Luxury Cruise Bible

Regent Voyager Baltics Adventure from Copenhagen to Stockholm

Submitted by: Diebroke from California

Cruise Details

• Cruise line: Regent Seven Seas Cruises
• Ship: Seven Seas Voyager
• Date of sailing: 8/7/2009
• Number of nights: 7
• Embarkation point: Copenhagen, Denmark
• Debarkation point: Stockholm, Sweden
• Ports of call: Visby, Sweden; Tallin, Estonia; St. Petersburg, Russia; Helsinki, Finland
• Stateroom category: F
• How did you book your cruise? Traditional travel agent
• Travel agent: Goldring Travel
• How many times have you sailed with this line? 1
• What other cruise lines have you sailed? Seabourn, Lindblad
• What is your favorite cruise line? Seabourn

Good But Short of Six Star

Ratings

• Overall Rating 4
• Ship Condition 5
• Public Rooms 4
• Stateroom 4
• Food & Wine 3
• Spa, Gym, and Salon n/r
• Entertainment n/r
• Enrichment Program 5
• Internet & Phone Service 2
• Excursions 3
• Service 3
• Value 4

First, let me destroy my credibility. This is only the second luxury cruise we have taken. We have “cruised” the Arctic on a 60-passenger ice breaker, Polar Star; Antarctica on a 100-passenger expedition ship, National Geographic Endeavour; Istanbul to Venice for two weeks on the Seabourn Spirit; and now seven days from Copenhagen to Stockholm on the Voyager. By the criteria cited by a frequent poster on the Regent Cruise Critic message boards (number of days on a Regent cruise), that means my opinions have close to zero validity. [Editor’s Note: Luxury Cruise Bible doesn’t agree. We think every opinion is an important and valid one!] I am a foodie and wine lover and have invested many hours and lots of $ in eating and drinking.

The summary of the trip is that it was a great experience. The highlight was the itinerary. It was our first visit to most of the ports and they exceeded our high expectations. The ship was nice, but I wouldn’t call it six-star luxury. There were a few highs, a few lows, and a lot of just okay food and service experiences.

Embarkation

We boarded around 2 pm, had no lines, an easy check-in, and at 2:30 our suite was ready. The bags were delivered shortly after. Well done.

The “Suite”

The suite was fine. We had an F category suite. It had plenty of room, was in excellent condition, except for a very large stain on our drapery sheers that I noticed every time I looked outside. I must admit, I thought the suite was going to be larger. I had read that the Voyager suites are larger than the equivalent Seabourn suites. It didn’t feel any bigger to me, but it was certainly adequate. We spent a total of 15 minutes on our balcony, so for us, that didn’t add any value. We had a funny experience that was typical of the service attitude. The remote control on our TV didn’t work very well. I reported that it needed new batteries. The message came back that you have to point it at the sensor. I guess they assumed this was the first time we had ever seen a TV remote control. We gave up trying to get it fixed. We also asked twice for a squeaking closet door to be oiled. They were unable to get to that in seven days.

The Ship

It’s in excellent condition; has lots of nice space. Some spaces felt crowded to me while others were empty much of the time.

Food and Service

We had some pretty variable experiences with food and service. One of the highlights was our meal in Signatures—perhaps the best overall dining experience of the week (although one person in our large group did not like her duck.) The service was professional, efficient, and very serious. (Perhaps this is the Le Cordon Bleu way.)

We also ate once in Prime 7. The food was good, but not great. Our waiter was a charming Scotsman and all the staff seemed to work hard. There just weren’t enough of them. We waited 30 minutes after being seated to order a drink or glass of wine. We waited 45 minutes to order from the menu. Our first course appeared one hour and 15 minutes after we were seated.

The variable experience was most notable in Compass Rose. The highlight was a beef Wellington. It was really excellent. Several of us enjoyed it so much when it was on the menu that we requested (in advance) that it be served to our entire table on another night when it was not on the menu. Our request was pleasantly accommodated and it was equally excellent the second time. It was a highlight of our dining experience. Another night in Compass Rose, two people at our table ordered rib-eye steak. It was so tough and chewy that they gave up after three bites.

