Cruise report - Mariner - Sept 15 2010

[mborchgardt]

Mariner

Athens to Istanbul

September 15-22, 2010

My wife and I returned yesterday from our second cruise on Regent. I’ve enjoyed reading the many comments and opinions on the Regent board, so I wanted to post some information about our observations and opinions. I apologize that this is a bit long.

 

About Us

My wife and I are in our late 30’s. This was a special trip to celebrate our 15th anniversary. We left two kids at home, so we appreciated the availability of a 7-day itinerary which, of course, turns into a 10 or 11 day trip with travel time and pre- and post-cruise stays. Our last trip on Regent was for our 10th anniversary – we did the Baltics on Voyager. We have also cruised on Celebrity and Disney cruise lines in the past.

 

Trip Arrangements

We had been planning to take a trip to the Black Sea area or the eastern Med for quite a long time, so we booked this cruise about 18 months ago in April, 2009 soon after it was open for booking. We booked a category H which was the same category we had on Voyager for our first cruise. We did our air through Regent, but deviated so that we could go in a day early and stay a day after the cruise. There was some temporary confusion during the custom air booking process between Regent, us and our TA but that was all resolved within a few days. We would have preferred other airlines, but Regent’s options put us on Delta to Athens and on Lufthansa on the return from Istanbul. We only had one connection each way, so we were glad about that. Amazingly, all flights were on time and all our luggage made it without any hitches both ways.

 

We attempted to book our excursions online at the earliest possible moment when they became available, but due to a technical glitch with Regent’s web site (that perhaps has been resolved), we were locked out until around 8 AM so one of the tours we wanted (Ephesus with an expert) was already booked when I was able to call Regent. We were able to book everything else we wanted – more about tours later. We also did our dining reservations online the day they became available with no problems and pre-booked our spa appointments by calling Canyon Ranch (thanks to information on learned on this board!) This all made for a very leisurely

afternoon on the day we embarked which was very nice.

 

­Pre-Cruise

We rented a car at the Athens airport upon arrival and drove to the ruins at Ancient Corinth about 1 hour west of Athens. The ruins were very nice and fairly easy to find off one of the main highways. We made our way back to Athens in the afternoon and were delayed slightly by traffic caused by one of the truckers’ strikes – but that was the only impact we felt from the Greece financial crisis and civil unrest. Driving in Athens was a complete nightmare and probably the low point of our trip. Combined with inaccurate maps from Google maps, the crazy streets and heavy traffic were quite a challenge. We arrived at our hotel very stressed and made a pact that we would not rent a car in Athens again.

 

We had a very nice dinner at Daphne’s Restaurant that evening – very beautiful restaurant and very good food – and then stayed at the Athen’s Gate Hotel. The hotel was nice and very centrally located. We had a room on the top floor with a view of the Acropolis – couldn’t have asked for more. They provided a complimentary breakfast buffet on the rooftop terrace which was also a very nice experience. We had been to Athens before, so we hit a few highlights in Athens the next morning and then headed out to the port by cab around noon.

 

Arrival and Boarding

We arrived at the ship around 12:45 PM. Our cab was greeted by a Regent rep. They took our luggage and pointed us to the port security check point. Within a few minutes we were on the ship and were directed to the theatre for check-in. There was no line, so check-in took only a few minutes. We had lunch in La Veranda and took a quick nap on the pool deck before going to our room at 2:30. Our luggage was already in our room when we got there, so we were able to unpack and get settled. Our cabin steward came by shortly and made sure we had everything we needed. The entire boarding process was painless and couldn’t have been easier. Sail away was at 11:00 PM, but we missed it since we were still recovering from jet lag.

