All inclusive question

[rols]

:) :) Am on Navigator now and all inclusive is all inclusive. Sure there is an initial set up in your cabin but any and all is replaced as need at any time. On another note, We were aboard Silver Shadow for two weeks in January and Navigator far surpasses them in every department.:cool:

 

well it's nice to have confirmation about how it works and ...

 

do you mind saying why navigator is so much better? We're holding a reservation on Whisper for next April, until ... this Friday I think and had not changed to Voyager because there is enough cost differential to make us go hmmm. Without starting a war, what are you finding so good, if it's REALLY that great, we may switch.

[Iamboatman]

What I know is that Silversea is making an express effort to reduce the American to 40% of its passengers. (Silversea specialist agents are not happy.)

 

In addition, the reports are the staff is becoming very distant, cold and not proactive. Further, the reports of a serious drop off in food quality has been noted consistently. (While those issues may be somewhat related to slants toward what European clients more desire - possibly more formal/less interactive service and different food tastes/textures, there seems to be no real question that many US passengers are not happy.)

[rols]

What I know is that Silversea is making an express effort to reduce the American to 40% of its passengers. (Silversea specialist agents are not happy.)

 

In addition, the reports are the staff is becoming very distant, cold and not proactive. Further, the reports of a serious drop off in food quality has been noted consistently. (While those issues may be somewhat related to slants toward what European clients more desire - possibly more formal/less interactive service and different food tastes/textures, there seems to be no real question that many US passengers are not happy.)

 

Thank you very much for that candid answer, I know that cruise line likes and disklikes are very personal, but there are always trends and people see them.

 

We were on silversea about 10 months ago and we had a great cruise, I'll say it was made by a few of the crew who really put in the effort. Our food was very good, I would (we live in Singapore and like variety) enjoy the kind of menus you get in the speciality restaurants on RSSC.

 

Still trying to get a good quote .. and no cabin at the back of the ship, it's a long cruise and we're thinking the voyager will be going quite quickly.

 

Thank you again for replying.

[Iamboatman]

Be careful with selecting a cabin on the stern of the Voyager! There are some rather extensive threads about seriously excessive vibration there. That is the one Regent ship I have not been on, but those that claim the vibration are very strongly opinionated about it. Just a word of warning about those select aft cabins.

[rols]

Be careful with selecting a cabin on the stern of the Voyager! There are some rather extensive threads about seriously excessive vibration there. That is the one Regent ship I have not been on, but those that claim the vibration are very strongly opinionated about it. Just a word of warning about those select aft cabins.

 

yes exactly - that's why I said "and no rear cabin". Seems the cruise we want is quite full of people who read the boards ... only stern left .. its' ok we can do RSSC another day if this isn't the right voyage for us. We're booking late .. only 200 days until sailing!!

[lildan]

just back from Navigator cruise (26th aug/1st sept) and was in a standard cabin....there was a bottle of Regent's own brand champagne in the cabin that we didn't touch (told by some who tried it that it was pretty awful)...we asked for sparkling water instead of still water and the fridge was then stocked and restocked daily with it....we told our cabin girl that we would like a glass of whisky each night and that prompted her to bring us a sheet of paper that listed the drinks we could select for our cabin...2 bottles only...and we had to sign the sheet of paper for them...not sure why this was as there was no charge for them....however as mentioned before drinks are so plentiful throughout the ship we only drank a third of one bottle and left the rest when we left.....having read a previous comment about "the crew bar" I hope that our left overs went to this good cause and not back into stock.

 

the only downside we found were the mixers....a few times we had G&T or V&T at the pool bar and the mixers often became flat after a few minutes...which meant the drinks getting dumped....it appeared that the mixers were a cheap variety (apologies if they were a not very well known American brand) ..and not the Schweppes brand we would have expected...

 

apart from this and the tip I was given to always ask for a glass of Heidseck (not just champagne 'cause then you got the cheap stuff)....drinks were of high quality, plentiful and welcome.

 

xxH

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Hmm, there's obviously some glitches to iron out still in this all-inclusive thing.

 

I have been told, and had it confirmed by others, that all partial bottles get dumped down the drain at the end of a cruise.

 

So I don't know why they change to having small bottles available, so that you can have 13 ounces of vodka available, for example, and not feel incredibly wasteful not drinking an entire litre!

[OSUFAN]

Eric, I never saw the opportunity to pre-order for our 8/25 Navigator sailing when I filled out all the other info online. Don't know how I missed that, although we did not have a butler penthouse suite....maybe regular suites don't have the option to pre-order? Our fridge was stocked with several different kinds of beer, pop, water, and the bottle of champagne was iced and ready. Nothing was mentioned by our cabin stewardess about the two bottles of alcohol we could order, but I did read of the option to do so in the Navigator booklet in our cabin. One of the lounges was right down the hall from us, so we would have no reason to order two bottles of alcohol for our room...we could get any drink at no charge any time of day. They were even most apologetic the first day in not having fresh mint to make mojitos.... a few days later the fresh mint was available and mojitos ready to be enjoyed. :D I imagine most people end up packing the bottles and taking them home. I might add, also, that my husband is a big fan of Blanton's single barrel Bourbon.....a small bottle usually sells for about $50.....and this was served complimentary at the bars. If they don't charge extra for that, I can't imagine what they do charge extra for. :confused: They also poured wine freely at meals. We had a great experience, it is wonderful not to be signing for everything, and we felt very pampered while onboard! We'll be back!

