Reykjavik to Southampton 5/26-Voyager-on board now

[RachelG]

Sitting in LHR now.

We made it off the ship right at 8 am, driver was right there, and we made it to LHR in record time. I had allowed 2 1/2 hrs just in case. We made it in less than 1 1/2 hrs. So now we have a nice long wait.

Dinner last night with the girl from Tulsa was great fun. She brought one of her other friends and it was just like visiting with our son's friends.

Still no explanation for the tender fiasco last night. I am sure they got lots of complaints. It would have been nice to have been given a reason for the mess. Rumors flying, but no statement or even apology from the captain or cruise director.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

It's funny that the staff on the dock didn't know what was going on, since they are usually in radio contact with the ship. Too bad they screwed up.

 

Your trip sounded sublime!

[mikeIam]

We know a couple who were on this cruise. Possibly rumor, but they were told that there were a group of travel agents on board. When it came time to leave, one travel agent couldn't be found, so there was a delay until the person was found. They took pictures with times so they had proof of what had happened.They did hear an apology from the captain which they characterized as "a lie". They will be sending a complaint to Regent when they return home, because they classified the experience as unacceptable. They also said that this was the only problem they had experienced from Ft. Lauderdale to Southampton.

 

mike

[Island Cruiser]

mickIam, I don't understand your post. Am I correct that they held the ship in port to find the missing travel agent? Assuming the necessary delay wasn't too long, why would that be a problem? Where do pictures that are date and time stamped enter the picture? Did the captain's explanation regarding the delay, if in fact there was a delay, misstate the facts? You know time stamps on photos are notoriously innacurate when one is passing through multiple time zones the way you often do on a cruise ship. I got off a cruise less than a month ago. During the cruise we passed through three time zones and I didn't bother to adjust the time stamp on my camera each time we did. I was more interested in the date than the time. So many of my time stamped photos are off an hour or two. I just don't care. I've often wondered when cruise ship's tolerance for late arrivals ends and a missing passenger is left ashore. I'm sure it must have to do with specific circumstances. But leaving someone behind isn't a small matter at all. (I've had moments when I wished my ship would do just that!). Pat

[mikeIam]

The couple we knew were making daily posts to friends. From their posts, it is my understanding that Regent had a group of travel agents on board to show them the ship while passengers were off on excursions. Apparently one of the travel agents could not be found when it was time to leave, and Regent held the tender to take the travel agents off the ship until the "missing agent" was found instead of using additional tenders to provide for the passengers. The couple stated that the captain had said that Regent had done everything that they could to make the situation better. They disagreed, because they thought that Regent could have and should have used additional tenders rather than leave a large number of older passengers standing on the dock for 45 minutes. The male half of the couple, as a former U.S. naval officer, is quite critical of things that don't meet his standards of what he regards as seaman-like and shipshape. I agree that date stamps can be unreliable. I think that he was trying to document the time taken to get tenders to the passengers. As I said, this was the only incident during the whole trip that they thought was a problem.

 

I agree with your comment about late passengers and wonder why ships and sometimes even airlines seem to care more about late arrivals than people who have the courtesy to arrive on time. However, in this case, it was not Regent passengers who were at fault. He also stated that it had been intended for them to dock, but another ship (Prinsendam) had the docking space and they had to tender in a considerable distance. This may have affected the problems in providing appropriate tender service, since I have not heard of this happening with Regent in planned tender ports.

[Island Cruiser]

Thank you. I get it now. I would have been really irked standing there for 45 minutes. I think the option you described was vastly more passenger friendly. PaT

[OrpingtonT]

Thank you for clearing that up, Mike. RachelG will be really interested in the explanation when she gets home. Though you are right, an explanation is not a valid excuse.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

They have several tenders, they should have deployed them!

[RachelG]

Regarding the tender situation in Falmouth, when we got off our bus, there were a few people in line for the tender, perhaps 20. We were told that a tender would be on the way shortly.

