July 2 Southbound on Navigator

[room010]

The walking track (deck 11) was fine but due to the wet/foggy conditions it was quite slippery in places as it's mostly a painted metal surface, not safer teak decking.

I'd love to know where the other CC'ers who've been on Navigator recently are too. Even the OP hasn't reposted. It would be helpful to hear another person's perceptions or point of view.

[markwoll]

I posted about our May 30 Vancouver to Seward cruise in this thread:
[URL]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1645511[/URL]

We had a wonderful time.
The Navigator was fresh out of drydock with a fresh crew.
It was not crowded, the demographics trended younger than I gather from others experiences. Everyone was pretty cheerful and friendly.
There were not many small children, but a large number of late 20's-40 passengers. A healthcare company, Baxter I believe, had gifted a bunch of employees with a cruise.

We were there for the Alaska scenery and nature.
It was our first cruise.
We chose Regent for the itinerary, sailing dates, inclusive package, and lack of formal dress requirements.
The luxury stuff was a bonus, but not why we were there
We saw a couple of shows, ate great food. We did not have to wait to eat at any venue.
The only holdup, foodwise, was a lack of scrambled eggs in La Veranda.

We dream of another Regent cruise, it was that nice, even on the Navigator.

mark

[whatnot]

I was on the June 20 Seward to Vancouver. My first Regent cruise but sailed on many other lines but particularly with Sea Dream. We chose Regent for the Alaska experience and we were not disappointed. The weather was great and we saw so many glaciers and so much wildlife. We were very happy with that. Thought Navigator was a lovely ship and loved the suites.

I used the walking track on several days particularly sea days. I found it to be quite nice and on several occasions I spotted whales or dolphins while walking.

I was pleased with shore excursions. We did both included and additional cost. All were very good.

I thought Prime 7 was excellent. Would have loved to be able to go there again. We also had a good reservation time because we were concierge level and could make early reservations.

I was disappointed in Compass Rose for dinner. Poor service even though they were not that busy. Food quality was OK, not what I expected on a luxury cruise.

Contrary to other posters. We liked Sette Mari. We ate there 4 nights and pretty well tried most things on the menu. We never had a problem getting seated and never had to wait in line. We normally went about 7 although one night it was 7:30. We thought the Osso Buco was outstanding as was the Cioppino. We also liked being able to atleast get the appetizers or salads quickly if you were hungry.

My worst issue was with the crew and dining service. I found them to be nice but not friendly. They seemed to have assigned tasks and that was all they did. Dirty plates could pile up on your table at breakfast in La Veranda, but there was obviously only one person that picked up plates. No one pitched in to help anyone else. I'm not use to that on a luxury line.
They opened early a couple of mornings because of early shore excursions. We were there a few minutes after opening. It took 10 minutes to get coffee and half the food wasn't out. It was very unorganized. There was only one waiter that I would give high marks to and that was Umberto in Sette Mari and in the Breakfast Coffee Bar. He was friendly, enthusiastic (which I saw little of with others), attentive and could have been a Sea Dream waiter! Only problem for Navigator is that he left the same day we did for vacation and then will return to Oceania. He was brought in to get Sette Mari started.

I thought the included wine pours were quite acceptable.

Hope this gives another perspective to what's going on with Navigator. If I had had bad weather my whole cruise I probably would have been a lot more negative. That just makes you so depressed!

I would sail Regent again but hope they improve their food service.

[Travelcat2]

[quote name='whatnot']

I would sail Regent again but hope they improve their food service.[/quote]

Suggest you try the Voyager or Mariner for your next cruise. The difference will be amazing:D

[room010]

Agree TC2: The problem is specifically with Navigator, not Regent.

[pingpong1]

I must say, I'm a little disappointed by a tendency that I see (on the part of some of the "cheerleaders") to trumpet Regent's positive accomplishments to the hilt when observing something done "right", yet also quickly downplaying, minimalizing, or be willing to excuse deficiencies when Regent seemingly falls down on the job.

 

Specifically - WHATNOT said in a review, "I would sail Regent again [specifically, talking about a recent Navigator cruise] but hope they improve their food service". And ROOM010 (whose experience and observations I follow closely) responds, "the problem is specifically with Navigator, not Regent"

 

My question is - How can you casually seperate the two entities? Navigator IS Regent and Regent IS Navigator!