 

Dining

We had breakfast at La Veranda every morning. Many times we had the special of the day which included things like Eggs Floretine, Eggs Benedict and Swedish Pancakes. The selection of fruit, cold items and hot items was very good. Service was generally good, but not always great -- minor things like an empty coffee cup for several minutes that separate good service from great service. In these cases, usually a supervisor would notice that coffee or water needed refilling and bring it themselves or ask one of the wait staff to do it. We sat outside at La Veranda several mornings when there was availability and it was a very pleasant way to start the day. My only negative comment about the breakfast food in La Veranda is that the croissants and other pastries in general (chocolate croissants are my favorite breakfast item) were consistently overcooked – very dark brown and not at all what you would expect from a restaurant serving the type of breakfast served in La Veranda. Oh well, it probably kept me from gaining more weight on the cruise.

 

We had lunch either in port, in La Veranda or at the pool grill. Several days they had a small greek buffet set up at the pool grill with a variety of salads, cheeses and a few hot items. They were also grilling burgers and chicken. Lunch was generally good, but not as good as breakfast. The only time we felt crowded on the ship was at lunch in La Veranda on a few days. When most tours returned around lunch time, it became very busy in La Veranda and it would take considerable effort to find a table. This probably couldn’t be helped too much; however, they could have cleared dirty tables a little more quickly to improve the situation.

 

At dinner, the food and service were generally very good each night in each of the different restaurants. This was a great relief to us after having read many posts about declines in the quality of food and service on Regent over the past few years. If the quality of food declined at some point since our last cruise, it definitely was back to the standards we remembered – or perhaps even better. The first night on board was perhaps the only marginal experience we had with quality of food at dinner. I had the pork scaloppini which was fairly bland and unexciting. Every other night was very good. One evening in Compass Rose, my wife didn’t see anything on the menu that sounded wonderful to her so she asked if she could have a filet mignon. The waiter said he would need to check with the chef, but then asked what kind of sauce and accompaniments she wanted with it. They delivered with no problem. There was also a good selection of fresh fish from the local ports on many nights which was very good.

 

The service in Compass Rose was very efficient and timely; however, some waiters definitely had more personality than others. Wine service was very good and other complementary options were offered if the primary options did not satisfy. We were always able to get a table for two with no wait, most of the time by the window.

 

We were able to eat at Signatures twice – once on our reserved night and once again on the last night of the cruise due to a last minute availability. We found the food and service at Signatures to be excellent.

 

We also very much enjoyed Prime 7 and would have liked to have eaten there again. The service and atmosphere were both very good. After dinner in Prime 7 was probably the only time I felt absolutely stuffed after steak and lobster and multiple side dishes that we shared.

 

The only slight disappointment at dinner was the desserts which were just basically boring. This was not a big surprise as we remembered the same issue from our first cruise. Crème brulee is my wife’s favorite, but you can only eat that so many nights in a row before you get a little tired of it. We had cheese as an alternate to dessert one night in Signatures which was a nice change of pace and very good.

 

Room service was also very prompt. I enjoyed a mid-afternoon snack of a BLT sandwich on several days which fresh and delivered very timely. This was one of my favorite treats on our first cruise on Regent and I was glad to be able to continue the tradition.

 

Our suite

Regent really shines when it comes to the suite accommodations. We were very pleased with our room and didn’t really notice that it was smaller than our comparable suite on Voyager. Everything was very well maintained and clean. We particularly liked the bathroom with the large shower and preferred this to the smaller shower on Voyager. The closet was, of course, large enough to accommodate our clothes and all of the empty luggage fit under the bed. Our room steward was excellent and took care of everything we needed. As mentioned above we were in a Category H on deck 7. I cannot imagine why we would every book another suite on Voyager or Mariner. The midship location was excellent, in our opinion. There was no noise from above, below, or from the public areas on Deck 7.

 

As to the toiletry issue mentioned in several posts, we brought our own toiletries after reading about the quality of the “standard” Regent toiletries. On our previous cruise with Regent they were using Aveda which was much more preferable and I understand that they will be switching to L’Occitane as the standard product next February or March. Definitely a good change and too long in coming.

