I have previously had 9 cruise experiences with Fred Olsen, Princess, Celebrity, and Azamara over the last 9 years; all very enjoyable in their own way and using conventional star ratings I would place these progressively in the range 3.5 to 4.5.

I jumped at the chance to travel on Regent Navigator from San Francisco to Alaska to Vancouver because it ticked so many boxes never having visited those parts and never having done a “six star cruise”. Included excursions, premium drinks and speciality dining sounded good although presumably we pay for these in the cruise price. What then would be the six star added value items? Before setting off I resolved that it would be anything that elicited a “wow” response.

Before getting into detail I must say that this was probably my favourite cruise experience to date. Decent weather in a tranquil early season Alaska devoid of other cruise ships obviously helped but credit is due to the included excursion programme which was of good quality. Read more