[jhp]

I thought I alread posted this, but I can't seem to get to what iamboatman is talking about to get room bottles like he did. For the past two years I have not been able to do this from the information site on Regent. When I sign on, no way to plug in any info like we used to be able to.

[TRadle]

We are booked in a Penthouse B which includes Butler service. Even though we don’t sail until Dec 2008 we can already make our selections from the website for the bar set up in the cabin. It says it is a new feature and is for suites with Butler service. We can select 2 regular bottles of liquor or 1 premium bottle and we type in what we want for the premium bottle. The selections for wine are red and white and this counts for one bottle.

For the higher suites there is also one complimentary cocktail party in the suite and you can make those requests online as well.

There is also a menu for the fridge, snacks, and bedding.

[DebbieH103]

I sail on October 27. I'm not single, it is just my husband can't go, and this is a time I can, and he said to go. If you look at my signature, we are going back on SS on December 1. We sailed the Wind and Whisper both within an 11 month period, and we loved both.

 

Seems even in this thread there is a debate about initial bar setup. I will get out of my cabin and will try to meet others, but I do plan to do some laptoping in my room and I don't want to have to drag all over the ship to get a glass of wine in my room. They could have 30 bottles of liquor in my room, and I would not touch it.

 

Regent seems less formal and upscale, but I will see, and even if it is true, I think that would be fine by myself. The single supplement on Silversea was 50% vs. 75%, but I could not make a similar SS cruise work and did want to try Regent. I bet I love it but am just trying to get a picture, as several threads from people who have been in 2007 seem to still be describing this initial liquor setup like the old days.

 

I do have a girlfriend that might be able to come but she seems to be a "been there, done that" person, so I thought I might have more fun alone.

[loungeboy]

Let me see if I am understanding this....if you order champagne on RSSC you do not get champagne? You get sparkilng wine? In order to get champagne you have to ask for "Heidsieck"? Do I need to know a secret handshake too?:rolleyes: :D

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Debbie, just call room service and ask for wine, and I'm sure they will bring you a bottle whenever you feel like it.

 

Loungeboy, it's just the welcome bubbly that you get in your room that's not the "real stuff". I'm sure if you ask for a glass of champage in a bar you will get it. Presumably you can ask for different kinds as well.

[NJBelle]

No, actaully, if you want the better version of champagne, you need to ask for it specifically. Ask for the Heidsick Monopole. Otherwise, you do risk getting the sparkling wine that is what is provided as the "welcome champagne". It is not a big secret - note that we are telling you here without your giving us a password or secret handshake- but you do have to know to order what you want - just like you would not order a "vodka" if you had a certain kind in mind. Do note that if you order Veuve Cliquot, you will have to pay for that since that is not included in the inclusive wines.

 

NJBelle

[TWG_ag]

The main house champagne is a sparkling wine but they do serve Heidsieck Champagne and all you have to do is request that when ordering.

 

 

Not being critical but there are three different brands so is it

a: Piper Heidsieck

b: Heidsieck Monopole

c: Charles Heidsieck

 

Just wondering. Thanks for the reply.

TW

[safrwhitby]

You have sailed on primarily much larger vessels. Take it from a convert the smaller ships are the only way to go regardless of cost.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I like Veuve Cliquot myself. Is that premium?

 

I'm going to be really interested to hear about how the room alcohol works now when my friends do the Grand Crossing in November.

[Fitzcruiser]

Eric,

 

I tried this and could not locate any questions other than emergency info, etc. Could you please explain in more detail?

 

Thanks,

 

Fitzcruiser

[cruiseluv]

What I know is that Silversea is making an express effort to reduce the American to 40% of its passengers. (Silversea specialist agents are not happy.)

 

In addition, the reports are the staff is becoming very distant, cold and not proactive. Further, the reports of a serious drop off in food quality has been noted consistently. (While those issues may be somewhat related to slants toward what European clients more desire - possibly more formal/less interactive service and different food tastes/textures, there seems to be no real question that many US passengers are not happy.)

 

 

Maybe they started that "trend" with the cruise I took last year in the Caribbean. Terrible service and attitude, and average food. For sure they will not get any repeat cruisers from our group of 12.

[loungeboy]

No, actaully, if you want the better version of champagne, you need to ask for it specifically. Ask for the Heidsick Monopole. Otherwise, you do risk getting the sparkling wine that is what is provided as the "welcome champagne". It is not a big secret - note that we are telling you here without your giving us a password or secret handshake- but you do have to know to order what you want - just like you would not order a "vodka" if you had a certain kind in mind. Do note that if you order Veuve Cliquot, you will have to pay for that since that is not included in the inclusive wines.

 

NJBelle

 

I would only hope that if I simply ordered "vodka", I would get "vodka" and not a "vodka-like beverage".:eek: But that is what these boards are all about...learning useful info like this.

Heidsick Monopole it shall be!:cool:

[JoAnne B]

Usually when I board, my standard selection is already in the cabin. One bottle of Absolute and a bottle of white wine. Guess they get it from previous records. If there is no list in the cabin, you can ask for an order form and it'll arrive after dinner. Two bottles, even if single. And it is replenished on each leg. One year we were in a suite and had four bottles times two. Plus everybody gave us their extras because I wasn't flying home. Since I barely finished one Absolute, I had a heavy load to carry off!

 

JoAnne B