Guaranteed suite on the mariner

[countflorida]

I'm 6'2" and getting along in years, leading to balance/stability issues which would definitely cause major problems with the tubs on the Mariner today. On a 43 day cruise from San Francisco around Cape Horn to Rio de Janeiro about a dozen years ago (before they started converting many of the tub-only baths to shower-only) I learned to "shower while crouching".

 

Even worse, the bottom of the tub itself is a little higher than the floor of the bath; perhaps 2" (never measured it). Not bad getting into the tub, but getting out was a real challenge even back then; today I wouldn't even try! One day a lady showed up at breakfast with a black eye and badly bruised face; it looked like she had been mugged. Turned out she had fallen getting out of the tub. I think this and similar incidents convinced Radisson to begin the tub-to-shower conversion process. We really like the large walk-in showers; they are a great improvement! But because there is no guarantee you can get a shower suite, we can't take a guarantee on the Mariner.

 

The Mariner and Voyager are not really "sister ships", in fact they are quite different. As was explained during a town-hall meeting on the about-to-be-christened Voyager, the Mariner was built from the inside out, which is why it has dual corridors. It has standard propellers at the rear of the hull. The Voyager was built just the opposite, from the hull in, has just one central corridor and is propelled by pods extending down from the hull.

 

The Mariner, built by the French company Chantiers de l'Atlantique at Saint-Nazaire, was under construction, but something happened to the company that had ordered it and Radisson took it over; it was launched in 2001. Mark Conroy (who is pretty tall) said he never tried the tub on the Mariner; he had trusted that task to the much shorter Christian Sauleau. Thus, he joked, it was all Sauleau's fault.

 

The Voyager was built in Italy by T. Mariotti of Genoa and launched in 2003. My wife and I were fortunate to have gotten in on its (FREE!) shakedown cruise from Nice around the western Med to Monaco, where the Voyager was christened. It was the first ship to call at the then-new (actually, still under construction) Monte Carlo cruise terminal. After a 45 minute "invocation" by the Archbishop of Monaco, in French(!) and very brief remarks by several others in English, Pat and I were privileged to have a truly delightful lunch with Prince Albert II of Monaco, and also about 300 of our soon-to-be close friends, as we stayed on for the ship's maiden cruise, to the Eastern Med, Aegean and Ionian seas, disembarking in Venice. A truly memorable experience; Voyager has always been our favorite of the three Regent ships, and we look forward to cruising on her again this coming fall. However, the Mariner is the steadiest of the three, and has many other good features as well.

Edited April 24, 2014 by countflorida
correction and clarification

[trvlrs]

Thank you countflorida for the explanation. Bulit by the French, that explains it all ;)

We booked our trip (guaranteed room). I am keeping our fingers crossed that we would get a shower, otherwise I am hoping that given we are young we will manage the bathtub fine and DH will have to manage the tight space. He is mentally prepared :)

[Travelcat2]

When we first sailed on the Voyager (2006), people liked to say that the Mariner was built....... they figured everything that was wrong with her and then built the Voyager. The Voyager has been our favorite ship for years but this past year we are learning more towards the Mariner. While either ship is lovely, the Mariner does have larger spaces (due to smaller "regular" cabins). We look forward to returning to the Mariner next year after a 2 year break.

[trvlrs]

Awesome travelvat2. We are very excited about our upcoming cruise but trying to keep our expectations low. We had a wonderful time when we sailed the Baltic on voyager. We felt the service, the suites, the atmosphere could not be toped. If Mariner comes close to it we would be very happy….

So far I am disappointed with the choices of free excursions but I am not bothered because we usually do our own thing. We're not big on tours. As a matter of fact, the only tour we did on Voyager was the evening ballet in St Petersburg

[trvlrs]

The roll call for our sailing is very quite. I wonder why? No one is there

[trvlrs]

Haha…sorry "Quiet":)

[Hambagahle]

CountFlorida -- why on earth wouldn't the Archbishop of Monaco give an invocation in French? They speak French there...

