RSSC Mariner Alaska Review

[washdcguy]

Hey folks,

 

Short time lurker… and have really enjoyed and appreciated the input and feedback that the boards have provided. To repay all of the generous input, I wanted to share our experience on our recent Vancouver to Seward journey on the Mariner. Note that the Mariner will soon be off to Asia, but hopefully the input will be helpful to future RSSC cruisers and those doing Alaska next year on the Navigator.

 

To frame my comments, just a little bit about us – we’re foodies… love great food and wine and are always searching out new experiences. That’s an important part of our travel choices. We’ve traveled on RCCL and SilverSeas. We’re 30-something Yuppie DINKs that are enjoying the most of life before the kids come. This cruise was our first on Regent and a tough choice over SilverSeas. After we booked the cruise, my spouse and in-laws were intrigued by my Cruise Critic ‘secrets’ and were eager to test some of the premises… so enjoy.

 

Embarkation:

EASY. Easiest we’ve ever had. No lines, nice champagne, friendly staff, extremely organized and quick check in. We (read my spouse and in-laws) quickly dashed for the Spa to get our sea day reservations and had no problem (ok, we got on the boat very early). Thanks to the wise folks on here and my obsession with trying out the website every day (-ish), we had our reservations lined up for Prime 7 and Signatures. Was amazed that the individuals checking in next to us didn’t know about either restaurant until hearing of our reservations.

 

There seemed to be a secret code or hand shake to getting a second reservation at the restaurants, but were on the “D List” until a miracle birthday got us a second reservation at Signatures the last night.

 

Lunch that afternoon on la Veranda was unimpressive, though the service was great. We chilled in the Observation lounge until the cabins were ready, and were back up there for sail away. That quickly became our favorite spot on the ship.

 

Food:

La Veranda – The food was fair, at best, for both breakfast and lunch. The only thing that really impressed us the whole trip in LV was a chicken curry. Service, however, was always great. We didn’t try LVeranda for dinner. Food quality was on par with RCCL and well below SilverSea. This was the only food option that we found had such a significant variance from SS.

 

I’ve read lots of comments about the pizza – it’s not wood fired artisan pizza, and it’s not even as good as chain pizza, but it was a far cry from some of the bad reviews I’d read. Our unanimous review was the pizza was OK, but no worse or better that the rest of the food in LV.

 

Compass Rose – Depending on the dish, the offerings ranged from truly remarkable dishes that we had hoped for to slightly below average cafeteria dishes. We quickly learned to order one of everything that sounded good, and that ensured we were pleased with the overall meal. Wine parings were generally good, though sometimes a bit disappointing. The reserve list, and this amazed me, had some very nice wines at reasonable prices. Service was generally very good. Desserts disappointed consistently, and the cheese tray occasionally saved the day (depending on the quality of cheeses).

 

We ordered lobster tail and steak tartar as a special request one evening (as we missed the lobster tail when it was offered in the dining room). The lobster tail was tiny and overcooked. The tartar was literally pureed rather than chopped. We decided not to make any special requests after that fearing for the sad liberties that may be taken.

 

Signatures – Based on the reviews here, I was really tempted to cancel the reservation, but was I glad we didn’t. Every dish (from the truffle butter with the bread to the desserts) was incredible. Highlights were: the Foie Gras topped with truffle, asparagus and crab, the soups, the duck, the lamb, and the tiramisu. So despite the disappointments that so many others so clearly articulated on the boards, the four of us gave Signatures rave reviews and wanted to come back. Thankfully, a “surprise birthday celebration” got us a table for an encore dining experience on the last night. (note the hard to come by second reservation mentioned in the beginning)

 

Prime 7 – Very good. The crab legs were the most incredible part of the meal(ironic for the steak house). Succulent, perfectly cooked, white lumps of heaven next to a lovely hunk of beef. The amuse (baby burger / slider) was a wonderful start. Other highlights: tuna tartar trio, foie gras sliders, clam chowder, steaks (well seasoned & prepared, though consistently slightly overcooked), onion rings, truffle fries (though a mixed review from the table), and the chocolate cake. The wines were unmemorable. Unhonorable mentions – broccoli, corn casserole, mushrooms. Overall, a good steakhouse experience though just a notch below incredible. We may just be spoiled with our local steakhouse options and have unrealistic expectations.

 

Room Service

We tried a few things, and I’ll say the milkshake was the highlight. Breakfast was fair. We found that if we called in our order when we wanted it, it was much better than when ordered through the door tag. Door tag Eggs Benny equated to congealed hollandaise and a solid yolk. Yuck.

 

Overall Dining Experience– Desserts were especially disappointing. We’re chocolate lovers, and to our chagrin Regent is not the line for Chocolate Lovers. I apologize in advance, but the pastry chef has to go. I think the candy bars in the on board shop were better than most dessert options (Signatures Tiramisu & Prime 7 Chocolate Cake exempted). The coffee from the good machine (read coffee connections) was wonderful, but if you ordered espresso anywhere else you got the push button variety. Snacks and appetizers, across the board, were disappointing.

 

While I’m not sure it’s worth mentioning, on our Tracy Arm excursion, the ship provided bag lunches. The mish mash of what was provided <BY REGENT> was so terrible that none of us ate it. Pathetic portions of sandwiches, almost expired granola bars, stale cookies, and bits of dry coffee cake were rounded out with fresh fruit. I’m not sure that RCCL would have made such a poor showing.

