LovesPurple

Yesterday was a great day, other than the continuing toilet issues.  We were at St. Barth’s, a tender port, my spouse went diving (for any divers reading this, the diving is excellent) and I stayed on board.  Had a lovely lunch at Compass Rose, relaxing afternoon by the pool and then we had an exceptional dinner at Chartreuse.  
 

The toilet issues are very problematic though. Both yesterday and this morning, the whole ship was out for a couple hours each time.  Not a working toilet on the ship during those times. No announcements or explanations.  I didn’t have a tour scheduled today but most of the morning tours were canceled because drivers didn’t show.  

2 hours ago, CJANDH said:

Can you please let us know who is the Cruise Director on Mariner right now and if he/she will be staying for the next (Holiday) cruise.

 

Thanks.

It is currently John and I’ll ask at trivia if he is staying on

Day 3 was our second port = San Juan.  My spouse went diving and I stayed on board to have a massage - treatments are pricey, but very good!  And a lovely use of cruise credit.

We have a significant amount of on-board credit and I will be using more than half - we asked as reception if I can use my husband’s credit and they said yes as we only have one credit card on the account.  I’m not sure if the one credit card is mandatory, but I recommend it if you are using on-board credits like we are (I go to the spa on board, he goes diving 🙂 ).

Other than the buffet at peak times, Mariner never feels crowded - sometimes we are one of only 2-3 couples in a bar/lounge in the evenings!

Dinner was at Compass Rose and was delicious with great service.

Yesterday was our first port day - Puerto Plata.  My included excursion (a city and fort tour that turned out to be a shopping tour) was disappointing, but the town is lovely.  (I pause here to note that most of the Regent excursions are good to excellent, this one was an anomaly).  For people with limited mobility, please be aware tour buses drop you off about 1 km (0.6 mile) from the actual boat and you walk through a nice area of shops and a lazy river.  

Food continues to be excellent on board - dinner again at Sette Mari.  We also had the Regent block party - at 6 pm everyone goes outside of their suites, the attendants pour wine and canapés and some of the officers come by.  It’s a nice tradition and fun to meet our neighbours.

On the downside, our toilet stopped flushing for a while today.  It was fixed within a few hours - apparently the Mariner has a particularly sensitive plumbing system and this isn’t uncommon.  

The internet is a bit slow this morning (probably because we are late into port and everyone is online).  I’ll do a speed test later and post the results.

3 hours ago, jeb_bud said:

What are you able to do with the upgraded WiFi that you could not do with the standard WiFi?  I know what Regent says you can do but I am curious about your actual experience. 

Streaming and downloading. My spouse didn’t get the upgrade initially but after the first day, he was frustrated by the included speed for anything other than email. It does make a significant difference 

13 hours ago, Chateaunole-du-pape said:

Odd... When we sailed on Splendor in June, we were upgraded from a GTY H to a Concierge D, without asking, and were able to benefit from the additional wifi logins without doing anything special. We connected a first device, then a second, third and fourth, and it just worked.

The multiple devices worked until I purchased the upgraded wifi, from that point on, it is only one device at a time.

12 hours ago, Donder69 said:

We are also hopping aboard right after you! Which deck are you on? Look forward to any updates on your trip…

We are on Deck 9 - great location and nice and quiet.

Yesterday was a great sea day!  Amazing food all day (including a fantastic dinner at Sette Mare), fun trivia, great fellow passengers and good service.  I love the daily Mensa quiz and had fun at the beginning bridge lesson.

Today is our first port - Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic.  We are just about to arrive and the weather is spectacular.  I’m headed out on an included tour in an hour and looking forward to it.  Starting the day off right with breakfast and mimosas on our veranda.

A few more things to consider for those joining soon - 1) check your shower curtain - ours was mouldy - lots of black mould on the end closest to the shower head.  We did ask for it to be replaced and it was immediately.  2) the Regent app does not work on Mariner - I don’t mean it is slow or glitchy, it is just not available at all.  This was confirmed by Club.com (the internet help station).  3) there are enrichment talks, and my spouse went to the first one yesterday.  However he found the speaker not enjoyable - seemed out of touch about gender and a bit of a colonial tone.  As an example he talked about how Puerto Rico is filled with pretty women as they participate in Miss Universe as their own country and have won 5 times.

48 minutes ago, 1982CruzStart said:

LovesPurple, Vancouver is also our gateway city and as we almost always travel when the roads or weather can be bad we go to Vancouver and stay overnight before our flight. With Regent we always take their flights using deviation but when we have cruised with other lines and booked our own flights we still went to Vancouver the night before. Consider it just part of the overall cruise price. 

