Regent / Voyager - First Timer with a negative experience. Is this the norm?

[phillipahain]

On 2/13/2024 at 4:51 PM, Pcardad said:

 

This can happen with any cruise line - especially when you are dealing with countries that might have a.....more laid back attitude.

 

 

Common with every cruise line. You are lucky you left early as Drake is no joke. I've been across it in a much smaller ship in 

 

 

 

 

 

You were in Antarctica and probably had bad/limited LOS with the satellites 

 

 

We did Antartica on Golden Princess in 2008 and had perfect Internet entire time and had contacts following us on webcam ....Regent needs to up its game on Internet pronto 

 

[Pcardad]

2 minutes ago, phillipahain said:

 

Agreed. Voyager still has crappy internet provider. Regent not swapping to Starlink until existing service contracts expire later this year.

[DatawCruiser]

Our first RSSC experience was on the Voyager in January 2019.  We absolutely loved the ship and the cruise.  Followed that up with the Splendor in February 2021.  Another wonderful cruise.  So we recently booked the Voyager again for this fall.  But now I'm very concerned about the comments concerning the aging of the ship.  It will have been 5 years since our original cruise and I am wondering if I should switch to a newer ship.  Can anyone else comment on the aging of the ship over the past 5 years?  Am I reading too much into the comments about creaking noises and worn furnishings? Thanks in advance.

[Pcardad]

14 minutes ago, DatawCruiser said:

Our first RSSC experience was on the Voyager in January 2019.  We absolutely loved the ship and the cruise.  Followed that up with the Splendor in February 2021.  Another wonderful cruise.  So we recently booked the Voyager again for this fall.  But now I'm very concerned about the comments concerning the aging of the ship.  It will have been 5 years since our original cruise and I am wondering if I should switch to a newer ship.  Can anyone else comment on the aging of the ship over the past 5 years?  Am I reading too much into the comments about creaking noises and worn furnishings? Thanks in advance.

Don't sweat it - Voyager is a wonderful ship and I wouldn't hesitate to go on her tomorrow.

[welshfamily]

I have sympathy with the OP over the disappointment of missed ports. I am sure we would all agree that most people cruise to experience new places whilst having a hotel type base.
We are taking our second regent cruise in August on the voyager. Our first was on the Mariner. We were happy with the ‘less glitzy ‘ style and are assuming the Voyager will be the same style of ship. 
We chose the itinerary and not the ship but in this day and age realise that even in the Mediterranean things may change. 
Cunard is a very different experience , very different style, class oriented and all the ships are large with many passengers. 
I have found that research on the desired destination, time of year, etc can matter enormously when choosing a cruise line.

 

[Campbsa]

Also a passenger on the current Voyager cruise. Experienced cruisers with 65 total cruises across various lines. I completely agree with the OP assessment of the Captain. I have never sailed with such an unfriendly and defensive person. Canceling a port 3 days in advance based on a forecast is shocking to me. Forecasts are updated every 8 hours and can improve or get worse, however this Captain refused to even reassess his decision with a more current forecast. Also to add the cruise director has been very disappointing. I know she was filling in for somebody and now CD Paul was boarded in Ushuaia and will be taking over on the 19th. Most of the entertainment has been movies in the theatre, even in the evenings. 

[bitob]

Sorry you are disappointed

 

We were on Voyager from Cape Town to Buenos Aires (a very long cruise) and it was wonderful.  I was a little reluctant to try one of Regent's older ships but the Regent experience for us was superb.

 

As I always say, every cruise is different.  You can have a bad cruise on a great line or a really good cruise on a mediocre line.  We had one bad cruise on Silversea after many great ones.  Did not deter us from booking SS again.

[seasickphil]

23 hours ago, DatawCruiser said:

Followed that up with the Splendor in February 2021

I don't think Splendor's first public sailing was until September 2021 out of Southampton.

Edited February 19 by seasickphil

[DatawCruiser]

My apologies.  You are correct.  I went to my cruise history and the cruise was 2-3-2022.  I mixed up my deposit date.  Regardless, it was a great cruise.

[cruisevirgin24]

10 hours ago, seasickphil said:

I don't think Splendor's first public sailing was until September 2021 out of Southampton.

Splendor sailed 2 cruises before September 2021. My parents were definitely on Splendor in Feb/March 2020. I think it was the second cruise, following the TA from Italy. They embarked Miami, transited the Panama Canal, disembarking in San Diego in March 2020, straight into the first Covid lockdown. I managed to rearrange their flight onto the last one from San Diego back to the UK.

