On Voyager now

[Pack Leader]

First Regent cruise. So far very impressed. Embarkation was super quick, literally 10 minutes then final check in was in the theatre about another 15 minutes or so. Lots of staff Portside, never seen so many people directing you. Ship feels small compared to what we are used to. Only other ultra luxury cruise was Silver Whisper 20 years ago. Just arrived into Santorini. Thoughtfully the tours have been moved to the afternoon as there are 3 other ships in, so the island will be busy first thing. Staff so far are amazing. Food in Prime 7 was great. People are very friendly. I think I am going to enjoy this. Contrary to reports WiFi does work in the cabin but is slow. Think dial up speeds, although I expected this. Lots of stories of issues with Regent air. We did our own thing.

 

2 Passengers have no cases. They have GPS on them and they are at Athens Airport. Why the airline is not repatriating the luggage with their passengers God only knows. They have been told they may have them next island! Regent should have sorted this. They flew from Orlando, but their flights were to NY, Rome then Athens. Crazy, they are in their 70s. Should have gone London, Athens, less changes and much shorter. Their homeward flight has been cancelled with no news on an alternative as yet. Regent Concierge was supposed to sort this but they have not "turned up" yet!. Their first Regent cruise. Not a good first impression.

[Pack Leader]

Must say cabin is beautiful and the bathroom is much larger than lesser resort type ships. My wife was particularly impressed by the cabin. We are in Suite 750 mid ships. Minor vibrations but nothing significant. We have a bath and a shower and walk in wardrobe with plenty of storage. Room service breakfast with a view of Santorini is hard to beat!

[LouChamp]

4 hours ago, Pack Leader said:

First Regent cruise. So far very impressed. Embarkation was super quick, literally 10 minutes then final check in was in the theatre about another 15 minutes or so. Lots of staff Portside, never seen so many people directing you. Ship feels small compared to what we are used to. Only other ultra luxury cruise was Silver Whisper 20 years ago. Just arrived into Santorini. Thoughtfully the tours have been moved to the afternoon as there are 3 other ships in, so the island will be busy first thing. Staff so far are amazing. Food in Prime 7 was great. People are very friendly. I think I am going to enjoy this. Contrary to reports WiFi does work in the cabin but is slow. Think dial up speeds, although I expected this. Lots of stories of issues with Regent air. We did our own thing.

 

2 Passengers have no cases. They have GPS on them and they are at Athens Airport. Why the airline is not repatriating the luggage with their passengers God only knows. They have been told they may have them next island! Regent should have sorted this. They flew from Orlando, but their flights were to NY, Rome then Athens. Crazy, they are in their 70s. Should have gone London, Athens, less changes and much shorter. Their homeward flight has been cancelled with no news on an alternative as yet. Regent Concierge was supposed to sort this but they have not "turned up" yet!. Their first Regent cruise. Not a good first impression.

Aloha.  We cruised around South America with a nonstop from Dallas to Rio.  Some passengers lost their luggage so we shared our clothes with a few for the duration of the three week voyage.  Months later they received their luggage as it was accidentally shipped to Uruguay!

[RELS]

Since I will be on the Voyager in a month, also embarking from Athens/Piraeus, I would love to hear which airline it is that lost that couple's luggage, and if they actually got the bags to them at some point during the cruise.  Also, which airline canceled their return trip, and whether Regent air was able to get them home.

 

Thanks!

[WNcruiser]

Thanks for the positive report. Looking forward to our first trip on Voyager in August to Iceland & Norway. 

[Pack Leader]

19 hours ago, RELS said:

Since I will be on the Voyager in a month, also embarking from Athens/Piraeus, I would love to hear which airline it is that lost that couple's luggage, and if they actually got the bags to them at some point during the cruise.  Also, which airline canceled their return trip, and whether Regent air was able to get them home.

 

Thanks!

Hoping to bump into them again and I will ask them if the luggage has arrived. We are only on day 2, Rhodes. Ailitalia lost their luggage from Rome into Athens but the passengers have GPS in their cases showing it is at Athens Airport. Not heard of that before but sounds like a good idea. I know Apple make Air Tags althoughi am Android.

A lot of our upcoming tours have had their times changed and some new ones have been added. Yesterday's tour guide was brilliant but today's guide was talking non stop, giving us information overload and most people mentally switched off. 

Restaurants seem to like putting Truffle oil onto food- fries in Prime 7 with Truffle oil were inedible as they tasted of burnt rubber. Not for me.

Fillet in Compass Rose was a natch for Prime 7 Fillet Mingon so not sure if I would chase a 2nd booking in Prime 7.

Some reports I have read stated Setti Mare is v busy and you have to get there early but fellow passenger today said she turned up at 7.45 and just missed the "rush" so maybe not as bad as some other cruises. We are intending going there tonight so will report if there are any issues. Have yet to check occupancy with crew but, as per my other post, there were 50 cabins unsold a week before this cruise. May explain why the two Restaurants we have tried were not overly busy.

No table around the pool for placement of chair hogs possessions as per other posts here, but so far, lots of beds free in and out of the sun.

