Navigator - Live, June 8:SDYC Addict On First Regent Voyage

[Jim Avery]

:confused: Sorry? Snails, shellfish?:confused:

 

Shell-person?? Shell-thing?? What the shell!:eek:

[NCCruzQueen]

:confused: Sorry? Snails, shellfish?:confused:

 

After eating escargot one night on the Silver Wind, I woke up during the night and couldn't breathe well and was itchy. I went to the bathroom and saw that I had red blotches and my face and eyes were swollen. When the infirmary opened at 8:00AM, I went down and got a shot and pills from the doctor.

 

If you read up, you will find that snails are not considered in the shellfish family, but on this website, shellfish and snails are put together when discussing allergies. http://www.foodallergens.info/Allergenic_Foods/Shell.html

[OrpingtonT]

If you read up, you will find that snails are not considered in the shellfish family, but on this website, shellfish and snails are put together when discussing allergies. http://www.foodallergens.info/Allergenic_Foods/Shell.html

 

I don't need to read up anything to know that snails are not shellfish.

 

But I am quite happy to take your word for it when you say both produce allergic reactions. I do know that the anaphylactic shck caused by these allergies is frightening and often life-threatening. I am sorry for sufferers.

[RachelG]

FT, have to agree with you about Annabelle's--the clam chowder and crabcakes are killer. And you really did miss out by not getting the fish tacos too. We stayed at the hotel a few years ago on a fishing trip, and therefore had many chances to check out the whole menu.

Just catching up on your posts, but also agree about the Lumberjack show--entertaining only for a little kid. This won't help you now, but there is a good hike up the mountain behind the town that you would have enjoyed. You just keep going up and up till you get to a very scenic view point.

[DisneyJen]

Greetings FT and zqvol! Just getting caught up on CC and your report!

 

Hope you are okay!! Still hot here in NC!

[frequent traveler]

Sunday – En route to Skagway.

 

Yesterday was a long long day. Tracy Arm expedition began at 7:20. Unfortunately, our room service breakfast, scheduled for 6:30 am did not arrive until 7:00 and was not as ordered. Our butler again was overwhelmed with multiple deliveries. I just don’t get this system where he gets no assistance from other staff. Frankly, we’ve overpaid for this trip. Don’t bother with butler service. Its definitely not worth it. I’m going off on a bit of a rant here – so if you are a Regent die-hard, please close your eyes. There is a big issue with service on this ship. No way can it be defined as 5 star (by my definition which is at a minimum - 4 Season) and it comes no where close to the level provided by Sea Dream. ZQ Vol says it is no different from NCL or Carnevil. We have encountered no surliness, but my water glass has stayed empty for 10 minutes (I timed it last night), dirty dishes have not been picked up despite multiple waiters walking past tables and you can’t get a waiter/waitress to bring you a drink in a bar – going to the bar and ordering from a bartender is standard. For $10 k+ per week I expect more. We actually watched an assistant sommelier remove used wineglasses from an adjacent table last night but leave the dirty waterglasses as the only remaining item. Yesterday, a poolside drink attendant removed an empty Coke can from our table, but left a empty salad plate. That is not acceptable service. I have yet to see a maitre’d or other manager do anything other than supervise and heaven help if the General Manager even stops at a guest table or introduces himself to anyone at any time he is on the floor, so its appears that the tone is set from the top down – everyone has their set role – and don’t cross those lines, no matter what the end result to Guest Service will be. ZQ Vol has offered one explanation – are the ships unionized? Could Union rules prohibit a bar attendant from taking a drink order or a pool side waitress from picking up a dirty dish? And, this is common consensus by all the guests we have spoken to – even some long time Regent guests who indicate service has been very different on some of the European, South American, and Around the World cruises. .

