I am UK based so we did not need a hotel room in Rome prior to our cruise. We flew directly from Heathrow to Rome and were met and transferred efficiently to Civitavecchia arriving about 1230 hours. Even at this early time we were welcomed on board with champagne and smiles, went through the swift registration procedures and pointed towards the Pool Grill and the Veranda Restaurant where we could have lunch and while away a couple of hours until our suite was ready.

We were called around 1430 hours, greeted at the lift and taken to our suite, a rear facing Horizon suite with a spacious balcony. The suite itself was bigger than on the sister ship, Mariner, with a larger marble bathroom with a bath and separate shower cubicle. An excellent walk in closet, which served if you wished as a small dressing room, large bed and a sofa, two armchairs, a table, in-room refrigerator large, screen TV and wall desk completed the furniture. Fresh fruit, flowers and a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket completed an impressive display. We were asked which spirits we required to stock the cold box with for the cruise ( a bottle each person) and told soft drinks would bw replenished each day or twice a day if necessary as was ice also.

We had chosen the Western Med itinerary because of the ports, Livorno, the port for Florence, Portofino, St. Tropez, Marseilles, Sete, Monte Carlo and finally Nice. We chose not to join excursions which involved a lot of walking so at Livorno we went on a coach through the Tuscan countryside ending up at a small wine tasting auberge. In Portofino we joined a boat trip along the coast, in St. Tropez we toured the old town (we noticed Voyager's Chef buying fish and veg in the town). Marseilles we did on our own using the shuttle bus as our docking was quite a long way from the city. Sete was the only wet day and Regent laid on some extra activities on board though we did venture out between the showers. Monte Carlo was beautiful and a visit to the Royal Palace was a must. Finally we sailed in the evening the short (just over an hour) distance to Nice and were given the opportunity to go ashore but as we were disembarking next morning we chose to have a relaxing dinner on board. Read more