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LIVE – Explorer Transatlantic – 11/23 – 12/7/2019

Travelcat2

By Travelcat2,
in Regent Seven Seas Cruises

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Hambagahle

Hambagahle

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Hi Jackie - I haven't been able to read your posts for a couple of days - have been in Basel, without computer, for the weekend (Christmas markets with my granddaughter!)

 

Love the photos of the cats!  And I can see why you miss them.

 

Also - now I see the design of the buffet area in La Veranda I completely see that it is impossible to station serving staff there to serve the guests.  BIG oversight in design IMO because I still believe that not having hundreds of "sticky fingers" touching serving spoons etc is more hygenic.

 

Photos of the Grand lunch buffet - could have been taken in the MDR on Oceania at a Sunday brunch.  Exactly the same sort of things.  And I must say all delicious!

 

Hope by now you are home with the marathon flights done and dusted.   And looking forward to seeing you and Dennis in March.  MANY thanks for the entire thread from the insightful comments, to the great photos and from time to time putting up with "interruptions" in a very graceful way!!

Gerry

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boblerm "Live from...." Rare

boblerm

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Jackie, welcome home, hope your flights went well.  Thanks for all the great info, the duo playing in the Explorer lounge sounds...interesting?  I think that venue would be more enjoyable if we could get them to take the volume down a bit, at least for the before dinner sets.

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Travelcat2

Travelcat2

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Thank you for your kind comments - I really need to pst the photos and wrap this up so I'll get to it.

 

califsealion (love your avatar).  The seas were calm the last two days so I did not get a chance to try them again.  I don't want to recommend something that costs around $100 (less expensive ones are probably from China - they look similar to the original ones from France but who knows what the difference is).  It did seem to work except that one time.  All I can say is that with the fairly rough seas, I only took 1/2 of pill for seasickness once which is a plus.

 

Overall, the cruise was very good.  Rather than rambling as I usually do, I'll try to organize my final thoughts below:

 

1. First, some comments about the crew.  If you go to Prime 7, ask for Vishnu's table.  He is one of the best servers that we have had.  Pacific Rim overall has wonderful service (even from the new crew members).  I had difficulty picking a "Shining Star" for this cruise.  Anna in La Veranda is definitely a star and I was going to name her.  She was recently employee of the month and guests rave about her. She is definitely a shining star but isn't THE "Shining Star".  That would be Cecilia in the Meridian Lounge (she may be in another lounge now).  She is from Mexico - makes great drinks - always has a big smile and remembers her guests.  

 

2.  Part two about the crew - the not so perfect part.  As with any job, some people excel fairly quickly and others do not.  While new crew members get in-depth training, no one can prepare you for working on a ship 7 days a week - long hours and some grouchy guests.  In an industry where new ships are being built all of the time, getting experienced crew can be a challenge (for all cruise lines).  We saw a lot of progress in the short time that we were onboard with the new crew.  We also saw a couple of crew members that seemed a bit lost.  This should be sorted out rather quickly.

 

3.  I will not belabor the internet issue as we all know that there are issues.  I believe that Regent will deal with it.

 

4.  The officers were great!  Despite the fact that Andreas (General Manager) came to Regent from Oceania a few years ago (something that I like to tease him about), he fits Regent perfectly.  He was always available and did his best to calm the concerns of guests (particularly about the internet and missing Bermuda which were the major complaints).  Must mention here that it is amazing to me that people blame Regent for missing ports.  Had we sailed towards Bermuda, we would have to go through an enormous storm with very high waves and we still would have had difficulty getting to Bermuda.

 

5.  Food is so subjective.  We intensely disliked Pacific Rim for our first two cruises and now want to dine there as often as possible.  We love the food (but have learned what to order that meets our palette).  Some items in Chartreuse are quite good while others were not to our taste.  Prime 7 has been a puzzlement since it was first launched.  It can be top notch (as it was on this cruise) or a total failure.   We always enjoy CR and this time we sat in John's section - excellent service.  As mentioned previously, some people find the back of the venue to be quiet but we do not care for that area.  The center of CR tends to be noisy but the sides (the tables by the window and the next row of tables) is no nosier than any other ship (in my opinion).

 

6.  Volume of entertainment.  Theater - extremely loud.  Meridian Lounge - medium loud.  Observation Lounge - generally piano music played at a reasonable volume (we did not spend time there this time).  The night of the Beatles event, that took place in the atrium, was so loud that it could likely cause hearing damage.  I was in the Business Center on the deck above and wondered what on earth was going on with the intensely loud music (I enjoy Beatles music but it does not have to be played so loudly.). Live music on the pool deck during lunch can also be deafening.  

