Worst ship?

[Travelcat2]

1 hour ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

 

The coming refurbishment was planned well before the takeover, btw.  And as I said, two years ago the ship was in fine shape, and the food was great.

 

While off topic, I will be checking reviews of the PG once she has been refurbished, and Ponant has had a chance to make whatever changes they wish to make.  A heck of a lot can change when a ship is purchased by a cruise line (some of you may remember the horrible experiences that some Regent customers had when the cruise line was purchased and Regent was no longer managing the ship.).  Not mentioning the name of the cruise line as they are still sailing (but not out of the U.S. - they more or less burned their bridges here).

[Kstornado]

Heard that there is a lot of vibration on the Navigator, especially in the rear of the ship. Would that be enough to cross it off your list? Saw a roundtrip cruise Miami-Miami which goes to Bermuda in May which sounded interesting. Only other Regent ship we have been on is the Mariner.

 

[Travelcat2]

27 minutes ago, Kstornado said:

Heard that there is a lot of vibration on the Navigator, especially in the rear of the ship. Would that be enough to cross it off your list? Saw a roundtrip cruise Miami-Miami which goes to Bermuda in May which sounded interesting. Only other Regent ship we have been on is the Mariner.

 

 

Some people love Navigator but we are not amongst them.  The ship is okay when the weather is good but, because they do not have a forward Observation Lounge, the ship gets very crowded when the weather is inclement.  

 

There will be people that disagree with me, but this is my take on the situation.

[SWFLAOK]

On 10/8/2019 at 12:51 PM, Travelcat2 said:

 

While off topic, I will be checking reviews of the PG once she has been refurbished, and Ponant has had a chance to make whatever changes they wish to make.  A heck of a lot can change when a ship is purchased by a cruise line (some of you may remember the horrible experiences that some Regent customers had when the cruise line was purchased and Regent was no longer managing the ship.).  Not mentioning the name of the cruise line as they are still sailing (but not out of the U.S. - they more or less burned their bridges here).

Since this has already gone so far off topic, we spoke to the Ponant rep who came aboard with us on our tender in Aitutaki at our Cook Island stop in September. He said that they had no immediate plans to change anything onboard. They were looking for a ship that their current Ponant customers would book in French Polynesia, based on it's current reputation.

He was also interested in where PG cruisers might like to cruise on the similar ships in Ponant's fleet. A number of people took his card for trips to cold places (which we have zero interest in, but we did take his card).

The ship was last refurbished in 2017,  between 2 of our cruises. We spoke to a number of high level crew members after the refurbishment, and were told exactly what goes on for the PG refurbishments. We also spoke to them about the upcoming refurbishment that we knew was scheduled after the Fiji to Bali cruise in April. The Ponant rep had spoken to the crew while we were onboard. The crew felt comfortable with the transfer of ownership, and that the dry dock plans were the same. The onboard entertainers, however,  were apprehensive about being replaced by French entertainers.

But, we've never been on the Navigator. We've been happy with Mariner and Voyager, and are looking forward to a Splendor cruise in 2021. We normally prefer a ship the size of the Paul Gauguin, so the Regent Ships are at the at the top of what we can tolerate for the number of passengers onboard.

Edited October 15, 2019 by SWFLAOK
typo

[Travelcat2]

4 minutes ago, SWFLAOK said:

Since this has already gone so far off topic, we spoke to the Ponant rep who came aboard with us on our tender in Aitutaki at our Cook Island stop in September. He said that they had no immediate plans to change anything onboard. They were looking for a ship that their current Ponant customers would book in French Polynesia, based on it's current reputation.

He was also interested in where PG cruisers might like to cruise on the similar ships in Ponant's fleet. A number of people took his card for trips to cold places (which we have zero interest in, but we did take his card).

The ship was last refurbished in 2017,  between 2 of our cruises. We spoke to a number of high level crew members after the refurbishment, and were told exactly what goes on for the PG refurbishments. We also spoke to them about the upcoming refurbishment that we knew was scheduled after the Fiji to Bali cruise in April. The Ponant rep had spoken to the crew while we were onboard. The crew felt comfortable with the transfer of ownership, and that the dry dock plans were the same. The onboard entertainers, however,  were apprehensive about being replaced by French entertainers.

But, we've never been on the Navigator. We've been happy with Mariner and Voyager, and are looking forward to a Splendor cruise in 2021. We normally prefer a ship the size of the Paul Gauguin, so the Regent Ships are at the at the top of what we can tolerate for the number of passengers onboard.

 

Only time will tell....... As I have mentioned, the food on Ponant has gone to "poor" to "declining" (according to a blog that I read). I also wonder if the food will be French or International.  Will the main language be English or French?  One thing that I loved about the PG was that all announcements were made in English.  We have done Club Med many times in places around the world where French is the first language (followed by English and many Asian languages).  This is not something that we would like to see under the new ownership

[Will Work for Tiramisu]

Well, if you asked Brian Wilson (former Beach Boy), he would probably say the Sloop John B is "the worst ship, I've ever been on"! 

[scuba diver]

"This is the worst trip I've ever been on"

[Sharle]

I've been on the Navigator several times and am very happy with her. the vibration is only in the back,so stay away from an aft cabin and you will be fine.

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

Personally, we love the Navigator. We recently did a 20 day Norway and northern Russia cruise. North Sea etc. It was fabulous. We were forward. MDR was fine. Only vibration at sea was in the theater, which did not stop us from seeing the shows. 
We have cruised on all Regent ships. They each have its-own character. 

Try it, hope you love it as much as we do. 
Sheila