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Review Mariner August.

welshfamily

By welshfamily,
in Regent Seven Seas Cruises

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welshfamily Great Review Rare

welshfamily

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Hope this review is not too long.

Embarkation 

We had been warned by Regent by email that transportation was problematic due to the Popes visit to Lisbon. Our original disappointment re no night in hotel and the lack of transfers had become totally understandable when we were actually experiencing the total closure of the centre of Lisbon and the mayhem caused by added 40,000 young people and their Priests, nuns, responsible adults etc to the mix. Our hotel arranged both collection from the airport and transfer to the cruise terminal and both were flawless. The only problem being we were delivered to the port at 10am. Happily we were able to drop of luggage and after a quick look at the seats provided decided to find a cafe along the promenade for coffee to kill an hour or so. This idea was a non starter as it started to rain heavily.  At the same time coaches started arriving …3 full from the airport. Much to our surprise by 10.20 am the port started check in and just after 11.00 we were invited to board. 
 

 

Our Suite.

We had two suites concierge on Deck 9. 
At first I was concerned re the size of the cabin. We are used to bigger. However the bathroom was excellent and the walk in wardrobe made all the difference to the useable space.

Pros

walk in wardrobe, bathroom, placement of makeup/ mirror area between wardrobe and bathroom. Comfortable sofa. Sofa furnishings tiptop.

Cons.

Balcony doors poor condition, particularly on Balcony side. Chairs did not work … should have reclined. No replacements.

Bathroom Ventilation cover … heavy metal fell off ceiling …twice narrowly missing husbands head the first time. After second time new one fixed. 
No tote bag. We didn’t pack pool bag as planned to use these.

Steward …. Pleasant but useless. Suite serviced in afternoon quite a few times. Had to keep ringing for laundry bags, ginger ale for fridge etc. Didn’t use coffee maker as only espresso cups, no mugs, we took turns walking to coffee connections at 6.30 am. Coffee here was excellent. Non of these things were more than a nuisance. 
 

Laundry 

Out before 9 am back before 5pm every time.
 

Ship.

Excellent condition.

Plenty of seating areas, bars. No hogging of sun beds, never struggled to find two or four together. 
 

Service.

Compass Rose the first night was appalling. We watched in horror for 2 hrs 40 minutes whilst our server ran around trying her best to serve all her allocated tables. A collision with another server using the same station had obviously hurt her but she carried on regardless. We were sat next to the station. The icing on the cake was my uncooked soufflé. We tried to catch her attention but in the end left. Really thought then we had made a huge error.

Reported concerns to Reception and by chance the next morning got into the lift with food and beverages manager.  The mark on which we judge a hotel/ ship / resort is not on what goes wrong but how the management reacts. 
He knew my name, had read my concerns and had just left a message for me. Yes, Compass Rose was chaotic. No he understood I didn’t give a damn about an uncooked soufflé, however I did care about a server who was run off her feet and could have been hurt. He would sort it. 
Compass Rose was excellent there after. We did note that the girls had assistants every evening after the first night. 
 

Bar service, Le Terrace , outstanding. 
 

Food.

On the whole excellent. Choice, Quality etc in both Compass Rose and Le Terrace excellent. Only miss was steak in Prime 7 … poor. 
one inedible dish Beef wellington in Compass Rose …too salty to eat. All four of us could not eat it and one of us has Cystic Fibrosis and as a child would try to drink from the salt seller……he craves salt. However when you are eating 5 courses ….who cares…..it is impossible to go hungry on Regent. 
 

In Prime 7 we took your many recommendations and had the Popcorn sundae. Unfortunately the server slipped whilst placing mine on the table and it bounced off my chest and landed in my lap. The poor man. There was a deadly silence, a gasp from the next table and……… I have always had a black sense of humour …the look on the servers face, and my fellow diners, surrounding guests…. I started to laugh …..it was slap stick comedy at its best …he tried to wipe me down … then realised he was wiping my breasts …..he fell back in horror…..and I laughed even harder. I am well into my sixties, …he was a nice young man….

