Quick Voyager Review

[TV Dad]

Just off the Regent Voyager 12-night cruise Lisbon to London.

It was overall spectacular! However, the ship has a few issues.
 

  I have been on 30+ cruises including many ultra luxury cruises like Silversea and Seabourn.  Compass Rose is, by far, the best main dining room of them all. The only one l found better is the Cunard Queens Grill, but that restaurant is limited to people paying for the best suites.  Compass Rose has a large menu with plenty of every day choices on the left side of the menu. On the right side is an inventive menu that changes daily. We liked it so much we canceled one of our reservations at Prime 7 to eat at Compass Rose.  Breakfast there is quick and easy. The dining room was always empty. 
 

Speaking of specialty restaurants, you may prebook each restaurant before you sail and add reservations once on board. I suggest you book early in the cruise. 
 

Prime 7 is a wonderful steakhouse and I had my best service there. Don’t be afraid to double up on main courses. They don’t mind. Definitely double up on side dishes if you plan to share. The portions are quite small, especially the vegetables. 
 

Sette Mari was a surprisingly delicious Italian restaurant. No reservations allowed. First come first served. Plan on dining before 7:00 if you want to ensure you get a table. Here’s a hack to get around that. Special order your meal early in the cruise. Tell the maitre d you would love veal Parmesan or chicken cacciatore on a specific night. He will have it made for you and that guarantees you a table. 
 

Chartreuse was my least favorite specialty restaurant even though I love French cuisine. It’s personal taste. You may love it. 
 

The singers and dancers in the production shows were marvelous. Not a weak voice in the group. Try to catch at least one show. 
 

There was never a problem finding deck chairs by the pool. And drink service there was excellent 

 

The casino had a good array of table games, except no poker. Decent slots as well. 
 

All three lounges had both pre dinner and after dinner entertainment. I thought they were all great. 
 

The second night block party is a unique and fun way to meet your neighbors and make new friends. Definitely take part in it. 
 

If you have the opportunity to take part on the Deck 11 pool party dinner, do it! Lots of fun and lots of crew interaction!
 

My only two gripes on board were wine service and destination services (shore excursions). 
 

While on board we ordered several nice bottles of wine. But no-one checked back after the initial pour. On most shops rhe Somellier or waiter will refill your glass. Not on our cruise until I asked why! That was corrected, So it’s possible the Somellier was having a bad night or two. 

Also, we booked a wine pairing luncheon that featured a very expensive champagne. Five days After we booked, they told us they were out of the expensive champagne and had substituted a much cheaper champagne. It was a bit of a bait and switch, so we canceled. My advice: stick to the free wine included with the meals. That service was spectacular!
 

Destination Services was a hot mess! Three of our shore excursions were canceled and we were assigned random replacements without anyone contacting us. What’s worse, two of the excursions were ones we paid for! We were re-booked on free tours and not offered a refund until we asked for them. 
 

On several group tours there was strenuous walking up and down hills on cobblestones. Many elderly, frail passengers had trouble keeping up and we fellow passengers had to make sure they did not fall too far behind. Regent should do a better job of making sure the tours match the physical abilities of passengers. Perhaps, Another way of putting this is too many passengers are young at heart and frail of body. They think they can keep up and they cannot!  I’m not sure what to do about that!
 

Advice: check your shore excursion tickets closely as soon as you get on board! If you find discrepancies, join the long line at the shore excursions desk! We were not alone. 
 

Overall, this was a fabulous cruise. We took advantage of the future cruise booking credit on board and will definitely cruise Regent again. 
 

However, we may opt for private tours. 
 

 

[pappy1022]

Thank you for your honest review. I am looking forward to our Regent cruise in September on Splendor. I honestly don’t understand why excursions are being cancelled at the last minute, in your case 3 excursions. Regent must know, or should know, that their providers won’t be able to provide their service. My biggest pre cruise concern has been with Regent shore excursions. Maybe it’s justified, maybe it’s not, we shall see. It seems things have changed quite a bit post COVID. I would be very interested to hear from recent Regent passengers that have been on a British Isle cruise as to their shore excursion experiences. 

[NCCruzQueen]

@TV Dad  thanks for your review.  So glad to hear you enjoyed your first Regent cruise.  I am sorry you blamed Destination Services for slow, elderly passengers on strenuous excursions.  If you read the initial description Excursion List, we all have available to us, Regent specifically rates the level of ability needed.  Once onboard, with your tour tickets, Destination Services provides a detailed list of each excursion with the standard time and walking time with stated activity levels.  Also, the TV Destination Services channel again has a listing of each excursion and activity level.  Three times passengers are provided with descriptions on the excursions.  No, DS staff aren’t there at the busses to pull elderly passengers from excursions.  I’m not happy seeing older cruisers pushing themselves on excursions and slowing down the tours.  I’m not sure what to do about it, either, but I think Regent has done their job.  

