Has Regent gone downhill post COVID? Oceania better?

[caribdvr]

I am looking at an 18day Japan trip on the Regent Explorer (actually the Seven Seas Explorer) and the reviews on this site are fairly bleak.  I'd always thought that Regent was a very good line, but these reviews have me concerned.  There seems to be a lot of people in this section so I wanted to ask if you think that complainers are the only ones who posted there or what's going on.  There seems to be a big reduction in service post COVID but it also seems that many are just disappointed that it costs so much.  

 

I usually sail on Viking, which I enjoy, but their itinerary and sail date is not as good.  The other consideration is Oceania and I'd be happy to get a comparison.

 

The complaints I'm seeing are, in order of importance to me:

• excursions--I'm going for the ports.  If they don't do a good job with the excursions, this is a Big Deal.  I'm fine with booking some independently (any suggestions?) but I'd like to be able to do some of the included excursions--this is the hardest thing for me to overlook
• food is horrible and often cold (horrible is not okay, but less than fantastic is okay as long as much of it is very good)
• internet very bad  
• entertainment (how bad can it be?  this is a cruise)
• transfers/flights, etc, don't bother me bc I will make my own travel arrangements

 

Thanks for any insight you can offer.

 

[labonnevie]

We took a 14 night Tokyo round trip April 2023. Only a couple of sea days. We took included excursions in every port, all were very good to excellent. No complaints at all. 
We have been on three Regent cruises post COVID and the food and service have been exceptional every time. Have we had a bad meal occasionally? Yes, but certainly it was the exception. Our one other cruise post COVID, on Seabourn, was not nearly as good as Regent, mostly due to staffing and training issues. 
As for Oceania, we are one and done with them. Never again. 

[mrlevin]

Just returned from 31 nights on Explorer Tokyo - Tokyo - Vancouver; one of the best of my 35+ Regent cruises.  Service excellent; food extremely good; and ship (given design flaws) was pretty darn good.  Never an issue with internet.  Never an issue with excursions (except one description was significantly wrong).  Entertainment very good.  Officers, staff, and crew all fantastic.  Why would I go on Oceania and pay more for similar cabin and food and excursions and share it with more people?????

 

Just my two yen; YMMV.

Edited May 11 by mrlevin

[Lonedaddy]

2 hours ago, mrlevin said:

Just my two yen; YMMV.

Thats not even worth two cents.

[Nachosdelux]

just got off Explorer Tokyo - Vancouver and while not perfect, was an excellent cruise. The service was outstanding.  Agree with MrLevin above.  

 

as far as the negative reviews - I don't want to be dismissive of other's opinions, but frankly there are quite a few who will never be satisfied, or have unreasonable expectations, IMHO

[SWFLAOK]

We just finished our 8th cruise on Regent Seven Seas, with 4 pre-Covid and 4 post. We haven't been on Explorer, but 2 of our post-Covid cruises were on Splendor. We found the food and service to be excellent in Compass Rose, the main dining room, both before and after. We found the internet to be very good on our most recent cruise on Navigator, Bangkok to Abu Dhabi. In the past, we have had some cruises with poor internet access. It will only get better as they move to Starlink. We aren't big on entertainment, but we heard it was excellent. It was offered both before dinner and after dinner. We attended a pre-dinner magic act where the magician explained how to do his trick. It was very interesting.

And as for excursions provided by Regent, they were hit or miss, as we have often found in the past. Some are really good, and others are disasters. And you might take an excursion that's great, while others on the same excursion find it a total failure. For each included excursion, there are many buses following the same route. And there is no attempt by destination services to make this a smooth experience by scheduling them with time in between, or having buses visit the stops in a different order. We have found that the extra expense for the Small Group excursions are not worth it because you are on a small bus in between the large buses, visiting the same sights (and often leaving later because the guests arrive later). If your small group bus  is the 5th bus to arrive at the toilet stop, you will be there for a long time.

Taking your own excursion outside of Regent gives you the risk of not getting back on time. On our last cruise, we got back late twice from a Regent excursion and they waited for us. We had only had that happen to us once before on the previous 7 cruises, but that could have been due to the destinations rather than any change by Regent.

 

[Lonedaddy]

I haven't really had many issues on regent - would be nice for a casual venue if you don't want room service but overall onboard has been great.   My biggest issues have been with the corporate customer service and regent air service or lack of most times.   

Edited May 11 by Lonedaddy

[caribdvr]

Thanks so much for everyone responding!  This has helped so much!  It is always difficult to read between the lines on reviews and like one poster said, some will never be satisfied.  It has been enough to make us change our minds and we will be booking on Regent.  The sailing dates are better than Oceania and the itinerary is better than Viking.  A very helpful tidbit is the comment about the smaller groups--which makes sense but would not have occurred to me so thanks for saving us some money there.

