dvalentine823

We sailed on Evrima in the Caribbean in March 2023. To follow our travels and onboard reviews, please see this playlist:

On 3/23/2023 at 5:46 PM, tfred said:

the Trek review is also about the onboard experience outside the cabin - the staffing is the big issue.  Various waits for requests and no one paying attention to the deck experience.  That doesnt seem to be room dependent. 

 

running a hotel is not the same as a ship.  Rc knows that and FourSeasons will soon discover that even with the management that FS has on top 

 

interested to see what your experience is dvalentine........

The overall experience that we had was either a lot better than Trek Trendy, or we are a lot less picky. We had maybe two issues with service. One which is detailed in our next video, and the other on the last night at dinner. 2 negative experiences out of 21 meals does not ruin a cruise, at least not in our opinions.

In the end, we enjoyed it enough to book another cruise three days after we returned home!

33 minutes ago, Djt0620 said:

 

Thanks for the video! We are set to sail on the 2April San Juan r/t coming up here in a few days. From the reviews and the small handful of good review videos online, I have a good idea of what to expect and get the sense if there is anything of an issue, Say Something. 

 

Any major tips or tricks to know?

Biggest tip I have is to look in the daily sheets for Talaat Nam being open for lunch. We did, and went down just to sit at the sushi bar. But there was no sushi bar at lunch; instead they have an expanded menu featuring dim sum. We ordered a couple of appetizers, and then the entire dim sum menu. As good or better than any land based dim sum I have ever had!!! 

Will feature this in a later video!

BTW, the cabin tour is up now, so subscribe and take a look.

7 hours ago, tfred said:

how did you book the cruise - TA or direct?  Did RC offer any OBC?

Direct with RC. No OBC offered. For us, it was worth it. The food and service was very good to excellent all around. There were a couple of duds (a couple of overcooked omelettes and one dry chicken sandwich), but nothing that prevented us form booking another cruise for Feb 2024.

Hello All,

I am a frequent Regent cruiser and CC member, and have just completed a 7 night cruise aboard the Ritz Carlton Yacht Collection Evrima.  My first daily VLOG is now available. Please subscribe to see the series progress over the next few weeks.

On 1/4/2023 at 5:54 AM, Lonestar101 said:

Regent is offering passengers a 100% refund of the cruise only fare.  Exact amounts are still being tabulated. 
About 130+ passengers permanently disembarked Seven Seas Explorer when it docked in Adelaide Jan 4th.  They had to make their own travel arraignments and pay for their trips home.  The rest of us are continuing on.  The ship’s crew has been fantastic. I feel sorry for them because they get no days off.  Full service all the time.

The ship is scheduled to go offshore from Adelaide, and rendezvous with a cleaning vessel for 24-hours and then proceed directly to Auckland, arriving Jan 12th.  At least that’s what we’ve been told.

I wish Regent was more transparent about how this all happened.  

My wife, Johnetta and her mother Millie, are on this cruise with you. If you see them, say hi!

On 12/24/2022 at 10:05 AM, arlingtonva said:

 That is the category on board that has a separate sleeping area - most like the PH suite on Seabourn, but probably 25-30% smaller.  By comparison, we have a 2023 booking with Seabourn for 10 nights in the Caribbean in an Owner’s Suite for around 20k.

We are scheduled to sail on March 5th 2023, Ft. Lauderdale to San Juan. Thank you, Arlington VA for your thorough review.

One question.....

You stated that the Signature Suite was considerably smaller that the Penthouse Suite on Seabourn. When I check the website descriptions for both, there is only a difference of about 5 sq ft.  Is is the layout that made is feel much smaller?

Thanks, and again, great review!

