Just disembarked Navigator

While we have never been 'exclusive' to one line, we had been Regent regulars until a few years ago when what we perceived as a decline in product directed us to other lies. We made a last minute decision and booked "the last" cabin available on Navigator. Of course, it was in the stern where there is significant vibration & creaking which turn into shuttering when the ship is docking. We were not bothered by the former, only the latter.

Since we were late booking, we took their air and were impressed that the R staff was there to greet our 9:30am arrival. The shuttle followed shortly thereafter. Boarding [at noon] was a blink. Stepping on board it was nice to find a waitress bearing glasses of champagne and that traditional welcome table which had almost slipped from memory.

I think that of the 3 [seabourn, R & Crystal] lines, R has the most comfortable standard veranda cabin. ..large, well laid out, with plenty of storage space..and a bathroom with both tub and shower. Scented toiletres are fine for me. We were blessed with 2 excellent room stewards [Victor & Bagnus] . Each morning they serviced our room while we were at breakfast and their service was flawless.

Navigator was very clean and well maintained..no complaints or sightings of stains,etc. The Stars Lounge is lovely and I like the tiered theater free of blocking columns and with comfortable chairs.

There seemed to be lots of crew, all friendly and helpful...many Filipino. There were also several Indians who with English as their language were able to banter quite well.

We did not call for the CD . She, her staff and senior officers were mostly invisible In fact I was surprised to see so many of them show for Crew K ers.

Breakfast menus in Compass Rose & La Veranda were standard fare [Crystal wins here] but you could also order pancakes, waffles, eggs any style,etc. There were a few other location where you could select a lighter or earlier breakfast. Their main DR was open everyday for lunch [hello SB] which provided a relaxing experience for us altho the pool grill was the hot spot. The burgers seemed extremely popular which the salad looked bland, often mayonnaise laden and set out in the warm weather for 4 hours on counters that were not refrigerated.

TBC

We were pleasantly surprised by the diversity and quality of the dinner offerings..certainly on par with SB and only lacking the modern approach of C. R lags in plate presentation.Their cheese offerings sometimes were past prime. We found sauvignon blanc and pinot noir wines that we enjoyed. Name brand liquors were al around.

Ok, so now the not too good parts.......

-R replies too heavily on the JARyan cast who perform most shows. It seemed as though they were just doing the same dance routines, in different costumes.

-We missed several ports because the winds did not permit tender service..Turks, St Barts, Dominican Republic [and I think Tortola..but brain freeze here]. No return of port axes or other compensation, including for the FREE tours.

Have to run but in my next/last post I will tell you about a major problem.

What were/are "port axes"?

Sounds lethal. And I seem to remember we were on a cruise together once a long time ago, maybe even on the Navigator, that I thought was great and you didn't. Was that right?

"...Breakfast menus in Compass Rose & La Veranda were standard fare [Crystal wins here] but you could also order pancakes, waffles, eggs any style,etc....."

PaulaJK - I'm curious..... So what is it, specifically, about Crystal's breakfasts that would make them a "winner" in your book over Regent? Is there some item/s (other than eggs, meat, breads, fruit, yogurt, etc.) which Crystal offers (at breakfast) which Regent does not?

Regards

What were/are "port axes"?

 

Sounds lethal. And I seem to remember we were on a cruise together once a long time ago, maybe even on the Navigator, that I thought was great and you didn't. Was that right?

What disappointed us was coming back from all-day tours in the Caribbean and Amazon in steaming hot weather and finding no ice water or lemonade or punch on the dock and no chilled towels to cool us off. We were greeted only by the sullen security staff who said nothing, didn't smile, and acted like they were checking in convicts back from a chain gang.

We filled out the mid-cruise feedback form and asked someone at the shore excursion desk to put it on Franck Galzy's desk (his office is behind the excursion desk on Navigator) and were told that couldn't be done and the form could only be put in a box at the guest services desk.

We never heard boo from Galzy or anyone else on this subject (how incredibly non-responsive) and Galzy left the ship in Manaus to be replaced by Andrea Piccininni (normally an Oceania general manager, we were told). We had a chance to speak with him that night in Prime 7 and, for the next two or three ports, iced water and punch miraculously appeared on the dock, but not at the last two ports.

Shabby treatment by a so-called "luxury" cruise line, in our opinion, when we are used to being greeted by other cruise lines' hotel director, cruise director, band, with schnapps to spike our chilled punch or hot chocolate or whatever was appropriate to the weather.

What were/are "port axes"?

 

Sounds lethal. And I seem to remember we were on a cruise together once a long time ago, maybe even on the Navigator, that I thought was great and you didn't. Was that right?

