Once you try Regent, you ever go back to Celebrity?

[california and cruising]

Why no Celebrity? What didn't you like about it?

[IndiTravler]

2 hours ago, california and cruising said:

Why no Celebrity? What didn't you like about it?

 

It was my cumulative experience that made for a very bad first impression.  Torn sheets on the bed, broken balcony glass, getting water dumped on me when they turn on the window washing for the bridge, lousy food, feeling like a second class citizen because I was in a basic cabin and it was my first Celebrity cruise, to not having the cruise we booked becuase damn near every port changed, to finally having lousy birthing posts at every port.    And of course it was closer in price to Regent than Princess.  

 

I see no reason to go back.  

Edited February 19, 2019 by IndiTravler
Typo

[Diamond lover]

1 hour ago, IndiTravler said:

 

It was my cumulative experience that made for a very bad first impression.  Torn sheets on the bed, broken balcony glass, getting water dumped on me when they turn on the window washing for the bridge, lousy food, feeling like a second class citizen because I was in a basic cabin and it was my first Celebrity cruise, to not having the cruise we booked becuase damn near every port changed, to finally having lousy birthing posts at every port.    And of course it was closer in price to Regent than Princess.  

 

I see no reason to go back.  

 

Wow!  What a nightmare.  I am so sorry for your experience, I do not blame you for never returning!  Thank goodness I have never encountered the likes of that.  On Celebrity or Regent.  Although once, on Regent (Radisson at the time) we had our itinerary altered so that a large group could go to Porto Cervo to golf.  That was a very unwelcome change. I know how crappy that feels (but thankfully haven’t ever had torn sheets etal!)

[IndiTravler]

43 minutes ago, Diamond lover said:

 

Wow!  What a nightmare.  I am so sorry for your experience, I do not blame you for never returning!  Thank goodness I have never encountered the likes of that.  On Celebrity or Regent.  Although once, on Regent (Radisson at the time) we had our itinerary altered so that a large group could go to Porto Cervo to golf.  That was a very unwelcome change. I know how crappy that feels (but thankfully haven’t ever had torn sheets etal!)

 

Well from all the great Celebrity reviews, I’ve read, I experienced the exception, not the rule.   But still, I'm going to stick where I’ve had good experiences.  

[UUNetBill]

 

17 hours ago, IndiTravler said:

I’ve been on Celebrity once.   I’ll never do another. 

 

At at this point I’m happy to alternate between Regent for us and Princess when traveling with friends and family who don’t want to pay Regent prices.  Some day I’ll branch out to Silversea for the expeditions to the Galapagos and Antarctica.  

 

For me it’s setting my expectations according.    I don’t pay Regent prices on Princess, but I don’t get the cabin, service, food, soda, coffee, and booze either.  

That's what we discovered about 10 years ago - if you take a cruise on either a mainstream or premium line and upgrade the cabin, food, booze, air, etc. to a level that's included in a Regent fare, well, the price is pretty durn close to what you pay with Regent...and it's all just one check up front, not the nickel-and-diming you get on another line.  I absolutely hated having to swipe my card every time I wanted a beer or something...and getting the invoices throughout the cruise - ugh.

 

We, too, have done one cruise away from Regent, our second cruise - on Cunard, and not even being in a Grille suite it was getting pretty close to what we'd have paid for a Regent cruise when it was all said and done.  We went back to Regent and have been there ever since.  I think I could be happy on another luxury line like Seabourn, Crystal, etc. - but it'd have to be the perfect itinerary and time of year for us.  With limited vacation time and funds, we need to be sure that whatever we do on a vacation is worth our time and money - and so far, Regent hasn't disappointed.  Also, all things being equal we'll book Regent just to keep adding nights toward our next SSS level.  Yep, we're victims of the loyalty ploy.   

 

I'd rather cruise less often on Regent than more often on a bigger ship...but that's just me...

Edited February 19, 2019 by UUNetBill
Fixed some weird Rich Text formatting...

[Diamond lover]

2 hours ago, UUNetBill said:

That's what we discovered about 10 years ago - if you take a cruise on either a mainstream or premium line and upgrade the cabin, food, booze, air, etc. to a level that's included in a Regent fare, well, the price is pretty durn close to what you pay with Regent...and it's all just one check up front, not the nickel-and-diming you get on another line.  I absolutely hated having to swipe my card every time I wanted a beer or something...and getting the invoices throughout the cruise - ugh.

