Voyager World Cruise

[grapejuice]

Is anyone on this world cruise that departs in a few weeks?

More to the point, will anyone be doing a daily blog of their trip, like Larry and a few others did last year. Really enjoyed reading of their different experiences and seeing the great pictures.

If there is someone contemplating this, where might we read your blog

Thanks so much

[jhp]

If so, I hope they will reply and report from onboard! I SO enjoy reading blogs from this cruise!

[txladycruiser]

We originally were going to do the full world cruise but then decided to do 3 segments instead. We will be doing Auckland to Bangkok. We will be doing a blog - www.fuzzytravel.com/thewrens. In fact we are on a Danube Christmas Market river cruise right now.

 

 

Karen

[grapejuice]

Thanks Karen, will be logging in to read of your experiences on your 3 segment journey. Are you enjoying your Danube river cruise?

Happy sailing

[larry1365]

I, too, would look forward to reading any blogs from folks on the 145-day WC or any of the segments.

 

There won't be a WC blog from me this year since we are spending 4 months in San Diego to be near our young grandtwins.

 

Many of the long-time Voyager World Cruisers have moved to the 74-day South American circumnavigation, so maybe someone will be blogging from that experience.

[room010]

We are doing the Sydney-Beijing sector, leaving 23 Feb. If there's a thread for them I'll post any thoughts and impressions you might find useful or interesting.

[Grothj]

We are doing San Fran to Dubai. I'm sure I'll post a comment or two. Haven't decided yet whether I'm going to do a blog.

[PaulaJK]

Has anyone heard a head count for FULL WC 2011 pax? I have repeatedly heard that many of the repeat WC pax have switched to Mariner for this year's circumnavigation of South America. Also, Voyager is not doing a WC in 2012. Do you think that Regent's seeming lack of passion for or disinterest in a WC will significantly impact full WC pax count this year?

Of course, Regent is counting on the higher per diems of segment cruisers so the overall head count may not be less.

[Gilly]

We're doing Bangkok to Dubai on Voyager next year and I'll be blogging along as usual. http://elegantsufficiency.squarespace.com

 

Just had a second change of itinerary notice today - we're sad we'll no longer be visiting Burma and were none too bothered about the alternative Port Blair (Andaman Islands) stop. Todays note replaces the Port Blair stop with two extra stops in Sri Lanka in addition to calling at Madras. Whilst Sri Lanka sounds more interesting than Port Blair, we're wondering what those familiar with Sri Lanka will recommend as excursions there.

 

Ho hum. We are so lucky to be able to sail on Voyager next year that minor changes like this are really not much more than a minor irritation, but it would be good to get it sorted and know what we are doing!

[petlover]

On the 2007 World Cruise (or maybe it was 2005?) we stopped in Colombo,Sri Lanka and did an excursion to the elephant orphanage. It was fantastic seeing so many elephants all in one place, especially the babies who's mothers had abandoned them or were killed by poachers and the elephants bathing/playing in the river. It was a very heartwarming, special day for all of us. I'd highly recommend going there.

[PaulaJK]

Did Regent indicate why they were dropping Myanmar?

[Gilly]

I don't think a reason was given for omitting the 3-day stop in Yangon, but one might assume it's because of potential security issues? We'd booked the overnight land tour there so were particularly sad. But still, we'll get to see plenty of other new and interesting places - the elephant orphanage sounds fun and worth considering, though my dh still claims to have had enough of these gorgeous creatures following a somewhat precarious 4 hour elephant trek through the rainforest some years ago! I shall have to apply a little persuasion, I think ;-)

[xrvlcruiser]

>>We are no longer going to Burma (Myanmar) because of "international trade sanctions"<< This from a posting on the Regent Roll Call for the WC.

[Grothj]

The notice from Regent said the canceled call in Burma was due to "international trade sanctions". However Oceania's Nautica is still listed to call in Yangoon in early April about two weeks Before Voyager was scheduled to arrive. So....it doesn't makes sense for the reason to be "international trade sanctions" since both lines are owned by the same entity. Now we have second change which has us 3 days in Madras India. And 3 stops in Sry Lanka. But no overnight in Colombo.

