Regency Cruise Line

[DeepWaterMariner]

We did the Montreal to NYC cruise on Regent Sun in 1992 with our daughters. The ship was having engine problems and we missed our scheduled port call in Provincetown. In 1995 we had a cruise booked on a Regent ship, formerly Princess's Fair Princess, and the line went bankrupt a week before our sailing date. It was the first time we purchased travel insurance and it paid off right away. We found out on a Thursday and by Saturday we were boarding a transatlantic on the Sun Viking out of San Juan...not even the same ocean as our originally booked cruise.

[arzz]

Our first cruise on the old Sun Princess in 1980 did nothing to convince us to cruise -- However, when we decided to try again in 1990 we cruised the Regent Sun and the rest of our cruise addiction is history.

 

We loved the old Regency ships because they were classic liners, and when we started with Regency she was a wonderful cruise line. The ships were a little frayed on the edges but the service we received and the food on board was on par with the best we have experienced elsewhere -- but the real secret about Regency were her itineraries -- They were exceptional and she went to ports that in the early '90's were unusual but are quite common now.

 

We really appreciated the on board couple who used to plan the snorkel and diving excursions on the Regent Sun (and later we appreciated their services on the Regent Spirit). They were very knowledgeable and they went with us to their hand picked locations in each port. We always had superb snorkel adventures. Not like today when the ships makes the reservation and then just turn the passengers over to whomever operates the boats in port.

 

We were booked on a very unique western Caribbean itinerary on the Regent Spirit when the line bankrupted -- it was a couple of days before our final payment was due when I received a private email from another, well connected CC poster with a warning not to make our final payment. I remember that my TA was dumbfounded when I called to ask her not to make final payment -- but a few days later when the bankruptcy and ship seizures began she understood and immediately asked me all about cruise critic. Our credit card refunded our deposit and we now always purchase travel insurance.

[tourlink99]

Its true that Mr Lalaikas was the one who ran Regency into the ground, but that didn't happen until the passing of Mr William Schanz who was the president of Regency Cruises. He was really the guiding light behind Regency and none of the shananagens played by Mr Leleikas would have transpired if not for the untimely death of Mr Schanz in the Regency offices in N.Y.C. Ron Santangelo was his successor as president but unfortunately he never had the authority over operations that Mr Schanz had.

 

Just as a point of information, Mr Schanz was a holocaust survivor, and if you remember the movie Schindlers List by Spielberg, he was on the list and at the end of the movie when they show the current day survivors he is there. I didn't see him in the movie but friends who worked at Regency tell me that was so.

 

I was the G.M. of a very large Cruise Agency in the 1990's and was a top producer of business for Regency and had many business aquaintances who worked there, which is why I have a little knowledge of what transpired.

 

As to the ships, the ones I remember are, The Regent Sea was originally the Gripsholm, The Regent Star was the Statendam, The Regent Sun was the Doric of Home Lines and I believe the Regent Rainbow was the Monterey and later was being rebuilt for a Hawaian Cruise Line that never got off the ground. If any of this info needs to be updated or if my memory is a little faulty, I stand corrected.

Mark

[tourlink99]

The Regent Rainbow was not originally the Monterey. It was the Santa Rosa. Sorry!

Mark

[silvercruiser]

I remember you, "Too Tall Tony" from a 5-day cruise out of Tampa, Feb. '95. We took the Rainbow to Alaska that summer, too, the last cruise before they returned to Tampa and went out of business. A 49-day cruise on the Sea in the fall of '94 started me back on cruising.

Steve Lewis was the CD on Marco Polo. Wonder where he is now.

[RWDave]

Wow, what great memories! We sailed on the Regent Sea three times, once in the owner's suite, and once on the Regent Sun. They certainly were great old ships. I never knew what happened to William Schanz. He did a great job running the line early on. We were saddened to hear that he had passed on. We still enjoy watching our videos of those cruises. Remembered a wonderful cruise director who was about to retire to Perth, Scotland. He always had a meet and greet each cruise for Masons who were on board, but sadly I can't for the life of me remember his name.

