So... Luxury costs so much more?

[computerworks]

You make the call...

 

$120 difference between sailing on Regent and sailing on Norwegian. :p

 

Yeah... I know... NCL cruise is one more day... but the cabin is about half the size, so I call that a draw.

 

 

<BOOM>...

[Travelcat2]

Wow!

[nana541]

Not surprised.... My math often comes out this way :)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[newlondon]

BZ computerworks:) I have compared costs and actually it is when one goes to Crystal or SS that the freight gets heavy.

[wripro]

The fallacy in that fare comparison is that on Norwegian one is not obligated to take the tours, the unlimited beverage package or dine in the specialty restaurants. Those costs alone are $1750, bringing the cost of the Norwegian cruise down to $2030 or $203 per day.

[newlondon]

I believe it is comparing experience to experience. You are right wripro about choices; but, if one wants to be all in the numbers speak for themselves. BTW the Crystal and SS numbers are a mix of both.

[Travelcat2]

I thought that the comparison was interesting (even though the cabin size on NCL was almost half that of the Navigator). We have done endless $$$ comparisons with Seabourn, Silversea, Crystal and Oceania. In almost every case, Crystal comes out higher than Regent when we go to the size cabin that we have on Regent. Oceania is also more expensive but that is because we want a larger suite and pay a lot of $$$ for the alcohol package*. Also, the upgrade to Business Class is a lot more than Regent. Seabourn appears to have some great deals - until you add on Business Class Air. Silversea has some itineraries that about equal to Regent (without excursions).

 

 

*I just did a quick price comparison of Caribbean cruises on Oceania Regent. The per diem on Regent is $353/person/night for a 301 sq. ft. suite (not counting balcony) while Oceania is $323/person/night for a 242 sq. ft. suite. Once you add tips, alcohol, internet or whatever else you would like on Oceania, it would obviously be more $$ than Regent.

 

Sometimes it is fun to play around with numbers.

[computerworks]

The fallacy in that fare comparison is that on Norwegian one is not obligated to take the tours, the unlimited beverage package or dine in the specialty restaurants. Those costs alone are $1750, bringing the cost of the Norwegian cruise down to $2030 or $203 per day.

 

There is NO fallacy... that is precisely what we would spend if we sailed on the Sun.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Here's another one, yes it's fun:

 

Both Istanbul - Istanbul, 10 days, September 2015:

 

Regent Mariner, minimum balcony, H, $9299 pp

Oceania Riviera, minimum balcony, B4, $5999 pp

 

(we'll leave the issue of business air upgrades out of this, except to say that the Regent price would be $2598 per person.)

 

Excursions: included on Regent of course, on Oceania, most pax organize their own and piggy-back with each other. That means they get superior excursions, for a good price. Let's say $100 per excursion, $800 pp

 

Booze: if it's still $60 per day, that's $600 pp extra for the Oceania side

 

(Internet: well, not everyone on Regent gets free internet, so let's leave that out. But it's not a big deal, especially on a port-intensive trip like this.)

 

Tips: many TA's or Oceania themselves comp the tips. But if you have to pay them, I can't remember what they are, but let's say $30 per day pp. So that's $300 pp.

 

So you have to add $800 + $600 + $300 to the Oceania side of the tab, i.e.,

 

Regent Mariner, minimum balcony, H, $9299 pp

Oceania Riviera, minimum balcony, B4, $7700 pp

 

So, a significant difference, about $1500 per person, not overwhelming. Little enough difference that the business upgrade might seal the deal on the Regent side, although I can content myself with Premium Economy air. And I'd rather do the work of getting organized with private excursions on Oceania than doing the bus trip thing on Regent, frankly.

[Sunprince]

Here is a comparison between a 10 day Regent Mariner Med cruise for summer 2015 vs a similar (but not exact itinerary) 10 day Silversea. I will include business class air on this one.

 

Regent - lowest cat that allows you to select a suite # is $9399 plus $2600 for business air = $11,999 per person

 

Silversea - Silver Spirit, July 10 Venice to Istanbul, Veranda 1 $5550 plus $3500 (business air on British Air estimated on Kayak from Toronto) = $9050 plus excursions (say $800) for a grand total of $9850.

 

Regent = $11,999 or $1199 pp per day

Silversea = $ 9850 or $985 pp per day

 

Difference = $2149 per person.

 

So my question is, if comparing luxury lines and although Silversea and Regent are not identical, why such a high premium for Regent over Silversea? And is it worth it?

[Travelcat2]

Here is a comparison between a 10 day Regent Mariner Med cruise for summer 2015 vs a similar (but not exact itinerary) 10 day Silversea. I will include business class air on this one.

