Our comparison of Seabourn to Regent

[kjbacon]

We usually sail with Regent and have been very happy. In March, we tried Oceania on the Riviera and also enjoyed it. We found the food and the artwork on that ship to be very impressive. We did miss the truly all inclusive policy on Regent though.

 

We are currently on our first Seabourn cruise and we are missing Regent at almost every turn. SB does have a very impressive app that I think everyone should be doing but we otherwise find them falling short on almost every other area. It’s not terrible by any means but definitely not up to the Regent standard.

 

We are amassing future cruise credit because we are confined to our cabin with Covid so we will likely rebook to use that but otherwise, we will be staying with Regent moving forward.

 

We find SB to nickel and dime you like crazy. They say they are all inclusive but they are not. The shorex is very expensive and we don’t have all the flexibility that we enjoy with Regent. Restaurants are fewer and they are essentially all the same. The food is better on Regent with much more variety. A huge area of disappointment on SB is the list of complimentary wines, so much better on Regent. 

 

For us, Regent first moving forward!

 

[alidor]

I am quite confused here.  On the Seabourn posts, you are quite complimentary about Seabourn but on this Regent list, you are quite negative about Seabourn - which is it?  You claim Seabourn nickels and dimes you and you know that is not the case.   Although Regent does have free tours they also have plenty that you have to pay dearly for.

 

We have sailed both and we would we hard pressed to say which one we like better.

 

 

 

 

 

[lincslady]

I noticed that too.  Seabourn does NOT nickel and dime you;  they have never included excursions, and  anyone who does their homework finds this out before booking if it is of interest to them.

 

I have cruised both lines, several times, and  on my most recent Regent cruise  I definitely felt that the staff were not on a par with Seabourn's - I felt that the eastern European staff often in charge of a venue were much less charming  and rather bossy with their underlings, who were often less than knowledgeable.  I asked a wine server where their included sauvignon blanc came from, and she replied 'I don't know, but it is called Terra'.  (Large label on the bottle ).

[kjbacon]

Sorry to have ruffled some feathers but I think you are seeing and hearing what you want, rather than the actual. Of course I’m complimentary toward SB, it’s a good line, but we like Regent better. My blog is also full of complaints about their included wines and their handling of Covid. As far as nickel and diming, here’s an excerpt direct from my SB blog:

 

We are accustomed to an all inclusive experience on regent. Now, shorex is extra. Drinkable wine is extra. Spa serene area is extra. Laundry is extra. No butler here.

 

Seems very consistent to me but I am sorry if I hurt your feelings.

[toseaornottosea]

2 hours ago, kjbacon said:

We are accustomed to an all inclusive experience on regent. Now, shorex is extra. Drinkable wine is extra. Spa serene area is extra. Laundry is extra. No butler here.

 

Yes but you pay for all that in the cruise fare.  I recently compared 2023 Med cruise fares.  Seabourn was $640 per person per day.  Regent was $1040 per person per day.  For $800 per day for me and my wife we can do all the shorex we want, ships or private, buy all the premium wine we want, and get our clothes laundered and dry cleaned as often as we want.  Yes, no butler but have never had a problem securing diner reservations, having room service deliver caviar, etc or whatever on Seabourn.

[wcsdkqh]

43 minutes ago, toseaornottosea said:

Yes but you pay for all that in the cruise fare.  I recently compared 2023 Med cruise fares.  Seabourn was $640 per person per day.  Regent was $1040 per person per day.  For $800 per day for me and my wife we can do all the shorex we want, ships or private, buy all the premium wine we want, and get our clothes laundered and dry cleaned as often as we want.  Yes, no butler but have never had a problem securing diner reservations, having room service deliver caviar, etc or whatever on Seabourn.

You didn't mention business class air to and from the Med. Certainly not insignificant these days.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

13 hours ago, kjbacon said:

We are amassing future cruise credit because we are confined to our cabin with Covid so we will likely rebook to use that but otherwise, we will be staying with Regent moving forward.

