1st time for Regent cruise.....any advice/tips

[Travelcat2]

Travelcat, I know you are a big Regent booster. At the moment we are neutral, having had 2 good Regent cruises; not, however, in our opinion at the level of SS our favorite. I know you are cruising soon and I am anxiously awaiting your assessment of the food in view of the posts by BarbyQ and 2old4this. We will be doing a B2B in SE Asia starting 1/13.

 

You're right - we really love Regent. We also feel that Silversea is right up there with Regent. In fact, we found the Whisper to be our favorite ship of all time (and loved our Silver Suite). The only negatives I could say about Silversea is the smoking policy that is not enforced on balconies, etc. and that there are too many formal and informal nights. Regent, on the other hand has inclusive excursions that we do not care for (yes, we use them but prefer the ones with a cost associated with them as the quality is generally better). For 2012 and the beginning of 2013 we are booked on Regent as we find the Silversea prices for the suite we prefer higher than Regent's Penthouse suites.

 

We (several of us from CruiseCritic) will be posting live from the ship. We have not been on Regent for 10 months. Our last cruise, in May 2011, was on Silversea. While I do not intend to compare the two cruise lines, I will be objective and honest about our cruise (we board on Monday). It will be an interesting 21 nights (our longest cruise -- our kitties may not be speaking to us when we return).

[Wendy The Wanderer]

You're right - we really love Regent. We also feel that Silversea is right up there with Regent. In fact, we found the Whisper to be our favorite ship of all time (and loved our Silver Suite). The only negatives I could say about Silversea is the smoking policy that is not enforced on balconies, etc. and that there are too many formal and informal nights. Regent, on the other hand has inclusive excursions that we do not care for (yes, we use them but prefer the ones with a cost associated with them as the quality is generally better). For 2012 and the beginning of 2013 we are booked on Regent as we find the Silversea prices for the suite we prefer higher than Regent's Penthouse suites.

 

We (several of us from CruiseCritic) will be posting live from the ship. We have not been on Regent for 10 months. Our last cruise, in May 2011, was on Silversea. While I do not intend to compare the two cruise lines, I will be objective and honest about our cruise (we board on Monday). It will be an interesting 21 nights (our longest cruise -- our kitties may not be speaking to us when we return).

 

We will be eagerly awaiting your posts, TC. Bon Voyage!

[esimon]

would love to know what 'old folks' means -- changes for me every year LOL:p

[Travelcat2]

We will be eagerly awaiting your posts, TC. Bon Voyage!

 

Thanks Wendy. Looking forward to being out of the cold, wet, windy weather (guess I could move to Florida;)).

[MotuIslander]

We also look forward to your posts from the Voyager as we are sailing on her for the first time in June.

 

Bon Voyage!

[SuzCruise]

This will be our 4th cruise - one Celebrity, 2 Holland all great - wondering what I should expect on this one. Is there entertainment, areas for dancing etc.? I know this is more upscale -how are the passengers -- older? just curious - Thanks

 

We've cruised once on Celebrity and twice on HAL and are about to do our third Regent cruise later this month. The questions about age might depend a bit on the itenerary. In our experience (we are in our early 40s btw) the average age on RSSC is MUCH younger than that on HAL. Celebrity might be a tad younger than RSSC, but not by much. We aren't big on cruise ship entertainment, but there will be shows on RSSC. To me the quality is the same for the shows across these lines, but again I haven't been impressed by any of it so I might not be the best person to answer this. There are places for dancing, but depending on the itenerary and how port intensive it is, you might find it a little lightly attended. We never have a problem finding fun people to have a good time with on RSSC. And if you want to dance and ask a member of the staff, they will make sure you have some music to dance to. I'm a foodie and to me the biggest difference on the three lines is the quality of the food. RSSC food has always been consistently good to great. Celebrity food was fine, but my diet wasn't at risk. HAL was the only cruise I have ever lost weight on.

 

Enjoy your cruise!