 

Ports and Excursions

We used the ships tours in 3 ports. We did “standard” free tours in Crete and Rhodes and a premium option in Istanbul. We found the tours to be very good. They only suffered from the usual problem with large group tours – which relates to passengers who don’t stick with the group or decide that it’s OK to make the rest of the group wait on the bus while they shop for an extra 5 or 10 minutes at the end of tour.

 

We arranged on our own for a private guide in Kusadasi so that we could see more of the sites in the Ephesus area. Our guide was very knowledgeable about the sites.

 

Our only complaint in this area relates to the ports in which we tendered. We were not on ship’s tours in these ports and independent guests had to wait until the tours had departed. This delayed our ability to get ashore and was really unacceptable in our opinion. They need to find another option. In Mykonos, for example, I heard one of the staff radio the cruise director that they 75 independent guests waiting to go ashore and still had 2 more tenders of tours groups to get over first. It’s not my problem to solve, but there has to be a better way. Perhaps independent guests should be able to book this option online to secure a place on an earlier tender or something. Of course this was not a problem were we docked, so luckily the 2nd half of our cruise was not impacted.

 

The winds at Delos and Mykonos were very high. Tendering to Delos was quite rough. The Captain made the decision to anchor off the new port on Mykonos rather than the usual anchoring spot near the old harbor. The ship staff arranged for a shuttle bus into town since it was several miles from the new port to the town where we were scheduled to come ashore.

 

As a side note, the ship had to rush to Rhodes after we departed Crete due to a medical situation on board. They made an announcement to let guests know because we were cruising at such a high speed. It did create quite a bit more movement on the ship then we had otherwise experienced due to the speed and waves, but I wouldn’t think that it created problems for anyone.

 

Our arrival into Istanbul was also slightly delayed (about 20 minutes) due to high winds.

 

Entertainment and Other

Let me start by saying that we are not fans of cruise ship entertainment. (The only exception was on the Disney cruise line where the shows were excellent quality and entertaining for both adults and children.) We only went to one evening show on this cruise. I won’t say a lot more about this because we generally don’t enjoy this type of entertainment making it difficult for me to objectively comment about the quality of the singers, dancers and overall shows. We did enjoy a small trio that played in several of the lounges before dinner. They were fairly engaging and entertaining.

 

This cruise was fairly port intensive and we didn’t have a great deal of free time to lounge around the ship during the day. We did use the spa once for massages. The quality of the massage therapists was much improved over what we experienced on our last Regent cruise. I don’t know if that’s attributable to Canyon Ranch, to it being a different ship, or to something other factor – but they were much better this time around.

 

Disembarkation and Post-Cruise

Because we spent an overnight on the ship in Istanbul, guests had quite a bit of flexibility in disembarking the ship. We had arranged for a transfer to our hotel in Istanbul and left the ship just before 9 AM after having breakfast in La Veranda. Everything was very smooth.

 

We spent one night in Istanbul at the Hotel Sultanhan in the center of the old part of the city. The hotel was very accommodating and had a great location between the Blue Mosque and the Grand Bazaar.

 

Overall

The Mariner is a beautiful , very well-maintained ship. The service and food met our expectations in most cases and even exceeded in some areas based on some of the reviews we had read over the past year. It wasn’t perfect, but I think it would be unrealistic to think that absolutely everything could be perfect every time. I can’t say that we won’t consider Seabourne or other premium lines in the future, but we will definitely continue to consider Regent for future cruises.

 

I’d be happy to answer specific questions or provide more information about anything I noted above.

[MountainDoc]

Thank you so much for your excellent review. My wife and I are boarding the Mariner in Monte Carlo October 2nd. We are in our 40's and also have children (4) at home. This is our third Regent cruise, but our first on the Mariner and a celebration of our 25th wedding anniversary. It is always nice to read a positive review just before you depart. We were offered a 4 and 5 level upgrade from category D last week but after reading your review I am glad we didn't. Thanks again, Dave M.

