Christmas/New Year's - LIVE - Voyager

First I hope that everyone is having a wonderful holiday season! For the first time in our lives, we will spend the holidays on the Voyager (Singapore to Sydney).

Many people get extremely frustrated when things do not go right in their travels. We just make every attempt to do what we are suppose to do and see what happens.

So, after hearing that there could be up to 7" of snow overnight (rare for our part of the country), we drove (in snow) to Vancouver airport and stayed at the Fairmont inside of the airport. So far, so good.

The next day our flight showed that it was on time. However, the wait to get de-iced was long. We sat on the runway over 3 hours and knew that we missed our connection from Hong Kong to Singapore. A bit frustrating but no one's fault. We spoke with the flight attendants onboard Cathay Pacific and they indicated that we needed to wait until we arrived in Hong Kong.

To our amazement, Cathay Pacific had already booked us on another flight. However, this meant that Regent would not be picking us up. I immediately emailed my TA who contacted the agent in Singapore. We were also told that if no one showed up we could either take a taxi (for which we would be reimbursed) or..... if there was a Regent representative at the airport, we could pay him/her and also get reimbursed. Ten minutes later, our TA emailed us and said that we would be picked up. It worked out perfectly (but does require a TA that knows who to contact at Regent on a Saturday).

We were picked up and taken to our hotel. We arrived at 6:00 a.m. and learned from the local Regent rep. that our luggage needed to be outside at 7:30 a.m. I took a shower and put our luggage out. The last bit of news that we did not want to hear is that we were on the last bus to the ship (1:30 p.m.). We decided to take a taxi to the ship at 11:30 a.m. Again - taking things into our own hands.

After a very rough bout of confusion in Singapore (due to other ships checking in and lack of space), we boarded the Voyager at around 12:15 p.m.

We immediately noticed the wonderful changes on the ship -- our check in was in the "new" and beautiful Constellation Theater.

This thread is mainly to report on the menu's and activities that occur during Christmas and New Year's. I also plan to update the bar list. However, it is not possible for me not to make general comments.

My first comment is that 1/2 of the computer room is gone. In its place is a art store (assume Park West -- I don't even want my eyes to see what is in there). There are not enough negative words in my vocabulary to make a comment worthy of my disappointment.

Children. For us, one child is too many on a cruise. However, on our one and only (never again) holiday cruise, I have to expect a few. There are more than a few but so far they seem 8 and above (lots of teenagers). Unlike some people who claim that they never saw the children or they were perfectly behaved, you will never hear those words from me. There are no special programs for children on this cruise and we are going into two sea days.

Another comment.... following in Oceania's footsteps, you can now purchase internet for $29.99 per day for the full cruise. 200 anytime minutes are $150.00 and A La Carte is $.99 per minute.

That is all for now:)

Glad to hear that you had a safe journey and are onboard. Have a wonderful voyage, I will travel vicariously with you and look forward to hearing about the festive celebrations onboard. :) Judith

I too will be checking on your posts. The itinerary looks very good. Hope you have a wonderful time. You must have been exhausted after your delayed flight, specially finding that you had to organise your luggage as soon as you arrived at the "overnight" hotel. As you say, nobody's fault.

I am interested to know if you boarded Voyager at the "old" Singapore terminal, opposite Santosa Island, or whether you went out to the Container port. As you said you took a Taxi, I guess it was the former which I believe has been recently re-developed. Just wondered. :)

Isn't there a new cruise ship port "downtown"?

Glad you made it safely, and that Cathay pacific was proactive in rebooking you on another flight. But it sounds exhausting.

I hate to hear that they took out half the computer room and made it into an art store, especially if it is park west. Very disappointing. I understand that wih most people having their own laptops or iPads these days, the computer room doesn't need to be as large, but they could have made another coffee area or something better than an art store.

I second both Jacquie and Rachel, the computer room was barely big enough before--who wants to look at overpriced art?