So sorry this has happened to you! 

[lincslady]

kjbacon - it takes a lot more than that to hurt my feelings.  Let's just agree to disagree; you probably won't cruise with Seabourn any more, and I certainly won't cruise with Regent.

[makai 7]

Sorry that seabourn was not a o your liking- we were wondering how it would compare to RSSC and your comments match up with our interpretation of their information on the website.  Is it more formal too?  Obviously not when confined to your cabin, but you know what I mean🤭

 

Doubly sorry that you ended up with Covid- were you able at least to see the puffins you were looking forward to?
 

let us know when you pass through Yulee again- hopefully we will be around and we can meet up again!  We have 3 future cruises booked with Regent, but I think all the flights are too long for you to join us!

[eroller]

I've also sailed on Seabourn and one recent Regent cruise (EXPLORER).  I found Regent elevated in almost every respect.  This is not to say I didn't enjoy Seabourn, I did but I found Regent superior in almost every category.  This was especially true with attention to details.  Those small things that many people may not notice, but add up over time to something significant.    The SEVEN SEAS EXPLORER also felt like a far more luxurious ship.  Perhaps if I sailed on one of Regent's older ships I might feel differently?  I don't know. 

[Techno123]

We have done 3 Seabourn (all Odyssey) and 1 Regent (Voyager) pre covid and preferred Seabourn. Have booked 2 Regent (Navigator Caribbean and Explorer Asia) as they were significantly less expensive than a Seabourn cruise when you take into account included airfare (not business as we are Brits 😂) and shore excursions. We are silver Seabourn and will be silver Regent on the second cruise. Pre Covid found Seabourn edged it slightly but not cheerleaders for either as both offer a very enjoyable experience 😁

[cotto22]

We have only been on Seabourn once, dividing most of our cruising time between Oceania and Regent recently and Silversea not so recently. One knows up front what is included and what is not, or at least, one should. I knew on Oceania, for example, that even in a  PH, we only had one sign in at a time for the free wifi, but in a Concierge on Regent, we had up to 4. We know which line includes adult beverages, gratuities, shore excursions, and airfare. 

  I don't think that if something is not included, and you pay for it yourself, that I would characterize it as nickel and diming. I do think that Oceania should include gratuities, but that's my personal opinion! 

  I have always found the food on Oceania to be just slightly better and more creative than Regent. But we thoroughly enjoyed our most recent Regent cruise and are looking forward to the next one in the Spring. Now that we are a little older, it is nice to have excursions included, but even on Oceania you can buy a package and save a few $$$ if you are so inclined. 

  Our only Seabourn cruise was in the Caribbean. It was too long, stopped at too many islands, and although the food and beverages were good, it was not a good choice for us. There were a lot of fun things to do other than the not so great shore excursions, such as a visit to a private island with a caviar in the sea promotion, and lots of water activities on and off the ship as well as talented performers.

   There are so many choices for cruises for all of us that it comes down to what your personal desires are, the itinerary, and the date of the cruise. We are deliberating at the moment between Regent and Silversea for a cruise 9/24 for my birthday. So, we were very limited on dates, and I had a budget in mind as well!

  To each his/her/their own.

[kjbacon]

9 hours ago, makai 7 said:

Sorry that seabourn was not a o your liking- we were wondering how it would compare to RSSC and your comments match up with our interpretation of their information on the website.  Is it more formal too?  Obviously not when confined to your cabin, but you know what I mean🤭

 

Doubly sorry that you ended up with Covid- were you able at least to see the puffins you were looking forward to?
 

let us know when you pass through Yulee again- hopefully we will be around and we can meet up again!  We have 3 future cruises booked with Regent, but I think all the flights are too long for you to join us!

