Yacht Club vs Regent Grandeur

[morpheusofthesea]

4 hours ago, no1talks said:

Cunard would like a word...

Sorry. Our only familiarity with Cunard was sailing on their Cunard Princess in the 1980's and we do not recall ever having such a distinguished library on board as you posted.

[morpheusofthesea]

15 hours ago, Fogfog said:

No priority for the upper suite guests? 

Unfortunate that they don't use a Maitre D to handle seating so that those present could sit for dinner 

I checked this evening with our butler. Telling him of the difficulty guests have in getting a table at the once a cruise Grand Barbecue. I asked him if next time we are onboard the Grandeur in this same cabin would he been able to get us a table. He said "No, it is first come, first served." Well that puts our MSC Yacht Club out ahead of Regent. Booking the Royal or Owners Suite our butler had reserved us a table at the special YC OnePool 'dining under the stars' (weather permitting) buffet. We had to go as he made such a big deal about it. We did not eat , but did have drinks at "our" table and remember doing the 'Conga' to the tune Volare.

[morpheusofthesea]

4 hours ago, KeepCalmBearOn said:

We went through our small luxury ship phase mostly in the mid 90's to mid 2000's

Our favorite ships back then were Home Lines Atlantic and Homeric, Stella Solaris, Ocean Pearl and Marco Polo became our summer home for 6 weeks each year (DW is still a school teacher, next year is her 50th year teaching). "Those were the days, my friend, we thought they'ed never end..."

[no1talks]

30 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Sorry. Our only familiarity with Cunard was sailing on their Cunard Princess in the 1980's and we do not recall ever having such a distinguished library on board as you posted.

Well, that was just a princess. Now, Cunard only has queens. 😉

I'm very glad Cunard will begin homeporting Queen Elizabeth in North America year-round, starting in '26. Itineraries will be divided between Alaska and the Caribbean.

Of course, the transatlantic route will continue with Queen Mary. This is our likely 2026 cruise, a roundtrip transatlantic. We're still debating which season.

Edited March 20 by no1talks

[morpheusofthesea]

2 hours ago, Pam said:

Did your wife ask the maitre d or the head waiter directly if she could have over the next few nights her steamed veggies with no salt?

She requested the no salt with our waiter on everything. And for some reason the kitchen doesn't read the requests. But last night our waiter was called away to work the Grand Barbecue and we had another waiter and she even suggested to order off the menu instead steamed broccoli with no salt instead of the side dishes "steamed vegetables" which was the mix that came salted. It was perfect. Since she is not our regular waiter and my DW was so happy, I tipped her $20 at the end of the meal. She came by our table this evening and recommended my DW try besides the broccoli, kernel corn no salt which was also not on the menu. I said to this young lady can you be our waiter for the rest of the cruise? She said she would find out and took our order. Our regular waiter appeared as if nothing happened and had the 4 tables in "his" section. Leaving the restaurant we ran into this young lady and apologized if we were making any problems and I slipped her $10 for her suggestions. 

   People that talk about tipping are mostly 'talking through their hats', which is "talk nonsense; also, hold forth about something one knows very little about." This is one instance where a little tipping ahead of time might be more fruitful. 

[morpheusofthesea]

Here are 3  thirty second clips of last nights entertainment to compare with MSC Productions on Seaships.

[morpheusofthesea]

Walking around the pool on both decks at the lack of enough tables but plenty of space to add more tables on deck 12 for the Grand Barbecue, we noticed only one station had a server... the lobster tails.  Maximum 2 tails per plate, per walk up. One had to make the effort to walk up as many times as they wanted.

  Met a gentleman in the elevator that loves the Yacht Club and appreciated the butlers on MSC and was on Explora Journeys also loves Crystal. What was interesting in his remarks was his joy of his unlimited consumption he had on Explora of crab legs that upon his return home he came down with a 'mild' case of gout. Didn't know there was a correlation between gout and seafood ?

Edited March 20 by morpheusofthesea

[no1talks]

15 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

"Didn't know there was a correlation between gout and seafood ?"

 

Without going too far into the weeds, gout can be aggravated by too much animal protein in general terms. Mollusks and crustaceans can be particularly inflammatory. Organ meat, too, should be eaten only sparingly if at all.

Edited March 20 by no1talks

[Fogfog]

14 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

This is the nicest Library at sea. Suites get a newspaper of choice delivered to stateroom, just like Yacht Clubs. Those that are not suites can find a 3 copies of either the Wall Street Journal or NYTimes in the library , but not to be removed from library.

IMG_3734.mov

Really nice!

 

13 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

An observation: early, but not too early, at 8 am in the morning the chair hogs begin to take the coveted lounges in the shade on the pool deck. On MSC (not so much the Yacht Club) the chair hogs get up earlier. Here the guests are older and sleep later.

