wbarrister

Caveat Emptor! An outdated website with information about our recent cruise created disappointment in an otherwise very nice cruise experience.

We just returned from the Lisbon to Portsmouth cruise on the Silver Explorer. I would first say that the overall experience was terrific. It was our first trip on Silverseas and we were impressed. My comments below were made to the Expedition team on board but I feel compelled to publish my thoughts to encourage Silverseas to avoid these mistakes in the future as you never know what motivates a person to take a particular cruise and when expectations are not met, there will be disappointment.

This cruise was billed as a Culinary (Wine and Food) cruise. Two weeks before departure I printed off a few pages from the on line information about this cruise and what is quoted below is directly from that print out. My personal interests are in wine and food and this cruise was selected because of those interests (although not exclusively).

The print out lists the "Expedition Team". First on the list was Tom Badcock, cheese specialist. We did a Regent cruise several years ago and they had a "cheese specialist" on board. It was an incredible experience for someone who loves cheese. Tom Badcock was not on board nor was any replacement. Disappointment!

The printout says that while in Bordeaux we will visit "the classified wine (sic) Chateau Lynch Bages" We ended up at what the guide kindly called a "bourgeois" winery in what looked like an old barn.A far cry from Lynch Bages. I have had so many winery tours over the years I could probably give the tour myself. I would not have even bothered with another random winery tour except we were led to believe we would go to Lynch Bages which is a very significant producer and worthy of a trip by its name and reputation, particularly to a wine lover. Disappointment!

After the wine tour the printout said "we will enjoy a special lunch at Relais & Chateau Cordeillan-Bages (2* Michelin). I, of course, researched this restaurant so I would be familiar with it on arrival. We were taken elsewhere. In fairness, the other place was very nice and the food was very good but my research was for naught. Disappointment!

Finally (and this refers to interests of my mother and sister) the printout said they would "visit the lovely Sausmarez Manor for a deliciously quintessential English Tea Party." No English Tea Party! The staff said "we stopped doing that years ago". Disappointment!

As stated above, these representations were on the Silverseas website two weeks before departure so this was not old, outdated information.

People choose trips for many reasons. Some just go and wouldn't know one winery from another. Some actually read what is presented and act on that information. I can understand if, for example, Mr. Badcock, the cheese guy had a personal emergency and couldn't make it at the last minute but in talking to other Expedition Team members I had the distinct impression he was never scheduled to be on this particular trip.

I also understand that with 117 guests some locations can't accommodate everyone but it might be helpful to find out which guests have any special interests and try to accommodate those guests.

Bill Burns

I believe I was the first of our family group to order the rack of lamb (in CR). As I said in the earlier post I commented about it not being right at the time to the family but attributed it to a little bad luck in getting a poor serving. It really wasn't until a few days later that others in the family were expressing the same feelings about the lamb that we felt it was more than a random "bad luck" occurrence. By that time someone else in the family had ordered the rack of lamb in Prime 7 so we were getting the same result in different venues. We took the more diplomatic approach and just stopped ordering rack of lamb.

I only had beef on three occasions. The first was in Prime 7 and I ordered the rib eye. It did cross my mind to return it because it was about 60% fat but I ate the rest and was reasonably (but not completely) satisfied. The second order of beef was the filet mignon which was really a sirloin cut to look like a filet. I didn't see the point in returning it just to get another sirloin in its place. The final beef was actually Beef Wellington which was on the menu near the end of the cruise. To those at Regent that look at these posts: It was delicious! No complaint at all. On the other hand, I am not sure that a success rate of one in three in beef dishes is what Regent is looking for!

I want to say again that the human side of the equation can't be beat in our experience with Regent. The chefs and the service are first rate. The facility and its ambiance is first rate. I would hope that someone isn't cutting corners on the food itself, particularly the high end items like beef and lamb.

I want my comments to be constructive. We will certainly be back!

Since this thread started as a commentary on the food on the Mariner I would like to add my "two cents". We just got off the Mariner in Rome yesterday (yes, sadly back at home already).

First, I would like to give the positives. We found the service and attention in all areas of the ship to be absolutely first rate. On a scale of 1 - 10 it was a 20! Everyone from stewards to waiters to maintenance to officers and staff were helpful, polite, friendly and incredibly responsive.

We were on the Mariner last year just before the dry docking and renovations. Things looked a bit shabby back then. Not now! It's hard to believe how much they do in a few days to freshen things. Even the showers were redone. We liked the ship before, now it is magnificent.

Now to the food. I gave this a lot of thought. We were disappointed in the food on enough occasions to believe it was a ship-wide problem and not an isolated problem. Hopefully it is a food supply problem that can be rectified. The beef and lamb in particular were just not very good. I am pretty sure it was not a problem with the chef or chefs or their preparation. Lamb tended to be tasteless and beef (steaks in particular) were fatty and tough. It was the same even in Prime 7. Honestly the meat tasted like it had been frozen, thawed, and frozen again and had freezer burn. One "filet mignon" was clearly a piece of sirloin cut to look like a filet.

Having been on Regent cruises in the past and even one as recently as last year, this was different. I also had the feeling that the menus lacked something that was there before. I always found an entree that was special on every nightly menu before (like beef wellington). Not this time. I had to resort to the "we always have. . ." menu more than once to find something of interest.

I should add that basic staples including buffet items at the Veranda and breakfast eggs and omelets were well prepared and fine.

I wonder if others have notices any degradation in the food itself (as opposed to its preparation).

We are on this cruise and I would echo some of the same thoughts. We are Silver level Regent travelers and tried to book some of these "free excursions" as early as it was allowed. Even then we were "waitlisted" on several.

I am hopeful (without any guarantee) that these excursions will be made available by the time we sail. We noted, as an earlier commenter did, that Zakynthos only offered two excursions, free or otherwise, and both were unavailable very early. Strange!