Worried About Mariner Voyage

[TxnAquarian]

Yesterday, I just booked 26 days on the Mariner from Ft Lauderdale - Vancouver this April/May. I was on the Mariner 2 years ago, and with the exception of a few discrepancies, had a nice time. However, I have been reading some posts about declining service. Can anyone tell me if these issues are large enough that I should maybe opt for something else? I thought the service would only improve once Radisson was rebranded under the Regent name. Also, can anyone tell me when the Mariner is due for drydock?

 

Thanks for any help. We usually spring for Crystal, but this itinerary and the dates worked out well for us. Now I am concerned.

 

 

Michael

[Island Cruiser]

We were on the Mariner last September. The service was superb as was the food, certainly equal to that offered on the Voyager. We've enjoyed three cruises on Voyager and are booked on a fourth. We'd book the Mariner again in a heartbeat! And now all Regent ships are all inclusive!

 

Patrick

[PaulaJK]

If this itinerary works for you, book it and enjoy it.

 

The cabins are lovely, the ship well maintained. The all inclusive pkg makes for easy days on board without all of those chits/ card showings going on. And you can factor in how you feel about open seating.

 

While service may vary in the DR, you can soon identify servers you prefer. While I did not find the cuisine to be superb as did the other poster, we all differ in our taste. The offerings be much enhanced if

they were simply served warm or hot as I think the raw product itself is

of good quality. They do need to do something about special requests.

[BILLP1]

Mariner dry dock is March 23 2007

[Travelcat2]

I'm really starting to feel that people who travel the "luxury" cruiselines are nitpicking a bit (I've been a bit guilty of that myself). If you look at reviews of any of the luxury cruise ships, you will read negative comments. On the other hand, there are plenty of very positive ones.

 

We were on the Voyager in August (prior to drydock) -- we loved the cruise in spite of the fact that the carpeting and some furniture needs to be replaced.

 

Unless we want to be in a small/tiny cabin, have to sign for almost everything, be required to dine at specific times and with the same people every day......the choices seem to be Seabourn, Silversea and Regent. Even Crystal holds over 1,000 passengers and has set dining times. I hear their service and food is wonderful but I was not impressed with a menu (shown on their website) that recommended a $6/per person tip at the bottom of every page of the menu......kind of tacky.

 

Anyway, that's my two cents -- with all the real and perceived flaws, I'd stick with Regent!

[sundial]

While Regent isn't perfect, I think it provides a very good product for the money with some excellent itineraries. They offer some of the best cabins afloat with a relatively high level of service and food. I think sometimes luxury cruisers have unrealistic expectations and perhaps the cruise lines themselves over market what they have to offer. We sailed on the Mariner for two weeks in Asia last October and enjoyed the cruise very much. In fact we have just booked with Regent again for later this spring on the Voyager.

[BILLP1]

I agree with the last two posters..

 

On every cruise or vacation that we have been on something goes wrong or it is not what we were expecting. It does not take away from the overall experience and we always manage to come home looking foward to our next trip..

 

I agree with the poster about Crystel. The last thing I want is to be signing checks for every drink and being told what time to eat and when to tip.

Just charge me up front and let me enjoy the cruise...

[Iamboatman]

Ditto. Regent is a good product and the suites are very good to excellent. As I have posted in other threads, you just need to set your expectations appropriately...not letting overly hyped marketing get to them too high.

[AtA]

ditto what everyone else said. Just go and enjoy yourself and don't sweat the small stuff...and remember, it's all small stuff. :)

[TxnAquarian]

Thanks everyone for all the advice and opinions. I feel better about my choice now. I usually only sail Crystal. And while the service on Crystal surpasses anything I have had on Regent, the accomodations and itineraries are more to my liking on Regent. And while I had disappointing service on the Mariner 2 years ago, some of the posters on here have led to believe that things had really gotten bad. I'll enjoy my cruise and report back.

 

Thanks again!

 

Michael