A gleaming Seven Seas Explorer

On Wednesday the handsome Seven Seas Explorer called into Bergen, Norway.

By the afternoon the sun had come out, and I took the following photos of her in port (a full set of which is up on my hobby blog for anyone who may be interested):

https://shipsinbergen.blogspot.no/2017/08/seven-seas-explorer.html

It's the first time I've seen Seven Seas Explorer, and as a cruise ship enthusiast I was impressed. Just wish I could have arranged to get onboard!

Are those of you who have sailed on her able to confirm whether she lives up to the hype? I'm looking to take a slighlty higher-end cruise next year, but at the moment Viking Ocean Cruises have my attention. Is it time for me to get saving for RSSC?

Thanks for posting these photos, Ships. Yes, Explorer does look glorious. I will have my opportunity to cruise on her this November. Really looking forward to it.

I have seen your blog and really enjoyed it. Keep posting!

It is a fabulous ship. Nothing major wrong. Completely beautiful.

The Explorer is my favorite cruise ship!!!!

Our favorite as well.

Although it is a nice ship, I would not want to sail her through the Panama Canal or Alaska. It's impossible to take pictures from the observation lounge due to dark window tinting and reflection of carpet design and there is nowhere you can pop out to get picture. You have to go to upper pool deck and shoot from side view.

It is superior to the other vessels in the Regent fleet in so many ways. We fell in love with her and, unfortunately, won't be able to sail on her again until Jan 2019. Too many cruises and so little time.

Z and TB

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All personal opinion so that is good. There are many things we really like on this ship, somethings we prefer on the other ships. We will book based on the itinerary, not by which Regent ship is sailing it. We do find the Explorer concierge level d cabins very comfortable. Love all the drawers and 2 sinks in bathroom.

We also won't sail on Explorer again until 2019 -- this is itinerary driven. However, we plan to book two Explorer cruises (for 2019 and 2020) while onboard later this month. One of them does go through he Panama Canal. If I had a desire to go outside to take pictures, the area where the infinity pool is works great. In terms of the glass in the Observation Lounge, I am to take pictures through it. IMO, the ship that has the worst inside viewing is Navigator since there is no forward lounge at all.

Agree that we all have different opinions. I do not think that Explorer is perfect and don't care for one of their suites but that doesn't change the fact that, for us, she is perfect.

:confused: Is Explorer perfect or not perfect? :confused:

We enjoyed our cruise earlier this year on Explorer, think that D, E & F suites offer the best value and would not hesitate to book a cruise on her again if the itinerary and price is right.

However, we still marginally prefer Mariner, preferably in a PHC. :)

Having said that, we are presently on Voyager (F grade), nearing the end of the first leg of a B2B, and have had a very good cruise thus far .................. excellent officers & crew; superb food, drink & service; good entertainment; an interesting lecturer; some reasonable excursions; and a nice mix of passengers .............. even the internet has been just about OK :cool:

Beautiful photos. Thanks for posting them I've not had the opportunity to sail on the Explorer. But love Regent enough to keep coming back. My favorite ship remains the Navigator.

We're just back from our first cruise on the Explorer. It certainly won't be our last. We took some very good photos from the windows that open in the entrances to the Veranda. We've also sailed recently on the Seabourn Encore. There is no comparison - the Explorer wins on almost every aspect and even the Regent complimentary wines are far superior to Seabourn but they still haven't improved their coffee beans. They are the cheap dark roasted Zilli espresso blend with a dreadful bitter taste even when using the French press method which I'm glad to say Regent have copied from Seabourn and if you ask nicely are available in the Veranda at breakfast. Please please Regent get your coffee act together and change to a better bean.

If you have time, we'd love to read a comparison thread about the Explorer and Seabourn's Encore.

If you have time, we'd love to read a comparison thread about the Explorer and Seabourn's Encore.

Here goes:

Overall: We much preferred the Explorer, except that we found the decor much too dark on the Explorer for our taste. Explorer felt much roomier.

Suites: we were in an S1on the Explorer and V5 on the Encore. Although dimensions of Explorer suite are greater we far prefer the layout of the Encore suite which seemed much roomier. Bed on Explorer very odd almost square and length shorter than normal so won't fit a tall or even tallish person. Explorer underfurnished and we had to ask for another chair which proved to be rather uncomfortable. Bathroom nicer on the Explorer as was the closet and number of shelves/ drawers throughout suite. Balcony larger on Explorer but not of much use as we had chosen a cold climate cruise.

Restaurants: 5 on Explorer compared with 4 plus a very small sushi bar on Encore and much better layouts on Explorer although gloomy decor in parts. No problems in reserving restaurants that required reservation.

Food: much better on the Explorer.

Complementary Wine: Much better choice and quality on Explorer.

Gym. Much larger on the Explorer. The Encore did not even have a studio for group exercises. We did not use the Spa on either ship.

Deck Walking: nothing on the Encore, very good on the Explorer.

Self Laundry: nil on Encore, at least one per deck on Explorer.

Coffee venues. We love the Square on the Seabourn and the Explorer Cafe just does not compare with poor coffee and very gloomy and dark decor such that it depressed me.

Service. Excellent on

both but marginally more personal on Encore - but that is a Seabourn feature.

Excursions: Free ones on Explorer were good although crowded. Those on Encore were very expensive and some not too good.

Theatre: fine on Encore. The theatre on Explorer badly designed with too many seats with fully or partly obscured views. It needs to be completely recast at the first opportunity.

Entertainment. Shows were poorish on Explorer and marginally better on Encore. We are not bar frequenters so cannot comment on the pianists etc. nor night owls and generally turn in after the evening show. The Eclipse had two of the same show each evening which meant a slightly rushed or earliish dinner if we wanted to go to the early show.

Lectures: very good on Explorer even though Smithsonian which are being discontinued, but none on Encore as it was a port intensive cruise. We had good bridge directors on the Explorer but no bridge on the Encore

Elaina - thanks so much for taking the time to do the well balanced review. Some of the comments are not only interesting but a bit surprising. I suppose that the biggest surprises was the food and wine being better on Explorer and the suites are better laid out on Encore. I had heard that food was better on Seabourn.

Very eye opening! Thank you again!

We too were surprised with the 'not so good as previously' food on the Seabourn. We hope it was a lapse, but the quality of their ingredients was poorer than previously so perhaps they've moved to poorer sources. It was the shape of the suite on the Explorer that made us mark it down - too square.

thanks for the comparison.

We were on Explorer in Bergen. Excellent. Re Panama Canal, we had a great view....from the Infiity Pool!

We sailed on Explorer last November for 14 days. Because I was recovering from radiation we only went ashore twice. We had a blast even staying on board. So much so that we're book in September (Southampton to Barcelona) and May (Lisbon to Southampton). Yes I know they're some of the same ports but in May we're going with a small "gourmet" group so we'll be doing alot of thing differently. We just love Explorer.

A lot of very interesting comparisons here. I've always thought it would be Seabourn that would win out for me when I save up for a higher-end cruise, but maybe Explorer is the one to go for :)

A lot of very interesting comparisons here. I've always thought it would be Seabourn that would win out for me when I save up for a higher-end cruise, but maybe Explorer is the one to go for :)

You are from one of the most beautiful countries in the world so sailing on the most beautiful cruise ship would be perfect. Hope that you decide on Explorer - she is beautiful and the food and the service matches.

+1!