Then we proceeded to wait, and wait, and wait. In the meantime, 4 more buses full of people who had been on excursions pulled in.

After about 30-45 minutes, a tender finally arrived which was full of travel agents who had been on the ship for a tour. We had to wait for them to disembark (another 10 minutes perhaps) before we could get on. As they were disembarking, another empty tender arrived, but it couldn't pull up to let people on because of the tender unloading the travel agents being in its spot.

The Regent people on shore were totally uninformed, kept telling us that a tender was on its way but they didn't know when it would be there. The missing travel agent would explain that, but if that were the cause of the mess-up (and it seems very plausible that it was), they should have just sent the empty tender on to pick up passengers or sent on the tender with the travel agents on and put the missing one on a later tender. At the least, someone on board ship should have been in constant communication with actual facts about what was going on, though I don't think anyone waiting on the dock would have been happy to hear we were waiting because of a missing travel agent.

Many people waited longer than us--at least we got on the first tender. But by the time we left, there was a huge line with probably 200 people in it (maybe more since I couldn't actually see the end of it) still waiting.

 

I still had a great cruise and love Regent. This is the first time anything like this has happened in any cruise (on any line) that we have taken. But it could have been handled much better. Surely the ship knew that the buses would be arriving at about the same time. They could at least have requested that people stay on the air-conditioned buses till a tender became available, but of course, that would have required communication with the staff at the dock, which wasn't happening.

[WC11]

Wow a stowaway Travel Agent! That beats all the WC issues. I'd like to be a fly on the wall where they found him or her.

 

This sounds like it was a little much but if it took the tender 20 minutes to get to the ship I bet they were out of range with their little business radios. Sounds like a little spin from the Bridge. Sometimes I didn't buy the excuses either.

 

As for the Navel Officer Regent ain't the Navy. Some people doth protest to much. I never once saw any lack of safety or lack of seamanship. But I remember Jamie Logan's line. "We are travelers not tourists". As the ship docked in South West Africa where luxury is a little hard to find.

 

Also if your hours late and on a private tour they will leave you although they do have Excellent Port Agents to assist you if that happens.

 

The World cruise ended better than it started. Maybe the new Bosses are learning.

[RachelG]

WC11, I bet you are right, come to think of it. I bet they were out of range of the radios. The ship was VERY far out, by far the longest tender trip I have ever taken. Of course, then, why were they forced to anchor so far out. Why did the Prinsendam allowed to dock while we were forced to anchor way far out?

 

BTW, totally OT, but while we were tendering past the Prinsendam on the way in, we saw a guy out on his balcony in NOTHING but his tighty whitey underwear. Just standing looking at us. Did he think we couldn't see him? Very odd. And his wife was standing beside him, fully clothed and waving at us.

[WC11]

That happened to me sitting on my balcony sailing into Brisbane, I'm looking at the port with my Binoculars and there is a girl sitting on her apartment deck looking at me with her glasses and no one is wearing much of anything. Yikes.

 

Sounds like your enjoying Voyager, I miss her issues and all. Today is my third Sunday without caviar.

[rallydave]

Have used Business Band Radios quite a bit and especially over water, would expect the range to be in the double digit miles range ( no less than line of sight so if you could see the ship, they could talk) so a 20 minute tender couldn't be more than say a max of 5 miles and doubt seriously it was anywhere near that far so the radios should have been working. Maybe someone on the dock forgot to charge his or her batteries before leaving the ship?? Radio reception should not have been an issue!!

[WC11]

They could of used cell phones too. My Iphone works anywhere in the world (Except at my house) and way out to sea. Something happened. Maybe the Travel Agent stopped off at the poll bar.

