egret

Pool lounge chairs. The rules were enforced on us once. We left our chairs to get something to eat, I don't think we were gone for thirty minutes but when we returned my lap top was at the bar.

Learned our lesson, one of us stayed at the lounge chair at all times until we were ready to leave for good. The wife went to the buffet and got lunch, I got thinks at the bar. The irksome thing is that the rule was not uniformly enforced. We saw several lounge chars with books shoes etc sit unmolested for the entire time we sat at the pool.

All inclusive? We owed $39 on our final invoice on the ship. We took excursions on each island. Drank what we liked etc.

Final thoughts on our cruise. Dinner Saturday was excellent at the Compass Rose. Even though we opened a new table and were sitting alone for a while. Everything turned out well. While we waited the waiters offered to reseat us to a table for two but we persevered and were shortly joined by two couples. The waiters were attentive and the courses came on a timely basis and our wine glasses were kept full. Just what we had expected when we booked Regent.

The final show was entertaining, the young folks did a good job singing and dancing.

Leaving the ship was organized and relatively painless. I was surprised we did not have to complete a customs declaration to clear customs. We purchased a coach transfer to the airport, more or less stress free although it took awhile for the A/C to get going. The coaches don't unload at the regular departures area. American Airlines location looked funky but we were going Delta and there were luggage carts available and we had only a short wait to check our luggage. We could have saved some time and money if we went by cab but the coach was comfortable.

My wife and I put a lot of information on our feedback form. I suspect we were not alone. I hope Regent takes the critiques to heart and works to get the bugs worked out.

Thanks for everyone chiming in on the thread I started. It would be interesting to get feedback from the others on board, especially those who have found the service consistently excellent.

Last night we ate at the Compass Rose, it was Beef Wellington night. My wife took her St. Patrick Day exemption for Beef Wellington. The preparation was good, a little more duxelle than we have seen in the past. Mine was delicious. I would have liked a little more sauce but I didn't want to kick over a bucket.

We joined a table with two other couples after the others had been seated a few minutes, this seems to be the one constant in our train wrecks. The first couple gets the choice of bread, the last gets a menu. This did not bother me, but the other couple started to get annoyed. We got our wine started and everything seemed to be going okay. The wine service vanished. This really bugged the other couple as we discussed our experience with service issues on the ship this other couple started to behave boorishly, in my opinion. It ended with the other couple arguing with the waiter. In the words of Marcus Lemonis, "It is People, Product and Process". I think the people are good, I think the product is good. The process needs work.

We went to the Crew Capers Farewell Show, its hokey but the cast tried hard to their limit of their talent. It was fun and consistent with the others we have been to on Regent. The cast seemed to be only Philippino, none of the Eastern European crew.

After dinner we went to the theater to see the Paradis show. We sat in the balcony about 10 minutes before show time. No drink service. We saw one waiter attend to a few of the guests and then he disappeared. I went looking for a nearby bar but was afraid I would miss the show. We enjoyed the show. But future guests should sit on the main floor or BYOB.

We didn't go to any of the lectures. I suffered through the last election cycle and even now sometimes turn off my beloved Squawk Box when the politics get stirred up. I certainly didn't want our relaxing vacation away from real life roiled up with BS.

I will post after we get home with any final experiences of note. Hope my observations are helpful to someone.

I think, and this may be totally off base, the waiter is supposed to greet the table and the antipasto is supposed to placed on the table as well as provide menus. The waiter then is supposed to take the entrée order and the guests go to the salad bar for preliminaries. After the meal the guests go to the dessert bar to select their dessert.

I failed to mention that after dinner at Sette Mare on Wednesday night my wife went down in a heap stepping down the stairs in the Theater. She was wearing heeled sandals and she says the heel caught in the carpet. Maybe not wear heels???

Anyway I ordered a Zambuca straight up and got it on the rocks. This continues the trend of little hitches.

Last night we ate at Chartrues(sp?) Service was very good and the meal was excellent. Specialty restaurants excellent service, open seating restaurants problems. This is something Regent and the Explorer need to work on.

We are on our way back to Miami. Seas are about 4' but we are comfortable with the motion of the ship.

