Feel like a rookie cruiser, time for a higher class of cruising

[jesseiam2]

Hello all,

 

My wife and I are Platinum Cruisers with Carnival, but as time has gone on and we have gotten older (not old, only 38) our tastes have changed and what we want in a cruise has as well.

 

I do not drink, my wife does but not excessively. She loves the spa experience and I am a casino man myself. We love port intensive cruises and visiting new and exciting places. We love good excursions. We are not the partying type. We enjoy great food, probably more than I should! My wife loves to sit in the sun and read a book poolside.

 

Budget is not nearly the concern it was when we started cruising but it would be foolish to say that money is of no object.

 

So I ask you guys here with all the experience on this line:

 

1. Why RSSC vs other lines of its caliber?

2. When we cruise RSSC, how should we pack? (i.e. formal vs country club casual, vs shorts, tshirts, flip flops)

3. What are the 2-3 things you wish you knew about RSSC before you sailed the first time?

4. What are the things to do on the ships that are different or unique (if any)?

 

Thanks in advance all!

 

Jesse

[Emperor Norton]

1. After having tried the other lines of Regents supposed caliber I found Regent lacking. Consequently I haven't sailed Regent in a while and have been enjoying a different line. The lack of veracity on their website is also a turn off. 'Free Unlimited Shore Excursions' Those aren't free, they're included in the cruise fare which makes them very far from free. So In this case for me: not Regent* (I'm sure people that are happy with Regent will be along shortly:))

 

2. I'd pack for the weather and then country club casual with maybe a dark suit.

 

3. My first time was with Radisson (which became Regent) so by the time it became Regent I was familiar with the product had beeb. This would present problems as I felt Radisson offered a superior product.

 

4. Restaurants IIRC - the Navigator lacks (again IIRC) coffee corner and signatures.

 

*Maybe in August 2016 I'll have a change of heart.

[Travelcat2]

The first thing I wish I knew about Regent the first time we sailed her was that we would become addicted :)

 

Moving from large ships like Carnival to ships holding 490 - 700 passengers is a big change. One of the changes would be the size of the casino (very small and not used by a lot of passengers on Regent). The spa on Regent is lovely quite pricey. If you book through a good TA, you are bound to get some on board credits and a rebate for booking the cruise. This can be used towards the spa.

 

IMO, Regence is casual elegance (and the dress code is "Elegant Casual - so it does match:-) Pretty much anything goes during the day. In the evening (6:00 p.m.), no shorts, jeans, t-shirts or flip-flops. Most men wear slacks and shirts with collars while women wear pants with a top or a dress -- pretty much anything other than jeans or shorts. There are some Regent passengers that like to dress up for "special" nights like the Captain's Reception or when they go to a specialty restaurant. While it is not required, quite a few men will wear a sports jacket to these dining venues.

 

The all-inclusiveness, food and service is what most people enjoy. Pretty much everything is taken care of for you. Even the smallest suite is a good size with walk-in closets. While some of us do not care for included excursions as it gets a bit crowded, it is a big money saver for some passengers.

 

IMO, the Navigator is Regent's entry level ship (as the previous poster pointed out, it lacks a few things). However, there are Regent regulars that love the Navigator and prefer sailing on her than on larger ships.

 

In terms of things to do on the ship, this is where you will find Regent lacking when compared to mainstream cruise lines. On sea days there are lectures, trivia, bingo and some other games that go on throughout the ship. However, there is not as much to do as on larger ships. On port intensive itineraries, since people get up early and spend the day on excursions, they tend to go to bed fairly early. There is at least one lounge that has late night music for people that enjoy staying up later.

 

Regent is a calm and relaxed atmosphere. People work very hard these days and some prefer a quiet vacation which is what Regent provides. Unless you sail during summer or school holidays, there are few if any children on board.

 

In terms of what Regent provides that others in its class (assuming luxury class) do not is difficult. It does provide air and excursions but all luxury cruise lines, IMO, are great.

[DreamflightPat]

Hello all,

 

My wife and I are Platinum Cruisers with Carnival, but as time has gone on and we have gotten older (not old, only 38) our tastes have changed and what we want in a cruise has as well.

