Special Occasions on Regent

[LoveBora]

On an upcoming cruise on Splendor, we will be celebrating a birthday and, a few days later, an anniversary. Will Regent arrange anything special for such events? 🙏

[Lonedaddy]

They will if you ask request it.  We had a great anniversary dinner at Prime7.  Our butler brought in  a piece of a jewerly set with each course.  The made a great cake and had a trio sing " let me call you sweetheart" at the end.  Our waiter was a great singer and sang in "crew kapers" and his name is Romeo.  Made for a great evening.

 

On birthdays our Bulter/stewards decorated the room.

[SusieQft]

What about those in rooms without butlers?

[Guerncruising]

I have had three birthdays on Regent and each time our suite has been decorated and birthday cake provided as well as champagne. 
As always a Regent surprise. 
They already have your details. 

[carolina cruisin]

We celebrated both a birthday and an anniversary on a recent cruise.  If you have a butler - really easy.  If not - still really not a problem.  To be sure - - especially if you want a "special" dining experience just mention to maitre d" at restaurant of your choice.

[SusieQft]

Regent may sometimes celebrate without prompting, but definitely not always.  I chose not to request anything, just to see what would happen, and my birthday was totally ignored.  Perhaps because we did not have a butler?

[SWFLAOK]

I think that it will be ignored if you don't mention it. If you do point it out, it still won't be much unless you're in a high level cabin. We had 2 Birthdays on our recent cruise, that were 3 days apart. We both had balloons in our cabin after dinner. One of mine exploded at 3:45 AM, which was extremely disturbing since I had been sound asleep. Another exploded at 6:15 AM, just as I got out of bed. Its remnants landed on me. During dinner on my Birthday, I ordered a dessert I was looking forward to, but it was extremely delayed. I was complaining to our cruise companions (4 of us in 3 cabins), when a cake was brought by staff, with much singing, and attention. The cake wasn't one I liked, and I don't like the attention of everyone in Compass Rose looking at me. Our friend had the balloons and cake in her cabin, and preferred that to having the CR celebration. The cake still wasn't very good, and it was after 10 by the time we got to it. Neither of us recieved an extra bottle of champagne in our cabins, but we probably could have asked for it.

We had a difficult time arranging a Prime 7 dinner on the few days between our Birthdays since we already had booked one early on the cruise. After pointing out that we were 4 people and had booked 3 cabins, we were able to get a later reservation than we wanted, and had less than expected for both  service and food preparation. In the future, I will not mention it again. Certainly you can request something special for a special celebration, but I would expect to pay extra for it.

[pingpong1]

52 minutes ago, SWFLAOK said:

I think that it will be ignored if you don't mention it. If you do point it out, it still won't be much unless you're in a high level cabin. We had 2 Birthdays on our recent cruise, that were 3 days apart. We both had balloons in our cabin after dinner. One of mine exploded at 3:45 AM, which was extremely disturbing since I had been sound asleep. Another exploded at 6:15 AM, just as I got out of bed. Its remnants landed on me. During dinner on my Birthday, I ordered a dessert I was looking forward to, but it was extremely delayed. I was complaining to our cruise companions (4 of us in 3 cabins), when a cake was brought by staff, with much singing, and attention. The cake wasn't one I liked, and I don't like the attention of everyone in Compass Rose looking at me. Our friend had the balloons and cake in her cabin, and preferred that to having the CR celebration. The cake still wasn't very good, and it was after 10 by the time we got to it. Neither of us recieved an extra bottle of champagne in our cabins, but we probably could have asked for it.

We had a difficult time arranging a Prime 7 dinner on the few days between our Birthdays since we already had booked one early on the cruise. After pointing out that we were 4 people and had booked 3 cabins, we were able to get a later reservation than we wanted, and had less than expected for both  service and food preparation. In the future, I will not mention it again. Certainly you can request something special for a special celebration, but I would expect to pay extra for it.

Is it safe to assume that you most likely won't be booking any future Regent cruises?  After having read many of your previous comments, the majority of your experiences on Regent with the food, the service, the suites, and the whole shipboard experience, etc., didn't really seem to meet most of your expectations.  Just wondering?   Regards.