 

Back on topic now – the Tracy Arm excursion was fantastic. The cat has 3 levels, two indoors with a snack bar, and 3 very clean bathrooms. The crew is very knowledgeable and very friendly. Our excursion was not fully booked so we were not crowded. We weren’t able to get very close to the South Glacier due to new ice breakage, but did see lots of seals. Got very close to the North Glacier. On the way to Juneau had multiple humpback whale sightings and a Minke whale, which we were told were rare. And lots of bald eagles – one tree had at least twelve bald eagles perched in it. Unbelievable sight. Glad I wore layers – starting with long underwear, then hiking pants, then waterproof overlayer. Top was long underwear, then cotton long sleeve t shirt, then heavy sweater, then lined SD windbreaker with hood. I wore ski headband to cover my ears and my lined leather driving gloves. Since I stayed outside most of the entire trip (best way to view) and it got cold I stayed nice and warm. This was a must do excursion. I did get a chance to talk with an excursion staff member on the boat and gave him feedback about the prior days’ canoe excursion – how the fitness level wasn’t quite what most of us on the trip thought it would be. He said it was good feedback. I also said that I wished I had not been “booted” from the hike by signing up for the Tracy Arm excursion (turns out a number of us were). He indicated that quite a few guests this trip had requested “more active” excursions. Regent did provide a box lunch or snack box which came in handy (I’m referring to as a snack box, see below) .

 

We wandered the streets of Juneau after our return – walked up the hill to the Russian Orthodox Church. To be the state capitol, there’s really not that much to see in the port area. The city is not connected to a larger highway – has 41 miles of road and approx. 48,000 inhabitants. We also grabbed lunch at the Pool Grill. I love their burgers – Regent’s burgers beat SD’s hands down. Our second excursion was the Mendenhall Glacier Float. It was a nice trip, but be warned, all down one side of the river you are up against the city limits of Juneau so it is not truly rustic as in a raft you can not keep facing only one river bank the entire trip. I don’t think the description is accurate and would have chosen another excursion had I known. However, our guide was excellent and we learned a lot about the glacier, the lake where we started, the flora, the birds and it was another bald eagle viewing opportunity. Who ever thought by the end of the day I’d be blasé about seeing another bald eagle!. Had reindeer sausage at the end of the trip and here’s something funny – a guide on another raft came up to my husband – he recognized him, he went to middle school with our son! So we caught up and then came back to ship. Juneau had shut down, so if you want to do shopping, don’t plan on doing it at 7 pm. We had two other ships in port with us yesterday when we arrived at 1 – including a Disney ship and the streets had lots of munchkins, but don’t put off shopping as nothing will be open late – except for the Alaskan brewery (free samples) and the Red Dog Bar (where you can see a gun allegedly owned by Wyatt Earp).

 

The Verandah room was kept open late last night – till 10 but we made it back in time to be seated in the Compass Room. The night before we had had a bad experience with dinner in the Compass Room. Long wait for a waiter to appear, then the one we did get barely spoke or understood English, an entrée was not prepared as ordered. When ordering dessert, I made several inquiries as to whether items had tree nuts due to food allergies. The waiter had to check with the kitchen, which was fine, but in the end I was served something that had nuts in it. Luckily, I broke apart the item, only took one bit and spit it out when I encountered the first tree nut. So no bad reaction. But there are teens who eat by themselves – what would have happened if one of them had a food allergy and after advising the waiter of a food allergy, assumed the food was safe?

 

Last night we made sure to get a different waiter. The tomato bisque was superb. I love the soups on board. Every night there is a no salt added soup – great feature. In fact there is a whole no salt added menu as well as a Canyon Ranch menu. There is also a ‘degustation’ menu every night for those who want a gourmet experience. I stayed with two courses and had a wonderful simple pasta dish. Penne pasta cooked perfectly with a light crème sauce (and I mean light with very little sauce, so I didn’t feel too guilty), fresh herbs and freshly grated Parmesan, a bit of ham. ZQ VOL had the prime rib. There is salmon and more salmon on the menu as the featured item, but also lots of other fish too, as well as chicken and other pork.