 

We use the extra time in Vancouver to visit our favorite foreign exchange place to pick up all the foreign currency we take for tips etc. 

 

Flying from the West coast i haven't found that i can get the flights we want for the air credit from Regent so wouldn't consider booking our own flights. 

It is more about the time than the money for us - two extra nights away (one on each end) is often not manageable for us.  

1 hour ago, Grandma Gilly said:

I’m sorry but I don’t understand what you mean when you say that if you upgrade you only get one device log-in.

Normally, with 4 devices, you could have your phone, tablet and ereader all connected. When you upgrade, you can only use one at a time

2 minutes ago, pingpong1 said:

LovesPurple - Did you happen to wave to us (on the Splendor) this morning when our two ships passed close by to each other while sailing north of Cuba?  You of course, are heading south out of Miami while we are on our last day at sea and docking in Miami tomorrow morning.  😪  Regards.

We absolutely waved! Hope you have an amazing last sea day. 

If you aren’t in concierge class or higher, be aware that Regent will fly you in on the same day.  I’ve used Regent Air twice and was very happy.

However, now where I live, Regent won’t arrange for flights leaving my closest airport (even for an extra charge) and I would have to stay overnight in Vancouver in order to use their service.  This ends up costing quite a bit more so this time, we booked our own flights.  

Just now, jjwoben1 said:

Thanks…Not good…..I thought they used the Intercontinental.

I think that is where we were originally booked, then got a notice of change.  I would have just taken the credit if I’d known.

We boarded Mariner yesterday in Miami.  First impressions - the ship is obviously not new, but super clean and no complaints about our concierge suite.  I had the best night’s sleep last night, and the first dinner was excellent!  Service has been very good too.

Some minor issues - a concierge suite gets 4 wifi devices/log-ins per person but when you upgrade, you only get one.  Other devices don’t even get the included wifi, which seems very strange to me.  You can switch between devices, but I wish you either got 4 upgraded ones or 1 upgraded and three normal.  Another minor grumble is that they are out of the normally stocked scotch I prefer - minor, but as Miami is a provisioning port, I have no idea why they wouldn’t get more.  

One last point - if you are tall, try to get a shower stall instead of a bath/shower combo.  My spouse is 6’4” and cannot stand up straight in it.

We flew into Miami Dec 1 and Regent had us at the Trump National Doral.  We were originally told a different hotel (which I would have preferred) but a change was made a couple months ago.  As far as a hotel goes, the room was fine.  I didn’t really like the location though and would have preferred to be closer to downtown or South Beach.  The included breakfast was also reasonable, but the first two plates I picked up were dirty (including one with a significant amount of leftover egg on the bottom - enough I had to go wash my hands before continuing).

I’m on board too, and while I love Navigator, I’m a bit disappointed compared to my last cruise.  When we got to the ship finally (at 4:30), our suite did not have any toilet paper and when I called room service for a snack the person who answered the phone was obviously frustrated I could not understand him (there was a lot of background noise on his end) and he ended up basically yelling at me.  We also had an electrical problem in our suite this evening (the bathroom and closet lights weren’t working at all), although the electrician did get that fixed within the hour.  I know this is only their second cruise with passengers, but am hoping things go smoother tomorrow.

12 hours ago, dalliowner said:

lovespurple perhaps you should check with Seabourn other wise I can supply a $250 referral as well

I already have $800 so absolutely needs one that will stack. Can you let me know your email? Thanks 

We are booking on the Ovation sailing November 29, 2021. Is there anyone willing to refer us? 
 

thanks!

We used it in Miami this week on the Escape. Even though we didn’t use breakfast or the spa credit, it was worth it to get Vibe passes and get on early during a super busy week. Here is a link to my detailed review:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2720114-escape-review-including-priority-access-part-1/

Part 3 - Our Cabin
 

Rooms were ready when promised and we had a balcony cabin on the 10th deck. The room is very clean and Overall well laid out. There is plenty of storage and hangers for two average packers and our large suitcase easily fit under the bed. The bathroom has a nice shower and lots of storage for toiletries bags, hair products etc. Our bed is closest to the hallway and couch is closest to the balcony - our room is designed for 3 people.  I think the ones that can sleep four have the bed closest to the balcony, which I would have preferred as the bed where it is does make accessing the closet a small challenge. Karen was our steward and she did a great job of keeping the room very clean and nice. We ended up not using our balcony all that much due to the amount of time we spent at the Vibe, and the fact that we were almost always on the sunny side of the ship and I prefer a bit of shade. 
 