Sure she means Port Taxes Gerry. And, pretty sure R is a signatory to the agreement that port taxes will only be collected in the exact amount of what R actually pays so if ports are missed, Port Taxes would have to be paid back to the passenger. This came about in Florida where people complained about being charged Port Taxes for Ports not stopped at and most, if not all Cruise Lines in Florida agreed and signed a document to that effect.

Let me comment that we have been doing New Year's sailings for many of the past 30+ years.....first with our young children on lines such as Sitmar ,RCCL and then on to Celebrity. I expect there to be families and I expect there to be children. Clearly I do not think that R or SB are good destinations for children as they lack facilities or programs...but I did expect there to be children.

This cruise beat them all. I asked 3 staff members how many were on board and received answers of 24, 34 and 54. Day 2 we were at sea and then again on day 3 [missed Turks,Caicos] .It is amazing that no children were hurt as the older children dove and cannon balled into the pool. Several people must have complained because eventually safety officers arrived and spoke to them...which meant a short break in the action. The REALLY BIG problem was the number of infants and toddlers, in pampers. Their parents had them in the pool, along with their rubber rafts. They totally occupied the whirlpools, including a young boy with his yellow rubber ring! By day 9 everyone you came in contact with on pool deck was complaining about hygiene and behavior. Multiple people complained, by phone and in person. Something must have been said to the various families because some were not in the pool in pampers on days 10 & 11 [both sea days as we also missed Costa Rica]. A couple of the families were 'inventive' and changed their children from pampers into a bathing suit for the pool and then back into pampers. There was no evidence of the hotel director or senior staff observing this and a complete failure of Regent to enforce its own posted rules.

Every night in Compass Rose there were crying/screaming/shrieking infants...except our night in Prime 7 where they also were dining. Hambagable, if you love this, enjoy.

Pingpong..Crystal has artful presentation, a little more variety in fruits and pastries, a luscious waffle station w cream and strawberries and Asian breakfast.

Six stars? Luxury? Don't think so.

I forgot to mention that Regent has a long standing tradition on Sunday mornings of offering caviar and champagne at breakfast time....very nice.

I just wonder why there were so many children on that particular cruise, I'd love to know so I could avoid a situation like that! Don't get me wrong, I love children but Regent provide very little service for them, the pool would be the main attraction. Was this during school holidays? I sympathyse with you on this but it seems there were lots of good things to enjoy. :)

I just wonder why there were so many children on that particular cruise, I'd love to know so I could avoid a situation like that! Don't get me wrong, I love children but Regent provide very little service for them, the pool would be the main attraction. Was this during school holidays? I sympathyse with you on this but it seems there were lots of good things to enjoy. :)

I believe this cruise was over the Holidays (New Years) which usually gets more families, sometimes with grandma and grandpa paying, so the children (adult or minor variety) don't really care what they do or how they affect others (because it is a "free"cruise for them). Best to avoid Holiday cruises if you want to avoid this type of experience.

PaulaJK - Thanks much for the reply. La Veranda has usually been my primary choice for breakfasts ((because from past personal experience my BP goes through the roof waiting upwards of an hour in CR for a simple plate of scrambled eggs and some ketchup!)).

I would really come "unglued" if I saw all those babies in the pool and hot tubs with diapers on (or wearing anything else for that matter!). In the family's own private pool back home, they can do anything they want to. But in a public pool used by others on a "luxury" cruise ship - I don't think so. And with no Regent staff around to immediately prevent/stop this from happening!

Along with Marinaro's comments (regarding the less than pleasant greetings back to the ship sans ice water, etc.) it really is beginning to look like things are "unraveling" in the all-important "small and major details department". And it's the attention to those details that should be setting Regent apart from (and above) all the "regular" cruise lines. Otherwise, why are we all being charged 4-5 times the price of a "normal" cruise on.....(I'll let everyone fill in their own blank).

If the only things making Regent a "luxury cruise line" are the included beverages, air transport, and tips/gratuities, then they ought to drop their fares by 50% (at least) and let the passengers pay for those things separately as individual "add-ons". The only thing that "supports" Regent's current price structure is the perception among their customers that they are receiving a continuing and consistent "luxury experience".

It is not a luxury cruise line simply because Regent says it is in their advertising literature. It has to be believed and experienced by their customers. And many of those customers now seem to be questioning that.

I don't think that Regent is unravelling either. However, they do need tighten up a few issues such as entertainment & screaming babies in Compass Rose. And yes, there were gangs of kids running on the stairs and deck 8. Clearly Regent needs to enforce their own policies regarding pampers/pool. 400 guests' hygiene & pleasure should not be sacrificed for 50+ others. In my mind this is a management issue, not a crew issue. They were great, very hard working.

There was a lot of 'good' on Navigator but enough 'not good' for me to feel that the luxury and value were inadequate. Any 'wow' factor was on the negative rather than positive side. I was surprised to not see M Coghlan, whom I admire, out at that pool area!

