Is the Explorer really that bad?

[Aloha 1]

We've been on Explorer twice in the last year and found her to be a wonderful ship. We did have a hiccup one night in Compass Rose but it was handled extraordinarily well by the Chef. Very pleased with our PH and general service. One difference from our Carib cruise to our Istanbul cruise was the lack of any evening service at the Pool Grill. Such a shame to eliminate this venue due to "bean counting".

Edited December 18, 2023 by Aloha 1

[flossie009]

5 hours ago, zak477 said:

Got off the Navigator December 1st and now we have been on the Splendor, Explorer and the Mariner since covid.  The quality of the food is mediocre at best. Except Pacific Rim venue, the food is consistently wonderful.  So why can one restaurant get it but the rest do not?

The good chefs probably have never returned and they only have sous chefs !  If them. 

The overall service on all ships is also mediocre at best. It is so obvious that they are understaffed.

If the dining venues were here at home, we would never go back a second time. The dining rooms are a perfect example of poor staffing. The pool areas too. 

Sadly, the work LUXURY in Regents adverts is misleading. What has happened to the cruise line we loved and are just one sailing away from Titanium members?

From this, and your post regarding entertainment on another thread, it appears that the Regent product no longer suits your tastes.

 

In the last 12 months we have sailed on Splendor, Explorer, Navigator and now Mariner. We have enjoyed the quality of food (ingredients & preparation), service and entertainment on all the cruises.

 

I sincerely hope you find a cruise line or other vacation destination that fulfils your requirements in the future.

 

 

[zak477]

It seems from your post your expectations of Regent are low. You are easily entertained and you don’t need the luxury that Regent has given us before Covid. Jason is no longer president and his replacement seems to be missing in action and/or senior management sits back and does nothing.  Read the threads about our Navigator cruise through the war zone last month. Horrible experience for $42,000+ and a compensation of 25% off the basic cruise price only.  The Splendor and Mariner were definitely short staffed.

Regent was always our goto for cruises. We hope the new management gets their act together and soon as we have paid in full for the Grandeur next month.

[forgap]

@zak477  I think you have some valid points but ones expectations of anything tend to be personal and based on your life experience.  I imagine if you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, Regent would be a definite step down.  Most of us, however, have worked hard for the funds to pay for a Regent cruise so that luxury is defined a bit differently.  For us, not being nickel and dime at every turn is luxury.  Spacious cabins with lovely decks are luxury .  Beautiful common spaces and engaging fellow travelers add to the ambiance.  
 

We have taken two Regent cruises since Jason was replaced by Andrea.  The first, in February of this year on voyager was wonderful, the second in October on Splendour, was our least favorite cruise ever as it felt like the management was dialing it in…nothing special, no hallway meet and greet, no deck BBQ, mediocre entertainment and lectures.  Food is subjective and has been good.  So, it remains to be seen if we can pin this on management in Miami.  We have two cruises booked for 2024 so time will tell. 

[labonnevie]

We too disembarked Navigator December 1st. 
We also sailed on Explorer in April. 
Our experience on Navigator was completely colored by the horrible way corporate (read ADM) responded (or not) to the wholesale port cancellations and itinerary revisions we were forced to endure. I agree with the many guests that believe Regent has lost their customer focus and perhaps many previously loyal customers. 
For us the service onboard was outstanding, with few, if any, misses. The staff bent over backwards to serve our every desire. As good as any we have experienced on eleven Regent cruises. 
The food had some serious misses, especially with inedible beef on multiple occasions (could not be cut with a steak knife) and a similarly tough duck magret. These issues were addressed with the GM, head of restaurants and the head chef. 
Otherwise, we enjoyed our food and twice did special order dinners (dishes we love from Pacific Rim and Chartreuse on the Explorer) that were fabulous.

So, a mixed bag. 
We did not book a future cruise with our fcc yet, not sure if we will. 

[flossie009]

On 12/18/2023 at 2:03 PM, zak477 said:

It seems from your post your expectations of Regent are low. You are easily entertained and you don’t need the luxury that Regent has given us before Covid.

 

Not at all. Our expectations remain the same and Regent delivers for us. We still like what Regent offers and that is why we continue to book & sail with them. 

 

We have cruised with Regent on their various ships regularly since 2009 and ever since our first Regent cruise we have met those who were always looking into a rose-tinted rear view mirror. We well remember on our first cruise a couple telling us over dinner “It’s nowhere near as good as Radisson”

 

We read with interest all the reports on Regent, both good & bad, but we can only report on our personal experiences.

Obviously your own recent experiences have not lived up to expectations and you perceive that standards have dramatically deteriorated post pandemic. This is not what we have found.

 

 

On 12/18/2023 at 2:03 PM, zak477 said:

Regent was always our goto for cruises. We hope the new management gets their act together and soon as we have paid in full for the Grandeur next month.

 

Reports from Grandeur generally seem to be positive. Hope you have a fabulous cruise 😎

 

 

 

 

PS: @pappy1022, What amused you in my post #52 ?

[zak477]

flossie009:  Thanks for your comments. So glad you are enjoying your cruise.  We began in 2008 with Regent and we too have enjoyed many wonderful sailings all over the world.  Sadly, our dissatisfaction came to a boil on our Navigator cruise in November ending Dec. 1st. If you read the roll call comments about this specific cruise you might understand our frustrations.  And, for us, this was originally (from he itinerary) a cruise of a lifetime that we would enjoy during our 50th anniversary. 