 

Well, not quite....I mean, I'm "Gold" with Regent, but I still couldn't possibly get "darn close" to the price I just paid for my Celebrity Solstice cruise next week.  It's 16 nights, in a suite (the lowest of their suites, granted, a "Sky Suite", but it still comes with a separate dining room, "Michaels" club for drinks, and a butler).  

 

I have premium beverage package (which includes some very nice wines, martinis and single malts, as noted from my September cruise on Celebrity), $500 shipboard credit (not sure what for), unlimited internet, prepaid gratuities (always loved the 'no" gratuities on Regent), as well as priority embarkation, disembarkation, and tendering (huge for me).  And a suite "concierge" to navigate through the hassles.  

 

This cost me less than $9500 CANADIAN for the cabin, for two of us.  I emphasize the Canadian.  Right now that would be  just over $7000 USD for the cabin for 16 nights.  If you can find me that option on Regent, puleeeeeeez let me know, I'd be running right back, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.  There's so much I miss about Regent, but once I was honing in on retirement (after a life in Public Service as a first responder, so not exactly a CEO of anything), I realized "bang for the buck" was really important if I wanted to grab a hold of life and travel as much as humanly possible.

 

Besides, I never got over the loss of the Diamond :(

 

P.S.  the photo you see is of Mike and I getting married on The Paul Gauguin in Bora Bora, when the PG was part of the Radisson Seven Seas Fleet.  I loved that ship!  Not as much as the Diamond though!

 

People think my cruise critic name is about the stone, but it's not.  I cruised so many times on the Radisson Diamond, and it broke my heart when they sold it.  Especially knowing it's a floating Casino in Hong Kong now, and I don't gamble.  SO UNFAIR!

 

Edited February 19, 2019 by Diamond lover

[Sheltieluv]

For us, it's not just about the cost, the size of the ship is a huge factor for us.  We can only afford to cruise with Regent every 2 years or so, but as Bill states in his above post, "I'd rather cruise less often on Regent than more often on a bigger ship..." 

We were on the QM2 a few years ago on a transatlantic.   Beautiful ship, but way too big.  Thank goodness dh had some military obc....those drink prices...Ouch!

So in our case, finances are a factor, but we feel Regent is well worth the wait while we save for our cruise fare!😊

[UUNetBill]

48 minutes ago, Diamond lover said:

 

Well, not quite....I mean, I'm "Gold" with Regent, but I still couldn't possibly get "darn close" to the price I just paid for my Celebrity Solstice cruise next week.  It's 16 nights, in a suite (the lowest of their suites, granted, a "Sky Suite", but it still comes with a separate dining room, "Michaels" club for drinks, and a butler).  

 

I have premium beverage package (which includes some very nice wines, martinis and single malts, as noted from my September cruise on Celebrity), $500 shipboard credit (not sure what for), unlimited internet, prepaid gratuities (always loved the 'no" gratuities on Regent), as well as priority embarkation, disembarkation, and tendering (huge for me).  And a suite "concierge" to navigate through the hassles.  

 

This cost me less than $9500 CANADIAN for the cabin, for two of us.  I emphasize the Canadian.  Right now that would be  just over $7000 USD for the cabin for 16 nights.  If you can find me that option on Regent, puleeeeeeez let me know, I'd be running right back, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.  There's so much I miss about Regent, but once I was honing in on retirement (after a life in Public Service as a first responder, so not exactly a CEO of anything), I realized "bang for the buck" was really important if I wanted to grab a hold of life and travel as much as humanly possible.

 

Besides, I never got over the loss of the Diamond 😞

 

P.S.  the photo you see is of Mike and I getting married on The Paul Gauguin in Bora Bora, when the PG was part of the Radisson Seven Seas Fleet.  I loved that ship!  Not as much as the Diamond though!

 

People think my cruise critic name is about the stone, but it's not.  I cruised so many times on the Radisson Diamond, and it broke my heart when they sold it.  Especially knowing it's a floating Casino in Hong Kong now, and I don't gamble.  SO UNFAIR!