[DanishTraveler]

I certainly remember the Regent Sun, as I worked on the ship in the bar back in 1991. It was very very hard work - up to 14 hours a day, and not a single day off. But it was positively the best time of my life!

 

I was 19 years old, and just wanted to travel and see parts of the world I wouldn't otherwise have seen. I met my husband while working on the ship. He was a croupier in the casino - and therefore had the status of an officer meaning he was allowed to sit and talk to guests, eat in the dining room etc. As bar personel I was certainly not allowed to be seen anywhere on the ship unless I was wearing my uniform. We weren't really allowed to go out as a couple. But we did anyway, and after we did another contract on Discovery Cruises - both working in the casino, we went back to Denmark, were I'm from. And we've been here ever since:-)

 

Since working on a cruiseship is not a holiday, I didn't get to see much on all the different Caribbean islands we visited, so for New Years 2007/08 we flew to San Juan and took a cruise of the Western Caribbean and visited our favourite islands and got to do the touristy things you do on a cruise:-)

 

I think Dan Stapleton was the Cruise Director when I was on the ship? The name certainly seems familiar.

 

Well I could go on and on for hours about the Regent Sun - I'm sad it wasn't around when we finally got around to doing our first cruise as passengers it would have been excellent to go on a cruiseship we'd worked on as passengers :D

Edited November 4, 2008 by DanishTraveler

[DeepWaterMariner]

Thanks for sharing your story. I don't often see posts on CC from a crew viewpoint. We missed you on the Regent Sun by a year, cruising with my family in 1992.

[skippertten]

Our first cruise was on Regent Sea and I don't remember when. What I do remember was all of the beautiful wood and brass. We had a 4 or 5 day cruise out of Miami, I believe, went to Nassau, Freeport and Little Stirrup Cay, now known as Coco Cay. Great memories. We will be on Coco Cay on Christmas Eve this year!

[onceagain]

We sailed on the Regent Rainbow in 1991. We absolutely loved it - it was our first cruise. Because it was so wonderful we've cruised 13 more times, other cruiselines, obviously. I remember seeing the ship for the first time in Tampa - we thought it was huge - it would probably fit into one of the dining rooms of today's ships - L0L. The CD was fabulous - always around and so very funny. We have such wonderful memories of the Regent Rainbow - some may be because it was our first cruise, but I think it was more than that - it was smaller and they really, really book care of their passengers!

[MarleneAm]

My first Carribbean cruise was on the Regent Star in March of 1990, out of Montego Bay, to Gatun Lake, Aruba and Curacao, with my parents and a friend of mine. My parents and I agreed that the food was the best we had ever eaten anywhere.The Grand Midnight buffet has never been equaled in my experience. We had so much fun doing the old cruise things-we brought simple costumes for the costume party but the ship had supplies of crepe paper etc to jazz up your costume.- we owned part of a race horse in the derby. We played in cut throat trivia contests. In Aruba we stayed til late at night and the ship brought on a local band and we had real Carribean music on Carribean party night; everybody was dancing.People were even dancing one rough night at sea up until the piano slid all the way across the room ! The passengers were very friendly to each other and made conversation outside the people they came with.

My parents continued to cruise on Regency- went on back to back Carribean cruises in January 1991, including islands never visited by other ships, like Marie-Galante - and to Alaska on the Regent Sun with a multi day land excursion that went everywhere and on a complete transit through the Panama Canal from Ft.Lauderdale to San Diego in April/May of 1994. They also went on a Black Sea Cruise in October of 1994, when service had started to go downhill and had booked part of Regency round the world Cruise for 1995 when line went backrupt. Fortunately, Mastercard was holding the deposits in escrow, so they got the money back.My parents cruised on some other small ships- the Royal Solaris and the Olympic. Before they died, they had to switch to the new big ships but they never enjoyed them as much as Regency.And now I have to cruise on big ships:I've been on RCL,NCL,and Princess. It's very nice to be on a cruise, but it's not the same friendly experience and the food, compared to Regency, is like a cafteteria.

