RSSC EXPLORER MIAMI TO LISBON AND ON TO BARCELONA

[flyers]

                                                  RSSC EXPLORER MIAMI TO LISBON AND ON TO BARCELONA

                                                                     March 25^th to April 18^th 2019

 

We left Miami full of anticipation for our first Cruise on the RSSC Explorer and after all the Regent Hype regarding the “Most Luxurious Cruise Ship in the World” we were expecting great things. We have previously sailed twice on the Mariner and also on our all-time favorite the Seven Seas Diamond Catamaran but most of our cruising has been on Seabourn and SilverSeas. This would be our fifth crossing and our favorite way of getting to the other side with many relaxing Sea Days.

The big question of course is was our anticipation justified? The answer to that is no and yes. Firstly the weather did not co-operate and it was a wet, windy, rough and cold crossing. The rough weather started the second night out of Miami and let up a bit our first day in Bermuda then came with a vengeance  our second day and never let up as we crossed the Atlantic to our first stop in the Azores and onwards. This brought up our first big disappointment ‘THE SHIP`!!.....The Explorer appears to be top Heavy and the continuous pitching and rolling made for sleepless nights and uncomfortable days. Stabilizers are supposed to correct or at least help with the rolling but did the Captain refrain from frequently using these as it apparently causes a speed reduction of one to two knots and we were on a tight schedule?

There is no outside area to turn to as with the strong winds the upper jogging deck 12 was closed off. For the same reason the pool was mostly empty and the strong cold winds made that area unusable, similarly the infinity pool area behind the Spa. There was an uncomfortable feeling of being hermetically sealed inside the ship. As others have pointed out there is a definite lack of outside space especially when many of the suite balconies were not useable as they were always wet and salt encrusted…. It is to be hoped that the designers of the Splendor would have recognized this outside space shortcoming, but perhaps it is too late for that now. Originally the Explorer was designed with glass on the balconies but had to be redesigned due to the top heaviness observed by the Miami designers (according to the Explorer build video shown on the ships TV) and steel rails were substituted. Would glass instead of steel have made the balconies drier and more useable? It’s a matter of conjecture but our personal experience on other Cruise Lines would indicate so…too bad they did not just remove the top deck instead.

Frankly the Explorer Hull has to be one of the worst riding ships that we have experienced and we have been in Hurricane conditions on many ships including both the Silver Shadow and Seabourn Quest without the discomfort that we felt on this ship. Has Regent maybe tried to put to many decks onto too short a Hull?...would she be better balanced if they had left off the 14^th (actually 13^th. ) deck ??

Another area of disappointment was the lack of communication from the Captain who seldom deviated from his daily noon scripted message.

We enjoyed the large gym although its placement on the stern made working out at times  a difficult balancing act but not so the Canyon Ranch Spa which was overpriced and underserved and really took up far too much space which maybe could have been better served with a more useable outdoor area.

Was all Doom and Gloom on this trip...absolutely not! We had some of the best food and met many friendly and outstanding staff on our 24 days on board.

With the exception of the first two nights in Compass Rose where we sent back both our dinners for being over cooked before we discovered the answer. The secret was always request the Starboard side and to the back of Compass Rose and our favorite waiter ‘Jonathan`. Interestingly one of these poor meals happened when we were seated next to a table occupied by Regent President Jason Montague and his guests. He was on board until Bermuda.

There were only 625 guests on the crossing so we were lucky to be able to dine many times in the various restaurants on board. (This flexibility changed on the second cruise when the passenger numbers increased to 740) Many of the restaurants  were exceptional from Chartreuse with Jeorges who we knew from Silversea`s to Prime 7 and Pacific Rim (our least favorite ) However our all-time  favorite was Sette Marie run by a very personable and efficient young Lady, Theresa from Italy. We frankly had many Italian dishes that had to rate as some of the best Italian that we have had anywhere in the World including Italy!. The Veranda restaurant however was a hit and miss affair sometimes very good but often lack luster. We tended to avoid it when we could especially when Chartreuse and Prime 7 were often open for lunch. By far the worst eating spot on the ship was the Pool Grill. It was like a cold wind tunnel, the food was many times totally inedible and the staff behind the counters were grumpy and often darn right rude. They obviously did not want to be there.

We indicated this on all the comment forms that we received during the back to back cruises but never received any indication or feedback that any attention was being paid to any comments and suggestions. A notable difference from Seabourn where comment cards always elicited a quick response. During our Cruise Critic meet and greet reception on the second day on board Stephane the F&B director and the GM Michael Coghlan introduced themselves and indicated that their doors were always open! Well we never saw Stephane again and Mr. Coghlan’s door was in fact always open but we never saw him  in the ‘GM Office` next to reception!.