Question…. Was this a Pro or a Con ? Or is that an unacceptable question these days?

 

The Mariner is a small ship. I had so many people stop to chat to me after that as the story must have gotten around. From the reaction of the Staff that sort of thing doesn’t happen often. 
 

My dress … hand wash only leave to air dry was returned in perfect condition by the Laundry team. I just wrote the instructions on a laundry slip and gave to Steward. No management involved.


Entertainment.

Better than expected.

 

Excursions.

We did 8 from 11 ports. 

Three outstanding,

Three good.

one reasonable

One poor. This was due Regents lack of thought…. stupidity…. Pick a word. Image putting 12 excursions onto one ferry at a tender port. We were number 1. Waited for an hour for ferry with no explanation, however we soon realised what was happening as more and more people got off the tenders.It took 20 to 25 minutes to get everyone on and off 4 times. The excursion was an exercise in frustration. Still the small tour people…no idea how many really made their frustrations known. Hope they got a refund. 

 

Only real complaint.

No sea days so we decided to make one ourselves and treat ourselves to an afternoon on the pool deck. Sat down at 2pm and at 2.10pm was told pool deck closing as deck party BBQ  that night and crew needed to prepare. Wish we had had notice. Nothing in Passages about Pool deck not being available that afternoon. We would have changed things around.
 

Wi-Fi,

Poor. Was going to do live from but gave up trying on second day.

 

Value for money.

On the whole we liked the fully inclusive aspect. Did we drink our share of Alcohol. No but we liked drinking when we wanted to. Did we spend extra on  champagne Yes but we were always going to. The Included excursions made us get off our sun beds and experience different things. We came back tired but had very little laundry…big plus.

Would we book again.

Oh Yes already looking.
 

 

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crusin7 "Live from...." Rare

crusin7

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Hi Welshfamily. Omg I had a good laugh about your Prime 7 rub down!  Thank goodness for your wonderful sense of humor.  We are in the KLM lounge now in Amsterdam waiting for our flight home to LAX.  Traveling is hard work!  Thankfully we did not have the long walk like Flossie and Mr. Flossie.  

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cruisevirgin24

cruisevirgin24

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Thank you for the informative and amusing review. We are booked on our first Regent cruise in January 24. You mentioned the in-room coffee machine. Is it possible to make a proper cup of "builders tea" in the suite? Is it available anywhere on the ship? Thank you!

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Guerncruising

Guerncruising

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Builders tea, well any decent tea.  It’s Twining’s usual selection. I find it best to ask for two bags in one pot but makes sure that you state two bags in a small pot. It kind of defeats the object of two bags in a large pot. I guess it must be the English way!

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lprp "Live from...." Rare

lprp

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@welshfamily, almost spat my coffee laughing at your Popcorn Sundae experience 🤣 - not sure how to vote in your poll, guess it depends on how cute he was (I’ve probably just broken all kinds is rules and taboos 😝)


Great review, good to hear that the F&B manager took the CR issue seriously and dealt with it.

The sadly recently late F&B manager Douglas performed similar for me when the bar apparently ran out of Fever Tree 😱 -  12 bottles were delivered to our suite by the time we returned from dinner. A Perfect response.

 

Where are you thinking of for your next trip?

LP

Edited by lprp
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pingpong1

pingpong1

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9 hours ago, welshfamily said:

 

In Prime 7 we took your many recommendations and had the Popcorn sundae. Unfortunately the server slipped whilst placing mine on the table and it bounced off my chest and landed in my lap. The poor man. There was a deadly silence, a gasp from the next table and……… I have always had a black sense of humour …the look on the servers face, and my fellow diners, surrounding guests…. I started to laugh …..it was slap stick comedy at its best …he tried to wipe me down … then realised he was wiping my breasts …..he fell back in horror…..and I laughed even harder. I am well into my sixties, …he was a nice young man….