[minotaur]

3 hours ago, cruisevirgin24 said:

Splendor sailed 2 cruises before September 2021. My parents were definitely on Splendor in Feb/March 2020. I think it was the second cruise, following the TA from Italy. They embarked Miami, transited the Panama Canal, disembarking in San Diego in March 2020, straight into the first Covid lockdown. I managed to rearrange their flight onto the last one from San Diego back to the UK.

I think you're right. Here's a link to a topic from February 2020:

 

 

[briar14]

London-London in September ‘21 was Splendor’s third revenue cruise and Regent’s first cruise after lockdown. It was fantastic. I still remember the feeling of sitting on the pool deck, champagne in hand, absolutely gleeful to be back on a Regent ship.

[seasickphil]

4 hours ago, cruisevirgin24 said:

Splendor sailed 2 cruises before September 2021. My parents were definitely on Splendor in Feb/March 2020. I think it was the second cruise, following the TA from Italy. They embarked Miami, transited the Panama Canal, disembarking in San Diego in March 2020, straight into the first Covid lockdown. I managed to rearrange their flight onto the last one from San Diego back to the UK.

Apologies, i meant it was the first sailing after Covid.

[BaileyMJ]

I just got off Voyager Rio to Buenos Aires and I will post a honest review - this was not my first Regent Cruise and I love Regent but if this had been my first Regent Cruise it probably would have been my last Regent Cruise.  There was something wrong on this cruise and it was not the staff but I would blame management.  I know I will get hate from Regent fans but I am one of those fans so when I complain it was from love and hope to make better.  I know you can’t be perfect but you also can’t call yourself a 5/6 star cruise and have the problems encountered on this cruise!

 

Because I have been a Regent Fan I booked 2 Regent cruises onboard so just hoping this is a one time problem cruise.

[BaileyMJ]

Correction Rio to Santiago cruise!

[Pcardad]

1 hour ago, BaileyMJ said:

I just got off Voyager Rio to Buenos Aires and I will post a honest review - this was not my first Regent Cruise and I love Regent but if this had been my first Regent Cruise it probably would have been my last Regent Cruise.  There was something wrong on this cruise and it was not the staff but I would blame management.  I know I will get hate from Regent fans but I am one of those fans so when I complain it was from love and hope to make better.  I know you can’t be perfect but you also can’t call yourself a 5/6 star cruise and have the problems encountered on this cruise!

 

Because I have been a Regent Fan I booked 2 Regent cruises onboard so just hoping this is a one time problem cruise.

No hate from me but I would be curious as to exactly what went wrong and what did the GM say/do about it when you discussed it with them?

[SteveH2508]

On 2/18/2024 at 3:06 PM, Campbsa said:

Also a passenger on the current Voyager cruise. Experienced cruisers with 65 total cruises across various lines. I completely agree with the OP assessment of the Captain. I have never sailed with such an unfriendly and defensive person. Canceling a port 3 days in advance based on a forecast is shocking to me. Forecasts are updated every 8 hours and can improve or get worse, however this Captain refused to even reassess his decision with a more current forecast. Also to add the cruise director has been very disappointing. I know she was filling in for somebody and now CD Paul was boarded in Ushuaia and will be taking over on the 19th. Most of the entertainment has been movies in the theatre, even in the evenings. 

We have just got home from this cruise. Yours, and others comments are 'bang on the money'.

 

If the British Army and Royal Navy had shared this captain's attitude to risks and weather reports, the Falklands would now be called the Malvinas. I would also concur with the view that the cruise director was not up to the task. Normally, we do not remember cruise directors (except for Gary Glading on NCL), however this cruise director will be remembered for all of the wrong reasons (and she shares my wife's uncommon first name!)

[pappy1022]

Based on reading multiple cruise line boards, it seems to me that all cruise lines have taken a step backwards when in comes to consistent service and quality, post COVID. Regent is no different in my experience (albeit limited). I can’t say that I had a 5/6 star experience but it was a solid 4. I have a different cruise line booked for my next adventure. It will be interesting to see how it compares to Regent. I suspect Regent is still the cream of the crop. They do provide a very good overall experience but it doesn’t quite matchup with their advertising. 

[Scout16]

I was on the Voyager from Cape Town to Santiago.  The major problem was when the ship was under Code Red due to intestinal illness.  This led to the following:

1. There was nothing on the tables until needed, no plates, silverware, glasses, fancy plates, salt and pepper (salt and pepper were in paper packets), or even placemats at the pool grill. 

2. The restaurants were somewhat short staffed due to having to have them do other tasks such as serving at the buffet and having to tell everyone to stop and wash their hands.  Yes, even with the problems some passengers still refused.