TC - Glad you made it safely to Voyager. Being well-experienced travelers, it has put you in good stead for being able to "flex" to schedule/flight delays and missed connections.

Also, having a TA back home that you can "reach out and touch", and who can call ahead for you, is also helpful in these situations.

My last trip on Voyager was also my first trip on Voyager - so I had nothing to compare to. Particularly as it applied to the Internet Café. Since I had never seen it before the renovation, I just assumed that it had always been that same size - as I was encountering it for the first time. Admittedly, I don't think our cruise was fully booked, but there was never a time that I walked into the Internet area that I wasn't able to find an open terminal to use. I hope the "new smaller size" doesn't prove to be a problem for you. As I say, it wasn't for us.

I do think Park West is, in fact, running that art store next door (to the Internet area). They also were running a "big auction event" during the 10 days we were on our cruise. Buying artwork would have been the last thing on my mind while on a cruise ;) The time went by so fast, and the cruise was so port-intensive, I never even made it into the casino - I'm sure that ultimately proved to be a "money-saver" for me.

I look forward to reading all your posts during your cruise. I'll be interested in hearing about your dining and menu selections. Regards.

We hope you have a wonderful cruise on the Voyager. I, too, am disappointed about the reduced size of the computer room. Several times I had found it to be full on previous occasions.

I was very impressed with the service from your airline. They did their best for you and your relationship with your TA helped in what was a stressful time.

We are very much looking forward to hearing about Christmas and New Year on Voyager.

TC, happy to hear that you boarded the Voyager safely, despite the flight delays! We embark the Navigator tomorrow (Monday). We are sooooo happy we left Toronto on Friday, despite freezing rain warnings. Apparently it has is much worse now with hundreds of thousands without power. I would hate to have had taken the flight today and risked not making the ship on time. It was nice to enjoy 2 days at the beach in Miami. We too are expecting a large number of children on our Navigator cruise, so we sympathize with you on that point! We will make the best of it! Merry Christmas to all, will report back later on our Navigator holiday experience!

Finally was able to sleep and am a bit more awake.

In terms of where we docked, it was the same place we docked last year -- near the mall in the Marina. The new cruise dock is for large cruise ships and is a bit further out.

Can now confirm that Park West is next door and the computer room is crowded on this sea day! In my opinion, art auctions have no place on a luxury cruise ship and certainly not one that has repeatedly been taken to court.

I will type of menus on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Just need some time to get settled.

I did not recognize the Horizon Lounge -- huge changes in that venue -- not even the bar is the same (but is in the same position). Haven't seen the Observation Lounge yet. The carpeting in all public areas is lovely and should last much longer than what what there previously.

We met the G.M. a few minutes ago Massimo (may be misspelled). He is a lovely man and will distribute the calendar magnets with the Voyager on it to the crew.

Not much to say -- I have 45 minutes before we meet some people for an informal meet and greet.Maybe I can take a quick nap:o

Enjoy your holiday TC on the Voyager. I await the day they remove all the art sales from cruise ships. To me it is an abomination to buy art on a cruise ship, save it for the local artists in your home city/country that deserve your money!

We are also on the Voyager and have been since Dubai.

Last summer we were on the Mariner and had a bad cruise - so many problems. We thought it was just a one time thing, unfortunately, I think the management of the ships is not what it use to be and more and more of it is being controlled by the bean counters (for the record, I am a bean counter so these things just pop out at me)

The re-design of the computer room is an insult to the passengers of Regent - by providing Park West with such a significant amount of space, Regent is doing everything possible to extract the last dime out of us. During the last cruise, for the first time in my Regent experience, they were really pushing spa services. The spa was always there for people who wanted to us it and I do not recall ever promoting them as much as they do now. The same with Park West - there must have been at least five auctions on the last segment - who are these idiots who are buying the overpriced art? Out of curiosity, I went to each auction and during the entire nineteen days, I saw two pieces of art being sold. I actually inquired about a piece of art that caught my eye - I know the artist and the price quoted was approximately 40% higher than what I could purchase on land. I think Regent is cheapening their image by promoting Park West so heavily. There was also a guest jeweler on board who was a real con artist - his prices were an absolute joke - $15,000 for a very tiny opal ring and this guy had the nerve to tell me it would cost double on land. I took a picture of the ring and sent it to my cousin who is a gemologist/appraiser and although he could not see the actual ring, his best opinion was that the ring should price for about $2,500. I wonder how much goes back to Regent?

