Total Food Snob - Is Regent Right for Me?

[Silver Sweethearts]

8 minutes ago, SusieQft said:

What is Signature?

 

Signatures was the French restaurant (dinner only and by reservation) on the Mariner and Voyager for many years.

[Gcto]

10 minutes ago, SusieQft said:

What is Signature?

Oops, sorry, should have added this. Signature was the predecessor of Chartreuse... So Chartreuse and Prime 7 have non-changing menus.... Signature had those as welll. 

 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Signatures was somehow allied, or endorsed, by the Cordon Bleu organization.  Back then they ran courses on the ships--we did two of them, what a hoot!  Signatures was an attempt to do haute cuisine I guess, very French, a little silly, but usually good.  I actually think I prefer Chartreuse.

[MamaFej]

2 hours ago, All_About_Food said:

 

You said the magic word. I will do bad things for good cheese. 

Cheese is the reason I could never be a vegan. As long as I'm not, I may as well enjoy meat and eggs as well. 

[DaveFr]

2 hours ago, SusieQft said:

What is Signature?

Signatures was the name of the French specialty restaurant on the ships before Chartreuse.
 

Dave

[Mudhen]

Signature is the former name of basically what Chartreuse is now. IMHO, Chartreuse is better.

[Mudhen]

Oops....sorry about that! Didn't turn the page!

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

Personally, I liked Signature better than Chartreuse because it was old fashioned, real French food.
When Chartreuse was introduced, it was announced as a modern, healthier French menu. There are a few good entrees, but the best is the Passion Island dessert. I am not sure that’s the name. So, what is it?

sheila

PS. It’s so good to see great Regent conversation again..

[sugar333]

We really like both Regent and Crystal. We also are pretty particular about food . We would never go on another Silversea cruise because of the variety and mediocrity of the food. Regent food has its highs and lows. A definate low is the wine. We have found that Crystal has consistently had the best food and wines in every venue. Based on food alone, I would choose Crystal. There are lots of other things to consider when choosing a cruise, but really I don’t think you will be disappointed with either Regent or Crystal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[giustot]

I think you would be pleased with the food on either Regent or Oceania. But the better overall experience would be on Regent.

 

Regent's newest ships have three specialty restaurants, steak, French and Asian. Oceania's large ships have four, steak, French, Italian and Asian. I agree with blacksmith, the French restaurant on Oceania is better than on Regent. Oceania's Asian restaurant is very good too. Otherwise, Regent takes the lead.

 

All food on Regent is prepared a La Minute, and they will make anything you want as long as they have the ingredients. 

 

Good luck.

 

 

[alainciao]

All about Food,

I want to dine with you!  Love your attitude.

And, why not?  We have booked the Sept 22, 2021 cruise on the Splendor.  London to Barcelona.  In Bordeaux we spend two nights and each night you can dine in a chateau on a Choice Excursion (extra$$).  You love French, right?

Stan

[travelwell]

I will add that Regent prepares great fish. The chef buys locally caught. Overall food excellent, I love that you can ask for appetizer portions. We found there was a night and day difference in the cruise experience between Oceania and Regent. The main dining room on Oceania no better then Celebrity. I suggest you try a 12-14 day Regent cruise. Only you can really decide if the food meets your expectation. If you find the food not to your satisfaction  you will still have a five star cruise experience elsewhere on the ship. Also if you overnight in a city or have a pre or post cruise experience you can reserve an evening at a Michelin star restaurant in town.

[wishIweretravelling]

One thing to keep in mind about serving many people at once: Regent has true open seating for dinner in its main dining room (as well as in the Italian restaurant and pool grill), which means that the galley is not trying to push out meals to half the ship at once, as is the case with set seating times. And Splendor and Explorer offer a substantial number of specialty restaurants to spread the clientele out even further. The other three don't have Pacific Rim (my favorite), and Navigator does not have either Pacific Rim or Chartreuse.

 

BTW, of the three lines I've been on that do open seating (Regent, Crystal, and Silversea), Regent is the only one that seems to have it nailed.  It's been a while since I've been on Silversea, so they might have improved since then.

 

[ronrick1943]

The food is good as others say, but great it is not.  Your on a cruise with good chefs, not great ones.  That said we enjoy the food on Regent and that is one many of the reasons we cruise Regent.

[snorkle lover]

Hi alainciao,

 

We are also booked on the Splendor cruise in September

( London to Barcelona). I need to look at the excursions,

dinning at French chateau sounds wonderful.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed that this cruise goes.

