Comparing Silversea to Regent

[SusieQft]

As several have mentioned, there are dining venues with a less formal dress code.  All of them require a reservation except the pizza place and room service. 

 

Reservations can be very hard to come by, and you won't know the dress code schedule until the segment starts, probably too late to change dinner reservations unlesd you like to dine at 9pm.

 

We just did 2 segments on the Moon, and the online info before showed 2 formal nights per segment.  Only half of them were on the date announced beforehand.

Edited May 25, 2023 by SusieQft

[texanaust]

So this did turn into another dress code thread after all...

[WesW]

Pack Leader; we have sailed over 200 days on Regent pre the Covid pandemic and enjoyed our time on board their ships.  And we have over 300 days cruised on Silversea, now focusing more and enjoying (more than classic voyages on either line) --Silversea expedition voyages.  If you're considering a Classic voyage on Silversea, firmly believe it will meet or exceed your expections based on extensive cruising on both lines. 

[Rothko1]

4 hours ago, texanaust said:

So this did turn into another dress code thread after all...

They usually do...

[Tothesunset]

You could start a thread discussing the correct wrench size for the head bolts on a Volkswagen Beetle and it would still end up as a dress code thread. 

[canderson]

1 minute ago, Tothesunset said:

You could start a thread discussing the correct wrench size for the head bolts on a Volkswagen Beetle and it would still end up as a dress code thread. 

Only if spell check changed toque to torque.

 

[carefreecruise]

15 minutes ago, Tothesunset said:

You could start a thread discussing the correct wrench size for the head bolts on a Volkswagen Beetle and it would still end up as a dress code thread. 

Correct: it would start out as proper gasket dressing and move quickly into variants of types of dressing, to use on each engine model and where you live...

 

Then into what kind of dress overalls to wear while your applying the dressing.    

[lincslady]

My DH had a special wardrobe for working on his old Lotuses -  two jerseys full of holes, but in different  places,  one on top of the other, so he was actually always covered up.  Ideal for a formal night.

[Fletcher]

On 5/21/2023 at 1:10 PM, Pack Leader said:

Apologies if this has been done to death. Currently on Regent Voyager (thoughts posted elsewhere) and passengers here are telling me, in the main, that Silversea are better, "more for the passenger"  Voyager seems great and although nothing is perfect the Regent product is very good. I understand that Silversea now include shore excursions so they are even more comparable to Regent price wise. I thought Silversea were more formal? Quite enjoy, given that this is a fly cruise,  the lack of formal wear to pack for my wife and I.

 

For those who have sailed both lines in recent,  post pandemic times, how would you compare the experiences?

Thanks 

I've been reading some horror stories about Voyager - looking very old, rattles and vibrates, poor food.  Toying between Voyager and Silver Spirit with similar itineraries in the Eastern Med later this year.

[Balian65]

We have been on both ships in 2022. Both cannot deny their age but they still work pretty well. We did not notice any rattles and vibrates on Voyager and the food was completely ok. Silver Spirit had some issues in Seishin and La Dame which were technical matters. Nevertheless we would sail on both ships again.

[TheRampantSnail]

Having sailed on both lines (including two cruises on Silver Moon and one on Regent Splendor last year) I can say that we much prefer Silversea. I understand that some people have issue with the dress code on Silversea (but is it really such a big deal?) and that two of the restaurants have a supplement.

However, there is still a good variety of dining options on Silversea, including the SALT restaurant. We think the Italian restaurant on Silversea is the better of the two by far. The Asian restaurant on Splendor was dire.

Our experience is that the included wines on Silversea are better and alternatives are found much more readily.

Service on Silversea was overall and consistently much better (on the Splendor it ranged from excellent to poor).

Standard cabins (excluding the few Vista suites) are bigger on Silver Moon than on Splendor.

There is not much entertainment on Silversea and what there is is same old, same old i.e. Broadway shows and Queen. Much the same on Regent regarding shows, but the Regent Orchestra are brilliant and on our cruise there did a number of sets on a very wide range of musical styles.

[Will Work for Tiramisu]

My DW and I were booked to sail from NYC to Barcelona (a TA crossing obviously), in March 2020 with stops at Bermuda, and Spanish Islands off west coast of Africa, on the (then newly launched) RSS Splendor, which looked to be a lovely ship. Certain events occurred, which caused the cruise to be canceled.  We got our money back, finally, although had made hotel reservations that were non-refundable.  I was interested to try something other than SS, which had been our line of preference.  We still want to do a TA, and hope maybe will do in near future, as we are not getting any younger!  Generally, we have been driven by the itinerary on most of our cruise selections (we did one BTB on Seabourn in 2019 from Venice to Athens, because they had a great list of ports of call), but we have enjoyed SS a lot, on the four cruises we have done with them.  Partly, this is due to our not needing to be "entertained", and happy to enjoy the ship and the amenities thereon, the open ocean, and each other's company.  We've checked out a few shows, but are more inclined to watch a movie in our humble Veranda Suite.  I confess I do like the sort of European vibe on SS, but then we are huge fans of all things Italian, so I'm biased.  We've done all the dining venues (this is pre-SALT), and while the offerings at specialty venues are nice, we are big fans of Atlantide & Terrazza; great service, excellent, wide ranging food.  For my limited money and limited time, I'm sticking with SS for any future cruises.   