 

TRAVELCAT2 says - "Suggest you try the Voyager or Mariner for your next cruise, The difference will be amazing". My response is - "Why should I have to?!" Why should I not be able to read Regent's advertising literature (written to cover all 3 ships) and make the assumption that the same standards, with respect to food and service, absolutely apply equally to all 3 ships? The brochure does NOT say, "If you want a higher level of service in our dining rooms - then you should book on Mariner". If I want to see Alaska with Regent, then I HAVE to choose Navigator. Why shouldn't paying customers (like WHATNOT and PINGPONG, and the rest) be able to reasonably expect the SAME standards of service in the dining rooms for all three ships? Having finite resources (both time and money) I don't know why I should have to waste those resources "shopping around" until I eventually find the best cruise experience within the same cruiseline. The standards should be the same across the fleet.

 

And TRAVELCAT2 - I am a faithful reader of all your posts (I don't always agree - but I certainly value your experience and observations). In a seperate post you made just within the past 24 hours ("Jeans in Sette Mari") regarding dress standards you said, "If passengers on Voyager are held to the current dress code it would seem that passengers on Mariner and Navigator should be held to the same standard, as well". Okay, fine, I completely agree. So why then, should the same not also apply on Regent's side of the bargain, too? Why shouldn't I be able to reasonably expect the same "standards" (of competent and professional food service) on all three ships and not just on Mariner (if that's actually the case)? How can you be sure that things won't ever (negatively) "change", even on your favored Mariner in the future - if Regent is able to keep "packing them in (willing paying passengers) onboard" Navigator?

 

If the "cheerleaders" expect Regent to maintain the same perceived (high) level of service and satisfaction in the future (as they seem to want to), on all ships in the fleet, then I think it only fair that when negative points (like WHATNOT's) are voiced, the cheerleaders should be just as quick to expect improvement as they do in praising the positives. Regardless of the ship's size or age (in the case of Navigator), the level dining service competency or professionalism (like promptly taking away dirty plates, topping up empty wine glasses, and bringing coffee to the table) should have no bearing. That is a training and supervision issue. Regards to all

[Travelcat2]

I must say, I'm a little disappointed by a tendency that I see (on the part of some of the "cheerleaders") to trumpet Regent's positive accomplishments to the hilt when observing something done "right", yet also quickly downplaying, minimalizing, or be willing to excuse deficiencies when Regent seemingly falls down on the job.

 

Specifically - WHATNOT said in a review, "I would sail Regent again [specifically, talking about a recent Navigator cruise] but hope they improve their food service". And ROOM010 (whose experience and observations I follow closely) responds, "the problem is specifically with Navigator, not Regent"

 

My question is - How can you casually seperate the two entities? Navigator IS Regent and Regent IS Navigator!

 

TRAVELCAT2 says - "Suggest you try the Voyager or Mariner for your next cruise, The difference will be amazing". My response is - "Why should I have to?!" Why should I not be able to read Regent's advertising literature (written to cover all 3 ships) and make the assumption that the same standards, with respect to food and service, absolutely apply equally to all 3 ships? The brochure does NOT say, "If you want a higher level of service in our dining rooms - then you should book on Mariner". If I want to see Alaska with Regent, then I HAVE to choose Navigator. Why shouldn't paying customers (like WHATNOT and PINGPONG, and the rest) be able to reasonably expect the SAME standards of service in the dining rooms for all three ships? Having finite resources (both time and money) I don't know why I should have to waste those resources "shopping around" until I eventually find the best cruise experience within the same cruiseline. The standards should be the same across the fleet.

 

And TRAVELCAT2 - I am a faithful reader of all your posts (I don't always agree - but I certainly value your experience and observations). In a seperate post you made just within the past 24 hours ("Jeans in Sette Mari") regarding dress standards you said, "If passengers on Voyager are held to the current dress code it would seem that passengers on Mariner and Navigator should be held to the same standard, as well". Okay, fine, I completely agree. So why then, should the same not also apply on Regent's side of the bargain, too? Why shouldn't I be able to reasonably expect the same "standards" (of competent and professional food service) on all three ships and not just on Mariner (if that's actually the case)? How can you be sure that things won't ever (negatively) "change", even on your favored Mariner in the future - if Regent is able to keep "packing them in (willing paying passengers) onboard" Navigator?

 

If the "cheerleaders" expect Regent to maintain the same perceived (high) level of service and satisfaction in the future (as they seem to want to), on all ships in the fleet, then I think it only fair that when negative points (like WHATNOT's) are voiced, the cheerleaders should be just as quick to expect improvement as they do in praising the positives. Regardless of the ship's size or age (in the case of Navigator), the level dining service competency or professionalism (like promptly taking away dirty plates, topping up empty wine glasses, and bringing coffee to the table) should have no bearing. That is a training and supervision issue. Regards to all

 

I agree with almost everything you posted. We (Regent cheerleaders) do get frustrated if food/service, etc. are not top notch on each of the Regent ships. And, we do expect improvement.