3. The crew were not allowed to dine with the passengers and there were other minor changes to reduce contact with the crew and passengers.

4. The block party was cancelled, the library and self laundry rooms were closed and there was no puzzle.

The problem of missed ports and reduced time in Antarticia was officially blamed upon weather, but I believe that there may have been some other considerations.

Health, there was the problem of the intestinal illness and a few cases of Covid which may have led some of the smaller ports to refuse us landing.  Politics, I am not sure if the problems between Argentina and the Falklands may have made it more difficult for us to stop.  Fuel, both weather (we had to fight head winds and rough seas) and possibly politics (did we get a full load of fuel in Argentina since we were going to the Falklands?) may be the reason we had to return from Antarticia early at a slower speed.    

[pappy1022]

It would be nice if Regent would have explained their decisions vs people having to speculate.

[PhD-iva]

3 hours ago, Scout16 said:

I was on the Voyager from Cape Town to Santiago.  The major problem was when the ship was under Code Red due to intestinal illness.  This led to the following:

1. There was nothing on the tables until needed, no plates, silverware, glasses, fancy plates, salt and pepper (salt and pepper were in paper packets), or even placemats at the pool grill. 

2. The restaurants were somewhat short staffed due to having to have them do other tasks such as serving at the buffet and having to tell everyone to stop and wash their hands.  Yes, even with the problems some passengers still refused.

3. The crew were not allowed to dine with the passengers and there were other minor changes to reduce contact with the crew and passengers.

4. The block party was cancelled, the library and self laundry rooms were closed and there was no puzzle.

The problem of missed ports and reduced time in Antarticia was officially blamed upon weather, but I believe that there may have been some other considerations.

Health, there was the problem of the intestinal illness and a few cases of Covid which may have led some of the smaller ports to refuse us landing.  Politics, I am not sure if the problems between Argentina and the Falklands may have made it more difficult for us to stop.  Fuel, both weather (we had to fight head winds and rough seas) and possibly politics (did we get a full load of fuel in Argentina since we were going to the Falklands?) may be the reason we had to return from Antarticia early at a slower speed.    

Thx for this. Just to add one other issue due to code red, the Bridge instructors were not able to incorporate playing cards into their lectures

I was told there was no duplicate or organized social bridge games during the Code Red. At some point during the cruise, Code red was lifted, and my understanding was that normal Bridge practices resumed. By then I was involved with other stuff.

I really enjoyed the cruise, especially the 2 days in the Antarctic. I felt like there were reasons other than weather explaining why the captain canceled several ports. I am very suspicious because I have read extensively on the Oceania forum about a new NCLH corporate policy to reduce ship cruising speed.
The captain reduced our time in the Antarctic ocean by one day, and canceled Puerto Arenas three days prior to our scheduled arrival. He announced it to us three days prior to our scheduled arrival. That makes no sense, in addition, to canceling the Falkland, which does happen more frequently. We probably were cruising at a very slow speed, making corporate happy. 
I had a great cruise, and I booked two additional reservations while on board. Just hope I have enough money to make final payment.🤔

Edited February 24 by PhD-iva
Edit

[Breckski]

Would the extent of missed ports on the OP's cruise be partially due to the ship - not being an expedition type ship.  Just overall capability to handle a wider range of weather issues?  I simply don't know the true differences in performance between standard cruise ships and expeditions ships other than light ice capabilities.

[PhD-iva]

Losing 1 day cruising in the Antarctic Ocean, perhaps, IDK. The other 2 ports (Port Stanley, Puerto Arenas), no. No expedition ship required.

[SteveH2508]

I think it is fair to say that communication was not the greatest on this cruise. This leads to the various theories being expounded as to why we missed various ports and sail-bys. A few small tweaks would have avoided a lot of the unhappiness amongst the passengers. Silly little things like a variety of activities on board (not just putting golf balls and rubbish films). A good cruise director could have deflected a lot of  the disappointment felt by many pax - this did not happen.

 

To be fair - the expedition team were good and informative, even though they sometimes had little to work with (particularly the completely fogged in glacier).

[OskiBear]

For me, the missed ports and day in Antarctica were made much worse by the terrible communication by the captain. His attitude was simply, "this is what I'm doing." That demeanor probably gave birth to the various conspiracy theories that sprang up during the cruise. If the reasons were completely legitimate, transparency and empathy would have gone a long way to defusing the situation. Instead, the captain's delivery of the information gave rise to more hostility. I did notify Regent about my disappointment and found a letter in my cabin the last night that I was supposed to use as evidence for a claim due to the missed ports. Whatever...