Recent Cruise On Mariner

[royf]

My wife and I recently took a cruise on the Mariner from Tahiti thru various stops to New Zealand. Dec 18, 2014 to Jan 6, 2015. This was to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary.

 

The good:

1. The ship was well serviced by a friendly and efficient crew.

2. The food and food service was excellent.

3. Some of the seminars were very good. Bridge instructors were great.

4. Some of the free excursions were good, especially the snorkeling.

5. This area of the world is beautiful, everyone should see it if they can.

 

The not so good:

1. Temperature control in the stateroom was poor, too hot at times and too cold at others.

2. Strange cabin noises at night while at sea. We were sure there were mice in the room the first night but after a search could not find any. We later assumed the rocking of the ship was causing the squeaks, crackles, bumps and other noises we were hearing.

3. The gym had a strong sewage smell one day that forced users to leave. The rest of the days it was ok.

4. The comedians offered for entertainment were poor, imo, with old, stale jokes. The dancers and singers were good, though.

5. Some of the free excursions were poor. Hot, uncomfortable bus rides that went on way too long.

6. Received free "upgrade" to concierge suite before embarking. Some "upgrade". A location with more swaying than the previous level, and same size cabin. Concierge benefits did not apply because it was an "upgrade". It did have an espresso machine which we did not use...

7. Everyone on the ship was scheduled at the same time to go through a New Zealand customs inspection, resulting in an unnecessarily long cue. Calling passengers by decks could have easily avoided the very long line.

 

The bad:

1. We went with the standard air package arranged by Regent. Big mistake. Arrived in Tahiti at 22:30, after picking up luggage and boarding a bus, arrived at the ship at midnight. Therefore missed an entire day of food, entertainment, etc., on the ship, which had started boarding that morning.A bus load of people from the US had the same experience.

 

Our return flight left New Zealand 11 hours after ship disembarkment. Our connecting flight at LAX to Houston did not leave enough time to clear customs, pick up luggage, take a long walk to a different concourse, recheck luggage, go thru security, and get to the gate. The only thing saving us was that the overbooked Houston flight was delayed. After 32 hours of travel, we finally did get to Houston.

 

We found out on-board that some people who complained loudly enough about the travel plans in advance were booked on better flights and/or given on-board credits in compensation. Truly a case of the squeaky wheel getting the grease. I suppose we did not squeak enough when we spoke to the Regent agent about our travel arrangements beforehand.

 

2. We booked the trip through Regent in December 2013. Big mistake again. We were assured by the Regent booking agent that if we booked quickly, we would be part of a special promotion which entitled us to free unlimited WIFI and up to $500 ship credits. Promo code: Whychoose. When we arrived on-board, we were told that this was not in their computer and we would have to have it in writing from Regent to have the promotion honored. No one on-board could address this issue. After days of delay and contact with Miami, the answer was: no WIFI or credits for you. We would never have booked the trip if we had known we could not contact our children and grandchildren at Christmas. True, we could have paid $40 a day for WIFI, but we had already paid for it and as a matter of principle did not want to pay twice.

[Sunprince]

Thanks so much for posting your review, I was particularly interested since we had planned to book this cruise, but did not due to the lengthy travel to/from and the added cost of upgrading to business class which is absolutely necessary for a journey of this length.

 

I do hope the "good" service/food etc outweighed all the not so good things. It's unacceptable they did not honor the "why choose" promo, which is quite well known and a common offer on many Regent cruises, so there should be no excuses on that point. Probably some other good learnings here as well, such as: the benefits of using a TA, knowing suite location, and escalating to senior management to get what you were offered.

 

This sounded like a great itinerary, so hopefully you enjoyed seeing this part of the world.

[Dizziedi]

We were also on this cruise and I will comment more fully tomorrow but in short, never again.

 

Cheers

Di

[pingpong1]

Dizziedi - I look forward to your review. Best Regards.

[janecambridge]

.......me too....

[Dizziedi]

Well, as I say at the end of this, I hope I don't offend any loyal Regent people because that's not what this is about:

 

BACKGROUND

We took this cruise because friends (we met on the circumnavigation of Australia and New Zealand, a 5 week cruise) who normally cruise with Seabourn and Silverseas said they would like to try Regent and urged us to try them too as they liked small ships.