IMG_3758.mov

 Sheesh-- Not even out there with coffee to read.

Funny story -- YEARS ago on Carnival on the Serenity deck-- a bunch of hogs had left stuff there. We were there with another couple we met onboard. After 2 hours or so..We all moved their stuff onto a table with chairs and took the loungers/table in the shade. They came back like 2 more hours later--literally had NOT been there for 4 ours or more. They gave us a look and we ignored them. 

 

We were scheduled to sail Regent in fall 2021 for a TA westbound from Vancover to Japan--through the inner passage, across with 2 stops in Russia and then a few stops in Japan with then land touring Tokyo etc. Regent was disappointing in that when they cancelled--they did not offer to move the cruise to the following season- no price protections, no 25% good will like MSC did for cancelled sailings. Disappointing as we  had sailed them years ago and wanted to ty them again.

 

Your "notice-ings"/observations etc are helpful.

 

How is the quality of the food compared to YC dining?

 

 

 

[morpheusofthesea]

3 hours ago, Fogfog said:

How is the quality of the food compared to YC dining

I  happen to like most every dining venue on all the ships. But DW is a chicken expert and she is rating the chicken as A number #1, top of the heap...Explora Journeys  followed by MSC Yacht Club, then Regent, then the Haven, lastly at the bottom Celebrity Retreat because she had indigestion every night in the Retreat. I gave her a bit of my Chicken Parmesan and she equated it with Retreat (I was fine). This reinforces my contention that most everything on the menus are pre packaged, not cooked to order, like her plain grilled chicken breast every evening which she loves. The dining room Compass Rose is beautiful, but the kitchen is more like Holland America.

   Now I ordered a margarita pizza for lunch from the room service menu. Worst pizza I ever had. I do not like to waste food, but in this case...  Strolling through the La Veranda and pool grills to see the lunch buffets we bumped into our regular dinner waiter and he gave us a tour of the buffet. I pointed to the pizzas offered and how they look so different from the one we had from room service. He admitted right away the room service pizza is not the same. The buffet always has 3 kinds, one margarita and 2 others that vary  daily. 

  Now on MSC one gets a real pizza from room service. I rate even Explora Journeys pizza the best on the highs, beating out its sister company.

 

[Fogfog]

Back to casual vs more formal

We like to dress for dinner-- meaning DH wears a collared shirt and blazer, I am in dress slacks/blouse or dress each night. 

 

What are your 2 cents on lines that hold to dress for dinner/evening lounge?

Even at YC we have seen folks show up in flip flops and shorts for the YC dining room at dinner.

That said, We are solid YC fans. 

And we are doing a TA in Haven soon so will be able to see firsthand the differences.

Pre cruise we feel disappointment that Haven is Not YC. and all of the extra charges on top of Haven'$ price

 

How is dress in evenings on Regent for dinner?

 

[KeepCalmBearOn]

14 minutes ago, Fogfog said:

Back to casual vs more formal. We like to dress for dinner-- meaning DH wears a collared shirt and blazer, I am in dress slacks/blouse or dress each night.

 

How is dress in evenings on Regent for dinner?

 

Regent is all "dressy" after 6PM in all public areas.....  which put me off Regent (and two other lines). I don't mind dressing for dinner, but I want back in my shorts ASAP. I dress every day for work in a suit. I want relaxed on vacation.

 

I would not wear shorts to the YC dining room for dinner, but I will go change back into shorts to go to a lounge or show after.

[morpheusofthesea]

So far this cruise line is no great shakes. We love the cabin most of all. Right up there with our Royal Suite and Owners suite on MSC. We vacillate daily on board. Yesterday we booked this same cabin for March in 2026 and we are booked again in the same cabin for 2 weeks in 2025. But (there's always a but). We got a notice in our cabin of maintenance that needs to be performed on our balcony. The railings need to be varnished. A new ship and the railings need to be varnished. So I took a look and sure enough (see photo). Problem is, we really live in our cabin. The balcony is the best we have ever had and DW does her laps back and forth around the aft of the ship as I sit in cushion, shaded lounger heaven typing away and dozing. To have the smell of drying varnish is not our idea of a vacation. So we went to the concierge and were not exactly pleased with her response. Then she said she would pass on our concern to the staff captain. Now we are just waiting for our cabin doorbell to ring. So much for the passenger comes first on this cruise line.

   We recall MSC also doing varnishing on its Seaships. MSC method was to detach the wood part of the railing from the body and cart it away to be varnished somewhere else and reattach some days later.  I know, I know , this is not MSC.