 

7.  The ship looks like new.  Almost everyone that I spoke with loves Explorer.  She does have some quirks but don't we all?  The reasons that we rate Explorer #1 in the fleet is because of the suite layout for regular suites (F1, F2 and Concierge), the extra dining venue, the seating areas on deck 5 where people can sit on sofas or chairs - work on their tablets/phones/laptops - people watch - watch the ocean or just read, We also like being able to dine in specialty restaurants for lunch and really enjoy the wonderful Sunday brunch in CR.  La Veranda is also so open and easy to get around as compared to the other ships.  The other ships are lovely but Explorer, to us, is the complete package.

 

8.  What to do on sea days.  I do have several Passages in the still unpacked suitcase but I remember most of it without having to take photos and post.  On sea days there are always at least two lectures in the Constellation Theater.  Canyon Ranch (now gone from Explorer -- since Friday) had lectures in smaller venues about your body, diet and other helpful things.  I assume that the new spa will do the same kind of thing.  There are games that may sound silly but are very popular.  Some games are against other guests while others are guests against officers.  Of course, there is Trivia and Bingo.  On Explorer this time, Afternoon Tea was held in the Meridian Lounge and I believe that Trivia was held in the Observation Lounge.  On transatlantic cruises, there may be a Country Fair (described in a previous post) which is 45 minutes of good fun (even if you don't participate, seeing the booths and the crew dressed up in funny costumes is enjoyable.).  One booth that I like is one where you are racing with someone - holding a martini glass that contains colored water - trying to fill up a container.  It is much more fun than it sounds.

 

Time for photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hambagahle

Hambagahle

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Glad you are back to "real life" and thanks again for the comments and photos.

 

A question -- on our Roll call for the March cruise someone just posted that Serena will not be our Captain.  Apparently her "tour of duty" will end before we board.  Any ideas as to whom s/he (must be a he I suppose) might be???   Felice would be great... just my thought!

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Travelcat2

Travelcat2

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happycruisingUK - thank you posting that list.  I can never remember how to spell Andreas’ name.  BTW, be prepared for changes to that schedule.  Changes were even happening when we were on the ship last week.  

 

Well, “real life” has taken over and the photos that I have not posted are really not that interesting.  Just happy that I was able to upload in seconds once I got home.

 

I’ll leave you with on more photo (probably posted earlier) - one that I am fascinated by.  See you all in March - from Splendor.

 

In the meantime, I can be reached at mitamejade@gmail.com!

 

88F01870-2F4E-43AD-988E-D399C3BEB926.jpeg

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ronrick1943 "Live from...." Rare

ronrick1943

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11 hours ago, happycruisingUK said:

From the Seven Seas Society magazine which was waiting for us after our Explorer cruise. Hope this helps. 

D900A9B9-BA4F-4809-B274-4D5BD816CB42.jpeg

76EA1C2A-458A-415A-AEB7-9D1051A0694C.jpeg

From this list it doesn't look like Captain Serena Melani won't be the Captain in March 2020 on the SS Splendor.  Sorry to see that has we really enjoyed her on other sailings and was looking forward to seeing her on the ship.  We board the SS Splendor on April 1 out of Miami for a b2b.

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  • 2 months later...
Travelcat2

Travelcat2

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50 minutes ago, SkystheLimit said:

Seems you aren't content with Seabourn or Oceania either.  Maybe a different type of holiday would be better suited for you.

 

You may have misunderstood my post I omitted Seabourn because we haven't sailed on them and Oceania is not a luxury cruise line).  

 

The part that you missed is that we love Regent - have taken 34 Regent cruises with the 35th coming up next month.  We tried the other luxury lines to see if they were better (for us) than Regent and they were not.  IF we could not sail on Regent, we would sail on Silversea, then Oceania and finally Crystal (only if we could stay in a Crystal Penthouse again).

 

 

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SkystheLimit

SkystheLimit

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1 hour ago, Travelcat2 said:

 

You may have misunderstood my post I omitted Seabourn because we haven't sailed on them and Oceania is not a luxury cruise line).  

 

The part that you missed is that we love Regent - have taken 34 Regent cruises with the 35th coming up next month.  We tried the other luxury lines to see if they were better (for us) than Regent and they were not.  IF we could not sail on Regent, we would sail on Silversea, then Oceania and finally Crystal (only if we could stay in a Crystal Penthouse again).

 

 

Sorry for the misunderstanding.  I was not referencing your post.  It was the one regarding the Explorer being "far, far from the most luxurious ship".  We were on TA on the Explorer and absolutely loved the ship.  Booked for this summer on her.  Again, apologies for any misunderstanding.

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Travelcat2

Travelcat2

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4 minutes ago, SkystheLimit said:

Sorry for the misunderstanding.  I was not referencing your post.  It was the one regarding the Explorer being "far, far from the most luxurious ship".  We were on TA on the Explorer and absolutely loved the ship.  Booked for this summer on her.  Again, apologies for any misunderstanding.

 

Not a problem🤘

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