 

We said okay, it all looked good, we had been to pretty much every Port quite a few times (except Pago Pago and Norfolk Island). Even though we knew it was rainy season around French Polynesia, we try and see our friends annually (they live in Vegas, we live in Sydney) and so we paid over the money, flew to Tahiti (had a great time at the Intercontinental, even though the rooms are a little dated) for five days and then boarded the ship - in the pouring rain.

 

PROS

Nice, small ship and easy to find our way around within a very short time. We were happy with our cabin - a Concierge category (971) was very close to the rear elevators which was very handy. Great shower:) This is our cabin:

 

 

The food was very, very good. We managed to get bookings in Prime 7 twice and Signatures twice. We never did get to the Verandah but I believe it was also very good. Compass Rose was excellent and every time (which was most nights) we dined there, Zaldy was our Waiter and he was just amazing. Our breakfast waiter was usually Denis - also excellent.

 

The Crew overall are excellent and I think the fact they are on a small ship - not as many passengers so it is easier for them to remember you possibly helped - but I don't want to take away from them just how good they are.

 

I'm running out of Pros here.

 

CONS

 

AS Royf mentioned, the Passport fiasco was just that, a fiasco. When we got there, the line went for two floors and the wait was estimated to be approximately 1.5 hours. I refused to stand in a queue for 1.5 hours, I mean where were the drinks and canapés? I asked why on earth this wasn't being done deck-by-deck and the best the Purser's Office could tell us was, he didn't know. The poor chap was getting it from every direction. We went back to our room as did our friends and quite a few others.

 

Later that day, they said that they would finish it off "tomorrow" between 1pm and 3pm (by memory) for those who hadn't been able to get through. There were about 50 people all up and at the time we lined up, there were only about 20 people and everyone felt the same - ridiculous. Anyway, we got through that within about 10 minutes.

 

I think Royf might have been referring to a particular bus journey in Pago Pago - can you have a mutiny on a bus? I think that's what we all wanted to do. The Tour Guide would tell us we were at a stop for 5 minutes so everyone would dutifully get back on the un-airconditioned bus (on a very hot day) within the set time (well all except one little family - there's always one isn't there) but the Tour Guide would always take at least twice as long - she drove us all nuts.

 

Is this the one Royf?

 

 

Port Information was incorrect. One thing that stands out is they were telling people to use $US in Vanuatu. The people of Vanuatu take $AU and/or the Vatu. I asked at the Destinations Desk why they were doing that as in the event that there was the odd place in Vila that would take US$ they were costing their US citizens an extra 20% because of the exchange rate. The Vanuatu people don't do exchange - $5 is $5, regardless of currency.

 

We were originally booked to do a Panoramic bus journey around Norfolk Island in the morning but they just changed us to something like 3.30pm - I was annoyed that we were just "told" but I wasn't overly concerned because I kind of knew our chances of even getting into Norfolk Island were pretty slim.

 

When I took my tickets back to the Destinations Office, I asked if he knew how many ships actually got in to Norfolk Island and he just looked at me. I told him it wasn't many - the tenders can't get in. He put his hands on his head and said, "Oh no - I have so many tours there". Well, needless to say, we couldn't get in, so it was up with anchor and onward to Paihia in the Bay of Islands, NZ.

 

We got to the Bay of Islands - a glorious morning. We were on our balcony as were plenty of other people watching the Dolphins perform - it was amazing. I went to the phone in the room and rang the Purser's Desk and asked him to have it announced that there were Dolphins on the starboard side of the ship. No announcement and there was disappointment from people who missed out because they didn't know. That was a shame because the Dolphins really did perform - and there was about twenty of them.

 

Here are some photos of the Dolphins:

 

 

This is how close they were to us:

 

 

 

The Cruise Director was the worst we have ever had. She was patronising - I think she missed her vocation; she should have been a Kindy Teacher. She repeated everything over and over. Even the crew mimicked her.

