Tokyo Cruise Review Explorer March 28-April 11, 2023–Yokohama to Tokyo

[makai 7]

Rachel G did a fabulous job describing tours and overall activities on board.  My goal is to share my overall impressions of this cruise, compared to my experiences on board Regent ships over the past 12 years.

I will preface this commentary with a disclaimer- if you are a Regent Cheerleader; please do not bother reading further.  Please do not berate me for not raising issues with the executive concierge, restaurant manager, etc.  From past experience they have made excuses and then fussed over us, and we were not interested in this.

The opinions expressed here are solely mine, and my spouse’s, and other’s experiences have been significantly different.  There were positives and negatives on this cruise.  I will do my best to highlight both.

Since this is fairly long, I will post it in several parts…

 

1. Arrival and Embarkation

We left our flights in Regent’s hands.  They had us arriving at Haneda Airport at 5:10 am the day of the cruise.  We were concerned that we would be stuck at the port for hours before getting on board, but our TA assured us that this would not be the case…  Do not berate me for arriving the day of the cruise – If RSSC told us that we needed to arrive a day early, we would have paid for the Hotel night – or used the one night included with the Penthouse suite.  We assumed that the World’s Most Luxurious Cruise Line would provide the Unrivaled Experience as advertised.

After customs and immigration, we were led to a taxi with a driver who did not speak English.  He drove us to a port that was NOT the one on the boarding passes, and left us on a corner at 7am, outside in the rain and cold, and pointed down the street towards an entrance.  We dragged our bags to the entrance, where the security guard told us it was too early and we were not allowed to enter.  Our choice was to stand outside in the rain for 4+ hours, or walk ½ mile with our bags to a Starbucks that did not open until 8am.  Fortunately, a local agent intervened and convinced him to let us sit inside the empty building.  There was little to no heat – we pulled our winter coats from our bags and shivered in the cold.  There was no food or water available.  At least there was a restroom.

While the current passengers departed the ship, many crew members and officers saw us sitting there – and ALL ignored us.  They would not make eye contact.  It was apparent that no-one cared.  There was a very large group of Japanese travel agents that were welcomed and processed to go on board early for tours and lunch.  Eventually other passengers began to arrive around 10-10:30 am, and we were finally permitted to drop off our bags around 11 am, and boarding started around 12.

Worst arrival and embarkation experience we have ever had, with any cruise line.

 

2. Crew

The crew on Explorer are exceptional, as they have been on all Regent ships.  We saw many familiar faces, and it was nice to be remembered.  Many have been promoted over the years and it was great to see them progressing in their careers.  Everyone worked exceptionally hard.

It took several days to get our Butler to understand our requests (not many – probably too few for him) but eventually we all worked out how to communicate, and he did his best to take care of the few things we asked for (San Pelligrino, nuts and chips, occasional in room dining).

We noticed that there were LESS dining/restaurant staff than on prior cruises and this was clearly evident in the inconsistent service with ONE exception – more on that later under dining.  It also seemed like there were fewer stateroom attendants to handle the almost full ship.

Great crew – as on every other cruise on Regent.

[makai 7]

Part two...

3. Ship

Explorer is a beautiful ship.  We found it to be quietly elegant.  The crystal and much of the artwork is not to our taste, but it did not detract from the overall feel of the ship.  Some areas are definitely showing wear and tear.  Outdoor furniture near La Veranda was falling apart, cushions torn on some of the seats.   It was difficult to find a comfortable place to sit, as elegant is not the same as comfort.

We were in a Penthouse suite, and the layout was excellent.  The furniture was NOT comfortable to sit on – however pretty it might be.  Great balcony, but the weather did not cooperate for many days to sit outside.  We liked the bathroom with two sinks and the huge shower.  Water pressure was fabulous, and we nicknamed the body sprays “the car wash”.  Best feature of the cabin.

Bed was comfortable, plenty of pillows, and nice quality sheets.  Surprisingly, the towels were frayed!  We would expect that any damaged sheets or towels would be discarded and not used again but this seemed not to be the case.

