Navigator Black Sea Cruise Review (long)

[CLOU]

My DH and I just returned from the black Sea cruise on the Navigator. This was our 9th RSSC cruise and we were generally pleased and it met our expectations. However, I thought I would pass on a few general observations. First service. On our last 2 cruises, we both thought that service has gone down hill, a little. Not so on this cruise. Service was excellent. Out cabin stewardess managed to slip in immediately after we left the cabin for breakfast or dinner, and it was cleaned before we returned. We had been upgraded to a butler suite (more about that later) and there are fewer cabins on deck 11, so I don’t know if that had anything to do with it, but she was great. Also, the wait and bar staff, with one exception, were terrific. While I only had my plate carried from the buffet to the table once, this is an unnecessary service to me, and makes me feel a little silly, tagging along. What I appreciated in the staff was their recognition of our repeat requests and needs. Both at breakfast and tea, several of the waiters knew to bring us Early Grey tea by the second or third day, without our asking. At dinner, we requested sparkling water, and that was always kept filled, without any near mishaps of refilling with tap water, which has happened in the past. We drink a fair amount of wine and our wine glasses were kept refilled almost all the time. On our last couple of cruises, I distinctly remember having to seek out a member of the bar staff to have wine refilled. Three nights we ordered off of the reserve wine list, and for the last 2 (we had a different sommelier for the first bottle) the sommelier was very interested in our choices and enjoyed discussing decanting (once we elected to decant and once not and he agreed with our choice) and our wine choice with us. We were also pleased that the mark up was quite reasonable. We also thought that, in general, the food was better than the last couple of cruises. Now, I have to disclose that we are foodies but, as such, we don’t expect the quality of food in a dining room on a cruise ship, even a small upscale ship, to be on a par with the food in fine dining restaurants. With that frame of reference, we thought the food was generally pretty good, and better than our last couple of cruises.

 

Two negatives about the dining experience. First, the maitre’d. I don’t know his name. He is a distinguished looking grey haired gentlemen who used to be on the Diamond. As I mentioned, this is our 9th RSSC cruise, but we have not made it a point to befriend the maitre’d, even though we certainly recognize him from past cruises. Although wait staff recognized us, he did not. That would be fine, except he spent too much time schmoozing with his favorite passengers and ignoring those of us waiting to be seated, such that lines would form. Then, although Regent prides itself on it open seating, he would always act put out when we asked to be seated alone, at a table for 2. At least once, while seemingly exasperated with the effort of finding a table for 2 for us, his assistant took people behind us in the line that formed, and found them tables, leaving him forced to put us at what we considered to be the least desirable table, right at the entrance. The other negative about the dining room was the cheese service. My DH and I enjoy cheese rather than dessert at the end of the meal. The variety and quality of the cheese seemed to have declined, and except for one night, the servers had no knowledge of the cheeses they were serving.

 

A quick note on the vibration. It seems to have gotten worse. Although we were in a forward cabin, we could feel the vibration most days. Nothing really annoying, but more noticeable than I can remember. I don’t know what it was like in the aft cabins.

 

As to the upgrade to the butler suite, we liked being higher up. The iPod was a nice amenity. My DH forgot cufflinks for his shirt for his suit (no tux, there was no formal night) and the butler offered to lend him his, which my DH declined. The canapés were fine, but not necessary. My one criticism, is that Regent provides a butler form to fill in with your preferences, but then ignored half of them. While the liquor and beer I requested was there, along with an additional unrequested bottle, the fruit and nuts we requested were not. The pillows I requested were there, but the 2 blankets were not. Since these things did not matter to me that much, I never said anything and it was no big deal, but to some people it might have been more important. If Regent goes to the trouble of providing a form with choices to make in advance, it should take the trouble to accommodate these choices. I must point out that either the butler or the stewardess was very attentive. We had brought on our own bottle of sauvignon blanc. After we finished it, it was replaced with a bottle of sauvignon blanc that the dining room had been pouring, although we never requested a replacement bottle.

 

Once lat minor point. Upon arrival in the suite, there was a card welcoming us as silver level members of the Seven Seas Society, and listing all the benefits. Since we knew the benefits, we did not really read the card. However, included on the card about mid-way down was an invitation to the Seven Seas Society party. We never saw it, and we were expecting the usual invitation in the door, so we missed the party. Once again, not a huge deal, but we were told that several people complained that they were not notified of the party because they, like us, thought the card was just a recap of the Society benefits and were waiting for the separate invitation.

 

Anyway, this was a long winded, sort of review, which I hope some people find beneficial.

[Lynne A.]

Thanks for your review. It's always nice reading about RSSC ships and others experiences on them. There are just not too many reviews written on these ships. Glad you had a nice cruise! We will be on the Voyager next week. Yeah!

Lynne

[RachelG]

Thanks for the nice review. I think your comments about the cheese service are spot-on--but I just figured, ok, so I don't really need those extra calories.

