Mr Wathen

May 11, 2022

A Real Disappointment

We travelled on SS Voyager from Civitavecchia to Barcelona March 26 to April 5 2022. Our precruise stay at the Westin Excelsior in Rome was a mixed experience. The hotel is large and historic but tired. Our room fitted that description, large but with a shower door nearly off its hinges and rusting at the bottom. The breakfast buffet for all Regent clients in a huge barn of a public room was simply poor, lukewarm and unappetising. Embarkation was smooth in Civitavecchia but our penthouse suite (959)disappointed. There were watermarks on one of the chairs, marks on the sofa and on the carpet beside the bed. The bathroom was showing its age with chipped paintwork. The shower was small although did the job. The buffet breakfast and lunches at La Verandah also disappointed. They seemed short of staff as tables were not cleared and were slow to offer tea/coffee. The "hot"(generally lukewam) breakfast was of very mixed quality with bacon so crispy and burnt it was inedible. At lunch when an item ran out it was often not replaced. The main restaurant the Compass Rose was large and perhaps not surprisingly the service was slow and the food rarely hot. Sette Mari, (created in the evening out of La Verandah) with its attempt at an Italian vibe was a reasonable experience the first time we visited but seemed to deteriorate during the cruise . Prime 7 was good but Chartreuse, despite trying hard rather less so. As an example of what did not quite work, my wife, who loves Dover sole, ordered it on three occasions at both the Compass Rose and Chartreuse. On each occasion the fish was overcooked and lukewarm at best. This was simply not a top restaurant experience. The wine on offer was decent although the choice more limited than expected. However the sommeliers mostly seemed to be at an early stage in their training, one not knowing the difference between a tawny and a ruby port and another not realising that a sauturne is not an unusual accompaniment to foie gras. The excursions we went on seemed well organised with some good guides and whilst the entertainment we saw at the theatre was of limited scale we enjoyed it. Unfortunately, adverse weather conditions meant that we had to miss three ports of call although we did get a welcome extra day in Palma. This seemed a sensible decision well explained on the ship's TV channel by the Captain. Overall however the cruise left us with a feeling of disappointment with the state of the suite and substandard meals and service, particularly so after seeing the TV programme and general advertising claiming that Regent offered the best and most luxurious standard of cruising. I should add that the staff were generally cheerful, smiling and positive. In particular our butler tried very hard although even he could not disguise the fact that the canape service could not always be relied on. However we suspect that many of the staff are new and undertrained post Covid lockdown and the restaurants seem to be undermanaged with a lack of quality control in both restaurants and kitchens. We are first timers on Regent, although not to cruising, having travelled with SilverSea (much better) and Oceania (also good) amongst others. However I should note that passengers who were old hands on Regent, whilst acknowledging the many shortcomings on this trip, advised that we should not judge them on this experience alone, which they saw as something of an aberration. Let us hope so, as we have another booking with Regent next April! Chris Wathen