The walls are pretty thin between cabins and we had a family next door with kids who were very active a couple days at 6 am, but what can you do? We didn’t hear any noise from elsewhere on the ship unless sitting on our balcony and even then it was remote. I would recommend deck 10 for cabin location. 

Review Part 2

After getting our Vibe passes we went for lunch at Savour - it was very quiet compared to the buffet and I’d recommend it for lunch while waiting for your cabin. The service was good and the food was okay - certainly better than the lunches I’ve had in the buffet.  There are a number of reasonable wines available for less than $15 (Max price for premium beverage package) and another few good ones that are only a couple dollars more. 
 

We then went to check out the Vibe. As soon as we entered I the extra hassle and cost to get the passes were more than worth it. On deck 19, there are about 50 padded lounge chairs and 4 or 5 dual loungers. There is a hot tub with an amazing view and a misting station to cool down. People don’t reserve chairs here and then leave, because there are always nice ones available. The best thing about the vibe is the great staff and wonderful service. Pitchers of water with fruit brought to you on a regular basis along with frequent requests if anyone can get you anything. The bar tenders are fun, friendly and excellent mixologists. This has been a huge highlight of the cruise for us. It has also been a great place to watch the sail always and sunsets. 
 

3 minutes ago, moosecrouse said:

Casinos at sea should get you priority boarding. At least it does at the Port in NYC. My friend cruises through them all the time and he get placed with me in the Platinum/Platinum plus waiting area which is suppose to board before the priority pass people

Once at Terminal C, you enter the building and go through security - no separate lines at this point. After security, there is a dedicated priority line. With Priority Access, we seemed to board ahead of the Platinum status cruisers, unless they were taken to a different embarkation point. 

12 hours ago, prbffd28 said:

I hope the folks at Port of Miami have their "ducks in a row" because I purchased this for the sole purpose of getting Vibe passes for my fiance' and I. We sail on the Encore Feb 9, which in theory due to the build, should be easier to purchase but I wanted to enhance my chances by spending the extra for this program. Fingers crossed!!

They did when I was there on Saturday. I wrote a detailed embarkation a couple days ago and let me know if you have questions

There isn’t an adult only pool in the Vibe area on Escape - the only pools are the main ones and then one in the Haven. I was very surprised there wasn’t a quiet pool (other than the thermal one in the spa) on a ship this size. The Vibe has nice lounge chairs (that you don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to reserve), a hot tub and excellent bar service. 

We are first time NCL cruisers and booked the Escape western Caribbean itinerary leaving Miami on Saturday Dec 28. Because of the size of the ship, and timing of the cruise, we figured it would be packed (and it is) so getting passes for the Vibe lounge was very important. When we checked in, we were offered Priority Access as part of our check in.  It was about $250 Canadian for the cabin. 
 

On the 28th, we decided to arrive at Terminal C in Miami at 9:15, our scheduled arrival time was between 10:30 and 11 but I didn’t think that would be early enough. The porters were great with our bags and then we went to the security line. There were about 50-70 people ahead of us in line at that part. Security opened Before 10 and after going through, there was a priority access line with dedicated agents. Check in was smooth and we proceeded to the waiting area. Someone tried to give us Boarding Group 2, but they let us pass by when we should our key cards (they say PRTY on the front of the card). There is one large waiting area with chairs and then at the end of that area, there are glass doors to another waiting area. No one told us to go to the second waiting area, but you need to in order to access the priority only waiting area. you need to be in this area to use your priority boarding. 

At about 10:30 am there was an announcement that boarding would begin just before noon. However at 10:45 they announced access for travellers with special needs. Then at 10:50 an employee came to our waiting area with a sign and said priority boarding should follow him. Keep your card out for this process as they look at it at 4 different check points but then we were on the ship. Before 11 am! The only people in before us were Haven guests and special needs travellers (and possibly an on-board wedding group). We were on before the Latitude platinum etc cruisers who went on after us. After all of these groups were on, then they started with Boarding Group 1. 
 

Once on, we walked as quickly as possible from deck 7 to Guest Services to get Vibe passes. However, we were redirected to Headliners, also on deck 6, for Vibe passes. There were other priority access boarders doing the same thing and everyone was good natured about the ‘competition’. We got to Headlines and got numbers 20-22 for our group.  We all had to be there in person. There were only 50 Vibe passes available (it seemed like others had been requested for Haven guests?) so we never would have got one without the Priority Boarding. Even without any other benefits, I felt it was worth the money just for that as I’m not a fan of the crowded, loud main pool area. 
 

Will write more about the ship and cruise a bit later.