Regent Seven Seas Navigator is a nice ship, the food is fantastic, the service is better than I have seen on any of our other 16 Cruises. That said, the ship does have a few flaws depending on where you are located you can have a rough ride because of shuttering and you will not get in the amount of dancing you desire if that is one of the things you do on a cruise. I know its not a big thing for most people, it just happens to be OUR thing and this ship is lacking in that regard.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
We arrived very early, about 11:45 AM at Pier 23 in San Francisco. We sat down with approximately 70 other people who also arrived early. At exactly 12 noon we were invited to start the embarkation procedure and it took less than 15 minutes before we were on the ship. We went up to the Lunch Buffet and had a very nice meal. We hung around the pool area until about 2:30 and an announcement came that we could go to our cabins. Very smooth and easy.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
The food on this ship is first class in every venue. The staff is excellent and very attentive. The Wine and beer selection was first class, I put on 8 lbs. in 29 days, what can I say??
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
I would give the onboard activities a much higher rating except for one problem. There is only one band onboard, given, it is a very good band, but they cannot be in two places at the same time. My wife, my sister in law and myself love to dance. Dancing was only offered before meals and very late night. but that was limited, only about every other night. The ship should have a second band to provide music and dancing in the lounge when the ships production band is doing shows. In addition the guy who designed the lounge with two poles in it should be hung by his gonads for screwing up the one dance floor on the ship.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
The production shows were excellent, some of the other entertainers were good, but not the very best you would expect on an all inclusive very expensive Cruise.
Children's Programs
I do not take Children on cruises, and there is no program for children anyway.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Most of the time we received excellent service. The only reason I don't give them an excellent rating is that we had a Penthouse Cabin with a Butler. The Butler was very good most of the time, always on time in the morning with coffee, fruit and juice, but since we were three sharing a Penthouse Cabin, I will never do this again, our canapés got delivered every evening around 5:15 but they were served in multiples for two, not three people. Try as I might, I could not get this through to the Butler. I finally gave up and made it a game on who got the extra, or who got the shorted items. He did keep the bar and fruit stocked most of the time. I had to leave a note twice to replenish the beer and alcohol supply.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
I would give the ship an excellent rating except for the design of the one dance floor with poles in the middle of it. Its hard enough to dance on a moving floor, one that has built in obstacles is even tougher. This might be the dumbest design I have ever seen. Being a Rocket Scientist, I know design flaws when I see them. The rest of the ship was laid out well, the Theater was excellent, the Compass Rose Restaurant was glorious, the Prime Seven Steakhouse was elegant and well done. The area containing Internet access was a little on the small size, only 4 computers, and the server on the ship is WAY TO SMALL for the number of people who are on Wi-Fi and trying to use it. Similar to all ships I have sailed on, whoever sizes the Internet computers is not given ample money to make it even slow, its like a snail, but then I have never been on a ship where it was even reasonably fast except for midnight.
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
We booked a Penthouse Suite for the three of us, myself, my wife and my sister in law, we were told there were only 8 cabins set up for additional passengers, each containing a pull out bed. The cabin itself, especially for two people was magnificent. It had a very large bathroom, lots of shelves, drawers, a nice marble sink a shower and a tub. beautiful except for the crummy lighting.
This Suite had a small walk in closet with plenty of shelves, drawers and rails to hang clothes on. We had to ask for extra hangers as the room was set up for two, not three passengers.
The bedroom was an adequate size with a very nice size couch hide-a-bed and marble table. The room had a nice refrigerator and lots of glassware. We had to get the staff to bring all the glassware to accommodate our third person. The pull out bed mattress was thin and not comfortable. We got the room steward to bring a full thickness single bed mattress in each evening and remove it each morning. After 29 days that really got to be a pain in the behind, however our third person had a comfortable bed. The room, although advertised adequate for three, was really NOT adequate for three, as there was no drawers for the third person, no reading light, and when the bed was made up you could not access either the refrigerator, the light switches or the balcony. This is why I would never put a third person in the room. its not designed for a third person and its not comfortable for three people once the bed is made up. IF we were only a couple in the room, it would have been glorious.
Ship tip
Do not book a cabin in the aft third of the ship as the ship used to be an icebreaker and then entire aft end of the ship shutters in anything higher than 4 foot seas, and do not book a penthouse suite for three, no matter what the travel agent tells you, your not going to be comfortable with a third person in the room for a long cruise. The ship is wonderful, the food is glorious and if you don't dance, its the ship for you as long as you book mid-ships and forward.
