If you spend more than 12K total on your Cruise why not Regent

[Cruise Arizona]

I am on the Regent mailing list and I just got their brochure for next season, and It got me wondering.

 

With their prices including Beverages, Excursions, Air and all suites, why choose Celebrity in a suite instead of Regent?

 

If you would spend about the same amount a la carte with Celebrity or all inclusive with Regent, what makes you keep coming back to Celebrity? I love Celebrity. We don't spend enough on Celebrity to justify the jump to a luxury line, but I know many of could choose either one and continue to cruise with Celebrity.

[Solstice23]

I agree with you and my Mom and Family members like my aunt do cruise Regent and Celebrity, sometimes it comes down to enjoying a large ship at times and what it provides and other times its because Regent or Seabourne etc offer the opposite!

[Cruise Junky]

There's actually a really good article on Cruise Mates right now written by their editor that compares pricing on Regent to a suite on Celebrity... Very interesting read.

[Cruise Arizona]

We would love to try Regent, but right now we don't spend enough, especially on shore excursions to justify the up in price. We generally also cruise in a std. room rather than a suit, so again hard to justify the increase in price. I guess it does make sense that it might just depend on what you are in the mood for and maybe also how port intensive the particular cruise it.

[esther e]

In many cases there is not much for kids to do. Unless it's a cruise that specifically mentions it's geared towards having children.

[RQINFL]

What keeps me from trying Regent is concerns taht there will not be enough to do, and that the attitude (not age) of passengers will be older than we enjoy. Celebrity is a good mix of a nicer ship and broad range of passengers and activities.

[Bridge Maven]

Prior to booking our land/cruise package for Alaska in a suite on Radiance of the Seas for next summer we considered Regent. The problem was that Regent had a special promotion for their cruises to Alaska, which expires this month, and won't have the itineraries for their land portion until November. If we were just taking a cruise I would have booked it on Regent but I didn't want to take a chance that after booking the cruise I won't like their land itineraries.

[esther e]

We've been on 11 Radisson/Regent cruises and never have seen only "old" people. There is always a good mix of ages.

[dbhudgins]

We sailed in South pacfic with Regent and had our grands (7&9) and

Son and DIL (late 30's) there were more folks their ages than ours

(early 60's), Perhaps it was just the location but we LOVED< LOVED

LOVED Regent and the all inclusive added to the FAB service (very specific

and personal - key lime pie made for our grand daughter and any left overs

taken to our rooms just for her) exceeded our expectations - the cost is

high but you surely get what you pay for with Regent. Just my opinion.

Happy Sails to you.....

[JEDIKNIGHT]

I've done 4 Regent Cruises, 2 Celebrity cruises.

 

1st, what I liked alot about Regent:

 

*AMBIENCE: People were enjoying themselves. No clue-impaired people who had to cut in front of you in the buffet line, etc. Less people whining about *gasp* not being able to wear jeans to dinner.

 

*SMALL CROWD: No lines for anything. Embarking, debarking, it was all easy.

 

*SERVICE: Overall, it was very good.

 

BUT....they market themselves as a luxe travel outfit. And the are not. They aren't in the Four Seasons/Ritz Carlton league.

 

For right now, I feel there's more value in booking a Royal or Penthouse with Celebrity.

 

FOOD: On par with Regent. Ok, so a lobster tail might be better on Regent....but the variety of food is better on X.

 

SERVICE: Our MDR service has been better on X vs Regent.

 

BUTLER: The Regent Butlers we had were a joke. Both our Celeb Butlers have been PHENOMENAL and it's like they've got a specialized degree in hospitality management. (Funny, Keith, the Butler on Summit has that degree for real!)

 

ENTERTAINMENT: Subjective I know. But on par with Regent.

 

If I had a friend who was used to Regent and asked me about Celebrity I'd say this:

 

"Book a Penthouse or Royal on Celebrity. Your overall experience would be equal to Regent. Sure, your line will be longer at the Buffet, but you'll have more choices"".

 

Now here's a disclaimer...

 

I realize Celebrity must keep fares slow to fill vacancy and therefore they've cut back on some services and amenities. Fine.

 

IF they cut even a dime more, I'd stop using X. At that point I'd decide on just doing (1) Crystal cruise a year instead of (2) Celebrity cruises. If Celebrity goes down even another hair it'll be too mass-market-ish in my opinion.