Park West is such a sleazy outfit - why does Regent have such a love affair with them? There are a number of well known instances where Park West demonstrated less than desirable ethical characteristics, yet Regent continues to promote them and allow them to expand.

On the last segment, the internet availability was HORRIBLE - almost impossible to sign on and when you did, it was extremely slow. Getting access in the suite was not available and the only area of the ship with any chance of signing on was in the computer room - every morning on sea days every seat was taken with many people waiting for an empty chair - people trying to check in and print out boarding passes were unsuccessful - I have free internet but for the people who had to pay, there were no refunds and many very unhappy people. Speaking for myself, I came on the ship with the knowledge and understanding that I would need to work on sea days, which I was unable to do due to the lack of internet availability.

The cutbacks are becoming very noticeable - one of the biggest differences is that lack of fresh flowers, maybe an arrangement or two, but the huge centerpiece in the atrium is gone and the other arrangements are cheap carnations - nothing spells cheap as does carnations. The staff does not seem happy and are completely overworked - in the Compass Rose we have noticed that servers are responsible for 12 tables - as a result the service has suffered. I believe the quality of the food has lessened and the baked goods (except for bread) are tasteless. Every year we look forward to the many holiday cookies, this year they are hard as a rock and inedible.

We always book another cruise when on board - so far we are in no rush.

I could go on and on - I will wait for TravelCat's opinion

Agree with most of what gnomie1 has posted. There was a line outside of the computer room earlier. Although many people have iPad's on board, they are useless. Interestingly, my new kindle tablet works well and doesn't lose the connection.

We have one of our regular servers, Dennis. I will get his opinion regarding service in CR. The feeling on the ship is off... food is different ... cannot put my finger on it yet.

More after dinner

Although many people have iPad's on board, they are useless.

Why are iPads useless on that cruise? I found them excellent on previous cruises, within the limits of general internet access.

If anyone has time and the connections improve, I would love to see photos of these new "improvements". I wonder if all the free internet promises have to be made up financially somewhere else and the art stuff is what was chosen? Is the poor internet speed the fault of Regent or the fault of the area of the world where availability is not so good? Thanks.

And so it goes....rising prices and lots of cutbacks. The comment I have heard the most from newcomers is that while Regent is good, it is not luxury...hence it does not meet expectations

When customer expectations fail to be met or exceeded on a luxury product, problems will ensue...the amazing onboard staff is only part of the experience and cannot, unfortunately compensate for poor internet (now offered to everyone as an incentive), bad food, etc.

TC2 - continue to look fwd to your posts

Gnomie - I hope you will enjoy the rest of your cruise

Not sure where to start. Firstly, the internet was no better on Oceania or Silversea. The current standard for cruise ships is poor (IMHO). Regent is doing a major upgrade in November, 2014 and will have superior internet access. However, at the moment, November, 2014 seems a long time from now. I am currently using the computer in the computer room rather than my tablet since i can use the keyboard. Using two fingers to type is rather slow.

Photos of the upgrade can be seen by using the search engine. I do not post pictures on my live threads.

Speaking of upgrades....... I have now been in the Observation Lounge and love the upgrades. While the upgrades in the Horizon Lounge are amazing, it did not work well for Trivia. There were not enough seats and it was almost impossible to gather a group of six comfortably.