 

Regent - lowest cat that allows you to select a suite # is $9399 plus $2600 for business air = $11,999 per person

 

Silversea - Silver Spirit, July 10 Venice to Istanbul, Veranda 1 $5550 plus $3500 (business air on British Air estimated on Kayak from Toronto) = $9050 plus excursions (say $800) for a grand total of $9850.

 

Regent = $11,999 or $1199 pp per day

Silversea = $ 9850 or $985 pp per day

 

Difference = $2149 per person.

 

So my question is, if comparing luxury lines and although Silversea and Regent are not identical, why such a high premium for Regent over Silversea? And is it worth it?

 

Good comparison. We have sailed on both cruise lines and do enjoy Silversea (upper suites only). For us it would depend upon which ships you are comparing. In the example you used, we would select Regent. If Silversea was using the Shadow or Whisper, we would pick Silversea.

[Sunprince]

Good comparison. We have sailed on both cruise lines and do enjoy Silversea (upper suites only). For us it would depend upon which ships you are comparing. In the example you used, we would select Regent. If Silversea was using the Shadow or Whisper, we would pick Silversea.

 

As I mentioned in my original post I was comparing Regent Mariner vs Silversea Silver Spirit. Silversea also has the Silver Wind in the Med and price comparison is similar to the Spirit. I believe the Whisper is in the Baltics and the Shadow in Alaska as per usual.

[poss]

Not only do I not find working with numbers fun, but I am absolutely inept at such games. Might anyone be interested in doing a comparison for me between Regent (Navigator) in Alaska July 2015 and Silver Sea (Shadow)?

 

I'm kind of hesitant to try something new (Silver Sea), though Navigator would be new to us also, as we've sailed on Mariner and Voyager a number of times, but not Navigator. Would absolutely love to do the Mariner in 2016 (have visited Alaska before on Mariner-- perfect ship for it), a wonderful 14 day cruise, but not sure we'll be "perpendicular and taking nourishment" by then, as we oldsters here in southern FL sometimes say.

 

Not sure that we could get with the non-all-inclusive either, though I haven't yet really checked into the way Silver Sea works.

 

We'd want a veranda suite. And business air.

 

Thanks in advance to anyone who's willing to play the number game for for me.

[pingpong1]

Okay, gang - This all (maybe :() is tongue in cheek here.....but if we use our math exercises to prove to Regent that their cruises are really a "bargain" (compared to NCL, Silversea, and Oceania) I hope they don't use this information against us to decide "we all don't pay enough now for the privilege of choosing Regent". :eek:

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Not only do I not find working with numbers fun, but I am absolutely inept at such games. Might anyone be interested in doing a comparison for me between Regent (Navigator) in Alaska July 2015 and Silver Sea (Shadow)?

 

I'm kind of hesitant to try something new (Silver Sea), though Navigator would be new to us also, as we've sailed on Mariner and Voyager a number of times, but not Navigator. Would absolutely love to do the Mariner in 2016 (have visited Alaska before on Mariner-- perfect ship for it), a wonderful 14 day cruise, but not sure we'll be "perpendicular and taking nourishment" by then, as we oldsters here in southern FL sometimes say.

 

Not sure that we could get with the non-all-inclusive either, though I haven't yet really checked into the way Silver Sea works.

 

We'd want a veranda suite. And business air.

 

Thanks in advance to anyone who's willing to play the number game for for me.

 

Poss, glad to hear you're still fighting and perpendicular!

 

This is a tough one, for a variety of reasons. To start with, Regent's included excursions are fairly valuable in Alaska, although their "nominal" value is not what Regent says they are. And it's nice to be able to just choose excursions, and not have to research them yourself, so that's in Regent's favour. And Silver Sea doesn't list any excursions that I can find on their website, so don't know about their prices either.

 

The other thing is that cruises in July, on Regent, are Vancouver - Anchorage or the reverse, whereas Silver Sea's are Vancouver to Vancouver, so that might play into the decision--flying in and out of the same destination might be an advantage to you.

 

Regent doesn't offer, as far as I know, Business upgrades within North America. So you'd have to "pay the freight". And I believe that Silver Sea fares don't include air, they rather offer "specially priced airfare", both economy and business.

 

So no easy answers I'm afraid, at least from me.

[Travelcat2]

Okay, gang - This all (maybe :() is tongue in cheek here.....but if we use our math exercises to prove to Regent that their cruises are really a "bargain" (compared to NCL, Silversea, and Oceania) I hope they don't use this information against us to decide "we all don't pay enough now for the privilege of choosing Regent". :eek:

 

Hi poss - always GREAT to see you on the Regent board. IMO, Regent is not a "bargain" by any means. And, although I did a Regent/Oceania comparison, I believe 100% that I was comparing apples and oranges (in terms of NCL, I think they were comparing applies and rotten grapes - JMO -- I have always thought of NCL as the bottom of the bunch and so far have not changed my opinion).

