I booked a guaranteed G suite 90 days out on the April Rome to Venice cruise in spite of the adverse comments on cruise critic. I guessed the refit in early April would solve all the comments on the décor though not perhaps the vibration issues. I have previously avoided this ship as she is a bit old and not purposely made for cruising but now she is in the Med I had little choice as we are off long haul for a bit.

I logged into my Regent account immediately after booking and I was surprised to see a cabin had already been allocated. Normally this would be done a couple of days out from sailing. The cabin allocated 531 was one we would have refused had we not booked on a guaranteed basis as it was right on the end next to the stairs, entrance to Compass Rose and a WC. We did complain to Regent via our agent but we didn’t really expect any change and we didn’t get any. It does strike me that maybe Regent are using the guaranteed basis (at least on this ship) to get rid of cabins no one else will book. We won’t book that way again on this ship.

Around 6 weeks out from our trip we received an email from Regent via our agent asking us if we would like to swap onto one of around 5 other cruises. This email offered the alternative cruises at the same price as we had already paid in full plus cash back and a suite upgrade. We chose the cruise which was very similar to ours but two days longer. We were offered an E suite having booked a G on guarantee so jumped at the chance. So that is how we came to be on the Malta to Venice cruise departing on 13th June 2016. Read more