Part 5 – Cape Town to Rio on the Regent Seven Seas Mariner
There are two specialty restaurants on the Mariner, Prime 7 (steakhouse) and Signatures (Le Cordon Bleu). There is no extra charge for these restaurants, however reservations are usually required. You can book once in each of the specialty restaurants on line pre-cruise. However, you can also go there directly and ask if they have any openings; if you are lucky the table is yours. We were lucky to get into Signatures the day we boarded the ship just by asking since it wasn’t busy. The following night we asked again and we were also able to get a reservation in Prime 7.
The main dining room is Compass Rose and seating is open, you go anytime during its breakfast, lunch, and dinner hours and opt to sit alone or join a table of other cruisemates. The menu is varied and we were never at a loss for something good to order. Steaks and seafood were always on the menu, along with varied other choices like veal, lamb, and occasionally lobster tails. By virtue of not having “early” and “late” seatings like some cruise ships, you are never rushed away from your table to make room for the next seating.
La Veranda is open seating buffet for breakfast and lunch and Bistro and buffet at dinner. At dinner, you order your main course from the menu but can select your antipasto items and desserts from their buffet. Lobster tail seemed to be on the menu just about every night. A pizza kitchen operates in La Veranda during lunch hours.
The pool grill and patio has hot dogs, hamburgers, salads, etc. Adjacent to it is an ice cream bar featuring a selection of hand-scooped ice creams.
On sea days, there are also theme lunches at the pool grill, such as Tex-Mex, German, Asian, etc. One of the best was Brazilian, which featured a nice range of grilled meats and sausage.
In addition to these, Room Service is available 24 hrs. There is a room service menu but you can also order anything that is currently available on the menu from Compass Rose. Current menus scroll on the television. Room service delivers in about 10 minutes and of course there is no tipping. (Try the Macoroni & cheese!) The food and service has been consistently very good in all of the restaurants as well as via room service. We mainly used room service for late afternoon snacks (when the restaurants were closed) and breakfasts on days with early tours.