The good news and the bad news … today we are definitely going to miss day one if Bordeaux and that was one of our top ports, especially for Jack. We will be tested tomorrow morning so we have a shot at day two Bordeaux. We can’t make our shorex for tomorrow but we could hopefully, possibly, disembark and walk around town. We are watching the sunrise over the river as we sail inland to Bordeaux now.

The puffins are not for another week or two so we should have no problem with that!

 

Is it more formal? Technically, no, but Regent feels less formal to us.

 

So, at the end of the day, we are all allowed to have our own favorite. Everyone likes something different and we prefer regent.

[asnaleah]

For us, it depends on the purpose of the cruise. If the ship is the destination (Caribbean for us), I choose a larger accommodation, so the higher cost of the Regent cruise with all the inclusions doesn’t make sense to me. However, if it is a port-intensive cruise, the value of the Regent product really shines. We love Regent and can’t wait for our next time!

[Linda VH]

If you do get a chance to disembark consider going to la cite du vin and do a tour since you are very interested in wine.  It is very unusual shape on the skyline and it if dock where we did with Regent you can take the tram.  We ubered back from dinner (it was an overnight).  Tours start at 10 a.m.   

[Wendy The Wanderer]

12 hours ago, kjbacon said:

So, at the end of the day, we are all allowed to have our own favorite. Everyone likes something different and we prefer regent.

Yes, that's the truth of it.  Hope the rest of your journey turns out to be wonderful.

 

We were on Quest once, and quite liked it.  Some things about the public spaces I really enjoyed--Seabourn Square for instance.  I liked the Colonnade better than La Verandah, as a buffet (but things have changed a lot since then w.r.t. buffets.) Also liked The Club (had some great late nights there.)  There was an intimacy about the size that I quite enjoyed (like Navigator), but for a longer cruise I would find it constraining.  The lack of viable alternative dining was a kicker--we never even made it to the exalted Thomas Keller Grill alas, but found The Restaurant fine, except the menu wasn't nearly as extensive as Regent's.  The show lounge (Grand Salon?) also had poor sight lines, definitely inferior to all of the show lounges I've seen on the older Regent ships at least. 

 

Sorry about your missing Bordeaux--we did an overnight there once on Voyager, pre-included excursions, and had a wonderful day in and around St. Emilion with a private guide. Be well.

[doowopbob]

3 hours ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

Yes, that's the truth of it.  Hope the rest of your journey turns out to be wonderful.

 

We were on Quest once, and quite liked it.  Some things about the public spaces I really enjoyed--Seabourn Square for instance.  I liked the Colonnade better than La Verandah, as a buffet (but things have changed a lot since then w.r.t. buffets.) Also liked The Club (had some great late nights there.)  There was an intimacy about the size that I quite enjoyed (like Navigator), but for a longer cruise I would find it constraining.  The lack of viable alternative dining was a kicker--we never even made it to the exalted Thomas Keller Grill alas, but found The Restaurant fine, except the menu wasn't nearly as extensive as Regent's.  The show lounge (Grand Salon?) also had poor sight lines, definitely inferior to all of the show lounges I've seen on the older Regent ships at least. 

 

Sorry about your missing Bordeaux--we did an overnight there once on Voyager, pre-included excursions, and had a wonderful day in and around St. Emilion with a private guide. Be well.

We have been on 3 Seabourn cruises and I have to say I agree with the above.  Enjoyed Seabourn Square for afternoon lattes and just to relax.  Didn't go to that many shows but agree the sight lines were pretty bad.  The Club we went to before and after dinner and enjoyed very much.  The food in the Restaurant was ok but nothing to rave about.  Didn't find The Thomas Keller Grill all that good.  Can't compare to Regent since our first cruise with them is this Sept.  Really looking forward to it.