[Pack Leader]

May have to ask for our room mini bar fridge to be looked at or replaced. White wine and beers of our choice placed in there over 24 hours ago are not cold. Literally 2 degrees colder to the touch to the bottles but contents still room temperature. 1st World problem I know. 

[Momo3bigD]

Thanks for your updates Pack Leader! We will be boarding Voyager in Istanbul next week. We are also coming from Orlando but our travel agent advised doing our own flight to avoid more than one connection. We will have an AirTag in our checked bag—hopefully your shipmates have received their bags. What is the weather like temperature wise? I have been looking at weather.com and it seems like it will be a bit cooler than we are used to coming from Florida. 

[wcsdkqh]

1 hour ago, Pack Leader said:

May have to ask for our room mini bar fridge to be looked at or replaced. White wine and beers of our choice placed in there over 24 hours ago are not cold. Literally 2 degrees colder to the touch to the bottles but contents still room temperature. 1st World problem I know. 

Make sure your door closes completely. I’ve noticed previously that if the ice bucket isn’t placed just right, it will cause the door not seal completely. Just a thought.

[Pcardad]

12 hours ago, Pack Leader said:

May have to ask for our room mini bar fridge to be looked at or replaced. White wine and beers of our choice placed in there over 24 hours ago are not cold. Literally 2 degrees colder to the touch to the bottles but contents still room temperature. 1st World problem I know. 

Pull the fridge forward an inch - if it doesn't get good airflow behind it, it won't cool properly. Or, they will happily swap it for you.

 

Regarding lost luggage...how can Regent sort this? Same with a cancelled flight. All Regent can do is find another flight...nothing can be done about the cancellation.

In general, flights are utterly borked these days and costs are through the roof. I bet Regent is wishing they didn't include air anymore. It has definitely impacted the start/end points of some cruises in destinations where the flight cost is astronomical.

[jeb_bud]

We’re also on Voyager, our fourth Regent cruise but first on Voyager. Our shower pressure is a little weak but that’s the only negative thought I have about the ship or staff. I haven’t decided whether the shower is annoying enough for me to talk to the butler about it. 
 

Prime 7 the first night was excellent, food and service. We had a late lunch on our excursion in Santorini so we just ate appetizers in Compass Rose(plus desert of course). 
 

Last night was the Captain’s Welcome, which we skipped so we could beat the crowd at Sette Mare. There were maybe one or two empty tables in the first seating, then around 7:45 tables started clearing out for the second seating. Again food and service were great. 

[slidebite]

On 5/15/2023 at 1:16 AM, Pack Leader said:

Must say cabin is beautiful and the bathroom is much larger than lesser resort type ships. My wife was particularly impressed by the cabin. We are in Suite 750 mid ships. Minor vibrations but nothing significant. We have a bath and a shower and walk in wardrobe with plenty of storage. Room service breakfast with a view of Santorini is hard to beat!

You are right across from I was a couple weeks ago. That is a good spot and absolutely would book again.

 

7 hours ago, jeb_bud said:

We’re also on Voyager, our fourth Regent cruise but first on Voyager. Our shower pressure is a little weak but that’s the only negative thought I have about the ship or staff. I haven’t decided whether the shower is annoying enough for me to talk to the butler about it.

Our shower in our veranda cabin was fantastic. Really good pressure pressure and great hot water. Might be worth investigating a bit, although I suspect the room steward runs it each time they do the room so you'd *think* they'd notice if something was off, but perhaps not?

[Pack Leader]

Shower pressure is good.  Temperatures higher than expected around 28 degrees,  feels hot in the sun. Issue with passengers luggage was that they were now onboard and it appeared, from what they said, that Regent did not own their issue. Yet to catch up with them which shows how much space there us on board! Setti Mare not becoming busy until around 7.15. Room service,  which we have used for breakfast when we have early tours,  is good, although there is always 1 item missing. 

[Pack Leader]

Ship is creaking a bit in the cabin during the journey to Antalya, following the cancellation of Limassol due to 38 knot winds, so a day at sea, which is a nice break from touring. Seems that the ceiling panels creak and rattle quite a bit. There are so many individual panels I guess this is inevitable but more modern ships seem to have one piece ceiling construction.

[Pack Leader]

If you are touring Santorini there are lots if steps, even though our tour was stated as being Moderate, but Aspendos and Side tours,  stated as Strenuous, was very easy,  unless you want to climb all the steps of the Amphitheatre, which I did, as this tests your thigh muscles! Otherwise it was an easy walking tour. 

[jeb_bud]

14 hours ago, slidebite said:

You are right across from I was a couple weeks ago. That is a good spot and absolutely would book again.

 

Our shower in our veranda cabin was fantastic. Really good pressure pressure and great hot water. Might be worth investigating a bit, although I suspect the room steward runs it each time they do the room so you'd *think* they'd notice if something was off, but perhaps not?

I showed our butler the shower and asked if the flow/pressure was normal. He said it wasn’t and told me would have it taken care of. By the time we returned from the show we had a new shower head and significantly higher water pressure in the bathroom. 