Would like to hear more info/reports about the ports you visited and any tours you did on your own or with the ship.

[Iamboatman]

I am quite pleased that you found an overall improvement in service. Things seem to be on the upswing after a bit of concerning time. However, there seem to be the same issues as last summer.

 

Micky is the maitre'd. Although Micky remembered us from the Diamond he has many problems with seating us and there was always an issue with tables for two. He had expressed hopefulness there would be more 2 tops, but alas this must not have happened. It really adversely affected our cruise last summer, so I understand your disappointment.

 

We also had a similar experience with the cheese trolly...when they actually remembered to bring it. Such a simple thing can also be so frustrating...and with no real excuse.

 

Similarly, while your cabin stewardess was in and out admirably, so many little misses (and they all would be stewardess, not butler, issues even though the form is from the butler) might have had quickness vs. thoroughness working against you.

 

All in all it sounds like you had a very good time. Your observations, both positive and negative, are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Travelcat2]

Really interesting review -- thank you for taking the time to write it. We were on the Navigator in April and agree with your observations (cheese service, seating, etc.)

 

You mentioned that this is your 9th cruise -- so, you have probably been on the Navigator before. When we booked the Navigator, we decided on a slightly lower deck (8) to avoid the infamous "vibration". Guess I'm trying to figure out if the vibration seemed worse because you were on a higher deck or if something else is going on. . . . our Navigator cruise was at the end of March, 2007.

 

The only thing that currently prevents us from booking another Navigator cruise is the lack of dining choices (compared to the Voyager and Mariner). It sounds like you had a wonderful trip!

[freddie]

Clou - Thanks for your review. We are particularly interested in it because we're booked on the Navigator Black Sea cruise for next July.

 

Do you have any comments on the ports, either good or bad? Did you use the ship's tours or venture out on your own?

 

Although we've not yet been on Navigator, we have been somewhat disappointed with the cheese trolley on our cruises on Voyager and Mariner. We discovered on our Antarctic cruise on Hapag-Lloyd's Hanseatic last January/February that a superb cheese selection is in fact possible on a cruise ship. Hanseatic provided an imaginative selection of the highest end European cheeses, always at perfect temperature and ripeness, and, even better, available at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We couldn't help ourselves from indulging in the marvelous cheeses at all three meals each day, which likely contributed to the fact that we ended the 18-day cruise looking more or less like elephant seals... Hmm, maybe it's a blessing to have a less tempting cheese trolley.

 

Cheers, Fred

[captjohn]

Aloha

Fred, glad to see that we will not be alone on this cruise. Hope to meet up with you on the cruise. Is this your first venture into Turkey ?

John & Christina

[CLOU]

I did not know cheese was so popular. We have always had the cheese cart, starting with the Diamond years ago. They used to have much more interesting choices, even segregated the blues and more pungent cheeses under separate cover so as not to taint the others. The Voyager even had a cheese server. Oh well.

 

As for the excursions, we strolled around Nessebur on our own. It was a cute old town, with several church ruins and lots of shops, ranging from junk and touristy stuff to antiques and jewelry. It was fine for a stroll, and actually better than I expected. In Yalta, we took the Regent tour to 2 palaces, with a stop for a photo shoot of the Swallow’s Nest, which is the castle you see on all Ukraine books. The Livadia palace was where the last czar and czarina were arrested and where Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt carved up Europe. I was pretty awe inspiring to stand in the same room. In Sevastopol we took a half day regent tour that took as to the battlefields for the chrge of the light brigade. The fields are now vineyards, but it was okay. In Odessa we had a Virtuoso free tour with 2 concerts. We were not impressed, but others in the group loved it. In Constanza we took the full day tour to Bucharest. It is a long drive to and from Bucharest, but it was my one chance to see the city. The Parliament building ids amazing, but traffic in the city was terrible. Out guide said that by nest year, the highway will run the full way so about a half hour will be cut from the travel time.

 

We have been on the Diamond 3 times, the Voyager twice, the Mariner and PG once each and now the Navigator twice. I loved the Diamond. The Navigator is a nice size, but I like the dining options on Voyager better.

[freddie]

Hi, John - In fact, this is not my first venture into Turkey, as I was posted in Sinop (on the Black Sea about halfway between Istanbul and Trabson) in the Army (U.S., not Turkish) in the early 70's. I visited Istanbul a couple of times on leave and loved the city. (The Istanbul Hilton had a great discount rate for U.S. military, which allowed us to stay at the best hotel in town for a pittance.) Then, in 1995, my partner & I spent a day in Istanbul while on a Greek Islands cruise.

 

We are now enormously looking forward to our five-day pre-cruise stay in that wonderful city before the Black Sea cruise next July. That will give us enough time to explore the city at a reasonable pace, as well as have the opportunity to visit some of the nearby areas of interest, such as a day-trip to the Princess Islands.

