Seven Seas Mariner Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The staff was efficient and delightful.  The food was poor to moderate unless you knew what to order that was fresh and tasty.  The disembarkation was a horror.  Arriving in Vancouver at 7AM and put on a tour bus for 3 hours and then dumped at the airport at 4P for a 10PM flight back to New York City.  Unacceptable.

Our ship was the Mariner. Our room was lovely, so nice to have a balcony. Loved the binoculars that were in our room and always nice to have  ice in the refrigerator, fresh fruit daily.  Housekeeping was perfect, we left the room for several hours and they always seemed to tidy up the room. Loved the different restaurants, had reservations for 2 evenings.  Also other options besides the wonderful buffet. , Delicious, healthy  food for all palettes.  It was the best.

While we missed out on 3 of our 4 planned excursions, the trip as a whole was fabulous.  Despite the hiccups, the crew and captain of the ship did a great job in managing the circumstances and keeping us posted along the way.  That level of transparency - especially when hiccups occur - is rare; and in this case, greatly appreciated.

We definitely plan to take advantage of the discount offered to us by Mariner on a future trip.  Thank you for taking care of us so, so well.  

We cruised early in the season to Alaska and were privileged to be the only ship In all the ports. The passengers were treated great and enyoyed all the amenities from the people running the excursions. Only one excursion was a bit lame but all the other ports were great.

The food was great as always, never had to complain about the quality or service on the ship. 

The only party that was a bit confusing and understated was the repeat passenger event.

Like most high end cruises the food is very good. I enjoyed every meal with exceptional service. Maybe found a dish or two that did not suit our taste but by all standards it was still a well prepared dish. Wife is picky any they allowed special orders that deviated from the menu. Free excursions were all very nice. Do not miss the Georges inlet crab fest. I ate a ton of the delectable crabs. Sweet crabmeat without any spice. The Alaskan lodge adventure and sea fest was also very good but beware they mix other food into the meal that includes meat. If your diet does not include sausage the food will not be for you? The boat ride was nice and we even spotted whales. Something my back appreciates is there are free laundry facilities so you do not need to carry so many clothes. Free detergent and irons also. White pass scenic railroad was a terrific excursion also. Onboard shows were good. Not too much action in casino. Onboard credit was used in the spa since there is a very limited selection in the one gift boutique. Overall a very enjoyable cruise. Cannot say the extra money spent on concierge service was worth it.

Loved the cruise and the beautiful ship. Service was exceptional! Best in the industry and people seem to really like their jobs and respect each other.  The food was great, top notch at The Signature. The excursions were amazing and our suite was beautiful. My only complaint - and this is a big one for me - was that the "free" wi-fi is for one device only per suite. The Regent is so proud of the "free" wi-fi that they plaster it all over the website. I'm sure somewhere on the documents it states that it's only for one device but I read through most of it and never saw it. When I complained they acted like I was the only person that ever sailed the Regent lines that complained about the one device at a time per suite but I heard people all over the ship complaining about their struggles. They sent me to the Wi-Fi Manager who sent me to Reception who sent me to the Concierge who sent me to the Wi-Fi Manager and back to the Concierge who told me he was going to speak with the General Manager but no one ever got back to me.  They should have responded to me at the very least. Oh yeah...and the in suite coffee maker, I'm not even going to get started...but I will end with...GAK!

I surprised my sister with this trip for her 50th birthday.  It was a memorable choice for her milestone day.  

Let me begin with the airline reservations Regent arranged for us.  Each and every person I dealt with at Alaska Airlines, either on the phone or in person, was happy, smiling, polite, courteous, respectful, helpful, knowledgeable and friendly.  In short, Alaska Airlines was an excellent choice for the air portion of our trip.  However, what was not so excellent was the scheduling of our return reservations which were a horrendous nightmare.  I am certain you could have found a better, more accommodating flight schedule even if you had to include an additional night at a hotel.  Spending 21 hours from the time we boarded the bus to the airport to the time we arrived back in our home airport was excessive by anyone's standards.  I agree with what I had heard from many, many passengers on Regent cruises: make your own airline reservations.  I did, in fact attempt to do just that but Regent would only give me $375.00 total towards purchasing my own airline tickets for the two of us.  That doesn't seem quite fair, now does it?

