Review of
Alaska
Trip on Regent Seven Seas Mariner
Wow, what a difference a cruise
line makes. No cafeteria type restaurants, no screaming kids in the dining
rooms, no extra charges for drinks, upscale restaurants or $6 a day for
soda. This was truly first rate as we remembered and we were not
disappointed.
First and foremost the quality of
staff was incredible. Very professional, very proud of their
positions. You could ask them any question, if they didn’t know the
answer, they would have an answer or introduce a staff member who would be
providing you the info. I would put the staff up against any 5 Diamond
resort in the country – The Cloister, The American Club – very comparable
(and these workers are from around the world).
The food was out of this world.
When we’re on vacation, we enjoy being waited on. The main dining
room, Compass Rose, is one level so the noise level is already lower than
the one on RC. There were 2 other “private” restaurants that you could
use each one time. We ate in Signatures, their Cordon Blue fare, once
and it was great but no better than the Compass Rose. So we chose to
eat in the Compass Rose each meal. There’s no assigned seating but
they did request reservations in the private restaurants. Dinner was
usually open from 6:30 to 9:00. Of course, room service was available
20 hours a day.
Our stateroom was similar size to
what we had on RC. The weather didn’t allow us to use it as much as
last time but we did use it. Our mini fridge was serviced daily and
you could have juice, soda, mixers, beer, wine, whatever you wanted.
Fresh fruit was provided daily as well. The cabin attendant serviced
the cabin twice daily. We usually didn’t see her as we were up and off
on our excursion early or up and on the Observation Deck. I think she
cleaned our cabin first each day since we were gone.
The exercise room of the ship was
smaller but of course there was less than half the amount of people than RC.
Didn’t use the spa so can’t make a comment on that at all.
The entertainment staff provide 4
major dance/song productions each week. Very entertaining, great
voices and dancing. Otherwise at night they ran movies in the theater
for passengers’ enjoyment.
They added a coffee bar since we
were last on the ship. They ran from 6:30 in the morning until 9:00
p.m. During the morning they provided a continental breakfast there
and later cookies and muffins. This really was a Starbucks at sea but
of course, you could have liquors added.
There were bridge tourneys,
singles get togethers, shuffleboard, putting tourneys, etc. Smoking
was not permitted on the balconies and they had specific rooms or areas of
the casino or bars where you could smoke. Much more enjoyable for
those who don’t partake.
A naturalist was aboard and as we
were crusing would highlight different areas whether to add info about
history, wildlife, etc.
We saw eagles, dolphins, orca
whales, humpback whales, seals, sea lions, and sea otters – no bear or moose
this trip. The weather wasn’t the greatest but we knew that going in.
Most staff said that this August had been the worst weather in some time.
We did have 2 ½ days of sun and the weather broke when we really needed it
to. We were prepared with golf rain gear so it didn’t stop us.
Most of the passengers were
retired. Maybe 10 or so families that had kids (up from 3 years ago).
A big contingent of Michigan people, called the Nomads Travel
Group. They have their own plane and go on several trips a month.
Over 1000 members and plane holds 94. Interesting concept.
All in all – it was great and Jay
wanted to book again for next year. We held off as it takes a lot of
time to get there and back. We started this time in
Vancouver and
stayed at the Pan Pacific. Great place! Delta lost our luggage
for a day but luckily we had gone 2 days early. No problems getting
back from Anchorage.
We definitely got our monies
worth! No extra fees, gratuities and plenty of time for excursions.
Hope this helps and that you and Wiley are doing well.
Gayle Schwarz
