Back from First Regent Cruise

[cAPS lOCK oN]

We got home last evening from our first Regent cruise, a 10 day Stockholm to London trip on the Voyager. I'm planning to do a full fledged review soon, but I just want to post here to say how much we both enjoyed the trip.

 

The Regent air arrangements were perfect, we liked the pre-cruise hotel (but we were in the minority on this one), and the food was uniformly very good, with some meals that were outstanding. Dinner in Prime 7, in particular, was fantastic. And both the ship itself and the service were impeccable. We were even $600 to the good in the casino!

 

The Regent tours were also mostly enjoyable, but mainly depended on the quality of the guide. We had the same guide for two of our tours in St. Petersburg, and she was very, very good. She made the city and its history come alive. But our Helsinki guide was not nearly as good.

 

We liked the experience so much that we purchased a future cruise certificate while onboard, so more Regent cruises will follow.

[Travelcat2]

Thank you for taking the time to post comments from your recent Voyager cruise. I'm curious....... did you stay at the Scandic in Stockholm? Some people on the second leg of our cruise stayed there -- their biggest complaint was that it didn't have air conditioning and it was unusually hot.

 

Happy to hear that you enjoyed your first Regent cruise and that you purchased a future cruise certificate. We purchased two during our Voyager cruise in July. Looking forward to reading your review.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[cAPS lOCK oN]

I'm curious....... did you stay at the Scandic in Stockholm? Some people on the second leg of our cruise stayed there -- their biggest complaint was that it didn't have air conditioning and it was unusually hot.

It was the Scandic Grand Central. It was in the high 80s the time we were there, and the room was not air conditioned. That was bad, but everything else about the hotel was fine. We were given a very large room with a walk out balcony, and there were only a few of those on the property. And it was ready at 9:00 in the morning.

 

We liked the bar, and the included breakfast was pretty good. And like the name implies, it had a central location. Plus it had a rock and roll vibe that we liked. We'd be happy to stay there again, but there was a lot of griping from people that didn't agree with me.

[Travelcat2]

Just realized that you were in Stockholm -- I was thinking Oslo (there is a Scandic there as well). We stayed in the same hotel -- loved the location -- loved the food. Our one gripe was that could hear the band playing from our 3rd floor room and we wanted to sleep.

[gnomie1]

It was the Scandic Grand Central. It was in the high 80s the time we were there, and the room was not air conditioned. .

 

 

When we were in Stockholm earlier this month, not only was it unusually hot, it was also very humid, something they are not accustomed to. It was very uncomfortable and I thought I was back in the States. Fortunately, the hotel we stayed at (The Sheraton) had air conditioning and ice machines. Due to the off and on again rain showers during our day of touring, it felt like we were in NYC on a hot, humid August day. We had unusually warm weather throughout our entire Baltic cruise - including three hot and sunny days in St. Pete.

 

gnomie :)

[jhp]

caps lock on:

 

Great to hear you had a nice first experience on Regent. Can't wait to hear more about the cruise, as I was hooked from my first one in 2000. It's funny, we just all love different things, and sounds like the hotel (other than the heat) suited you well, and others were disappointed. All with their own good reasons.

[tennisplayerlovestocruise]

We just returned yesterday from the Stockholm to London Voyager cruise. We booked our own air and Stockholm hotel ( Lydmar hotel) so were very pleased with them. We stayed the weekend in London at the end. We have done 3 Regent cruises and felt that this was the best as far as food, included wine choices, and service. All excellent! As other post said coffee is not their strong suit. We liked most ports, St. Petersburg was hot and very crowded. We did a lot of the ports on our own. The few tours we did were mixed. One great guide in St. Pete and one very poor. Good guides in Copenhagen and Brugge just not enough time.

[cAPS lOCK oN]

Yes, it was a shame our day in Bruges was cut short. It was such a fascinating place, and who knows if we'll ever get there again. Still, we found time to have mussels and fries with a fine Belgian beer, and later have a waffle. Plus chocolates, of course. Maybe it's a good thing we didn't have more time.