 

FWIW, just one guy's opinion.

[smoosh21]

I am on the Regent mailing list and I just got their brochure for next season, and It got me wondering.

 

With their prices including Beverages, Excursions, Air and all suites, why choose Celebrity in a suite instead of Regent?

 

If you would spend about the same amount a la carte with Celebrity or all inclusive with Regent, what makes you keep coming back to Celebrity? I love Celebrity. We don't spend enough on Celebrity to justify the jump to a luxury line, but I know many of could choose either one and continue to cruise with Celebrity.

 

I agree, if I were going to spend $12000 for a cruise, I would be spending it on a luxury line. But, I don't spend that much, so I stick with the mainstream lines

[babyorca]

 

IF they cut even a dime more, I'd stop using X. At that point I'd decide on just doing (1) Crystal cruise a year instead of (2) Celebrity cruises. If Celebrity goes down even another hair it'll be too mass-market-ish in my opinion.

 

FWIW, just one guy's opinion.

 

Out of curiousity, what have they cut that makes you ready to "jump ship" so to say and stop cruising celebrity?

[Project_gal]

I've done 4 Regent Cruises, 2 Celebrity cruises.

 

1st, what I liked alot about Regent:

 

*AMBIENCE: People were enjoying themselves. No clue-impaired people who had to cut in front of you in the buffet line, etc. Less people whining about *gasp* not being able to wear jeans to dinner.

 

*SMALL CROWD: No lines for anything. Embarking, debarking, it was all easy.

 

*SERVICE: Overall, it was very good.

 

BUT....they market themselves as a luxe travel outfit. And the are not. They aren't in the Four Seasons/Ritz Carlton league.

 

For right now, I feel there's more value in booking a Royal or Penthouse with Celebrity.

 

FOOD: On par with Regent. Ok, so a lobster tail might be better on Regent....but the variety of food is better on X.

 

SERVICE: Our MDR service has been better on X vs Regent.

 

BUTLER: The Regent Butlers we had were a joke. Both our Celeb Butlers have been PHENOMENAL and it's like they've got a specialized degree in hospitality management. (Funny, Keith, the Butler on Summit has that degree for real!)

 

ENTERTAINMENT: Subjective I know. But on par with Regent.

 

If I had a friend who was used to Regent and asked me about Celebrity I'd say this:

 

"Book a Penthouse or Royal on Celebrity. Your overall experience would be equal to Regent. Sure, your line will be longer at the Buffet, but you'll have more choices"".

 

Now here's a disclaimer...

 

I realize Celebrity must keep fares slow to fill vacancy and therefore they've cut back on some services and amenities. Fine.

 

IF they cut even a dime more, I'd stop using X. At that point I'd decide on just doing (1) Crystal cruise a year instead of (2) Celebrity cruises. If Celebrity goes down even another hair it'll be too mass-market-ish in my opinion.

 

FWIW, just one guy's opinion.

 

Thanks, this has been really useful!

 

Sue

[ddpe]

I just returned from a luxury line, not Reagent, instead a larger ship in mass market range. I was not wowed. The lack of daytime activities, choice in shore excursions, small deck space and uninventive entertainment will have me back at mass market lines in a suite.

 

The pluses of the luxury line were higher quality and more inventive food, free liquor and wine, no missed ports (when we could not tender at Portofino, they docked at Genoa and bussed us to the original port), no lines and great dining room service. However, I missed the deck spaces and activities more (I love trivia and they only had one game). The size of the ship was just too small. Also, I found the passengers quite clickish (past passengers who had seen each other previously on cruises tended to band together). There was also a lot of pressure to dress up for shore excursions. High heels for walking over cobblestones?

 

My husband really thought the food and wine selection were significantly better. As that is more important to him, he would like to cruise with them again.

[chisoxfan]

We prefer the Regent Supreme Platinum Master of the Universe Suite and recommend X to our butler, Princess to our maids, and Carnival to our gardeners.:o

[forevertravel]

We cruised with Regent for the first time this summer and loved it. We found passengers of all ages (including kids) so it was not "older people" only. We were busy everyday with tours so we had plenty to do. I enjoyed the small ship, service, no lines for anything, all-in-all great ambiance. No photographer pestering at all times taking your picture.

