Silversea vs Regent Comparison

[trevandange]

We have done 2 Silversea cruises (Alaska and Caribbean) and basically liked them very much.

 

We are considering a longer cruise and are considering Regent because of the itinerary. Also we think that the fact that the ships are larger may be better for a longer time on board.

 

We'd appreciate any input on how these cruise lines compare. We typically book a nicer veranda suite on Silversea and are considering the penthouse or concierge on Regent. Not sure what the absence of "butler service" on Regent means as a practical matter as I hardly make use of the butler service on Silversea.

[alithecat]

We have only done one Regent cruise. Suites, food and service on the ship were all comparable. We didn't miss having a butler. The suite attendant and the room service waiters provided everything we needed. We were on the Navigator and didn't like the ship. But I know they have much nicer, newer ships now.

 

Regent prices are usually more expensive because they include all the excursions. But we found that the tours were disorganized, many were low quality and we couldn't book all of the ones we wanted. You had to sit in the theater every day waiting for your tour, and group, to be called. The tours never left on time. We were always sitting there for at least half an hour. Felt like it, anyway.

 

We will never book another Regent cruise. Unless I can be assured that they have fixed the above.

[trevandange]

24 minutes ago, alithecat said:

We have only done one Regent cruise. Suites, food and service on the ship were all comparable. We didn't miss having a butler. The suite attendant and the room service waiters provided everything we needed. We were on the Navigator and didn't like the ship. But I know they have much nicer, newer ships now.

 

Regent prices are usually more expensive because they include all the excursions. But we found that the tours were disorganized, many were low quality and we couldn't book all of the ones we wanted. You had to sit in the theater every day waiting for your tour, and group, to be called. The tours never left on time. We were always sitting there for at least half an hour. Felt like it, anyway.

 

We will never book another Regent cruise. Unless I can be assured that they have fixed the above.

Thank you alithecat!

Can you tell me when you took your Regent cruise? And roughly the itinerary? We had delays on excursions on our recent Silversea cruise due to weather, with cancellations and in the cases where they did not cancel, I kind of wish they had because the experience was not very good. But I can't blame them for the weather. On Regent we are looking at the Voyager. 

[alithecat]

Our cruise was to the Western Caribbean to/from Miami in 2014. I see they have a similar itinerary departing Feb. 11th on the Explorer. We missed one port -- don't recall which one -- and that day it was the roughest I have ever experienced on any cruise ship. They stopped the elevators, shutdown the restaurants and told everyone to stay in their cabins and call for room service if they got hungry. Can't blame Regent for the weather, like you said.

 

I still recall one couple whose flights were delayed and missed the ship in Miami. They were flown to this port and were waiting on the dock with their luggage to board the ship. We saw them there as the ship headed towards the land, and left them there when the captain decided that the seas were too rough to attempt to dock. They were finally able to board 2 days later on a different island.

[MHF]

We were on the Regent Explorer in May 2018 thru the Mediterranean.  Agree with the Regent tour problem.  You sign up online for the tours you want.  Then you go to the theater the morning of the tour, stand in line on the theater stairs to turn in your tour ticket, get a different ticket, go back up the stairs, and then wait (and wait) for them to call that ticket number to the bus.  We never were able to book a morning + afternoon tour, every one overlapped by just a little.  So it was 1 full day tour or 1 half day tour.  With SS in St. Petersburg, it was easy to book two.

 

I did think the Regent Italian evening speciality (La Terraza-like) was better than SS.  We ate at it twice (3x?).  The Regent French and Steakhouse were both good as was the pool cafe/bar for lunch.  We did concierge and didn't find it got us anything useful.  The bartenders on SS seem more personable as do all the wait staff.

 

I know people complain about the included champagne on SS but the included champagne on Regent was not drinkable.  The included wines were fine.

[wripro]

If you do a search I'm sure you'll find at least a hundred threads comparing the two lines.

[clarky]

Having just sailed Regent in April on the Mariner and now on the Wind I can say I much prefer the Wind to the Mariner. We have sailed on the Mariner twice and on our December cruise the ship was not full whilst the April cruise was to capacity and you really felt it.  Hard to get a table at any restaurant and so crowded at times they needed to bring extra tables out.  I would not cruise on the Mariner again.  We find the food on Regent and Silverseas about the same.  The entertainment is slightly better on Silversea and the service is about the same.  The wines are good on both lines.  The Wind is at capacity and you don't feel that it is crowded.  You can get a table at any venue whenever you want.  I think you need to understand what is important to you on a cruise.  Food, Wine, Entertainment, Itinerary or Service.  Put those in order of preference and be guided by reviews and make the best informed decision you can.  Important to me is not to feel crowded (the buffet on Regent Mariner was unacceptable) and not being able to be seated in the main dinning room when we wanted to eat another unacceptable thing.  So space to passenger ratio is important to me.  Food, service and then entertainment.  I still favour Seabourn for food and entertainment but itinerary is probably second on my list so I would sail Silversea over Regent if the itinerary was the same.  I also don't like to have my excursions included as I like to do my own thing sometimes.  This is my personal opinion and others have a different view but we are lucky to be able to cruise on any of the three lines I have mentioned. 