The Entertainment was what one would expect on a ship this size some very good and others not so good but in everything the very personable Lorraine Weimerskirch Cruise Director was very visible and obviously doing her best with what she had to work with. Ross the Pianist was exceptional and made the Observation Lounge a delightful place to visit before or after dinner for a drink.  

The Suites were without a doubt some if not the best at sea, well designed with very high end and comfortable furniture. Our Explorer suite on deck nine was an example of this excellent design and other than the almost constant movement of the ship felt very safe and relaxing. While our butler was not the best that we have had on various ships, both he and the suite steward did their best to make our cruise as comfortable as possible including dealing with constant Toilet problems. Either the toilets (two) would not flush or the noise was so intense that plugging ones ears were necessary every time. We have incidentally added three posts on Cruise Critic with pictures of some of the top suites showing their elegant design.

I am sure that there are those on this board who will disagree or take exception to some of our comments but this is our own personal views as to how we perceived the Explorer and the cruise in general and we are not going to enter into a back and forth discussion on this. Would our comments have been different had we had smooth seas and light winds?, quite possibly regarding the ship and how she handled the seas but this is what we experienced and everything else would have been the same.

We for one will not be going back to the Explorer for many of the reasons listed above but would return to the Mariner which we much preferred.

 

18^th 2019

[UUNetBill]

Sorry your experience with Explorer wasn't better.  We've never sailed her in heavy seas so we can't compare, but we love Explorer for calmer weather at least.  I sure don't take exception and I definitely can't disagree - our experiences on Explorer are obviously different than yours.  

 

We've sailed with Lorraine before and we agree that she's always a lot of fun and really adds a little something to the cruise.  Of course, a good CD is a real plus when the weather keeps people inside more.  I'd been looking at booking a crossing but I'll probably keep more of an eye on the time of year when I get around to booking one - I don't have issues with motion sickness so the pitching doesn't bother me that much, but I can sure see where being rock and rolled and trapped inside could be a bit of a downer.

[cruiseluv]

I was in this cruise as well, got off in Lisbon. I will certainly agree with what you describe about the weather, pretty miserable. Not sure if I would have wanted to spend much more time in my balcony even if it had glass rather than steel. Ive been on Seabourn Sojourn and Silversea Whisper, and I'm trying to remember what "outside" areas those ships have that are more sheltered than Explorer. Thankfully,  I never felt the sensation you describe of being "hermetically sealed inside the ship", that indeed sounds horrible. 

I do identify with your comments about some of the servers behind the counter on the pool grill as I had a couple of less than positive experiences with them. However, my two worse dining experiences service wise were on Prime 7. Still, the totality of the good service we received in those 14 days were so positive that I had already forgotten about the bad ones.

Hope your trip on the mainland was more positive

Editing to add, most of my crossings have been late summer, or Fall and we've had better weather. I probably will never book again a Spring crossing, West to East

 

Edited April 30, 2019 by cruiseluv

[rcandkc]

Since I have my first crossing in 2 weeks this is sad news for me.  Maybe we will luck out. 

[cruiseluv]

2 hours ago, rcandkc said:

Since I have my first crossing in 2 weeks this is sad news for me.  Maybe we will luck out. 

 

In what ship is that? Dont worry too much, by the time you embark it'll be almost two months after we did. 

The reason I wouldnt do again the West to East (regardless of date) is the whole losing an hour every other day or so. 

[rcandkc]

1 hour ago, cruiseluv said:

 

In what ship is that? Dont worry too much, by the time you embark it'll be almost two months after we did. 

The reason I wouldnt do again the West to East (regardless of date) is the whole losing an hour every other day or so. 

Navigator.  We have been on her I think 6 times so familiar with ship.  We aren’t too worried about seasickness because we were on Voyager in 30 feet seas and 80 mile an hour wind in the Tasman Sea and felt fine.  Don’t like idea of losing time but I hate flying overnight since I can’t sleep and the flight home from Amsterdam is daytime. 

[cruiseluv]

rcandkc,

 

Agree with not liking to fly overnight, so definitively a plus on that! I look forward to your comments about your cruise and the Navigator, we're doing a cruise on it in November, last time was in 2005!