We ate last night at the La Veranda. Train wreck!!!! My wife and I walked in @7PM and we were led to a table for 6. Waiter came by and gave us menus and explained it to us, which we did not completely understand. After about 5 minutes two couple joined us, nice folks, one from the UK and one from Naples. We had a nice conversation. 40 minutes later we were wondering why one couple hadn't been given menus and where was the waiter. Went down hill fast. The restaurant manager(I think) got involved and tried to get us happy. The ladies piled on, imho, but hungry people can be tough to deal with.

We went on the island tour with beach break while at Antigua. The guide was friendly and informative. We stopped at a fort and then Nelson's Dockyard. The guide at the dockyard was a little hard to understand. The museum there would take me more than the allocated 30 minutes to see so I guess I will have to return to Antigua. We then went to a beach for an hour. This beach was much nicer than the one on St. Lucia. Nice relaxing excursion. Folks who we met went on the Champagne and Lobster excursion said is was fabulous, they were waitlisted til they got on board. A young couple told us they hired a taxi that took them where the lobster fishermen hang out and had a lobster lunch and rode waverunners.

Today we did the Blue Cat Snorkeling trip. This was a legitimate snorkel trip. Fins, masks, and buoyancy vests, yuck. The water was rough and the crew had my wife inflate her vest and take a noodle along. I had to tow her behind me in order for us to get to the coral. Felt like I was towing a barge. Saw some neat stuff, lobster, eel, trumpet fish school of blue tang etc.

Today for a change we ate lunch at Prime 7. Great pea soup!

We anchored at St. Barts. The tender was really rolling so the crew was hauling each passenger from the ship to tender and the reverse. With so many mobility challenged guests I can understand their caution, I just rolled with the punches and let them manhandle me.

We have met a lot of nice and interesting folks. I do think they should make everyone sign a no political discussion form before boarding and confine violators to the engineroom. Please let me eat in peace!

We did the Luxury Catamaran Excursion, costs extra. The luxury I guess is you don't snorkel with those pesky swim fins. They also required I wear a flotation vest which makes snorkel diving tough especially with no fins. We did see some small sea turtles and the "reef" was a few coral formations. Experienced snorkelers will be disappointed. We had lunch which was good and then hit a small beach. The boat anchors in about 10 feet of water so you have to swim in to stand.

We did the Pacific Rim last night. Not our cup of tea. We were seated at a corner table with bench seating. The staff tried to make my wife comfortable with a pillow however in retrospect I should have requested a table with chairs. She did not enjoy the meal.

The service has seemed to improve over the few days we have been on board, we now get spoons with our coffee cups in the morning. One waiter even asked about our on board experience. Today we do Antigua.

We just docked in Barbados. We ate at Prime 7 last night and had a great meal. Service is better, fewer tables less logistics maybe. Very attentive and friendly.

Travel Cat, we were "trained" in tea by a neighbor from South Africa. She may have added her own spin but she always said you had lemon curd with your scones, and the Windsor Court always had lemon curd.

No problem with the stability of the ship, the seas have been nearly flat. St. Lucia was nice but the 4X4 vehicle did a number on my posterior. We did no off road, except some driver detours. Too many speed bumps I guess. The beach was a little disappointing.

Overall we are very happy with our cruise so far.

We had a great time at the "Baths" on Virgin Gorda. Nice walk down to the Baths then back up to the top to go down to the other beach to go through the caves the right direction. The folks supervising the excursion seemed a little concerned about losing control of the group. He came looking for us and requested that we stay close to him on the Bath side. Had some rain come and go but it was a nice afternoon. Two medical emergencies, one delayed leaving and one required us return to port.

My DW and I figure we are in the 10% on the cruise who don't qualify for medicare. Everyone we have met is nice. We have had great dinner companions so far at the Compass Rose. I like the singing duo. As long as the gin holds up I think I will have a great vacation.

Well the site is called cruise critic, right? No lemon curd for the scones at tea???? The ship is beautiful but the crew seems inexperienced. We were never met with a blank stare on Regent before that I can remember. Seems that many staffers on their first cruise. No big problems but the response time is noticeably slower than we had on the Paul Gaugin.