This was our first cruise and I know I made the right decision in choosing to sail on the SS Mariner.  We both felt like royalty from the moment we stepped on board to the moment we disembarked.  We had the pleasure of having Shierley and Ke Tut as our Stewardess and Steward.  They were most attentive and both of them deserve to be commended for their impeccable service.  The degree of caring they showed us went above and beyond.  Additionally, the team that prepared and presented us with room service one evening was excellent.  I have never seen room service look and taste this appetizing.  Our complements to the entire room service staff.  Percival, the maître d' at the Compass Rose, is the consummate professional and saw to our every need and want.  What a joy it was to be in his presence.  The wait staff in each of your dining locations were exemplary.  Alloha, Katrina and Sergio - just to name a few - were exceptional, eager to please, and catered to our every need.  The entertainment staff were all friendly and loads of fun, and we enjoyed having the opportunity to interact with them, as they were all approachable.  Sarah Hall, along with the entire compliment of staff from the Captain on down, went out of their way to insure that my sister's birthday was not only memorable and magical but a rare and special day that  could not have been more perfect. Throughout our voyage, Sarah Hall was present to assist every passenger with any request they might have.  Sarah was instrumental in increasing the pleasure component of not just our cruise, but everyone's cruise.  It was such a joy to be in the company of such a genuine, caring, considerate, and kind human being would was never without a smile.  I would be remiss if I did not commend Sarah Hall, our concierge, and our Steward and Stewardess for making my sister's dream of having dinner with our esteemed Master Captain Teo come true.  Each of these individuals played an integral part in seeing this dream to fruition and for this I will be eternally grateful.  Master Captain Teo was so gracious to take time out of his busy schedule to dine with us.  We were touch by his kindness and consideration, not to mention he is an excellent and entertaining dinner partner whose conversation we found fascinating.  All-in-all, our cruise was nothing short of excellent and we look forward to cruising with Regent in the future.  The little touches like our name on the television when we walked into our room and my sister's name on the screen on her birthday made a huge impression.  You have provided the perfect setting for us to experience a degree of luxury we were not expecting; but one we will never forget.

However, all good things must come to an end, and for us, that happened when we disembarked for our Discover Denali land package which was a totally different story and experience from that of the SS Mariner.  We were not prepared for the ordeal we were about to face.  Honestly, did you actually believe that you could take pampered passengers out of the lap of luxury and load them into a bus for 10 hours only to arrive at an outdated hotel

that in no way, shape, or form conforms to the luxury model Regent has so carefully crafted?  Absolutely everyone was disappointed and distressed by this poor choice.  And yes, we were informed that luxury hotels were not the norm in Alaska, but everything concerning the Hotel Alyeska was terrible and outdated.  For starters, only half of the restaurants were open and the hotel was in dire need of refurbishing.  I must admit, the property was situated in a beautiful setting, but it was not enough to compensate for the hotel's failings and shortcomings.  Both the Hotel Alyeska and the Grande Denali Lodge lacked, not only amenities, but also knowledgeable and friendly personnel; and after a short investigation, it was evident that, indeed, other more luxurious, friendly and up-to-date hotels did exist in the area.  THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NOT ONE THING GRANDE ABOUT THE GRANDE DENALI LODGE, in fact, a large portion of it had rotted away and fallen over the cliff!  I cannot put into words how disappointed we were with the entire land package. The ONLY bright spot was our last night's accommodations at the Marriott Hotel Downtown Anchorage.  I urge Regent to send someone out to personally observe the poor (almost non-existent) service; dirty rooms, corridors and public spaces; smoke detectors hanging from the ceiling by a wire, none of which are up to Regent's standards.  It is inconceivable that Regent would even consider putting us in a bus for days only to endure almost constant chatter from the tour guide about things we had no interest in.  And why in the world would you have us repeatedly get up for breakfast at 5 AM and 6 AM only to get back on that bus?  It wasn't like there was any shortage of daylight!  Why not just run flights out of Anchorage to Denali or the sled dog kennel or wherever, and then fly back to Anchorage the same day?  Why subject your guests to such intolerable conditions?  Again, I cannot describe how disappointed were all were; and because this is how our vacation ended, it was foremost on our minds right after the insufferable 21 hour journey home.  I have discussed this situation with several fellow passengers - both first time cruisers and veteran cruisers - and since I have been home, several friends, relatives, and acquaintances, advising them to NEVER sign up for a land package.  I liken our experience to being on the Amazing Race - and not in a good way.  It is such a shame our wonderful vacation had to end on such a sour note.  What were you thinking?

