Mr Retired

Is free really free air if you decline the air and get a credit?

 

j

Just booked 2018 Asian cruise & declined business class air for $6000 credit.

So, our cruise has ended, we are at home and have had time to breathe and reflect upon what we think was probably the least successful Regent cruise we've experienced. I wrote things on my comment form that I never dreamed I'd write about a Regent cruise but considering this was also the most expensive cruise we'd taken, I feel my comments were justified. Some aspects were beyond Regent's control. No one can manage the weather or the sea conditions and in such circumstances, the Captain's judgement and final decision is unquestionable. We experienced first hand the almost impossible conditions in tendering ashore in one port and were not surprised that the Captain decided it was too risky. His decision was justified by the fact that the port was closed completely only minutes later. Those same weather conditions prevailed and meant we missed the next port too. Hard luck, then - just one of the chances we take on a cruise, but disappointing, of course. Weather meant we missed seeing the Amalia glacier too - disappointing, but hey ho, we were on a six star all inclusive ship. What's not to like?

 

Well by this time we were sailing under code red due to a GI outbreak. I wrote about that on my blog. Again, this was beyond Regent's control – in our opinion. I know there are ongoing discussions here and elsewhere about buffet serving but under normal circumstances, I’m happy with the way food is served in La Veranda and elsewhere and still prefer to help myself rather than have some serve me. When the Code Red was declared, (with 2% of the ship’s company being affected by GI infection), I regarded the stringent procedures introduced as a clear demonstration of Regent's commitment to resolving it. But sadly, for the remaining two thirds of our cruise, Code Red continued to be in force even though, in the last six days of our cruise, only one new GI case was

reported. Whilst Code Red was in place, the six star service faltered. Those staff we encountered on a daily basis (restaurant crew, entertainers, reception) worked their socks off to keep everyone happy and healthy. Wherever we were on the ship, there was always someone with a bucket and a sanitising spray within sight. But as the cruise neared the end, it was clear, the staff were exhausted and tired of focusing on sanitisation rather than

service, though remarkably, they never failed to smile. Regular Regent clients would notice the lack of canapés in the bar, as we did. No nibbles with drinks, no tempting treats - yes, anything could be ordered and would be brought immediately, but it's simply not the same when everything has to be requested. Oh, and all fun was cancelled for both crew and guests - no staff Valentine's party, no tastings, cookery demos, galley tours or

deck parties for us. Incidentally, we observed the pages of library books being sanitised, the Scrabble tiles were individually cleaned, the jigsaw disappeared and there were no brochures or magazines to peruse in the coffee shop. All perfectly sensible precautions but adding to the joyless experience that our cruise turned out to be.

 

So, when the Captain came on the loudspeaker for what came to be known as his 'daily apology' to tell us that we were no longer going to include the Falkland Islands in our journey, resulting in four straight sea days, you'll appreciate how the general mood shifted. Was it due to the weather? Was it due to a fishing net tangled in a propeller? Who knows? Sadly, by this stage in the cruise, many were losing faith in what was generally an invisible management team. The four days at sea were dull and in spite of the ever-cheerful CD's best efforts, the daily programme of activities was remarkably thin. Code Red (and Regent management?) limited what could be offered and we certainly did not pay $$$s to sit and watch films all day. For the first time on board a Regent ship, I was bored. Regent might have taken swift and comprehensive action to address the Code Red issue but in doing so, they forgot to consider their primary concern: the delight and satisfaction of their paying guests.

 

The final three ports, Punta del Este, Montevideo and Buenos Aires, we shared docks with other ships. Of course, people talk...It seems that those ships managed to get to the Falklands...so it wasn't the weather then. There was no further mention of a fishing net, so maybe it wasn't that either. So what was the mysterious reason for our change of plan? Who knows? The Captain's oblique and very verbose announcement gave no definite reason. Somewhere along the way, Regent dropped the ball - and we paid for it.

