Silversea Cruiser impressed by Regent

cruiseerf · January 14, 2008

Hello All:

I have sailed on Radisson several times before on the Diamond and Navigator however mostly I have cruised on Silversea. After 250+ nights on Silversea my family and I opted to try a larger ship with more options and we were quite impressed with Regent on the Xmas New Years cruise.

Cabins were excellent and the ability to connect was fantastic. We took a Seven Seas forward cabin and the adjoining cabin which gave the 4 of us 2 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. The crew was nice enough to take down the balcony divider so we were connected everywhere and could all sit out and watch the sun go down. The cabins were larger than Silversea and we found the flat screen TV's and on demand movies excellent. Butler service was mediocre....similar to room service on other lines but he was a nice guy.

Food the first 5 nights was some of the best we have had at sea...really excellent. Then the menu started to change and much of the food seemed to go down in quality. We found the beef to be the weak link on board and the seafood was excellent and very fresh. Shrimps were jumbo and delicious...far better than what Silversea has on offer. Regents Sushi/Sashimi was poor and they should work on this if they are looking to attract a younger crowd.

We found the included wine selections to be far better on Silversea though the wine service in compass rose was excellent during dinner and nonexistant during lunch. If we complained they always tried to help us find someting else to our liking.

Service in the compass rose was spotty and it really depended where you sat and with whom. On busy nights those stations are full and the meals can turn into 3 hour "events". We didn't love this.

The crew on board the Voyager was excellent and we found them happy and helpful. The recent Silversea crews were grumbling about being paid in USD and how they were promised more money when they signed on and now they are getting less. It was a pleasure to be in a positive working enviornment on Regent.

The buffets by the pool were a major event on this cruise and I have never waited in line longer on a luxury line. The regular buffet took about 15-20 minutes to clear and for the Mexican buffet we stood their for 30 minutes waiting as they only had one line open. This I believe was a "big ship/small ship" difference as I have never waited more then 5 minutes on any buffet with Silversea. Regardless, the food quality was good and options were plentiful.

The Social staff was excellent and good on Regent for keeping Jaime and his wife on that ship...they know how to make the people happy.

Overall the cruise was a great time and we would definitely sail with Regent again. We have booked our cruises for next year and we are 2 Silversea and 1 Regent and perhaps the year after we will swing again. We are going to wait and see what this partnership with Apollo brings and go from there.

Enjoy cruising and I hope this is helpful to those who were interested.

Happy Cruising.

DebbieH103 · January 14, 2008

I found it very useful. and appreciate your thoughts.

Some of your observations were very similar to mine, though I am not sure which suite you are comparing where they are much bigger on Regent Voyager than SS since Whisper/Shadow and Voyager regular suites are exactly the same size, with the difference being that SS has a bigger closet and a smaller couch. Were you comparing the other suite and to what category or were you comparing to Wind/Cloud? Please nobody flame me, I am just trying to understand the comparison.

I also liked the Voyager lunch special buffets better than the SS night ones on the pool deck on SS (but not the Navigator one). I told the CD on Whisper in December they should do a big fish grill at lunch or do the usual bbq at lunch vs. dinner, and she liked the idea. We hate that dinner bbq on SS and only go to see the show, but we regret going for dinner every time, though tons of people love it. I did not wait long on Voyager at buffets but did on Navigator. Inside meals on Navigator were delightful.

I also like service better at the main restaurant on SS than Voyager and also think the wines are better and more varied on SS and sommoliers are more evident on SS except for formal night whenthey appear to be MIA. However, like you, I also really like having more dining choices on Voyager, and I liked all 4 A LOT. This is a HUGE plus to me.

On our December Whisper, we found less Europeans than before, but the Asians had been trained very well. I think that is something Regent still needs to work on, but I imagine it depends on where you find people in their contract.