[cwn]

Edited August 13, 2020 by cwn

[cwn]

OK apparently I don’t know what I am doing at least on the phone. One of our favorite things on Regent....the Galley Brunch....the Steamship roast beef Dick’s favorite. (Above)

 

Regent food is good. We vacation in NO often. There are some excellent places to eat in NO and also in SF. The French Laundry Regent is not. But we have have some wonderful meals and a very few misses on Regent cruises. Just remember they are cooking for a large group, more than fine restaurants do in an evening. But the waiters try to find out what you enjoy and please you with suggestions from the evening’s menu. If there is something on a night’s menu or just something you enjoy. Put in a request for 24 hours ahead and they will fix it as long as they have the ingredients. The CR makes wonderful shrimp, lobster and vegetable tempura!

 

 

 

[DeepFreeze63]

2 hours ago, ronrick1943 said:

The food is good as others say, but great it is not.  Your on a cruise with good chefs, not great ones.  That said we enjoy the food on Regent and that is one many of the reasons we cruise Regent.

I totally agree!

 

DW is a terrific cook and a superb baker - if it was just for the food, I'd prefer to eat at home but she loves "being pampered" (including not having to cook). We've met MANY interesting and enjoyable dinner companions on our Regent cruises.

DW rates the freshly prepared luncheon pastas with a slice from the carving table as her favorite among the many dishes she enjoys on Regent THE OFTEN DENSE cupcakes are what gets her ire!

[cwn]

31 minutes ago, DeepFreeze63 said:

I totally agree!

 

DW is a terrific cook and a superb baker - if it was just for the food, I'd prefer to eat at home but she loves "being pampered" (including not having to cook). We've met MANY interesting and enjoyable dinner companions on our Regent cruises.

DW rates the freshly prepared luncheon pastas with a slice from the carving table as her favorite among the many dishes she enjoys on Regent THE OFTEN DENSE cupcakes are what gets her ire!

 The over all the Regent product is very good. They are good at pampering!!
 

They do a lot dishes really well, but I will agree the desserts can be poor, especially pastry and cake items. The pastry is not usually crisp and flaky and the cake can be rather dense. The ice cream and soufflés are good though!

[blondietoo]

On 8/12/2020 at 7:26 AM, All_About_Food said:

Hello! I've been poring through this board, hoping to get a real sense about the food. I'm concerned about how many passengers must be served in the same time frame. So, I thought I'd ask this wonderful group of people what you think!

 

I grew up in San Francisco, recently moved from the City by the Bay to New Orleans and am in my 40s. I adore food and used to be a pastry chef. French cuisine is of particular interest to me. What are the chances that Regent is able to produce food of world-class quality on a ship of hundreds of people? I know I sound horrid, but food is really, really important to me and I want to make the best choice I can for a cruise on the other side of all of this difficulty. Perusing cruise lines is keeping me sane. Though maybe not that sane; I have spreadsheets with every little detail to compare (down to coffee makers in the cabins). 

 

Any insight you could provide would be greatly appreciated!

 

[blondietoo]

IMHO the French restaurant Chartreuse is the least authentic on RSSC. Silversea was better.

[UUNetBill]

My take on it is that the food on Regent is usually very good, often excellent, and rarely fair to poor.  In eleven cruises (about 100 nights) I can count on one hand the number of times I've been disappointed with a meal onboard.  I've lost count of the times I've been beyond impressed with a meal.

 

I agree that the quality of the wine seems to have dropped off a bit over the last few years, but if you make nice with the sommelier early on they can point you to rather nice included wines...but that's what OBC is for - wine upgrades!  We have done quite a few tastings that have some really superb food pairings with them.  

 

Our only other cruise has been on Cunard and Regent beats them for food and drink hands down.

[Mudhen]

IMHO......this is how I rate food, wine, cocktails, in general....there are some exceptions....Please don't flame me, only my thoughts.

Food....Regent, in general, Crystal for Oma Umi (has yet to be beat for sushi and Pan Asian) Cunard Grill class, SilverSea.

Included wine.....SilverSea (don't gasp) Regent is very close, then Crystal.

Cocktails.....Crystal by a long shot, Regent,then Cunard (if you know what to order), then, SilverSea. I'm very excited to try some of Regent's new cocktails. Previously, none were bad in any way, but I prefered fresh ingredients over commercial or previously concocted mixes.

At this point, I'd be happy with a burger and beer out of a can, if only I could get on a ship and sail.....don't even care where. It could be spinning circles off the coast of somewhere....anywhere.

[RJ2002]

40 minutes ago, UUNetBill said:

...but that's what OBC is for - wine upgrades! 

 

You've got that right, especially now with the $1000 OBC offers of late.  We've got that promotion on a cruise late next year...  can't wait to splurge on some nice wines.

[mpfund]

The best food at sea is on the Hapag-Lloyd ships.  But unless you speak German you will find yourselves consistently alone.

 

We were sorely disappointed in our first (and so far, only) Regent cruise on Mariner.  Too many problems to list,  but the situation never improved and we just gave up and laughed.