Not up to standard--our Voyager cruise, Nov. 16-Dec. 6/'19

[Camillus112]

Thanks much, Flossie.  Wendy, I wouldn’t expect Parisian or Michelin preparations, but was only worried due to various negative comments regarding the offerings and preparations.  Since up to now nobody has provided details to substantiate the reasons for the negative comments (except the richness of the food, which is understandable), I will be very much looking forward to our dinner at Chartreuse.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

1 minute ago, Camillus112 said:

Thanks much, Flossie.  Wendy, I wouldn’t expect Parisian or Michelin preparations, but was only worried due to various negative comments regarding the offerings and preparations.  Since up to now nobody has provided details to substantiate the reasons for the negative comments (except the richness of the food, which is understandable), I will be very much looking forward to our dinner at Chartreuse.

 

Good for you, good attitude.  Let us know if you enjoy it.  In the past, I've had meals that weren't particularly my favourite in Signatures, Prime 7, La Veranda and Compass Rose.  But thankfully not on the same cruise!

 

My new attitude is to eat light, and choose food that's not so rich.  With my WC coming in a year, I have no choice!

[Camillus112]

11 minutes ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

 

Good for you, good attitude.  Let us know if you enjoy it.  In the past, I've had meals that weren't particularly my favourite in Signatures, Prime 7, La Veranda and Compass Rose.  But thankfully not on the same cruise!

 

My new attitude is to eat light, and choose food that's not so rich.  With my WC coming in a year, I have no choice!

We eat light and healthy at our home regularly, but when in vacation I splurge on rich and wonderful foods.  My DH, however, has to continue his regime, since his metabolism  is different than mine.  I am not proud of this, since I would love to be able to share more wonderful food with him.

[1982CruzStart]

21 hours ago, Camillus112 said:

Thanks much, Flossie.  Wendy, I wouldn’t expect Parisian or Michelin preparations, but was only worried due to various negative comments regarding the offerings and preparations.  Since up to now nobody has provided details to substantiate the reasons for the negative comments (except the richness of the food, which is understandable), I will be very much looking forward to our dinner at Chartreuse.

Though our favorite place to eat wasn't Chartreuse, the food and service were very good. My favorite being the steak tartare. For me the issue is the selection of food is not as good as CR or P7. Those are personal choices and what doesn't work for me maybe perfect for others. I agree with Flossie regarding the floating island dessert, keep room to try, it is light and delicious. Though i don't eat escargot 1 of our tablemates does really like them and he enjoyed the CR version more than the Chartreuse version.  Go with an open mind and a good appetite and i am sure you will find something you will enjoy.  Always keep in mind that you can ask for appetizer size of any main course and vice versa so you don't have to stick to the categories as set out in the menu. 

 

Our cruise later this year is on Explorer so i am really looking forward to going to Pacific Rim. We will try to get as many repeat visits to it that they will allow. 

 

Have a great cruise. 

[Silver Sweethearts]

On 1/2/2020 at 10:03 AM, Camillus112 said:

Since up to now nobody has provided details to substantiate the reasons for the negative comments (except the richness of the food, which is understandable), I will be very much looking forward to our dinner at Chartreuse.

 

By all means give Chartreuse a try.  We dined there several times to give it a chance, but it never did excite us and we gave up.  In our opinion only, we found the food to be rich as mentioned - but also blah.  The sauces, albeit mostly heavy, carried no flavor.  If you had given us the artichoke soup, for example, and not told us what it was we would have been at a loss to identify it.  Others may disagree, which is fine, but you did ask for details...

[Camillus112]

6 hours ago, Silver Sweethearts said:

 

By all means give Chartreuse a try.  We dined there several times to give it a chance, but it never did excite us and we gave up.  In our opinion only, we found the food to be rich as mentioned - but also blah.  The sauces, albeit mostly heavy, carried no flavor.  If you had given us the artichoke soup, for example, and not told us what it was we would have been at a loss to identify it.  Others may disagree, which is fine, but you did ask for details...