 

I never had a problem with the Mariner bath/shower combo and in fact always insisted on booking a suite with a bath and not a shower because I used to hate showers. Now I am getting older (like many people I suppose) I am converted to showers. Anyway the bath has a shower curtain and you can use it as a bath or a shower. Still the Navigator and Voyager bathrooms please most people. (You should try the bathrooms in the Oceania suite on Riviera and Marina!! Now THOSE are bathrooms!!)

[trvlrs]

CountFlorida -- why on earth wouldn't the Archbishop of Monaco give an invocation in French? They speak French there...

 

I never had a problem with the Mariner bath/shower combo and in fact always insisted on booking a suite with a bath and not a shower because I used to hate showers. Now I am getting older (like many people I suppose) I am converted to showers. Anyway the bath has a shower curtain and you can use it as a bath or a shower. Still the Navigator and Voyager bathrooms please most people. (You should try the bathrooms in the Oceania suite on Riviera and Marina!! Now THOSE are bathrooms!!)

 

Thank you Hambaghale, maybe the bath won't be soooo bad after all. I see you are in Switzerland, what a lovely place to live. Lived in Zug for 4 years and loved it. We do miss the central location of Switzerland and the ease of travel from there :)

[countflorida]

Hambagahle, it really wasn't the French that was the major issue; it was the near-45 minute length of his talk. I gathered, from remarks afterward, that few if any of the Carlson family, who at the time owned Radisson, understood French. One of them, I think Barbara Carlson, the "godmother" of the ship, commented that her few (two?) years of high school French helped not at all. Very few of the others attending the christening did either, apparently, as both the language and length of his talk were the main topic of conversation at lunch that day.

 

But all was forgiven, at least forgotten, as they served an excellent Champaign with the caviar, an outstanding Montrachet with the fish course and a very good first growth Burgundy with the Kobe beef entrée. A marvelous menu for a spectacular event which regrettably began a bit discombobulating. By the way, at lunch the Archbishop demonstrated he could speak passable English, and he was the only one on the christening program or in public remarks during the lunch, including Prince Albert and a local official of some stature, who spoke more than a word or two in French.

 

I'm just glad we were able to be there. It was one of my more memorable lunches, if not the most memorable.

Edited April 24, 2014 by countflorida
my wife corrects me; she is younger and much more memorable!

[countflorida]

Just noticed (on Seatrade) that Regent has just last week completed a multimillion-dollar upgrade to suites and lounges on the Mariner, so it should be good to go for your cruise, trvlrs. ENJOY! Take a look at the Mariner (somewhat live) thread at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2021790&page=2 for what they have done to her; Very very nice!

 

(It was too late to add this to my earlier post above)

Edited April 24, 2014 by countflorida

[trvlrs]

Thank you Countflorida….The pics look fab! Looking forward to the cruise

[TedC]

I like a shower and always book a shower suite. The shower is smallish, it'd be VERY TIGHT for supersized folks!

 

I should have mentioned I was in E suite on Mariner, larger suites PH etc may well have larger showers.

 

 

ME BAD!

[shuguley]

Anyone have experience being on Mariner deck 10 under the pool deck (which is obviously on deck 11) and especially under the pool grill? Had just such a suite on the Navigator and I will NEVER do that again. Morning preparations began at 6:00 AM and every time they would drop something or slide a chair it sounded like they were about to come through the ceiling of our suite!

 

Is the Mariner any better?

Edited April 25, 2014 by shuguley

[Travelcat2]

Anyone have experience being on Mariner deck 10 under the pool deck (which is obviously on deck 11) and especially under the pool grill? Had just such a suite on the Navigator and I will NEVER do that again. Morning preparations began at 6:00 AM and every time they would drop something or slide a chair it sounded like they were about to come through the ceiling of our suite!

 

Is the Mariner any better?

 

I would assume that the problem would be the same on the Mariner. We had a suite under the pool on the Voyager and had the same issues that you had on the Navigator

[lovemydentist]

I'm confused as to why the laundry rooms on the Mariner would be considered a "war zone." I assume any passenger can use the laundry on any floor without argument. Am I wrong about this?

