SWFLAOK

On Voyager, the better choice is Penthouse B. These are larger than 1055 which is a Penthouse C, and doesn't cost much more. We spent 32 nights on Voyager just before Covid, in cabin 862 which is a Penthouse B. Instead of being long and narrow as is typical for most cabins, 862 was wid,e with the bedroom and sitting area side by side. The long desk with a window next to the bed was my husband's favorite place to sit. That left the sitting area with the TV to me, so I could watch movies on sea days, while he spent time on his laptop, looking out at the sea. But with only 364 passengers, you should have a great time. We just finished Southampton to Southampton on Splendor which had just over 600 passengers, and Southamptom to Barcelona which was near its full capacity of 750. Excursions were a big problem, with almost everyone leaving the ship within 30 minutes, and then returning after lunch ended at all restaurants except the pool grill. They had to reopen La Veranda several times, and people were still eating lunch late in the afternoon. The cabins on Splendor are bigger than Voyager for the same cabin level, but they're also more expensive. Our Concierge E on Splendor as larger than our Penthouse B on Voyager, but we thought the layout on Voyager worked better for us. Hope you have a great time. We love Regent cruises.

That's the same hours as we had on our recent Splendor cruises.

Although the seas were high (we spent an extra night in Bordeaux and skipped Saint Malo) the weather was good, with some clouds, and moderate temperatures. Favorite excursions depends on what you like to do. We tend to enjoy excursions with a lot of walking, and seeing things that are very old, since we don't have those in the US.

We just finished Southampton to Southampton, and Southampton to Barcelona on Splendor. The seas were high on many days, and we were happy to be in our deck 6 cabin near the front elevators rather than upfront on deck 14. In hurricane season, the storms that make a north turn after coming off the coast of Africa (which we always hope for since we live in Florida) head up far enough to affect the British Isles, the English channel and the coast of Spain and Portugal. We missed several ports due to high waves, and the restaurants on deck 10 and 11 were doing some rolling. Compass Rose and the Coffee Connection were much more stable, although they did board up the starboard windows in Compass Rose for a few days.

On Splendor, it's right across from the Meridian Lounge, and is the Coffee Connection the rest of the day. We spent our after dinner time at the Meridian Lounge almost every night. The Sapori E Amari had aperitifs before dinner as well as after dinner digestifs, and wasn't another place to have a cocktail. They had small bites available, that were replenished. We actually had only that for dinner one night since our excursion (with lunch included) fed us a huge meal at a restaurant from 3 to 4 PM before returning to the ship. There seemed to be just 2 people handling the Sapori E Amari area. On our 2 cruises, there were a number of excursions with lunch included, and many excursions that did not include lunch, but started just before lunch, and returned to the ship just after lunch. If you were lucky, you could find a seat at the Pool Grill and eat before leaving for the excursion, or after returning. But since all excursions were scheduled around the same time, food (and drinks) during the day were hard to come by unless you skipped the excursions (or had a day at sea). In that case, lunch at Prime 7 or Chartruese were available, and were always exceptional. I might avoid the "lunch included" excursions in the future since the food was nothing special compared to the food on Splendor. Many of the excursions included free time (even those with lunch included), and I would rather stop for a glass of wine and a small bite rather than have a large lunch.

It seems a bit odd to me as well. We had half a bottle of Bombay Sapphire in our fridge when we left Splendor. I didn't feel a need to pour it into my complimentary Vero water bottle and put it into my luggage to bring home. I like to pass through the "nothing to declare" line in the airport without worrying about something they've found in my luggage. On our recently completed cruise, the "express" security lane that our Regent Business Class flights allowed us to use in Barcelona had the most stringent search of luggage we have ever seen (and we weren't the only ones). A recharging cord for your phone could cause you to empty your carry on into a gray bucket, and send you to the back of the line, where you were then "randomly" chosen for a body pat down when going through the metal detector on the second pass. Some purchases that were allowed back on the ship through ports that did security checks were confiscated at the Barcelona airport. The requirements for what needed to be taken out of your carry-ons and personal items and placed in the gray buckets was only documented on signs in Spanish, and there were only Spanish speaking agents helping passengers getting ready for the security checkpoint. We don't speak Spanish and would definitely not want to explain leftover liquor from the cruise.

We also just returned from from Splendor, Southampton to Barcelona, following the previous Southampton to Southampton. It was our first experience with Splendor, with most of our previous experience on Voyager. Our last cruise on Regent was back to back Singapore to Singapore, Singapore to Sydney, Dec to Jan, 2019 to 2020, on Voyager in a Penthouse B, which we loved. This was our 3rd attempt at this Splendor cruise, due to Covid delays, in a Concierge E. We loved the layout of our cabin on Splendor since it was wider rather than narrower. It wasn't quite as wide as the Penthouse B on Voyager, but it worked for us. We didn't miss having a butler, and our room stewards provided really excellent service. There was definitely a problem with staffing. At many ports, we saw staff leaving and new staff arriving. Quite a few of the staff had been asked to extend their contracts. We felt that the staff was doing a very good job, while bringing the new arrivals up to speed. We did, however, have problems with Prime 7. We had booked the first night of our first segment, and everything was perfect. Both my seafood and meat choices were perfect, and the service was well paced. We ate there for lunch during the first segment, and it was also a good experience. During the second segment, the service was slow at lunch and dinner. Our dinner near the end of the cruise was not good at all. There were several large tables, even at 6:30, and one had an officer dining with them. They were given all the attention by the waitstaff. The food that night came poorly cooked, and of inferior quality to what we had previously. We totally enjoyed our 2 dinners and 2 lunches at Chartreuse, and our 2 dinners and a wine lunch at Pacific Rim. The food and service were all excellent. Our biggest complaint was with Destination Services. They seemed to schedule too many excursions at the same time, and normally it was over lunch. When 500 people return to the ship at the same time, and the only place still open to eat lunch is the Pool Grill, it's hard to find a place to sit. They had to reopen La Veranda a few times to provide lunch. I'm sure that affected dinner service. I think our second segment was near capacity. The first was not.