Our only previous OCEAN cruise was 20+ yrs ago, on a much larger ship. While we enjoyed a Viking River cruise several yrs ago, we had decided ocean cruises were not for us. We agreed to take this cruise because (1) smaller ship (2) traveling w/ 3 other couples (3) everything included. We were not disappointed. Everything was great about the cruise - staff professional and available, laundry service, air travel Regent booked, our cabin (the closet w/ built-in drawers) & abundance our US outlets, well organized excursions. Disappointments: food not as good as Viking (however good selection and not too salty) and 1 of our included excursions was a waste. I believe the fault lies with the guide. A friend we were traveling w/ booked a private guide/van for our day in Rome. Very wise decision. We would book w/ Regent again. (Happy we booked thru Costco). Can't comment on entertainment or activities as we didn't have time for any of that! Ship was clean, well maintained and had attractive decor. I took too many "nice" outfits for evening and attribute that to my lack of understanding what to expect. Read Less

the ship was very good, and we especially enjoyed the quality of the food in the main dining room. The weather, less so. We boarded in 80 knot winds (really) that tore an Azamara ship off its moorings that almost struck us. Our cabin was spacious, and the closet space was a pleasant surprise. They have an Illy coffee maker, and should put out instructions to avoid messing it up the first few times you try. We only went to two of the shows (all shows are at 9:30 except the crew show on the last night; perhaps they might consider a 7:00pm show once or twice for those of us who wanted to eat later or earlier. Re shore excursions, they also need to ensure they put out maps for the day's location every day. It was missing most days, and would be useful. The fitness center was better than anticipated; they have water and Gatorade in the room, too. The machines are set to stop every 25 minutes, so you have to re-start it if you go longer. The weight machines are great, free weights up to 50 pounds, too. We wound up in port an added day due to high seas, missing our first stop as a result. We also couldn't dock in Monte Carlo due to dock damage there, so we were schlepped by bus for 3 hours from Marseilles. Not the ship's fault, but no rest for the weary at the end... Shore excursions were generally good to very good. We did Florence on our own, using the ship's "on your own" tour. They stopped at a leather factory, and also at a view overlook, which really cut into our time. If they had advised ahead of time what our arrival time in Florence would have been, we could have avoided sprinting to our assigned time at one of the galleries. The Monserrat optional tour was great (if you don't like steep, winding roads, be cautious) especially the lunch buffet on the way back. One of the best buffets I've had (and that's saying a lot). Read Less

We chose this cruise to visit ports that we had not been to and to see the fall colors. Because we live in Florida, we had forgotten how cold and rainy it gets this time of year. Of course the cruise company does NOT have control of those elements. This is our first cruise since I joined cruise Critics. I did not know how to contact the other members for the meet and mingle events, therefore we did not participate. We have another Regent cruise beginningin January and hope to understand the process better. The service and food were both excellent. Compass Rose has such a diverse menu with excellent selections. The talent that I watched, the Regent Production team put on excellent shows. We played trivia most days and had fun meeting other guests and trying to come up with the correct answers. We really liked the size of the ship and the easy of getting around. Our butler and room steward were both 5 star. We believe the excursions that Regent includes are every bit as good or many times better that we pay extra for on other cruise lines. We had a great trip. Read Less