 

To the person who's concerned the tours in Alaska won't be posted until November, you can look at tours at present. They have posted tours from past cruises and they are usually the same. We had great tours on our Baltic cruise with terrific guides.

 

We liked Regent so much we have booked a Mediterranean cruise for next year.

[Kathie44]

OMG! $12K for one cruise! :eek: :eek: I know I'm just a peon in steerage, but actually words fail me.

Even if I were made of money, the frugality ingrained in me would never let me consider it.

Money aside, "luxury" cruising doesn't appeal to me because the ships are too small, I've heard there's not much entertainment or games and I instinctively assumed there would be a lot of clique behavior. (Somewhat confirmed by ddpe)

I'll stick with X as my line, with RCCL as emergency backup. :D

[JEDIKNIGHT]

Thanks Sue...

 

I should add one more thing.

 

If....someone is very very annoyed by lines or crowd of ANY sort, then I'd suggest Regent over Celebrity. While Celeb is great, there are "mass market" moments like embarking and debarking where Regent, it feels like just a casual quick thing.

 

But if someone is okay with knowing there will be a few lines, or a few crowds, I'd still suggest booking a Royal or Penthouse on X over Regent.

[JEDIKNIGHT]

BabyOrca asked: "Out of curiousity, what have they cut that makes you ready to "jump ship" so to say and stop cruising celebrity?"

***

 

Well, I'm not a veteran X cruiser so I can't give a list as to what they already cut. BUT judging by multiple posts of X veterans here, there have been cuts. Staff seems less. Many X'ers here say that the quality of food has gone down, or at very least some of the "nicer" dishes have been dumbed down a little.

 

Things that would happen for me to quit X:

 

*If staffing levels are any less than they are now.

 

*If quality of food in MDR or buffet is lowered by a notch, from what it is now.

 

*MDR and buffet service was stellar on Mercury. On Summit, it was "good". If MDR or Buffet service went down a notch, that's another one for me.

 

At that point I wouldn't whine, I'd just accept that X is a good mass-market cruise, but I'd conclude that I want a wee bit more than mass market. And since that may not exist, I'd conclude that (1) Crystal cruise will be what I do per year, vs 2 or 3 X cruises.

[pacheco18]

Two things have kept me from Regent

 

1 - all inclusive alcohol - we drink very little - we would be paying for something that is of little value to us. We were on the Paul Gauguin which included all alcohol but that is a whole different ball game.

 

2. - included shore excursions - we do not want to go on a cattle call - large buses etc. Read the Regent boards - there are lots of complaints. We like 8 - 10 people at most with a private guide so we can go when and where we want. I would be paying for the "free" shore excursions that I would not use.

 

3. SO all I would be getting is the "tips." Not worth the price difference

 

I'd rather go on Oceania all things being equal

[Project_gal]

Thanks Sue...

 

I should add one more thing.

 

If....someone is very very annoyed by lines or crowd of ANY sort, then I'd suggest Regent over Celebrity. While Celeb is great, there are "mass market" moments like embarking and debarking where Regent, it feels like just a casual quick thing.

 

But if someone is okay with knowing there will be a few lines, or a few crowds, I'd still suggest booking a Royal or Penthouse on X over Regent.

 

You continue to help! The crowds hardly affect us on Celebrity because we rarely take tours and are in a hurry to get off the ship and, if I use the buffet, it is not for the popular lines with queues. We do not go to the shows and have given up on the MDR. We only have to queue for disembarkation because we tend to book post-cruise with Celebrity.

 

From what you say, the items that are important to us [the suite, the food, the butler service] continue to make Celebrity [and Azamara] a good choice. We had just about made the decision before this thread was started. Despite the implication in the question raised by the OP, it seemed to us that we could not get a similar suite for a remotely similar price on Regent. Then when we read that it is hard to speciality restaurant bookings on Regent, it more or less sealed it for us.

 

Sue

[JEDIKNIGHT]

Hi Sue...

 

*forgive me in advance* if it isn't the right choice.

 

But if it were me, and I was ok with a a few lines during embark, debark, or at the buffet, AND if my priorities were Suite-Butler Service-Food, then for the money, it's easy, I'd go with X.