I cannot stress enough how the much the smaller computer room is affecting passengers. Until the major computer access upgrade (or whatever it is called) occurs next November, there are many, many, many, passengers that cannot get their iPad or other device to work and are therefore trying to get into the computer room. Although I HATE HATE HATE having the empty (all of the time) Park West "studio"(?) next to the computer room, it is worse to see so many people waiting to get computer access in an overly full room. Have I said this strongly enough??????? (note to Tom: do not know why iPads are useless -- the extremely patient and lovely woman in the computer room said that iPads lose the connection within 5 minutes -- they simply do not work on the Voyager in this part of the world).

gnomie1: I spoke with "Dennis" in CR this evening (a very busy evening as you know). He was responsible for 9 tables and said that this was the same amount that he handled last year. The person you spoke with may have had another experience. Would love to speak with you about it. We are in suite 782. Give me a call if you have time.

Dinner in Compass Rose was lovely. Below is the menu for the Captain's Reception:

Appetizers

Sturgeon Caviar with Buckwheat Blinis and Traditional Garnish

Chicken Breat and Hudson Valley Foie Gras Ballotine, Pistachio Celeriac Sauce

Ambrosia Fruit Cup, Marinated Apricot, Peach and Pear with Malibu

Cheese Souffle' with Leek Cream Sauce

Crespella alla Toscana. Italian Pancakes Stuffed with Buffalo Mozzarella and Smoken Ham.

SOUPS

Maui Red Onion Soup with Giner Cappuccino

Clear Capon Broth with Brunoise of Vegetable Chervil

SALADS

Baby Greens with Red Radish, Celeriac and Mustard Seed Dressing

Vine Ripe Tomatoes with Shallots and Red Wine Vinaigrette

Caesar Salad with Traditional Garnish

INTERMEZZO

Kir Royal Sorbet

will continue below -- do not want to lose connection

Menu continued:

MAIN COURSES

Rigatoni alle Melanzane, Pasta Tubes with Eggplant and Fresh Tomato-Basil Sauce

Tower of Green and White Asparagus with Potato Waffle, Spinach and Creamy Truffle Sauce

Fresh Sea Bream Fillet Dusted with Saffron and Star Anise Vegetable Couscous and Carmelized Onions

Steamed Maine Lobster Tail with Lobster Essence and Rissoto Primavera (NOTE: I had double order -- it was amazing)

Duckling Beijing Style, Plum Sauce, Fried Rice and Steamed Bok Choy

Roast Prime Rib of Black Angus Beef, Bordelaise Sauce and twice-baked stuffed potato

A TASTE FROM PRIME 7 AND SIGNATURES RESTAURANT

Dover Sole, String Beans with Bacon, Potatoes Lyonnaise, Capers and Lemon Butter

Herb Crusted Roast Rack of Lamb, Pommes Gratin, Ratatouille Nicoise, Garlic Jus

MENU DEGUSTATION

Sturgeon Caviar

Clear Capon Broth

Cheese Souffle

Kir Royal Sorbet

Roast Prime Rib of Black Angus Beef

Iced Cappuccino Parfait

VEGETARIAN SELECTIONS

Cheese Souffle

Ambrosia Fruit Cup

Assorted Grape Leaves

Rigatoni alle Malanzana

Tower of Green and White Asparagus

CANYON RANCH BALANCED SELECTIONS

Capon Broth

Radicchio and Spinich Salad

Steamed Main Lobster

ALWAYS AVAILABLE

Strip Loin of Certified Black Angus beef

Fresh Norwegian Salmon Fillet

Grain-fed Boneless Chicken Breast

Freshly cooked pasta of the day with choice of tomato, pesto or bolognese sauce

Side Orders: Steamed Vegetables, String Beans, Mashed Potato, Baked Potato

Featured Wines

Endeavor Vineyards "Jackaroo" Chardonnay, South Eastern Australia 2011

Ramon Bilbao, Tempranillo, Rioja, Spain 2010

RECOMMENDED RESERVE WINES

Cakebread Chardonnay, Napa Valley, California 2007 - $55

Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Colulmbia Valley, 2007 - $104

Dessert to follow

International Cheeses

Edel de Cleron

Appenzeller

Bresse Bleu

Brebicet

Epoisses

Offered with a glass of Port wine, assorted crackers, French bread and butter.

