Voyager aft cabins/vibration

Can anyone who has recently traveled Voyager tell me about the category G aft cabins and whether they felt vibration? We hated the vibration in the aft cabins of the Navigator June 06, but picked a guarantee G on the Voyager for the Baltic trip we are able to take (May 12) because we had been promised the vibration on the Voyager does not compare to the Navigator.

Thanks for your help!

It's my belief that vibration is dependent upon the conditions of the sea, the speed of the ship and the sensitivity of the passenger.

We were on the Navigator in April, 2007 (Western Caribbean) and had difficulty finding the vibration (but believe that it exists during rough seas). However, on the Voyager in August, 2006 (mid-ship -- deck 10), there was a mild vibration. We noticed the heaviest vibration in the entrance of La Veranda (aft, deck 11) -- since the vibration issue is not one that has been addressed in the past year, it's safe to assume that it is currently the same as it was 10 months ago. My husband was bothered by the vibration -- I was not.

If you consider yourselves to be sensitive to vibration, I'd try to get a mid-ship suite:)

Hi

I think you mean the June 12 not May 12 trip to Baltics.

And if it is any consolation...we will be on the same trip...and on an aft Horizon suite.

So if you see me and my DH vibrating as we walk down the hall....wave and say hello!!!

We were on the Voyager last summer. Our cabin was not aft but our friends we met on board had one of the cabins that face aft [i think we were all on the 9th deck].

The seas were not rough [Greenwich to Nice], but the vibration in their cabin was major. They used to try making bets with where the looser would have to switch cabins with them. There were no takers! I seem to recall someone saying that the vibration was worse at certain speeds.

On the other hand, I suppose you get used to it after a couple of days and if you are having a great time otherwise, it will just be something to laugh about when you tell your friends about your trip.

I would probable switch if I could, but I am somewhat like the "Princess and the Pea".

Marsha

I was on Seven Seas Voyager last summer, category F, suite 758, and it was ok. I did notice vibrating noise due to movements generated from ceiling panels and wall pictures when the sea was rough, and this could be fixed by placing papers between the gaps to stop the movements.

But in my experience, cabins towards the back of the ship do vibrate. I was once in a suite right at the end of the ship -- nice thing was it had a huge wrap-around balcony, but it was noisy and vibrated so much that I could not get any sleep. When the ship was at dock, it was absolutely peace and quiet. But as soon as the engine was started and the ship began sailing, the noise and vibration set in.

In general, cabins in mid-ship are the best choice.

We're in 742 in December. Was in a mid-ship G last summer, and it had no vibration, but the walls did squeak and protest when on the high seas. But it was the same on Navigator in December-squeaky walls in fairly heavy seas. I see it as part of the deal. I remember the first time on the PG I was aware of a deep vibration in the cabin (window, low down, mid-ship), and I assumed it was just part of cruising.

My wife and I were just on the Voyager. Our cabins were forward of the elevators (943) but we spent much of our time on board in the Horizon Lounge and ate several times in the La Veranda, both of which are on the stern and I would think representative of aft cabins.

One of my frustrations when this thread has previously come up is that well-intentioned and helpful people attempt to describe the vibration in terms of "bad", "moderate", "little". Unfortunately, that really doesn't give you any real information as which has already been mentioned, it is all relative.

So I'll try to describe what we experienced in more objective, descriptive terms.

When cruising in calm waters, the vibration that we felt is likened to what one would experience in a car going down a highway (no potholes, either) . We didn't notice any rattling or even ripples in the liquid in our glasses.

When cruising in more choppy waters, the vibration did seem to be more. An occasional rattle and a slight shimmer in liquid in our glasses.

Now, when coming into port and when the Captain would use the thrusters to dock, you felt vibration. Even in our cabin, things would rattle and you surely knew things were rocking. However, that type of vibration was short-lived and certainly not constant.

Hopefully, this helps you a bit.