 

There was absolutely no ambience on the ship at all. I don't want a CD who is over the top telling us what activities are next (as you do get on a lot of ships) however it would have been nice to have a bit of sparkle in her voice. She sounded like she was reading us a story - I expected Cinderella to pop up any minute lol

 

Christmas Day was just another day. There was a few Christmas trees spread throughout the ship but you wouldn't have known it was Christmas Day. Christmas Dinner was just appalling - this is it:

 

 

New Years Eve was better - we didn't stay up until the balloons were released but general comments were good.

 

The wine served with meals was cheap and nasty stuff. When we got to Suva we got off the ship and got some decent wine to take to the restaurant at night. I knew eventually Suva would come in handy for something lol. We also did the same in Vila - there is quite a good liquor/bottle store there which we go to whenever we are there. I managed to get some good red wines. I think it was reasonable for us to expect that the wine they served would be of a higher standard than it was - another common complaint. I don't get why they had quality spirits and beers, etc but cheap wine.

 

When we got to Tauranga (NZ), we were docked behind the Seabourn Odyssey and the amount of people who could be heard saying - "I want to be on THAT ship" was quite funny or sad, depending on which way you look at it I guess. It was there again beside us in Auckland - oh well, it's got us thinking, maybe Seabourn next.

 

Now that I feel like a whinger - I can't see us cruising with Regent again. Our friends have already paid their final payment for their Dubai to Barcelona cruise in a few months or they would have cancelled and our other "new" friends said they wouldn't cruise Regent again but they too were going to look at Seabourn.

 

Sorry if I have offended any loyal Regent cruisers - I am sure we just had a not so good one and as we know, first impressions count. We did have a good time despite the incompetence of the ship's administration - for which the "Logistics People" got the blame for - so, who are the Logistics People?

 

Cheers

Di

[Travelcat2]

Dizziedi, as a long time Regent customer and cheerleader, I am in no way offended by your honest, thoughtful review of the Mariner. While we have not sailed on Seabourn, we have sailed on Silversea a few times and enjoy it very much.

 

I must comment that it has been our experience that flying into or out of Tahiti is a nightmare (we have been to Tahiti five times -- only once did we cruise -- on the PG). I am not certain if anything can be done about their departure or arrival times. When we sailed on the PG (managed by Regent at the time), they included a tour of the island and a day room with lunch to bridge the time between getting off of the ship and flying home. Another area where I must defend Regent is the "passport fiasco". I agree 100% that it was a fiasco but understand that Regent is not in control of what happens ashore.

 

Your photos of the dolphins were amazing. In terms of Destination Services, there is little positive that I can say. Some excursions are great while others are a waste of time. We have had near mutinies on some excursions with 100% of the passengers demanding to go back to the ship. This is an area that needs improvement.

 

I was very disappointed to read that promotions were not being honored on board the ship. While I want to blame this 100% on Regent, to be fair, it is up to the passenger to insure that everything that you paid for is detailed on your final cruise documents. Also, having a TA that regularly books Regent cruises is so important -- I wish I had the words to emphasize this point more. Most TA's would never allow such a "slip up" (for lack of a better word) to happen. They would insure that you received what you were promised. And, in addition, you would receive incentives just because you booked with them. I would not let this issue go. Please write to Regent and let them know that you did not receive what you were promised. At the very least, you would receive a credit on a future cruise.

 

In terms of sailing at Christmas/New Year's, we would never - ever cruise at that time of the year again. We were on the Voyager Christmas (2013)/New Year's (2014). We still call it the cruise from "he**" This was definitely not Regent at its best.

 

I can understand your not wanting to sail on Regent again. On the other hand, some of the Asian and Middle Eastern itineraries are amazing -- some of the best we have been on. Certainly look at what is offered by Seabourn and Silversea but take a look at Regent as well - particularly their excursions. While I am not one to tout Regent excursions, the ones we had in that part of the world were good to excellent.

 

In any case, thank you so much for sharing your opinions, thoughts and lovely photos.