[RachelG]

Thanks for the report. Boarding Mariner next week, so glad to hear she is in good form.

I totally agree with you about the problem with making all the independent passengers wait till the tours have left at tender ports. We encountered this on our Iceland cruise and my husband was none too happy. I understand they need to get the tour groups off ship together, but there needs to be a better option for those going ashore independently. You waste 1/2 the morning waiting for a tender.

[ededmd]

thanks for your detailed, informative, well written review!

[WesW]

Also add thanks for taking the time to report back on your Mariner cruise.

[ridolphi]

Really great report, thanks for sharing your experience. We board the Voyager next Sunday Oct 3 and are anticipating a wonderfult trip.

[PaulaJK]

Wow..what a well organized and comprehensive report. So nice to hear that Mariner is functioning so well. Also glad to learn that the toiletries may change soon.

 

Tender service: What about alternating groups going on a specific tour with independent travelers.... Also some staggering of the departure times for tours would be helpful. Not every tour needs to leave between 8:30 and 8:45.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Yes, I'm very glad too to hear about the toiletries. I'd read about this in the latest brochures we've received, but nice to hear it confirmed. Too bad it's not sooner, I'll be toting along substitutes this December, skin can't tolerate the "R" stuff. (I guess they would be us the fancy brand if we asked, even if we're in steerage?)

[ORDPLATAA]

Thanks for the great review. We are sailing on the Mariner next year - can't wait!

[TedC]

Thank you for the well-written and comprehensive review. Comparisons from your earlier cruise made your review even more interesting.

 

Best of all was that you had a wonderful anniversary cruise.

[mborchgardt]

Thanks for your comments. I hope those of you sailing on Mariner soon will have a great trip as well. The weather for our trip was beautifully sunny, but still very warm. A few degrees cooler in coming weeks should be great.

[linda_22003]

MBorchgardt, I was on your cruise as well and have no issues with anything you wrote. We were on ship excursions for everything except Mykonos and thought they did a good job.

 

We were also in Signatures on the last night of our cruise; it was our wedding anniversary and they gave us a lovely chocolate mousse cake for the occasion.

 

My only quibble: Regent is selling more to corporate groups these days. I can't argue with that, I'm sure it's an excellent revenue source for them. Last year in Alaska it was an insurance group; on this cruise it was (of all things!) Mary Kay Cosmetics!

 

I certainly don't mind them selling to groups, but since we like to meet people at dinner, it cuts down on our opportunity to "start or join" a table - these groups tend to keep to themselves and not mix much at meals with other passengers.

 

The Mary Kays were easily spotted, since they were always fashionably dressed and made up. The instruction to "wear comfortable shoes" on excursions had a lot of room for interpretation. I saw one woman in open toed shoes with 3" lucite heels on the cobbled streets of Santorini. Maybe she WAS comfortable. :o

 

I thought people were overstating the toiletries issue here until I got on the ship. Whatever they are using now is really awful, and they also told me that they were switching to L'Occitane in a few months. In the meantime, when I complained, they sent a full range of Hermes toiletries to our room. I'm glad to hear they are changing to a better line.

 

The whole trip was terrific and we'll go again one of these days - having done four Regent cruises in four years, we'll be taking next year off, I think, for something land based in Italy.

[wripro]

Why is it taking them a few months to switch toiletries?

[DaveFr]

Why is it taking them a few months to switch toiletries?

A couple of guesses: :D

 

1. They're using up stocks of their existing product before switching to the new toiletries.

 

2. They haven't received the new toiletries yet. They may not be receiving the new toiletries until next year.

 

Dave

[TheSeaAroundUs]

Why is it taking them a few months to switch toiletries?

 

My guess is that they want to run through the stock they have already purchased instead of just chucking it in the bin....

[I&J Cruisers]

Thankyou so much for the lovely review. We are booked on a May 4th cruise on Mariner out of Athens. It will be our first time on Regent and we are looking forward to it.

Irene

[wripro]

Good answers.