1. We are platinum Regent travelers. And have taken cruises on many other ships too. Before covid we sailed on all the Regent ships, including the Mariner (8 yrs. ago). We did 2 cruises with the Splendor earlier this year, making up for lost time since the pandemic. Let me begin that we have been spoiled with the Explorer and now the Splendor. The Mariner is not the same ship we enjoyed years ago. Something is definitely off with the current Mariner.

2. The Mariner does not look or feel like a Regent ship this time around. Old and dated. The officers are distant, unfriendly and for the most part, non-existent. With he exception of the General Manager that walked around but almost never interacted with guests. The crew were wonderful and help to make any cruise enjoyable. But this time there were too many untrained staff. No polish. Regent is famous for crew remembering your names, not on the Mariner, and bartenders remembering your favorite drinks, not on the Mariner. We would order a drink at the pool and maybe get one the first time around, maybe not. So you ask another server. All dining venues way too long for service. One night in Prime 7 we waited 10 minutes just for a menu, as the maitre'ed didn't give them to us. Then our waiter arrived, gave no name, we asked for a cocktail first (big mistake), we waited for a bar server, we waited for our cocktails and no waiter for 1/2 hr. We arrived at 7:00 p.m. and didn't finish dinner till 9:10 p.m and without dessert. This is just one example of No Polish to the service.

Embarkment - Easy but odd. We were given numbered cards to be called when ready. But a woman started yelling out membership tiers, highest first. No card numbers. And her yelling wasn't loud enough as people chatted. Why not a microphone, we were in a terminal. Very odd. And at the desk, we had to redo info that Regent demanded we do online. Read more