 

My reason for posting this here is of course, to share our experience. I’m an open and positive kind of person and really don’t like to dwell on the negative – I much prefer to move on to better things and leave the “stuff” behind. But it’s not fair to pretend everything was tickety-boo when clearly, it wasn’t. I’m hoping that, rather than a list of how every other cruise line would have done things better, we can come up with some thoughts of how Regent might have addressed the situation as it happened. So far, there has been no communication whatsoever from Regent – has that been your experience in similar circumstances or is that something which has changed with the new ownership?

 

Kwaj Girl, I hope the next segment of your journey goes more smoothly and a change of management team on board brings fresh energy and spirit! As you can probably tell, we are feeling more than slightly deflated here.

Mrs Retired and I were on this cruise and would like to commend Gilly for her splendid blog and, particularly for her final comments quoted above. Many of the very disappointed cruisers on board would have been rather more critical of Regent's handling of the "challenges". Acknowledging that the "challenges" themselves were largely outside Regent's control, the way they were handled was certainly not; and Regent fell well short. The most egregious example of the lack of concern and respect for passengers was the deceptive explanations of why the Falklands visit was aborted two full days before we were due to arrive. For many people on board, this visit was to be the highlight of the cruise, a fact Regent completely ignored in the almost casual way the cancelled stop was brushed off with false explanations.

We have delayed posting our comments for more than a month to give an opportunity for Regent to contact passengers with an apology for what turned out to be a lamentable failure to meet their high standards... and a generous offer of compensation. On March 7th, we received a "boilerplate" letter sent to all passengers containing an apology that "certain aspects of your recent cruise vacation did not meet the level of excellence we demand". This letter also made a "gesture of goodwill for the inconveniences" by extending a Future Cruise Credit of $1000.

I responded by email that we regarded this gesture as wholly inadequate in all the circumstances. I detailed all the ways in which we felt Regent's usual excellent customer service had lapsed on this cruise and asked for a reconsidered offer of compensation. This brought a letter dated March 25th stating that no additional compensation would be forthcoming.

Thus ends this saga for us. There is no doubt (from many Cruise Critic comments as well as other sources) that for most passengers the cruise was a failure and that Regent did not live up to its constantly touted devotion to customer service and satisfaction. Our present inclination is that we will not sail with Regent again.

We froze on the discoverer-and that was in the tropics. Are we going to have the same problem on the explorer? The dining room on the discoverer was sometimes so cold that they provided blankets for us.

Currently on the Explorer in South Georgia. You need parka AND blanket if you dine at Hot Rocks! However, that location is closed for a few days so that the lights do not distract the birds. Inside is warm as toast.

Has the Discoverer sailed anyplace yet where boots would have been common? I wouldn't think so but could be wrong for sure.

 

 

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We are certainly doing wet landings.... and more expected in the coming days. Officially, you need to bring your own boots, but there have been suggestions that a very few pairs are available for those without them, though sizing may be problematic. I recommend you bring your own.

When did they let you know that the changes were changed? That seems like it could have been even more of a disaster than the original change. I mean- what were you expected to do with the first news- wait to make your changes until you were onboard? Or did they indicate in any way that the first revised itinerary was just a potential? Oh well- at least for you (and hopefully everyone else) all's well that ends well.

 

Looking forward to your reports and have a wonderful time!

At the first briefing on board, the mistakes were acknowledged and attributed to typos by local agents! Hm! There was an indication that if anyone had made revised return arrangements based on the bad information, Silversea would work with them "to make it right".

After the initial delay and confusion about the return date, we have settled in to a most enjoyable cruise routine. In one respect we are very lucky: we number only 35 passengers! We have 96 crew members looking after us. So, as you can imagine, the level and quality of service is spectacular. There is a splendid camaraderie on board. Many of us are repeat expedition cruisers. The Team Leader is Juan Carlos Restrepo whom we remember from our Greenland cruise last year; he is truly excellent!