 

Well, okay, you make a valid point on this one - the closest I can find on Regent is a 14-night on Voyager for $18K/pp, so even taking into account the $8/K/pp air credit it's still a pretty substantial difference.  You can buy a lot of shore excursions and whatnot for the price difference on that one.

 

I guess the price gap is more substantial in certain regions - specifically looking at the Caribbean last month, the price difference all-in was negligible in my book.  But comparing an Aus/NZ sailing, well, yeah, it's noticeable.  Very noticeable.

 

Maybe I need to look into doing the upper end on a larger ship - but then again, I absolutely HATE crowds, so there's that.  But just a quick comparison shows that your booked cruise seems to be a heckuva deal, and it looks like a great itinerary - I'm sure you'll have an awesome time 'downunda'.   :-)

 

27 minutes ago, Sheltieluv said:

For us, it's not just about the cost, the size of the ship is a huge factor for us.  We can only afford to cruise with Regent every 2 years or so, but as Bill states in his above post, "I'd rather cruise less often on Regent than more often on a bigger ship..." 

We were on the QM2 a few years ago on a transatlantic.   Beautiful ship, but way too big.  Thank goodness dh had some military obc....those drink prices...Ouch!

So in our case, finances are a factor, but we feel Regent is well worth the wait while we save for our cruise fare!😊

Sheltieluv - we, too, had the military OBC and we burned through that REAL quick.  I agree that the QM2 is beautiful, but what's the passenger load, like 2,600-2,800 people?  And that seemed like too many - I can NOT imagine being on a ship with 6,500 or more passengers.  I get the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it...

[california and cruising]

That's what I too have found out researching. We took a RSSC back when it was Radisson on the Paul Gauguin to Tahiti and then one to Canada New England and they both were wonderful. But at this point the price differences are way more than the main stream cruises. We could eat every night in the specialty restaurants and have quite a bit of money left for shore excursions. I desperately would love to cruise them again, but the price difference is huge.

[Sheltieluv]

Bill, the QM2 carries around 2700 passengers.  And that's "small" compared to some of the ships out there today, as you know.   We found the dress code to be way too restrictive,  and the food didn't compare favorably at all to Regent.  If I mention another cruise line (based solely on itinerary), my husband's first question is always "how many people onboard?"  I can't imagine being on one of those behemoths, but that's just us.  It's nice to have choices!

[Dolebludger]

We've been on more Regent and Radisson cruises than I can count. This includes some back early in the century when the per diem for a 7 nighter was a little over $2K pp. Because of the geometrically higher prices for Regent today, we do a lot of staying home! Don't feel like shelling out for a Regent cruise, and certainly don't want to take a cruise where nickel and dimming is the rule. We have tried some alternatives, like Royal Suite Celebrity cruises. Yes, there were places on the ships with crowds and lines, but as suite guests, we didn't have to go to those parts of the ship. And yes, all was included onboard. The price was more reasonable and suites were MUCH larger than on Regent. Another alternative is the MSC Yacht Club, which is a separate part of the ship with entry by card only. Separate everything -- including uncrowded pool -- and inclusive. 

 

Yes we will consider these alternatives in the future,

[UUNetBill]

1 hour ago, Dolebludger said:

We've been on more Regent and Radisson cruises than I can count. This includes some back early in the century when the per diem for a 7 nighter was a little over $2K pp.

I'm assuming you mean the fare was a little over $2K/pp.  They're usually only around $500-1,000/pp per diem today...

[Dolebludger]

Yes I did mean,a little over $2K pp for a 7 nighter. My bad. I haven't seen any Regent cruises for $500 per diem pp for a 7 nigher (a total of $3500 pp for the cruise) in a long time. 

[UUNetBill]

4 minutes ago, Dolebludger said:

Yes I did mean,a little over $2K pp for a 7 nighter. My bad. I haven't seen any Regent cruises for $500 per diem pp for a 7 nigher (a total of $3500 pp for the cruise) in a long time. 

DB - we just did a 10-night in the Caribbean last month for something like $5,500/pp.  We took an H Gty and got a bump to a PH C, which was very nice.  Still not cheap, by any means - but about half of what we spend to go to the Med.  So it wasn't $500 per diem but it was pretty close.  Probably the least expensive way to get the 'Regent Experience'.