The dining areas outside of La Veranda were heated – fabulous idea and we spent every morning having breakfast and coffee outside and were comfortable, even on the very chilly mornings.

Overall, the ship was pleasant to live on for two weeks.

 

4.  Dining

I wish I could be positive here, but I have to say that most meals ended up simply being a way to stop being hungry.  We expected so much more!

Sette Mare continued to be our favorite venue, and we had some familiar faces in the crew here.  Most meals were exceptional, and all were enjoyable.  I had one meal (Fritto Misto) which was a mistake to order, but was offset by the soup and starters so not an issue of going to be hungry.  Service was friendly and well managed.

We dined in Pacific Rim twice.  On the first night, we never were provided with the hand towels or the edamame ‘starter’.  Some tables received them, others didn’t.  The food was tasty, but very slow coming out of the kitchen.  Our second meal, we received the hand towels after the edamame, instead of before.  Again, service was haphazard.

We have never had a positive experience in Prime 7, with the exception of our first cruise with Regent in 2011.  They were very consistent in providing an extremely disappointing experience.   Reservation for 8pm, seated at 8:10.  Server never introduced himself.   Received ONE menu at 8:20, and were told that they ran out of menus.  Really?  Fortunately we have no problem sharing a menu.  Finally got some bread and water, and drinks.   The bread was stale – sliced baguette was hard on the cut edges and had obviously been sitting for hours.  He brought a second menu at 8:30 (we were thinking about leaving), and we told him we didn’t need it, please just take our order.

At 8:40 or so, received the same old tired amuse bouche “compliments of the chef”.  It really is time to stop saying that.  And these were tired… lukewarm, had been sitting in the kitchen so long that when I tried to remove the tiny cracker it broke and sank to the bottom of the glass.

Receive the starters around 8:55.  Wedge Salad and New England Clam Chowder.  Salad was OK.  NE Clam chowder is not supposed to have carrots and corn…

Main courses came out in a timely fashion.  Water/drinks were not refilled.  My small plate steak was cooked properly and was tasty, however the béarnaise sauce had been sitting in its little dish for so long that it had a thick skin.  Spouse had the “seafood plateau”.  It too, seemed like it had been sitting out for too long – the seafood was limp and not cold, and the sauces also had a skin on them. Without getting too graphic – it was not good and his body eliminated his dinner extremely quickly. 

We did not have dinner in Chartreuse as we do not care for the menu, but we did have lunch there twice – and the food and service at lunch was very good.

Breakfast at La Veranda was mediocre.  For lunch, the best item was the Buffalo wings.   Lobster Nachos were OK but seemed soggy to me.   Some of the ethnic (Mediterranean, Indian, Italian) items at lunch were good.  After our skinned over sauce experience, I noticed that the prepared servings of Ketchup and Mayonnaise were put out at the Pool Grill around 10:30 am, and then sat unrefrigerated all day until they closed at 4pm.  We found the bread and pastries were often stale here too.

We noticed that they were lacking quite a few food items – for example no fresh berries, strawberries, no shrimp for the salad bar (or cold options at lunch).  We heard that they ran out of quite a few items too, including beers and Chianti.

After a few days, we noticed that hors d'oeuvres were no longer offered at the Meridian lounge.  They also stopped offering chips or nuts.  Nothing to snack on with your drink.

Overall, food and dining were a disappointment.

[makai 7]

Part 3...

 

5. Amenities / communication

WiFi was abysmal.  For our “status” and our stateroom, we had 4 logins.  Worthless.  It was impossible to check basic email messages.  I sent one that took 3 days to get out of the outbox.  I could not take care of some things on line that were easy to manage on previous cruises.

Ship to Shore calling ended up being useful since I could not do anything over the internet.  That worked just fine.

Laundry service was excellent.

Several passengers on board had Covid.  We spoke with a passenger on Deck 6 who had noticed security tape across the hall a few doors down from her cabin.  She asked Reception if there was Covid on board, and if the cabins down the hall were being used for quarantine.  She was told “absolutely not”, no Covid on board.  She met someone whose travel companions had been moved to Quarantine down the hall from her because of positive Covid tests, so she knew that Reception was either uninformed, or not telling the truth.

