leave the ship were in fact rejoining the ship on the return to Athens. Arrgh.

Strike one. A zero for failing to deliver an essential part of the cruise, as marketed and promised, and a below zero minus for not figuring out how to otherwise mitigate their abject failure and come up with something, if only a believable story.

We signed up, using a not insignificant amount of shipboard credit (several hundred dollars) for a Regent “Signature” excursion in Rhodes. These are the very special, particularly-vetted couple of excursions that an exclusive group within Regent arranges. In our case, it was an “Off-Road” Adventure, renting a jeep and caravanning to many of the interesting sites on Rhodes that most folks wouldn’t be able to visit because of the off-road nature of the trip and mobility of being in small vehicles. Although we may have at some point driven through some of the towns in which some of the historic/cultural sites described in the excursion brochure resided (though my GPS did not indicate so), hand over heart I can say that there was nothing, other than the act of renting a jeep that bore any resemblance to what was in the Regent brochure, the basis on which we booked this trip. We started out at “Butterfly Valley”, actually a very interesting site in which a certain butterfly species (in fact, a moth), historically comes. Unfortunately, we were hustled in and out so fast, we did not have an opportunity to enjoy the place at any pace, or to take more than a snapshot or two. We were then off for a one hour drive to have a snack/drink, which ended up being at a hunting lodge. After another hour and a half in the car, we ended up in a small village in the mountains overlooking (a ways away) the coastline. Not the place we were supposed to stop, with another large party from a tour bus upstairs, but the food was fine. At this point, I was interested only in the “Ouzo”. Then back in the jeeps for about 45 mins. Did I mention that the brochure said we would be off-road most of the time to visit these rare sites, but that we had yet to see anything but pavement. Not for long. For about a sum total of about 90 seconds, we hit a patch of unpaved road under repair and – you guessed it – that was the “off-road” part of the trip. Just before exiting the un-pavement, in one of the most surreal moments of this goat-rodeo, the guide pulled everyone off the road onto the dried weeds at roadside, right next to a bunch of bee hives (imagine the 95 degree heat, sun, and now swarming bees at having been invaded by 9 topless jeeps). Why? To gather everyone’s cameras so that he could take a memorable picture for everyone on or in front of their own jeep on their own camera. You think I’m kidding? It was surreal. Put aside for the moment that 2 minutes further down the road was a scenic pull-out with a sweeping panorama of the coast and surrounding Greek isles, this was a scene that Quentin Tarentino would pay money to get the rights to. After the honking of irritated guests drove the guide back into his jeep, we were back in the jeeps for another hour to…the beach. Nothing in the brochure about the beach or swimming. We had not brought bathing suits. No towels provided by Regent for the trip (you would think – even if to save their stateroom towels from being used at the beach off the ship). But there we were at a small Taverna on the beach and the beautiful Med. My son and I went cowboy style and my wife had to suffer with a diet coke and view of the Med. 50 minutes later, we’re hustled back in the jeeps for, yes, another 45 min drive back to the jeep rental spot, and then a bus ride back to the ship.

Strike Two. No one from Regent had ever vetted this trip. They never gave any explanation (other than the disingenuous letter mentioned below). There is no way imaginable that it could be considered anything other than a slow roast around Rhodes for 8 hrs. Most importantly, we had wasted our only opportunity to see Rhodes on this misrepresented “Signature” excursion, not to mention the several hundred in credit dropped on this. Shameful.