 

I do not drink, my wife does but not excessively. She loves the spa experience and I am a casino man myself. We love port intensive cruises and visiting new and exciting places. We love good excursions. We are not the partying type. We enjoy great food, probably more than I should! My wife loves to sit in the sun and read a book poolside.

 

Budget is not nearly the concern it was when we started cruising but it would be foolish to say that money is of no object.

 

So I ask you guys here with all the experience on this line:

 

1. Why RSSC vs other lines of its caliber?

2. When we cruise RSSC, how should we pack? (i.e. formal vs country club casual, vs shorts, tshirts, flip flops)

3. What are the 2-3 things you wish you knew about RSSC before you sailed the first time?

4. What are the things to do on the ships that are different or unique (if any)?

 

Thanks in advance all!

 

Jesse

I have to say that I used to love Regent but in the days when they were Radisson. I feel it has lost a lot for me now and I choose other cruise lines. In my opinion, I think they are starting to overprice themselves. I do not like the all inclusive tours as I prefer mostly to do my own thing.

I did not like it when they stopped doing formal nights. It used to look so elegant on the ships when everyone was dressed up, but that is something I personally liked. Also, and this is my opinion, as I know some people will disagree with me, they

 

have lost some great crew members. The likes of Capt Knut, Capt Dag, and other Cruise Directors and hotel managers etc. Felt like an Oceana take over bid to me.

 

These are just my opinions but really why not book a short cruise and then you can make your own mind up. Good luck and happy sailing.

[OctoberKat]

If you specifically are excursion mavens you may wish to choose a line which does not include, as a Regent does, excursions in the fare. On my recent. Caribbean cruise, the trips ashore were described as being ho-hum and very "bunch of people on a bus." We arranged taxi service and thought we came out ahead.

 

If you enjoy dressy evenings, Silversea may be an option.

[jesseiam2]

Thanks for the feedback, I really do appreciate it. Lots to think about.

[Travelcat2]

I suspect that Silversea would be too formal for a young couple (could be wrong). Also, although passengers who are seasoned travelers and have been to most places in the world do find Regent included excursions rather "ho hum" passengers coming up from mainstream cruise lines generally do not. After being on a cruise ship with thousands of people, it is not a big deal to be on a bus with maybe 30 other passengers :)

 

Other luxury cruise line excursions are very expensive. I thought of recommending Oceania to you (a sister company that is "premium plus" or "luxury lite" which is less expensive but only includes non-alcoholic drinks and specialty restaurants. The reason I didn't recommend it for you was the cost of excursions. Some excursions are as high as $1,000/couple. Cheap excursions are around $300-500/couple. Those costs add up quickly and I truly believe that Regent is a better deal.

[TedC]

I agree with TC2.

 

I also like Regent has biz class upgrades that are usually affordable. Some times even free on some itineraries. That's a great perk.

 

I like "All Inclusive" and all the tours I've been on have been GOOD. IT is really GOOD NOT to have a bill on your last day!

Edited March 1, 2015 by TedC

[Emperor Norton]

For the OP:

 

I cruised with Silversea in my 30s. Formality wasn't an issue (for me at least). Getting along with the active passengers wasn't a problem. The issue was there were so few of them. While the age range skewed the way of Crystal, I found far more active people on Crystal.

 

As for tours - Let's just say I don't quite agree with some of the prices listed above. There are things such as sub $150 or even $100 tours, depending upon destination. Of course what most experienced cruises will tell you is that it's cheaper to do the tours on your own. This does lack a certain safety net (eg: if a tour is late the ship will wait for its own, but a privately booked one not so much). Tours can add up quickly(DAMHIK), but thats just as true on Regent as their 'free tours' are of the hop on the bus hop off the buss with a large number of other people variety. In the end for a 'good' tour on Regent you're spending the money you did for the 'free' tour plus a mark up for a decent tour (they don't discount their pay tours to acknowledge that you already paid for tours in your cruise fare).

 

For a jump up I'd recommend looking at: Seabourn, Crystal, SilverSea or perhaps Azamara. Whichever you pick - have fun and remember theres more to try.:cool:

[jesseiam2]

Thanks for all the great feedback. I am curious, what changed when it went from Raddison ago Regent?

 

I can't imagine I would be terribly disappointed regardless of what I choose. Carnival ships are packed so moving to a line with far fewer passengers has great appeal to us.