[Camillus112]

Just now, Camillus112 said:

7 hours ago, Silver Sweethearts said:

 

By all means give Chartreuse a try.  We dined there several times to give it a chance, but it never did excite us and we gave up.  In our opinion only, we found the food to be rich as mentioned - but also blah.  The sauces, albeit mostly heavy, carried no flavor.  If you had given us the artichoke soup, for example, and not told us what it was we would have been at a loss to identify it.  Others may disagree, which is fine, but you did ask for details...

Thanks for your feedback, SS, these details are much appreciated.  

[Hambagahle]

Good French cuisine does not have to be rich and filling...and hardly anyone here eats escargots any more!  They are really "old hat".  They must all be exported to the US if you see them a lot on menus over there.    If the cuisine in Chartreuse is too rich that is a real shame!!   How big are the portions?  The should not be large if the sauce is rich for example.   

 

What can be filling in French food are the stews - boeuf Bourguignon for example or pot au feu.  But then stew in any language fills you up!

 

I haven't eaten at Chartreuse - yet.  But will soon.  I loved Signatures aside from the silly "plate revealing ceremony" they did when they brought the dishes out.  And Jaques on Oceania is terrific.  So I am looking forward to trying Chartreuse - but no escargots, merci!

[UUNetBill]

6 hours ago, Hambagahle said:

I loved Signatures aside from the silly "plate revealing ceremony" they did when they brought the dishes out.

Un, deux, trois - voilá!   😄

[Hambagahle]

Exactement - et c'est ceci que je déteste!!   These "cloches" were used in large homes and restaurants before there was central heating and before the "passe" existed in restaurants.  Purpose was to keep the food hot - which then made sense.  Makes no sense anymore and it is, I think, pretentious.

[ronrick1943]

I agree you should try  Chartreuse, it's really a good restaurant.  By only problem with Chartreuse is the limited menu with no specials of the night.  I really look forward to dessert, The Floating Island.  I think it's as good as any that I had in France.  Saying that, my limit is 2 times at Chartreuse, but wouldn't miss dinner at the restaurant during a cruise.

[Hambagahle]

I think that none of the speciality restaurants have nightly specials... just their normal menus which don't change.   We have booked Chartreuse for the second night of our cruise just so we can see if we like it - or not!  Pacific Rim is first night and from what TC says I am sure we will love it (we love Red Ginger...)

[RachelG]

If you love Red Ginger, you will like Pacific Rim as well.  They have many of the same dishes.  Specifically the watermelon and duck salad comes to mind.

[taxare]

We are currently on Day 11 of a 14 day Voyager cruise. I will post a mini review when I return and get over the jet lag. I respect and am sympathetic to the issues that  ON cruiser started this thread with. It does appear that there were a large number of new crew that started during that cruise. To potentially alleviate others concerns with upcoming Voyager cruises, we have not experienced any of these same problems. Our restaurant service has been very good to excellent throughout in every venue. Due to the ON cruiser comments I took notice of a situation last night in Compass Rose at the next table. One of four guests was not pleased with some aspect of their steak. She notified the server who called over one of the managers. I timed the response. From removal and apology to receiving a new steak from the manager was less than 5 minutes. The passenger seemed pleased with the new steak. I acknowledge that Entree preparations in Chartreuse would take a longer period of time, but I saw first hand that everything appeared to be done properly and timely. 

[ON cruiser]

Hi Taxare, glad you are enjoying your cruise and that the newish staff have, by now, finally been trained up. Good to know that those on board now and ongoing should likely not have the issues that we (and others who posted who were either on board with us, or on the next cruise immediately after ours) unfortunately experienced. 

 

You could say that those of us who came before you helped to get the staff trained. Too bad, however, that we had to pay for that privilege. In my view, all passengers should be able to expect and enjoy a "finished product" instead of a "work in progress". What we had was a "work in progress".  Adding insult to injury, given the perfunctory response received in response to our comments provided to senior management, this was apparently deemed by Regent to be acceptable.