Our first stop back on board after chuckling about the comedy of misconception and execution that was our “Signature Rhodes Off-Road Adventure” was to visit the excursion desk to lodge our disappointment and disbelief at what had just befallen us. Lots of “so sorry”, but obviously no one there with any answers or ability to do anything. They left a note for the excursion manager. We later met with him, in civil fashion, away from the excursion desk, in relative privacy. He took notes and expressed concern and shock, but clearly had no knowledge. I challenged him to find a single participant on the trip that would sign up again for that trip, rather than have their fingernails pulled one-by-one. He said that he really couldn’t do anything, but would send it to “New York”. This was Tuesday. We were due to disembark Friday morning 8am in Istanbul. We checked back throughout Wednesday and Thursday and no one had any answers. We had not asked for anything in particular, but clearly were PO’d that we had expended money on an entirely misrepresented trip. Finally, around 8pm on Thursday night, while packing, I went to the excursion desk and said I wouldn’t leave until I had some response. I was told that the response from New York had “just come in” – and that Regent was not prepared to do anything. Nothing at all. As if we had just reported something that we had imagined. I was left so incredulous that I simply asked to have it in writing, which they delivered around 9pm that night (I’ll try to post this). End of story.

Let’s contrast Regent’s response to the “Off-Road” goat rodeo with our experience a day later after disembarking at our small hotel (the “Blue House Hotel”) overlooking the Blue Mosque. My son mentioned to someone at the front desk in passing that the Jacuzzi jet button hadn’t worked in the spa tub when he tried. I hadn’t even heard of it and, frankly, wouldn’t have cared a bit, but when we returned from our day of touring Istanbul, a sincere letter of apology from hotel management for the malfunction and a basket of fresh fruit in our room. Enough said. By the way, we highly recommend the Blue House Hotel, otherwise known as the “Mavi-Ev”.

Strike Three. Doing anything approaching taking responsibility for a bad experience and a gesture, however modest, to make a cruise customer feel like a guest. How ‘bout a little replacement shipboard credit, which given the timing, we would have only been able to use, if at all, on a nice bottle of wine at our last dinner. How ‘bout a basket of fruit. How ‘bout 10% off a future cruise. Anything…, but nothing? Hmmn.

We all differ in how we measure our experiences, but I can say truthfully that in each of our cruises, we absolutely had to personally visit with and thank not less than a half-dozen crew members, to say farewell, exchange contact information, invite them to visit when they’re in the San Francisco area and the like. There was not a single person that any of us felt even remotely compelled to hunt down, other than a Kiwi security officer that my son promised to do the Maori Haka dance for. We had a pleasant dinner with him and with a nice young woman whose title led us to believe she would be the perfect person to share our “concerns” about the cruise with, but ended up being more responsible for customs clearance at ports than customer service and, other than expressing surprise at what we had experienced, offered no hope that anything would be done. It was like sharing the story with just another guest. The Maitre D’ of the main dining room deserves special mention for patience and keeping that warm smile and wit amidst demanding cruise customers all wanting window tables. No one else remotely came to mind for any of us.

Strike 1, Strike 2, Strike 3 - You’re OUT!!!

My conclusion – a perfect cruise line for someone used to a cattle car mega-ship. If you have been on Seaborn, Crystal, or any cruise line out there that truly puts the guest first and has any understanding as to what that means – run the other way as you will be disappointed on Regent Seven Seas. From the top down, they have no clue what guest/customer service is. It’s an institutional problem, not an aberration.

Some details –

Nice gym, open 24 hrs. But nothing in terms of programs in the dance/stretch area. No staff to run any of the programs from all appearances. I remember a daily schedule of yoga, pilates and other things on Crystal. Zilch on Regent.

Carpets and certain other common areas smell “stale”. Carpet upgrade or cleaning or paint (anything to cover up the smell) would be worthwhile.

I always wonder what “included tips” means for staff. For the first couple of days, I thought the overall attitude of staff was a little harsh. This got better over time, but there has to be a better way of handling this “perk” that still incents the staff to work to their potential. Perhaps a special “tip” shipboard credit that can only be used for that purpose.

Wireless internet from the room worked pretty well, though I had to work around VPN blocking.

We attended an evening show –which was very well produced. I understand the band/orchestra (professional) had been brought back on a semi-permanent basis and that explained in part the good music quality.

Specialty restaurant food was mediocre at best and the menu, uninspired. Main dining room food and service was excellent, as was the wine list.

