Just disembarked from Mariner

[PaulaJK]

and wrote a long note re: our cruise....but rec'd a

'page not available' when I went to post it. Ouch!

 

Anyway, happy to answer any questions.

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

I've learned with most bulletin boards to highlite the text of my post and hit "copy" before posting. Seems like the boards eat posts fairly often :(

 

Please give us a summary version of your trip, and impressions of the Mariner.

[OrpingtonT]

Yes, Paula. I would like to read your impressions, too.

 

I guess you have read the management's apology for the problems you and others have experienced posting recently? (See pinned posts)

[PaulaJK]

Being away, I had missed the posting problems & pinned messages...grrr!

Anyway, I'll writ ein parts and hope for the best.

 

Mariner departed LAX for a 14 night Trans Panama Canal cruise, ending in FLL. We have had 4 other Regent cruises, all on Voyager; I will restrict any comparisons to these two ships.

 

Embarkation was a breeze...personal, efficient & quick. We enjoyed a poolside burger and then explored the ship & made our reservations here & there. Suites became available shortly before 3pm and our luggage soon followed. Regent's early boarding policy is a most enjoyable way to bbegin a cruise.

 

Mariner is broad of beam and there seems to be more space allotted to

public rooms e.g. The Mariner Lounge is significantly larger than the squished Voyager Lounge. If you know the anatomy of one ship, you will soon find your way around the other with only a few adjustments for

coffee corner,etc. While well maintained & clean, Mariner has some areas that need refurbishing during the scheduled dry dock. Interestingly a friend claims that the Capt. told him that there were no pod problems.

I didin't hear this conversation but prior to departure, several of our port

stays were narrowed. Mainly this impacted us only in our sports fishing excursion no longer being offered. Others were complaining about the shortened stay in Acapulco.

 

We were ready for sunny skies, but alas, the were not to come until day 5........We ran into cold weather in San Diego and on to Cabo w.

stormy. windy seas that sent many to their cabins. We were late arriving in San Diego, Cabo & Puntarenas [i forget re: Acapulco] although mostly

the Capt. then extended our departure time.

[PaulaJK]

Unlike Capt Dag, Capt Romero & his senior officers seemed fairly invisible, an observation shared w. many others. The CD, Bryan, was seen only at functions or in Stars, the disco....quite unlike the omnipresent Jamie accompanied by his lovely wife Dana. So many of us felt it was all disconcertingly impersonal. Engelbert, the HD, was very visible....and Florien, the Asst. F&B played an active & friendly role on pool deck.

 

Many of the crew members worked hard to provide service...our room stewardess Gildee, Pablo & the bar crew at the pool, Pompeye & Jean Pierre H. in the DR & Signatures, Abigail in La Verandah & Latitudes & the DR wine stewards, especially Fabien and Ronald in the lounge. Staff passed in the hallways in the course of their duties were always polite & offering smiles & greetings.

 

The pax mix tilted towards the senior side although there were some families w. children, teens and young adults. All pax seemed courteous and friendly and I didn't see any rude ombres.

[PaulaJK]

I felt that some of the shows were better than those on Voyager. There was an excellent classical pianist [Panos Karan], a piano-song man[ S Kane], fabulous clarinetist Pete Neighbour and vocalist Cliff Blizzard. The PGTerhune cast was young and not without talent but stuck in over costumed, over produced shows. The day movies were weird selections.

On the last night no show was scheduled but 'by popular request' the company decided to buy cable rights to a football playoff.

 

What were the negatives....our opinions, always multi factorial & personal

a.NEW YEAR'S EVE had been scheduled to be held in the Constellation Theatre [deck 5 F] & the Observation Lounge[ deck 12]. Due to strident protests & complaints from lots of pax, the party was moved to on deck.

Unlike what we have read/heard about Voyager's celebration this year and what we experienced last year, this was a dull party. We didn't see many decorations, any ice carvings or caviar bars. There was champagne at midnight & a band/dancing. They also held a raffle [$2 per chance] w,. proceeds going to the crew fund....a little odd I thought. We had originally been scheduled to depart Acapulco at 8pm. This was changed to 11pm. Mariner lingered in the bay where at midnight we saw the fabulous fireworks display from on shore.....this truly saved the night for us.

 

b.DINING

--COMPASS ROSE---variously trained staff w. seemingly not enough supervision. At dinner the DR mgr & his asst seemed too glued to their computers [for seating] to adequately greet the guests. Then walked

15 feet in front of them to show them the tables, leaving pax to carry their wine glasses. This 'style' filtered down as the head waiters

signaled from midway in the oval to indicate breakfast & lunch tables.

Breakfast, itself, was very good. Lunch selections seemed a bit weird some days.

