There is quite an outpouring of sentiment on the CC Board about whether the quality of Regent service has fallen off, and whether it is truly comparable to the other similarly priced cruise lines (Crystal is most frequently mentioned)...any input from this Board?

Our Regent cruises have taken place in the last three years so we have no comparison with earlier years. That being said, we have not experienced the issues that many cruisers mentioned on the other board. Our experience in the Compass Rose has been enjoyable with delicious food and excellent service. Maybe we have just been lucky, but dining has been enjoyable.

We have never had a problem being served drinks on the pool deck. Maybe we just look thirsty, but we are always waited on quickly. <img border="0" alt="[beer]" title="" src="graemlins/beer.gif" />

We enjoy the entire Regent experience and are looking forward to our upcoming cruise in October.
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Susan

Sounds like the cc thread has been hi-jacked by Crystal-ites. We've never sailed on Crystal but as I understand it, it has a very different ethos - more formal (stuffy?) perhaps but different for certain than Regent.

We've spent alot of time on the Voyager - has everything been perfect all the time? No. Has every staff member been perfect? No. Has every meal been wonderful? No but most are very good and if it doesn't suit - order something else.

But having said all of this, NONE of what has been said - not offered a choice of wine, the length of time to get a hamburger by the pool or a drink at a bar, rude replies etc every happened? Not once. or at least not to us.

We like the no tipping policy and feel the staff does as well. They get paid decent salaries and we as passengers have never felt that we are being fawned over to get us to cough up a few more dollars. Having said that, we contribute to the crew fund since the fund helps staff at all levels, not just the people we see but the ones we don't, who work just as hard!

/getting off my soap box.

Peggy

editing to add: We have always felt the service on Regent has been excellent.

I have actually thought that service has gone to an even higher level on my last 2 cruises. I have not been on a ship for about 10 months now but unless something drastic has happened in the meantime, I am not seeing it.

I have only traveled on Regent and haven't seen this from a Regent perspective. However, on our last cruise, we traveled with folks who jump lines and they were comparing service levels on everything from the dining room to the travel concierge with the other lines. It may be one's vantage point.

I have to say, being new to Regent, the talk does have me worried. I don't expect perfection by any means.... but when they said no service pool side, I just couldn't believe it!!!! That would be very bad......

I will keep an open mind!!! I am also a little nervous about their talk of cruising right before dry dock....

I am also trying to take that with a grain of salt.....

Therese,

I wouldn't worry too much. Regent is topnotch. We haven't sailed with the line since the end of 2006, but we had a lovely time. The service was excellent and the ship (the Mariner) was pristine. The crew is excellent.

Our only bone of contention was the food and wine. We thought the wine list was weak and the food provisions could have been better quality. But I have to admit that we are total food snobs, so you may not feel the same way. Most of my friends who've sailed with Regent absolutely love it. We all just wish the price would come down a bit!

Andrea

We should be ok then, we know absolutely NOTHING about wine, and as long as someone else is cooking, I'm ok!!!!! My husband has an occassional beer.. We are looking for good service, and I think it will be fine.

Peggy, you have a good point, a lot of those posters I have never heard of, and I read the Regent board frequently, but several of them have many posts, so the Crystal connection much be the answer, as it is heavily slanted toward Crystal. I have nothing against Crystal, as I said over there with my only comment. Just never cruised on them.

I've gotten to the point where I don't mind mentioning my number of cruises on Regent to validate that I have experience with the line. Of course, I don't have any WC's behind me, so not as many nights as many. But each time I come aboard, I feel like I am a first time "critic", as I have never cultivated much a relationship among the senior staff, so I'm sort of an anonymous guest like many coming on for the first or second time.

Therese, come aboard without preconceptions, ready to have a great time, and I know you will be fine! If not, you know there are choices out there that may suit you better!

Our last three cruises have been on Navigator, and we just love it. We don't know anything about wine, so would be terrible with that kind of experience (but my iced tea glass never goes empty). We have been recognized and welcomed back by wait staff the last two cruises, but even when it wasn't somebody who recognized us, we've never gone without service on pool deck for more than a few minutes. Of course, if I feel like I have been waiting as long as I need to, I'm not above going to find somebody and asking for what I want.