Jan

I'm hearing you about aft cabins vibrating the most. They should therefore sell for less. The colors (green) shown on the category G for the Voyager show some mid ship on deck 6, some at the front of the ship on deck seven, and 10 aft cabins. I believe those aft cabins should sell for less if vibration cannot be controlled. We in G category are all paying the same price. That seems absurd.

My cabin last year on the Navigator was very unpleasant. The Western Europe ports were great, as were some wonderful people we met, but we were disappointed in both our vibrating cabin and in the air flights Regent chose for us (with business class upgrades). We took control of the flights issues and scheduled our own this time around. We scheduled the upcoming Baltic cruise while on that June '06 Western European cruise. We were complaining about the vibration while we signed up for the upcoming Baltic cruise; the person assisting us with scheduling the cruise talked us into the G guarantee, and we understood our complaints about vibration were somehow being fed into the system. It does seem odd to me that people who schedule a full year in advance are not able to get the better cabins!

After the cruise in '06, we received a cruise credit awarded for us to use on another cruise because of my complaints about the vibration.

The vibration was almost as if a dentist's drill was coming up from the floor, plus it was loud. We have cruised before, '06 was our 6th cruise, and was our second time on a Regent ship, but we had never before experienced anything like that vibration.

Suzie

Suzie,

Do you know if a cabin has been asigned to you already? Maybe you are worrying for nothing and got a G ( or another Cat) either midship or forward. Due to the vibration issue, on Voyager I would never accept a Guarantee even if I have to pay more . When I did the Baltics cruise on Voyager, I was in an H cabin ( 667) and the vibration was horrible. Your description of the dentist's drill is very apt. It was felt mostly in the area where the bed is. I could barely sleep.

But then I have read people that have had my same cabin that felt the vibration and were not bothered by it or didn't feel it.

If you think you will be bothered by vibration ( and it seems you are), you should be proactive and try to change your cabin assignment if you have already been assigned an aft cabin. Don't wait until embarkation to address this. If the ship is full it will be too late! You would think that since you were given a credit for your Navigator experience they would know better, but I wouldn't count on it.

After reading about Navigator and Voyager "vibration" for the past year or so, it just occured to me that no one has ever said that the Mariner has vibration issues (note: my definition of vibration is simply the old dictionary version -- everyone seems to have their own opinions as to how it feels).

Although we have had wonderful cruises on the Navigator, PG and Voyager, if we were bothered by vibration, I would definitely chose the Mariner for my next cruise. Even if the destinations are not exactly what you want, it has to be better than taking the risk of being unhappy with the vibration (from what I hear, it is not something Regent can fix).

I think it's great that people can read about the pro's and con's of each ship so they can make the right choise for themselves.:)

Travelcat

Just out of curiousity, why would you choose destinations you don't want on the Mariner rather than destinations you do want on another cruise line, i.e., Crystal or Oceana?

As I said, just curious.

Marsha

Travelcat

 

Just out of curiousity, why would you choose destinations you don't want on the Mariner rather than destinations you do want on another cruise line, i.e., Crystal or Oceana?

 

As I said, just curious.

 

Marsha

I didn't realize that it came across that way. I was really only thinking of Regent -- not other cruiselines. It kinda of sounded to me that some people are so unhappy with vibration issues -- they have difficulty sleeping, etc. It really just occurred to me that the only Regent ship without the vibration is Mariner (but I personally don't like most of their destinations).

We've only been on three Regent cruises (booked on the 4th) but are totally sold on the Regent experience and don't even consider other cruise lines(well, I did sort of think about Silversea and Seabourn but would not have some of the perks that we get with Regent).

Jackie (aka Travelcat2):)

I may well try Mariner if I stay with Regent. Meanwhile, I have not been able to call Regent yet. Will try to do so tomorrow. When I went onto the website and selected 'my cruises', I found a cabin number listed for us, and I do believe it will be a cabin with vibration.

Suzie

Suzie,

What cabin did they assign? Anecdotal evidence has documented that the line of demarcation is aft of the laundry room.

Couldn't your TA help you with this?