Although I had sworn I would not sail Regent again after a terrible experience a few years back on Mariner (Istanbul-Istanbul), I was tempted by the new ship, positive comments by other cruisers and a convenient itinerary in the Med. A good price didn't hurt either! By way of background, we are regular cruisers on Seabourn (Gold) and Hapag-Lloyd Europa Gold), as well as 3 Crystal cruises (Silver (including their Yacht) and 1 Oceania Marina cruise. We are Silver on Regent. We were blown away by the pre-cruise transfers and hotel. Everything went super smoothly - plenty of staff available, private water taxi to Hotel Danieli in Venice, private water taxi to ship the next day. Air (inc. a deviation in Barcelona where we stayed longer) also very seamlessly handled. The Explorer is a beautiful ship, well laid out and with plenty of space. Although the ship was full, it never felt that way. We loved our PH (1408) - great location - and we got an excellent butler (Vinit). That is not always a given, believe me. I thought the hallway entry way space was not efficiently utilized though - a place to hang coats would be nice. Service was wonderful: consistently personable, always with a smile, attentive. They had plenty of staff, so we never waited in any of our dining venues, even when Compass Rose was full, especially after Captain's events, shows, etc. Never a problem. Dining: We were only able to secure 1 extra reservation (in Prime 7) in addition to the 3 allowed. Food was a disappointment for us. Nothing drastically wrong, just uninspired. Dishes sounded wonderful on paper, but really didn't deliver on the plate. Pacific Rim, which we really were looking forward to, was pretty watered down Asian cuisine. There were a few stand-out dishes (Miso black cod for one) but the sides were generally bad: The fried vegetable rice and the stir fried noodles (both recommended by our server) were gummy and inedible. We liked Chartreuse, Prime 7 was also fine. Compass Rose did better with standard items than adventurous ones, so if you're a steak/lobster/shrimp/repeat kind of person, I think you would be happy. Big negative for us: The wine. The first time in all my cruises, and I do mean all, that I was unsuccessful in obtaining a list (even hand written) of what complimentary wines they had. I asked our butler, our servers, every sommelier, including the head sommelier. What is important to me, as a trained Court of Masters Sommelier, is which winery the wine comes from. The 'somms' and servers I think are trained to stick to their story and not offer additional information. If you find out on your own, then you can have them if you ask. (I saw an Oyster Bay SB and an Ancient Vines Zin, for example, on another table.) Even a mid cruise comment card, detailing my woes, brought no response. I do understand that for 90% (maybe more) of the passengers, those 2 offerings per night were just fine. We're not cocktail drinkers, although we tried a couple here and there. It seems the cocktails are more the focus than wine. Explorer has many lovely bar venues with a wide range of cocktails and high quality liquor available. Shore excursions were about what you would expect from included offerings: Buses, sometimes several going to the same spot, with about 30 people per bus. Tour guides were not very good, and I was reminded of why we book independent arrangements :-). We did pay for 1 tour (to Syracuse) and it was certainly not any better than the 'free' tours. Disembarkation went as smoothly as embarkation. To sum it up, while I overall still prefer SB and Hapag Lloyd and Crystal, I would cruise with Regent again on Explorer (and possibly new ship Ovation) if the itinerary and price were right. Wouldn't do over 14 days though - food and wine not good enough to stay longer. Read Less

Last time we cruised on Regent was four years ago and it was on the Mariner. This, over three week, voyage gave us about three months total on that ship. Soon after we boarded we checked out the Main Dining Room, The Compass Rose, and wondered if we were on the right ship. We weren't aware that the Mariner went through an extensive refurbishment last March. Quite a change in the MDR, not just in the general decor but with wait staff and cuisine. Special shout out for the wine pairing sommeliers. Now, don't get me wrong, the Mariner was always great, but it was now super. For years now we have listed Regent as our favorite line and the Voyager as our favorite ship. Sure wish we could scratch up the simoleons to book them more often and for longer durations. Cruise lines love to give romantic titles to their cruises, this one was "Havana Dreams, Panama Scenes". I suggest that it should have been the "Hurricane Dodger", LOL. When we left Anchorage, AK we were keeping an eye on a dying hurricane out in the Pacific off the Baja Peninsula in Mexico which had doubled back toward the mainland. Then we heard about Hurricane Michael moving into the Gulf of Mexico, which was likely to prevent us from visiting Cuba. Survived those okay and had an enjoyable visit in Cuba and the countryside there, a great transit of the canal on a beautiful day all the way but then, five days after the canal, we returned to the ship after touring Acapulco, Mexico and found a letter from the captain on our bed explaining that a big, already Cat 5, hurricane was dead ahead of us, Hurricane Willa, and another smaller one coming up from the south toward our present position at the time. In order to put some distance between us and Willa we turned southwest for a day or so then northwest. Eight days sailing non-stop between North America and Maui, 3800 miles, instead of the scheduled six days to cross from San Diego. Our captain had chosen the most prudent course of action which was to bypass the planned ports of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico on Tuesday and San Diego on Thursday and instead spend those days at sea navigating our course far away from the storm systems, with a new arrival into Kahului, Maui one day early for an overnight stay. On the way across the Pacific we learned of Typhoon Yutu, which was the largest yet in 2018, it had just hit Saipan and Tinian on the other side of the Pacific from our location. At that time the Accumulated Cyclone Energy, or "ACE," was by far the highest ever recorded, or using that criterion, it was the worst hurricane season on record since records began early in the 19th century. Our extra sea days were due to weather situations, the longest number of those we have experienced was nine and that was also due to an accident, a lady compound fractured her ankle so we had to turn back in order to get her off the ship for medical attention. All total we canceled two port visits due Willa, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and San Diego, Ca, plus one port canceled at the last minute due to political unrest, Nicaragua. Out of that we gained two more "At Sea Days" and another day and a night in Kahului, Maui. Hey, I saw more flying fish that voyage than I've seen in years. But it was all good for us since we love sea days and life on board was exquisite due to Regent's fine service, cuisine quality and on board activities such as that involved with one of my favorite aspects of cruising, the enrichment lectures, particularly those addressing the theme of the voyage or aspects of the area of the world the cruise is taking place in like history, naturalism and geography. On this voyage we had two lecturers, Michael Scott, a botanist and historian and Lt. Colonel Bill Rothschild a NASA Rocket Scientist and engineer. Scott's presentations fit perfectly into the area of the world we voyaged but Rothschild's were very interesting as well. I think they spoke a dozen times each and I attended every single lecture, perfect attendance. Not to mention my sometimes twice daily hot tubs and the wonderful service from the ships pool bar. In a way this was a strange voyage, smooth seas and nice warm days all the way, yet we have were surrounded by hurricanes most of the distance. But all voyages can't be absolutely perfect. We did experience a few glitches, minor as they were. We planned on three formal nights which somehow got changed to two. But the last one they scheduled on the last night of the voyage, which was a port day preceded by six sea days. Nobody plans like that. Neither did they, toward the end they rescheduled the formal night to the last sea day, hurray. We almost always purchase pre-cruise and post-cruise hotel and transfer packages and so we did this time as well. On the pre-cruise hotel, which was part of the cruise package, they changed the hotel on us a few months before sailing, no big deal. But then a few weeks before sailing, after we had received the nice final formal cruise packet in the US mail, they flip flopped again and changed the hotel back to the original. Somehow we missed the email notice of the second change. So ended up in the wrong hotel. By the time we figured out there was something wrong we had already booked into a very fine room in the wrong hotel. Regent determine it was all our fault, so gave us a choice, stay in the wrong hotel and pay for it yourself or move over to the other one which we are paying for. We moved. On the post cruise hotel, the Royal Hawaiian in Honolulu, Regent was right on top of this and changed hotels for us when they discovered Waikiki hotels were just hit with a massive labor strike and the Royal was included. They got us into a very nice waterfront hotel that was not on strike. Good on them. In summation, I realize Regent's prices are pretty steep and going up, so are the other line's prices that we frequent. But you have to say this about Frank Del Rio (FDR)'s lines. The other lines seem to not only be increasing prices but also engaging in a commensurate ratcheting down of overall cruise quality. While at the same time, Regent is enhancing over all cruise quality. Read Less