I'm relatively new to Regent but have cruised 3 times in 4 years on the Voyager, the last cruise in June 2008. Obviously, I have loved my Voyager experiences BUT I agree that there has been some significant service slippage and I am rethinking whether Regent is capable of living up to its promise. On my recent experience, the staff in the Compass Rose seemed harried from the Dining Room manager on down. Despite seeing waiters running all around me, it took unusually long to have our orders taken, empty water glasses went unnoticed and after dinner coffee orders, which we had thought had been forgotten, came as we were getting up to leave. Several times I noticed on this last trip, but never before, my presence at a bar or lounge was ignored. I felt like it was my responsibility to rip the bar tender or hostess away from their casual conversation from their fellow crew member in order to place an order. I wasn't being impatient. The lounges weren't full. The staff were not serving others. I think I should have been offered service within 5 minutes. A possible downside to all inclusive?
I see cost cutting measures all around me and I'm sure that is necessary in hospitality as well. But when I see cruise prices soaring, I have to ask myself how much more I am willing to pay for less?

I have mentioned this before, to mixed comments, but overall, since Regent took over, i have seen some let down on service. Don't read something into this that isn't there. I still think it is a great cruise line, and I miss it. (Between the general rise in cost, the all inclusive cost, and no smoking in cabins and balconies), I have not been on any of the ships since last December.
Lynn

The Hotel and F&B Directors can make a difference in service, but it's usually a difference between very good and excellent in our experience. The complimentary wine list is quite extensive and has new additions regularly. Some wine selections don't show up on shorter cruises ut they are available. Ask the sommelier for a list. We've always been pleased with the CR.
Jim

After sailing on B2B in May/June, I would say the food and service on the Voyager has actually improved. Tom.

Our last Regent cruise was 10 marvelous days on Navigator in the Black Sea in July. I found the service to be generally very good, up to the standard we expect from Regent. I expect excellent service. But there was a noticable exception. On one night, the service in our area of CR all but disappeared. We waited twenty five minutes for our second course to be served and after a similar wait for the next course I got up from our table to summon the head waiter. The service was blatantly bad. Our wine glasses remained largely empty. Awful! And it appeared to me that the tables around us that I could see were suffering the same fate. The CR crew in our area simply lost it that night.

On our last two Regent cruises, it appeared to us the the CR staff tended to be working to the point of considerable stress to deliver first class service, something you wouldn't see or at least notice in a fine restaurant. I'm sorry to see this. It's almost as if Regent is deliberately understaffing. They started this aparent trend when they switched from a two cabin attendant system to one.

We certainly have no complaints overall. As said above, things are sometimes not perfect, but then nothing is. We thought CROSS and B2B were as near perfect as it gets.
Not to mention, the wonderful fellow cruisers.

Just one comment about the 2 vs 1 cabin attendant: I was told that instead of having 12 cabins (a made up number) to clean when there were 2 people doing the job, the single person had 6 cabins to clean (another made up number).

Peggy

We were on the Mariner in June and found service just fine with an almost full ship. I do notice on nights when almost everyone arrives at the same time it does put stress on the wait staff. We sailed Crystal several times but not recently since we hated the set seating and having the same table mates which was sometimes great and sometimes less than stimulating. They do a great job on dining service but again you are comparing apples and oranges. It's much easier for a wait staff to personalize service if they see the same people for each meal and can get to know their likes and dislikes. On Regent they have a new group of people each night. On one cruise where there were 8 of us and we sat at the same table each night we did get more personalized servce. I know that some people have favorite waiters and they will try to accomadate you to sit at their tables.

Our last three Regent cruises, Voyager in 2005, Mariner in 2006 and the Navigator in 2008 have been exactly what we have come to expect from Regent. First class service and food. I agree with other posts in this thread that if anything, the food and service seems to improve with each cruise. This year we disembarked in Athens and stayed over several days at the Grand Bretagne. Dinner on the rooftop was wonderful, but my wife and I both commented before the meal ended that it was better on the Navigator in Compass Rose.

We have been cruising with Radisson and now Regent since 2000, having experienced the Diamond once - a crossing - as well as all three of the current Seven Seas ships three or four times each, totaling over 200 nights. We have noted a definite decline in service and quality since about the Fall of 2004:

> Suite service staff was cut from two to one, with less than a corresponding cut in assigned suite responsibilities. When a ship is full or nearly so, things really suffer, although the stewardesses do try. In one instance we were unable to communicate with a stewardess in English, and had to resort to speaking with the head or assistant housekeeper, a difficult situation both for us and for the stewardess.

