"Live" from the Navigator - 7/22 - 7/29

Leaving tomorrow for the 4 day pre-cruise excursion through Denali.

Upgraded to a Penthouse A Suite this week at a reasonable cost from a category H Guaranty. Happy to share with anyone privately.

Traveling with my wife, parents, mother-in-law and friend. We will likely eat on the early side of dinner times. We have reservations at Prime 7 for the third night of the cruise.

Happy to share thoughts as I go along. Let me know if you have any specific questions and I will try to answer.

Will also post pictures if I can figure out how to do that.

Thanks to all for sharing your experiences and answering some of my questions along the way.

Mark

Joining the Navigator Jan 16, our first Regent cruise. Also in Penthouse. Interested to know your views. Cabin pics would be great too. Have a lovely time.

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Rocks - we, too, are in an H Gty for a cruise next week - I'd definitely be interested in hearing the details but my PM capability is gone! I emailed the gurus to see if they could fix me up, so please keep an eye out for a message from me. Or feel free to send me one if you're able to PM me somehow.

Thanks, and if I don't hear from you - enjoy your cruise!

Bill

Not able to send you a PM, Bill.

Looking at the details for the Mariner cruise - it appears as though all cabin levels are listed as "wait listed". This tells me that everything is booked.

There were a number of cabin levels that were still "available" on our cruise earlier this week. I think they wanted to fill them with some additional cash, rather than just move "guarantee" level people up to those suites.

I wouldn't be optimistic for an upgrade for you, but this is my first Regent cruise, so I'm hardly an expert.

Enjoy your trip!

Mark , I am on that Same cruise on the 29th. Did you call your TA to get the upgrade? Forbo1@mac.com

Regent called my TA, who then called me to see if I'd be interested. Looks like your cruise is pretty full, but they may be looking for some people who will pay some amount to get into the PH suites. I'd ask your TA to give Regent a call and see what they are willing to do.

I expect I was just lucky to be on a cruise that wasn't terribly full.

Good luck!

They do these upgrades when the ship is full. If you are interested, you need to let your TA know ahead of time. And if the offer comes, you need to accept it quickly if you want it. No "I'll think about it", because Regent is wanting to fill the cabins and they will just keep going down the list till they get takers. By the time you think about it, it will likely be gone.

Have a great trip.

Rollingrocks have a wonderful cruise. We have had 2 cruises on Navigator and really feel at home and comfortable on the ship. We had no complaints at all, and for me certainly it's my favourite Regent ship. Look forward your posts and have a great time, regards Jean.

Have a great time all, but to you who are hoping for an upgrade to PH, keep in mind that these cabins are the same size as standard balconies. You do get perks like a butler, etc., but just saying. In the past we have been happy with an F I believe, the lowest level of balcony on Navigator.

Rocks - we, too, are in an H Gty for a cruise next week - I'd definitely be interested in hearing the details but my PM capability is gone! I emailed the gurus to see if they could fix me up, so please keep an eye out for a message from me. Or feel free to send me one if you're able to PM me somehow.

 

Thanks, and if I don't hear from you - enjoy your cruise!

 

Bill

FYI, there is nothing wrong with your PM's. CC has disabled PM's so you cannot PM someone on CC.

What is PM?

Private message. Many forums have that for connecting with other posters without divulging their email addresses. Cruise critic has disabled that function

Thanks for responding I appreciate the information . Looks like the only real difference between con level and ph is the butler . Looking forward to our first regent cruise. We have done 4 Oceania and one Silverseas and enjoyed them all

Arrived in Fairbanks last name night. Transfer to the hotel was fine. Greeted in lobby by our guide for the four days. Had orientation session with options for additional excursions in Denali. We went on our own fishing trip today with Arctic Grayling and Reed Moritsky. Rained on us all day so we quit early. Caught some fish - beautiful area and nobody else around.

Meet-and-greet with our tour group soon - 16 of us. Train to Denali tomorrow and extended excursion into the park. Should be fun.

Thanks for the update! Looking forward to your posts

Our pre-cruise trip got us to the cruise terminal at 3:45 pm for a 5pm departure! No real worries, but it was a bit surprising.

As expected, no lines to deal with at that point and we were through in a few minutes.

We walked on board and headed to our cabin, room 1021. Our butler was there right after we got in, but we postponed talking to him until we went through the safety drill starting at 4:15.

That went fine and we finally were able to start unpacking. There was a bottle of champagne in our room, but none of the butler requested items. That may be due to timing, since we didn't upgrade until 1 week before departure.

It was rainy, so the sail away party was held in Galileo's. A very nice lounge, modest in size, but plenty of servers around to help with drinks. There were some appetizers available, including chicken and beef satay and some wonderful crab salad.

I will take pictures of the current bar menu and wine lists today.