Question…. Was this a Pro or a Con ? Or is that an unacceptable question these days?

 

The Mariner is a small ship. I had so many people stop to chat to me after that as the story must have gotten around. From the reaction of the Staff that sort of thing doesn’t happen often. 
 

 

But what I'd really like to know.... is if you sent him back to the kitchen to get you another popcorn sundae?

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welshfamily Great Review Rare

welshfamily

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Thank you for your comments.

cruisevirgin24.

Sorry we do not drink tea however there was a large box of different teas available at afternoon tea therefore you should get a choice. We did see at least 2 different people putting tea bags into a teapot up in Le Terrace. Staff were very helpful and at coffee connections really hot water was available. 

Claranda.

We really enjoyed the ship. We knew it was an older ship and had read the poor reviews  which is why I posted such a long review. We have been cruising for over 15  years. The cruise was excellent. Was it perfect ..No .. but I have found life is very rarely perfect. The majority of the crew were excellent, we met some lovely people, we were feed, watered and entertained. We enjoyed ourselves. Hope you have a great cruise.
Ping pong.

Another member of staff brought a second sundae out a few minutes later. It was delicious. 
Flossie.

Husband asked Steward for Tote bag. We were told they would be provided later in the cruise. Mid way point he asked reception. Container had been late at port and hopefully they would get a further supply in Barcelona. Never arrived. He was disappointed because he has 3 different pairs of glasses, sun screen, his sun hat, his kindle, sometimes a book and assorted other extras as well as his key card which he takes to the pool. No suitable bags  were available for purchase in the shops. I managed to buy three purses when we browsed so all was not lost😁
Note to self….pack one of the dozen or so pool bags stored in the attic next time …and cut out the hassle. 

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Thundery

Thundery

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3 hours ago, welshfamily said:

Thank you for your comments.

cruisevirgin24.

Sorry we do not drink tea however there was a large box of different teas available at afternoon tea therefore you should get a choice. We did see at least 2 different people putting tea bags into a teapot up in Le Terrace. Staff were very helpful and at coffee connections really hot water was available. 

Claranda.

We really enjoyed the ship. We knew it was an older ship and had read the poor reviews  which is why I posted such a long review. We have been cruising for over 15  years. The cruise was excellent. Was it perfect ..No .. but I have found life is very rarely perfect. The majority of the crew were excellent, we met some lovely people, we were feed, watered and entertained. We enjoyed ourselves. Hope you have a great cruise.
Ping pong.

Another member of staff brought a second sundae out a few minutes later. It was delicious. 
Flossie.

Husband asked Steward for Tote bag. We were told they would be provided later in the cruise. Mid way point he asked reception. Container had been late at port and hopefully they would get a further supply in Barcelona. Never arrived. He was disappointed because he has 3 different pairs of glasses, sun screen, his sun hat, his kindle, sometimes a book and assorted other extras as well as his key card which he takes to the pool. No suitable bags  were available for purchase in the shops. I managed to buy three purses when we browsed so all was not lost😁
Note to self….pack one of the dozen or so pool bags stored in the attic next time …and cut out the hassle. 

They had no tote bags when we were on in July either

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flossie009

flossie009

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9 hours ago, seasickphil said:

@flossie009

No tote bags on Splendor 26th July neither, was one available on your Navigator cruise earlier?

Yes, we brought one with us 😉   (We did not book a suite grade that included a complimentary bag)

 

6 hours ago, Thundery said:

said they had shipping problems

Supply chain issues and shipping problems are understandable, but if an offered amenity was not available then IMO an alternative should have been given.


 

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Thundery

Thundery

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16 hours ago, PaulaJK said:

Currently on Mariner. A very nice new style R bag was waiting in cabin upon embarkation. Good size, sturdy handles, zippered w. Small pocket inside which is handy for key card.

What cabin level were you on?

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