I do hope you will take my comments to heart and under advisement and make the much needed changes and adjustments.  If I had wanted to take a bus tour and have someone chatter at me the entire time over the microphone and if I had wanted to stay in run-down sub-par hotels, I would have booked a trip on Greyhound Bus Line, and not on Regent.  I hope you will take this critique in the manner in which it is offered and utilize it to improve the quality of the land packages you offer to your guests.  In the future, I would definitely discourage everyone from purchasing the land package as it is now.  And personally, I would never consider it again as I was only interested in Denali and the dog kennels, as I mentioned earlier.  I feel that for the same amount of money (or even somewhat more), Regent could have continued to treat us in the manner to which they had accustomed us, and not turned us over to such poor service and terrible traveling and lodging conditions.  What an expensive disappointment; I will never do this again!  I will always highly tout your cruises, but based on this experience, never your land packages.  Next time I will stay on board and cruise the Outer Passage toward home.  I hope you find this helpful in future planning.

Generally good excursions except the Blue Lagoon excursion in the Bahamas which I thought was poorly planned

Beach was crowded and overrun with childen

There was no place to sit down on the beach... not enough beach chairs

No one from our ship there to direct activities (where to go to see the dolphins and sea lions)

We skipped three ports due to weather and a breakdown in one of the ship's engines.  Will Regent refund what it saved in port fees, etc?

This was not a top of the line cruise for many, many reasons:

1. Cabins are outdated and lacking true TV connectivity. 

2. In training staff for their new ship, they have many new hires onboard. Though, I understand the reason, they are not knowledgeable about their jobs and many speak insufficient English and give inappropriate canned answers to questions they don't understand. All are unfailingly polite and overly deferential.

3. Food ranged from good to Excellent, but was not uniformly gourmet quality.

4. Regent allowed a two-year-old to run wild on a cruise with no other children aboard. He ran under the feet of waiters and passengers with no interference from his parents or guidance by the staff to the parents.

5. The quality of tours was wildly disappointing. More than half of the guides spoke English so poorly that they were difficult to understand. Very few of the guides understood the basics of guiding a group. They would answer questions for those walking near them, but never think to gather the group to offer the information. Many tours consisted of pointing out highlights (this statue, that street, that animal) without any elucidation. Even the knowledgeable guides need to be taught guiding techniques.  In trying to provide individual attention, they often ignored the rest of the group. One allowed one passenger to delay the bus for a half hour while she took a horseback ride she missed before lunch.

6. Entertainment on the ship was spotty. One act (2 evenings of Gauchos) was awful. Several others were adequate to good ( guitarists, comedian and magician). Two were excellent (Nicole Sasser and Opera Singer). The troupe onboard was very personable and had some ability but their shows seemed geared to the Carnival crowd: They were uniformly loud and over-amplified with excess reverberation. The material was often relatively current pop, not geared to the 50-90 year old age group. And aerobics substituted for what they thought was choreography.

7. Smithsonian lecturers were not good. Topics for poorly chosen and they were clearly stretching their material to fill the requisite number of lectures. On a South Amterican cruise, with all the new things to which we were exposed, I don't need lectures on old films and White House Etiquette.

8. Lectures by Terry Breen were the highlight of the trip, as always. She's brilliant and a terrific speaker.

Mind you, I was not suffering onboard. It a four star experience for a six star price.

The Mariner is a wonderful ship with excellent service and food.  The itinerary from Cape Town to Rio was average.  The excursions were somewhat interesting.  The ship entertainment was very good--one of the best we have experienced in over 20 cruises.  Our cabin was large and well-designed for comfort.

On the plus side, the three day pre-cruise tour of Cape Town was excellent with a stay at the outstanding "One and Only" hotel, a mini-safari and wine region tour. We also enjoyed the Ostrich Farm visit especially sitting on an ostrich and petting its neck until it fell asleep.