[Hambagahle]

2 hours ago, rcandkc said:

Navigator.  We have been on her I think 6 times so familiar with ship.  We aren’t too worried about seasickness because we were on Voyager in 30 feet seas and 80 mile an hour wind in the Tasman Sea and felt fine.  Don’t like idea of losing time but I hate flying overnight since I can’t sleep and the flight home from Amsterdam is daytime. 

We have done a crossing - Ft Lauderdale to Monte Carlo - on the Navigator and loved it!  We had reasonably good to very excellent weather (which of course you cannot control) and the voyage was "themed" NY Theatre Guild at sea which is really remarkable.  Great actors/singers etc not only acting and singing but talking about their careers and experiences.  One of them was Patricia Neal...  in a wheelchair but extremely articulate.   We had a Navigator Suite which while not ideal was very comfortable.    Now I suppose if the entertainment had been less outstanding or the seas rough - which they were not - I would have felt differently about it.  But I have done a lot of crossings and - sorry to say this - you have to take the rough with the smooth!!   Navigator is a "personable" ship and though it lacks the choices in terms of restaurants that the others have is not bad at all.  We have sailed on her in the Caribbean too...and loved it.

[kjbacon]

We joined the OP in Lisbon and just disembarked in Venice. We had a fabulous time and rebooked on board so we were very pleased overall. Still, I have to agree with many of the OPs observations. The outdoor space was lacking. The jogging track on deck 12 was closed more than it was open on our second leg. We tried to find another space for our walks and came up blank.

 

To be fair, I know very little about ship design and such. However, early on, I asked my husband if he thought there might be something wrong with the stabilizers or something because the motion of the ship seemed exaggerated.

 

The captain on the first leg was not to our taste. The daily brief was dry and useless, and when we were jolted out of bed on the first night with very rough conditions, my first thought was that the captain should have given us a heads up. The second leg of the trip was a different story. Captain Serena was hands on and very informative in some very difficult conditions. We missed many ports and had very rough seas with high winds. Many people blamed her and/or Regent (which we found absurd) and she showed grace under fire. We just loved her!

 

Having gained 10 pounds (!) I can agree that the food was fantastic. We also found our favorite restaurant to be Sette Mari. I shouldn’t publish that as it is bound to get more crowded but they deserve it.

 

We met many nice people, made new friends, and enjoyed the lounge with Ross playing the piano almost every night. The staff on this ship was unlike anything we have ever experienced and their warmth and service can not be beat.

[flyers]

Dear kjbacon,

Its interesting that you had many of the same experiences that we did and especially the Captains apparent lack of empathy for the passengers on board.  . He had to have known that the Lisbon to Madeira leg was going to be very rough and he should have warned us. In the middle of the night our Steward appeared to place everything that could fall, on to the ground, an indication that some one knew that we were in for a rough night and its the rolling that got us which is what stabilizers are designed to handle! It shows how a change of Captain from Capt.Vasta to Captain Serena can positively influence a Cruise. After we disembarked  we watched the ship leave Barcelona and with the winds and seas, expected that the ship was in for a rough few days. I have attached some photos including one showing  how rough the seas looked like from our Barcelona Hotel vantage point.

 

Very little has been written with regards the various Tours put on by the ship but Madeira, was by far our favorite Port (visited twice on our back to back) as well as Lanzarote where we thoroughly enjoyed the Aloe Vera tour and lecture. The rest of the tours were either negatively influenced by the bad weather or for our tastes too non descript to even discuss. However we found the Destination desk personnel to be helpful and charming, a far cry from the complaints that have been registered by others on this board on the Explorer and other Regent Ships.

 

 

 

[kjbacon]

We did experience a lot of rough seas and high winds on the Barcelona to Venice portion as well as a delay for a medical emergency. There were many unhappy passengers. We had 2 port substitutions and we missed 2 ports. You can’t fight Mother Nature and while we were disappointed, it wasn’t Regent’s fault and we felt that they tried their best and found successes.

 

We also loved the Canary Islands and have since learned the Madeira is actually part of the Azores. It was our favorite too but we would go back to all of them. We also loved Cádiz, Spain and would go back. All of our shore excursions were very good to great. Morocco was a different story. We were disappointed in the entire experience. 

 

Captain Serena is going to the Splendor so I will miss her on our next Explorer cruise. She is top notch!

Edited May 2, 2019 by kjbacon
Misspelling

[poss]

Appreciating the reports.   I don't like Explorer as much as Mariner (though like the extra restaurant), but we embark in Barcelona on Explorer, May 20.   Do you know if Capt. Serena will still be on ship?    What about the other key positions?   Thank you.

Enjoy!