Hopefully enjoying the Grandeur in January will help to bring back the Regent wow we so enjoyed in the past. 

Safe and happy sailing.

[flossie009]

2 hours ago, zak477 said:

Sadly, our dissatisfaction came to a boil on our Navigator cruise in November ending Dec. 1st. If you read the roll call comments about this specific cruise you might understand our frustrations.

We have read the roll call and the main board thread regarding that cruise with great interest as we were originally booked on it. 
We changed to this Mariner holiday cruise well over a year ago, which was one of our better decisions.

Regent were blindsided by events but in hindsight could have handled customer relations a lot better.

As well as the drastic itinerary change, did you also suffer poor service and bad food quality ?

 

Hope you have a better time on Grandeur ☝️

 

 

 

 

[zak477]

To answer your question:  Our cabin upon arrival was nice. But when getting settled we noticed the bathroom sink with a large crack and piece of porcelain missing. When I took my first shower that evening, the handle bar holding the hand-held shower fell off, the bottom was rusted out. On day 12 we  woke to our cabin completely flooded. The wet vacs outside in the hall woke us up. 9 cabins completely flooded, we all had to be relocated. No problem as so many cabins were empty.

We obviously never starved but the buffet was your best bet as you helped yourself. Setti Mari was fine but Prime and Compass Rose was hit or miss. We returned only 2 meals as they made an issue of the server, then the waiter, then the maitre d, then on the first occasion the chef came out all wanting to know what was wrong. We stopped returning anything and just ate more bread. LOL

Salas served on hot plates, dinner served on cold plates, steak tough as leather, way to much sauce on everything, we asked for sauce on the side and twice never got sauce at all. 

Oh and we never had flowers on any of the tables. It became a joke that the cost was too high, even with the comedian.  

[pappy1022]

Flossie009, I do owe you an explanation. It is a pet peeve of mine when people on these boards pass judgement on others as to whether or not they should be cruising with Regent. It is fair to respond with your own experiences that may differ from others but to jump to a conclusion that Regent may not be right for someone is quite a jump. I don’t want to get into verbal debates any more so I just gave a smile response and bit my tongue. 

[Kwaj girl]

On 12/18/2023 at 9:11 AM, Aloha 1 said:

We've been on Explorer twice in the last year and found her to be a wonderful ship. We did have a hiccup one night in Compass Rose but it was handled extraordinarily well by the Chef. Very pleased with our PH and general service. One difference from our Carib cruise to our Istanbul cruise was the lack of any evening service at the Pool Grill. Such a shame to eliminate this venue due to "bean counting".

 

If a venue is not being used by more than 2 or 3 couples.....why waste time/food/labor?  That just makes sense and not necessarily 'bean counting.'

[eroller]

I can't speak for conditions on EXPLORER at the moment, but we sailed on her last summer In the Mediterranean and it was a phenomenal cruise.  In fact one of my best.  The ship is absolutely gorgeous and we enjoyed great service & cuisine.  I wish I was back onboard her now.   

[Aloha 1]

1 hour ago, Kwaj girl said:

 

If a venue is not being used by more than 2 or 3 couples.....why waste time/food/labor?  That just makes sense and not necessarily 'bean counting.'

Except : the venue was in good use every night it was open on the Carib cruise. The point being, if the weather is conducive, the pool grill should be open for casual dinner. Previous posters have commented that staff advised them it was stopped due to budget .

[flossie009]

6 hours ago, pappy1022 said:

I don’t want to get into verbal debates any more so I just gave a smile response and bit my tongue.

That’s OK then. I worried that you were being judgemental; something I know you abhor from others.

 

[carolina cruisin]

2 hours ago, Kwaj girl said:

 

If a venue is not being used by more than 2 or 3 couples.....why waste time/food/labor?  That just makes sense and not necessarily 'bean counting.'

Have to admit that miss the pool; grill option in the evening.  On our first two Regent cruises it always seemed to me that it was well used for a casual evening meal.

[Pcardad]

12 hours ago, Aloha 1 said:

Except : the venue was in good use every night it was open on the Carib cruise. The point being, if the weather is conducive, the pool grill should be open for casual dinner. Previous posters have commented that staff advised them it was stopped due to budget .

It ABSOLUTELY was closed due to budget. It used up 4 additional staff (on top of the standard staff loadout) and these 4 were housed in 2 guest suites. Due to 15% reduction in non-fuel expenses (as per SEC filing), NCLH decided to close it. While I consider it a great loss to my own onboard experience, I understand why is was necessary. 

Edited December 21, 2023 by Pcardad

[jjs217]

13 hours ago, flossie009 said:

That’s OK then. I worried that you were being judgemental; something I know you abhor from others.

 

Hahaha.  It's funny how some are so quick to judge others to be judgmental.

[labonnevie]

In my judgment, people who judge people that are judgmental are being judgmental. 

[jjs217]

19 hours ago, labonnevie said:

In my judgment, people who judge people that are judgmental are being judgmental. 

I think that just about says it all, but then, that is my judgment.