The “house” booze (for which one does not pay extra) was top notch. (Belvedere or the Goose – house; Bombay Sapphire – house; Maker’s Mark (for those Manhattans) – house. The house wines at dinner were so interesting, varied and good we rarely ventured into the wine list.

The “photo shop” described in literature and even in on-board materials in the room….well, it must have been a sick joke. From what I could tell from visual inspection and asking for several items during the trip, it consisted of a pile of AAA batteries and a couple of memory sticks (which could not be located); literally all in a small plastic basket to the left of the cash register. I was looking for liquid lens cleaner or anything close – fat chance. Don’t think that there is even a photo kiosk where you can stick in a memory card and print photos or burn a CD. There was literally nothing.

We’d been used to photographers on most cruises – a casualty of cost-cutting on Regent.

Food in general – given that we were in Greece and Turkey, I would have expected that at least in one of the restaurants we might see some “local” dishes. It was really odd to have spent 5 days in Greece before boarding the ship and 5 days in Istanbul after disembarking, cultures that are known for their fine cuisine, and not being able to enjoy any of it on the ship. How ‘bout a small sampling at dinner of “local” dishes. It’s what we’ve seen on other cruise lines.

Golf driving net – hope you’re left-handed or the choice is slim. The mat looked like a bad toupee and kids routinely whacked balls off the back of the boat, occasionally off of other guests – an accident waiting to happen. I had to get off the treadmill and run outside to exercise a little adult supervision a couple of times. No crew around, but this brings me back to Strike One, and I’ve spent enough energy on this diatribe.

Overall impression – these folks are in cost-cutting mode and it shows.

Answer to the Question: A two-star pretender….but love the cabin.

[Colonel(Ret.)Wes]

Oldcruiser59, thanks for taking the time to post your review..sorry to hear
Regent/Navigator let u down.

[Paint Horse]

Interesting viewpoint. Thanks for taking the time to write it up in such detail.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Thanks for the review, sorry you didn't have a good time.

Just a couple of points--the photographer was eliminated due to lack of interest on the part of passengers, at least that's what I believe. They were supplied by an independent contractor, so no cost-cutting was involved.

Navigator is about the undergo a major refit; I'm sure that's no consolation.

The kid's program issue is a head-scratcher, for sure.

We had a terrible experience in Cozumel with an off-road jeep "adventure"--not a concierge choice or anything, just a normal excursion. We made sure that Regent heard all about this, both on board and when we got home. It wasn't bad enough to ask for a refund, but it was enough to raise alarm bells. Let's hope they have eliminated your excursion from their future plans. I would write to them and complain again--maybe you could get a refund.

Local dishes is not their strength, for sure. I was disappointed about that on my first European cruise, after being on the Paul Gauguin where lots of local food is part of the cuisine. Health regs they claim, local seafood is the only thing they sometimes offer.

[cruiseyguy]

CC needs more reviews of this type. Whether you agree with the critique or not, the careful detail gives the review credibility.

[Longhorn1]

I am sorry that your experiences on your excursions were not up to your standards. But it's a matter of expectations. It reminds me of the ongoing debate about Prime 7. To me, for example, it's borderline nuts to assume that a shipboard restaurant can match up with a land based, 5 star steak house. That just doesn't make a lot of sense to me! So, to us, the measurement is "does this restaurant rank with one of the best at sea?" Big difference, for obvious reasons. Some people expect a 5 star cruise to be the same quality as the Hassler Hotel overall. I don't. It's not logical.

Now, it could be there are lots of people who prefer Crystal, or Seabourn, or Silversea to Regent. All well and good--and that's a legitimate opinion, I know. But I don't think any crusie line should be held to a unrealistic standard. I take it for what it is within the CONTEXT of a cruise.

[cruiseluv]

It might be a matter of "expectations" but not providing the kid's club as stated everywhere in their marketing is tantamount to false advertising. Personally I would have taken the matter to a higher level. No point in stewing in private about an apology or resolution that was not forthcoming.

[fPetrarca]

Sounds like "Chocolate Cruise" redux.