 

Cheers, Fred

[AWED23]

We boarded in Monaco and are still aboard here in Santorini. Read the review and replies. The only NIT I could pick, the bath-soap bars are too small. We never had a problem getting a seating for two. Either Miki or one of hiss staff always made sure we had a table and were happy with the choice. I do not enjoy tables adjacent to a bus station. Sometimes we would be placed at a table for four and it would be converted to a 2 top. Please be aware that we almost always dine at 7:00 PM or 7:30 at the latest. There were quite often heavy traffic between 7:45 and 8:15 PM and this would cause a problem. The service level overall aboard this cruise has been as perfect as I could hope for...Met and exceeded my expectations.....Of course after 50+ cruises my expectations may not be as high as some. I do feel that both the Voyager and Mariner are better choices because of Dining venues, Sea keeping/Hull quality etc. The Black Sea and Istanbul were definately the best week of our three aboard. I would certainly reccommend the Black Sea cruise to my friends.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Fred, I'm presuming you're researching a day trip to the Princes' Isles. We did this in 2004, with a tour guide (it was just a trip we booked from our hotel, but it turned out to be private because we were the only ones who booked.) In retrospect, we could have done it on our own, given the right information about where to take the ferry, etc.

 

I think the island that we went to was Buyuk Ada, which is the one that's quite touristy in summer (Turkish tourists), with lots of seaside restaurants, hotels, swimming. No cars, just horse-drawn buggies. Make sure to take a trip around, and across the island by carriage.

 

It was a delightful day, really lovely. I even fantasized about buying or renting a place there--there are many beautiful summer homes. Apparently two reasons why prices are still quite reasonable: the weather ain't so great off season; the islands are on a major fault line and expected to have a nice big earthquake one of these days.

 

I've got pictures somewhere if you want to see them.

[swansong]

We are just back from two weeks on Navigator and also enjoyed the Black Sea cruise although Constanta was in my opinion very disappointing and delapidated. We would have done the Bucharest tour if it had not been the last day of the cruise. The other ports especially Yalta were great and very interesting.

 

We never had a problem of getting a table for two and generally it was a table for 4 where they removed the other two places. In fact, after a few nights they offered us tables for two. The service and food were first class.

 

The biggest benefit was not having to sign chits for drinks as we had to when we were last on board in November which made it easy to join others for a drink without everyone feeling that they had to 'buy a round'.

 

We were not in a butler suite and just to clear up some postings, bottles of spirits were available for staterooms by asking the steward. It was also mentioned in the info pack in the room.

 

Our biggest 'shock' was on our first night in the bar: a waiter who had been on our November cruise not only remembered us but brought our favourite drinks over to us without asking...service or what?

 

My only niggle, and it is a small one, is that being on a back to back cruise we felt we should leave the ship in Athens to take a tour as it is frantic on the ship on changeover day and do feel that for the relative few of us Regent should have provided a complimentary tour. We paid for a drive around Athens that they organised.

 

We booked again for two weeks next year so that should indicate our feelings about Regent.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Glad you had a good time--good point about providing a tour on turnover day. I guess it depends how many are staying on for a b2b.

 

Yes, Constanta is pretty bad--we escaped by doing the tour out to the Greek ruins of Histria. That was very interesting, we got to see some rural life, and some great wildlife, out on one of the mouths of the Danube.

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

On Mariner, I never noticed the cheese quality because I was too busy enjoying the good quality port they served with the cheese :D

 

I get my wife a $100+ port (have gone over $200) every year for Xmas and the port they served on Mariner could hold its own with the best.

 

In fact, I remember very little about the food on Mariner (I don't eat red meat anymore, so most food is pretty boring :mad:), but I do remember enjoying trying the wide range of wines they served. And I appreciated that if I didn't care for an offered wine that they would ask what I would like to try and bring it. We often sampled 2-4 wines at each dinner.

[Michiganboater]

Cheers to you, Freddie!

 

We're also booked on the July Black Sea cruise. For the pre-cruise thing, we'll be going to Cappadocia - Land of Fairy Chimneys. The is my first trip to Istanbul. My best friend has been here once before -- she loved it.

 

Really enjoyed reading all the posts on this thread.

[Iamboatman]

You are going to love Capadoccia! I do not know how much time you have there, but you really need two days to explore it all (one from a natural standpoint and one from a cultural one). Don't expect the best hotels, however.

 

Istanbul is one of the great cities of the world. Again, leave yourself plenty of time. I think 3 days is probably optimal, if you have it. (I am visiting yet again in October and cannot wait.)

[Ste. Michelle]

Just did the Regent precruise Cappadoccia trip (4 days) in Oct. 07. There aren't enough superlatives to describe that trip!! Istanbul was incredible and Cappadoccia even more spectacular. If you have the opportunity to take the balloon ride above the "fairy chimneys", do it. You won't regret it.