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Here's a letter we wrote to Mark Conroy, President of Regent Seven Seas Cruises, about our recent Hawaii-Tahiti cruise:

June 11, 2006

Mr. Mark Conroy
President, Regent Seven Seas Cruises
1000 Corporate Drive, Suite 500
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33334

Dear Mr. Conroy:

We are writing to comment on the wonderful cruise we experienced on your April 18-May 14 Hawaii-Tahiti cruise aboard the Seven Seas Mariner. As you may recall, our previous experience with your company, aboard the Seven Seas Voyager in December, was unfortunate. Our experience this time aboard the Mariner more than made up for the Voyager experience.

We have documented our Mariner voyage extensively on our web site, which you can find at http://www.medary.com/article.php/Mariner-Hawaii-Tahiti-2006. The cruise was, in short, everything we expect from a six-star luxury cruise, and we hope that our cruise journal posted online reflects that.

There were so many Regent crew and staff who made our trip remarkable, that it’s difficult to know where to start. Our suite stewardess, Evi, was very attentive and enthusiastic, and was a delight from the beginning of the voyage to the very end. She left Regent at the end of the cruise to go back home to Indonesia since her contract was up. During our voyage, she had expressed interest in coming back for another contract with Regent, although in our discussions with both Evi and with Hotel Manager Giuseppe Ginanneschi, we learned that she received a “DNR” due to her housekeeping performance. I would hope that, should she ever wish to return to Regent, that your company could find a place for such an energetic and bubbly personality as Evi, perhaps in a different customer-facing role.

The ship’s crew, under the leadership of Captain Guillou, was exceptional, friendly and helpful, and going about the business of maintaining and running the Mariner with unobtrusive competence. Captain Guillou himself was every bit as personable as we had been told before we sailed. We look forward to many more cruises on the Mariner because of the talents of the ship’s crew. We also enjoyed the fact that it seemed like everyone knew our names and greeted us frequently.

The wait-staff in the restaurants and lounges were uniformly excellent—so much so that it is very difficult to single anyone out. Arnel in the Compass Rose Restaurant was maybe the best waiter we encountered. We had him as a waiter once, early in the cruise, and not again until two weeks later, but he still remembered such details as my wife’s preference for ice water with lemon and a straw. Marinela, a sommelier in Compass Rose, was also excellent. The service was outstanding in every Mariner venue. This is a credit to the very attentive head waiters and maitre d’s, and restaurant managers under the leadership of Hotel Director Ginanneschi and Dining Room Manager Gary Roberts. Mark Stanton in La Veranda was particularly good, and we were sorry to hear that this was his last cruise as he was retiring. We enjoyed our dinner with Ivar Drageseth, and found Chef Cornel Ruhland’s tour of the galley particularly fascinating. Having canapés delivered to our suite every afternoon was also an unexpected surprise.

(One note—we had asked for the recipe for an excellent Indian carrot pudding, gajjar ka halwa, but we instead received a recipe for “traditional” carrot cake. We would still love to have that gajjar ka halwa recipe but didn’t receive it by the time we disembarked.)

We found the entertainment organized by Barry Hopkins and his staff to be very entertaining, amusing, and informative. Entertainers Mark Haslam and Rodi Alexander were particularly good. We had an opportunity to chat with Ms. Alexander at length one morning and found her to be as personable off the stage as she was talented on-stage.

Please pass along our appreciation to all of the crew and staff of the Mariner and to all the Regent employees who made our Hawaii-Tahiti cruise so memorable. We enjoyed this cruise so much that we did something we have never done before: we booked another cruise while on the Mariner for next year. We will be traveling with my wife's parents on the Panama Canal transit beginning April 27, 2007, and we all look forward to experiencing the exceptional service we received on the Mariner.

Sincerely, etc.

cc: Mr. Gair O’Neill, Manager of Guest Relations