RetiredandTravel

Much Appreciated. We are on the Muse in May and again in 2025 so your report has been of great interest. Given the recent multiple mixed reviews across all the luxury lines it's refreshing to see positive comments from a seasoned veteran with discerning taste. Enjoy!!

Away from the Ossobuco is it fair to say that you have been generally content with the food and service? ty

My Heavans!! Aint no spin class going to work that off.

I thought I worried a lot.

This is the definition of formal night on Regents website "On sailings of 16 nights or more, Formal and Semi-Formal attire is optional on two of the evenings. On the two Formal Optional evenings, guests are welcome to dress as per the elegant Casual dress code or opt for a more formal choice of clothing including gowns and cocktail dresses for ladies; tuxedos, dinner jackets or dark suits with tie for gentlemen." https://www.rssc.com/frequently-asked-questions/onboard In our experience people respect the elegant Casual dress code, we have never seen people wearing jeans or t-shirts.

1) Regent allocates specialty restaurant and excursions on a hierachical basis. People with Silver status (20 nights) or higher level rooms get priority (more time before). So I would recommend getting a Concierge Suite for your first cruises. For new cruisers Concierge Suites and higher get more time to book specialty restaurants and excursions, lower level rooms do not. There are also other perks for Concierge Suites. 2) Regent advertises that the fare includes "fine wines". In my opinion the included wines are passable but not "fine wines", many are sold for $8-15 at wines stores. Past lists of the included wines are available here if you are interested. You can ask for any of the included wines at any time so it is important to find out what all the included wines are. There is usually a wine tasting and lists are available (not easily in some cases). On our first cruise we ordered Chardonnay and were served a $8 wine, when we found out there was a $15 French Burgundy on the list we specifically ordered it and it was much better. The concierge (pay extra) wine list is in our experience very reasonably priced. 3) Fellow passngers are generally over 60 (70/80) and are in our experience very congenial and welcoming. Some exceptions of course. 4) Compass Rose (main restaurant) has a very wide variety of food offering. Sette Mari is an Italian restaurant with first come first serve reservations which we like, it is a la carte (full water service) and an extra buffet. 5) There are a wide range of included excursions. Many are on buses that probably carry 60 people with a guide, the buses can range from 30-100% full. If you decide to go with Regent please let us know. People here are very happy to ask any questions.

We found the architecture, landscaping and history of Alhambra to be absolutely fascinating. I have not been to Esphesus but my wife has, we have it on the schedule (SS) in 1H2025. My wife says it difficult to compare the two. She loved them both. I would strongly recommend doing a land vacation to Andalusia. The Spanish people, culture, food (& wine) are wonderful and IMO a cruise wouldn't do it justice. Seville, Malaga (Marbella & Gibraltar) and Madrid are highly recommended. Maybe Lisbon and southern Portugal if you're feeling energetic. Spain is still quite reasonable and from the recent reviews I've read of "luxury" cruieses you may have a more consistent experience. Edit: I should note we had a problem adjusting to the 10-11PM dinner hours, thats not an issue on a cruise.

There are quite a few places in Japan that don't takes credit cards, cash only. https://www.jal.co.jp/hk/en/guide-to-japan/plan-your-trip/tips/what-to-know-about-using-money-in-japan.html

Great information. Thank You. I'm not very impressed with the listed wines, especially for $60 each a day. If I recall correctly Oceania's connoisseur wine list is quite a bit more expensive than Regents.

Very insightful and value added review, thank you.

This is the recipe for a Champagne cocktail. Maybe? https://www.liquor.com/recipes/champagne-cocktail/

Bottom ticked that one - nice

Its my understanding (from CC) that some of the rooms have a vibration issue so I'd check to make sure I didn't book one of those rooms. (I sent this before you posted the rooms info)

Great advice from mrlevin. At a minimum I would have a full day private tour for Kyoto. When we visited the Hiroshima museum (must see) it was VERY crowded. All the tour buses and school kids descended on the museum at the same time and people were 4-5 deep through most of the museum. If we did it again we might hire a 1/2 day private tour that beat the crowds. We also enjoyed Kagoshima, especially the gardens.