There were two major issues

1.Many, many foods arrived tepid or cooler...soups...the pasta seemed to be pre-prepared and never steamed. Portion size varied considerably. For example, I would consider the steak of avg size while the cornish hen was only 4-5 bites.

2.The waiters discouraged any deviation from the menu. On one occassion my husband requested a tuna salad sandwich for lunch. The waiter equivocated, then said he would have to ask the chef...then announced that it was okay........but it arrived AFTER I had finished

my entree. [The waiter had been back to the kitchen several times.]

On another day, there was a pastrami & swiss cheese sandwich for lunch. My husband requested his without the cheese....and we had to go thru the same dance altho this time it at least arrived with my meal. I didn;t notice any special orders being served around us but I certainly can't comment on the entire diningroom.

I feel that the above are well below what one expects on a luxury

level cruise. Many pax were commenting about this.

[OrpingtonT]

Wow. I was looking forward to your opinions, as we are on the reverse (FL to SF via the Panama Canal) on Mariner in April. But your experience was certainly disappointing. I hope you made your views known to Regent either through the comment card or directly and that the staff attitudes change to what we have come to expect from Regent.

[Iamboatman]

Sorry you had a less than stellar time. I was on the Mariner two summers ago and it seems things have slipped a bit (though your cabin stewardess was far superior to ours!)...except for your disappointing dining experiences. We experienced exactly the same thing...and then we experienced even worse on the Navigator last summer.

 

It is hard to understand the posts that the food and dining service is so wonderful when there are a number of posts like yours (and mine). Is it that Regent's service is so inconsistent? There are "A" and "B" waiters? I mean the comments are not "I wish the waiter's table-side flambé had more flare." We are talking tuna sandwiches!

 

What do you think???:confused: :confused:

[PaulaJK]

I guess that we had not been following notes re; Mariner quite closely enough, although our travel plans indeed were influenced by the calendar.

 

I did send these comments to Regent and I know that several others

did also. Other folks talked about it in the hallways. [Trust me...we spent our dinners in conversation not critiquing.]

 

I do think that leadership counts and wonder if the 'apparent' lack of

DR supervision contributes to some of the laxity in service. We do have the model of the diningroom mgr's greeting and escorting to table---which simply wouldn't exist in an upscale restaurant. While there always is a variety of skill levels among staff, I suspect training needs to be stronger...e.g. you don;t clear the entree plate of one customer when the other is still eating!

Some aspects..

e.g. the waiters failing to introduce themselves [one is always squinting to read a name tag]

e.g. the fortress ags. 'special' orders

have to be corporate/conceptual. I think that a 'luxury' line needs a luxury attidute.

 

Chronically tepid food is just poor,poor,poor. Doesn't the chef have any pride?? It was even tepid in Signatures. In this restaurant I had ordered the veal w. calvados sauce...it arrived without calvados and with a coating of rocquefort. I called over the waiter. He claimed that the rocquefort was listed on the menu. I proceeded to dine as I didn't wish to cause discomfort at the table...but I did check the menu on my way out and indeed, there was no mention of rocquefort. We loved Signatures on Voyager but the cuisine was not at the same level on Mariner.

 

I am only on the outside looking in and don't know what is conceptual

vs. attitudinal vs staffing vs chef........but I do think that the DR was disappointing.

 

I forgot to mention that there were 2 jazz groups on board, inhabiting Horizon and offering a great deal of entertainment to a full house most nights...very enjoyable.

[MamaQuack]

What time were you able to get off the ship in FLL? Were taxis readily available? We are on the March 30 sailing and trying to decide on flights home.

 

thx

[Suite Travels]

Your comments echo our experience that we had on our most recent Voyager cruise. We will stay with Crystal or cruise Seabourn where the word "No" is not part of their vocabulary. Polished attentive friendly service is what we expect. Oh, did I mention consistently excellent food?

[Travelcat2]

Sorry you had a less than stellar time. I was on the Mariner two summers ago and it seems things have slipped a bit (though your cabin stewardess was far superior to ours!)...except for your disappointing dining experiences. We experienced exactly the same thing...and then we experienced even worse on the Navigator last summer.

 

It is hard to understand the posts that the food and dining service is so wonderful when there are a number of posts like yours (and mine). Is it that Regent's service is so inconsistent? There are "A" and "B" waiters? I mean the comments are not "I wish the waiter's table-side flambé had more flare." We are talking tuna sandwiches!

 

What do you think???:confused: :confused:

 

I think you hit the nail on the head (so to speak) regarding inconsistancy. Most of our meals on the Voyager were excellent -- the few that were not were quite poor. Through these boards, I have learned why some weeks are different from others. For instance, we rarely saw Captain Dag on our cruise yet kept reading about how accessible and friendly he is. We later learned that the Baltic Cruise is particularly difficult to nagivate -- good reason why we didn't see the Captain.