> Without any hard data top back it up, we've felt the number of wait staff in Compass Rose has been reduced and their stations enlarged. Clearly the wait staff isn't the same as it was, mostly because Regent can't attract and retain Europeans with the current Euro: dollar exchange rate imbalance. With their current high price structure, perhaps they should consider paying the staff more.

> The choices of food available in Compass Rose has decreased in variety and, in our opinion, in quality as well, although the quality part of this complaint may be due in part to our dislike of the neuvelle cuisine style which seems to be featured, particularly on the Mariner. Too often one or the other of us has trouble finding anything we’d like to eat, particularly in appetizer, salad and soup offerings. We both loved the soups but now only find one to our liking every second day of so, a decided loss. In contrast, we feel the wine offerings have actually improved a bit in this same time-frame.

> Regent is decidedly more rule-driven these days, and clearly less flexible. Whereas formerly they seemed to go out of their way to get to “YES”, in recent years they have fallen back on "NO", or just given no response to requests.

> Prices have increased greatly (doubled or more in many cases) over this same period, and programs such as the uniform Seven Seas Society discounts and Gold Points promotion cut back or dropped. While we still CAN afford Regent, when airfare and other costs are included, it becomes a strain, forcing us to be more selective and to take fewer cruises. Example: we’re booked on KOALA (Valparaiso to Sydney) next year, but will likely cancel because of the cost of business airfare to Chile and home from Australia. A real shame, because that is a GREAT itinerary with a delightful group. But just a bit much for us, I’m afraid. (Anyone hearing of good business class deals, please e-mail me! - e-address in my profile)

We’ve cruised on other lines, including Crystal, Cunard (both First and Grille classes), Holland American and Princess. We don’t like the fixed seatings on Crystal and think the suites don’t begin to compare, but the food is at least as good, probably better, and the lecture and other enrichment programs are clearly superior. We will not consider cruising on Cunard or HAL again; they just don’t measure up, except perhaps for a crossing on one of the new Queens.

But we did enjoy Princess, roughly half the cost in a mini-suite, even with all the nickel and dimeing. We’re trying Princess again, this time in a top suite (540 sq. ft.), for 60% of the comparable fare in a standard F suite on the Mariner for a Panama Canal repositioning. As quite a bit is included with the Princess suite, we figure +$100. per day for drinks, wine, etc. and another $25-30. for gratuities. We shall see. Also, we plan to try Seabourn and perhaps Silverseas when the occasion presents itself.

This is not to say we won’t cruise with Regent again; we will, just more selectively. It’s still the best cruise line we’ve found, but, IN OUR OPINION, it isn’t as good now as it (and Radisson) were in the past, and it’s twice as expensive now. It seems like the knowledgeable cruise professionals have been put in a corner or on a leash, guarded or restrained by the beanies (accountants). Just recall what beanies have done to the American auto industry!

Of course this is just one couples opinion!

On our last 5 cruises on Regent I would have to say that all met or exceeded our expectations, except for our Dec 7th 2007 cruise, in which we felt that service was lacking a bit. The only answer I can give is a large portion of the staff was getting off the ship at the end of the cruise and maybe that contributed to it. It was really only in CR that we had a few issues with getting wine and our Stateroom attendant trying to rush us out of our room early so she could start her vacation.

In terms of price I feel there should be no lack of any type of service since there prices had basically doubled in the last five years and going all-inclusive really did not cost them that much extra and they are charging a PREMIUM for it.

I would agree with Count Florida that you can get some good deals on Princess: we have sailed them a couple of times, of course you get what you pay for. In my opinion unless you are eating in the alternative venues or its formal night in the main dining room, the food at dinner is very bland and the presentation is something that resembles a TV dinner on my plate: and usually tastes like it also.

Just My opinion though!

FV

We enjoy fast service in the Compass Rose and on the WC 2008 it was not there. The fault lay with the kitchen being understaffed. Our great server said the kitchen was under much stress. Our wait staff did the best they could but if the food does not come out of the kitchen, there is little that can be done except sending a suit back there which we did a few times.

Ardis

Count Florida, I think your analysis is right on the money. Lots of individuals on both boards have supported this with their comments. Fortunately, I have only been on the receiving end of substandard service rarely. But I so admire and respect and appreciate the ship's crew, I just hate to see them stretching like an Olympic competitor to perform to the standard we expect. They do it, mostly, and bless them. But they shouldn't need to. It is going to be interesting to see what the next two years brings to the luxury cruise industry. Our cruise frequency will be down because of price increases everywhere and the diminished purchasing power of the dollar. And many thousands of others are in our boat.