[Fletcher]

On 6/24/2019 at 10:32 PM, alithecat said:

We have only done one Regent cruise. Suites, food and service on the ship were all comparable. We didn't miss having a butler. The suite attendant and the room service waiters provided everything we needed. We were on the Navigator and didn't like the ship. But I know they have much nicer, newer ships now.

 

Regent prices are usually more expensive because they include all the excursions. But we found that the tours were disorganized, many were low quality and we couldn't book all of the ones we wanted. You had to sit in the theater every day waiting for your tour, and group, to be called. The tours never left on time. We were always sitting there for at least half an hour. Felt like it, anyway.

 

We will never book another Regent cruise. Unless I can be assured that they have fixed the above.

 

I agree with all of this.  We sailed on the Navigator - I called it the Vibrator - from Montreal to Iceland last year.  I dislike the butler thing on Silversea and also the dress code so Regent was far better for us in these respects.  It's a personal thing but I thought the food and all the restaurants on Regent were better than the Silversea ships.

 

PS: Seabourn is better than both!

Edited June 26, 2019 by Fletcher

[Stumblefoot]

2 hours ago, Fletcher said:

PS: Seabourn is better than both!

For someone who has never sailed Seabourn, what are the reasons you feel this way?

[Colgal]

4 hours ago, Fletcher said:

 

I agree with all of this.  We sailed on the Navigator - I called it the Vibrator - from Montreal to Iceland last year.  I dislike the butler thing on Silversea and also the dress code so Regent was far better for us in these respects.  It's a personal thing but I thought the food and all the restaurants on Regent were better than the Silversea ships.

 

PS: Seabourn is better than both!

We just returned from an 11 night sailing on the Spirit and found the food to be of higher quality and better presentation than our previous 5 cruises on Seabourn. The service was also superior…and we are huge fans of Seabourn.

[trevandange]

Thanks, so does Seabourn not do the "formal" thing? I thought they had butlers, etc.

 

Also was the entire ship vibrating or just in your cabin or something?

Edited June 26, 2019 by trevandange
incomplete post

[trevandange]

4 hours ago, Fletcher said:

 

I agree with all of this.  We sailed on the Navigator - I called it the Vibrator - from Montreal to Iceland last year.  I dislike the butler thing on Silversea and also the dress code so Regent was far better for us in these respects.  It's a personal thing but I thought the food and all the restaurants on Regent were better than the Silversea ships.

 

PS: Seabourn is better than both!

 

[trevandange]

On 6/25/2019 at 9:11 AM, wripro said:

If you do a search I'm sure you'll find at least a hundred threads comparing the two lines.

Actually I did a search and found many comparisons between Regent and other lines but not SS. If I missed one, please forward my way.

[Colgal]

No butlers and we were very appreciative of our butler on Silversea. We just find that the well trained staff on the Spirit was at least a notch above- even the cocktails were better, particularly at the pool.

 

In my opinion  Silversea is a bit more formal, which we enjoy, but Seabourn does deliver a very good experience. The only cruise on Seabourn that we did not care for was on the Encore; we found it crowded and the staff eager but not very trained and the food was poor. Having said that we would certainly give it another try as it has been 2 years and hopefully things have improved.

[Fletcher]

To answer a few questions . . . The Navigator has serious vibration issues to the back of the ship.  We specifically booked a suite forward of the main elevators and had no issues and our suite was very similar to those on Silversea and Seabourn.   However, the ship rattled lack crazy in the theatre and the restaurants.  I also checked out a couple of suites at the back and they suffered badly.  I don't believe any other ship on Regent has these problems.  Another thing about Regent's ships which bothers me a lot - many (including Navigator) lack a forward-facing observation lounge and observation deck.  This is a major drawback for me as I like to see where I'm going.

 

I prefer Seabourn to both Regent and Silversea for a few reasons.  The ambience on a Seabourn ship suits me rather better.  It's just my personal style, I suppose, though Regent's lack of a dress code is even more to my taste.  I'm 'smart casual' at all times but I dislike the idea of dressing up in formal clobber, probably because my background is in the arts and journalism and not business.  I love Seabourn Square which the other lines don't have in quite the same way.  I think the food is much the same across all three lines but Silversea comes third for me as I hate the 'hot rocks' concept and I refuse to pay extra for the 'fine dining' venue.   While service standards are much the same (ie, brilliant), I also dislike Silversea's butler policy and I'm glad that Regent and Seabourn haven't followed that idea.  In some destinations Regent's policy of including excursions works fine but in others, such as the Caribbean or the Med, it's best to do your own thing.

 

I might also add that all three lines are starting to look a little stale in their unchanging itineraries.  Noble Caledonia is now offering a stop in Cap Haitien to visit La Citadelle and Sans Souci, Ponant has started to re-open the Bijagos Islands in Guinea-Bissau and Hapag-Lloyd now visit Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.  I am wholly itinerary motivated so I'm unlikely to hop aboard any of these three lines in the near future.  And that's a pity as barely a morning goes by when I don't wake up and yearn for an early morning coffee in Seabourn Square.