Our Japan cruise on Regent (Mariner) was in 2019. Our included pre cruise tours were also very chaotic. Its my understanding that Regents "farms" out the pre cruise logistics and the people in charge although very nice were very poorly organized. Every tour guide (and bus driver) we had on Regent in Japan was exceptional. They spoke perfect English, were funny, professional and well prepared. Most of the guides were retired women (one American man) and again they were great. The buses were 90-100% full which didn't bother us but some felt they were too crowded. The only issue was some venues were so crowded that we lost our guide. So I wouldn't totally discount the impact that Covid has had.

Its really not that complicated. We got a Superior Veranda (with assigned room) at the cost of a Panorama. Two category upgrade. We also have a $1000 OBC + AMEX $300 OBC. Now if they play with the prices of the lower level rooms I don't know but the prices we paid are much less than currently advertised with the 2 room upgrade.

My post wasn't intended to explain SSs reasoning on the "suite upgrade" offer. I just wanted to make sure fudge was aware of the pricing/refund difference between the fares. I would guess SS attaches some probability that people cancel and lose the money to calculate the PTP prices, not sure if there is an accounting difference for reporting earnings. There is also the present value of money of course.

Its my observation that david63 is correct that suite upgrade specials only apply to Door to Door fares (not Port to Port - cruise only). Its my understanding that Port to Port fares have a more restrictive payment (refund) policy. For example 15% is non refundable immediately. Attached are the payment / refund schedules for PTP & DTD. Of course check with your TA or SS for exact details. https://www.silversea.com/terms-and-conditions.html It looks like the Vista suites are on deck 4 on the Muse. If you go to the cruise website for your specific cruise and find the category of room you are interested in and click on "category details" (then room location) it will show the location of the rooms.

Which cruises specifically are you looking at? Regent for example includes business class airfare and often pre/post package in Japan. People here will have a lot of knowledge. They will share it if you give them more specifics. I was a little confused with your original post, unfortunately CC doesn't give much time to edit.

No

Tokyo is a very cool modern and cultured city with great restaurants and shopping. The Japanese people are fantastic. Having said that IMO its just ok from a tourist historical basis. If you have never been to Japan I'd try to take a day trip with a private guide to Kyoto. Kyoto was the capital of Japan for a very long time, there are many great historical sites to see. Kyoto was relatively unscathed by WW2 while Tokyo took an enormous amount of damage. https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/07/asia/japan-tokyo-fire-raids-operation-meetinghouse-intl-hnk/index.html enjoy your trip

We did the Regent pre cruise Tokyo package because it was included (actually "free"). Other than some logistical issues setting up the excursions we were satisfied with the package. Agree with Deep Freeze that the Tokyo Hilton was nice but very crowded at peak times. Having said that it was a Hilton and it wasn't "luxury" and if we had to pay for the pre cruise package we would probably do it on our own (depending on the economics). Tokyo is very manageable.

An excerpt from the attached article "Tipping Private Guides and Interpreters Unlike guides in many other countries, private guides in Japan are paid quite well and generally do not depend on tips for their livelihood. However, even though in the past tipping was rarer, in recent years (thanks to Japan’s emergence as a popular destination, and the accompanying influx of tourists from around the world) it has become more common for travelers to tip guides. Tipping is not required or necessarily expected, but if you feel inspired to tip your guide it will likely be appreciated and accepted. Because there is not much of a tipping culture in Japan, how much to tip is a matter of some debate. Our recommendation is to tip from the gut: if it feels right to you, it probably is. It’s hard to go wrong, since tips aren’t really expected in the first place!" https://boutiquejapan.com/tipping-in-japan/

We tipped all the tour guides and bus drivers on the excursions in Japan. Everyone was grateful, no one insulted. They were all excellent at their jobs also.

Thanks for reporting. Have a safe and fun trip.