As our first impressions indicated, we would rate the Discoverer itself about B minus. The cabins and public areas are smaller than on the Explorer and we have a few niggles. For example, we have only tepid water from the “hot” basin & shower faucets and the air conditioning is temperamental. They are working on this! There are few windows in the main dining room which with low ceilings makes it feel a tad claustrophobic. On the other hand, the pool deck area is very pleasant and the arrangements for boarding the Zodiacs – from a platform at the rear end of the ship – beat the Explorer hands down. There has been a slight swell which, in our cabin on deck 6, gives us more movement than we would have expected from similar conditions on the Explorer. Food so far has been good but perhaps less varied than elsewhere on Silversea.

Our weather so far has been overcast and showery and quite cool. Today is foggy – visibility about 100 meters. This didn’t interfere with our visit to tiny Tyuleniy Island, a rocky outcrop covered with fur seals, Stellar sea lions, guillemots, kittiwakes and crested auklets. However, there was just a moment on the return Zodiac trip, out of sight of land and ship, with Bruno’s GPS malfunctioning, when we double-checked our lifejackets!

Interesting- although in September they have a 5 day space in Taipei. But that does mean the next 5 outings could be thrown off by a day- that is a lot of shifting of flights, etc. Hope there is further information on this.

OK, flap over! The revised itinerary giving July 3rd as the debark date has been withdrawn and a new itinerary issued. Debark is back to July 2. Lucky I hadn't unscrambled return plans!

So, we're aboard and steaming north. First impressions of the Discoverer are that it's a step down from the Explorer... but we'll see how we settle in.

That's the first question we asked. No response yet.

Here we are, holed up in our hotel in Otaru, waiting to join Silver Discoverer for the Russian Far East cruise due to depart today Saturday June 14th. We have received a message that the ship is behind schedule due to refueling delays and bad weather and will now depart tomorrow Sunday 15th. Silversea has arranged for us to stay on in our hotel at their cost for the extra day. The itinerary has been revised and we will no longer visit the Shantar Islands. However, the revised itinerary shows that we will debark one day later on July 3rd instead of July 2nd, which means we will have to unscramble and rebook our return plans :( No news yet on what Silversea proposes to do about that! Stay tuned.

Invitation letters (cost $40 each) were received via our TA 100 days before sailing. Corrected ones apparently much later:(

I know it's an Italian company but the silver boxes on our previous cruises originated in the US... hence my surprise also bearing in mind that FedEx overnight from Italy must cost significantly more than US domestic.

Yes we had the invitation letters and sent them to Pinnacle with all the other required papers. Not sure what was wrong but Pinnacle said some defect in the letters had to be corrected.

We are on the Discoverer on June 12... the box arrived a couple of days ago by Fedex Overnight from Italy and the luggage tags say "printed in Italy". I wonder if that is due to cost reasons or whether more Silversea adminstration is being centralized. Now all we need is our Russian visas... there was apparently a mistake on our invitation letter which is causing a delay but we are assured Silversea is getting that corrected.

We are booked on the mid-June 14 Russian Far East cruise. Looking forward to experiencing a "different" itinerary on a newly refitted ship. Seems pretty expensive in comparison with the Explorer and the accommodation is much smaller. Hope we avoid the settling-in issues which dogged the new Galapagos ship.

We have sailed in both ships. We loved the Spirit but would not sail in Navigator again. To some extent we were unlucky with Navigator... we were in Alaska and the weather was bad. The outside decks were unusable with the result that all the public rooms were overcrowded all the time. Navigator does not ride well in rough seas and she has a serious vibration problem... she was not built as a luxury cruise ship. In all respects, Mariner and Voyager are in our view a cut above Navigator and those two ships compare well with the Spirit. Generally, in our opinion, Silversea has a very slight edge over Regent but both are excellent.

What passes for bacon in the US - those thin salty strips - is edible (if at all) only if crispy. Proper English back bacon - what is called Canadian bacon in the US - is wonderful if grilled medium well and stays bendy.

I wonder if there is anyone on Voyager who can give us information on how the ship looks following the recent drydock. We're sailing in December and are full of anticipation!