We had a G category guarantee last summer Baltic cruise Copenhagen to Stockholm, and were "upgraded" to a C category horizon aft cabin on the Voyager. Having heard about the vibration issue. I was concerned, since my wife has motion sickness issues (although the wrist bands usually work quite well for her). It apparently is common to be upgraded to the horizon suite cabins, because many people will not book them. I would agree that it must have something to do with the speed of the ship, as we never felt any significant vibrations at all, but the itinerary was on very calm waters at a leisurely pace. My guess is that a transatlantic crossing could be a problem. In any case, we loved our aft balcony, which was a nice size, and the three hours or so in the Swedish archipelego was spectacular from the balcony. Hope you are happy with whatever you choose, but if you are doing the Baltic, I don't think they go fast enough for there to be problems.

Not to dwell on this point, but the schedule where I had the problem was in the Baltics. Each person is different, you have to amke your own choice. I know which one I would make. No aft cabin for me on Voyager!

We were just on an aft cabin on the Mariner - Horizon Suite - and noticed no vibration whatsoever. When in high seas one day there was some creaking, but again, no vibration. Would absolutely book a Horizon Suite on Mariner again as we loved the separate bedroom and huge balcony.

Sorry all, but every time I say this, somebody responds saying that we are just vibration sensitive (wrong) -- but here goes.

All of the suites on the Voyager that are aft of the laundry room locations on each deck may be subject to undue vibration if the ship exceeds a certain speed, regardless of sea conditions. The vibration is at its worst in the Horizon suites, which are right on the stern. The speed at which the vibration happens seems to be in the 20 knot range or above. When undue vibration is present, not all of these aft suites are equally impacted. In some it may be horrible. In others, it may be tolerable. Which? It varies from sailing to sailing. Vibration problems in any "vehicle" are difficult to pin down.

It can be serious. My wife is so tolerant of vibration on ships that she senses none in the show lounge on the Navigator, when (to me) it is so bad that I can't hear the lecture above the roar! Yet the vibration (more correctly, a shaking) was so bad in our Horizon suite on the Voyager that she actually became ill and required medical treatment.

Ship's speed was very much a factor. Below 18 knots -- no vibration. But much of our cruise was at 22 knots, and vibration was horrible at that speed in our Horizon suite (and other suites on the stern, I might add). As the Voyager is otherwise a great ship on which we would want to cruise again, I walked about the decks to see where the vibration ended as I went towards the bow. It came and went in the halls as I walked forward, but it completely disappeared only forward of the laundry rooms. Other than this limited area near the stern, the Voyager was totaly free of vibrations. When we again cruise on the Voyager, we will avoid any of the suites that are very far aft of the laundry room locations. Oh, we might book a beautiful Horizon suite again and "luck out" because the ship cruises at a slower speed, or because the bad vibration happens not to occur in our particular suite -- but we don't want to chance it after what happened before. Were we to book a category G suite, we would insist on deck six -- and not seven -- as those on deck six are more toward the bow.

There has been some discussion of the Mariner above. We have cruised on the Mariner and have never experienced ANY vibration anywhere on that ship. And I have not read any reports of such. Therefore, nothing I have said about Voyager vibration applies to the Mariner. Indeed, we have cruised all the ships now in Regent's fleet, and the Mariner is the only one on which I have never felt ANY vibration -- not even an acceptable level.

Some of the posts above mention other lines, as an alternative to the Voyager. While most of our cruises have been on Regent, our last one was on Silverseas Silver Cloud. Not becuse of vibration issues, but because of itinerary, timing, and price. The little Cloud (like the Mariner) was totally vibration free. Frankly, we don't consider Crystal or Oceania to be a true alternative to Regent. But, in our opinion, Silverseas is.

Thanks,

Richard

Sorry all, but every time I say this, somebody responds saying that we are just vibration sensitive (wrong) -- but here goes.