 

We've been trying to get info about the "complementary overnights" in Bangkok and Beijing for several weeks without success. I don't think Regent is making the same effort on this "World Cruise" as before. We are not "full world cruisers" since we are disembarking in Dubai, but 111 days is a lot of time on the ship.. I am disappointed in the amount of information. We have been given.

 

still we are excited to be leaving Jan 13

[PaulaJK]

I do not believethat Regent is invested in this WC as it has been in previous years, especially in view of Regent not planning a WC next year and reflected in low key advertising.Just my opinion.

 

That said, we did visit Myanmar on Regent about 2 ---could it be 3--years ago. We are now on another line, still scheduled for a 3 days visit to Burma/Myanmar in essentially the same time frame....so I'm very interested in more information about this. Myanmar is, of course, a complicated destination!

[rallydave]

We've been trying to get info about the "complementary overnights" in Bangkok and Beijing for several weeks without success. I don't think Regent is making the same effort on this "World Cruise" as before. We are not "full world cruisers" since we are disembarking in Dubai, but 111 days is a lot of time on the ship.. I am disappointed in the amount of information. We have been given.

 

still we are excited to be leaving Jan 13

 

Unfortunately, we are not surprised about the lack of information and effort by Regent's Destinations Department. Won't rehash our issues on the Navigator Sept./Oct. this year as this lack of information and effort mirrors our complaints to Regent which still haven't been settled even though we did receive a letter from Regent about 5 weeks ago apologizing for the issues and telling us to resolve the issues with their accounting department which we have passed on to our credit card company without a response or resolution as yet.

 

Excursion and port information are among the most important portions of any cruise and with Regent advertising as a Luxury Cruise Line while charging higher fares for all inclusive and included excursions it is doubly important that Regent provide a superior Destinations Department, more information and efforts than other cruise lines. Based on the many more continuing posts echoing our experience they obviously haven't gotten the message.

 

Really too bad this issue leaves a sour taste in our mouths as all other portions of our cruise and staff were excellent including food.

[Gilly]

I'm sorry to read that this thread is becoming another "Regent grumble". Of course, we don't like being messed about but I'm confident that we shall have a great experience once again and enjoy the level of service which brings us back to Regent again. We are so lucky to be able to appreciate travelling the world in comfort like this. If ever I utter the words which were spoken to me on a previous RTW trip, "This is my 14th RTW cruise and it's easily the worst", I hope someone, somewhere gives me a sharp poke in the ribs.

[LOGHL]

I'm sorry to read that this thread is becoming another "Regent grumble". Of course, we don't like being messed about but I'm confident that we shall have a great experience once again and enjoy the level of service which brings us back to Regent again. We are so lucky to be able to appreciate travelling the world in comfort like this. If ever I utter the words which were spoken to me on a previous RTW trip, "This is my 14th RTW cruise and it's easily the worst", I hope someone, somewhere gives me a sharp poke in the ribs.

 

We are two elderly folks who have been cruiseing since 1955..on all sorts of ships, Some of the trips have been better than others....food...service cabins, etc. If I ever had a complaint it was directly with the cruise line....and though CC has not been in business that long.. I would never post it. If some one asked about a specific topic & I felt that my comment would help I MIGHT contact them.

As of the last 15 years we have only cruised on luxury lines. (at our upper 80's we feel we need that extra something)

We are at this time just about strictly Regent cruisers. There have been times that I was not satisfied with some of the foods.. big deal, I could always get somehing different. The service has always been quite good in ALL departments... I have seen folks approach a staff member with a chip on their shoulder, and of course that crew member had their shackles raised.. then I would approach them.,..give them the courtsey that I expected from them, and was never treated improperly/

Perfect...NO !! but is anything perfect???