The ship somehow eliminated this port, at the disgust of all passengers and went to the lousy port of Ensenada, I think they did not want to pay the higher port fees.
Like Cabo, we went on an excursion that was called Salsa and Salsa, had a great time learning how and making Salsa, and after eating and drinking lots of Margaritas, learned a little Salsa dancing. Very nice excursion
We enjoyed this port, we took an excursion to a luxury hotel on the beach about 15 miles south of the main port. Enjoyed it immensely, had a nice Mexican meal and a few drinks included.
Very poor country, we went to a drive around zoo that was advertised as driving around in safari style station wagons. We ended up driving around in a 50 passenger bus that limited our views and ability to take decent pictures and videos. The advertised lunch ended up being a small cup of French Fries and a local beer in a very HOT and HUMID open air patio restaurant. Pretty poor, I blame this on Regent, if you wanted a real lunch you had to buy your own.
Another very poor country, when the guide told us the people lived in moderate humble homes, he really meant dirt floors and tin roofs. We visited a nice restaurant, but I did not trust the ice they gave us with the bottled drink after seeing how the local people lived. The restaurant was nice, the show put on by the local girls and band was pleasant. It was very HOT and HUMID as the restaurant, the museum and all we visited had NO air conditioning. Late July is NOT a good time visit this very poor country.
A little upscale from the last two ports, but not up to normal standards of the United States. I imagine that there are some areas of this nation that really are nice as I have heard many Americans are going there for a cheap retirement. Our excursion took up on a very short boat ride up a muddy river, not much to see or do and then the train ride from hell that almost got stuck going up the last hill when it started raining and the locomotive barely had enough pull to make the grade on the slippery tracks. I found out from the guide the train or tracks had not been used for nearly 5 weeks.
I was thoroughly surprised by the modern port of Cartagena. I had a third world drug smuggling port in mind when we came into this port. Columbia surprised me, it was modern, it was clean, and very interesting. We took a partial walking tour and were entertained by local musicians and dancers after visiting the Palace of the inquisition and a naval Museum.
Actually great to be back in the United States of America. Wife and I went parasailing, our first time and had a very good time. Its very easy, simple and anyone can do this. I was surprised what a neat experience floating around on a parachute over blue-green waters would be like.
Visited the Space Museum on an excursion. I would have given this excursion five stars easily, however the lunch we signed up for got cancelled. In fact the lunch with the Astronaut got cancelled along with the lunch and we had to buy our own. Regent should have taken care of us, not left us on our own.
We did a town tour and had lunch at a local restaurant. Nice food, nothing to write home about, the tour was informative and well done, Norfolk is famous for the large Navy fleet that is there for refitting and dry-dock when needed. There must have been a quarter of our Navy there on the water.
I am not a big city guy so I will not give this place 5 stars. The hustle and bustle of New York is not my life style. Its a nice place to visit, but would NOT want to live there. After spending the first day roaming around Manhattan and taking a ferry out to the Statue of liberty, we got lucky, the Coast Guard Cutter was in port right next to us on the dock next to the Intrepid, instead of going on another boring tour of the city we opted to visit the Intrepid, the Coast Guard Cutter, The Concord, a naval Submarine and about 30 planes there displayed in the hanger and deck. Great Day. In my opinion this $46 tour should be offered as one of the options for any ship visiting New York for two days.
Very nice port. We did the lighthouse and lobsters tour, about an hour on an old double tier flatboat and another hour eating a whole Maine Lobster at Murphy's Restaurant. After that the three of us hiked to the very beautiful public gardens before returning to the ship. Very nice day.
Very small port. All three of us went on a short tour in the morning ending up at an original trading post, the only thing interesting on that tour, and I went on a Zodiac in the afternoon. I recommend the reverse order, as it got quite choppy and even though the Zodiac is quite stable we got bounced around pretty good on the way back from the 7 Islands.
We did a walking tour and a Carriage ride. This is a very beautiful city and worth the time to get out and see it. Enjoyed the entire day, including the short cable car ride up to the upper city.
Interesting review. You are the exact type person I love to watch on a cruise - a great dancer! I cannot dance, but I love to watch others who can. You sound like you are. Congrats !
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