Review of Baltic Cruise 7/11-7/18

[gfranzen]

We were a party of 4 on the Voyager Baltic cruise from Stockholm on 7/11. This was our 2nd Regent cruise. We enjoyed the cruise, but all agreed that we would consider other cruise line options in the future.

 

The ship was in very good condition with carpet areas showing only minor wear. Our suite (744) was in excellent condition. Like most posts state, the suites on Regent are a key feature. There was a pretty constant minor vibration, but not enough to bother us.

 

We ate in Signatures twice and Prime 7 once. We really enjoyed Signatures and felt it was a cut above the other dining venues. Prime 7 was OK, but seemed to offer volume over quality. CR was mediocre at best. We were surprised the Veranda menu did not change throughout the cruise. The biggest overall criticism of dining was the variable quality of the entrée sides. Potatoes that were too hard to eat, cold veggies, and even a piece of glass in an apple compote. Bottom line is that Regent dining is just OK. If you are a foodie, look elsewhere.

 

The wines offered were excellent. There was a great mix of World wines including our favorite Wente Riva Ranch from California.

 

Service was generally very good. The staff was very upbeat and created an atmosphere of being happy to do whatever was necessary to meet our needs. I did sense that some of the staff is new and were sometimes overwhelmed.

 

Entertainment was just OK. The opening night “Listen to the Music” was good. As always, the crew final night Crew Capers show was excellent.

 

We did ship excursions in Finland (Art and Archiecture), Estonia (Old town), Visby (taste of Gotland), and one day in St. Petersburg (Peterhof Pavilions). The extreme record heat and humidity made excursions an ordeal. I was close to passing out from heat exhaustion during the Peterhof Pavilions Regent tour. The tour guide seemed to be unprepared for dealing with the extreme heat and possible health implications. We used a private guide (Masha) for 2 days in St/ Petersburg. I’ll do a separate post in the Baltic forum on Masha who is truly excellent. The Regent excursions were well coordinated and met our expectations.

[WesW]

Thanks for your Voyager Baltic cruise review.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Sorry to hear that Compass Rose was mediocre. It was quite uneven when we sailed last December as well, although in general the food was very nice, just not fabulous--mediocre isn't a word I would have used. I had a good experience in Prime 7, but that's because I had the sole, and it was great. From others reporting, meats were inconsistent.

 

I find that the main issue with the dining reviews that come back is that the food quality is inconsistent across time, on the same ship. Wish they could solve this.

 

I was in the Baltic, in Lithuania, some years back and we also experienced a heat wave--30+C weather the whole time. The locals were reeling from the heat, we coped fine. The new normal, I guess.

[PaulaJK]

Thank you for your nicely balanced review...enjoyed reading it.