 

All of the suites on the Voyager that are aft of the laundry room locations on each deck may be subject to undue vibration if the ship exceeds a certain speed, regardless of sea conditions. The vibration is at its worst in the Horizon suites, which are right on the stern. The speed at which the vibration happens seems to be in the 20 knot range or above. When undue vibration is present, not all of these aft suites are equally impacted. In some it may be horrible. In others, it may be tolerable. Which? It varies from sailing to sailing. Vibration problems in any "vehicle" are difficult to pin down.

 

It can be serious. My wife is so tolerant of vibration on ships that she senses none in the show lounge on the Navigator, when (to me) it is so bad that I can't hear the lecture above the roar! Yet the vibration (more correctly, a shaking) was so bad in our Horizon suite on the Voyager that she actually became ill and required medical treatment.

 

Ship's speed was very much a factor. Below 18 knots -- no vibration. But much of our cruise was at 22 knots, and vibration was horrible at that speed in our Horizon suite (and other suites on the stern, I might add). As the Voyager is otherwise a great ship on which we would want to cruise again, I walked about the decks to see where the vibration ended as I went towards the bow. It came and went in the halls as I walked forward, but it completely disappeared only forward of the laundry rooms. Other than this limited area near the stern, the Voyager was totaly free of vibrations. When we again cruise on the Voyager, we will avoid any of the suites that are very far aft of the laundry room locations. Oh, we might book a beautiful Horizon suite again and "luck out" because the ship cruises at a slower speed, or because the bad vibration happens not to occur in our particular suite -- but we don't want to chance it after what happened before. Were we to book a category G suite, we would insist on deck six -- and not seven -- as those on deck six are more toward the bow.

 

There has been some discussion of the Mariner above. We have cruised on the Mariner and have never experienced ANY vibration anywhere on that ship. And I have not read any reports of such. Therefore, nothing I have said about Voyager vibration applies to the Mariner. Indeed, we have cruised all the ships now in Regent's fleet, and the Mariner is the only one on which I have never felt ANY vibration -- not even an acceptable level.

 

Some of the posts above mention other lines, as an alternative to the Voyager. While most of our cruises have been on Regent, our last one was on Silverseas Silver Cloud. Not becuse of vibration issues, but because of itinerary, timing, and price. The little Cloud (like the Mariner) was totally vibration free. Frankly, we don't consider Crystal or Oceania to be a true alternative to Regent. But, in our opinion, Silverseas is.

 

Thanks,

Richard

Richard,

First, I agree that Crystal and Oceania are not in the same category as Regent (although they are absolute tops in their category).

Your description of "vibration" was very accurate. Having been on the Voyager and felt the vibration quite strongly in some areas, and not feeling hardly anything on the Navigator, it seems obvious that it exists, but is dependent upon the speed of the ship and the movement of the seas.

Some people argue the point, however, it true that there are "sometimes" but certainly not always that one cruise line is better than another. The key for us is to enjoy the wonders of Regent (quite different -- not always better -- than Oceania and/or Crystal). I have never seen a true argument point here -- simply a difference of what you want during your cruising experience. While we would never trade our Regent experience for Oceania or Crystal, we recognize that some people prefer the differences.

For us, the bottom line is that we are happy for the people who prefer other cruiise lnes and will stay with them and not make Regent overcrowded. There is nothing wrong with feeling that large ships that require tipping and extra payment for speciality restaurants, as well as for drinks is their preference. It just isn't ours. Hopefully they will not criticize us and visa versa

I certainly agree. Crystal and Oceania have their strong points in which they are superior to Regent. All I meant is that if one is expecting a duplicate of the "Regent Experience", they will not find it on these lines, but will instead find a rather different experience, which they may like, or they may not. And all I wanted o bring up about Silverseas is that it is an almost identical experience to Regent.

Thanks,

Richard

I certainly agree. Crystal and Oceania have their strong points in which they are superior to Regent. All I meant is that if one is expecting a duplicate of the "Regent Experience", they will not find it on these lines, but will instead find a rather different experience, which they may like, or they may not. And all I wanted o bring up about Silverseas is that it is an almost identical experience to Regent.