 

Watched a bit of TV or at least ZQ Vol did – another very good feature that we wish SD had, is a channel that constantly feeds us cruise data – when moving, it shows us the route, but always is running the wind speed, miles/knots covered, all kinds of information. I crashed – this waking up at 4 or 5 am makes for a long day.

 

A few tidbits .. .

 

Found out why the pool water is green – wish Regent has told us. The run off from the glaciers is loaded with iron and other minerals. So the ocean water is green – the closer to the glaciers, the greener. The pool is ocean water, the hot tubs are fresh water. Thus the difference. A little sign posted by the pool explaining would head off so many question.

 

Some new friends from New Zealand couldn’t understand why they couldn’t get runny soft boiled eggs – and were upset with their butler. We explained the crazy US health regulations that restrict cruise ships (I go crazy not being able to get Eggs Bennie or poached eggs on SD in San Juan but can get in a hotel restaurant). If only the butler had been able to explain why . . . .

 

More later. Hope you are having a great weekend – I know we are.

 

FT

[Jim Avery]

As always, enjoying your posts immensely. Too bad about the service/food inconsistencies. Sounds like HAL reviews. That's why we wanted you to go first.:D We agree, 10K+ per week should get you good food/service. And what good is included drinks if you can't get one.:eek: Have fun playing with the Eagles.

J & L.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

...

If you are going to do the Misty Fords Seaplane – you can book it cheaper at the Information Booth right where you disembark -- $175 per person v. Regent’s $199 per person. All the tour companies have their shops set up right inside.

 

Wait! I just checked the prices online for this excursion at RSSC, for June 2010. Here's what it says:

Retail Value: $399.00

Price: $209.00

 

You're saying that you could get it on the dock for $175? If this is true, then Regent is lying to us, not to put too fine a point on it.

 

Sorry you're having such a bad time on the ship. Too bad about the butlers being overworked--we never have breakfast in our room, so haven't experienced anything like this.

[Island Cruiser]

Frequent traveler, this is a simply marvelous review. When you criticize you back up your judgments with specifics. But you are also quick to praise and back up those judgments with specifics too. I am very sorry to learn the butlers are stretched both for the passengers and the butlers. We have seen the dining rooms stretched on numerous occasions, particularly during busy times in La Veranda. Again, we are sorry for both the passengers and the crew. It simply shouldn't happen regularly on a luxury cruise ship.

[galavant3]

Thanks so much for your honesty! We will be taking our first Regent cruise in August and your comments regarding service will help us to manage our expectations. I know we are going to have a great time but it is helpful to know that the service might not be as attentive as we would have expected. I do have to admit it is a bit of a surprise.

[tallship]

 

You're saying that you could get it on the dock for $175? If this is true, then Regent is lying to us, not to put too fine a point on it.

 

 

 

Wendy - that was exactly why we cancelled the whale watching one as it was much cheaper for the same trip over on the HAL board and for one of our excursions (the crab feast) our boat was mostly HAL folks

 

I seriously doubt it is the tour operators offering differential pricing to Regent versus HAL customers

[tallship]

FT- thanks for being so detailed regarding your comments regarding the CR service. It was our experience that the service was highly variable. Some nights exceptional and other times not. Same issues - plates not cleared, never asked about dessert, coffee, etc. - at least 2 times we just walked out after waiting for some time. Not sure which department addresses this. We, nonetheless, enjoyed what we ate very much and found it was easier to let some of these things go but now that you mention it.....

[Plummy]

Frankly, we’ve overpaid for this trip. There is a big issue with service on this ship. No way can it be defined as 5 star (by my definition which is at a minimum - 4 Season)

FT

 

I am sorry to see that you are experiencing similar customer service to us two weeks ago. I think many of the Regent die-hards simply didn't believe me suggesting it was just a blip, an anomaly. It will be interesting to see how many more of us there are by the end of the summer, feeling let down by the Regent experience. Thank goodness Alaska 'saves the day' by being so amazing! Enjoy the rest of your holiday.

