Contributed by: filbert Tuesday, June 13 2006 @ 01:20 PM CST
BROKEN LINKS!!!
June11, 2006
Mr.Mark Conroy
President,Regent Seven Seas Cruises
1000Corporate Drive, Suite 500
Ft.Lauderdale, FL 33334DearMr. Conroy:
We are writing to comment on the wonderful cruise we experienced on yourApril 18-May 14 Hawaii-Tahiti cruise aboard the Seven SeasMariner. As you may recall, our previous experience with yourcompany, aboard the Seven Seas Voyager in December, wasunfortunate. Our experience this time aboard the Mariner morethan made up for the Voyager experience.
We have documented our Mariner voyage extensively on our website, which you can find athttp://www.medary.com/article.php/Mariner-Hawaii-Tahiti-2006.The cruise was, in short, everything we expect from a six-star luxurycruise, and we hope that our cruise journal posted online reflectsthat.
Therewere so many Regent crew and staff who made our trip remarkable, thatit’s difficult to know where to start. Our suite stewardess, Evi,was very attentive and enthusiastic, and was a delight from thebeginning of the voyage to the very end. She left Regent at the endof the cruise to go back home to Indonesia since her contract was up.During our voyage, she had expressed interest in coming back foranother contract with Regent, although in our discussions with bothEvi and with Hotel Manager Giuseppe Ginanneschi, we learned that shereceived a “DNR” due to her housekeeping performance. I wouldhope that, should she ever wish to return to Regent, that yourcompany could find a place for such an energetic and bubblypersonality as Evi, perhaps in a different customer-facing role.
Theship’s crew, under the leadership of Captain Guillou, wasexceptional, friendly and helpful, and going about the business ofmaintaining and running the Mariner with unobtrusivecompetence. Captain Guillou himself was every bit as personable as wehad been told before we sailed. We look forward to many more cruiseson the Mariner because of the talents of the ship’s crew. Wealso enjoyed the fact that it seemed like everyone knew our names andgreeted us frequently.
Thewait-staff in the restaurants and lounges were uniformly excellent—somuch so that it is very difficult to single anyone out. Arnel in theCompass Rose Restaurant was maybe the best waiter we encountered. Wehad him as a waiter once, early in the cruise, and not again untiltwo weeks later, but he still remembered such details as my wife’spreference for ice water with lemon and a straw. Marinela, asommelier in Compass Rose, was also excellent. The service wasoutstanding in every Mariner venue. This is a credit to thevery attentive head waiters and maitre d’s, and restaurant managersunder the leadership of Hotel Director Ginanneschi and Dining RoomManager Gary Roberts. Mark Stanton in La Veranda was particularlygood, and we were sorry to hear that this was his last cruise as hewas retiring. We enjoyed our dinner with Ivar Drageseth, and foundChef Cornel Ruhland’s tour of the galley particularly fascinating.Having canapés delivered to our suite every afternoon was alsoan unexpected surprise.
(Onenote—we had asked for the recipe for an excellent Indian carrotpudding, gajjar ka halwa, but we instead received a recipe for“traditional” carrot cake. We would still love to have thatgajjar ka halwa recipe but didn’t receive it by the time wedisembarked.)
Wefound the entertainment organized by Barry Hopkins and his staff tobe very entertaining, amusing, and informative. Entertainers MarkHaslam and Rodi Alexander were particularly good. We had anopportunity to chat with Ms. Alexander at length one morning andfound her to be as personable off the stage as she was talentedon-stage.
Pleasepass along our appreciation to all of the crew and staff of theMariner and to all the Regent employees who made ourHawaii-Tahiti cruise so memorable. We enjoyed this cruise so muchthat we did something we have neverdone before: we booked another cruise while on the Mariner fornext year. We will be traveling with my wife’s parents on the PanamaCanal transit beginning April 27, 2007, and we all look forward toexperiencing the exceptional service we received on the Mariner.
Sincerely, etc.
cc:Mr. Gair O’Neill, Manager of Guest Relations