We ate very light in Compass Rose with our party, but then my wife and I had "real" dinner late in Prime 7. The foie gras was delicious, as were the crab legs. I like Pellegrino sparkling water and it was available in both places.

After dinner, we had a drink in the Starr's Lounge, listening to some piano music - again excellent.

This morning, we headed up to the fitness center, got there when it opened, and discovered 6 people wanting to use the 2 elliptical and 1 bike. The treadmills cannot be used until 8 am. This will be a challenge for us as we enjoy working out first thing and neither of us uses the treadmill. We will figure it out.

Excellent coffee in Navigator lounge and some snacks available on the pool deck.

Very good looking ship, nothing has struck me as "tired", but I'm sure I don't have as critical an eye as others.

It is windy and rainy this morning, and the seas are heavy. The motion is less down on deck 6, but it's not too bad here on deck 10.

We are at sea all day today. We plan on attending a lecture this morning and perhaps watch a documentary. We are due to arrive at Hubbard Glacier sometime in late afternoon. I hope the weather is conducive to being outside to see it and take photos.

Happy to answer any questions.

Cheers!

Mark

It all sounds wonderful. We really like the Navigator and find it so comfortable and friendly. Look forward to your posts, have a great cruise, Jean.

Hubbards is spectacular. Last time we sailed Navigator, we were three generations, we had 1002, 1004, and 1006 booked - was a smooth trip, and we had an amazing time. I hope you enjoy your cruise as much as we did ours. Have fun!!

Mark,

Thank you so much for doing this. Can't wait to continue reading.

Drew and I will be on the Navigator in March of next year, so your concerns and critiques and comments are going to be taken VERY seriously. (We normally sail Crystal).

Thanks again.

:D:D:D,

Scott

I wouldn't worry too much about te exercise equipment. Usually a bunch of people show up to exercise early the first day, and the number steadily drop off every day thereafter.

Our first full day was a day at sea, with a stop at Hubbard Glacier. The seas were mildly rough - with some noticeable rocking, especially on the upper decks.

We ate at La Veranda. I had eggs benedict, which was very good. Smoked salmon and herring was available, as well as made-to-order omelets and then some standard buffet fare. Service was pretty good. It feels a little small, perhaps due to the unavailability of terrace because of the weather.

We attended a lecture on glaciers and a video on whales. It took Terry Breen a bit of time to get to the main part of the lecture. She had a bit of self-promotion for her website, which has a great amount of information. Once on point, she was excellent - both entertaining and informative. The whale film was also very good.

I noticed a fair amount of vibration in the theater. There is a difference between the rocking of the boat and the machine-created vibrations. I will see if the vibration is better when we are in calmer seas.

I was able to workout at noon. The rocking of the seas made it a bit challenging to use the elliptical, but that is the only machine that i can use due to physical limitations.

I did not eat lunch yesterday, other than an ice cream cone from the pool deck. It was good, but not great. Will try more today, I'm sure.

We ate again at Compass Rose. Service was good, but not without hiccups. Food items were brought to the wrong person - two different times. Wine service was fine - if you wanted the "featured" wines. I like to choose my own wine - and I wanted the complimentary list. I was told there was no such list, which was surprising since I had used one the night before. The sommelier saw what was happening and quickly brought it over. During the meal, the "featured" wines - not what I had ordered - were about to poured into our table's glasses a few times. I like the attentiveness to empty glasses - but think there needs to be a better process to know what wines are to be poured for what table.

I enjoyed the Broadway show last night. Brandy has a fantastic voice and the show moved along at a good pace. The seas were mildly rough, which created a few minor challenges for the dancers, but they did very well.

I had a pedicure and was very impressed with the service and the technician. My wife had a massage and was less impressed, but still satisfied.

The piano music in the Stars lounge is wonderful. We have been there each of the first two nights. There is also a piano guy in Navigator lounge - but that is a little more raucous, with people invited to sig along. Depending on your mood, it's nice to have choices. There is also music in Galileo's, but we haven't been there late night yet.

Our experience with our butler has not been great. There is a bit of a communication gap, and we hadn't really been briefed on what to expect - or how we should use him. He is eager enough, but for someone that has never traveled on Regent before, some guidance on the coffee machine, the process for canape ordering and other available services should have been given. We still hope to have a good experience.

The sun is out in Sitka this morning - surprising since the forecast was for rain and hail. We will hope for the best for our bike ride.

Thanks for listening!

Mark

Can you get the name of the piano player? Always good to know who the good ones are.

Eugene is his name. Great pianist - wonderful versions of songs i know. Frequently, but not necessarily, jazz-oriented.

Thanks! We leave Monday and board next Wednesday. We have enjoyed your posts

RollingRocks,

Thank you for your reports good and bad, it's nice to hear what's happening while on the ship without maybe forgetting some when you get home.

Hope the service picks up for you and look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Pam.