Edited June 26, 2019 by Fletcher

[trevandange]

27 minutes ago, Fletcher said:

 

I might also add that all three lines are starting to look a little stale in their unchanging itineraries.  Noble Caledonia is now offering a stop in Cap Haitien to visit La Citadelle and Sans Souci, Ponant has started to re-open the Bijagos Islands in Guinea-Bissau and Hapag-Lloyd now visit Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.  I am wholly itinerary motivated so I'm unlikely to hop aboard any of these three lines in the near future.  And that's a pity as barely a morning goes by when I don't wake up and yearn for an early morning coffee in Seabourn Square.

We are itinerary driven as well and have found many of the current itineraries uninspiring. If I were doing a repositioning then the ship would be 80% important but otherwise it carries a much lesser weight.

[brittany12]

To judge the SB or SS to Regent comparison properly,  one cannot use the Navibrator, Regent's oldest and worst ship by far, and compare it to the newish SB Encore or one of the somewhat older but smaller Triplet class, such as the Sojourn or the new SS ships. Use the newish Regent Explorer perhaps in the comparison. R's frequently complained of issue with its included overcrowded tours is going to be pretty much the same throughout its fleet, I would imagine.

[Silver Sweethearts]

5 hours ago, Fletcher said:

While service standards are much the same (ie, brilliant), I also dislike Silversea's butler policy and I'm glad that Regent and Seabourn haven't followed that idea.  

 

We aren't following you here.  Regent has butler service for all suites from Penthouse on up.

[QueSeraSera]

Never before having cruised on any line, but now booked and paid on not one, but two, Silversea cruises, this thread holds my interest.  Following many others too... I believe I see two Silversea issues of note.  First, the butler.  Maybe there should be a thread on that alone.  Can anyone offer some suggestions on how to ensure the butler as implemented by SS enhances our first cruise?  We're pretty nice, easy going folks I think, but would truly appreciate some stories or guidance.  Second, the included wine list is apparently very hard to come by.  Why?  We enjoy sauvignon blanc, the Gavi wines from Italy's piedmont are also usually very enjoyable for us.  If anyone knows about our faves, or what I should do to obtain them, thanks in advance!

[trevandange]

QueSeraSera,

How exciting for you to be looking forward to not one but two Silversea cruises! 

 

My first Silversea cruise was a long time ago, but my most recent one was in Feb 2019. 

 

As for the butler we did not really know how to "use" him. Some of our fellow cruisers had their butler (could be a male or female) unpack and pack their luggage but that is not for me. We are low maintenance.

 

Early morning we would request coffee in our room and if it was within butler's hours, he would deliver it. Outside butler's hours (too early) it would be delivered by someone else so although he was nice enough it really didn't matter to me who delivered my coffee. He also  keep us well stocked with nuts and some dark chocolate for snacking.

 

Butler's hours are morning and evening to handle getting people out for the day and then ready for dining. Single ladies were escorted to dinner by their butlers if they wished. 

 

I'm sure other cruisers here will know how to get the most out of the butler service that Silversea offers.

 

I am also in the dark on the wine list. I will say that there was a selection of Italian wines and I found all of them to be fine. We only drink European wines--no California or Australian, etc. only because I know I will not have bad reactions to them. We were happy with the wines. Nothing amazing, but very good for dinner, we don't drink at lunch.

[alithecat]

We are also low maintenance and didn't want the butler to pack or unpack. What we liked is that the butler delivered our room service breakfasts and anything else we requested. He got to know us and what we liked, whether and when we were ok with him entering our suite. The service and the meals he delivered were always perfect and exactly when we requested them. When random waiters delivered our meals on other cruise lines, we had cold coffee, missing entrees etc. He restocked the refrig. whenever he saw that we had used up our last waters & sparking waters. We never had to ask. He would have handled our laundry & dry cleaning, but I'm one of those crazy people who want to wash everything myself.

[QueSeraSera]

Thank you trevandange and alithecat!  Room service breakfasts delivered with care by someone who gets to know your preferences sound heavenly, alithecat, and I'm getting confident that the wines offered will be fine or better trevandange, thanks again your comments. 

Edited June 29, 2019 by QueSeraSera
misspelling

[Clodia]

I'm going on my first Silversea cruise in December and am seriously considering another in the next year, so am really interested in this. Yes I think I would have my butler unpack as I hate doing it. Yes I would like breakfast in my cabin. I have one food allergy, to baked beans ( or rather the virulent tomato sauce in which they are prepared) so find sharing tables with others at breakfast a problem. As the waiter goes round I am literally praying that no one orders baked beans because the sight and smell of them makes me ill! I get around this on P and O where I have done most of my cruises by having a word with the Maitre D' on the first day; after that I always get a table to myself.

Also like the thought of dinner service in-cabin if I'm tired; normally I enjoy sharing tables with others at lunch and dinner and have met some lovely people so doing, but nice to have the option.

[wripro]

I don't think you

ll find as many people ordering baked beans for breakfast on Seabourn as you will on P and O which caters to a larger British clientele.

[wripro]

Sorry. I meant Silversea. not Seabourn.