Seven Seas Splendor Review
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This is my fifth cruise and the fourth for my husband. We loved Crystal, but when they went bankrupt we went searching for another small luxury cruise line. Regent has bathtubs in some of the mid level cabins, and they had trips that began and ended in the US. (my husband's back can't handle flying over the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean). So we booked two cruises.
First, the positives. The cabin was spacious, the bed wonderful, the veranda well furnished, and the bathroom had a bathtub! Plus a walk-in closet that served as a sound barrier between the bedroom area and the bathroom. The room stewards were perfection.
Fellow passengers were an interesting mix from a career firefighter to corporate big wigs to entrepreneurs and doctors and a recruiter for cardiologists. One woman was a very talented painter with acrylics. We shared tables three nights and had a great time with our dinner companions - the first night at Prime we looked around and realized we were the last people in the restaurant, and hadn't noticed as everyone else left since we were having such a good time talking. Shared tables on other cruises have never gone well as our dinner companions didn't seem to have a lot to say about anything. Whereas the passengers on Regent have lived interesting lives, had challenging jobs, and generally were well educated about a variety of topics. The ship had 710 passengers aboard, and only 22 appeared to be younger than I am at 57. Which did seem a bit odd, but it meant a quieter ship overall, and no drunks stumbling past my cabin door late at night, so a plus for me.
Cabin Review
Concierge Suite
LOVED our Concierge E cabin. We selected its position on the ship to have the larger size veranda which easily held a layout flat chaise lounge, 2 chairs and a good sized round table. Large king sized bed felt like it might be too soft, but our backs felt fine after 10 days and I wanted to stay curled up in my comfortable nest each morning. Very spacious living area, although when we had room service there wasn't enough room for all the food on the table so some food was left on the bed for us to serve ourselves (despite saying they serve room service course by course, they bring all the food at once even if you ask for the chocolate lava cake with ice cream to be served later - fortunately lava cake in a sea of melted cream also tastes good).
The closet was large, though room for clothes on hangers was a bit limited. Drawer space, however, was more than ample. We only used the stack of drawers in the closet and didn't use the even larger quantity of drawers in the bedroom/living room area. And didn't use the multiple drawers under the large 2 sink counter in the bathroom. If someone were staying on the ship for longer there would be plenty of room to store items. And with fast, free laundry, you don't need a huge quantity of clothes. My clothes came back the next evening folded, pressed, wrapped in tissue and transported in a special box - they have never looked better!
The curtains to separate the bedroom area from the living room area did not pull all the way to meet in the middle - I wished I had some clothespins to protect my husband from the light as I worked on my artwork in the living room. But having the closet between the bed and the bath meant he didn't hear me taking a bath in the evening and I didn't hear him showering in the morning.
The two room stewards kept the room clean and were very respectful of our schedules. They were also super responsive to any requests. Absolutely delightful.