Like you, I am going to continue to do both lines, and we have Regent Voyager booked for this Christmas and two SS cruises booked for 2009. I am anxious to show my husband Voyager. He already loves SS both bigger and smaller ones and is skeptical, but he usually just goes wherever I want. I am sure a shipboard holiday will be magical.

It is nice that you were able to get adjoining cabins. That must have really made things convenient. If we go with our family (us being the kids even though we are in our mid-40s), we will opt to NOT get adjoining to avoid that 7 am banging on the door that we get when we do adjoining on land trips.

Again, thanks for the wonderful comparison. It is great to see good reviews from people on a continued basis.

BTW, when I was on Navigator in mid December, the lcds were spanking new, but the Fox News was rather distorted on that TV. I only turned the TV on twice mostly to watch where the ship was, but I thought it was odd. I know they were changing everything up and did not have the new service yet, only the TVs, so it isn't really fair for me to evaluate. I am just wondering what you thought of the reception.

dorie10295 · January 16, 2008

Cruiseerf, I do agree with everything you have said about the Voyager holiday cruise. We were on board and enjoyed our 16 days. We have sailed on the Voyager 6-7 times and found slight differences this time....

We had requested a few food items pre cruise, 4 requests were made, and not followed through. The items were not brought on board until halfway through the trip, and things that they ran out of such as pretzles were never reprovisioned. The assistant FandB manager was not at all effecient or capable of this job. We spoke to him many times and he did not have a clue as to what to do.

We thought other than the Panama Canal and Haultolco the ports were very weak, really pretty terrible. Speaking of the canal, we started to enter the first lock at about 6:30AM and at around 7 I went up to the observation lounge where I found about thirty people watching the lock fill. There was no coffee available or juice, and this is the only spot inside to watch from the bow of the ship as it was raining out.. Regent really dropped the ball that time...there should have been juice, coffee and pastries available.

Our wine glasses remained empty after the first pour many nights in Compass Rose which never happened before on Regent. If we did not care for the wine being poured, we were happy we were able to get what we desired.

Breakfast in La Veranda was wonderful as always. The selection of fresh fruit was great, the pastries were not as varied as in previous sailings, and the pancakes and waffles were superb. Dinner there was quite good the few times we dined there. It was nice to have lunch there and get away from the lines at the pool. Sitting out side in the stern of the ship for breakfast and lunch was a treat. Why is it not open for seating at dinner?

The new interactive TVs were fun and the movies on demand is a great addition...there were many nights that we enjoyed a movie after dinner.

The ship was decorated beautifully for the holiday season and the crew seemed very eager to please as always. Its always nice to come aboard in Ft Lauderdale, and have so many of the crew recognize us and say "welcome home". Our butler was wonderful and served beautifully. We had dinner in our suite one evening and he did an outstanding job.

The lines for lunch at the pool were outrageous, very poor planning on Regents part to have passengers standing for 35 minutes to get a taco and a salad...there were many who just walked away and went down to Compass Rose mad. The fish grill was wonderful, and the Christmas day buffet in the atrium had a huge selection and the caviar flowed like water. Well done Regent.

We found that the new chef is not as creative as the last one and the menu in Compass Rose had too many repeats for a 16 day cruise. Dessert is a weak point in Compass Rose, and wonderful in La Veranda. What happened to all the chocolate truffles that we were accustomed to with our coffee in Compass Rose. Its the small touches like this that were missing. The New Years Eve menu was the worst we have ever seen. ...different chefs....different styles.

We loved Regent and are sad to see the small differences. We will sail with them one more time, but not with the same expectations or excitement. We had booked a cruise on the Mariner for 2009 long before this sailing so we will give Regent one more try.

dorie10295 · January 16, 2008

Cruiseerf, I do agree with everything you have said about the Voyager holiday cruise. We were on board and enjoyed our 16 days. We have sailed on the Voyager 6-7 times and found slight differences this time....

We had requested a few food items pre cruise, 4 requests were made, and not followed through. The items were not brought on board until halfway through the trip.