 

In terms of food quality and temperature, this should be carefully monitored by the Chef in charge of that particular area. Good to hear that these things have been reported to Regent.

 

Overall, no matter how much I've read on other boards, I'll stay with Regent. Problems occur on all cruiselines. When it comes to inconsistancy -- the same thing happens at our favorite high end restaurants:confused:

[Iamboatman]

I have to say that if it were not for my children I probably would not cruise on Regent as frequently as I do with Seabourn, Silversea, Sea Dream, Windstar, Crystal, and others available with great itineraries and first class service and facilities.

 

I guess the point is that Regent has a good product that it markets as being better than it really is. (I, personally - not as a TA, get more expensive mailings from Regent than from any other line...all of which trumpet its 6 star luxury.) That is not a criticism of its product...just its marketing!;)

 

What I do is understand Regent and try to make sure those I am involved with understand what to expect. If those expectations are met, I (and others) will be satisfied. If they are exceeded: Fantastic.

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

The Regent situation is beginning to sound like the classic "cash cow" business strategy, where you know that a business is on the wane, or management wants to concentrate on other avenues of growth, so they stop focusing on trying to build the business and just focus on getting the maximum amount of profit out of the business over a period of a few years. They put just enough resources into it to keep it going and generating cash, while letting it slowly die. After a few years, it's gets so run down that revenues begin falling off fast and at that point they shut it down and sell the assets.

 

Does this sound familiar to you cruisers that have been doing RSSC cruises for a many years? I hope not, since we are booked for a RSSC cruise in March...

[PaulaJK]

---We were able to disembark at 10am. Our color tag was approximately

in the middle of the list.

 

---Although I was disappointed in some of the diningroom attitude, service and cuisine----and feel they need to attend to it---- I really didn't have that picture in my head Ragnar. I felt that there was some improvement

in the entertainment, for example. And the cabins and their appointments are great.

[Iamboatman]

I wouldn't agree with the premise either. Management issues and marketing without a reality check, possibly.

 

But a line that is down two ships (Song of Flower and Diamond) and probably three next year (the Paul Gauguin charter is up again) leaves some questions, but not an impression of a cash cow.

 

There have been cutbacks and changes (less cabin staff, changeover to non-European staff in dining and housekeeping, etc.) which would not lend one to follow the theory either. The loss of revenue going "liquor inclusive" is probably nil, since the prices rose and have stayed up despite the $20 per barrel drop in oil prices.

[AtA]

Your comments echo our experience that we had on our most recent Voyager cruise. We will stay with Crystal or cruise Seabourn where the word "No" is not part of their vocabulary. Polished attentive friendly service is what we expect. Oh, did I mention consistently excellent food?

Too Bad because my experience on Voyager for New Years was quite the opposite of Paulas.

 

Everything was wonderful and the food was as good as some of the better restaurants in NYC. Everything that should have been hot was hot, and even the desserts which I complained about on Navigator were excellent and fresh. Of course the fact that Tobias was back, might be why.

 

Service was mostly excellent with the exception of one waitress in Signatures, who tried to argue with my companion when he mentioned he had ordered something and she insisted he didn't. We let it go, and other than that incident (which might have happened because she was tired from New Years as we dined in Signatures on New Years day) everything was truly 6 star.

 

Now having said that, we both think that Voyager is the jewel in the crown of Regent and I think it shows.

[AtA]

The Regent situation is beginning to sound like the classic "cash cow" business strategy, where you know that a business is on the wane, or management wants to concentrate on other avenues of growth, so they stop focusing on trying to build the business and just focus on getting the maximum amount of profit out of the business over a period of a few years. They put just enough resources into it to keep it going and generating cash, while letting it slowly die. After a few years, it's gets so run down that revenues begin falling off fast and at that point they shut it down and sell the assets.

 

Does this sound familiar to you cruisers that have been doing RSSC cruises for a many years? I hope not, since we are booked for a RSSC cruise in March...

 

Actually I felt the entertainment has improved over last year as have the soft goods. The beds were wonderful and my stewardess was top notch. I don't think that is the case at all Ragnar. I believe they are hard at work trying to improve a very good product.

 

There will always be differences. I will say that with the ships going AI the atmosphere onboard was great as people did socialize more.

 

And as someone else said, the rooms onboard are probably some of the best in the industry.

[OrpingtonT]

I have found this thread very interesting especially as Paula's experience differed so much from mine on Mariner in May/June 2006, not long ago.