[papaflamingo]

3 hours ago, pappy1022 said:

I would be very interested to hear from recent Regent passengers that have been on a British Isle cruise as to their shore excursion experiences. 

We did the British Isles last June/July on Navigator and every excursion  was great.  No problems or cancellations.  Met or exceeded all our expectations.  

Edited July 17, 2023 by papaflamingo

[Kwaj girl]

7 minutes ago, NCCruzQueen said:

@TV Dad  thanks for your review.  So glad to hear you enjoyed your first Regent cruise.  I am sorry you blamed Destination Services for slow, elderly passengers on strenuous excursions.  ....Three times passengers are provided with descriptions on the excursions.  No, DS staff aren’t there at the busses to pull elderly passengers from excursions.  I’m not happy seeing older cruisers pushing themselves on excursions and slowing down the tours.  I’m not sure what to do about it, either, but I think Regent has done their job.  

 

Some river cruise lines offer "leisurely/slower-paced" versions of tours/excursions to cater to those who need/prefer something less strenuous. I have mentioned this more than once in my end-of-cruise evaluations....to no avail.  

[papaflamingo]

3 minutes ago, Kwaj girl said:

 

Some river cruise lines offer "leisurely/slower-paced" versions of tours/excursions to cater to those who need/prefer something less strenuous. I have mentioned this more than once in my end-of-cruise evaluations....to no avail.  

Regent generally offers a tour in each port that is not strenuous, bus tour, etc.  However people decide to choose something they can't do.  Not Regent's fault, they seem to do their best in the description  to show how strenuous a tour may be and people either are unaware of their own ability or ignore the description. Not much Regent can do about it.  

[Kwaj girl]

5 minutes ago, papaflamingo said:

Regent generally offers a tour in each port that is not strenuous, bus tour, etc.  However people decide to choose something they can't do.  Not Regent's fault, they seem to do their best in the description  to show how strenuous a tour may be and people either are unaware of their own ability or ignore the description. Not much Regent can do about it.  

 

Sometimes those less-strenuous tours may not include "popular" sites - what I meant was that Regent's ground operators could offer a couple of tours that might not cover as much ground but yet go to some of those easier-accessible sites...just would not have time to go to all the places in the regular version of the tour.

You are correct that Regent can't stop someone from signing up for a tour, lest they be accused of discrimination.  But that does affect the rest of the group when having to wait for some to catch up (keep up) with everyone. 

[frantic36]

35 minutes ago, NCCruzQueen said:

@TV Dad  thanks for your review.  So glad to hear you enjoyed your first Regent cruise.  I am sorry you blamed Destination Services for slow, elderly passengers on strenuous excursions.  If you read the initial description Excursion List, we all have available to us, Regent specifically rates the level of ability needed.  Once onboard, with your tour tickets, Destination Services provides a detailed list of each excursion with the standard time and walking time with stated activity levels.  Also, the TV Destination Services channel again has a listing of each excursion and activity level.  Three times passengers are provided with descriptions on the excursions.  No, DS staff aren’t there at the busses to pull elderly passengers from excursions.  I’m not happy seeing older cruisers pushing themselves on excursions and slowing down the tours.  I’m not sure what to do about it, either, but I think Regent has done their job.  

 

I do feel that Regent, Seabourn and probably Silversea should be more pro-active with qualifying that if an excursion is rated 3 man strenuous if someone is frail they should be dissuaded from doing them. I am not talking disabled as I am sure many of us have seen disabled people especially young ones who put abled people to shame. It is all well saying people can sit on the bus etc but sometimes that won't work.

[papaflamingo]

10 minutes ago, frantic36 said:

 

I do feel that Regent, Seabourn and probably Silversea should be more pro-active with qualifying that if an excursion is rated 3 man strenuous if someone is frail they should be dissuaded from doing them. I am not talking disabled as I am sure many of us have seen disabled people especially young ones who put abled people to shame. It is all well saying people can sit on the bus etc but sometimes that won't work.

Regent excursion descriptions all have a disclaimer.  People simply need to read those.  For example, here is an excursion disclaimer for a castle tour in Scotland.  

"This tour includes some 2 hours of walking at the castle, over mostly even surfaces and with approximately 150 steps to be negotiated. The excursion is not considered suitable for wheelchair guests or those with mobility concerns."

Not sure how much more pro active they can be.

[NCCruzQueen]

35 minutes ago, frantic36 said:

 

I do feel that Regent, Seabourn and probably Silversea should be more pro-active with qualifying that if an excursion is rated 3 man strenuous if someone is frail they should be dissuaded from doing them. I am not talking disabled as I am sure many of us have seen disabled people especially young ones who put abled people to shame. It is all well saying people can sit on the bus etc but sometimes that won't work.