[yldwest]

My husband & I sailed on the Regent Star out of Vancouver to Alaska (Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, College Fjords, Sitka, Whittier) in July 1993 for our 5th wedding anniversary...we went w/ my parents, my brother & his wife...loved how large the staterooms were & our porthole window! The staff was so friendly & fun...food was so much better than today's cruises...aaaah the memories!! We too enjoyed the smaller ships feel over the mega ships.

[G'ma]

Pictures, postcards and good information found here:

 

http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/RegencyCruises.html

 

This is a great website to find info on old ships.

[skf]

We sailed Regent Sun (about 950 pax) in Feb 1995 in the Eastern Caribbean.

We were going into the travel agent's to book a Panama Canal cruise the next year when the manager told us they had ceased operations that very day. US Marshals had seized one of their ships because they owed a ton of money to their food supplier.

Had we already put down a deposit Holland America would have adopted us.

Steve

[divinitylives]

We sailed on the Regent Sun out of San Juan to deep Caribbean in April of 1991. We had what is now known as a Norovirus outbreak on that cruise and I was out of commission for the last two days as were many of the passengers and crew. I remember getting a shot of dramamine from the infirmary which just knocked me out. Ships personnel would not discuss it and I dont think they wanted this story to get out back in those days. They swept this type of thing under the rug the best they could.

[Mr Veendam]

Hi we did back to back cruises on Regency cruise"s back in Feb. 1990 President week. first cruise was on the Sea Then Star out of Montego bay .Still one of the best deals we ever got with non stop air out of Newark 2 cruses 14 day in all .Both in outside cabins The price for everything was $1900 for both of us .But the main reason why we remember the cruise most was 9 mouths after we got home we had our first child !! So you could really say the Regent Sea was our Love boat!! Now our 2 boy"s 17 & 18 have been on 22 cruise"s with us .We been on 70 cruises .Our next BTB cruises will be on the New Carnival Dream ,and RCCI"s new Oasis of the seas in March .I found Regency to be a great budget cruise line .All there ships were on the old side .But i love them being an ocean liner lover !! I remember the food being very good .Today those ships would consider very small ships .Regency just got big to fast .

[ISABELLA]

Our first cruise was on Regent Sea- what a memory! My DH swears that it was the best cruise ever, even we only could afford inside cabin, but what a memory............

And now 40 cruises later, we still remember midnight buffets, waiters entertailning us in the evening and that very tiny pool on the back. The 22000 tons ship looked so huge to us. Now she can fit inside the Promenade of one of the Voyager class ships.

Too bad the company went bankcroupt.

[rbird]

I remember Regency. It was my first cruise. b2b NYC-Montreal-NYC. Loved the itinerary. Tiny stateroom w/ a porthole. I think they had a pool somewhere on a low deck (inside) I remember the water "whooshing" back and forth. Love being in a pool like that but it was pretty dark down there.

[like2cruz]

I have fond memories of the 3 Regency cruises I took in the early 90s. Two on the Regent Star from Montego Bay, partial Canal transit, Costa Rica, Cayman Islands etc, and one 8 day repositioning Jazz cruise from San Juan to New York on the Regent Sea. Regency had great itineraries on classic ships before the era of the mega-liners.

[Basketgranni]

I remember the Regent Sea, that was our first cruise out of Montego Bay, back in the 80's, went to Aruba, Cartegena, Gatun Lake. We had a huge outside with a full bathroom. Every night my nightgown was folded into a different animal, etc. No matter where I put my nightgown they found it, though I never did see my room attendant. (I think he lived under the bed.LOL) The best wait staff, every night in the dinning room he would have our drinks ready, he remembered everyone after the first night and what they wanted to drink. My brother-in-law always had 2 glasses of milk and 2 glasses of ice tea waiting for him. Those were the good days. I heard that the Regent Sea sunk out in the ocean somewhere while being towed to a scrapyard.