 

One more caveat and this is speaking JUST for myself: I have a theory that the best butlers are given the Penthouse, and Royal Suites. Yes, there's Sky Suite reviews here with good Butler comments. But it just seems like the 'elite' butlers more often than not as with Penthouse and Royal Suites.

 

In my two Penthouses, plus my parent's Royal, we had great Butlers whom MANY on this site knew to be stellar. I just send friends on a Royal Suite, their Butler was also well known and even had a hotel-management college degree.

 

Enjoy, and I hope it works out well.

 

I hope to try Azamara one day but right now, traveling with baby and the accompanying crib, I love the size of a Celeb Penthouse, and especially the mini-kitchens.

 

(BTW, the crew on Mercury is as good as the crew on a Regent ship)

[JLC@SD]

The last time I spent 12,000 (for two of us) on cruising.....we did a 12 day cruise in Europe on the Crown Princess.....a 6 days pre and 6 day post cruise stays in Italy and Switzerland.....and also a 7 day cruise to Mexico on the Sapphire Princes......and the 12 included all air travel, all train travel, cruises, hotels, food, drinks....etc.....:D

[Project_gal]

But if it were me, and I was ok with a a few lines during embark, debark, or at the buffet, AND if my priorities were Suite-Butler Service-Food, then for the money, it's easy, I'd go with X.

 

This is just about the conclusion we have reached but it is really nice to have some confirmation. Thanks again.

 

One more caveat and this is speaking JUST for myself: I have a theory that the best butlers are given the Penthouse, and Royal Suites. Yes, there's Sky Suite reviews here with good Butler comments. But it just seems like the 'elite' butlers more often than not as with Penthouse and Royal Suites.

 

In my two Penthouses, plus my parent's Royal, we had great Butlers whom MANY on this site knew to be stellar. I just send friends on a Royal Suite, their Butler was also well known and even had a hotel-management college degree.

 

Having had M-class Celebrity Suites twice our next two Celebrity cruises are in M-class Royals. The navel gazing has come about because we are looking for something special for our 40th wedding anniversary in just over two years time. The problem is the time of year [between Christmas and the New Year] and my determination to be on board on the day itself. At that time of year, the itineraries are limited and some of the reports of some of them at that time off-putting. Although a Caribbean cruise has never really seemed attractive in the past, a Caribbean cruise in [perhaps] an M-class Penthouse was the one option that got us excited after looking at all the luxury lines, those more-or-less on par with Celebrity and, even, a few of the others.

 

I hope to try Azamara one day but right now, traveling with baby and the accompanying crib, I love the size of a Celeb Penthouse, and especially the mini-kitchens.

 

We very much liked our 24 days on Azamara and have another booked with them [booked before the rebranding] but the suites are nothing like Celebrity's. We had what was a Penthouse [now a Club World Owners Suite] and it is fairly large [but not much larger than an M-class Royal]. However, IMHO, the layout, decor and furnishings of the suite are not a patch on Celebrity's suites and there appears to be no plans to improve them. In view of this, I find it hard to justify the new pricing for these and the old Royal Suites [Club World Ocean Suites]. Unlike Celebrity, where the suites can be the first to sell out, on Azamara these suites appear hard to shift.

 

Azamara has a great deal going for it. The layout of the ship, although smaller, is so similar to that of the M-class ships that we felt at home immediately. The officers and crew are amazing - but, then, we had the same experience on Infinity. We only tried the MDR once and were happy eating in the two speciality restaurants for the rest of the cruise but the experience in them is nothing like the speciality restaurants on the M-class ships. Until we try the inclusive wine on our next cruise, we are not sure if the chosen wines are going to be too much aimed at American tastes for us.

 

Azamara goes to some amazing places compared with Celebrity but this is combined with a high number of two- and three-day stays in each port which is not so much to our taste. We love sea days rather than overnight sprints between ports. The first thing we do when looking at a cruise itinerary is count the sea days!

 

All in all, we may book on Azamara again in the future if a destination outweighs what, for us, are the negatives but it seems that we may really be Celebrity people!

 

Having said that, I hope you do get the opportunity to try Azamara once the baby is older but I can see the Celebrity PH is a much better choice for you now. The Azamara PH is not suitable for more than two people - there is no door to the bedroom and the sofa does not convert into a bed - and it does not connect to the stateroom next door.

 

Thanks yet again for all your help. Happy cruising!

 

Sue