 

In terms of Silversea, etc. I do feel that there are interesting comparisons. The only area where Silversea falls short (besides formal dress code which I'm trying to ignore) is that the ships are not being maintained as well as Regent's ships are. We have been on all three "styles" of ship -- only sailed on two. We would not sail on their small ships and felt that the Spirit was ........ trying to be polite....... okay - the Silver Spirit is what one would think of when you need to cut corners as much as possible -- it was built during the downturn of the economy). We would sail Silversea again ....... only on the Whisper or Shadow and only if they offered an itinerary that Regent does not offer.

 

There will be Silversea customers who will disagree with me. IMO, Regent, despite the fact that we have to pay for included excursions is the right fit for us. It may not be for other people - after all, everyone has their preferences. Posters on CC kept trying to make us try other cruise lines. So, we did and still prefer Regent. At this point, we are not going to pay to try Seabourn or Crystal -- both of which may be great cruise lines -- just not for us.

Edited November 10, 2014 by Travelcat2

[Travelcat2]

Just realized that my post was in response to pingpong1 - not poss. Alaska in July means kids, kids and more kids on Regent. Silversea does not indicate a special children program on their itinerary.

 

For a Vista suite on Silversea (287 sq. ft.), the cost of $3,850 plus air (estimated at $1,000 on their website).

 

For a window suite on the Navigator (301 sq. ft.), the cost is $5,599 including air.

 

IMO, the Shadow is considerably better than the Navigator. Both are approximately the same size but the Shadow holds 100 less passengers than the Navigator (50 less suites) so the Shadow has lovely public spaces. IMO, the Navigator can be very cramped when the weather is cold and people are all inside.

 

So, for me it would be a no brainer -- definitely Silversea!

[ChatKat in Ca.]

Alaska excursions are very easy to do yourself. You are not in a foreign country, the dollar is the same there as here in the USA, you speak the language.

 

For a lot less money. When I went last with a group my TA put together, before included excursions, it was about 1/3 the Regent price and that was before PCH took over. I arranged a bunch of tours for the group. While the ship is lovely - the Navigator's lack of forward lounge would be a detriment to the Alaska experience.

[lincslady]

I am too lazy and probably stupid to bother doing these detailed comparisons on price; however, we have sailed Regent quite a lot in the past, and also Silversea, Seadream and Seabourn, and definitely nowadays only like 'luxury' all inclusive and smaller ships.

 

Taking off air costs, which are only included on Regent, my rough comparisons from the UK always show Regent to be a lot more expensive than the others (apart from Seadream, which is ridiculously expensive), and Seabourn the least expensive. Obviously this has a lot to do with the included excursions on Regent, and if we could have an allowance for not doing these we would probably come back to Regent from Seabourn - we now only cruise in Europe and have been most places, and prefer to just go off on our own now. So, sadly, no more Regent for us. We do also prefer to be on ships with fewer than 700 passengers. We keep getting emails from Graham Sadler with 'special offers', but never enticing enough to make us book.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Alaska excursions are very easy to do yourself. You are not in a foreign country, the dollar is the same there as here in the USA, you speak the language.

 

For a lot less money. ... While the ship is lovely - the Navigator's lack of forward lounge would be a detriment to the Alaska experience.

 

I agree about the excursions, Kathy, just thought that perhaps someone like poss might not want the hassle. Of course, don't know what kind of prices Silversea charges for excursions, they might be good.

 

As for Navigator, yes it's small, and La Verandah gets crowded at lunchtime, especially if everyone is coming back from excursions all at once and trying to get a bite before it closes. I personally loved the aft observation lounge on Navigator (Galileo's), with the large outdoor area (and heaters.) Admit that viewing areas were sparse when the weather got really brisk and outdoor viewing wasn't an option.

[sea lover]

I would like to see what happens when you consider the single supplement when you compare the different cruise lines. Should be very interesting.

[sea lover]

I would like to see what happens when you consider the single supplement for the solo traveler when you compare the different cruise lines. Should be very interesting.

[Travelcat2]

Since there is a 100% single supplement on most cruises, you would double the cost of the Regent cruise. Silversea runs several cruises with a low single supplement -- not certain about Crystal or Seabourn.

[xrvlcruiser]

Jackie,

 

I think Elaine's (sea lover) point is that virtually all cabins are 200% for singles - Crystal for example is less (150% I think). Between the people who are out priced by the new policy and others who sailed with Regent in the past, before that policy came into effect and object on principal, it is a reason not to sail with Regent.

 

Yes, I know that previously a PH was 200% for singles and that some of the Concierge cabins are 175% now but the standard cabins were not 200% in the past.

 

Apparently the new rule has not stopped the ship from filling up.

 

Just to clarify.

 

Peggy

[Travelcat2]

Thanks Peggy. Hopefully the Explorer will have nice single suites.