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I recently had the opportunity to
cruise for several days on the Navigator during a charter we had
arranged. As the cruise was highly customized I thought it might be
best to assist our client for a few days.
We recently reviewed this ship after
she came out of a major dry docking during which millions where spend in
revitalizing the ship so I won’t go into a lot of detail about the
actual ship. Needless to say the ship looks like new and actually even
better than new.
What I would like to focus on in
this review is what is happening with the on board product on the
Navigator and Regent in general. Having cruised on the Mariner back in
March and now on the Navigator I can honestly tell you about some great
changes that I have seen and experienced first hand.
First of all is the food. On this
cruise the Executive Chef, Ronald Brandl, for Regent came along as
well. On of the biggest changes I noticed first on the Mariner and now
on the Navigator is the local purchasing taking place. Most noticeable
is having actual fresh fish from the area you are cruising showing up
very frequently. Ronald confirmed a new policy of giving each ship’s
head chef a budget to spend in the various ports of call the ships
visits.
This is a great idea in my opinion.
When traveling the world I think most people want to experience some of
the specialties from the areas their visiting. According to Ronald the
Chefs can purchase fish, fruit, vegetables, various specialty meet
items, wines and other products that area is known for. It really makes
for some interesting menu options.
There also has been some positive
changes in the Portofino Grill at night time. They have now added a
changing selection of three main course items nightly and the starter
courses also now change during the course of your cruise. This makes
this venue much more interesting rather than being a place you would
tend to only visit once during your cruise. This is still one fun
evening with the wine tasting and canapés starting at 7 pm and then
dinner and the entertainment starting at 7:30 pm. The head waiter that
sings like Frank Sinatra is great!
Overall it is very easy to see that
Regent is putting their money where our mouth is as the food, selection
and menu variations are great.
The second big change was the
implantation of an entirely new entertainment program on the Navigator
that will be rolling out to all of the ships. We had known for months
that this change was coming and this would be the second cruise with the
new package onboard and the first charter using it. Needless to say we
had a few reservations but let’s face it small ship entertainment has
never been that great to begin with.
The key element of the new
entertainment program is a great 9 piece band. We where told the group
did rehearsals in Orlando, which should tell you something, for over 30
days before heading to sea. The group is young, talented and play a
wide variety of music. The great thing is that they can break down into
various sizes to play in the various lounges. How about a hot jazz trio
on deck while cruising or a 5 piece band playing music that you can
actually dance to? These guys are good! It also gives charterers or
groups great entertainment options.
As an example on the formal night we
had a James Bond Martini party in Galieo’s Lounge which featured a 5
piece group playing the music from the James Bond movies over the
years. There are several other themed entertainment shows that can be
provided after the evening show.
Normally provided evening
entertainment will have two “headliners” and a menu of production shows
to select from for a one week cruise. I only had the opportunity to see
Kenny Smiles and the new Vintage Vegas production show. Kenny Smiles is
fantastic and we actually requested him for this charter having seen him
in the past. The Vintage Vegas show was great and got standing
ovations. Great music and staging performed by the 9 piece band, four
singers and four dancers.
All in all Regent keeps improving their product. All of
the ships have now completed extensive dry dock periods with only flat
screen TVs and inter-reactive TV to come. Their onboard improvements,
while they might seem small, do make a big difference in making the
cruise a totally 5 star experience |