[pingpong1]

TC - Since you brought it up.......If I remember correctly at the time, you never posted any reveiws or comments (which may have proven to be "negative) regarding your Voyager 2013/2014 Christmas/New Years Cruise.....("The cruise from hell" as you have just called it).

 

Why was that, exactly? I just assumed that your usual unabashed and unswerving exuberance and loyalty towards R simply prevented you from saying anything that could possibly have been construed as actually being "disatisfied" about "anything Regent" on this board...Other than maybe not liking a particular chef's breadsticks :p

 

Yet there have been countless times when you've gone to great lengths (almost compulsively) to "defend" Regent against other posters who did actually express some negative reviews, comments, or personal experiences.

 

Even though many of your reviews and recommendations have been quite helpful and most comprehensive (particularly to newcomers to Regent - like I was), I feel that you "hold back" and don't give us the "whole story" when It might be seen as something significantly "negative" about Regent. In those circumstances, it unfortunately makes it difficult for me to regard you as being completely honest, impartial, candid, and even-handed in your reviews and viewpoint. Regards.

[Travelcat2]

TC - Since you brought it up.......If I remember correctly at the time, you never posted any reveiws or comments (which may have proven to be "negative) regarding your Voyager 2013/2014 Christmas/New Years Cruise.....("The cruise from hell" as you have just called it).

 

Why was that, exactly? I just assumed that your usual unabashed and unswerving exuberance and loyalty towards R simply prevented you from saying anything that could possibly have been construed as actually being "disatisfied" about "anything Regent" on this board...Other than maybe not liking a particular chef's breadsticks :p

 

Yet there have been countless times when you've gone to great lengths (almost compulsively) to "defend" Regent against other posters who did actually express some negative reviews, comments, or personal experiences.

 

Even though many of your reviews and recommendations have been quite helpful and most comprehensive (particularly to newcomers to Regent - like I was), I feel that you "hold back" and don't give us the "whole story" when It might be seen as something significantly "negative" about Regent. In those circumstances, it unfortunately makes it difficult for me to regard you as being completely honest, impartial, candid, and even-handed in your reviews and viewpoint. Regards.

 

Actually, I have not done an "official" review in over a year -- not positive or negative. However, I did give opinions of that cruise at the time -- repeatedly mentioning the fact that there were many, many people ill on that cruise -- that the management on that cruise was not up to Regent's normal level -- that the food did not resemble anything we had previously seen on Regent -- the children on board were out of control and resulted in consistent calls to Reception (not from us) and that we would never sail on a holiday sailing again. Not sure what else there was to say.

 

In terms of "holding back" or "not giving the whole story", I share what I want to share (as do others). We like to "experience" a cruise rather than dissect it. I don't look at every plate of food to determine if it is plated correctly, if every item tastes good, etc. At the end of a day on board, we look back at the day and report on what may be of interest to readers. There were some very special highlights on our last cruise (Regent - not Oceania) that I didn't share as they were personal. I'm sure I have missed some opportunities to report on food that wasn't perfect (note: as mentioned previously, I will be really looking at food on our next cruise and will report on the good, bad or ???) It took me 2 weeks to realize that I didn't like the Observation Lounge (didn't report on that either).

 

If we didn't enjoy Regent as much as we do, we would not be sailing with them. I suppose the same could be said for most "regulars". I'm probably not the best person to go to in order to find out what is wrong with Regent. While it isn't perfect, it provides what we are looking for.

[janecambridge]

Well......Christmas dinner sealed it for me......:mad:

[Travelcat2]

At the least, that Christmas dinner plate would been sent back immediately. We might have asked the F&B Director to stop by our table to view it.

[pingpong1]

And I guess "the greater question" - and the point that many posters have been trying to make on this (and other threads) is - on a "luxury cruise line" should things like this even have to be pointed out to the F & B Manager and should a plate like this (and I'm sure it wasn't the only one) ever have left the kitchen and brought to a table in the first place?

[TedC]

Many of us check out our air plans and deviate for $175 pp to get flights we want! Work with your TA.

 

 

ALSO, if any one thinks a ship at sea isn't going to have movement and sounds they are dreaming!

 

 

Often weather interferes with tender ports that can't be used safely!.

