More voyager mechanical problems

[sevenseassailor]

We were sitting in Compass Rose dining room at nice window table for two enjoying the great food and service with beautiful view of full moon shinning on the water when the ship started slowing. Capt Dag, sitting at the table next to us, got a call and promptly left the dining room. This morning he announced that we would be delayed by about 3 hours arriving in Manila tomorrow due to "technical problem". We are still only making about 15 knots. This is 3rd delay due to engine or whatever problems. Crew is not very happy as most are Philippino and looking forward to spending some time with their families. There is also pretty big crew change here tomorrow. I am starting to be concerned about mechanical reliability of Voyager. Internet and phone line off ship was down from Singapore to Brunei (2 days) due to failure of ship's satellite component.

[Travelcat2]

Definitely not good news. The Voyager is such a great ship that seems to be fine . . . until she has a problem (not a very intelligent comment. . . . just sad to hear that there is yet another problem). I do wonder why they use the Voyager instead of the Mariner for the world cruise. The Mariner had a pod replaced and seems to be in excellent mechanical condition (even if she isn't as pretty as the Voyager -- just a personal preference:-)

 

Hope they reach a port where someone can work on the problem. Thanks so much for keeping us posted. Your attitude during all of this has been wonderful.:)

[PaulaJK]

Reading Rick's blog is even more discouraging. Earlier in this WC there were 2 episodes of generator malfunction altho these seemed to result in minor adjustments to ports. This appears to be a different problem...most likely serious as reportedly [privaye communication] they were considering going directly to HKG to get repaired. Considering that this re-routing would eliminate the ports of China, this sounds serious. [Refunds of port taxes would be a minor issue in this event!]

 

Sadly, even at this junction this means a delayed arrival to Manila. Can you imagine how anxious the crew is? Larry, in his blog, states/questions the new policy of allowing crew's family members on board for only one hour each. Hats off to the pax who have compensated by renting space for them in the Manila Hotel....hope the crew can join them. Will be interested in Larry's follow-up as to why this new policy. I suspect that many of us have seen the video of the crew-family hapy reunions in Manila on WC past.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Too bad about Manila, and about the new policy--sounds like the evil Apollo's doing. Dag will not be pleased.

[hondorner]

...sounds like the evil Apollo's doing...

Larry said, "No one is too sure who is responsible for this more restrictive visitation policy -- local Philippines or Regent security concerns, new management’s decision, or what." I can't help but wonder why you would automatically assume it was "evil" Apollo's decision, especially in light of the fact that other than a couple of members of Prestige Cruise Holding's board of directors, Apollo keeps a strictly "hands off" approach to the cruise line decisions.

 

Under the new corporate management, the ships are sailing full, which I understand is different than under the previous management; the cruise line is showing a profit and has record bookings, and more than $90 Million has been pumped into improvements, and the staff to whom I spoke in January were universally in favor of the changes. That doesn't sound very "evil".

 

I've been hinting at this, but I have to be frank -- while I enjoyed the all-inclusive nature of Regent, I find the service on Oceania to be just as good, the food better, and the overall ambiance to be superior to Regent. Why is this relevant? Because the management of Oceania that has brought it from nothing to one of the most successful cruise lines in less than eight years is now the corporate management of Regent.

 

I have asked the question, "Why do the Regent regulars feel that the quality of their cruising experience has declined?" And the answer I have received is, "They rarely sailed full, and never made money." That may be a recipe for individual happiness, but it can only last until the cruise line fails.

 

I apologize for the rant, but I get tired of hearing about how bad Apollo is, when they have left all of the previous management of their cruise lines in place and have done nothing but pump money into the operation.

 

I firmly believe that to a large extent, what one gets from something like a cruise line is what one expects to get. If one expects it to be "evil", then evil is no doubt what one will perceive.

 

[sevenseassailor]

Can't remember who told me this and frankly it doesn't matter but they said last time the ship stopped in Manila and the families came onboard some of them took advantage of the privlidge. One example told to me was some kids were opening a can of soda taking one sip then going and getting another soda. Several other similiar incidents were related to us. It is unfortunate that a few can ruin it for everyone else. But I have seen passengers taking advantage of some things which in long run will ruin it for everyone else. So Regent "gives an inch" and people "take a mile". Told our sweet stewardess to come to our balcony to wave by to her family as we depart if dock is on our side. Since we are on deck 6 it is closer. Pulling into Manila harbor now.

[PaulaJK]

Ah, shades of children everwhere! I certainly hope that there was more depth to the decision than what you have heard to date. This is such a day of hope and love and pride for the crew.

[Observer]

From afar, I have been following the WC through CC and a couple of interesting blogs. Those of us who sail a good deal must be inhuman not to become attached to the crew who work day in and day out, thousands of miles from home and family, to make the cruise experience special. I wish I had had the opportunity to pitch in for the hotel rental.