We chose this 28 day back to back cruise as we had not been to Alaska in many years and all we had to do is fly one way as we live in Florida. We flew to Vancouver and since we had a penthouse we received a free night at the Four Seasons Hotel. Embarkation was easy and after a small lunch in the Veranda our luggage had been delivered and our cabin was ready. Service and food on the ship were superb. We really enjoyed the Veranda for breakfast and lunch and had most of our dinners in Compass Rose. The menu selections were huge and it was always hard to decide on an entree so we usually shared between the two of us. Chartreuse was not our favorite but we enjoyed Prime Seven (especially the whole Maine lobster) several times. The excursions in Alaska were exceptional. We went whale watching (saw hundreds), and loved watching the dolphins play and the bald eagles who were spotted in the trees by our guide. We had a dungeness crab feast in Ketchican (all you can eat)! Two ports were cancelled (Nicaragua because of unrest and Grand Cayman because of Hurricane Michael). Would not want to go back to Acapulco or Guatemala. Mostly life on the ship was great. There was good weather and we enjoyed just sitting by the pool reading or going to lectures and playing duplicate bridge (there was an excellent bridge director (Joyce from Saskatchuan) . Looking forward to our next Regent cruise (Tahiti to Singapore 2020) Read Less

I have been a long time Regent cruiser and was concerned about the quality of service after the takeover by Norwegian. In October my wife and I took a 10-day cruise to Canada and then Bermuda. We found the staff as warm and friendly as in the past and the food was at least as good. The entertainment was moderate as I expect on a small ship, but the performers were enthusiastic. But… My wife uses a mobility scooter and transport chair which we brought on the cruise. The access to the pool deck and specialty restaurants was made especially difficult. Scooters had to navigate the lip between the corridor and deck and they created an extra barricade with an inclined plane to ease the scooter across the lip. But the plane did not slope to the ground but started with a two-inch vertical rise. To negotiate this the scooter had to be perpendicular to the rise and moving relatively fast. The problem was the stairwell was close to the deck access and there was little room for maneuvering. It was worse leaving the deck since the fast-moving scooter was headed toward the stairwell. A tense experience, to say the least. Leaving the ship in port was an adventure-in-itself. The gangway was set up in much the same way as the as access to the pool deck and disregards the needs of those who need mobility assistance. It took two crew members to move the scooter over the hump. The ship stayed in Bermuda for two days, the longest on the cruise. But none of the excursions were available to the mobility impaired -- even folding wheelchairs. This really did not matter since the gangway was steps rather than an incline. The crew offered to carry my wife and scooter down the steps, but we did not want to be singled out. Finally, the stress was too much and the scooter transmission was damaged. Half way through the cruise we filled out a questionnaire and we expressed these complaints. We were ignored. The changes that would have solved these problems were simple and inexpensive and the failure to implement these changes shows indifference, at best. Read Less