Didn't mean to run off at the mouth, but I too get annoyed at those that are consistently complaining......I am sure this letter will be responded to 'cause someone didn't like what I said

REMEMBER... THIS IS AN OPINION MATTER :)

[rallydave]

LOGHL,

 

Since you asked for a response, I'll provide you one even thought you didn't quote my post. Yes, we all have our opinions and as you said we can never have perfection. However, you have stated that you have never had bad service from a staff member.

 

Unfortunatley we did, that is not an opinion but, a fact confirmed by someone who hear her boss being rude to us. Yes, we had a chip on our shoulder when trying to talk to her as we had been ignored by her and her staff as well as lied to by them. As you stated, if we go up with a chip on our shoulder, the response won't be good from the staff member. It works both ways. We were reacting to their lies and non-professionalism.

 

You choose to not let others on the board know of issues. On the other hand, we do. Our opinion vs. yours, both valid.

 

We keep mentioning the issues so others know what to expect from a six star cruise line and to try and elicit the appropriate resolution of our issues. It's been 2 1/2 months since the end of our cruise and we haven't seen anything except a we're sorry letter and a passing of the buck from one department to another.

 

If you don't like to read about real issues that occurred, don't read the posts. We are all entitled to our opinions and we're not telling you not to write yours, so please don't tell us to stop providing valuable information for potential future regent customers so that they are aware that regent isn't perfect any more than any other cruiseline.

[Travelcat2]

We are two elderly folks who have been cruiseing since 1955..on all sorts of ships, Some of the trips have been better than others....food...service cabins, etc. If I ever had a complaint it was directly with the cruise line....and though CC has not been in business that long.. I would never post it. If some one asked about a specific topic & I felt that my comment would help I MIGHT contact them.

As of the last 15 years we have only cruised on luxury lines. (at our upper 80's we feel we need that extra something)

We are at this time just about strictly Regent cruisers. There have been times that I was not satisfied with some of the foods.. big deal, I could always get somehing different. The service has always been quite good in ALL departments... I have seen folks approach a staff member with a chip on their shoulder, and of course that crew member had their shackles raised.. then I would approach them.,..give them the courtsey that I expected from them, and was never treated improperly/

Perfect...NO !! but is anything perfect???

Didn't mean to run off at the mouth, but I too get annoyed at those that are consistently complaining......I am sure this letter will be responded to 'cause someone didn't like what I said

REMEMBER... THIS IS AN OPINION MATTER :)

 

I really appreciated your post. We have said many times that nothing is perfect. We have had food issues. Like you say. . . "big deal", so we order something else. No matter how frustrated we may be with a situation, we give courtesy to everyone and receive it in return.

 

On the boards, we have given our opinion of some of the changes that have been made in the past year or so. They are not always positive, however, Regent employees do read CruiseCritic and it doesn't hurt to receive constructive criticism.

 

We are not fans of included excursions -- they seem to cause more problems than they solve and definitely overload some of the staff on Regent. Some people are upset that there will not be a world cruise in 2012. It's okay to be disappointed. . . . but, with some encouragement (rather than criticism) it might return in 2013.

 

I am guilty of venting sometimes on these boards but do not want to do anything that would stop someone thinking of taking a Regent cruise from doing so. Just because I may have had a problem does not mean they will.

 

For those of us who get frustrated at times, I highly recommend trying a cruise on another luxury line as we just did. The biggest thing we learned from the experience is that they are not perfect either;)

[LOGHL]

LOGHL,

 

Since you asked for a response, ...*** I NEVER DID ***

ways. We were reacting to their lies and non-professionalism.

 

You choose to not let others on the board know of issues. On the other hand, we do. Our opinion vs. yours, both valid.

 

 

If you don't like to read about real issues that occurred, don't read the posts. ** I NEVER SAID I DIDN'T CARE TO READ ABOUT ISSUES **** please don't tell us to stop providing valuable information for potential future regent customers so that they are aware that regent isn't perfect any more than any other cruiseline. ** I NEVER SAID THAT FOLKS SHOULD NOT PROVIDE INFORMATION****

Next time before you repsond to a letter.. read it carefully .... and don't presume what the writer meant.