[tallship]

I think many of the Regent die-hards simply didn't believe me suggesting it was just a blip, an anomaly. It will be interesting to see how many more of us there are by the end of the summer, feeling let down by the Regent experience. Thank goodness Alaska 'saves the day' by being so amazing! Enjoy the rest of your holiday.

 

Plummy - Wish we had met....You hit the nail on the head with your comment

[Plummy]

Plummy - Wish we had met....You hit the nail on the head with your comment

 

Me too!:)

[Travelcat2]

Most of us on this thread have been diehard Regent customers for years. No one will bash you for stating your opinions and experiences. Early on in this thread (I think it was this thread) I said that I did not feel that Regent Alaska cruises are typical of Regent cruises.

 

The one thing Regent Alaska cruises has going for it are the "free" excursions. It sounds like tour operators on shore are lowering their prices. We checked everyone we could in 2008 to find excursions that were less than Regent (this was before included excursions) and could find no one. Last year the prices for the Regent excursions were also below what was being offered elsewhere. So, it sounds as if you are experiencing is new competition to Regent excursions. Perhaps an adjustment in prices is in order.

 

Still enjoying your posts immensely.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

TC, that's a different perspective, for sure. I hope you're right, on both counts, i.e., that prices have recently gone down, and that Regent will lower theirs.

 

This thread is pretty depressing to me, being booked to Alaska next spring. :( Our friend Jim has been with us now on two cruises, first on the PG, and then on Voyager, and he's looking forward to this Alaska trip--I'd hate to see him bummed by the whole thing. Plus it will be his sister's first cruise, sigh.

[rallydave]

The one thing Regent Alaska cruises has going for it are the "free" excursions. It sounds like tour operators on shore are lowering their prices. We checked everyone we could in 2008 to find excursions that were less than Regent (this was before included excursions) and could find no one. Last year the prices for the Regent excursions were also below what was being offered elsewhere. So, it sounds as if you are experiencing is new competition to Regent excursions. Perhaps an adjustment in prices is in order.

 

While I certainly hope that your thoughts about Alaska tours going down in price are correct, I sincerely doubt this is the case. Having watched regent's claimed retail prices, the extra amounts charged for Regent special excursions and experienced the costs we were charged for several excursions on our excursions in Japan, sincerely believe regent is using these extra cost excursions to make a bunch of extra money.

 

Prior to our last regent cruise, we saw many anomolities with the suggested retail prices and the extra costs. Finally found a representative at regent who actually understood our questions and worked with us so that we understood and we found that regent based their free excursions based on a retail value of up to $150 and that the extra cost difference would be the difference between the regent defined retail price and the $150 baseline. Then we were told that the retail prices shown were based on prices from the previous year or two. After checking out some of those tours with tour operators, we found that the regent retail prices were greatly inflated and also found that many times the $150 difference between retail and the extra paid amount was becoming less and less.

 

Several of our tours in Japan were greatly inflated in that our extra cost was actually more than the actual retail cost of the tours we went on and also comparing tour to tour on the regent website confirmed the gross overpricing. Complained to destinations on board and on our final day on board we finally got a response that destinations in Miami felt the pricing for what we got was appropriate. Simply didn't even consider what we said, in our opinion.

 

Let's face it, regent simply doesn't do a good or even a fair job with excursions. They advertise "free unlimited shore excursions" and as many have stated, don't deliver. How can they be unlimited when there are waitlists and some people never clear???

 

Think we need to face the obvious, regent uses the "free" excursions to bring people on the ship and then doesn't deliver, makes an extra profit form those who don't get on an excursion as well as those who overpay and laugh all the way to the bank.