On 9/22/2022 at 8:17 PM, DaveFr said:

Daren, interesting experience. It was certainly unlike anything I or others on this board have experienced. At the time you booked your Mediterranean cruise were you platinum or above or was a deviation a perk of your suite if such a perk exists? Seven Seas Society members who are platinum or above get one free deviation per cruise. If you had a free deviation, that would explain what you experienced. The deviation fee after you changed your flights post cruise would have been assessed because it was your second deviation. If you did not have a free deviation perk, I guess you got lucky and someone made a mistake.

No, I did not have any perks related to the suite or SS Society. Maybe I just got lucky! 

18 minutes ago, DaveFr said:

 

I am confused. As far as I know and have experienced on flights from the US and Canada, if you have a pre-cruise package or a stay at the Regent hotel in the embarkation port, there will be no deviation fee if you arrive at the start of your package or hotel stay. If you arrive earlier than the start of your package or hotel stay, you must pay a deviation fee. If you arrive prior to embarkation day without a package or hotel stay, you must pay the deviation fee. Similarly, unless you have a post cruise Regent package or hotel stay, you must pay a deviation fee if your flight is not on the day you disembark the ship.

 

It is correct that there is a 30 day window on each side of the cruise in which to use Regent air.   However, that fact does not alter the necessity of paying a deviation fee as outlined above.

 

Just to be clear, a single deviation fee covers either OW or RT flights to and from the ship.

 

Please correct me if I am wrong. I don’t want to give out incorrect information.

 

Dave

I can only speak from my experiences.....

A few years ago we travelled on Regent through the Med. Embarkation was in Rome (Citavecchia). We wanted to stay in Rome for a few days prior, and only used the standard one night prior hotel stay pre cruise. So when we booked, we stated that we wanted to arrive 3 days early, and would make our own way to the Regent pre-cruise hotel on the day before embarkation. Regent took that as part of our reservation, and the flight details (when they arrived 90 days prior to the cruise) reflected that request. So we stayed in Rome (can't remember the hotel), and then one day prior to the cruise, we caught a taxi to the Regent pre-cruise hotel, which was a Sheraton Golf Resort.

This year, we wanted to change our return flights from Amsterdam. When we booked, we asked for 3 nights in Amsterdam (again, not using the Regent post-cruise package). The flights provided reflected this request, but would have required 2 stops to get back to Orlando. We did not want this, so we requested a deviation. We paid $175pp for this deviation, but this was due to the fact that we did not accept the proposed flights.

Again, I don't know if my experience was unique, but this is what happened. But, even if they had charged $350 per couple for deviations in the first example, that would have been less than 2% of the total cruise fare, and I would have gladly paid it!

Hey everyone, I will not be posting announcement of new videos on Cruise Critic. BUT........you can generally expect a new video every Saturday around 10am EST for the foreseeable future. In addition, I encourage you to subscribe and hit the notification bell. 

I hope you enjoy and please subscribe and get me to 1000 followers! I need to justify my exorbitant camera equipment purchases to Johnetta as some kind of investment. Right now, she isn't buying my line of reasoning!! 😜

14 hours ago, cwn said:

There is a deviation fee for that. 

If you have your trip planned out prior to booking, more than likely you will not face a deviation fee. I have done this on 3 out of 5 Regent sailings, and never paid a deviation fee, as long as your airports stay the same.  A regent rep once told me that as long as your flights occur within 30 days of your embarkation or debarkation, they can be included. Tell your TA, or the Regent phone rep your plans, and they will get it done.

If you change something after the initial flight booking, usually 90 dys prior to embarkation,  then you will be charged the deviation fee.

Just my experience, your mileage may vary!

Hello

I have just posted the first video from our 22 night cruise on Regent Voyager. Please subscribe to keep up to date with this new series!

Been on both, and while Splendor is newer, Voyager's atrium is much nicer. The food on Voyager was better then Splendor, hands down. But that could be that we were on the second sailing of Splendor after COVID, and the kinks were not yet worked out.

Splendor does have Pacific Rim, which adds to the meal choices. We have been on Voyager for 21 nights this cruise, and we would love to have another venue at which to eat. That being said, we could have had a different dinner every night, if we chose to shy away from our favorite menu items.