I think I posted about feeling staff was over worked and it must have been for B2B - do not rememeber feeling this way on Lamb or Fjords - I did not personally feel the staff problems but could see it on their faces - it pained me as they are so wonderful and if Regent is triple timing them Regent will lose - Joanna

I have the upmost respect for the ever hard working Regent staff: I do not blame them, I blame managment for not giving them the tools they need to make there job a bit easier and more productive. I think we will start seeing more luxury cruise deals coming out sooner than later, because our economy has slowed down and in my eyes we are in a Recession, and Europes economy is starting to slow down, the Euro is pulling back and lets face it these cruises have gotten very expensive.

FV

Also, if you are entitled to (and have paid for) 2 bottles per cabin....let cruisers know this fact...seems odd you have to be "in the know" and ask for them - cabin stew should offer this info asap- most from here on B2B did NOT get in cabin booze, we later discovered - a few asked stew did not happen so they let it go - the pool staff/waiters, first week on B2B, were exhausted - big group on that first week so Regent needs to plan for this fact and have adequate staff -

Not that it is likely to be any sort of consolation, but we saw that same sort of restaurant under-staffing and stressed-out-and-running-like-crazy situation on the Silver Whisper on CAMEL. The fantastic food staff was stretched so thin that they sometimes were literally jogging from place to place in the main dining room. Clearly, there simply were not sufficient personnel in the restaurant to provide proper service, forcing the inadequately small contingent of dedicated servers to do their best. A couple of times, we saw one of our favorite headwaiters (a lovely Bulgarian woman) snap at her husband (who, for some not-too-well-thought-out reason, was assigned to her station) when things got too far behind.

We are hoping, but not with enormous optomism, that the luxury lines will recognize that this sort of understaffing does not work in the long run.

With fond memories of fully-staffed restaurants and great hopes that we will see that system return, Cheers, Fred

Freddie, yes, this was a problem we all noticed on SS on CAMEL. What happens is that they assign so many waiters to each dining room for each meal based on past experience, and then when more people show up, the staff is overwhelmed! Then they call upstairs to the pool deck or whatever is parallel to Verandah on Regent, and it is already too late! So it does happen on both lines. My thought is that they need to work in a cushion for this, rather than do bare bones staffing. I don't know whether Regent and SS execs know just how much this ticks us off and contributes to a negative experience when we are paying for the best with their fares!

Same thing happened on ICE with the two restaurants. The grill cook up in the La Verandah equivalent kept referring to the main restaurant staff "running like chickens" if someone upstairs wanted to order off the main menu. It was a similar staffing situation - how many ate out for the pool barbeques vs. how many ate indoors upstairs vs. how many had the sit down lunch. Staff assignments vs. passenger attendance was not always in sync.

Cheers, Anne

I can deal with mishaps that do NOT impact me I hear about them (lack of in cabin booze for new cruisers I introduced to Regent very disappointing ) - after X number of Regent trips I have grown to love the crew on all ships ...when I sense the crew is stressed that pains me - Regent should be ashamed if their cost cutting hurts their staff - it all trickles down and I will be looking on next two cruises - never felt this way before - and Tony mentioned the soups have declined - my Samba trip is mega $$$$, to me, so will let you know ..as was Fjords, B2B $$$$$

I've noticed the harried waitstaff on several of the cruises we've taken in the last few years. It's hard for them to provide personal service when they are so rushed but they still try. They are wonderful people (as well as employees) and it makes me sad to see the strain on their faces.

We haven't seen any gaps in Silversea service on 4 cruises in two years, but enough people mentioned it on Camel that I do have some concerns even though I have sailed on Shadow recently. They have a very, very good training program. One thing I do remember on one or two of the cruises is officers jumping in the lunch line in front of guests fairly agressively. I did find this to be a turnoff.

I have only done two Regent cruises, but both were in the last 10 months. I found many of the issues mentioned, and all were disappointing to me, but I still had fabulous cruises that were some of the best times I have had in recent years. I also found the food imaginative and creative in many cases on Regent, though I do agree sometimes there were not enough soup and appetizer choices. I think they need to polish up the service. We go at Christmas, and it will be my husband's first time on Regent, so I am looking forward to hearing his comparisons. I didn't sail on Radisson, but I am guessing some of the things I see needing polished may be transition issues. I think the trainers need to sail the competition (all luxury lines I am sure have staff sailing each other, but maybe not the staff training people??). Just a thought.