 

If you really think regent is going to reduce fares or excursion costs because you think costs on shore in Alaska are going down, I'll be glad to sell you that Brooklyn Bridge you almost bought recently and deliver it to you on the West Coast.

 

And Wendy, sorry for the bad news but, sometimes the truth hurts. Hope you enjoy your cruise next year to Alaska notwithstanding all thes issues.

[cwn]

I am sorry to see that you are experiencing similar customer service to us two weeks ago. I think many of the Regent die-hards simply didn't believe me suggesting it was just a blip, an anomaly. It will be interesting to see how many more of us there are by the end of the summer, feeling let down by the Regent experience. Thank goodness Alaska 'saves the day' by being so amazing! Enjoy the rest of your holiday.

 

FT, I am enjoying your report since we will be there later, but I am sorry you are experiencing some of the same problems we had on our 71 day cruise this Jan-Mar....slow service, waiter's poor English, hard to get water refills and the first glass of wine much less a refill. We did a written complaint to the GM and that is when they seated us with Adnan and things improved markedly. However, when I would post on CC about the problems, almost ever one was followed by "well, I have been on X Regent cruises and everything is always wonderful" post. At least I now know it wasn't just us.

 

Sounds like you are having a good time in Alaska even if the cruise isn't 6*.

 

........Let's face it, regent simply doesn't do a good or even a fair job with excursions. They advertise "free unlimited shore excursions" and as many have stated, don't deliver. How can they be unlimited when there are waitlists and some people never clear???

 

Think we need to face the obvious, regent uses the "free" excursions to bring people on the ship and then doesn't deliver, makes an extra profit form those who don't get on an excursion as well as those who overpay and laugh all the way to the bank....

 

You are right...in pricing some itineraries we are interested in Regent runs $100-$150/pday/pp over say Seabourn. That is every day and there are always sea days. So the tours are a profit center with out even considering the people who don't take a tour every port day or take one that has a retail value less than the $150.

[tallship]

I am sure Regent will be making a great profit on excursions on the sailing rallydave and I are on in March as most of the trip consists of sea days

[rallydave]

I am sure Regent will be making a great profit on excursions on the sailing rallydave and I are on in March as most of the trip consists of sea days

 

Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner. Thus the reason my DW and I are on this sailing. Don't expect to have any complaints regarding excursions, the per diem is amazing, and no overnight flight to Europe. Last Mariner cruise before Concierge so we can book at the same time as everyone and only 1 excursion we can see that will be extra cost.

 

And, the CC group that will be on board looks to be an amazing group of people. Lots of relaxing, interesting sea days. And then an interesting 3 days in Barcelona.

[tallship]

Looking forward to it....

[mimito4]

Well certainly much of what FT had to say is a bummer, and since I know she does not speak with a forked tongue, I sit up and take notice.

 

Come August 31, 2011, I very much expect an experience in which service is impeccable. . .perfect. . .6 star. . .like Crystal. . .the one I canceled to go on this one with Regent. I too blog live from the ship. Would hope not to be saying these same things.

 

Hello management. Is anyone reading? Better yet, is anyone taking immediate corrective action? We're not talking food, which is subjective. . .we're talking service, which is very measurable, and quite frankly determines the luxury experience. Did you get your drink, did you get refilled, was your food delivered in a timely fashion, was your used cutlery and plates taken away and cleaned up. . .??

[ChatKat in Ca.]

When we went to Alaska in 2005, we booked all private tours. Float plane trips were half price on the dock to the cruise line cost.

 

I was able to find the same consolidator as most cruise lines used to book and actually because I had a group of 14 they gave me the wholesale prices to book excursions so I had the price list of most of the common excursions. The markup is huge. One of the excursions to go sledding with the Iditerod Dogs was $399 at the time. We went to Iditerod HQ in Wasilla and got to sled for....$5.00.....plus the private Mercedes Van we hired.

[mimito4]

Five dollars???