She asked her stateroom attendant if these were quarantine cabins, since he was servicing them.  He told her the truth – YES, they were being used for Covid passengers, and YES, he was servicing them, but only AFTER all other cabins were serviced, and he had to wear special protective gear.

She was right to be concerned, since there was the potential for contamination of her cabin.  Once the cases on board rose to 1%, the captain made an announcement and all crew started wearing masks.  So did we.

6.  Shore Excursions, Post Cruise package

I agree with Rachel-too many excursions that went to typical tourist locations and too much time on a bus, with poor descriptions prior to booking.

One excursion we booked in Jeju was cancelled, and I only discovered this because I checked my booking on line and it was gone.  I was never notified.  Tours that I had waitlisted in other ports did open up, and I returned the tickets for the tours I did not take so someone else could get a spot.

We heard many, many people complaining at the shore excursion desk because there were not enough excursions for the passengers onboard.  That just doesn’t feel right, when you are pre-paying for excursions (NOTHING is “Free”).  We did enjoy going to some of the places we visited, but felt that there were very few options and many of the tours were the same with tiny variations.

We upgraded to the Hakone post cruise tour – and with only 10 people in the group, it was excellent.  Flossie009 did a fabulous job describing this tour.  Our guide was with us the entire time, and we felt that this was the best part of the trip.

7. Shops and Spa

What to do with onboard credit?  It has become a problem.  They have raised the prices of their spa services to ridiculous levels.  $280 plus 20% gratuity for a 50 minute massage?  Wine Tasting dinner $180 per person?

The prices in the shops also were extremely high.  There was very little “Regent” branded merchandise to be found, and nothing branded for the Explorer.  I did manage to fine a lightweight pullover with “regent seven seas” for $110.  Nothing for men.  I also discovered a little change… in the past with Gold status you would receive a discount in the shops.  This discount is gone.  It is no longer listed in the benefits.  Not an issue since we couldn’t spend all the OB credit as it was, and it would just have left more for them.

8.  Summary

In our opinion, Regent is no longer the same cruise line.  Over the years the quality of the experience has decreased.  That feeling of a special experience isn’t there any longer.  The cost reduction in staffing, food variety/quality are evident to us.  I will not say that we will never cruise with them again, but it is highly unlikely.

[jeb_bud]

You mentioned that although you were booked in a Penthouse, which includes a pre-cruise hotel night, you were booked on flights that arrived on embarkation morning. Did you request that or did Regent just do it on their own?

[pappy1022]

Makai7, thank you for your honest review. I haven’t sailed with Regent in a few years and I was looking forward to the 5+ star experience. It’s obvious that your well documented experience wasn’t up to the standards that Regent espouses to have. I have now read about several experiences on these boards from long and loyal cruisers like yourself, who have had unacceptable experiences. It gives me pause as to whether or not it was a wise decision to pay big bucks to come back to Regent. I chose Regent for the itinerary but I also justified paying a premium fare for Regent because of the service, food, included excursions, etc. I hope my experiences are much better than yours. I am holding out hope but maybe my expectations need to be scaled back from what I remember Regent to be like.

[makai 7]

5 hours ago, jeb_bud said:

You mentioned that although you were booked in a Penthouse, which includes a pre-cruise hotel night, you were booked on flights that arrived on embarkation morning. Did you request that or did Regent just do it on their own?

We originally booked a Superior suite (F1).  We paid for a change/upgrade to a PH3 after the flights had been ticketed.  Regent did not offer to change the flights.

[alainciao]

"We left our flights in Regent's hands."

 

My experience has been that Regent offers flights and we either accept them or not. 

[seaknots]

sorry you had bad experiences

problems seem to come down to no planning for early flight arrival, bad wifi, uncomfortable furniture and food & tours you did not like

 

23 hours ago, makai 7 said:

Please do not berate me for not raising issues with the executive concierge, restaurant manager, etc. 

sorry I do not understand why you did not

you had opportunity to raise issues at the time and even to speak with a good gm, the president & another director

why wait till after the cruise and then spill out your misery on social media