DESSERT SENSATIONS

No Sugar Added 9-minute Baked Chocolate Cake with Raspberries, Vanilla Ice Cream

Strawberry Sable - Shortbread with Passion Fruit Cream & Strawberries

Iced Cappuccino Parfait in Chocolate Cup with Chantilly Cream

Seasonal Fresh Fruit Plate

CANYON RANCH SELECTION

Classic Lemon Bar Blueberry puree 120 calories 5 gm. fat

OLD TIME FAVORITE

Apple Crumble Pie

SORBET

Kir Royal

PREMIUM ICE CREAM

Peach - Rocky Road

No Sugar Added Country Vanilla

Homemade New York Cheesecake Frozen Yoghurt

Gourmandises

The ipad issues are with the wifi hardware on the ipad. They simply are not built as well as wifi in a laptop or any type of more expensive computing equipment. While it is true that the onboard wifi is not as strong as most on shore wifi's, supposidely that is one of the areas that Regent is going to boost with this new fix and thought it was occurring during the recent dry-dock or the soon to occur dry dock. That should be fixed prior to the updated access plan next November.

Pretty sure those with true laptops and better wifi hardware are not having the same issues as those using the not as well made ipad.

Also, seems that perhaps some of my comments have been validated by tc as her "Regent Experience" isn't what it used to be as also reported by others very recently. The cutbacks and digging for more money (Park West for one) are changing the ambiance on board in more ways that some of the cheerleaders are willing to accept. Still no comments from Regent management regarding all of the recent issues as well as the lack of responses on the messaging that was set up by Regent.

Getting worried by some of these messages because we are joining the ship in Sydney for the leg to Auckland. After 2 terrific cruises with Oceania recently we are expecting high standards from Regent.

As far as the computer room is concerned, since I work in the IT industry the last thing I want to see on holiday is a computer!

Enjoy.

Merry Christmas TC. Your TA is your best friend when all hell breaks loose. We just got our luggage last night from AA after returning from Africa on December 11. Now I can breathe.

Cathay is a wonderful airline. Enjoy your cruise and the menu looked great as well.

Now we are a bit tempted to give Regent another try.

The ipad issues are with the wifi hardware on the ipad.

Sometimes the cause is that you connected to a weaker access point on the ship, and the iPad remembers that setting. There are access points all over the ship.

Try this before giving up...

Go into Settings > General > Network > WiFi.

Once you locate your ship WiFi network name, tap on the blue arrow to the right of it and then select "forget this network."

After that, reconnect and add it back in.

This sometimes helps.

Also, seems that perhaps some of my comments have been validated by tc as her "Regent Experience" isn't what it used to be as also reported by others very recently. The cutbacks and digging for more money (Park West for one) are changing the ambiance on board in more ways that some of the cheerleaders are willing to accept. Still no comments from Regent management regarding all of the recent issues as well as the lack of responses on the messaging that was set up by Regent.

You'll get about as many comments as we got from the defunct Graham Sadler thread.

Although I am aware of these deficiencies some of you are citing, for us there is still an ambiance that keeps us tethered to Regent.

I mentioned in another post that this past August on the Voyager Balfic cruise...this was by far the very best cruise we were ever on, and we have been cruising for 50 years.

For us, the worse things in life should be some of the complaints that people mention...steak not done exactly to liking....had to wait 10 minutes for tour ticket...dinner took 2 hours instead of 1 hour and 45 minutes.

For us life is much too short to worry about this....we still are captivated with the magic of Regent...maybe not with the price but with the magic..

If things change and we are still around, then we will change as well.

Good comment, Responder, I think, however, that as the price goes up the magic needs to be more obvious. We have always loved our experiences; should we, however, have to search for a follow up; or should we be wowed by what our favorite supplies. If the latter Regent needs to step up to the plate. Don't see it right now.