 

We have no experience cruising outside of the Caribbean so I have no real reference point to compare one excursion to another. I see that excursions are included and I fully assumed that some excursions wouldn't be part of that. In general, is the pricing of Regent that far off compare to the others mentioned?

 

Usually excursions done privately can be done at a lower price in the Caribbean so I also expected other places to be no different.

 

For penthouse and above I see a butler is included, would someone share their experience with that? Not something I have experience with.

 

I am 100% in favor of trying all the options at least once, of course, all for the sake of research! :cool:

[Emperor Norton]

What happened? IIRC/IMO - Prices were raised by orders of magnitude. Staffing levels were cut. Galleys were combined (eg: there used to be one galley for room service and another for the MDR now theres just 1 so if you visit the dining room for say breakfast you can end up waiting 45 minutes for just toast as they're busing pushing out room service orders). The hotel manager was raised above the captain of the ship - which drove off their better captains. Between the cutbacks and joining the same family as oceania they lost a chunk of their good/experienced staff to Oceania while Regent passengers were given green staff. They added the 'inclusive' tours but of course those like the 'free air' or 'free business' are included in the cruise fare. One of the magic things about the tours was that they all seemed to return to the ship right after the MDR closed for lunch (though perhaps this has changed). The per diem for food for customers was also lowered.

 

It's not terrible - IMO its nowhere near the value it used to be and the staff isn't where they need to be for a luxury line - there needs to be more and they need to be better trained rather than given over to Oceania once trained (read other threads about surly desk staff or crew that just don't seem to care).

 

I couldn't find a dead-on comparison but...

 

Barcelona to Barcelona

Regent: 10 Nights $8999/person w/roundtrip coach air and their excursions 252' room + 49' balcony

 

Seabourn: 14 Nights $6999/person 365' room w/balcony

 

R/T Monte Carlo

Crystal: 12 nights, $6345/person, 269' w/balcony

 

SilverSea: ?? Their server 403d out for search results in the med of 10+ days

[newlondon]

jesseiam2, I am far from a Regent cheerleader; I caution you though that Emperor Norton is a very critical reviewer, as he has every right to be given that luxury cruise lines are expensive.

I do agree with him that excursions are a controversial subject. On Regent, and I have taken their tours in Europe, Australia, SE Asia, and China, I have only once or twice out of more than I can count found significant problems (unfortunately one of those was for an extra cost tour in Viet Nam).

DW and I have cruised on both SS and Regent plus smaller private cruises. We have also done river tours on Tauck and Uniworld. My assessment is that all upscale or luxury lines have areas where they are uniquely good and areas where they could improve.

My best advice would be to choose an itinerary which turns you on.

We wanted to do a Capetown to Capetown cruise on Mariner, but since we could only get a cat f cabin we switched to Oceania and are very excited even though the ambience may be quite different.

Enjoy your cruise.

[liptastic]

Hi Jessieman2 your butler asks you the preferences you would like to drink in your fridge and bar.he will keep this stocked up. He will bring your breakfast or in suite dining in evening. About 4pm if you wish any canapes he will bring what you request. He can book and change bookings in prime 7 for you and help with any excursion information. He can do as much or as little as you need.

Jean.

[Travelcat2]

With all due respect to the former Regent passengers that no longer cruise Regent and are posting on this thread, there are thousands of passengers that have sailed on Regent longer than we have and still love the product. It would be helpful to know that last time these cruisers sailed on Regent. We sailed on Regent when it was Radisson and are booked on Regent cruises through next year.

 

First, when Radisson became Regent, it was a name change only -- not a change in ownership. The change in ownership happened about 7 years ago. I know as a fact that the per diem for food did not go down after the purchase (or since then).

 

Inclusive tours were added during the downturn of the economy which is probably why Regent continued running full ships. As with anything new, some of the tours did return after lunch. Although the café on the pool deck was open until 4:00 p.m., some passengers wanted to dine in La Veranda. So, this has indeed changed. Depending upon the port, La Veranda will stay open longer. On our Scandinavian cruise, some excursions left at 4:00 or 5:00 p.m. - when all of the dining venues were closed (of course, room service is 24/7). La Veranda not only opened early for these passengers but stayed open until 11:00 p.m. to accommodate returning passengers.