Service in Compass Rose was always slow. In one area, the wait staff seemed harried and unhappy. In another area, we experienced more pleasant staff. We sometimes had difficulty understanding and being understood by the Pilipino staff in Compass Rose. One evening, the wine server was in so much of a hurry that he withdrew the wine bottle from three people’s glasses so fast that he dribbled wine across our plates and laps. I don’t know if he was untrained or had a bad attitude.

We had two dinners in La Veranda. Service was more pleasant and faster than in Compass Rose. The food was just okay—nothing special but nothing bad. Breakfasts in La Veranda were okay with a few exceptions. The cappuccinos we had the first morning in La Veranda were perhaps the worst cappuccinos we have ever had and we never ordered one again. The coffee was minimally acceptable. We did not try the coffee bar but heard it was good. The fruit on the buffet seemed to be lacking in flavor. Our ultimate test of the quality of the breakfast is the orange juice and the pastries. Voyager failed both tests. The orange juice was fair. The pastries were dried out. The benefit is that I was not tempted to try them after my first morning.

Lunches were fair but the burger and fries on the pool deck were a big disappointment. The good news is that I was not tempted to try them every day as I was on Seabourn. On the pool deck for lunch, some staff were pleasant while others were surly.

The selection and quality of the “free” wines was disappointing. The good news is that when you ordered champagne, you got champagne, not a sparkling wine as I had read in other reviews. However, the quality was not very good and worse than many California sparkling wines.

During a late breakfast one morning, I saw an ugly confrontation between a manager (an assumption based on his white uniform with some kind of stripes) and a waiter. The waiter was clearly unhappy. It was handled reasonably discreetly as I’m sure I was the only one who witnessed it. I got the feeling that many on the staff were not happy.

Entertainment

We didn’t do shows. Some of the entertainers in the bars were poor. However, Jerry Vasi who played in one of the lounges was outstanding as a solo performer.

Shore Excursions

The shore excursions were the most important part of the trip for us and the ports of call did not disappoint. We did the Regent tours in Visby, Tallin, and on one of the three days in St. Petersburg. Two of the three guides were good to very good. The Visby tour was longer than it needed to be but our guide was good. We were lucky that our visit to Visby coincided with the annual medieval festival and it was special. Our trip to Peterhof with the Regent tour was good. We spent our other two days in St. Petersburg with a private guide arranged through Exeter and she and our tours were outstanding—the single highlight of the trip. I think we were able to see and experience more with our private guide.

The tendering operation in Visby was very slow. We got in the tender 45 minutes after our appointed time. Apparently they knew it was going to be bad because they apologized in advance.

Miscellaneous

We were offered a behind-the-scenes ship’s tour. The fine print said it did not include the bridge, galley, or engine room. We really enjoyed the open bridge policy on Lindblad, the engine room tour on Lindblad, and the bridge and galley tours on Seabourn. The Regent tour might have been interesting, but we did not participate.
We went to three talks on the Baltic region by the guest lecturer and all were excellent.

I also had a new laundry experience. I sent two shirts to the laundry with slightly frayed collars. Both were returned unlaundered. I guess they were afraid I would blame them for the condition and demand a new shirt.

Summary

I have read a comment by a poster on Cruise Critic whose views I respect suggesting you should not compare cruises or cruise lines. I couldn’t help but compare my Regent experience with my Seabourn experience. Although our Voyager cruise was very enjoyable, Regent was a distant second to our Seabourn experience in every category that was important to us. If Regent is 6 star, Seabourn is at least 8, maybe 10.

I would certainly enjoy cruising Regent again but only if they offered an itinerary I couldn’t get on Seabourn or only if they were significantly less costly than Seabourn.

For More Information…

…talk with your travel agent, call Regent Seven Seas Cruises at (877) 505-5370, or visit their website.