Though Regent provides the pre-cruise shore excursion list, onboard list and TV shows to provide activity levels of excursions, that doesn’t mean the passengers actually read/watch them.  Also, not all passengers visit Destination Services onboard.  The DS team may not see these  passengers prior to the excursion or know about their abilities until after the excursion is over.  Having a Regent host on each excursion to help those who need help should be available.  These hosts can encourage the cruisers to rethink the rest of their excursions to find some that may be more comfortable for them.

Edited July 17, 2023 by NCCruzQueen

[mj_holiday]

Thank you for taking your time to give us your review, those are always appreciated.

 

As someone who needs to avoid strenuous tours I need to add to this conversation about excursions that the ratings don't seem consistent between tours.  We have been on two man activity level that was more strenuous than described and also been on 3 man level excursions that had me wondering why the rating was given.

On our past 2 Regent cruises many of the excursions had activity level ratings changed between when we booked the excursion and getting on the ship.

[2012_Alaska_bound]

2 hours ago, NCCruzQueen said:

 I’m not happy seeing older cruisers pushing themselves on excursions and slowing down the tours.  I’m not sure what to do about it, either, but I think Regent has done their job.  

 

It would be so great if Regent could offer one bus on the tour for "Gentle Walkers" as AmaWaterways does on their River cruises. These were also great for photographers. I did notice when signing up for my Iceland / Greenland cruise on Navigator next summer, that there are several places where accessible versions of the standard tours are being offered. So maybe improvements are coming. Something in between would be great.

[2012_Alaska_bound]

Also have noticed that the TV Destination Services descriptions are not as thorough as they used to be.  In 2018 on the Amazon, each tour was described in great detail with appropriate warning and film of difficult terrain. I haven't seen this on my cruises since then.

[jeb_bud]

1 hour ago, mj_holiday said:

 

On our past 2 Regent cruises many of the excursions had activity level ratings changed between when we booked the excursion and getting on the ship.

I’ve noticed that too. I have changed my embarkation day routine to go through our excursion tickets and check the excursion flyer in the suite for changes in exertion levels. We do occasionally change our plans based on this new information. 

[forgap]

There are always unanticipated issues on excursions, too.  For instance, the impact of heat and humidity on a short flat walk can feel like a 10 mile hike uphill if you are not acclimated to the weather.  Thus, the need for a Regent staff member it be on the excursion so they can lag behind and trouble shoot if necessary.  
 

i agree, though, that the “little men” rating system could use some tweaking.  On our South Pacific cruise that included Hawaii, we chose to hike Kilauea Iki which was a three man excursion.  Our group was doing great going into the crater.  Then we had to navigate slippery shards of lava on an incline to reach the floor of the crater.  This was dicey and one in our group slipped  - she was bloody but OK to go on.  I asked our guide what would happen if someone was seriously injured.  He replied “…the most expensive helicopter ride of your life”. We then hiked the crater to the other side.  It was about a mile and very hot.  Then the hike got hard.  Going up to the top had so many switchbacks I lost count.  I whined to the guide between wheezes but he was a young, buff, athletic type whose sunny disposition could only encourage me and lie about the number of minutes remaining until we reached the top. I gave feedback to destination services when we returned that this hike should be 4-5 men and listed only for those who were very fit.  

[cwbegg]

We had Sunday Brunch a couple of times on the 2023 Mariner World Cruise.  We also had Sunday Brunch on the 2022 Navigator Grand Arctic cruise.

[irishwitchy]

Thank you for your review.  The wine service concerns me, because I have been very impressed with other ships with their service and paying attention to what we like.  

[Kwaj girl]

55 minutes ago, irishwitchy said:

Thank you for your review.  The wine service concerns me, because I have been very impressed with other ships with their service and paying attention to what we like.  

 

Might have ben a one-off as noted by the poster.  We enjoyed some bottles from the Connoisseur Wine List on Voyager this past Jan/Feb as well as Navigator this past Apr/May/Jun with correct decanting (when needed) as well as well-times refills.

[pappy1022]

6 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

We did the British Isles last June/July on Navigator and every excursion  was great.  No problems or cancellations.  Met or exceeded all our expectations.  

Papa, would you mind discussing specific excursions that you took and what you enjoyed about them/? Not looking for a lengthy response but some highlights would be wonderful. Thank you.

[Brownie54]

BTW, I have talked with many fellow cruisers who “never read the tour stress level ratings when reading info prior to booking an excursion, never read the information distributed in printed form once on board, and never watch the tour descriptions once on board on the television”. This must be SO frustrating to Destination Services.

I know better than to sign up for a 3-person rated excursion. My husband, however, loves them, and is often stunned by fellow passengers who are on these excursions. He has had to help many passengers along the way. Not what he signed up for, but that’s the kind of guy he is.