 

One of the bloggers wrote touchingly as follows:

 

We pulled up to the dock in Manila just before 11am to a sight that I had to fight back tears. As I said most of the crew is from the Philippines and a lot of their families were standing there to greet them. We have become good friends with many of these crewmembers over the last 6 weeks, and some, we feel like are like part of our family, especially Marjorie, our suite stewardess. So to see their husbands or wives and little kids standing there was so thrilling for me too. This has to be the best moment of the cruise so far and one that I shall never forget. When we walked off the ship and took about 4 steps on the dock, there was our Marjorie with her 4 year old daughter’s arms wrapped around her neck, squeezing her mother so tight. We were introduced to her husband and told him we would take good care of his wife as we loved her too. We just said hi and bye as wanted them to spend time together as a family.

 

All of this makes me wonder: Why don't cruise lines stopping in Manila on long (WC) cruises make that stop an overnight stop so that crew can spend more time with their families?

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I can't help but wonder why you would automatically assume it was "evil" Apollo's decision, especially in light of the fact that other than a couple of members of Prestige Cruise Holding's board of directors, Apollo keeps a strictly "hands off" approach to the cruise line decisions.

[...]

I apologize for the rant, but I get tired of hearing about how bad Apollo is, when they have left all of the previous management of their cruise lines in place and have done nothing but pump money into the operation.

 

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I was being ironic, because Apollo seems to be the whipping boy on this board. They do seem to be trying to "normalize" procedures between the two lines, which kind of bothers me since I wished they would have left "Radisson" alone. (I know, I know, they've spent a gazillion dollars on the line, and good for them.)

[commodore2010]

I was being ironic, because Apollo seems to be the whipping boy on this board. They do seem to be trying to "normalize" procedures between the two lines, which kind of bothers me since I wished they would have left "Radisson" alone. (I know, I know, they've spent a gazillion dollars on the line, and good for them.)

 

 

I have to give Apollo a thumbs up. Carlson did not/would not spend very much money on these ships and it showed over the years. Radisson was just a cash machine(customer deposits) that Carlson used to leverage to build more hotels and TGI Fridays.

Heck, one of the smoke stacks on the Navigator was rotted through and basically fell over. Apollo came in and spent almost $100,000,000 on refubishing the ships, especially the structural portions of the ships which I hear were neglected for years.

 

Apollo does not do the day to day management of Regent. All the executives are pretty much the same as before with a couple changes.

I think one of the EVP's went to Silversea.

 

Now they appear to be working on the service levels and I am sure they will get those back to where they need to be.

I think it is a good thing that Regent got out from underneath Carlson. Carlson did not and certainly now does not have the money to invest in Regent and start a new build in the future. Apollo appears to have those resources.

[hondorner]

I was being ironic, because Apollo seems to be the whipping boy on this board....

Wendy, I've been reading your posts with enjoyment for years, and I had a feeling you were trying for humor. While it was tagged as a response to you, my rant was not directed at you, but rather at that "whipping boy" attitude that prevails on this board. I felt it was time for someone to speak up and set the record straight, and your satiric choice of words just happened to trigger my frustration.

[RachelG]

From afar, I have been following the WC through CC and a couple of interesting blogs. Those of us who sail a good deal must be inhuman not to become attached to the crew who work day in and day out, thousands of miles from home and family, to make the cruise experience special. I wish I had had the opportunity to pitch in for the hotel rental.

 

One of the bloggers wrote touchingly as follows:

 

We pulled up to the dock in Manila just before 11am to a sight that I had to fight back tears. As I said most of the crew is from the Philippines and a lot of their families were standing there to greet them. We have become good friends with many of these crewmembers over the last 6 weeks, and some, we feel like are like part of our family, especially Marjorie, our suite stewardess. So to see their husbands or wives and little kids standing there was so thrilling for me too. This has to be the best moment of the cruise so far and one that I shall never forget. When we walked off the ship and took about 4 steps on the dock, there was our Marjorie with her 4 year old daughter’s arms wrapped around her neck, squeezing her mother so tight. We were introduced to her husband and told him we would take good care of his wife as we loved her too. We just said hi and bye as wanted them to spend time together as a family.

 

All of this makes me wonder: Why don't cruise lines stopping in Manila on long (WC) cruises make that stop an overnight stop so that crew can spend more time with their families?

 

Your post brought tears to my eyes. I have been to busy to keep up day to day with the bloggers lately, but I can tell you from personal experience that these homecomings are wonderful events. Not quite the same, as the crew on these ships aren't in war zones, but I just welcomed home my son, a Marine, who had been deployed in Iraq. If what these families feel is even 10% of what we experienced with that first hug, it is amazing!

[PaulaJK]

Oh, Rachel..You brought tears to my eyes! Paula