I do like the ability to do a full circle of the promenade deck on Splendor, and was disappointed that the Voyager's deck does not fully wrap around.

Staff on both are excellent; so no complaints there. 

Gym on Splendor is much bigger, better and more of a pleasant experience. On Voyager, it is a little claustrophobic.

Venues (lounges, theatre, casino, etc. ) are pretty much the same. Splendor's are probably larger, but they are never even near capacity.

That is all I can think of.

I will be posting videos of our latest Voyager cruise starting this Friday. Internet on board is horrible, so I am waiting to check into our post cruise hotel before posting.  Look for videos every week at:

YouTube: Travels with Daren and Johnetta

Currently on Voyager, and the internet is horrendous! Upgrade to the streaming package, and basically 0 * 2 still equals 0. Useless, got a refund.

Regents needs to fix this. Even the oldest passengers now at least want to be able to get reliable email and post on facebook, so there are no excuses!!

Hello All,

I am not much of a poster, as I prefer to publish videos on YouTube.  But I do have a few comments to share about our current trip (and comparisons to our last trip on Splendor))

1. Food Quality - The food from all the venues is so much better than on Splendor. Not sure why; maybe since it was Splendor's second voyage, they had not worked things out quite right. Even Prime 7, which was our worst experience on Splendor, was very good to excellent on Voyager. Steaks perfectly cooked and butchered correctly (filet about 1.5 inches thick).

2. Service - Both ships were very good, but Voyager has the edge; maybe due to the fact that the ship is only half full.

3. Facilities - Obviously Voyager is a little old and dated, and we downgraded from a named suite to a penthouse C. The atrium in Voyager is nicer due the full view to the top of the ship. Splendor wins in this category, though.

4. Internet - Both ships equally horrible! This is an area that Regent needs to really improve. In this day and age, there is no excuse not to have decent internet connection.

For weekly vlogs from the ship, please subscribe to the "Travels with Daren and Johnetta" YouTube channel. Because of point #4 above, the first post from Voyager will probably not happen until Aug 23rd.

Bye for now!!

1 hour ago, macbest said:

Prime 7 dinner, Faroe Island day

Much has been written on this steakhouse. For the last several cruises we have struggled to have any steak other than a fillet cooked to our liking or not being tender. We decided to play it differently today. 

 

We were seated at what I call the “chairman’s table” which has a view over the entire restaurant. We used to always get this table the time we went to China on the voyager in a grand suite. 

 

Service was exquisite. We heard earlier this cruise about being rushed and “hovered over”. We went in with this knowledge and asked for a slower paced meal. Dominic, the restaurant maitre D, checked in with us to make sure everything was going at a pace we liked. Our waitress, Danle was excellent. 

 

Now for the food. The standard starter (amuse bouche) is the roasted tomato soup with a blue cheese foam. Not a fan of blue cheese but this is very mild. I whipped it up with the soup and it was very refreshing. 

 

We both started with the tuna Tartare with fried shallots, Acacado and cucumber. It was excellent. Maybe a bit too much sauce ( a mixture of soy, and sesame oil) but very enjoyable. I noticed some type of nut that was also included that gave it a nice crunch to all the savory elements. 

I also tried the crab cake which was excellent. Nice lump crab with minimal breading and a tarter sauce that was enhanced with a squeeze of lemon. Delicious!

Our salads were the wedge salad (mine with extra sauce) and a Caesar that was a half a head of romaine. Both were excellent with a dressing on the Caesar that was different from elsewhere on the ship. The wedge had this smoky bacon that made it. 

For entree Laura had the slow roasted prime rib, perfectly cooked. I decided to avoid the beef due to past issues and try the double cut pork chop. Awesome! Especially with a habanero maple bbq sauce (shown). 