The itinerary. Also to try Regent. Unfortunately, we were underwhelmed with the food, service, staffing. (Our cabin attendants were wonderful!!) Due to early excursions most of the days, we had room service which was very timely and hot; the one day we had a little time we went to main dining room, Arrived at 0815, had to flag down someone to seat us, waited for a server a while, finally ordered and it took until 0850 to receive our breakfast (excursion met at 0915) Food was not even warm, the dining room was not at all busy. Lunches at buffet were great, hot food, lots of variety, great pizza.......service was not the greatest there either, whether or not it was busy. We needed to catch a server's eye to get beverages many times Main dining room was OK....food needed to be much warmer, I had barely warm scallops, sides were not hot. We did complain and the chef did call us to apologise. Prime 7- nice atmosphere, excellent service food so so. Table for 6, 3 had steaks as ordered 3 did not Chartreuse - all was good Ship was OK Excursions were all outstanding! Our pre-cruise hotel was just OK Hotel Davina Caravel. Biggest problem was no US outlets, my husband uses a CPAP + phones needed charging. Fortunately the hotel store had 1 converter left in the store. That info should have been included in Regent information. I don't remember ever needing to write such a negative review Overall even with our issues, the itinerary and weather made it a wonderful 10 days Read Less

Cruise started and ended in Athens. The room was large considering it was a cruise.. balcony, sitting area , walk-in closet, shower and tub. Food was delicious- our favorite was the Compass Rose. Most mornings we had room service for breakfast because excursions were early. Everyone of the staff on the ship were very friendly. Loved the three man band that played any song you wanted in the lounge each night. They had other singers, dancers, pianists and full orchestra as well. All were very talented. The shore excursions were great... we only did the half day ones. All of the tour guides were very knowledgeable. Our favorite ports were Malta, Katakolo, Rhodes and Kusadasi. The afternoons we sat by the pool. We met lovely people from all over the U.S. Australia and United Kingdom. It was our first cruise .. my husband was hesitant to go. Now we can’t wait to cruise with regent again. Well worth the cost. Read Less

This was our second time on the Voyager, again in the beautiful Med and although we had visited just about every port on our Monte Carlo to Venice journey many times before, we enjoyed the beauty and weather and culture of these very interesting areas and had a wonderful vacation. We found a great last minute offer and booked about one month prior to departure. Just like last year: the ship was in beautiful condition, our Concierge Suite (1018) was lovely and comfortable (although some extra storage areas would be appreciated), the cabin service was excellent, embarkation and disembarkation were a breeze, shore excursions were well organized (even if I still dislike daily bus tours) with lots of choice, the entertainment was still mediocre at best (like all small luxury ships), and the crew tried very hard and aimed to please. What was better than last year was, firstly, the service. While things seemed disorganized last year onboard, this year all staff members that we dealt with were engaged, happy and worked very hard to accommodate all of the passengers and their needs and wants. Bravo! All requests were handled efficiently and pleasantly, and, this year, there was no problem getting reservations at specialty restaurants - the staff worked with us and did what they could; that is all that one can ask. Secondly, we had such a strange experience with the food: the first couple nights of the cruise (French Restaurant and then Compass Rose) the dinners were terrible - totally unexpected: food delivered cold, under-cooked fish, scallops that tasted metallic, etc. This had nothing to do with our individual tastes, something was very wrong (we were a party of 4 and all of us agreed that there was a problem.) After the excellent deck Bar B Q, while having a drink at one of the bars, we ran into Danielle (the F&B Manager) and Maria (the Restaurant Manager) and very nicely told them our problems and, WOW, did they respond and turn things around. From that point forward, every meal was superb and they made sure that we were satisfied. It was amazing to see how much they cared about the product and were so concerned that 4 passengers (all of whom had been on Regent before) would be satisfied and enjoy the cuisine. It was an impressive and excellent display of service that we very much appreciated. We were on the cruise that had the mishap in Rome - yes, the ship banged into pier and took a bit of cosmetic damage but it was not the end of the world - the captain himself stated a few hours after the event that there was no mechanical damage. I don't think that the entire issue was well handled: there was a lack of information and disclosure by senior crew, we needlessly missed a port of call because we spent a night in Rome for no good reason (all of the other cruise liners were coming and going), and the words: "sorry for the inconvenience" only go so far. Regent could have done far better. It was a shame that we missed one of the highlights of the cruise: Sorrento (or Naples) for Capri, the Amalfi Coast, Pompeii, etc,. No one would have minded if the itinerary was juggled and we missed Corfu, for example. We are loyal Silversea cruisers (looking forward to Australia in January on the Muse) but we also like the Regent. We honestly prefer the Silversea product - our opinion is that its a bit more polished and refined and the included shore excursions on Regent are not a big plus for us. That being said, at the end, most cruise choices are about a balance between product, price and itinerary and we certainly would cruise with Regent in the future. Read Less