 

I entirely understand that some excursions won't be great....but I appreciate hearing that they won't be awful.  

[cruiseluv]

I recently cruised on Vista, the newest Oceania ship. It’s an aesthetically pleasant ship with decent food and service, but I find there’s no comparison with Regent. To upgrade to a cabin the size of Regent, plus pay for excursions, drinks and tips makes it basically the same in price, plus you’re sharing the ship with more people. Service in the lounges at night, unless you were seated at the bar, was pretty bad. I’ve been on all the Regent ships( except Grandeur) and I would pick any of them over an Oceania cruise

[CardowMD]

One advantage to small group groups is that their vehicles can get closer to the “action” in the city centers than large coaches that have to park in outer lots requiring more walking. When traveling with my mom, we always tried to reduce walk distance.

[jeb_bud]

We have been on several Small Group tours and have had none of the issues @SWFLAOK mentioned. Might have been itinerary-based. 
 

I don’t know how much influence Regent has over the port tour operators and whether they will stagger bus departures. 

[Michyfis]

Took our first Regent cruise in October 2023.  We had a wonderful time.  One thing to know about Japanese excursions is that they are regulated very heavily by government especially in larger cities.  If doing over, I would find my own guides in Tokyo.  In Kobe, we decided to take the Shinkansen ourselves to Kyoto rather that spend time on a bus.  Many guides will meet you at the train station there.  In other places Regent  guides were mostly terrific.  Some were new to their roles but tried really hard to please even though it was difficult to understand.  Even my husband who is not a big fan of cruising had a great time on the cruise and would do another Regent Cruise in a heartbeat if it is the right itinerary.

[GMIAC]

One word about Regent excursions: Because they're all "included," they're very popular, and tend to fill up very quickly. We booked a July Iceland cruise on Splendor in February (last-minute by Regent standards), and could only confirm two excursions over eight port days; we're waitlisted on the rest. So book your excursions ASAP, the sooner the better.

 

We had better luck with next March's Tokyo, which we booked this past January, and is sold out now. We were "fastest fingers" when our excursion booking window opened up and got everything we wanted. I'm sure others weren't as fortunate.

 

We have no [serious] problems with Regent at all. Small glitches are met with "sh, er, stuff happens" attitudes from us. We're on vacation, after all. I can totally see how other types can (and often do) see them as life-ruining catastrophes.

[forevertravel]

We just returned from the 18 days Tokyo to Vancouver on the Explorer and found the cruise one of the best. The food and service were outstanding as is typical of Regent. As for the tours, tour companies have had a hard time getting guides after the pandemic. We were told by one of the guides in Japan that the company had a difficult time finding good guides, therefore, they were sending the same guides to different parts of the country. We saw guides we saw in Tokyo in the other Japan ports. This is not Regent's fault. Some tours will be outstanding are others so so. We found the tours good. We are Platinum members and have cruised with Regent multiple times. We didn't find anything to complain about with this cruise. Just go with the flow and enjoy the cruise.

[GMIAC]

3 minutes ago, forevertravel said:

We just returned from the 18 days Tokyo to Vancouver on the Explorer and found the cruise one of the best. The food and service were outstanding as is typical of Regent. As for the tours, tour companies have had a hard time getting guides after the pandemic. We were told by one of the guides in Japan that the company had a difficult time finding good guides, therefore, they were sending the same guides to different parts of the country. We saw guides we saw in Tokyo in the other Japan ports. This is not Regent's fault. Some tours will be outstanding are others so so. We found the tours good. We are Platinum members and have cruised with Regent multiple times. We didn't find anything to complain about with this cruise. Just go with the flow and enjoy the cruise.

 

Gary Bembridge's excellent vlog on his recent Japan Explorer cruise made a good point that being a tour guide is not considered a good/honorable job in Japan, so tours are hit or miss, which is no fault of Regent's 

[mj_holiday]

We were also on the recent 31 day cruise from Tokyo to Vancouver.  I have a blog on this board, (and there are a couple others)

It was a great cruise with excellent service, excellent food.  Our food was always hot, but I also did some things to help in that area.  In LaVeranda I made sure I picked up a warm plate if I was serving my self, or when I special ordered eggs the food was nicely warm when served. Food in CR was always hot.

The excursions were the only area I had some complaining.  Since DH has a mobility issue we were limited in the excursions that would work for us, several of them changed levels of activity after I booked them, the change showed up when we got on board.  And a couple canceled after I had booked, and this showed up on board.  Yes, Regent is contracting with the tour agencies and the agencies were having trouble getting guides.  We did have some very good tours with good guides, but not 100%  Hopefully this will continue to get better.