The land excursions thereafter were a mixed bag:

1.Luderitz, Namibia. Could not get on the "Wild Horse Tour" despite being wait listed for a long time. We took the "Ghost Town Tour" which was okay; the highlight was talking to the locals and understanding what was their attraction to living in this desolate area.

2. Walvis Bay, Namibia. The "Swakopmund Township Tour" gives one an understanding of life for those trying to survive in Namibia. The "Moon Landscape and Welwitchia Tour" could have been great except the driver/guide had no working mike and didn't have a clue about the sights to which we were being driven.

3. St. Helena Island. The Captain changed course and headed to Rio. There was a medical emergency on board and the best option was to sail directly to Rio.

4. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The "Sights and Sounds of Rio Tour" was a farce. It was nearly fours of riding on a bus with a guide pointing out every subway stop and police station in route. We were dumped at a midtown shopping center for 45 minutes and offered a can of soda. The "Botanical Garden/Tijuca Forest Tour" was guided by someone who had little botanical garden knowledge. The drive did offer several photo opportunities and the guide was very personable.

Food and Beverage.

The food and beverage service was quite good except for the one time we ate in Sette Mari. Poor beverage and food service.

Stateroom Service.

The room was excellent and the staff outstanding.

Entertainment.

Excellent pianist. Jean Anne Ryan shows. Haven't changed at all. Crew show remains very good. The Christmas Show was excellent as was the party for the Gold thru Platinum members.

Lectures.

Okay. Good place for a nap.

Fitness Center.

Had only 2 working treadmills when we started. One broke down and we were left with one. Boo-Hoo. The rest of the equipment stood idle.

Other notes.

One elevator was broken and could not be repaired before Miami. Something happened to the ship's power system midway through the cruise and the ship could no longer move at top speed. For various reasons, Regent could not get a Cruise Sales person on the cruise. We were told to work directly with our travel agent. Sometimes there were errors made in the information given to us as to where an event was going to be held.

Conclusion: A very good cruise but not up to our previous experiences on Regent.

We chose this cruise for the destinations and weren't disappointed. The Service on board was excellent with a level of attention to detail that went above and beyond. The excursions were all nice with overall knowledgeable guides and good service. The vessel was recently "remodeled" however it's showing it's age; While the cabins have a very nice distribution which makes the most of space, the spa facilities were disappointing and the ship only had small 2 specialty dinning restaurants. Food quality was very good however all dinner options are formal so if you plan on taking long tours your only casual option may be room service. Overall a good experience

This trip was supurb!  Extraordinary itinerary, and we thorougly enjoyed cruising on Regent.

The weather was cooler than expected, but that really was not a problem.  The tours, as previously

experienced with Regent, were excellent.  The food and drinks were of the  highest quality.  Service

was outstanding.  The entertainment was also very good.  We enjoyed our shipboard credit from

, which we mostly expended at the boutique.  Overall, we thought this was a great

cruise. 

Tours were poorly put together, always by bus, no bathrooms on bus, destinations ok,be sure you like the destinations, over all the cruise was wonderful the tours were poor

This was our second time on the Mariner. It has undergone a re-model in 2011 and is very nice. It has fewer than 1,000 passengers and you can even recognize a lot of your fellow travelers. Regent offers truly one cost for everything. We took 12 free shore excursions, paid nothing for wine, champagne and other drinks, tips are included. Our bill at the end of the cruise was truly ZERO.

WE SAILED ON THE \"SS MARINER\" LAST YEAR AND LOVED OUR FIRST TIME EXPERIENCE THAT WE BOOKED AGAIN FOR THIS PAST CRUISE!

Would recommend to all

This ship provides an excelent cruising experience. I have sailed the Mariner several times and this time I noticed a reduction of personnel that impacts somehow the level of service. The staff tries their best but additional help would be welcomed.

Regent Mariner is a first class ship, beautifully run by a well trained staff.

The Seven Seas Mariner is a beautiful ship, with excellent private and public spaces. The staterooms, even at the lowest fares, have balconies and are spacious. The only thing that would make this a better vessel would be to have a 360 outdoor walkspace. The layout of the ship provides no outdoor observation areas at the bow, only an indoor lounge, which is beautiful.