Though I am often an SS cheerleader, if in April, they lapse, I will tell it!

Our May, 2008 Alaska cruise on the Mariner had the best service we have ever had on Regent (with inconsistant food). The boards have clearly indicated an inconsistancy in food and service on both Regent and Silversea. They have raised prices -- in some cases significantly. . . cutting back on staff isn't fair to us or them. JMO

I have never experienced anything I would descibe as "poor" service on any Regent cruise but our trip on Explorer II in Feb was by far the best service and the nicest crew ever. We have sailed both the Mariner and the Voyager and we have also been on SS Silver Cloud (and RCCl, Princess and Disney. Since I have expressed a desire to try the ginormous Oasis of the Seas, you may think I have no standards but I certainly did not see any slippage in service.

I have a suggestion for everyone.

One of the reasons Crystal does excel in good service is the fixed seating dining. You sit at the same table every night at exactly the same time with the same waiters. That really helps on the service end of things. The waiters get to know you and your likes and dislikes. If you always order a particular drink for instance - then it just "comes". The tables are all pretty much at the same stage in the dining courses, that helps the waiters. A relationship develops with the waiters, they get to know and you get to know them.

Fixed seating dining offers these advantages.

However for me, open seating dining is something I will never give up, but there are issues with open seating dining.

On Regent and Silversea you sit in different areas with different waiters who have not learned your likes and dislikes. Also all the tables are at different stages in dining. We arrive at different times. Really nice for the guests but harder for the waiters.

If you find a waiter you like then request his table each night. He will get to know you and you get to know him, then you will find your experience is enhanced.

Regent and Silversea will not hold tables for people to be fair to all concerned so if you like a waiter and table you need in the dining room before that table is taken.

On Camel, Silversea, Olivia found a waiter and table location she liked and she was at that dining room the minute it opened "holding her table". It was her "home" for each night and the guests at her table just changed. They had a wonderful relationship with their waiter and the whole dining experience was definitely enhanced.

I sat in "Olivia's area" and found the service to be excellent. I moved to another area on two nights as we were late and no tables were available. We had the same surly waiter both times who told me "there were no berries and would not be for the rest of the cruise". I think he just did not want to bother with a special order. Next night no problem berries on request.

These are big dining rooms. Some waiters will be better than others. True in anything there are always people better at their job than others.

Find your "waiter" stick with him if possible. As you change dining companions (one of the absolute joys of open seating in my view) it may not always be possible but just a suggestion to enhance your cruise experience.

The only time we had "POOR" service was on Regent when we had dinner with an excellent HOTEL DIRECTOR. The wait staff screwed up left and right...slow, wrong meals, you name it. At one point he became red in the face, pushed his chair back and left the table and quietly had words with the maitre d' out of sight. Staff was changed and improved. He was clearly exasperated and highly embarrassed and apologized profusely. He held a meeting the next day.

I've had things go very wrong on Regent. They lost all my dry cleaning for a day. They had delivered it elsewhere and didn't know where. I had nothing to wear to the captain's dinner and they burned Doug's shirt. They recompensed us immediately without our saying a word. These things happen.

Oh and then the re was the lunch on MUSH that Fred, Pat,Olivia and Frank and me that we will never forget. The waiter took our order. Olivia has just come from the spa and I had an appointment after our lunch. The waiter lost our ticket with the order and was new to Regent. He kept bringing us plates of food thinking that one of us would get what we ordered. Monte Cristo? Turkey? Salad Bowl? We all kept looking at one another with raised eyebrows. Well, by the time it was resolved, I had a piece of bread for lunch. He got everyone else their order. Not that missing a meal hurt, but we were hysterical over the incident. One of those funny things that just happen in travel that are memorable and make you smile everytime you think about it!

These service comments for Regent and Silversea always seem to come up in the summer when the cruises are more port intensive. Our experience has been that service is always better on sea days, because the crew is all on board, as opposed to port days when many are ashore in shifts.

As a new cruiser to Regent I am reading all of these comments voraciously. It is refreshing to see so many defenders but I have to say that I received an email from a RSSC employee recently in response to some questions I posed; and the tone of her response was so abrupt and snippy that I am starting to have 2nd thoughts about my upcoming cruise. I only hope that the rest of the RSSC staff is much more attentive.

Cruzndiz,

The people in their call centers are different than the people onboard. We've had pretty excellent service onboard. We keep going back over and over with good reason. Most people here will tell you the same thing.