[Travelcat2]

Think that I posted on this thread previously.  in my opinion, there is absolutely no comparison between Regent and Celebrity.  Even though we stayed in one of the top suites......the price is cheap......we had a promotion where we did not pay for alcohol, tips, specialty restaurants and had a $300 OBC (which we used as Celebrity has dirt cheap sales on gift items,  the downsides were there.

 

The absolute worst part of the cruise was muster.  It should be illegal.  Our “muster station” (should be called a cattle call) was so full that there were no where near enough seats - the venue was hot. - could not hear the announcements and many passengers (including my husband) thought that they would faint from the lack of air.  We were stuck there for 45 minutes.

 

Suite restaurant was good but was closed most of the time.  Suite bar was lovely - no complaints except that their promised afternoon tea never occurred.  We were told by others that it was crap anyway.

 

Food on the buffet was beautiful but as close to garbage as one could get.  There were “almost” no other options for a sit down meal.  One place had hamburgers and a few seats.  The hamburgers were taken out of a warmer and I think I would have preferred eating cardboard.  The Asian restaurant was open a couple of times for lunch and it was good (not sure if other passengers had to pay for lunch in this dining venue).  We basically had to go outside for lunch every day.

 

I realize that some ships are better than others and that the new ship looks enticing.  However, unless you are sailing with kids or family (and the kid program is nowhere a good as NCL), most Regent cruisers (not all)) would not enjoy the experience.

 

Currently on Explorer and am quite surprised that this thread is still alive.  You get what you pay for and Celebrity, in our opinion, is worth the very low price that we paid for it but is not something that we would likely do again (although my DH thinks that the “Petite Chef” restaurant is a hoot and has the best food on Celebrity.

 

 

[Diamond lover]

7 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

Yes I did mean,a little over $2K pp for a 7 nighter. My bad. I haven't seen any Regent cruises for $500 per diem pp for a 7 nigher (a total of $3500 pp for the cruise) in a long time. 

 

Dolebludger you and I used to banter back and forth so much on my Radisson days.  You were such a resource!  Not being able to afford to travel Regent any more has its pros (do not miss the obnoxious snobs, as evidenced on this thread recently), but It sure has its cons.

 

I miss Jeremy Kingston’s dry wit.  I miss Neil Broomhalls charm.  I miss John’s Mc’s kilt on formal nights.  I miss gorgeous Giuseppe and ornery Fabrizio. I miss drinks with Andre N.   I miss  Alex and Jerry and Roberto, all the old “Don Vito” crowd.   BUT.....they are all gone anyway.  Those left when I still sailed....Regent got rid of them pretty quickly.

 

i am comfortable enough in my own skin to enjoy myself with most crowds on most ships on most days.  And glad to know that you are too!

 

but this is a long overdue thank you for all the insight you provided years ago to this sailing novice.  My Gold status will remain, but my Regent days have sadly passed $$

 

Charlene 

 

 

[Dolebludger]

Charline, 

 

Thank you for remembering me from the "old days".  To be clear, I still enjoy going on Regent the times when I feel it makes some degree of financial sense for us. But many things have changed since then, and there is more to it than Regent's fares. For one thing, I'm no longer a "kid" in my 50s -- I am 75. As the airlines have shrunk seating in economy, I must buy my own business/first air for non-intercontinental legs for which Regent does not provide such -- or else suffer. And business/first air fares have risen greatly in recent years. Due to age and increasing lack of airline reliability we are no longer able to fly directly from home to the ship but have a pre and post night in a hotel -- usually at or near the port. All these factors combine with Regent's higher fares to deter us from cruising Regent often, as we used to do when the economics were different. The combination of these factors has caused us to seek alternatives that suit us (which might not suit everybody). We recently booked a 7 nighter in the MSC Yacht Club for a European cruise out of Southhampton, but we cancelled. The cruise would have been in a separate upscale area of the ship and all inclusive onboard at a cost of only $4200 for both. We cancelled when we learned that business/first air for us would cost $5000 for both and that ground transport to Southhampton from the nearest airport would total $600. Then, there would be hotel expense. So there are many factors involved, in addition to Regent's fares. We are now looking to visit interesting parts of the USA we haven't visited. And we now even live in such a place (Durango CO). So, beyond your statement that your Regent days have passed, I fear that our cruising days may have passed.