[ernieb]

We recently (May) completed a 21 day Panama Canal cruise on Seabourn Odyssey and prior to COVID became silver on Regent Explorer. We were disappointed in the Odyssey for a number of reasons:

• The age of the ship - This is something we were concerned about since we normally sail on the newer ships in the fleet. The Odyssey launched in 2009 and could not compete with the Explorer in 2018 & 19. There were many comments on the Seabourn board after our cruise regarding the poor condition of the ship which had just completed dry dock 2 weeks before we boarded.
• Laundry facilities - My DW is OCD about keeping our clothes washed almost every day. The Odyssey only had 2 laundry rooms, both on deck 5 which were always in use with no seating available. The Explorer has laundry rooms on most deck with 2 on some.
• Specialty dining - The Odyssey only has the Thomas Keller Grill, The Colonnade and the Pool Grill which becomes something called Earth & Ocean in the evening. Of course we were used to Prime 7, Chartreuse, Pacific Rim and Sette Mari. For our tastes the food on both lines is very good. The Odyssey does change their menus with daily and a number of items that are always available. We however, prefer the ability to plan our dining venue and menu in a more predictable manner.

 

We booked this cruise because a Panama Canal cruise has always been on our bucket list and this one came at a good time for us. On the whole, we really enjoyed the cruise. The staff we’re great and the other pax were very friendly. We made a few new friends onboard.

The entertainment was very good and the bartenders and wait staff always did their best to keep us happy. I will not rule out another Seabourn cruise in the future.

However, given the choice, I will pick RSSC every time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[travelwell]

. Regent and Seabourn are our favorite cruise lines. We are the odd balls as we lean towards the Regent Navigator and the Seabourn Odyssey. Our favorite ship ever was the very small, non glitzy, Seabourn Pride. We are all about interaction with fellow passengers and crew. We find the smaller ships fit the bill. We have had 2 World Cruises on the Mariner canceled due to Covid. We just knew we would love the ship. We now have a 26 day cruise on the Odyssey next winter. We will probably attempt a Transatlantic on one of the larger Regent ships in 2024. We find the passengers interesting and friendly on both cruise lines. The Regent cruise critic board is more active and we have friends on this board. Seabourn board  not as active, still once on board either line we meet the best people. If you were more introverted you would not value what we value. This is why no one cruise line is for everyone.
I also think you have to know what would pester you. Waiting for a washing machine would drive me nuts. Included laundry on Regent great. Seabourn charges but for us not a big deal as the upfront charges on Regent more.  I like doing some of my own laundry. I am an early bird and on Seabourn I was noticed by crew doing my wash at 6 am. Next think I knew a glass of Champaign and a cup of coffee delivered to me. I think on both these lines have just exceptional service and I am thankful to have the first world problem of picking which one is my favorite.
 

[kjbacon]

Unfortunately, we both still tested positive and will only be able to enjoy Bordeaux from a distance. It really, truly, could be worse.

 

Both cruise lines are good but they are different. I still think that each person is entitled to their own preference and we should all respect that and not take a front to it. 
 

Seabourn Square, that was mentioned earlier, is beautiful and one of our favorite spots on the ship. The coffee baristas are fantastic. Another thing that we loved was the coed sauna and steam rooms.

 

We are a better fit with Regent and for shorter or more local trips, Oceania is great too.

[travelwell]

I am so sorry you are still testing positive. You would have to scrape me off the floor. Are they going to test you daily now? I admire your positive spin, I am not sure I would be so positive. I am very disappointed in Seabourn’s Covid policy. Everyone is put at risk when a person who rooms with a Covid positive person is allowed to roam free. Staff should feel supported if they report a coughing or questionably sick client to the medical team. 

[SLSD]

6 hours ago, kjbacon said:

Unfortunately, we both still tested positive and will only be able to enjoy Bordeaux from a distance. It really, truly, could be worse.

 

Both cruise lines are good but they are different. I still think that each person is entitled to their own preference and we should all respect that and not take a front to it. 
 