[Pcardad]

On 5/18/2023 at 4:31 AM, Pack Leader said:

Ship is creaking a bit in the cabin during the journey to Antalya, following the cancellation of Limassol due to 38 knot winds, so a day at sea, which is a nice break from touring. Seems that the ceiling panels creak and rattle quite a bit. There are so many individual panels I guess this is inevitable but more modern ships seem to have one piece ceiling construction.

If you go into any crew quarters from Captain on down, they all wedge stuff in the ceilings to stop the noise...it's pretty funny.

[Pack Leader]

8 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

If you go into any crew quarters from Captain on down, they all wedge stuff in the ceilings to stop the noise...it's pretty funny.

Have thought of that!

[Pack Leader]

Disappointing meal in Chartreuse yesterday evening. Would not bother again. My Salmon starter was difficult to cut. My Chicken Supreme was small but moist but vegetables were very limited. My mashed potato  which I said should have been called Pomme Puree, lacked seasoning and butter. My wife received 3 pieces if Asparagus. I know you could ask for more but our meals had arrived and we were sharing a table. Apple tart was difficult to cut through and resembled a piece of toast. My fellow lady guest gave up trying to cut it. Wine waiter went AWOL and when he returned to our 4 empty glasses gave my neighbour the same Chardonnay my wife had been drinking, even though this gentleman had been drinking Sancerre all through the dinner. To be honest Compass Rose is as good and offers some of same dishes found in speciality restaurants. First World problems I know but just wanted to share my experience. YMMV. Would like to eat outside with view of Kos but have found this is only possible at Sette Mare. Having looked there this morning for breakfast   when it was La Veranda, realised there arevonly about 6-8 tables outside at the rear of the ship. Not much anyone can do but a limitation of the age and design of the ship. Did say to my wife would be more of a sore point perhaps if this was a Caribbean itinerary. 

Staff are all amazing and extremely friendly and attentive, obviously well trained and happy in their jobs. We handed in our mid cruise competition card which stated that we would have loved a kettle, my English wife's wish and the Housekeeping Supervisor came to see us and a tray of cups  milk, tea bags and a kettle were provided. We were very surprised as it was not a criticism just an observation. Very British not to want to trouble room service for a single cup of tea every now and then. So far, very impressed with Regent and would happily cruise with them again. Only with so many passengers telling us, in conversation, that they preferred Silversea, makes us also want to try them, as it is 20 years since we sailed on Silver Whisper. And they are now including shore excursions.

[RELS]

11 minutes ago, Pack Leader said:

Only with so many passengers telling us, in conversation, that they preferred Silversea, makes us also want to try them, as it is 20 years since we sailed on Silver Whisper. And they are now including shore excursions.

 

Maybe not a fair comparison, since our May/June 2022 Silversea cruise was still greatly affected by the pandemic, but for classic cruises, we find Regent's food variety, excursions, and entertainment better, and the other passengers just a little bit friendlier. Silversea offers more and often more interesting itineraries.

 

We'll probably use Silversea's expedition cruises again (loved our Galapagos cruise Feb '23), but we'll choose Regent if the itineraries are roughly equivalent.

[slidebite]

I was not really a Chartreuse fan either, but last month I had the Tenderloin Rossini and it was probably one of the best beef dishes I've had in my life.

[papaflamingo]

20 hours ago, Pack Leader said:

Disappointing meal in Chartreuse yesterday evening. Would not bother again. My Salmon starter was difficult to cut. My Chicken Supreme was small but moist but vegetables were very limited. My mashed potato  which I said should have been called Pomme Puree, lacked seasoning and butter. My wife received 3 pieces if Asparagus. I know you could ask for more but our meals had arrived and we were sharing a table. Apple tart was difficult to cut through and resembled a piece of toast. My fellow lady guest gave up trying to cut it. Wine waiter went AWOL and when he returned to our 4 empty glasses gave my neighbour the same Chardonnay my wife had been drinking, even though this gentleman had been drinking Sancerre all through the dinner.... First World problems I know but just wanted to share my experience.

I get the impression you did not share your experience with Regent, correct?  If not, you should.  If your meal is bad in Chartreuse they need to know so they can correct the problem.  Otherwise the problem will continue and affect other passengers as well.  

[Techno123]

I remember that apple tart from Compass Rose on the navigator - the pastry base was very strange almost cardboardesque  - the apple was good though.

[Pack Leader]

5 minutes ago, Techno123 said:

I remember that apple tart from Compass Rose on the navigator - the pastry base was very strange almost cardboardesque  - the apple was good though.

Agree exactly, like cardboard. There wasn't really a problem with Chartreuse it was just average, given it is a specialty restaurant.

[cwn]

3 hours ago, Pack Leader said:

Agree exactly, like cardboard. There wasn't really a problem with Chartreuse it was just average, given it is a specialty restaurant.

Funny about food. . We loved Chartreuse on the Splendor this past Dec. Ate there 5 or 6 times on a 13 day cruise.

The apple tart is really good fresh and not over cooked. First time I hand it in the Navigator it was done perfectly… crust tender and warn. Second time it was over done and the crust was cardboard. I make it at home and it needs to be watched baking and doesn’t have a very long shelf life after it cools. Not a good item for a large venue where it will sit around.