[frankhi]

6 hours ago, Will Work for Tiramisu said:

We still want to do a TA

FYI, the new SS Nova is going Lisbon to NYC in November....

[MHF]

Have only cruised on Regent once so here are a few observations based on that one time...

*  Enjoyed Regent's evening "buffet" as well as their speciality restaurants and pool deck menu.

* Don't know what complimentary champagne Regent served but I found it undrinkable.

 * The Ss staff is warmer in general.

* Regent decor appeared glitzy-er.

*.Not a fan of the corridor party on Regent.

 

All that being said, I'm sailing Regent in Feb. 2024 for a short jaunt around the Caribbean.

 

Missy in Maryland (anxiously awaiting Norway cruise in July!)

[jjs217]

17 hours ago, MHF said:

Have only cruised on Regent once so here are a few observations based on that one time...

*  Enjoyed Regent's evening "buffet" as well as their speciality restaurants and pool deck menu.

* Don't know what complimentary champagne Regent served but I found it undrinkable.

 * The Ss staff is warmer in general.

* Regent decor appeared glitzy-er.

*.Not a fan of the corridor party on Regent.

 

All that being said, I'm sailing Regent in Feb. 2024 for a short jaunt around the Caribbean.

 

Missy in Maryland (anxiously awaiting Norway cruise in July!)

Regent doesn't have an evening "buffet".  They have an antipasto "buffet" in Sette Mare.  The complimentary Champagne is Heidsieck & Co Monopole Blue Top Brut.  They also have a couple of really nice brands of drinkable Prosecco.  The corridor party is not mandatory.

[admranger]

Sorry to barge into the discussion, but having sailed neither line, this thread has been informative.

 

I was somewhat surprised to see that veranda "suites" on both lines have what appear to be queen sized beds.  Are those "european" queen sized beds (66 inches wide by 80 inches long) or American queen sized beds (60 inches by 80 inches long). I can sell the european queen sized bed to DW, but not an American queen sized bed.

 

Thanks!

[Mahogany]

57 minutes ago, admranger said:

Sorry to barge into the discussion, but having sailed neither line, this thread has been informative.

 

I was somewhat surprised to see that veranda "suites" on both lines have what appear to be queen sized beds.  Are those "european" queen sized beds (66 inches wide by 80 inches long) or American queen sized beds (60 inches by 80 inches long). I can sell the european queen sized bed to DW, but not an American queen sized bed.

 

Thanks!

How wide are twins? Cause that's what the "one" bed is, 2 twins pushed together.

[admranger]

1 minute ago, Mahogany said:

How wide are twins? Cause that's what the "one" bed is, 2 twins pushed together.

Thank you for the response.  

 

It depends.  American or European twin beds?  Yeah, those are different too.  Assuming the narrower European twin, then the bed will be 66" wide.

 

What's odd is when I called and asked a SilverSea representative, they claimed that they were not two twins pushed together but rather one "queen" mattress (no dimensions available).

[Host Jazzbeau]

9 minutes ago, admranger said:

What's odd is when I called and asked a SilverSea representative, they claimed that they were not two twins pushed together but rather one "queen" mattress (no dimensions available).

Remember: the person on the phone has probably never been on a Silversea ship.

[drron29]

It is 2 twins together but with a single Queen mattress on top. it must be the 66 inch wide queen because at home we have a king bed and we have no problems on the Silversea bed whereas we do in US hotels with a queen bed.

[admranger]

1 hour ago, drron29 said:

It is 2 twins together but with a single Queen mattress on top. it must be the 66 inch wide queen because at home we have a king bed and we have no problems on the Silversea bed whereas we do in US hotels with a queen bed.

Thank you!

 

We ended up booking before their Memorial Day sale ended.  NYC to Quebec City June 2024

 

[Whinenowine]

On 5/31/2023 at 6:33 PM, admranger said:

Thank you for the response.  

 

It depends.  American or European twin beds?  

 

I feel a Monty Python skit coming on...!

 

😁

 

[crusinbanjo]

On 5/25/2023 at 10:12 AM, Tothesunset said:

You could start a thread discussing the correct wrench size for the head bolts on a Volkswagen Beetle and it would still end up as a dress code thread. 

12mm triple square wrench  BTW.  Haha, and I wear a dark blue jumpsuit when replacing heads on VW’s

Edited June 15, 2023 by crusinbanjo

[bitob]

Here is one comparison important to us. We have travelled the world and done all the hard stuff. Now we love  sea days. As we get older we don’t like and can’t do long difficult excursions. Plus my husband has some mobility issues. On regent, despite the fact excursions have proven to be awful, they are usually fairly strenuous. We book private tours when we sail regent. Unavoidable. 

 

ss is totally different. Plenty of choices for tours with “minimal activity”.  Makes a big difference for us. 

 

 

[Rothko1]

1 hour ago, bitob said:

ss is totally different. Plenty of choices for tours with “minimal activity”.  Makes a big difference for us. 

 

 

 

Well, they are catering to their core customers.