[Diamond lover]

2 minutes ago, Dolebludger said:

So, beyond your statement that your Regent days have passed, I fear that our cruising days may have passed.

 

Aw, bless Dolebludger.  I understand everything you are saying.  I saved up aeroplan (Star Alliance) points to travel to Perth from Toronto Business class, and then paid for our return flight business class (can't imagine 30 hours of travel any other way, I'd rather not go!)  I managed to get Mike and I both back from Christchurch to Toronto for $7700 Canadian on Virgin Atlantic, thank God.

 

I'm no longer a "kid" in my 50's either...but I just turned 60 lol!  And retired.  So now, being a pensioner, I have to be a bit more careful about how I spend my dollars.  I love to travel, though, this year alone I have 3 trips to the UK (and Normandy for the 75th anniversary of D-Day), this upcoming Aussie NZ cruise, and Italy again (my favourite).  And as you have pointed out, I best do it while I can!  Hopefully plenty of time later to travel more of Canada and the USA.  

 

Love Colorado!  I used to go to Colorado Springs every September to play with my Pipe Band (Toronto Fire Services) for the annual International Firefighter Memorial Service.  

 

I have met some wonderful people on Cunard, Celebrity, Princess, NCL, and I have never had difficulty having fun on any cruise line.  I often say I miss "Regent", but the truth is (and you'll get this), I miss Radisson!

 

Cheers my friend xo

[Travelcat2]

If you sailed Regent in the past, you would likely know that there are few, if any, snobs on Regent ships.  One would not necessarily compare  NCL (a sister company) and a mainstream cruise line ,to Celebrity — a premium cruise line as Celebrity is far superior.

 

As I just mentioned, Celebrity is a premium cruise line and then you have premium plus (aka luxury lite) cruise lines and finally luxury lines. Each level of cruise line has their pluses and minuses. in my opinion, a closer comparison to Regent would be Viking Ocean, Azamara or Oceania.  Oceania customers in particular (another sister company to Regent) tend to not want the all-inclusivity that Regent has.  Everyone has different tastes and so many options which is good.

 

I did not badmouth Celebrity when I reviewed the cruise (except that muster, a VERY important part of a cruise, and Celebrity would have received a failing grade) We love some of Celebrity’s restaurants but did not care for the buffet (nor do we care for the buffet on Oceania).  

 

We like the intuitive service on Regent.   We currently are on Regent’s Explorer and spoke with a couple that sailed on Viking Ocean and, while they like Viking Ocean, they appreciate the intuitive service on Regent.  Many things that are already in your suite on Regent need to be requested on Viking Ocean. 

 

Also, food is subjective.  Both Oceania and Celebrity has beautiful buffets.  On Oceania there is sushi, lobster tail, cooked to order steak, etc.  Howevever, we do not like the quality of either Celebrity’s or Oceania’s bufffet.  Others love it.  Does this make us snobs?  I don’t think so.

 

We sailed Radisson in 2004 - 2006.  Now, in 2018 - two owners later, the ships are in much better condition, and there have been a lot of changes.  Some good - some not so good.   Radisson was great and they gave passengers more than value for money.  On the other hand, prices were so much better in 2004 than in 2019.  Things change ..... that is the way of life.

 

Perhaps some posters should think twice before judging other posters.

 

Dolebludger - you and I have discussed Regent several times and I do agree that their increasing fares is concerning.  However, you really can sail on Regent without paying an extra cent if you:

 

1.  Book a concierge class suite which includes the hotel and transfer to the ship.  Or, take the hotel credit.  We easily find a hotel for less money than the credit that we received so if we needed transfers it would not be an issue.

 

2.  Book foreign airlines if you can.  This will eliminate stops in the U.S. that are coach as this is something that you do not care for.  We have flown British Airways, Lufthansa and Cathay Pacific - Business Class all the way to Europe the Middle East, South Africa, Scandinavia, etc. at no additional charge.

 

Back to the topic,  I could see taking my grown family on Celebrity as doing so on Regent is pricey.  I could also see going back to NCL with one of their packages IF we.

Were sailing with children (they have more to offer than Celebrity).