[Travelcat2]

I'm confused as to why the laundry rooms on the Mariner would be considered a "war zone." I assume any passenger can use the laundry on any floor without argument. Am I wrong about this?

 

Yes, unfortunately, the laundry rooms can be uncomfortable places to be. There are people (mostly women but sometimes men) that do not want to wait for someone's clothes to be done and just remove them and put theirs in. While doing this they may "accidentally" mix your clothing in with theirs. If you are 1 second late in removing your clothes when they are finished, it is pretty certain that someone will remove them. Then there is the general attitude of the people who seem to want to control the areas. They can be quite rude!

 

There can be some nice people in the room but, it has been my experience that they are few and far between. If you want to sit and guard your clothes, it will probably be fine. I've heard of some people who take some wine into the laundry room and enjoy it while they guard their clothes.

 

IMO, passengers are spending thousands of dollars to cruise on Regent and should not waste a precious moment of their time in a laundry room. Although sending out your clothes isn't inexpensive, it is worth it to not get upset over getting your clothes washed. If you have on board credits, they can be used to have clothes washed and ironed.

[Eager2Travel]

TC, you certainly described the laundry room perfectly. You brought back some vivid memories.

 

I agree with the advice to avoid doing your wash in there. Occasionally ironing something works fine.

[Suite Travels]

Jackie, I could not agree with you more. Dang, I am on vacation and I am not wasting my time on any luxury line washing and ironing. Really? You spend all of this money to guard a laundry machine. We do laundry at home but NOT on vacation out of the question.

 

BTW Jackie, we are in Toyko right now and we are not impressed with this crowded city and smog. The hotel is very nice and the people are very friendly and the food is great but very expensive.

 

We have a cruise booked on Crystal in December but we are now rethinking other options. Dan wants to try Regent again so will look at that as well. We loved the Voyager and I need to find out where she will be going.

[Travelcat2]

Hi Eager2Travel -- agree that ironing is not a problem. However, I think you are now Platinum like we are and no longer have to concern yourself with washing or ironing:D

 

Suite Travels: REALLY (yelling:-) wish that you two were sailing with us on Regent. Even if the sailing was not perfect, we would have a great time! I really think that the Mariner has had the best food lately. We are booked on the Mariner for the crossing on April 1st (April Fools Day -- how perfect:D)

 

We are also booked on the Oceania's Riviera at the end of November (Miami to Miami -- 14 nights). This would be a local and easy cruise for you. We will be in a Vista Suite and would love to have the two of you to dinner in out suite. We'll provide the wine/booze -- think it would be loads of fun).

 

You two need a change....... crossing my fingers.

[RachelG]

Can't agree more about the laundry room, although the one on Oceania was even worse. And I had the end of the cycle timed down to the minute.

[sarawithanh]

Who the hell does laundry on VACATION?!?!

 

I haven't been fortunate enough to travel for longer than 10 days so maybe I could see necessity on longer trips...

 

But generally my rule is I ain't doin laundry and I pack enough. And hubby agrees

 

My mother in law is constantly doing laundry like towels and stuff on our week long family vacations at the beach. Hubby and I are constantly "yelling" at her not to grab our towels and stuff LOL. My bath towel is perfectly fine for a week without wash.

 

God I can't imagine doing laundry on a cruise ship. Your discussion reminds me of dorm living. No way no how.

[RachelG]

I only do underwear and exercise clothes. Everything else goes out to be done. So on 7 days or less, I don't do laundry, but longer cruises, I will do a load or two once a week.

[trvlrs]

I am with you RachelG. We only do exercise clothes and if someone takes them out of the machine so be it.... I have better thing to do on vacation then stand guard. Does the laundry room have posted hours?

[TedC]

Same hours of world wrestling matches!

[Travelcat2]

There are posted hours -- I think 7:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. but I could be off by an hour.

 

I laugh when I think about the laundry rooms as I couldn't wait to become "Platinum" and get free laundry. When we finally reached that level a year ago, my DH asked if I realized how much money we had spent to get free laundry? I guess he had a good point:)