[JMARINER]

Dizziedi wrote:

The Cruise Director was the worst we have ever had. She was patronising - I think she missed her vocation; she should have been a Kindy Teacher. She repeated everything over and over. Even the crew mimicked her.

 

There was absolutely no ambience on the ship at all. I don't want a CD who is over the top telling us what activities are next (as you do get on a lot of ships) however it would have been nice to have a bit of sparkle in her voice. She sounded like she was reading us a story - I expected Cinderella to pop up any minute lol

Any idea who the CD was?

 

Last month it was Lorraine. But this certainly doesn't sound anything like her as she is one of the best and longest employed CD there is. Maybe somebody new, a Oceania transplant?

 

J

[Dizziedi]

Dizziedi wrote:Any idea who the CD was?

 

Last month it was Lorraine. But this certainly doesn't sound anything like her as she is one of the best and longest employed CD there is. Maybe somebody new, a Oceania transplant?

 

J

 

No, it was Lorraine.

 

I believe she was getting off in Auckland.

 

Cheers

Di

[Travelcat2]

Hope we are not going to badmouth a specific Cruise Director. While I hesitate to use the word "subjective", people do have different expectations from their CD's. On Regent, it is their job to announce the events of the day. Fortunately those announcements do not go into your suite.

 

There is a CD on Regent that many call their favorite. Yet, there are people that do not care for him. Our favorite CD (no longer with Regent) also had mixed reviews from passengers. Just wanted to put in my 2 cents.

[gnomie1]

A quick question regarding your comment that nothing special was done for Christmas - was there not a special show for the holiday and was there a special gift on your bed on Xmas eve?

 

We have been on a number of holiday cruises and have noticed that each year the atmosphere on the ship seems less and less festive.

 

gnomie :)

[georg0]

I don't know what the menu offered for Christmas nor what was ordered. I understand from another passenger's cruise blog with pictures that Christmas dinner included turkey with all the fixings, including pumpkin pie, that Regent gave passengers a Christmas remembrance, there was a special Christmas Show, and that a Christmas suite door decorating contest preceded Christmas. Many passengers festively decorated their doors in response. Festiveness may be in the eyes of the beholder, and "there is always something." My past Regent experiences have been memorable for many reasons, including, service, food and general experiences provided by both officers and staff. I am booked for a cruise on Mariner leaving Rio in a couple of months and looking forward to it with enthusiasm and optimism.

[Roefraumeni]

I am glad to hear you were okay with service I found it terrible. Was this your first Regent experience? If so then service was probably okay for you. I was on the Navigator prior and that service far surpassed Mariner. We had many rooms with floods while on board and I found the cabins smaller than on Navigator especially the bathroom. I was truly dehydrated on sea day by pool. Unacceptable for that kind of money.

Also hotel accommodations provided by Regent were terrible. I could go on and on....

[forevertravel]

We got off December 18th in Tahiti so I cannot comment on the rest of the cruise. From boarding on December 7 to getting off the ship on the 18th we had a wonderful cruise. The ship was beautifully decorated for Christmas. We love Lorraine as a CD. I don't find her patronizing at all. I think she's one of the best CD's Regent said. That said, we all have different tastes. A couple friend of ours stayed on the ship and will get off in Sidney. She emailed they are having a wonderful time and the cruise is just as good as when we left. We never had any issues nor did we find any bad smells in the gym. We had a penthouse suite and everything worked. Our butler was extremely nice and gracious. The service and food was as good as I always remember. I'm sorry both of you encountered problems.

We booked our own air. The upgrade to business (as compared to upgrades to Europe) was too much with Regent. We booked "premium economy" with Air France and it was decent (just like domestic first class and as domestic first class the seats don't lie flat). No matter how you look at it the flight to Tahiti is tiresome.

I hope you will give Regent another chance. If not, enjoy whatever other cruises you take.

Forevertravel

[Catpow]

We were on the Tahiti cruise too and it's like some of the previous descriptions are from a different ship. We're with Forevertravel. WE had a great cruise with excellent food and service. The ship had been beautifully decorated before we left for Xmas with charming gingerbread houses and delightful special occasion cookies strategically place in public areas. The cooking demonstration I attended reinforced the competence of the Head Chef - he bought a kilo of vanilla (at about $400) in Raiatea citing it as the world's best for the ship and was clearly uncompromising in his standards.