 

 

[papaflamingo]

15 hours ago, pappy1022 said:

Papa, would you mind discussing specific excursions that you took and what you enjoyed about them/? Not looking for a lengthy response but some highlights would be wonderful. Thank you.

I'd be happy to, but the cruise was 40 nights from Montreal to Southampton and included 9 UK ports so it would be easier if you had specific ports in mind.  Our UK only ports were:

Kirkwall, Portree, Belfast, Glasgow, Dun Longhair (Dublin), Liverpool, Fishguard, Waterford, and Portland (didn't do an excursion in Portland).  

 

[pappy1022]

Thank you. The ports we have in common are Kirkwall (Orkney’s Archaeological wonders), Belfast (private guide - Giants Causeway & Antrim coast), Glasgow (Panoramic Scottish Lochs), Liverpool (The Beatles tour), and Waterford (countryside drive and Irish Pub). Any other advice relative to our cruise is welcome.

[papaflamingo]

10 minutes ago, pappy1022 said:

Thank you. The ports we have in common are Kirkwall (Orkney’s Archaeological wonders), Belfast (private guide - Giants Causeway & Antrim coast), Glasgow (Panoramic Scottish Lochs), Liverpool (The Beatles tour), and Waterford (countryside drive and Irish Pub). Any other advice relative to our cruise is welcome.

We did the Orkney's Archaeological Wonders in Kirkwall.  The tour takes you to Skae Brae which is a 5000 year old Neolithic village of 10 clustered houses that was uncovered during a storm in 1850. You also visit Skaill House which was built in (I believe) 1620.  But I found the ruins of Sake Brae quite interesting.  Drive was pretty also.  I'm retired Coast Guard so interested in ships, etc. so driving past Scapa Flow was "cool" for me because of its historic Naval history. 

In Belfast we did the Titanic Trail.  like I said I'm a "ship lover" so seeing where the Titanic was built as well as the museum was great!  They've done a good job showing the scale of the ship.  The museum is really about the construction of the ship not the ship itself, so quite interesting.  

Glasgow we did Stirling Castle.  Beautiful old historic castle with amazing views. Very important in Scottish history.  William Wallace defeated the English in 1297 at the Stirling Bridge.  You can also see the William Wallace Memorial on the adjacent hill.  If you're a history buff (I like history, especially military history) it is a quite interesting castle to visit.  

Liverpool is easy.  We did the In the Steps of the Beatles Small Group.  I would highly recommend paying the additional for the Small Group tour.  You see the same stuff, but we only had about 12 people on our tour and it was extremely personal and intimate.  We had a fantastic guide and we were able to spend extra time at each stop with personal narration since we were such a small group and able to on and off the buses quickly etc.  Since we are from the 60's we just felt this was one tour we'd like to do in a small group, and really happy we did. 

Waterford we did Kilkenny Castle and Waterford Crystal. Kilkenny Castle was a self guided tour and quite interesting. Not as important as Stirling Castle, but still an interesting place to tour.  We also had some time to walk around the beautiful village before meeting for lunch.  Had a very nice lunch then (after searching for a missing member of the group)😏  we visited the Waterford Crystal Experience. I really enjoyed this part.  Not only can you see some great crystal exhibits (and lots of stuff for sale), but you follow the manufacturing process and watch the crystal being made through the various stages.  All in all it was a great tour. 

Anyway, hope this helps.  We really enjoyed the cruise over all.  Of course we had 12 straight days of port tours and we'd been on the ship for a month so by the end we were pretty exhausted (in a very good way).  That's why we didn't tour in Portland.  Last day of the cruise so we wandered into town, packed, and took it easy.  We did another 7 days in England visiting friends so our entire trip was 50 days! 😎

[Scout16]

One factor about the stress level of the tours is the physical level of the citizens of that country.  The people from Japan, Italy, and Spain seem to be very fit and able to jog up hills where as I come from a rural area and mostly drive to stores, park, and do short walks.  I do work at getting in longer walks prior to cruises.  The problem is that the more physically fit people do not appear to notice that members of their tours are lagging behind.

[Kwaj girl]

4 minutes ago, Scout16 said:

One factor about the stress level of the tours is the physical level of the citizens of that country.  The people from Japan, Italy, and Spain seem to be very fit and able to jog up hills where as I come from a rural area and mostly drive to stores, park, and do short walks.  I do work at getting in longer walks prior to cruises.  The problem is that the more physically fit people do not appear to notice that members of their tours are lagging behind.

 

One might be surprised at how regular daily physical activity (walking or otherwise) can definitely improve stamina and general wellbeing.  We have been doing this since retirement in 2015.  Much better than just trying for a quick "catch-up"  pre-cruise.