 

The wonderful food we found, overall, surpassed the average to marginal meals we were subjected to. Overall, we enjoyed our meals on board and thought they generally met our expectations for RSSC. The food overall was on par to slightly below SilverSea, noting that the RSSC specialty restaurants were markedly better that SS.

 

Cabins

Cabins were nice, though slightly smaller that SilverSea. We loved our balcony and especially in Alaska where most of the sailing time there’s lots to see! We found the bed to be very comfortable and the overall room to be very nice. Our cabin attendant was the best we have ever had. The room was beautifully cleaned every day, and we noted that every shelf was cleaned and dusted, the entire bathroom spotless. While my request for the upgraded amenities (Aminichi – sp?) was initially declined, our attendant delivered them later and was remiss for not saying yes initially. They were slightly better, but if I were given the blind test to pick the best, I may fail.

 

Television options were disappointing (CNN, FoxNews, ESPN, TNT) but the in room movie selections were wonderful. When we had cancelled excursions (a whopping three), we caught up on movies.

 

Shoe Shine service was ok. I kept thinking, maybe they’ll try harder if I sit them out a second night. Nope.

 

Crew / Service:

The service was good throughout the ship. We found most of the staff engaging and wonderfully accommodating. They seemed to know when to let you have private space while also knowing when to engage. What we found most interesting was that the cruise staff was not as engaging as most other staff we’ve experienced, and the Senior Crew were completely un-interested in the passengers. Apparently, per my in-laws, the crew was the very opposite at the repeat cruisers reception.

 

Overall, we felt the service was better on RSSC than on SilverSea, though the SilverSea service was more polished / professional. That may seem a bit contradictory, but it’s the best description I can come up with succinctly.

 

Entertainment

Utterly poor. While some singers / dancers were good, the overall entertainment productions, bands, shows (Liar’s Club, Beatles night, etc.) left us disappointed every night. We were looking forward to the entertainment, but were left feeling we’d get better quality shows at the local Six Flags.

 

Cruise Director – We are now under the firm belief that part of the job description for a cruise director is to be obnoxiously happy and corny to a point that one would rather hear a choir of fingernails on the chalkboard. Part of this CD’s shtick was to do a flailing kick as she left the stage. It was all we could do not to get up and walk out when she came out to wrap up a show. We didn’t want to be “that couple.” That said, she was no worse than the others we’ve suffered through.

 

Passenger Make Up / Crowding:

Like I said at the beginning, we’re in our 30’s. We had no expectation of a large group of folks our age, so we weren’t disappointed by the 50+ crowd that dominated the ship. We generally enjoyed the overall mix of people and found most everyone to be friendly, sophisticated, and not pretentious.

 

One thing we were concerned about was the size of the ship and how full it would be. As has been repeatedly reported here, the Alaska cruises have been sailing at or above capacity. While ours was at capacity, the ship never felt full. The dining rooms (with the exception of Prime 7 & Signatures) were generally not full. We enjoyed all of the public spaces and the ability to get a seat anywhere whenever we wanted.

 

Dress / Kids:

Again, based on CruiseCritic (and the kids sail free offer), we expected lots of kids. There were a few, but not enough to be a bother and none that were at all disruptive.

 

While we like the idea of a dress code, there were no blatant problems (okay there was a sequin hat and some big sunglasses when there was no sunlight, regretfully that was within code). We were gently reminded to grab our jackets for our second reservation at Signatures, but (blush) we should have known better.

 

Overall

We spent the last evening comparing our various experiences and evaluating what cruise line would be next. We felt the value, overall, was better with Regent, but slightly preferred SilverSea. We enjoyed Regent and will include it as a preferred option in the future based on overall price / value and itinerary.

[poss]

A fine review! Thanks for posting.

I think, by the way, that most of the kids are back in school now. We had a large number of youngsters (not many teens) on our August cruise-- not bothersome, but plenty in evidence.

If you feel like doing it, I'd be interested in hearing about why you like SS somewhat better than Regent. It's a line I'd like to try sometime (now that they've got the larger ship).

Also interested: Which excursion did you like best? And can you compare the quality of excursions with those on SS?

[Paint Horse]

Thanks for taking the time to write the review for us.

[hvsteve1]

My experience has been it is difficult to get a second reservation at the specialty restaurants. However, we have had luck walking up to the desk after dinner has started and asked about availability. So long as we were willing to sit with other passengers at a table for four or six which was not being fully utilized, we were able to get in. In other words, they strictly control reservations but, if there are empty seats, will fill them.

[msmillie]

Thank you for a comprehensive review covering many aspects of your cruise experience.

Your comments were both entertaining and informative.

[Rally]

Hey folks, Cabins

Cabins were nice, though slightly smaller that SilverSea. We loved our balcony and especially in Alaska where most of the sailing time there’s lots to see! We found the bed to be very comfortable and the overall room to be very nice. Our cabin attendant was the best we have ever had. The room was beautifully cleaned every day, and we noted that every shelf was cleaned and dusted, the entire bathroom spotless. While my request for the upgraded amenities (Aminichi – sp?) was initially declined, our attendant delivered them later and was remiss for not saying yes initially. They were slightly better, but if I were given the blind test to pick the best, I may fail.

 

Interesting, because comparing the cabins on SilverSea and Regent, both in writing and on line, Regent's cabins are larger. Are you comparing apples with apples?

[wripro]

Mariner's cabins are indeed smaller than the Shadow/Whisper.