 

Lesson learned. Enjoy your final few days onboard.  

[SWFLAOK]

We experienced new wait staff on our Singapore to Singapore, and again continuing on from Singapore to Sydney.  New staff came on board in Singapore both times. The new waitstaff seemed to be trained in the mornings at breakfast, and again for lunch service. Each cruise had a day at sea on the first day. If it takes extra time to train new staff, that's the time to do it. We have no place that we need to be at breakfast or lunch.

Did it take over an hour to have breakfast in Compass Rose on each of these days? Yes, it did. Did we give feedback to the experienced waitstaff on the new people? Yes, we did. By the end of each segment, were most of the new staff doing very well? Yes, they were.

We have a bigger problem with the inexperienced staff in the kitchen. We had a kitchen tour where we saw

staff who took more than 5 minutes to slice an avocado and put it on a plate, and that was a week into our first cruise. I wish I had said something to the executive chef who gave us the tour.

The new ships are taking the most experienced people from Voyager, and there are only a few experienced people from other cruise lines coming in to replace them. That means that inexperienced crew will replace the most experienced on Voyager, and you will be part of their training. We did our best to courteously give them feedback while they gained experience, and hope others will do the same.

[Memlin]

So, no one in all of Europe eats escargot anymore?  It’s “old hat.” My husband and I enjoy it very much. We are always pleased to see it on the menu. I have to admit the preparation is not always our favorite. However, I have a feeling that we are too easy to please. 

[flossie009]

1 hour ago, Memlin said:

So, no one in all of Europe eats escargot anymore?

This pair of Europeans love them 😋

..... but as prepared in the traditional way in Compass rose; not so keen on the version in Chartreuse. 

[SWFLAOK]

9 hours ago, Memlin said:

So, no one in all of Europe eats escargot anymore?  It’s “old hat.” My husband and I enjoy it very much. We are always pleased to see it on the menu. I have to admit the preparation is not always our favorite. However, I have a feeling that we are too easy to please. 

I love escargot, and agree with you that I'm always happy to see them on the menu. We have a great restaurant locally in Fort Myers that has a delicious version of escargot in puff pastry. I think I need to go there again soon.

[joey1000]

We, too, were on the Singapore to Sydney trip and I completely agree with SWFLOAK. There was a complete lack of management grip in Compass Rose throughout the voyage. Maitre d's rarely in position at the front desk on arrival, well meaning and pleasant waiting staff with a variable command of English and who often knew very little about the dishes on the menu. It was very disappointing especially compared with previous Regent experiences. We hope for better on Navigator next January

 

 

 

 

[indigosea]

On 1/2/2020 at 3:07 PM, Wendy The Wanderer said:

 

Good for you, good attitude.  Let us know if you enjoy it.  In the past, I've had meals that weren't particularly my favourite in Signatures, Prime 7, La Veranda and Compass Rose.  But thankfully not on the same cruise!

 

My new attitude is to eat light, and choose food that's not so rich.  With my WC coming in a year, I have no choice!

 

[indigosea]

Hi Wendy

will be lunching at the Duke of York today. Are you in TO? Tomorrow we go to SanFrancisco. We are very excited to be on board Mariner in 3 days. 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

1 hour ago, indigosea said:

Hi Wendy

will be lunching at the Duke of York today. Are you in TO? Tomorrow we go to SanFrancisco. We are very excited to be on board Mariner in 3 days. 

 

Nope, we're in Florida!  Cold enough here right now, ha ha.  Do enjoy Mariner, are you doing a segment of the WC or the whole thing, can't remember?

Edited January 21, 2020 by Wendy The Wanderer

[indigosea]

Hi Wendy

At least we’re not in Newfoundland! Ha 

on board until Miami. YEA

[Wendy The Wanderer]

3 minutes ago, indigosea said:

Hi Wendy

At least we’re not in Newfoundland! Ha 

on board until Miami. YEA

 

Wonderful, now I remember.  Are you going to be posting anywhere?