makai 7

I have been on many cruises with Noro outbreaks and never caught it.

BUT, on a business trip where there were many of us confined to several banquet halls and conference rooms, with lunch buffet daily, at least four of us (all women) came down with Noro within hours of each other.

I was very careful with hand washing, used paper towels to open the bathroom door, used purell, etc. My husband works with me and he was there, and he did not get it- even being in the same hotel room with me.

I was down hard for 2 days, then mostly back to normal. Not fun at all, stuck in a hotel room when you are sick.

Here's a link to the CDC page on Norovirus http://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/

QUOTE:

"makai 7, I am stunned that you feel one mistake on jam and toast is a reason to criticize. If you spoke to your Butler about it I would be very surprised if it ever happened again. Mistakes happen, overall service is constant! "

I posted a summary of our experience on the Mariner this summer on our cruise from Greece to Turkey, with details regarding our overall dissapointment in the quality of the service and the food. There were many areas where the Mariner just "DID NOT" compare the the wonderful experience we had previously on the Navigator. I also gave very specific examples of areas that we thought Regent was less than excellent on this cruise- and my TA was so appalled that she forwarded my comments to Regent (and I did get a satisfactory response).

If you are interested in my overall impressions of our Mariner cruise, read my original posting.

Our overall opinion was based on more than the one example. I did not find any reason to repeat all the comments I made previously!

I find this really interesting because our first cruise on REGENT was on Regent Navigator in the Caribbean in 2011, and we were hooked. We LOVE HAL and have cruised on the Noordam 3 times- our favorite HAL ship, The Rotterdam was not as good as the Noordam, in our opinion. We usually booked either a penthouse or the SZ category stateroom.

This summer we were on the Mariner - and we experienced all the same issues around the food and service that that the OP commented on. It was nowhere near the quality of our previous experience - and we thought it might have been due to the different ship or the lesser quality of food supplied, but now it sounds to me like Regent has been practicing the same cost-cutting as every other cruise line- and it is showing.

Little things- like ordering room service breakfast and not getting butter or jam for the toast...and we were in a penthouse suite where you would expect a bit more attention to detail.

We can't cruise for about a year due to work scheduling, but we have been leaning toward another HAL cruise just due to the 'bang for the buck'. We don't drink enough, and don't enjoy the included shore excursions enough to make up for the cost difference. The food quality is what convinced us to repeat with Regent- and it just wasn't there on the Mariner (with the exception of the Italian restaurant, which we considered superb).

It's too bad. We really liked their product on our first cruise.

Thanks Mike -

I was surprised to be attacked about a post saying that I had a wonderful time!

We are actually thinking about returning to Tahiti in 2012 on a Paul Gaugin cruise - or maybe going back to SE Asia, but doing a land tour - the Orient Express does a train trip from Singapore to Bangkok that sounds terrific.

IF we return to Tahiti, you can be sure I WON'T use her as a tour guide!

Not sure why you have to be nasty... This trip was a long time ago and I was not at home to look at my trip logs and tour information.

It was several years ago! Maybe your memory is perfect all the time. Lucky you.

As far as swimming goes, some of the islands are surrounded by hammerhead breeding grounds. If you want to swim with hammerheads, be our guest.

If you have nothing constructive to provide, maybe it is best if you don't respond to posts. This is supposed to be HELPFUL to people.

We are considering this as an option on 2012.

Would you report back on the trip and what you thought about it?

We did tahiti on the Tahitian Princess (to the Marquesas) but would prefer something more intimate (we don't like that specific ship style).

Thanks!

We will be there in 2010 and are trying to decide between a tour and a way to just explore on our own.

How much time did Azamara provide with the "on your own" option?

Were you able to purchase any silk clothing?

Thanks!

If I recall, this is the Island where Paul Gaugin is buried. Princess provided free 'shuttle' service into town, where they have a polynesian dance and music demonstration in the town square. There were no tours available, as it was on a Sunday.

The shuttle service is some buses and lot's of locals with their personal vehicles.

We had a lovely woman take us to the Cemetery, and then we walked down into town (she offered to drive but we like to walk). Lots of photo ops.

There were a few booths set up with local crafts.

We walked back to the ship (the same woman passed us many times and offered to drive) but it was a beautiful day and we enjoyed all the stunning views.

There isn't much else there. Just a beautiful, rugged Island with very nice people.

I can't recall which excursion we took on Nuku Hiva. I THINK it was a 4x4 tour around the Island, the "Taipivai Valley 4wd Overland & Hike" but I really don't remember. IF this was the tour we took, we enjoyed it very much- it is as described though - the hike is strenous and the trails can be very muddy and slippery.

We thought every Island was more beautiful than the next.

Hard to comment on the tour you are waitlisted for unless you provide more information.

Which tour is it? What are you interested in?

Hiva Oa does not have beaches for swimming, if I recall correctly -- this is the hammerhead shark breeding ground and NO ONE swims there!

Sgcaver-

Could you (or someone else) provide more contact information?

Right now we have booked directly with HAL for the volunteer point excursion, and it is extremely expensive.

Our biggest concern is not getting back in time & being stranded.

If you have such good experience with Patrick, I would like to find out whether he is a better option than HAL.

Thanks so much!

Beth

Gixer/Samantha-

Thank you SO much for all the helpful insights, and your fabulous photos.

We will be in Port Stanley (we hope!!) on March 11.

Will there still be many penguins there at that time? Is it worth heading all the way out to volunteer point that late in the season, or would you suggest the closer options?

We don't mind the bumpy roads, we just don't want to pay HAL outrageous prices to get out to Volunteer point if the main reason (penguin viewing) is not going to be worth it to us.

Thanks again!

Beth

Dear Gixer-

Thank you so much for all the information on the Falklands! I only hope that our ship is able to tender there (March 3 Cruise Rio to Santiago on the Rotterdam). We plan to see penguins, and will take your advice since we want photos and "more nature".

When we were in St. Martin, we took the tour to Lotterie Farms. If you like "nature" this is the only natural area remaining on the entire island! There is a 2 mile hike (1 mile up, 1 mile down) with incredible views of the surrounding islands. I understand that they also set up some zip lines for additional fun, but we were there on a day when they were closed (they opened up for the HAL tour only, so it was fabulous).

They have a web site (sorry I don't have it). We enjoyed the hike and the information we learned about the history of sugar cane plantations in St Martin.

We didn't do any shopping!

Thanks again!

Beth & Kevin