Regent vs Silversea

We recently cruised from SF to NY on the Mariner and quite enjoyed the food and service. We have just booked 12 nights in the Silver Shadow from Singapore to Singapore. It is an interesting itinerary and it was the only cruise that worked with our available dates. How will it compare to Regent?

We have done three cruises on Silversea - one on the Shadow and many cruises on Regent. In terms of the ship, we love the Shadow (and her twin sister the Whisper). She is about the size of the Navigator but has 50 less suites so there is a lot more public areas. Since she is a slightly older ship, she still has the lovely woods (vs. plastic that looks like wood) that we love. Note: Silversea's Shadow and Whisper are the only Silversea ships that we like. We have not been on the Muse but have sailed on the Spirit and did not care for it and have toured their smaller ship (don't recall if it is the Cloud or Wind) but we would not sail on it.

We found the service on Silversea to be equal to the service on Regent. We prefer the food in Compass Rose to the food in The Restaurant (Silversea's MDR) but prefer the food in Silversea's Italian restaurant, La Terrazza to Regent's Sette Mari (Silversea is an Italian cruise line so that makes sense). The buffet restaurants are a toss up. We love the sushi and sashimi offered on Silversea every day but we also enjoy La Veranda on Regent.

The one thing we find difficult on Silversea is the dress code. My DH does wears a sports jacket on Regent and also wears dress shirts and nice slacks - even a tie sometimes. However, on Silversea, it seems that each night is either formal or informal (informal requires a jacket while formal requires either a dark suit and tie or tuxedo)) with very few night where you can dress as casually as you can dress on Regent. Silversea caters to Europeans (generally around 50+% of passengers are European) and the preference from their passengers is formal dress.

IMO, although we prefer Regent, Silversea is a good cruise line and compares favorably to Regent.

We have cruised 14 times on Silversea and about a dozen on Regent, you will be happy on either line.

We prefer Regent for entertainment--heads & shoulders above Silversea. Cuisine & Service about the same on either line, except the Italian restaurant on Silversea is our choice vs. La Veranda on Regent. This is a no-brainer since Silversea is an Italian owned luxury line. You will not pay for specialty restuarants on Regent (prime 7 & signatures/Chartreuse), conversely you will pay $60pp to dine in the French restaurant on Silversea.

Destinations/Guest services on both lines are good (xcept you pay for most of your excursions on Silversea and do not on Regent). Regent or Silversea? For us it is the Regent (Jan 23rd) or Silversea (Sept 12th) cruise we are on that we prefer.

Guess the best answer I can give you is if we were to book a cruise longer than two weeks it would be on Regent vs. Silversea--for us entertainment makes a difference.

Thanks Travel Cat. Both DH and I dress in suits etc every day. Sometimes it is nice to be more casual. He usually wears a jacket for dinner no matter what, but wearing a tie on holiday-not so much! I think there are only two formal nights. Those are always more flexible for women. I might have to do some arm twisting to make him pack a suit!:)

Thanks Travel Cat. Both DH and I dress in suits etc every day. Sometimes it is nice to be more casual. He usually wears a jacket for dinner no matter what, but wearing a tie on holiday-not so much! I think there are only two formal nights. Those are always more flexible for women. I might have to do some arm twisting to make him pack a suit!:)

Two formal night isn't bad but there are likely a few "informal" nights where he would still need a jacket. Still, I think you would enjoy Silversea.

On our last SilverSea cruise (London to Lisbon), DH wore a navy blazer, grey pants, dress shirt, and tie for formal nights. The blazer doubled on the plane for warmth and on informal nights with no tie.

The only time he's taken his tux was on Queen Mary II when we were able to drive to NYC to embark/disembark. That is also the only time I had a different dress for each night!

I have sailed on all Silversea ships, most recently the Muse. And, have sailed on most Regent ships except the Navigator and most recently the Explorer. I think TC very accurately describes the differences especially the stricter dress code and food comparisons. And Wes points out that the entertainment is better on Regent, as well—agree. The only feature in which Silversea surpasses Regent is its internet service. It is far better than Regent. But, if I had to choose between the two, it would definitely be Regent.

Been there, done both lines! I don't think you can go very far wrong with either line. We've done all of the Regent ships but would probably not do the Navigator again (never say never, but...haha!). I like the size of the little Navigator, but it doesn't sail very well and there's that stern vibration thing....We are most recently off the Mariner after doing the 25 day Amazon. We had excellent food, wonderful crew, can't think of a thing to complain about. Unfortunately looking ahead on Regent we didn't see any itinerary that grabbed us....and then there's the price. oy vey! Even with the included business air, excursions, etc. they are becoming out of our reach cost wise.

We did SS Spirit in April, Med itinerary. We enjoyed it very much. Yes, there is an extra cost for excursions, some of which are pretty pricey, but found the ones we did do, totally unique and worth the price. There is also a small upcharge for business air, which I thought was minimal. Economy is included. We liked our cabin (middle of the road veranda...or as John would say "Porch"!) Two TV's one in front of the bed and we both loved the bath. Very large, rain shower AND huge tub, double sinks...For some reason, it seemed roomier than comparable on Regent. We had a butler on SSS. Took wonderful care of us, very comfortable, wonderful demeanor. There is a charge for the "big gun" restaurants on SS. We did do La Dame (Le Champagne?) and had one of the best meals ever. Well worth it, in our opinion. Bottom line for us is we like the itineraries a little better on SS and the real bottom line, is we can afford them!

As I said, you can't go wrong with either. Aren't we lucky to have such first world decisions!

They are both fine. We have nearly 200 night on Regent, and nearly 100 on Silversea. My husband can hardly tell the difference except that he has to take a suit and tie for the Silversea voyages (not the expedition cruises).