[2old4this]

We got home last evening from our first Regent cruise, a 10 day Stockholm to London trip on the Voyager. I'm planning to do a full fledged review soon, but I just want to post here to say how much we both enjoyed the trip.

 

The Regent air arrangements were perfect, we liked the pre-cruise hotel (but we were in the minority on this one), and the food was uniformly very good, with some meals that were outstanding. Dinner in Prime 7, in particular, was fantastic. And both the ship itself and the service were impeccable. We were even $600 to the good in the casino!

 

The Regent tours were also mostly enjoyable, but mainly depended on the quality of the guide. We had the same guide for two of our tours in St. Petersburg, and she was very, very good. She made the city and its history come alive. But our Helsinki guide was not nearly as good.

 

We liked the experience so much that we purchased a future cruise certificate while onboard, so more Regent cruises will follow.

 

I'm not new to Regent but have never heard about cruise certificates. Can you elaborate a bit. What's the benefit to buying one?

[rcandkc]

We are on the Voyager now. We picked up when you left. We have been all around Scotland and third port in Ireland. The service on the ship has been outstanding! Your warm weather turned chilly and rainy😳. It will be quite a shock to go back to 100 degree weather in Texas!

[KathyPet]

I'm not new to Regent but have never heard about cruise certificates. Can you elaborate a bit. What's the benefit to buying one?

 

 

Check out the thread entitled "Benefits of booking On Board". it is very recent and should be on the first page

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for your report.

[Dizziedi]

I look forward to your reviews (hope it includes photos:)). We are on our first RSS cruise on the Mariner in December and very much looking forward to it.

 

Cheers

Di

[cAPS lOCK oN]

I did write a detailed review, but cruise critic ate it, unfortunately. I'm trying to get motivated to do it again.

[opilo]

First time on Regent and it's interesting but not better than other ships at the penthouse level. While everyone raves about Prime 7, our dinner was mediocre with poor service (perhaps an off night). The Compass has done better so far.

 

The coffee isn't great as noted by others. The best part has been meeting and talking to other guests many of whom are also newbies. Overall I'm not sure it's that great of a value, but the trip isn't over yet.

 

The tours have varied in quality with too many of us crammed on board with lousy guides. Still much for the"free" tours included with the package.

[JPR]

Mariner is the only Regent ship where the higher price of a Penthouse suite is justified, unless you feel that a butler is worth the higher price. Significantly larger space, which is not the case on Voyager or Navigator. (We do favor the PH suites on Oceania's "O"ships.)

[FDV]

First time on Regent and it's interesting but not better than other ships at the penthouse level. While everyone raves about Prime 7, our dinner was mediocre with poor service (perhaps an off night). The Compass has done better so far.

 

The coffee isn't great as noted by others. The best part has been meeting and talking to other guests many of whom are also newbies. Overall I'm not sure it's that great of a value, but the trip isn't over yet.

 

The tours have varied in quality with too many of us crammed on board with lousy guides. Still much for the"free" tours included with the package.

 

 

Thank you for your report hopefully the things you mention improve before your cruise is over.

Many of the concerns you point out is why really dont cruise Regent anymore, our last two cruises were very disappointing, and the price increases in my opinion we have found other values out there with better service/food and ports...

[quepaquete]

I did write a detailed review, but cruise critic ate it, unfortunately. I'm trying to get motivated to do it again.

 

I guess I'm not alone, I wrote a detail review of our first Regent cruise last December. It was up a day or so, then was gone. I figure someone didn't like my comments, even though they were mostly on the positive side. It was pretty long too, maybe that was the issue. I didn't bother to repost it.

 

Jorge

[Travelcat2]

I guess I'm not alone, I wrote a detail review of our first Regent cruise last December. It was up a day or so, then was gone. I figure someone didn't like my comments, even though they were mostly on the positive side. It was pretty long too, maybe that was the issue. I didn't bother to repost it.

 

Jorge

 

If you still have a copy of your review, please submit it to Cruise Critic in the "Review" section. It will stay there forever - no one can argue with you and many people do read it. I, for one, would like to read it:)

[TedC]

Me too!!!!!