Let me correct one comment about leaving a note for the "Oceania" GM. I am a frequent traveler on O, and I have, in fact, left a note for the GM or Concierge without having to put it in the message box.

I think sometimes facts get 'skewed' by mistake.\

I am currently on the Voyager doing the Cape Town to Singapore trip, and I want to say that we had not ONE speaker to talk about any of the areas in which we were travelling. There are a lot of unhappy folks relative to this issue. What in the world has happened? This has always been an important part of O's trips.

But it sounded to me that the person was asking to have the mid Cruise Questionnaire put on Franck Galzy's desk ?? Was this not the case? I cannot imagine that if one wrote a note to Franck or any other GM for that matter and handed it to Reception for delivery that it would not be delivered. I have written notes to various GMs, CDs etc and given them to Reception for delivery - never encountered a problem with that either on Regent or Oceania.

If a staff member said that the questionnaire had to go into the box then I think that was correct. They are supposed not to be able to be altered by members of staff - hence the box.

That is how I read it too. The questionaire goes in the box, but I have more than once left a note for the GM. In fact, on our most recent Mariner cruise, the GM and I got to be big buddies because of all my computer issues.

Management really does read the mid cruise comments. I have made statements on that comment card about things that I thought could be improved, usually just small things, and they have always been addressed. Usually I have gotten a call from whoever is in charge of the dept that handles whatever I was talking about.

Management really does read the mid cruise comments.

And this is exactly what the mid-cruise comments are for--so management can take corrective action. So it makes no sense whatsoever for someone to refuse to put it on the general manager's desk.

The cruise-end questionnaire is a different story, as that should go straight to headquarters with no opportunity for alteration or suppression by anyone on-board ship.

Pity that Sheehan has left NCL. Regent badly needs fresh eyes to look over operations from top to bottom, starting with the wretched "included" air arrangements that gnomie referred to in her recently-started pricing thread.

Sheehan didn't leave, he was ousted.

... Regent badly needs fresh eyes to look over operations from top to bottom, starting with the wretched "included" air arrangements that gnomie referred to in her recently-started pricing thread.

I so agree, although air has been mostly good for us. It's the included excursions that bother me. With FDR in the seat, nothing will change.

I so agree, although air has been mostly good for us. It's the included excursions that bother me. With FDR in the seat, nothing will change.

I would not bet on that!

I suppose that posts can be skewed various ways. And, we were told on the Riviera in December that you cannot just walk into the GM's office. In fact, the crew member at Reception had no idea where his office was. It ends up that he has an office one deck up from Reception (and we were escorted to his office).

 

Because our personal experiences differ. When someone posts that they could not do something (as was the case with the previous poster), isn't it up to those of us that know this is not Regent's policy to speak up? After all, you just corrected me and stated that you can put a note in the GM's office on Oceania (I suppose you just need to know where it is and this was not easy information to learn when we were onboard.)

I think it comes down to being sensitive to responding to people's experience vs. sharing what is supposed to be corporate policy. Stating the policy is one thing, adding the "true" or "not true" is more personal which I think is what posters take exception to...especially when they ar posting their experience, not their version of corp policy. The two can be very different things.

I am disheartened to read about the negative comments about the Navigator on which we will be departing shortly. I understand the complications of being on a family cruise over the holidays. But please folks, give me some reasons to look forward to this cruise for which I am thankful to be going on and for which I paid dearly.

Aylgo, are you on the Navigator cruise out of Miami on Jan. 27th? It will be our first cruise.

I am disheartened to read about the negative comments about the Navigator on which we will be departing shortly. I understand the complications of being on a family cruise over the holidays. But please folks, give me some reasons to look forward to this cruise for which I am thankful to be going on and for which I paid dearly.

Really hope that this thread does not cause you concern. What you are reading is about a holiday cruise. This is not a typical Regent cruise.

Prior to our first Navigator cruise, I read some very poor reviews. We were almost to the point of not wanting to sail on the Navigator. Our first Navigator cruise was actually our favorite Navigator cruise. There were no children -- the weather was great -- the ship was lovely -- no complaints at all (note: we did pay attention to warnings of an aft vibration on the Navigator and stayed mid-ship -- it was a good decision to do that).

There is no reason that your cruise should not be wonderful! Hopefully you will post after the cruise and let all of us know how it was. Happy sailing!

4. What you are reading is about a holiday cruise. This is not a typical Regent cruise.

 

4

A holiday cruise should be no different in terms of service, amenities or passenger and crew relations.

A holiday cruise shouldn't be different, but unfortunately it is. Partly (mostly) because of the large family groups and excess numbers of kids. Totally changes the whole vib of the cruise. And the staff is having to deal with them too!

Having a bunch of kids running around the pool deck is not my idea of relaxation. Fortunately, that is usually not happening, but on the holidays is the exception.