Regent's included wines....

[margbem]

....look to be far superior to Seabourn's. Travelcat2 has been posting live from their Regent cruise, similar to Seabourntraveller. The wine list is very interesting and appears to have far more choice and better wines than Seabourn's. Has anyone cruised both lines and can compare?

 

The only comment which put me off was the comparison to the Pride which was berthed alongside and was described as being 'tiny' compared to their ship. We love the triplets and enjoy their 'tinyness'.

[marchanxiety]

I didn't see the thread listing the Regent wines, but I id follow up on the one which linked to a NY Times article which did a big injustice to Seabourn, Regent, Silversea, Sea Goddess, et. al, by implying that only Crystal of the ocean cruise lines included complementary alcoholic beverages. Really, the Times should do some basic reporting.

[chessie4588]

We sailed Regent last year and just got off the Legend last week and I would say that the current wines on the Legend generally retail for $6-$10/bottle in Georgia whereas on the Regent ship they were more in the $12-$16/bottle range.

[Jaffa]

The quality and choice of included wine on both Seabourn and SS has continued to deteriorate over the past 18 months to both their usual standards.

 

Whilst some have been lucky to eventually recieve an up to date availability list after repeated requests, the vast majority are unsuccesfull or are politely refused.

 

Those that have sailed both lines for more than 5 years are very aware of the differences from past to present.

 

Whereby Sommelier's were plentyfull, available and experienced on board all cruises, alas this is no longer the case.

 

Whilst some here will say this is a part of post GFC cost cutting and both lines attempting to control budgets in difficult times.

The reality is, world wine prices have decreased by just under 24% over the past 3 years due to an international glut in production and new country's entering the market.

 

Therefore the quality of onboard wines should be increasing at the same time as saving the cruiselines bottom line.

 

This equals better for less.

But the reality onboard is not the case.

 

Even the house champaign's are not reflective of the lines usual standards.

 

It simply seems to me that they don't really care and are certainly not customer focused.

Which is such a pitty, because with the wine market as it is at the moment, for less budget than 5 years ago they could really be taking advantage in both choice and quality.

 

I do know they are getting the message though, because many of their loyal long term passengers are feedbacking just that.

[cwn]

....look to be far superior to Seabourn's. Travelcat2 has been posting live from their Regent cruise, similar to Seabourntraveller. The wine list is very interesting and appears to have far more choice and better wines than Seabourn's. Has anyone cruised both lines and can compare?

 

The only comment which put me off was the comparison to the Pride which was berthed alongside and was described as being 'tiny' compared to their ship. We love the triplets and enjoy their 'tinyness'.

 

We have done two cruises on the Seabourn Pride and will be on the Sojourn this fall. We spent 72 days on the Mariner last year going around South America. While the Mariner is a lovely ship, at 700 passengers it is on the big side for us.

 

You didn't ask, but I have to say, if I am going on a ship the size of Regent's two 700 passenger ships, I prefer one of the beautiful large aft full suites on the 688 passenger Ocean Princess even though Princess is not all inclussive. For a little less money (all extras considered) the large Princess suites are so much nicer than one of the small (much to small for what the cruise cost) standard suites on the all inclussive Mariner.

 

Having now spent a good deal of time on both the Mariner and the Ocean Princess, we found the service we received from the staff and the food about the same on both ships. We are people who like good food, spending our time on our private deck and reading in the room. We also prefer to sign a few bar tickets than to over pay for included shore excurssions we don't want to take.

 

I am not much of a wine drinker unless it is a really good wine, but my husband is. He didn't care for most of the house offerings on the Mariner in the main dinning room. The speciality dinning rooms offerred better wines usually, but were sometimes hard to get into.

 

DH did ask for different reds than were being offered and found a couple over the 72 days on the Regent Mariner that he liked and asked for repeatedly.

 

We much prefer to order a wine we know we like for dinner on the Ocean Princess and sign for it, than to order off the extra cost wine list on the Mariner and still have sign for it on a cruise that we have already paid extra for the all inclussive aspect.

 

Our cruises on the Pride were in 2009 and my husband thought the wines were good then. I know that there have been complaints recently about Seabourn wines, but there have also been the same type of complaints about the "fine wines" offered by Regent.

 

We will find out in Sept when we board the Sojourn. I sincerely hope we don't feel the same way about Seabourn after this fall cruise as we did about Regent last spring, since we really enjoyed our last two cruises on Seabourn.

 

As far as high end cruising goes, having now sailed on SS, Regent and Seabourn, we like Seabourn the best at this point. For the itineraries we are looking for they seem to have the best price offering all the inclusive things we want. We also really like the smaller size...even the "big sisters" are small compared Regent's two 700 passenger ships. For us Crystal doesn't even enter the equation at ~1000 passengers.

 

Hopefully we will find a couple of wines we like on the Sojourn wine list, like we did on the Mariner last year. Travelcat 2 was on part of our Mariner cruise and she gives a fair acessment of the Regent product, but has not sailed on Seabourn which currently I feel is a little better over all.

[marchanxiety]

The house champagne on Seabourn has been the same since at least 2009.

[cwn]

The house champagne on Seabourn has been the same since at least 2009.

 

That is good to know..I actually enjoy champagne more than wine. Thanks

[Seabourntraveller]

That is good to know..I actually enjoy champagne more than wine. Thanks

 

The house Champagne on Seabourn is like Jet Fuel...even the French from France when onboard do not recognize the brand!:eek::rolleyes::eek:

[MARIANH]

That is good to know..I actually enjoy champagne more than wine. Thanks

 

Not that good ( IMHO) - its NF:eek: Or should that be NFG

[MARIANH]

The house Champagne on Seabourn is like Jet Fuel...even the French from France when onboard do not recognize the brand!:eek::rolleyes::eek:

 

You didn't happen to spill some on the carpet outside your suite on Deck7 by any chance?:eek:

[marchanxiety]

I didn't say it was my favorite. But it has been the house champagne for several years.

[Emperor Norton]

The house Champagne on Seabourn is like Jet Fuel...even the French from France when onboard do not recognize the brand!:eek::rolleyes::eek:

 

Which is sad as both Regent and Silversea seem to like serving that stuff as well, when they're not serving prosecco and calling it champagne.

[margbem]

The house Champagne on Seabourn is like Jet Fuel...even the French from France when onboard do not recognize the brand!:eek::rolleyes::eek:

 

Agreed. We started asking for the Prosecco instead of the champagne as it was so awful. Sorry to hear it has not improved. We think the blue label NF is a corporate bottle as we have seen it on an airline also, but it does not seem to be about in the shops here. Other bottles by NF are OK. Obviously the blue label is a blend of all the dregs!