Quick Voyager Review

[What A Market]

Thank you for the review.

We are doing our first Regent cruise on the Voyager on August 12 — Reykjavik to Southampton.

Can’t wait!

[Gilly]

I will second the recommendation of Orkney's Archaeological Wonders tour having enjoyed that one last year on a busy summer's day, when we feared everywhere would be crammed with tourists.  Yes, it was busy, but our tour escaped the queues and our guide managed all of that side of the day really well.  I agree, the story of Scapa Flow is fascinating.  My report of our day is here on my blog if you are interested.

We've not done Regent tours of Waterford and Liverpool but know both well and agree with comments on both places which would be high on our list of must-sees.

 

[red1head]

Thank you for your thoughtful review, TV Dad. We boarded Voyager in Barcelona on 25 June and continued through Lisbon on to Southampton. For us it was a wonderful cruise, our third on Regent and second on Voyager, though we also sail on Seabourn and enjoy river cruising on Scenic. The crew were fantastic as always on Regent and the food was some of the best we have had.

 

I'm sorry to hear about your disappointing wine experience. We thought sommeliers Allan and Janelle were outstanding and along with wine and drinks servers Cyriel and Dianara. They always had something interesting for us to try. DH enjoyed a Côtes du Roussillon Villages, a 2016 Bordeaux, a lovely Bourgogne Pinot Noir, and a  South African pinotage among others, and he sampled the excellent Sancerre, Pouilly Fuissé, and Pouilly Fumé I was often drinking. It was also fun to try some of the Italian wines in Sette Mari and some of the Spanish wines they featured.

 

We enjoyed all our excursions, some free, some Regent Choice or small group (paid a fee). I agree it's unfortunate that people book excursions that are beyond their physical capabilities. In Almeria we were on  an excursion to visit the Moorish fort and castle which one could see from the ship was up on a high hill (better for defense). The description upon booking and in the listing onboard clearly said it there would be several hours of walking outdoors with steps and uneven surfaces. It was a hot day though our guide did good job finding us shade along the way. We had a number of older people in the group who were struggling even with a slow walking pace because it was hot and we were going in stages up the hill (foot traffic only, no vehicles permitted). One gentleman said to me somewhat ruefully that he should have read the description more closely as he thought it was a bus excursion. People need to take responsibility for their own choices and Regent can only do so much to offer information and guidance. 

 

It was an outstanding cruise with memorable experiences: visiting Rabat, Morocco; seeing Stage 7 of the Tour de France finish next to the ship in Bordeaux and enjoying the fan park before the race; visiting Santiago de Compostela, Bilbao and Wales, and on the post-cruise tour visiting Stonehenge. The pre-cruise tour outside of Barcelona (which we had visited twice before) was excellent as well.

 

 

Edited July 19, 2023 by red1head
typo correction

[NCCruzQueen]

@red1head

 

Thanks to you and @TV Dad as we haven't seen many Voyager reviews lately.  Some posters wrote negative short notes on the FB Social Club in the Spring.  It's nice to read positive comments about the ship.  Twenty four days until I board Voyager in Reykjavik!!

[labonnevie]

1 hour ago, red1head said:

seeing Stage 7 of the Tour de France finish next to the ship in Bordeaux and enjoying the fan park before the race; 

 

 

We saw the Voyager on the TDF tv coverage and thought it strange that no one on CC mentioned it. It would have been very exciting for me to have seen. When did you know you would be in Bordeaux the same day as the TDF?

[red1head]

We love the Tour but hadn’t been paying close attention this year because we were busy with the pre-cruise tour and the cruise itself. We were in Bilbao a day after the Tour left, so I checked the course and saw it was headed for Bordeaux. But it wasn’t until we docked that we realized the location of the finish line for Stage 7 the next day and the plaza where the support trailers and the fan park would be located were right across the avenue from the ship for the next day. Needless to say we canceled our excursion for the next day. We watched them set up the award stage from our breakfast table in La Veranda. We visited the fan park after breakfast and bought a couple of cycling jerseys for DH and a Tour t-shirt, then walked across the finish line. We sat on the aft deck outside of the Horizon lounge in the afternoon and watched the crowds, early fan races and sponsor vehicles arriving. We saw the final 500 yards from Deck 12…except for the final 100 yards which were obscured by trees. Beyond fantastic day!!!

[WNcruiser]

6 hours ago, NCCruzQueen said:

@red1head

 

Thanks to you and @TV Dad as we haven't seen many Voyager reviews lately.  Some posters wrote negative short notes on the FB Social Club in the Spring.  It's nice to read positive comments about the ship.  Twenty four days until I board Voyager in Reykjavik!!

I am hoping to do a live from thread...but we will see how much interest there is 🙂

 

@NCCruzQueen @What A Market See you in 3 weeks! 

 

Steve 

[What A Market]

10 hours ago, WNcruiser said:

I am hoping to do a live from thread...but we will see how much interest there is 🙂

 

@NCCruzQueen @What A Market See you in 3 weeks! 

 

Steve 

Looking forward to seeing you all onboard.  Very excited for my first Regent cruise.

I plan to do a live thread as well.

 

I’ve got a Celebrity cruise on the Apex right before this cruise.

Departing Rotterdam July 31. Disembarking Amsterdam August 9.

 

[1982CruzStart]

Looking forward to any and all live threads that both of you (WNcruiser & What a Market) might do. Thanks in advance. 

[labonnevie]

18 hours ago, red1head said:

We love the Tour but hadn’t been paying close attention this year because we were busy with the pre-cruise tour and the cruise itself. We were in Bilbao a day after the Tour left, so I checked the course and saw it was headed for Bordeaux. But it wasn’t until we docked that we realized the location of the finish line for Stage 7 the next day and the plaza where the support trailers and the fan park would be located were right across the avenue from the ship for the next day. Needless to say we canceled our excursion for the next day. We watched them set up the award stage from our breakfast table in La Veranda. We visited the fan park after breakfast and bought a couple of cycling jerseys for DH and a Tour t-shirt, then walked across the finish line. We sat on the aft deck outside of the Horizon lounge in the afternoon and watched the crowds, early fan races and sponsor vehicles arriving. We saw the final 500 yards from Deck 12…except for the final 100 yards which were obscured by trees. Beyond fantastic day!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Jealous, just jealous!

[forevertravel]

We were also on this Voyager cruise. We boarded in Lisbon and disembarked in Southhampton. We then had three days in London. This was one of the best cruises we have done with Regent and we have cruised many times. The ports were excellent and we had wonderful tour guides. The Voyager is 20 years old but it looks great. The service was outstanding. We loved Davos, general manager, and

Vladimir the F&B manager. The food was terrific and we sampled some very nice wines. If we were not crazy about one, they brought us a different one. Le Tour de France was an added bonus. I loved the tour of Mt St. Michel. What an incredible place. All in all it was a fantastic cruise and Regent was as good as ever. We met some wonderful people and enjoyed every minute of it.

[red1head]

44 minutes ago, forevertravel said:

We were also on this Voyager cruise. We boarded in Lisbon and disembarked in Southhampton. We then had three days in London

I completely agree, Forevertravel. Were you on the post-cruise tour? If so, we may have traveled together to see Stonehenge, Hampton Court Palace, Bath, and the rest of the sights. 

[Gilly]

Davor and Vlado are a great management team.  If we see their smiling faces when we board, we know we're going to have a wonderful cruise!

Edited July 21, 2023 by Gilly

[forevertravel]

Yes, we were with the Regent post cruise tour. In fact we were on several excursions together during the cruise. I remember you face. The post cruise tour was very nice (except for the weather).