Edited March 20 by morpheusofthesea

[Fogfog]

Why can't they do this on turn-around day--

As you'd be off and the new pax could wait til the next am when it would be dry/curing and smell less?🤪

 

[morpheusofthesea]

3 hours ago, Fogfog said:

What are your 2 cents on lines that hold to dress for dinner/evening lounge

Well. To each his own. I could care less what others wear. DW and I like to dress up.  Find 'steerage class' infiltrating at 'cut rate bargain pricing'. The staff work years to get on this ship and were sold the image that they are now "ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen." They most certainly all know who we are and exactly how much we paid for our cabins, and our attire just confirms our 'class'. Dressing accordingly is a sign of self-respect and respect for the trouble to which the ship  has gone to provide an upscale venue. "The apparel oft proclaims the man." William Shakespeare

   Found a higher class passenger better dressed on MSC Explora Journeys. On this ship the ladies are the better dressed than the men. Only rule found enforced on Grandeur is no shorts in evening in restaurants.

 

[morpheusofthesea]

3 hours ago, Fogfog said:

And we are doing a TA in Haven

On second thought I will bump up the Haven restaurant to better than Regent. We had no problem with the quality of the food, just that it took 2 hours to prepare every evening the same plain chicken breast and one baked potato even preordering the night before.  Service is great. Decor is stunning. Food is not a Regent priority. There is something to be said about a 'ship within a  ship' concept catering more to its upper suite class guests in the food department. 

Edited March 20 by morpheusofthesea

[morpheusofthesea]

3 hours ago, KeepCalmBearOn said:

 

Regent is all "dressy" after 6PM in all public areas.....  which put me off Regent

Au contraire.... That is what is being posted, but untrue. Please see this 10 second panning of the Grand Barbecue at 7:30 pm. the only one wearing a jacket and tie was the photographer...me.

P.S. And I stood out like a sore thumb.

Edited March 20 by morpheusofthesea
P.S.

[morpheusofthesea]

Please do not let dress up rumors be anyones deciding factor. They dress like all the other slouches on all the other cruise lines. All day long t-shirts, ball caps, shorts galore, not as many flip flops as the older set are more prone to falls. There are no fashion police anywhere on the ship other than the hostesses at the restaurant entrances.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

My last trip on RSS was at least 10 years ago and they asked for no shorts after 6PM so I complied. If that has been relaxed, I might look at Regent again, for the right itinerary, but I am mostly cruising for the ship now, not destinations.

[morpheusofthesea]

The gym is similar to all the gyms. Same equipment as seen on MSC ships...Technogym. Not as many fitness conscious as other ships. Might be a good plus for the fitness concerned, no fighting over the machines. No machine hogs.

  In second photo the damaged glass pane behind the hot tub. Reminded us of the same damaged glass panes on MSC Seascape. Both Grandeur and Seascape were built by Fincantieri.

[morpheusofthesea]

1 minute ago, KeepCalmBearOn said:

but I am mostly cruising for the ship now

Ditto.

[morpheusofthesea]

Ran into Butler Vishnu at Chartreuse Restaurant (only sit down restaurant open for lunch port day today). Harvest Cay.

   Have to tender in and anchor off shore. Another NCL ship is docked. I guess either this ship is too big to dock or only room for one ship at a time. We have two hired tenders. MSC when it tenders needs 5 (Grand Cayman). Be advised it takes 45 minutes to load the tender and get over to Harvest Cay. No priority for upper suite guests, like MSC provides for its Yacht Club guests.

   Vishnu still keeps in touch with friends he made over at MSC. Hasn't heard from Mr. Balla. Thinks he left MSC. Tonight we will get a picture with him and our present butler in front of Pacific Rim. Because of him we can only go on cruises that have butlers. They are indispensable (most of the time).

[Fogfog]

2 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

 They dress like all the other slouches on all the other cruise lines. All day long t-shirts, ball caps, shorts galore, not as many flip flops as the older set are more prone to falls. trances.

🤣 ... "life alert" 

yet sad to read.

TY for your frank observations

We agree re dress, respect,  for both the client AND the staff that worked so hard to serve.

 

 

[travelwide]

Good evening MOTS! Can you ask Vishnu if he knows where Robert Moik is now. He was HD on the Miami MSC ships.

Enjoy your cruise. I am expecting more from Regent than what you are reporting.

[morpheusofthesea]

2 hours ago, travelwide said:

Good evening MOTS! Can you ask Vishnu if he knows where Robert Moik is now. He was HD on the Miami MSC ships.

Enjoy your cruise. I am expecting more from Regent than what you are reporting.

Wish I had read this sooner. Our butler called Vishnu away from his bust schedule to have a picture taken of the 4 of us together in the atrium tonight. If we see him I will ask.

  It took a couple of days and nights, but tonight the dinner was excellent. Our waiter is getting it straight and everything was great. Had a pumpkin pie with meringue topping that was out of this world.