 

You are still quite young but I'm sure you can look back at some things in the "good old days" and wish that they were the same now. As we all know, change is inevitable. However, I will bring up a few points from the "good old days" of Radisson. On many itineraries the ships were half full (or half empty -- however you at look it:-) There were the same number of crew members so the service was over the top. Radisson/Regent was privately owned and the owners treated their passengers very well - giving gifts on certain itineraries and lavish gifts for world cruisers. Caviar, lobster and filet mignon were offered more often than they are now (although lobster or filet mignon can be special ordered - at no charge - with 24 hours notice). All of this was lovely.

 

When Prestige Cruise Holdings (under Apollo) purchased Regent, the ships were in mechanical and physical disrepair. The first time the new CEO sailed on Regent, the towels and sheets were threadbare. The Navigator issues were the most problematic. She not only had a very severe vibration but was losing electricity at sea and listing. PCH (Prestige Cruise Holdings) spent well over $100M on the three ships and continue to take them into dry dock and refurbish them every 2-3 years.

 

Quick story about the Navigator. The hull of the ship was built in the 1950's - during the Soviet Union Era. She was going to be a ice breaker/spy ship but this did not happen. After the fall of the USSR, Radisson built a passenger cruise ship on the hull of this ice breaker. Although it may never be perfect, everything possible has been done to make her the beautiful little ship that she is.

 

Back to the food per diem. As we all know, food continue to rise - quite dramatically at times -- and Regent did, in fact, take Filet Mignon off of the daily menu and made some other changes. However, they were not paying less per day for food, they were paying more - just as most of us are -- for the same groceries that we purchased 10 years ago.

 

I addressed excursions in a previous thread. Prior to "included" excursions, not as many people took ship excursions. Many times buses only had 15-20 people on them. With the included excursions, the number of passengers is around 30 with multiple buses doing the same excursions (they do try to have different schedules so they do not all arrive at the same place at the same time). Some of us that sailed Regent prior to included excursions feel like we are stuffed into the buses like sardines. Actually, I cannot imagine that bus tours on Carnival would be any less full than on Regent. We (those that dislike included excursions) tend to overreact and would like things to be the way they were.

 

A few words about Silversea. Although there are some itineraries that are less than Regent, when you add in excursions and airfare, they are close to the same price. Two of Silversea's ships are quite small and look old (not counting their expedition ships that are even smaller). While we have not sailed on the small ships (intentionally), we were given a comprehensive tour of one of them (they are twin ships) and did not like what we saw. Their newest ship (450 passengers) was built during the downturn of the economy and, IMO, they scrimped on this ship. We were in an upper suite and had plastic furniture that did not even have drawers (actually, there were drawers - just not in the desk or make-up area). The two ships that we do like are lovely but were in need of refurbishment (carpets worn, etc.) It seems that Silversea is spending a lot of money to buy older expedition ships and fixing them up instead of taking care of their existing ships.

 

Crystal is a highly rated cruise with reportedly good food, service and entertainment (they hold approximately 1,000 passengers -- considerably larger than any other luxury cruise ships.) We have two issues with Crystal. The first is "set seating". We simply do not want to be told when to eat or possibly eat with people we do not know or like. You can make reservations to dine at a different time but this must be done daily and you may not always get the reservation. The other issue is simply the small cabins.

 

Seabourn is also a good luxury line but one we cannot sail because they allow smoking on balconies. If this is not an issue for you, certainly look into Seabourn.

 

The only areas of concern I have about cruising on a luxury cruise line for you is the small casino s and you mentioned that you like the casino. There are certainly people gambling in the evening but I cannot imagine that it is anything like what they have on Carnival.

 

Sorry this is so long -- just wanted to include as much information as possible -- from people that sailed "Radisson/Regent" in the old days and still enjoy every moment that we are on board.:)

 

Editing to add that Regent still gives passengers Christmas gifts:-)

Edited March 1, 2015 by Travelcat2

[TedC]

As of last Nov. to Dec. Dubai to Cape Town room service was surprisingly fast on Voyager. I expected my BLT and Chocolate mousse would take much longer!

Edited March 1, 2015 by TedC