Our next door neighbors felt that the ship is less stable than the Voyager, so some of the posts I have read here may be accurate. I am not experienced enough to judge this. The DW was queasy after dinner Friday night so we missed the show. She seems fine now. I had the lobster at dinner Friday and the claw meat was a bit desiccated like it was refrigerated open for a while. Our table mate had a real problem with the lobster, It was not bad in my opinion.

More later I have to catch my excursion in Tortola.

News Flash from the Explorer.

No whistling windows in stateroom 631!!!

We're on the Explorer, left Miami yesterday. Good news, no whistling windows!!

I was worried for the last few weeks about our cabin selection. We are in 631 and saw posts indicating the G staterooms were too small. Our TA reassured me but I was relieved when we got onboard to find the stateroom comparable to the Paul Gaugin's that we know and love.

We ate at the Compass Rose last night and had a great meal and met some new friends.

Did the gym this morning. The treadmills were full but we were able to work our way in to get a decent workout. The walking/jogging track was closed due to high winds.

Hopefully we will get better weather as we move south.

More to come.

I was concerned when I saw the original post here. We just got on board yesterday, so far everything is as we remember it from 5 previous cruises. We stayed at the Brando on Tetearoa for three days precruise which was the best land experience we have everhad. Some foulup with the return flight to Papeete. We arrived at noon and there was no one waiting for us. The "airline" young lady called the PG and determined it wa the PG's fault and that we should take a taxi to the dock. We arrived at the dock, the PG took our bags and we were personally escorted onto the ship by a ship's officer and registered, invited to have lunch at La Varanda and then given our room key. They rose to the occasion as is our experience.

We are currently on the PG. We always (now on our 6th PG Cruise) book our travel with the PG. Our current experience is an example. We stayed precruise at The Brando on Tetiaroa. Somehow our flight back to Papeete got fouled up and we got back to Papeete at noon and there was no one to reansport us anywhere. The airline personnel called up the PG and they claimed responsibility and told us to go by cab to the dock. They took our bags and let us onboard for lunch and gave our cabin.

In other words if something bad happens they always seem to rise to the occasion.

We are doing our 6th vacation in FP this September. The process that works best for us is start with a precruise at a land resort for three days and then do the 7 day PG itinerary. Most trips we have done our precruise on Bora Bora to veg out and relax, then do the excursions or scuba on the cruise. We did Tikehau once which was great too, but it is not a standard PG cruises precriuse any more. This year we are trying The Brando.

We have been underwhelmed by the food at the land resorts. The service at the resorts is typically laid back. As long as you are mellow you probably will be okay but if you expect people to jump when you ask for something, the Paul Gaugin is more likely to make you happy.

You should be alright for the hike to the three coconut. We wore sneakers and the only problem was mud. Take a waking stick when offered because it is an unimproved trail.

Has anyone done a pre-cruise or post-cruise on Ta'haa? We have been there a while back but I understand there has been a change of ownership and some renovations since 2008.

Can anyone comment please?

Thanks

I have been through the shock of returning to the real world when departing paradise at the airport in Payette several times. The long lines and tedious process and relatively uncomfortable facilities. My question is, has anyone ever missed their departure due to the lack of service by the airlines? Has anybody arrived just one hour before departure and not made it through in time?

Just curious.

I too was disappointed to see the Tahitian guides not practicing accepted behaviors on the excursions. Dr. Poole mentioned it on his excursion. Standing on the coral, handling the critters, even abusing stingrays.

Hopefully, the relatively light tourist load will prevent irreparable damage. I think most of this is done in a effort to provide theater.

Thanks for the post. We are thinking about a no. 6 this year. What is the situation with the dive team? Any old friends left? Martin or Dominic? Is it true that you are required to take a refresher the first day if it has been more than a year since your last dive?

If due to timing we have to take a longer cruise, do you have an opinion which ones are better?

Thanks

Snorkeling was good at the Bora Bora motu for our five visits. Has something changed?

I have seen rays in formation, octopus swimming free, many different types of butterfly fish, Moorish idols, etc.

The mot at Tahaa is very shallow and you have to careful to avoid the coral. There are a million nooks and crannies to find life in, and also when we were there last a million sea cucumbers.