[piri]

I certainly don't think Oldcruiser59's expectations were at all unreasonable. His complaints and how they were handled by Regent's staff are of great concern.
I would have been so angry if I had had his experience of the "phantom kid's programme".
I also sympathise re the waste of a whole day in Rhodes. All participants should have been credited the cost of this excursion. This, if done with an apolagy, would have gone a little way to reduce the awful dissapointment of a precious day wasted.
From what this gentleman states he certainly did not have a "luxury cruise experience" and I do hope Senior Management at Regent have read his well written comments and take appropriate action. Unfortunately it will be of little benefit to Oldcruiser59 , only perhaps to those of us with bookings on future cruises.

[freddie]

"Had I known, I would have gone Crystal, as per usual. So much for trying out RSSC. Makes RSSC look slimey."

I think that it might be wise to recognize from his one previous post (from which the excerpt above is taken) that the OP came aboard with a pre-existing bias against Regent, perhaps justified, perhaps not.

If the facts are as stated, it does sound as if Regent dropped the ball regarding the kids' program. That forced the OP and his wife to entertain their child themselves for seven days.

However, the major tsouris about the Rhodes tour that went badly and the stated conclusion therefrom that, "It’s an institutional problem, not an aberration." is dramatically over the edge. A single bad experience does not describe an "institutional problem". And as a first time cruiser on Regent, one might well ask how the OP would know what is an "aberration" and what is not.

I have long criticized the silly "six-star" rating that Regent has awarded itself as meaningless and nothing more than promotional puffery. However, if one tallies the items in the OP's post that were good vs. those that were not, one hardly comes out with a balance of "a two-star pretender".

Cheers, Fred

[egret]

I Monte Carlo to Athens the previous week. Can't argue with the disappointments, since I was not there. There was a kids program the week we were on and there were alot of young folks. The program for the youngsters was reviewed elsewhere positively, with special recognition for the ladies in charge. What happened to them for this segment is a good mystery.
The alternative dining on Navigator right now is Portofinos, which we did not try because we like the open dining and meeting new folks at Compass Rose. I enjoyed every meal but my perspective may be flawed since I have been living in Saudi Arabia for 6 months and McDonalds is fine dining here.
We enjoyed all of our excursions, we paid extra for a couple. I think we got what we expected more or less.
The absence of the photographer is a positive to me, the wife will argue.
I like to do my own thing in the gym, so the absence of a trainer is a positive to me.
I don't know what a 5 or 6 star cruise is, so I guess it is probably arguable. I compare everything to the PG and the Navigator provided a comparable product on our week aboard.
Our biggest problem was trying to figure out what to do with $550 of on board credit.
Now if you want me to rant, the Fairmont Hotel in Monte Carlo will get me going!

[Emdee]

A couple of years ago I had a problem with a Regent excursion on the PG. It was to Huahine and didnt live up to its promises. As well took us to a very shabby and polluted lagoon to swim. I ddi write a letter complaining and was given a future cruise credit which I promptly used. So like everyone says - write that letter.


Egret, what was your problem with the Fairmont Monte Carlo? I am planning to stay there next year before our Monte Carlo to Venice cruise....

[scm]

Boy, Emdee, you must be a better complainer than we were. We had a similar experience to the OP's on the waterfall tour in Raiatea. I won't go into the details, but the bottom line is, due to a payment dispute between the landowner and guide, the tour changed significantly, and the tour desk on the PG was completely unaware. It was now borderline dangerous, and when we informed the tour desk, we were made to feel as though we were the problem. So much for any compensation/ acknowledgement, etc.

That all said, while I can see the point about the tour (obviously), and the kids' club frustration, I think those two circumstances (and RSSC's reaction -- similar to ours) soured the experience for the OP. We could have had the same reaction after our Raiatea experience -- but taken in totality, it was wonderful. And PG doesn't even come close to the luxury of Voyager. So to call the entire line a **, based on one cruise, on one ship of the line, might be a little harsh.