 

I do believe that Celebrity is the best premium cruise line.  Comparing it with Regent, however, is doing Celebrity a disservice.

Edited February 20, 2019 by Travelcat2

[MalbecWine]

First of all we dislike buffets land or sea.  We had a great deal on the Explorer in the MS which looks gorgeous but we have friends sailing a similar itinerary on Crystal in November and we have known them for many years.  The price of the MS went down quite a bit as we do our own air and hotel transfers when it was all calculated.

 

Now since we had booked Regent we can transfer the booking fee within one year which is no big deal and want to try the Explorer which we plan to do.  

[Dolebludger]

Malbec and all. 

 

Our Alaska Celebrity cruise last summer to Alaska in a Royal suite was every bit as as luxurious and service oriented as any cruise we have ever taken (including Regent/Radisson) We never ate at a buffet. Suite guests had their own restaurants that were open three meals per day, and we had free entry to specialty restaurants. We had open bar on the whole ship, as well as the included suite bar. We had included laundry. We had a private room bar. We had a 1000 square foot suite + balcony with a real bedroom, living room, and dining room. The balcony was huge with a hot tub. The butler waited on us hand and foot. And the price was a little LESS than a comparable cruise on the Mariner in cat. H with a suite (and balcony) about 1/4 the size of what we had. Of course, this gave me a good attitude toward Celebrity. 

 

But not all who have cruised "X" have had an experience this good, so I understand. In fact, we would not cruise X again unless in a senior suite. And, on that note, I have read that X has raised it prices a great deal, making a future cruise like this one not a great deal! Cruise and air fares are approaching the point of ridiculous, I have discovered. So my future plans on ANY cruise are very much in doubt.

[IndiTravler]

On 2/19/2019 at 1:13 PM, UUNetBill said:

Well, okay, you make a valid point on this one - the closest I can find on Regent is a 14-night on Voyager for $18K/pp, so even taking into account the $8/K/pp air credit it's still a pretty substantial difference.  You can buy a lot of shore excursions and whatnot for the price difference on that one.

 

I guess the price gap is more substantial in certain regions - specifically looking at the Caribbean last month, the price difference all-in was negligible in my book.  But comparing an Aus/NZ sailing, well, yeah, it's noticeable.  Very noticeable.

 

Maybe I need to look into doing the upper end on a larger ship - but then again, I absolutely HATE crowds, so there's that.  But just a quick comparison shows that your booked cruise seems to be a heckuva deal, and it looks like a great itinerary - I'm sure you'll have an awesome time 'downunda'.  🙂

 

Sheltieluv - we, too, had the military OBC and we burned through that REAL quick.  I agree that the QM2 is beautiful, but what's the passenger load, like 2,600-2,800 people?  And that seemed like too many - I can NOT imagine being on a ship with 6,500 or more passengers.  I get the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it...

 

Upper end on large ship is MUCH better than Standard service.  But it remains not the same as it’s still a big ship.     But when the price of a comparable itinerary was half of Regent, and you couldn’t afford Regent you give it a shot and have a great time in Norway.   🤪.   

 

 

[Dolebludger]

I don’t think anybody here said they couldn’t afford Regent. I think what some are trying to say (including me) is that we are concerned that it is no longer worth the price.,

[UUNetBill]

11 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

I don’t think anybody here said they couldn’t afford Regent. I think what some are trying to say (including me) is that we are concerned that it is no longer worth the price.,

Well, we obviously still think it's 'worth the price' since we just got off one last month and have two more booked next year...but I agree that the price is climbing awful fast.  I know we almost choked pricing them right after the 'FREE Business Class Air!' thing kicked off, but since we always paid the upcharge for BC anyhow, it really didn't change the bottom line all that much.

 

But we do look at other more reasonable options more often than we used to...

[Diamond lover]

11 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

I don’t think anybody here said they couldn’t afford Regent. I think what some are trying to say (including me) is that we are concerned that it is no longer worth the price.,

 

I did!  I said I could no longer afford Regent.  

 

But, back to the OP....it would appear that most people "can go back", so enjoy your special Regent cruise, and while you will love it, be spoiled rotten, you CAN go back.  You don't have to give up enjoying a cruise with Celebrity after a celebratory Regent Cruise. Or I'd be in constant mourning :)