RSSC vs. Seabourn -- need opinions

[mborchgardt]

My wife and I are booked on the 9/15/10 Mariner from Athens to Istanbul for our 15th anniversary. We have been on Regent once before several years ago (Baltics) and enjoyed it very much. Before that, several times on Celebrity.

 

Several recent posts and discussions with friends who have recently cruised on RSSC have me concerned about declining service levels -- ranging from general inattentiveness to failure to address problems to food in the specialty restaurants, etc.

 

That has me wondering whether we should consider other luxury lines.

 

Seabourn has nearly the same itinerary in 9/2010 with similar pricing for a veranda suite. Only difference would be shorex; however, we prefer to do our own thing in many ports -- so I don't view that as a major issue.

 

Can't consider Crystal due to longer cruises since we'll be leaving kids at home and I think we would fit better with the age group on RSSC or Seabourn.

 

Any thoughts from cruisers who have used both lines recently? Are the concerns about service/quality declines on Regent a real issue or just isolated incidents?

 

Any help would be much appreciated as we hope to make this a very special trip.

 

Thanks!

[Travelcat2]

While we have not sailed on Seabourn, there are many obvious differences between the cruise lines. Unless you would be sailing on the new Seabourn Odyssey, the Seabourn ships are 1/3 the size of Regents (approximately). This could be one of the reasons why Seabourn wins awards for service. It would seem easier to remember names of passengers, etc. on the smaller ships. With all the research I have done on cruising, I can not find one negative thing to say about Seabourn. We simply prefer larger ships with balconies. Now that Seabourn has that, we hope to sail on her in a year or so.

 

We are currently on Regent -- the service has never been better. However, we are on the Voyager. . . . . cannot vouch for how the Mariner's service is. I do know that the Head Chef from the Voyager will be moving to the Mariner in late November. This is a great thing for the Mariner.

 

In general, the past year or so has been a difficult transition for Regent. It appears from what we are seeing on this cruise, that the service is better than it was in prior years.

 

Hope this small bit of input helps!

[wripro]

mborchgardt,

 

In the interest of fairness be sure and post your inquiry on the Seabourn board as well.

[egret]

I have not cruised Seabourn, however the concept is intriguing to me. I have not been inspired by any of their itineraries to take the plunge yet. My trips on Regent have been limited to 4 PG, 1 Mariner 2007, and Navigator this summer. I have not noticed a fall off in service or quality. The Navigator service was comparable to any of our previous cruises.

[traveller333]

Should you try Seabourn, I would only go on the newest ship The Odyssey. I think you'd be disappointed with the smallness and not having a balcony on the other ships. I read John Barron is now CD on The Odyssey. He was the best CD Regent had so it's a big loss to Regent. The Mariner is actually my favorite of the Regent ships.

[gfranzen]

I've looked at Seaborne, but my impression is that it is too formal for my taste.

[McMer]

We have sailed on both lines - about three years ago on Seaborne Spirit and this year on Voyager. Now that Seaborne has a larger ship the experience may be different; however, the lack of balconies (at that time) was a big factor. Also we found the ship very dull after dinner, as dinner seemed to be the primary entertainment. They have a practice of senior officers hosting various dinner tables to which you are often invited. This is nice a few times but after that it gets tedious. We also did not care for many of the wines offered and service could be hurried unless you were at a hosted table in which case better wines were chosen and the pace was slowed. However, we did have some really excellent excursions with Seaborne and found them to be more reasonably priced than Regent.

We have only sailed once on Voyager and it happened to be their first cruise after the "pod incident." Whether or not this cruise was atypical, I don't know, but service, food and wine were all excellent. The weather was iffy but we're very anxious to sail her again.

[mborchgardt]

Thanks for your suggestions and opinions. The cruise we are looking at would be on Odessey. I'm still a little up in the air since we really enjoyed our last Regent cruise. Oh well, at least it's still a year away.

[trinidad]

We have sailed both Regent and Seabourn and enjoyed them both. We prefer small ships so Seabourn wins there. (Have not been on Odyssey) We like balconies so Regent wins there as the balconies on Seabourn cannot really be used for anything except fresh air. However, we were on an upper deck and only one staircase from the Promenade Deck. Food- Seabourn's food is very complex but was good. The dining room was extremely noisy and not conducive to conversation. Regent wins here. Service- Seabourn service is fabulous. The crew are unbelievable. Regent service is very good but Seabourn wins here. As far as Seabourn being very formal, yes, they have a lot of formal nights but passengers do not go all out. Very few tuxs and formal gowns. Everyone was very well dressed but not formal. Entertainment- We were very impressed by the quality of entertainment on Seabourn but I would say a draw here. Excursions- Obviously Seabourn excursions have fewer people. A draw here again. We will sail either cruise line again depending on the itinerary. Seabourn seems to have more uncommon ports and Regent sticks to the more routine ones.

[AWED23]

We have sailed at least 24 days and up to 75 days on these three lines. Regent is the best fit for us regardless of cost. 50,000 tons and only 700 passengers! the biggest plus for us are the passenger demographics...Almost all the noses are pointing straight ahead, very few "in the air".....We just have more fun on the bigger ships while still having less passengers.....JMOVHO......but it is mine!