[LoveBora]

Thanks for your responses. I think we’ll just keep our special occasions to ourselves. 

[SWFLAOK]

21 hours ago, pingpong1 said:

Is it safe to assume that you most likely won't be booking any future Regent cruises?  After having read many of your previous comments, the majority of your experiences on Regent with the food, the service, the suites, and the whole shipboard experience, etc., didn't really seem to meet most of your expectations.  Just wondering?   Regards.

No, it would not be safe to assume that. We're already booked on a cruise next April, on the same ship we just sailed on. It will be our 8th cruise on Regent since we first started taking cruises in 2017. And we always take the longer cruises since 7 to 10 days is never enough. We've sailed on other cruise lines as well (9 other cruises total, on 5 other cruise lines), and Regent has met out expectations better than than the others. I don't believe that any cruise line will be perfect in every way, every time. Some things are more important to me than others.

My comments are often in reply to people who have asked about something specific, as in this case. Since the OP asked, they might find it important. I've given my experience with it. Taking a cruise on a special occasion is celebration enough for me.

[Pcardad]

5 hours ago, LoveBora said:

Thanks for your responses. I think we’ll just keep our special occasions to ourselves. 

That's what we do. I would rather fall overboard than be sung to in the dining room.

[cwn]

2 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

That's what we do. I would rather fall overboard than be sung to in the dining room.

Or listen to the off key singing! Geez that something they do at at local low end  Mexican restaurant at home.

[pingpong1]

Sometimes, I guess the thoughtful sentiment and care is more important than the actual delivery.  SWFLAOK, Thanks for the reply.  Best Regards.

[irishwitchy]

13 hours ago, cwn said:

Or listen to the off key singing! Geez that something they do at at local low end  Mexican restaurant at home.

Actually,  our family has the off key Happy Birthday singing down  - I may enjoy that on a ship!  We have never been on a ship for our birthdays or anniversary,  but if I was,  maybe I would ask for a special dinner request.  

[cwn]

53 minutes ago, irishwitchy said:

Actually,  our family has the off key Happy Birthday singing down  - I may enjoy that on a ship!  We have never been on a ship for our birthdays or anniversary,  but if I was,  maybe I would ask for a special dinner request.  

Nothing wrong with celebrating something special with a cruise and a special dinner etc…..we celebrated DH  Birthday and our 50th anniversary on a TA on the Queen Mary 2 in the Queens Grill with a fancy speciality dinner, cake (sans singing) and flowers plus a picture with the Captain before dinner in the Queens Lounge. Really nice way to do it. 

[Lonedaddy]

On 5/8/2023 at 6:44 PM, cwn said:

Or listen to the off key singing! Geez that something they do at at local low end  Mexican restaurant at home.

I must say the Maitre'd our butler and waiter Romeo all nailed let me call you sweetheart like a barbershop quartet (minus 1).  Romeo sang in Crew Kapers "Leader of the band" and even opera quit a talented voice.  If you are on Explorer, go see him in the show!

Edited May 11, 2023 by Lonedaddy

[pappy1022]

What kind of special dinner request can you make? I will be turning 70 (a couple of weeks after our cruise) and a great friend just retired and this is our celebration cruise. I am out on the happy birthday or happy retirement singing by the staff and a cake (Regent normal desserts will be just fine) but what else can we request?

[Gilly]

@pappy1022  You can request a special menu to be served in CR to you and however many friends you'd like to invite to join you at your table (I think max 8 generally speaking)  We've found the most successful evenings to be those which allow the chefs to share the flavours from home - last year on Navigator we organised an Indian supper and then friends invited us to share a more general Asian menu (we've also had Filipino, Indonesian, Thai on previous cruises....)  The staff - both chefs and restaurant team - did a fabulous job, preparing specially printed menus and serving each dish individually with explanations where necessary.  We've found such menus are to be savoured - not hurried - and have been utterly thrilled by each experience, created and served with such pride.   Chat to the F&B manager about what can be done, give them a couple of days notice and be prepared for a real treat.

Edited May 11, 2023 by Gilly