[travelbug924]

I was on this cruise as well and stood in that tender line. It was NOT a good way to end an otherwise wonderful cruise. As Rachel said, we waited a very looong time in a very looooong line (I also took a picture), the sun was sweltering and there were a lot of elderly passengers in line. We were given no explanations at all (the volunteers from Falmouth however were lovely. They passed out umbrellas and water. These were not representatives from Regent however, but just a Falmouth welcoming group). When we got on board, later that evening, the Captain did make a generic apology over the announcements but with no real explanation. I believe the travel agent story though as a bunch of people got OFF the tender wearing nametags and as the last tender going back to the ship was at 3:30 and that tender arrived at about 3 it certainly wasn't passengers. It was a real fiasco and not handled well by Regent at all. Unfortunate because again, it was an otherwise fantastic cruise.

[cruisealert]

Sitting in LHR now.

We made it off the ship right at 8 am, driver was right there, and we made it to LHR in record time. I had allowed 2 1/2 hrs just in case. We made it in less than 1 1/2 hrs. So now we have a nice long wait.

Dinner last night with the girl from Tulsa was great fun. She brought one of her other friends and it was just like visiting with our son's friends.

Still no explanation for the tender fiasco last night. I am sure they got lots of complaints. It would have been nice to have been given a reason for the mess. Rumors flying, but no statement or even apology from the captain or cruise director.

 

Since we are from Tulsa and will be on Voyager in late August, please share her name and we will try to say hello. Glad your trip went well. Weather here is hot and humid.

[RachelG]

Since we are from Tulsa and will be on Voyager in late August, please share her name and we will try to say hello. Glad your trip went well. Weather here is hot and humid.

 

 

She is the cute redhead--you will be able to find her! In fact, in her biography that they share, the first thing is that she is from Tulsa and went to Bishop Kelley.

[Lovesatq]

Hello Rachel

 

Jill and I made it home after three wonderful additional days in London. The weather was fabulous but not prepared clothes wise for the heat. I enjoyed your take on the cruise and agree with just about everything especially the tender problem. I really felt for the more elderly people in that long line but heard the reason was a broken down tender. Looking back now that I'm home, I would of gotten off the ship and not signed up for a tour at every port especially in a city like Dublin. Due to the fact that I've been to Dublin before, I know my daughter would of gotten more of a feel for the city if we walked it like we did in London. You miss so much on those long bus tours. I kept wanting them to stop especially on the long bus ride to the Giant's Causeway. I regret that I didn't sign up for a private tour since the scenery was beautiful. Happy your home safely and it was a joy meeting you....

[RachelG]

I agree about the tours. Actually, in Dublin, I had originally signed up for a city tour, but cancelled it after we boarded. I showed my husband around on my own in the morning, and I know he enjoyed it more that way. Of course, I had been there before. In a city where you have never been before, it is hard to know what to do with only a limited amount of time there.

It was great to meet you and your daughter. And glad you are home safely. I have been working like a maniac this week to get all caught up!

[Travelcat2]

Rachael: Finally had the time to read this entire thread. Really interesting! My first big surprise is that Abigail is back on the Voyager. I heard that she had transferred to the Mariner. She is a lovely person. Also, is "Stephen" the British waiter in Compass Rose (also La Veranda earlier in the day)? We looked for him on the Navigator as he said that he hoped to make a switch.

 

You must be missing being on board on much as we are:-)

[PaulaJK]

TC2

 

The ever beautiful & wonderfully competent Abigail was on Voyager in March,2010...& assume since then. She is just super! Paula

[RachelG]

Yes, TC, Abigail is on Voyager as is Stephen. Two of my favorites.

I have been having to work hard this week so haven't had much time to check the boards. But it was a great trip.

[basedow]

Who are Abigail and Stephen? Sounds like I need to find them while on board!

[Travelcat2]

Who are Abigail and Stephen? Sounds like I need to find them while on board!

 

I think Rachael will have to tell us which area Abigail is currently working in. She was a Head Waiter in CR -- then she was Maitre'd in La Veranda. Stephen was/is a waiter in Compass Rose. He goes above and beyond to provide superior service to guests. Stephen and Dennis (now on the Navigator) are our favorites!

[RachelG]

Both are working in CR now. Stephen works in La Veranda some too at lunchtime. Abigail used to work in Latitudes before it was changed to Prime 7.