 

For the record, the reason I pick on the Navigator so much is because she is simply not a "normal" cruise ship. As you may have read, she was built on the hull of a Russian spy ship/ice breaker. This has caused numerous problems on the ship and, IMO, can never be fixed. There are too many cabins on the ship for its size (the Silversea Whisper and Shadow are approximately the same size and have 50 less cabins and much more public spaces). This does not excuse poor service or food any where on the ship. As you correctly stated, it is a training and supervision issue.

 

BTW, my favorite ship is the Voyager -- not the Mariner;) We are happy sailing either ship. My comment about dress code on the Mariner was that it appears that the dress code on the Mariner is suddenly different than on the other two ships. The entire dress code discussion began when a passenger on the Mariner last week saw jeans and shorts in various venues on the ship. This opened the door to many questions.

 

The bottom line is that nothing in life is perfect. We sailed on Silversea to see how it compared and now enjoy both Silversea and Regent. Silversea is better than Regent on some things and visa versa. When we sail on Silversea, we will only sail on two of their five ships. Due to loyalty benefits, dress and smoking policies, we continue to sail mostly on Regent.

 

I know that things will change. Wish there were a thread that talked about how many changes have occurred since Apollo purchased Regent. Perhaps that is why some of us would like to see a period of time without change -- we have seen too much change in the past 4 or so years. Dress Code, included excursions and the dreaded Concierge program are the ones that first come to mind (the Concierge program began this year and was a bone of contention between regulars for many months)

 

Really appreciated your post!

[msmillie]

Pingpong1, you raised some excellent points with your comments and questions, I hope Regent will read your post and give it serious consideration. Angie

[tripperva]

Last May we booked the Navigator Amazon cruise, MIA to MIA, 23 days leaving on this November 25. We have been on Navigator previously in Norway and have 10 or 12 cruises on Mariner and Voyager. Big fans of Regent and Silversea, a few trips on Seabourn as well. But the idea of 23 days on Navigator with poor dining options brought us to cancel the Amazon cruise yesterday.

[tallship]

Sad to see you cancel your cruise. We had fabulous food and service on our trip in June. We had Alberto as well as Umberto as waiters, Franck Galzy was the GM and our cruise met Regent standards to our liking.

 

We are going to book Alaska again for a third time on Navigator.

[room010]

I'm happy to concede that perhaps our recent disappointing Navigator experience was an anomaly and totally accept that others have had few, if any, problems. But I can't get away from the fact that it was such a stark contrast to our experiences on Voyager (I can't comment on Mariner as I haven't had the pleasure yet. We were due to sail on the Monte Carlo-Buenos Aires trip this year but unfortunately had to cancel for non-Regent reasons! We had snagged a corner aft cabin too d*mmit!!). Maybe we were in the wrong frame of mind due to the depressing weather and the extraordinarily unfriendly/rude pax we tried and failed to socialise with but the overall Navigator "vibe" among passengers AND crew was just Off. Neither of these particular things are Regent's fault of course but the poor service is something they can control and it was the final straw for us.

 

But it won't stop us cruising with Regent again - we are, in June 2013 - because of all the high end cruise lines Regent still offers the best "fit" for us. I'll probably have a few things to say about THAT one too! ;)

[Cruising Librarian]

My husband and I had a very similar experience as yours on the Navigator this April. It was our 5th sailing on Regent, and our least favorite. Everything seemed "off" to us: crowded public spaces, spotty service, lukewarm food, and uninspired excursions. Although we met some great folks and enjoyed our time onboard, we couldn't help comparing it unfavorable to our previous Regent cruises and decided not to book another cruise while on board as we had originally planned.

 

Our complaints seem petty in the grand scheme of things (to name a few: melted sorbet, sauce with a skin on it, forgotten drinks, uncleared plates, lack of response to mid cruise comment card, cancelled excursions for specious reasons) but for the premium price we pay to cruise Regent, it is enough reason to look elsewhere.

[PaulaJK]

After two highly unsatisfactory cruises on Navigator, we have decided not to sail her again. For many, including ourselves, poor [and expensive] cruises make one reluctant to sink hard earned dollars into Regent again . Yes, we have sailed Voyager and Mariner and enjoyed them......... ......but.......... twice stung is twice stung.

Illustration: We have spent the last 10 New Year's Eve on a Regent cruise...but not this year.