Seabourn Square, that was mentioned earlier, is beautiful and one of our favorite spots on the ship. The coffee baristas are fantastic. Another thing that we loved was the coed sauna and steam rooms.

 

We are a better fit with Regent and for shorter or more local trips, Oceania is great too.

No affront taken.  I hope you test negative very soon since you were at the very beginning of your voyage when an inconsiderate person who knew she was ill exposed you to the virus.  NOT a great start on a new cruise line.  It has to get better from here.  At the same time, to say that Seabourn nickels and dimes is not accurate.  They do tell you what is included.  Many Seabourn guests do not take excursions and do not want them included as they don't want to pay for them as part of their fare.  I respect that!  

 

Keep up the positive attitude.  You will be well soon!

[RetiredandTravel]

18 hours ago, ernieb said:

 

• Specialty dining - The Odyssey only has the Thomas Keller Grill, The Colonnade and the Pool Grill which becomes something called Earth & Ocean in the evening. Of course we were used to Prime 7, Chartreuse, Pacific Rim and Sette Mari. For our tastes the food on both lines is very good. The Odyssey does change their menus with daily and a number of items that are always available. We however, prefer the ability to plan our dining venue and menu in a more predictable manner.

 

 

 

This our big issue with Seabourn and why its at the bottom of our list of luxury lines and even Oceania.  There is much more variety of dining venues on Regent, Silversea & Oceania.  The Seabourn dining options remind me of an old Country Club.

 

 

[kjbacon]

19 hours ago, travelwell said:

I am so sorry you are still testing positive. You would have to scrape me off the floor. Are they going to test you daily now? I admire your positive spin, I am not sure I would be so positive. I am very disappointed in Seabourn’s Covid policy. Everyone is put at risk when a person who rooms with a Covid positive person is allowed to roam free. Staff should feel supported if they report a coughing or questionably sick client to the medical team. 

Thank you, and yes, we will be tested daily until we are negative (or till we jump overboard). We were positive again this morning. I’m very much in agreement that the Covid roommate policy is just terrible.

 

18 hours ago, SLSD said:

No affront taken.  I hope you test negative very soon since you were at the very beginning of your voyage when an inconsiderate person who knew she was ill exposed you to the virus.  NOT a great start on a new cruise line.  It has to get better from here.  At the same time, to say that Seabourn nickels and dimes is not accurate.  They do tell you what is included.  Many Seabourn guests do not take excursions and do not want them included as they don't want to pay for them as part of their fare.  I respect that!  

 

Keep up the positive attitude.  You will be well soon!

If you don’t take excursions, that makes sense. We love excursions and the flexibility we get from regent on them is a very good fit for us. Thanks so much for the encouragement and well wishes!

 

15 hours ago, RetiredandTravel said:

 

This our big issue with Seabourn and why its at the bottom of our list of luxury lines and even Oceania.  There is much more variety of dining venues on Regent, Silversea & Oceania.  The Seabourn dining options remind me of an old Country Club.

 

 

We also prefer the variety of restaurants on Regent and Oceania. The venues here are physically different looking but the food is similar throughout.

[Kwaj girl]

On 7/31/2022 at 7:28 AM, travelwell said:

I am so sorry you are still testing positive. You would have to scrape me off the floor. Are they going to test you daily now? I admire your positive spin, I am not sure I would be so positive. I am very disappointed in Seabourn’s Covid policy. Everyone is put at risk when a person who rooms with a Covid positive person is allowed to roam free. Staff should feel supported if they report a coughing or questionably sick client to the medical team. 

 

WOW...if you were on Regent you (the covid-positive) would be relocated to a quarantine suite outfitted with special HEPA filters and your non-covid-positive suitemate would stay in the original suite (with daily testing and free run of the ship if constantly negative) UNLESS you decide to stay together.   Then both of you would be moved to a quarantine suite and stay put until your quarantine time is up.  We have 2 sets of friends who experienced these actions on Mariner earlier this year.