 

The captain then was a French gentleman, Jean-Marie Guillou, and he was everywhere and far more visible than Capt. Dag on Voyager on my October cruise. I wonder whether the change of command has had an effect on the staff. The cruise director then was Barry Hopkins, who made it his business to "walk" the ship all the tiome and spoke to everyone, remembering their names. If the Bryan referred to by Paula is Bryan Hamilton, a prematurely(?) balding gent, he was CD on Voyager and certainly was not as visible as Barry.

 

As Paula and others have said, the presentation of the food can vary, though it should not be tepid. However the greatest surprise was the change in attitude of the waiting staff. We were struck how they remembered us, how warmly they greeted us and how they insisted upon linking arms to accompany us to our table. We did not, as I recall, ask for anything other than menu items, nor did we get served anything other than the things we ordered, except perhaps for a different wine.

 

I do hope that this deterioration in service is only a temporary blip and that bringing it to Regent's attention, Paula, will result in a reversion to what we have come to expect. Otherwise I shall be very disappointed on our Panama Canal cruise in a few months time.

 

What were your thoughts, Paula, on the Mariner refit. Were the TV's flat screen? Did the suite refurbishment look good? How did you get on with the "no in-suite bar" plicy?

[PaulaJK]

Orpington

 

I do not feel that there has been an 'over all' slip in service. I feel that most of the problems exist in the DR, most probably w. management & supervision. Linking-arm-escorts occurred only 1 night & with a friendly asst waiter. While I don't require linked arms w. the maitre d', a warm greeting would be nice and I do not wish to be following him 15 paces behind either, being careful not to spill my wine.In the DR, there clearly is a problem w. temperature of food and the inflexibility in ordering is a conceptual issue. Perhaps this chef is not prime time material?? I really have no clue as to the origins of these problems, just how they affected our party of 6. However, lest I gave an incorrect impression, not all of the waiters have slipped in their level of service! Many are out there and working hard to serve you.

 

Since this was my 1st cruise on Mariner, I'm not certain what you mean by 'refit'. We had a penthouse cabin and it was very comfortable...with good beds & linens. Some of the furniture needed reupholstering but not in a gross way. Our cabin stewardess kept the room very clean.Sorry, I didn't particularly notice the TV. At times we couldn't receive the ships PA announcements on channel 2 and had to open the door...but that may have been our technical skill [read, lack thereof].

 

This was the first cruise to go alcohol inclusive. We were still offered the 2 bottles for your suite upon boarding. The included alcohlic beverages will satisfy most as they include good brands [bombay gin, red label scotch, Chopin & Grey Goose,etc]. We are not big in room consumers & ordered only 1 drink for cabin delivery...a sambucca which arrived in a tall ice tea glass w. ice and straw and was vodka. We just laughed and went to bed without, certainly no deprivation.

 

Regent is doing many things right......I hope that they correct what is clearly off. I suspect that they rec'd many comments about this cruise which might inspire them.

 

The CD was Bryan Townsend, a young man. Paul Reynolds, the asst CD, was more visible & friendly although perhaps not the most experienced.

[OrpingtonT]

Thank you.

 

Perhaps rather than "refit" I should have said refurbishment. Regent were to replace the televisions with flat screen models throughot and replace the linens etc from the gold stripey things to a new better quality set. Nothing much but I wondered if it had been done yet. I thought the "bottles in suite" was only for butler service and perhaps that is why you were offered them. I did read your post about the sambucca which amused me. My wife enjoys a sambucca, so I will suggest to her that she orders one from room service, flaming of course.:)

[JoAnne B]

It is the policy of Regent not to pipe routine announcements into the suites, so that's probably why you had to open the door. I have mixed feelings about this, but overall prefer not to have the quiet interrupted by announcements about bingo. lectures, and such. Emergency announcements, of course, are audible in the suites.

 

JoAnne B

[AtA]

I was in a regular suite on the Voyager. We weren't offered the two bottles of liquor in the cabin, but our stewardess did make sure to ask us the first day if we wanted any drinks delivered to our suite and at what time we'd like them.

 

I agree with Paula that service in the dining rooms many times depends on who's in charge. I'd have to say the service on Navigator in the dining room was better than on Voyager, but the food was superior on Voyager.

 

I felt the captain on Voyager (Capt. Knute) was much more visible than the captain on the Navigator. I believe the only time I saw the captain on the Navigator was at the SS party and the AMEX party whereas on this cruise Captain Knute was everywhere. I also got the distinct feeling that the staff truly enjoyed sailing under Captain Knute.

[doublesuited]

quick question (and not a criticism at all)... why is the visibility of the captain a big issue for so many people. I never really thought about it until I read these boards. The captain's job is to ensure that we navigate safely and on time. I would never expect to see him when he is not in the bridge.

[BILLP1]

I was afraid to ask the same question... As one of the Vanderbilts said when asked to dine at the Captains Table on the Titanic " I never dine with the help" .

That might be a little extreme...