 

 

 

[vistaman]

I did more as 100 cruises , but only discovered Regent  last year  mostly caused by the single supplements    - i am not paying double 

so searching for low single supp those days ... 

meanwhile I did 4 Regents cruises and I have  4 other bookings however afraid to book the Navigator

I recently did close the door with SS  - my review about the Dawn is published as " sinking Silversea "

maybe the breads and the pastries are better on O but all the other items are better on Regent for sure.

 

[labonnevie]

15 hours ago, jeb_bud said:

We have been on several Small Group tours and have had none of the issues @SWFLAOK mentioned. Might have been itinerary-based. 
 

If the tour is something we’re really interested in, and a small group is available, we take it. Have not been disappointed.
Have, fortunately, not experienced the problems of being sandwiched among the big buses. Can see where that would be frustrating. 

[forgap]

I think a land tour of Japan is best and this can be in addition to the cruise, whether  before or after.  You will see much more.   The three day pre cruise in Tokyo was very superficial and you would be better doing a comprehensive tour.  

[caribdvr]

Great we will book Regent!  The Feb/March timing is enough better than Oceania's Jan/Feb, but still too early for cherry blossoms.

 

Crossing my fingers that not all excursions will be booked already.  And forgap, I agree, and have already done the land tour of Japan; I know the cruise will not be as good for getting to see the country.  But I don't have to pack and unpack and schlep my stuff around. 🙂

 

Thanks everyone!

[WESTEAST]

21 hours ago, cruiseluv said:

I recently cruised on Vista, the newest Oceania ship. It’s an aesthetically pleasant ship with decent food and service, but I find there’s no comparison with Regent. To upgrade to a cabin the size of Regent, plus pay for excursions, drinks and tips makes it basically the same in price, plus you’re sharing the ship with more people. Service in the lounges at night, unless you were seated at the bar, was pretty bad. I’ve been on all the Regent ships( except Grandeur) and I would pick any of them over an Oceania cruise

Interesting post as we have often considered Regent as we usually sail with Oceania and select based on itinerary. FYI, Oceania's fares (Simply More program) now include a specified $ value of credit for you to select any Oceania Excursion (varies depending upon length of cruise) and wine, beer and champagne is included at lunch and dinner. Gratuities are often provided by TAs.  Unless you like your cocktails or drinks at any time of the day, Oceania is close to these Regent amenities.  That said, stateroom size can be smaller on Oceania; then again, depends upon what stateroom you select.  As far as Excursions, the included Regent excursions have not always been appealing to us (many panoramic bus tours) and we would have to pay for the not included ones or, as we do often opt for an independent tour.  Number of passengers varies:  four R class smaller ships have 670 passengers, the two O class ships have 1250 passengers and the Vista (new Allura class) has 1200 passengers. On our recent Japan cruise Oceania provided a complimentary 3 day hotel + tours in Tokyo; we stayed at the same Hilton hotel and had the same tours as a Regent cruise so no difference in this particular included land program. Will continue to look at Regent itineraries and compare costs. Luckily there are choices for everyone.

[labonnevie]

33 minutes ago, WESTEAST said:

Luckily there are choices for everyone.

IMHO, costs do not always equate to value. 

[PaulMCO]

We just returned in April from a 14 day Tokyo to Tokyo cruise on Explorer.  I have left a detailed review on cruise critic for Explorer.

 

The only weakness are the shore excursions and the descriptions.  Also the fact that they do sell out.  This is no different than Oceania, which uses the same department in Miami managing the excursions.  Same tour companies except Oceania may have more people per bus to accommodate the 1200 guests (Riviera was designated Tokyo to Tokyo ship).

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=713983

[papaflamingo]

7 hours ago, vistaman said:

afraid to book the Navigator

Why are you afraid to book Navigator?  

[SWFLAOK]

On 5/11/2024 at 8:54 PM, CardowMD said:

One advantage to small group groups is that their vehicles can get closer to the “action” in the city centers than large coaches that have to park in outer lots requiring more walking. When traveling with my mom, we always tried to reduce walk distance.

On the small group excursions on our last cruise, we stopped at exactly the same drop off points as the big bus version. Every stop was the same. What cruise were you on that where the small group stopped at a closer spot, and on what excursions?

I plan to give details on our latest cruise to Regent, which was the worst example of paying for the small group and getting the worst excursion to exactly the same places as the free excursion. It's not the first time this has happened on SG excursions, but it was definitely the worst since our excursions were much worse than the free excursions rather than just the same.