[rafinmd]

I sailed the Regent Sun from Montreal to New York in September 1994. One memory that has stayed with me is the magic show. The magician was doing all kinds of slights of hand and making things appear and disappear. I recognized the magician as the gentleman who had processed my credit card at embarkation. I remember finding that a bit scary.

[taistealai]

Anyone remember Regency? We sailed them on our honeymoon in 1989 out of Tampa.

 

We sailed them out of Tampa as well.

 

As I recall, there was a hurricane and the ship was well-tossed. Arlene & I did not get sick at all, but most of the passengers were in their cabins for the entire cruise.

 

We went to Cancun/Cozumel, Key West, and back to Tampa. 5 days and it was enough to get me hooked for life!

[taistealai]

I had the great pleasure of working on the Regent Rainbow for nearly 10 months from July '94 to May '95 out of Tampa..as port lecturer & cruise staff.

At 6'7"..known to all as 'Too Tall' Tony. We did 5 day cruises to Cozumel & Key West & 2 day weekend cruises to 'nowhere'.. We were in Cozumel from 8am till 1:30am..which now is unheard of..always a night to party..!!

Great memories from that long gig..which included a 9 day nude cruise charter in Feb.'95..had a blast doing my port talk in front of 800 naked guests..! :D Worked with 2 excellent CDs..Dan Stapelton & Steve Lewis.

The brilliant Bob deVerde our resident comedian during much of that time.

Whilst in port, I would do long training runs along Bayshore Blvd..in preparation for a marathon I ran later in the summer in Canada which qualified me for the

100th Boston Marathon in April '96.

Still work on ships..on a fill-in basis as a port lecturer..

Hello to all my friends & guests from that period..!!

 

Do you remember a particularly stormy cruise? No rain to speak of but really huge waves. The ship was really getting tossed around a bit. That was our first cruise out of Tampa...

Edited April 24, 2010 by taistealai

[taistealai]

Hey- our first cruise was the Regent Rainbow out of Tampa. Right before they bankrupted, too. We didn't know any better, and booked in late September. Hurricane season. We sailed through a tropical depression. We were sick as dogs. Never thought I would get on a ship again. The entire ship was sick. I knew that ship was old, but after I did some web researching, I found out she was built in the 50's. I kind of like those old ships that look more like yachts, than cities!!! Here's a website with great pictures:

www.simplonpc.co.uk

 

Tami

:cool:

 

We were on that cruise! Arlene & I had a blast, walking down the hall on our way to breakfast it was like we were already drunk, laughing because of all the little bags stuck in the handrails. Snorkeling in Cozumel was the best....

Edited April 24, 2010 by taistealai

[gailr42]

My first cruise was on Regency. San Diego to San Juan - Panama canal. I swear I remember the name Stapleton...Fall of 1989.

 

Also cruised from Santiago to Buenos Aires on a particularly stormy voyage. Captain and cruise director said we had the worst weather that they remembered in 25 years of cruising. We ran out of water...think others have mentioned this...was this the only cruise where it happened? Ship was unable to dock in Buenos Aires due to silt in the channel from the storm (I think). We docked in Montevideo and flew to Buenos Aires from there. I went on this cruise with a gf and we had a ball. Hung out in a sun room sort of place with the Catholic priest, a lady who was mayor of her town and assorted others whose common interest was smoking. I'm not sure when this was - sometime after 1992. I have since quit smoking, but I have to admit the "smoking section" was a lot of fun!

 

Many of the passengers were disabled by mal de mer, but my friend and I managed to remain upright and enjoying ourselves at all times.

 

I think Regency had the best food of any cruise I have been on. Our waiters were really interested in providing anything we wanted.

 

I am forever spoiled by the smaller size of the Regency ships. People made fun, saying that Regency Cruises were "K-Mart" cruises. Really great value for the money, say I.