[PaulaJK]

Thank you for sharing your experiences, both the positive and the negative. The latter were well supported by details. I can well understand your dissatisfactions and the responses indeed appear to have been quite unsatisfactory. For example, certainly someone from the cruise staff could have run some special child activities, if not an entire program..e.g. cookie decorating, visiting to the kitchen, bridge,scavenger hunt,etc. While many on board were disappointed by the lack of chocolate on that themed cruise, this seems worse to me since the existence of a child's program may have had a major impact on your choice of this cruise. Regent seems
to be dropping the ball a little too often.

The Rhodes trip sounds impressively awful.

While I agree that you should share your experiences with corporate, I recognize that a possible future credit in no way substitutes for satisfaction on this cruise.

I'm sorry that you had such a disappointing experience. I don't feel that you saw Regent at its best. As you can conclude from many posts here, others have had better experiences, including memorable contacts with staff members.

[mariners]

The OP has listed some concerns that I believe Regent will, and should, address if contacted by the OP's TA. However, the fact that the OP made a point of stating that there was nobody, with the exception the security officer, who met their standard of service/interaction makes me question their expectations not the crews level of service. The crew on all Regent ships have consistently received accolades from passengers.

[Threechicks]

Egret - Would like to hear about the Fairmont Monte Carlo as I was planning to book it for next year's cruise.

[DebbieH103]

I appreciate all the detail in this review.

I've always said that Regent tours are a mixed bag. Their reasoning is that they do the best with what is available in the area. There is a lot of truth to that, but I feel that the burden of staking out what meets the standard falls upon the dedicated tour department and a "non tour" should be much more of an exception.

Some of my very best cruise tours ever have been in Europe on Regent, a few experiences that are some of the best I have had in my life. Interestingly, those were some of the main things that sent me running back to Regent (besides the food and cabins). If you are into itinerary on a particular cruise, a bad tour is really difficult to get over and leaves a bad taste, and putting a price on it is difficult to impossible. Conversely, if you have been to all the ports a bunch of times anyway and just were hoping to see something new, it MAY not be quite as important to you, though nobody likes to waste time and money.

One of my worst tours ever was on Regent in the Caribbean, followed closely by another Regent Caribbean tours, and neither should have been experienced the way they were (guests having to sit backward in transportation, etc.). Had these been my first tour impressions with Regent, I would have a worse impression of the line overall. I can see the points.

All that being said, we try to stick to tours of 5.5 hours or less because we find that no matter what they say, anything else often becomes a road tour.

The kids program was well-run on our Christmas cruise. We had 12% of the cruisers as children. A couple of parents didn't think it was exciting enough, but the kids seemed to love meeting each other more than anything. I think that in itself is one of the lovely things of a kids program.

[canadagal]

A very well written review and one that is very disappointing to read. I am so sorry that you experienced these things and I agree with others that Regent is not a 6 star line and I wish they would stop trying to market themselves as one. There is no other cruiseline that tries to say they are 6 star so it's kind of ridiculous when you read Regent's marketing brochures etc. claiming 6 star status. The fluff off you kept getting when relaying your concerns and complaints while on the ship is equally disappointing to read about.
I'm sure that you were not the only one that was upset that there was no kid's club on your cruise or felt ripped off by the lack lustre shore excursion. I suggest that you send a detailed letter to Regent's head office and hopefully someone there will address your concerns and make it right with you. One cruise is not representative of a cruiseline so I do hope corporate comes through for you and you give Regent one more try before deciding to kiss them off for good.
Pat

[wripro]

Whether there is a kids' club or not it continues to distress me that 10% of the passenger population is children.

[MICone]

Hello oldcruiser59 Absolutely Great Review!!! It was extremely well written and humorous as well. The description of the Off Road tour brought tears to my eyes. You should send a copy of your review to Mark Conroy at Regent. For what its worth, I have always had a fabulous experience on Regent ( 5 cruises, Voyager and Mariner) and would give it a 6 Star rating. My next cruise in in less than a month, so I really, really hope your Regent experience was merely an "oops" and not a sign of things to come.