 

Thanks,

Richard

We have thought of trying out Silversea but have read some recent reports that, overall, their food was not as good as Regent and the service is great but a bit stuffy. What is your opinion?

Our sole and recent Silverseas Cruise was on the Cloud, which I understand has somehow been spared the alleged deterioration in food and service that some claim has impacted the rest of their fleet. I can't speak to that, though, as I've only been on the Cloud.

Personally, I like the food and shore excursions on Regent better. Food is very subjective, but I also lean toward that on Regent.

On the other hand, service was more "formal" and less "chummy" than on Regent. But this is just a matter of style and not substance, IMO, and the substance of the service was as good as Regent's. This may be true only of me, but the smaller size of the Cloud was a plus to me. 290 guests max, and the same high passenger to space ratio as the Mariner and Voyager. Indeed, the whole ship "felt" like a scaled down version of those Regent ships. So, I have to give Silverseas a plus for ship size.

In the future, our choice between Regent and Silverseas will be based solely on price, timing, and itinerary. These lines are that close! We took this cruise on the Cloud for exactly these reasons (instead of a similar one on Regent).

Oh, BTW, I could find absolutely no vibrations on the Cloud -- not even any within acceptable range.

Thanks,

Richard

Well, my Silver Cloud report above may be out of date. Over on the Silverseas Forum here, there is a review of the Cloud that is more recent than our Sept. '06 experience. And, it brings up some objective, negative factors that were not present on our cruise. These include lousy entertainment (and a specific description thereof), and poor physical condition of the ship. I guess things can change in just eight or nine months. In any event, I call your attention to that review, allong with my own comments above.

Thanks,

Richard

We are currently traveling in cabin 774 going Dover to Copenhagen. This cabin is Aft of the laundry room. To my surprise, we have not had any vibration problems which caused us discomfort. Another cruise critic Maryelizabeth is in a Horizon suite and has written on another thread complaining about vibration. She and I corresponded prior to this cruise via cruise critic, and both were hopeful we would have a good cruise.

Frankly, although some of the vibration issues are subjective, many people who have posted "You want to know you are on a ship" are being very insensitive. I complained about my trip last June on the aft section of the Navigator & Regent gave me a little discount off my next cruise. This is because they are aware there is a real problem. Sure some people may not feel it same as others, but for those who do feel it, it is most real and no one on this board should just brush off those who do complain about the vibration as "Well, you want to know you are on a ship"!!

Having experienced vibration discomfort I can vouch for the fact that some cabins are better than others, and in the same speed feel it less than others. I'm saying it doesn't have much to do with who you are and whether you are sensitive or insensitive to vibration. It absolutely has to do with whether your particular cabin has a vibration issue.

Hoping not too appear to be too arrogant, I do hope this posting causes no further responses about vibration issues being dependent upon the sensitivity of the passenger.

SPKR:

Your suite selection on the Voyager may be forunate for you. By our experience you may be far enough forward to be experiencing one of the smoothest rides on the sea.

But, believe me, all of the cabins to the aft of the laundry rooms MAY have a little vibration at times. And many of the Horizon Suites directly on the stern will have major "shaking" when and if the ship exceeds 20 knots. We experienced this, and it is NOT a matter of so-called "sensitivity to vibration". It is not vibration -- it is shaking!

I know it is odd for a problem to be major in only a small portion of a ship, and to be totalty absent in other parts -- but that is the way it actually is on this ship. Vibration problems in a motive device (car, ship, etc.) and its correction is a bit of a "dark science." Nobody really has a handle on it. Example: When we last cruised the PG in late '05, we noticed that she had developed a rather bad vibration problem in the lounge on deck 7. Shortly thereafter, this area was converted to suites, and necessary structure was added. Reports have been that there is NO vibration in those suites.

So the "shaking" problem in some of the Horizon suites on the Voyager above about 20 knots in speed is a VERY REAL problem.