It’s all about the sides here. We had crispy onion rings, masked potatoes, creamy spinach, corn, potato gratin (incredible!) and green beans. All were excellent prepared. 

I love ice cream and only eat it when we cruise. Adding the Carmel popcorn? Wow match made in heaven. I have this every time and it never disappoints. Laura had a red velvet cheesecake. Everything tonight was well prepared, hot, and delicious. Can’t always say that (although i have been the last few nights!). Top it off with top notch service, what an enjoyable evening. 

For wine we ordered the Belle Glos, Pinot Noir. Santa Lucia highlands central California where some of the best Pinots are coming from. Probably the best Pinot Noir on board not because it was but because they don’t really have a selection to compare to. Had a glass of the R mix (Syrah, cab mix) with the main course as someone else suggested on this board and it was pretty good. 

Till our next meal, stay tuned. We are in the Shetland islands tomorrow and weather looks to be substantially better. 

Thanks for the Prime7 review. On our last Splendor cruise, Prime7 was a disappointment. Our steaks were tough and thin, and did not seem at all "prime". We have two reservations on our B2B cruise starting next Wednesday, so I think we will try the same red meat options that you chose!

8 hours ago, travlr21 said:

We have just a bit of experience, but Regent offered limited shore excursions on turn over day. In Hong Kong it was wonderful,  a tai chi lesson followed by a dim sum lunch, tea shop visit and shopping stop. I can't recall if there were other options. In Dubai the only option was a HOHO bus pass. I imagine it depends on the port and the number of people doing a B2B. (It is also a great day to catch up on laundry if you are on for an extended time and prefer to do some of your own.)

Thanks all for the answers. We are not really looking for Regent to offer excursions; I think we will just walk or taxi to the Sea/Titanic museum and then try to find some authentic fish and chips before heading back to the ship.

We will be doing a B2B on Voyager in a couple of weeks, with our first leg ending in Southampton. What is the procedure/security for leaving and boarding the ship?  I assume it is best to wait for the current cruisers to disembark, but should we wait to re-board until after the next set of cruisers have completed their embarkation, or do we just flash our cabin cards at anytime to re-board just like any other port?

Thanks in advance; this is our first B2B!

Thanks for the postings. We will be embarking Voyager in Copenhagen on Aug 10th. Not sure if you will still be on, but if you are, say hello to the black couple. We will be one of the few 😃, and I will almost always have a camera in hand!

8 minutes ago, Denny01 said:

And you realize the standard dining for Retreat is the Luminae. 
 

den

Yes, I do. I just want to be able try every eatery while onboard!

I will be traveling on Celebrity Apex next spring and have booked a Signature (?) suite in the Retreat area. Will this include access to Blu, or is Blu just for Aqua class?

Thanks!

We almost always leave the excursions, especially in a city that has easy, walkable port access. It has never been a problem, but we always notify the guide

12 hours ago, Lonedaddy said:

Are the thermal areas on splendor, explorer, co-Ed and require swim suit or separated.  Deciding if I need a swimsuit (Uk Ireland) don’t think we will be sunning by the pool much.

The cold and steam rooms, experience shower and the dry sauna are in the single sex locker room areas, but the heated stone beds are in the shared (coed) area in between.

On 4/13/2022 at 2:28 PM, pnsnkr said:

the carbonara had cream, lotsa cream almost like an alfredo that it overwhelmed the egg part of the dish

Yes! On our December 2021 cruise, I noticed the description in the menu included cream. So I avoided the dish, even though carbonara is one of my favorites. Not sure who the chef is, but everyone knows that a real carbonara never contains cream!

20 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

The only way to have this addressed is to make a stink about it while on board to the GM and also put it in the mid-cruise and end of cruise comments.

Agreed! On our last cruise in December 2021, it was impossible to find a lounger in the shade. I am also not willing to get up at 6 am to "claim" a space. I have decided to make a stink about it with the GM should it happen again on our cruise in August 2022.