jben999

Another option on the ship is to make a special request for the dish. We’ve done that and it worked out great. As I recall the sea bass special order needed to be made at least 2 days in advance. 

Thanks dreamercruise. Just checked Viking Expeditions website.  They now say the ship  is “chartered exclusively for Viking” and will be refurbished in Dec 2020. So I suspect Viking Has chartered them for perhaps half of their voyages. Refurbishment might be only paint and adding Viking signage.  

The following copied from Viking website. 

Designed to operate in remote areas, hosting just 90 guests in 45 staterooms, guests on Viking’s new Galápagos voyages will sail on board Santa Cruz II, a vessel chartered exclusively for Viking and renovated to reflect the clean, elegant Scandinavian design for which Viking is known.

• Guests: 90
• Length: 235 feet
• Beam: 43 feet
• Class: Expedition Class Vessel
• Year built: 2002; refurbished November 2020

Just received brochure from Viking Expeditions announcing their new land/sea cruises to the Galapagos and Machu Picchu.  Their website shows the Galapagos ship as “Santa Cruz II built in 2001 and refurbished November 2020.”  The first cruise is scheduled for January 2021.

The interesting point is that Metropolitan Touring also is scheduling Galapagos cruises for January 2021 (and throughout the year) and sails the Santa Cruz II.  Photos of the ship from both company’s websites look the same so I’m speculating that Viking perhaps purchased Metropolitan or has contracted with them to operate their Galapagos itineraries. Does anyone know what’s happening?  If I want to visit the Galapagos should I book with Metropolitan or Viking?  Is there a difference?

Yep, internet not suitable for video streaming or FaceTime style communications.  But, in addition to benefits of faster speed (albeit still slow), we found WiFi to be RELIABLE and consistently available. This was a huge improvement from a year ago when internet signal dropped frequently, and we were constantly re-enrolling. 

Sharle, glad  your internet experience in your suite was also good. I remember that in our suite the signal was weakest and slowest near the veranda, and strongest near the door. Also, our suite was located very close to the stairs, which had a strong signal like the other public areas. Just curious if your suite was similarly located. I suspect that suites furthest from the public areas have the poorest internet. 

Just returned from a wonderful 10-day Voyager cruise from Rome to Jerusalem and want to share our experiences with the recently announced internet improvements and on-line survey.

We found the Wi-Fi internet performance to be noticeably improved from our Asian cruise on the Voyager last April.  Last year, we often had difficulty getting service in our suite especially during busy times, and, when we did get service, it often dropped.  This year we always had service in our suite, albeit slow.  (Note that we stayed in suite 824 on both cruises so comparison is fair.  However.  Our itineraries were quite different so our ship’s location may have affected satellite internet performance.)  The biggest difference this year was in the public areas (stairwells, lobby, lounges, restaurants, etc.) where internet was consistently strong and relatively fast (e.g., public area download was 1 – 3 MB/second, and uploads often faster at 3 – 5 MB/sec.  Suite speeds averaged a slow .2 MB/sec download.)  The public area speeds were fast enough for reliable email. Web browsing, reading online newspapers, posting photos etc.  And, the suite speeds apparently were fast enough for Wi-Fi calling as we received two junk phone calls during the cruise.

We had a few complaints about the online survey which performed fine with the faster Wi-Fi.   First, you log in to the survey using your Silver Seas Society number, which means you can’t submit the survey anonymously.  This probably isn’t a big deal for most folks, but we did hear a few say they wouldn’t participate because of it. 

Second, we used the Safari browser with an Apple iPad table for the survey and found the “progress bar” (indicates how far along you are in the survey) was overlaid on top of the primary question.  This made it difficult to understand the question, especially as the bar lengthened further into the questions.  We persevered, and in most cases could infer the question after seeing the possible answers.  Not sure if the problem unique to Safari or iPad.

Finally, the entertainment section of our survey didn’t seem to be configured properly for our cruise as it asked for ratings on all the Regent shows, performers, and lecturers, rather than just the ones for our cruise.  This was especially confusing as Regent apparently offers several different rock music, and Broadway type shows, on their different cruises, but each has a slightly different name.  Likewise, we didn’t remember the name of the pianist or lecturer.  Since it took a while recognize the problem, we probably rated the wrong shows and individuals.  We reported these survey problems in the “write in” section, and am confident they will be corrected promptly.

Anyway, we had a great cruise. Thank you Regent for the improvements.

I don’t think you can generalize about a ship’s boutique selection or inventory. While Regent may have several preferred brands and vendors, inventory and restocking are the key parameters. We are currently on the Voyager (Bangkok to Dubai) and inventory is running low. I purchased an expensive Ralph Lauren shirt on the first day and wife purchased a Mary Frances purse. Both items are now out of stock. Boutique manager says that ship won’t be restocked until June. So, if you see something you like, jump on it.

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I wonder if “crew to passenger” ratio should be considered in the cost ratings? The new Splendor has a higher ratio which presumably translates into greater luxury, customer service, and operational cost. Hence Splendor should be more expensive than other Regent ships for the same itinerary. Just a thought.

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