 

The wine was mixed (Chateauneuf de Pape is never cheap and nasty) but we could always find something good. Air-conditioning fine and Destinations services arranged some fantastic excursions even with some quite trying customers. We had 2 dinners with senior staff; the group of personable young entertainers, the Orchestra and the Nature's Rhythm Trio kept us amused all voyage. And whilst Lorraine was not really to our taste, our friends loved her and she was always visible, upbeat and did a great job on the James Bond night.

 

As Australians, air was arranged by us, but Tahiti remains an awkward destination to get to for nearly everyone - but very worthwhile. The French Polynesian culture and those, whether performers of guides, who went out of their way to broaden our awareness of the region did so with passion, grace and a high degree of knowledge.

 

We found the ambience of the ship very warm and positive. I don't wear rose coloured glasses, but our aim on a cruise is to enjoy ourselves whilst absorbing what we can about our destination.

[Travelcat2]

Great attitude Catpow! Reviews of the Mariner for the last few months have really been all over the place. We really enjoyed our Mariner cruise in July and can't wait to sail her again in April. I know that I could sail on any ship and find fault with individual servers, food, etc. At the end of the day, it is the positive things that stand out in my mind - not the negative. Generally, individual experiences are not as "perfect" or as "poor" as some people report on CC.

 

Sometimes I wonder if the word "critic" in Cruise Critic encourages some people to look at what didn't work on their cruise rather than what did. I remember vividly the first two days on our first Silversea cruise. This was the first time that we "strayed" from Regent. We spend two days writing down everything that was different between the two cruise lines. And, at first, we were finding everything "different" to mean that it was worse than Regent. Once we tore up our notes and started to just take one day at a time - not trying to compare every little thing with how Regent does it, we had a real good cruise (good enough to return to Silversea twice -- even though we still do not like the ship we sailed on first).

 

Just because a few posters had a poor experience on the Mariner does not mean that you will. Every cruise is different -- the officers are different -- the crew is different -- the General Manager, Captain, Cruise Director and Food and Beverage Director are different. Some posters have been with Regent for years and are comparing what "was" to what "is". My response to that is that few things are the same as they were 7-10 years ago -- things change.

 

I refer to our "cruise from he**" periodically. It comes to mind because of the time of the year that we sailed (Christmas and New Year's). This was our only holiday cruise so I cannot tell you how it was in the old days. I can say that the decorations were wonderful -- the ship was festive and our "gifts" from Regent were well received. On the other hand, everyone from the Captain and General Manager down to my DH were sick at some point on that cruise (or it seemed like everyone was ill -- I would estimate 60% of the passengers and crew onboard either had stomach issues or a horrible cough). The food was just "off" (for a lack of a better word). Fortunately, the F&B Director (long time Regent employee) began fixing things immediately. My point is that our holiday cruise was horrible -- we would not sail during the holidays again. But, this does not mean that you would not have a great time (as long as you do your homework and realize that there are lots of families on board which makes the environment on the ships a bit different).

 

Just sharing thoughts.

[rlevin47]

We are thinking about booking the Cape Town to Cape Town Africa Cruise in November 2015.

Has anybody had any experience with this cruise or any Regent Africa Cruise?

Ant info pro or con would be helpful. Are the ports worthwhile? Etc.

 

Thanks

 

Robert

[TedC]

I was on Dubai to Cape Town last Nov.-Dec. Highlights were snorkeling in Seychelles and watching lemurs on Madagascar. Sadly, much of the Seychelles coral has been decimated but it still was OK.

[rlevin47]

Hi

 

Thanks for the reply.

Any thoughts on the S. African portion(Maputo, Richards Bay, Durban and Cape Town) of your trip. The ports and excursions(free and paid)? Did you do any Game Preservers or Safari's?

Were you satisfied with the ship, service and food? Have you ever been on the Mariner?

Thanks

Robert