Here's how we would (and do) compare Regent to Oceania. The ship was lovely, our cabin was spacious, and the walk-in closet was more than sufficient. In addition, the service was very good, albeit not quite up to what we have come to expect on Oceania. The showroom and shows were every bit as good as Oceania. The entertainment director, Andy, was the best we have ever had and we met some really nice couples, whom we hope to hear from in the not too distant future. Now, the reason we will not go back to Regent any time soon. The food was inconsistent, ranging from usually just OK to downright it had to be sent back, and even after that, the replacement was only 50% good, starting with two lamb chops ordered medium-rare. one of us had overly salted meals, mostly in the main dining room, one of which was almost inedible, but she did not send it back because she was eating very little. She found other meals too salty, as well. Finally, in our favorite restaurant, the Italian, where we did not need reservations and where we ate 4 times, the 4th time the meal surprisingly was almost incredibly over-cooked. It seems the only restaurant of the four (including the main dining room) that could cook meat as ordered was Prime 7, the steak restaurant. Read Less

Just returned from the Rome to Athens cruise on the Voyager. Four of us chose this cruise to celebrate two 60th Birthdays. We had Penthouse C cabins on the 8th Deck which were beautiful and our Butler, Bish, was outstanding and so attentive! We ate at all of the dining venues with Prime 7 and Compass Rose being our favorites although they were all outstanding. (I was very confused about a previous horrible review that stated baseball caps & shorts being worn everywhere after 6:00 pm - this was not in evidence at all on this cruise.) We did experience some rough seas which resulted in an alternative port being selected over one of the scheduled stops as the seas were too rough to take tenders in to the original port. We were very impressed with how fast they were able to come up with alternative shore excursions and we loved the one we chose (Sorrento: beautiful views, shopping, & pizza!). The tours were all very organized and impressive. Malta and Santorini were amazing. Overall, customer service was excellent, particularly in the restaurants and destination services desk. The pre-cruise hotel in Rome (Westin Excelsior) was very nice and in a very safe area (right next to the American Embassy!). Our rooms were beautiful and the Concierge Desk was extremely helpful in setting us up with a private car & driver. The only disappointment were the shows. Although they were entertaining, the level of performance was just average. The one exception was the show on the final evening call Crew Capers. This was outstanding and some of the crew members have serious talent! We had a wonderful time on this trip and are already looking to book another cruise in a couple years!! Read Less

This was our third cruise with Regent and the start of the recent television series in the UK on the ‘Explorer’ had put us in the mood for a luxurious break. We flew from LHR with BA which was fine, and our private transfer was waiting, all good. We were in a Concierge level suite so we had the free previous night’s accommodation included - and the ‘meet and greet’ at the hotel was well organised. While we could understand why Regent use the Divani Caravel Hotel from the point of view of the easy handling of a large number of cruise guests, 5 star it certainly wasn’t, particularly our room, which was small with old and scruffy furniture. The rooftop pool was good though, and you could see the Acropolis in the distance. Given Regent’s sales pitch, we would have expected a better hotel nearer the centre of the city. We were transferred to the ship by coach and the embarkation process was very quick, with helpful agents. Our suite was fine, very comfortable bed, everything worked - except the door to the balcony which we had to get an engineer to fix it so that my wife could open it – you would think the room steward might have spotted it first. Most of the staff were generally friendly and competent; the one exception were the barmen - they had clearly not seen the TV programme which says that ‘no’ is not an option. It’s a real first world problem, but if you want French dry rose wine to drink, to be offered Pino Grigio because the barman can’t be bothered to go and get the wine you want is not the way to go. Food in Compass Rose was excellent, and much better than we remember, but we can’t say the same for the buffet in Sette Mari. Keeping meat dishes hot seemed to be a problem, and flies dive-bombing the various cold dishes was quite common. The other new introduction for us was an evening barbecue on the deck in the middle of the cruise, and also a buffet on the last night. We were not impressed by either. We ate at both specialty restaurants, Chartreuse was really excellent, unfortunately Prime 7 was not and left a lot to be desired in all areas - decor (it’s so brown), very, very slow service and poor food quality. We had to ask several times to speak to the Maitre’D and his response when we managed to speak to him was poor. Even the table next to us hosted by the social host was suffering, she must have been very embarrassed - it needs a serious review. The ‘free’ tours we did were good, Istanbul particularly, though one or two of the stops did not really have much to offer. We saw some of the evening shows in the excellent theatre although content was standard cruise ship fare, but probably appropriate for the audience. The sea day was a disappointment, very few activities – you would think they could run another quiz at least. Our perception was that most of the passengers were Brits or Europeans, and the average age was 50/60. Talking with other guests it was clear that most of them restricted their cruising to the 6 Star lines, and that meant that they were less aware of some of the more ‘standard’ cruise lines suite offers – which in our view are better in many ways, particularly on facilities and service levels. We have been on over 70 cruises, on a variety of lines - Regent is not cheap, and in our view does not always deliver the 6 Star offer it should. Read Less

We have sailed on Regent's 'sister' line, Oceania Cruises, several times and have had excellent experiences, so when we were searching for a higher end cruise line to Alaska and found Regent and learned it was all-inclusive, we decided to give them a try. Overall it was a good experience but I would not rate the experience as highly as I have rated the Oceania cruises we have experienced. Ship: While the ship has been updated, the decor is lacking in appeal. The main carpet throughout the ship is dated in style though it looks new. The multi-story atrium wall across from the bank of elevators is a dark brown with some blown glass pieces that look dark and dreary. The artwork throughout the ship is contemporary but not to my taste Our cabin 732, a Veranda suite, was appealing with comfortable furnishings. The bathroom had marble and granite with a roomy shower -- no tub. Dining: Marina has two truly speciality restaurants. Prime 7 for steak and Chartreuse for French cusine. They turn the breakfast/lunch buffet restaurant, La Veranda, into Sette Mari for Italian themed cusine in the evening which was quite good so much so we went back a second time. The carbonara was very good. Prime 7 was excellent. We ordered a ribeye steak and Alaskan King Crab and made our own shared surf and turf. Both were excellent and we enjoyed this dinner tremendously. However, the people seated at the table next to us ordered lobster and we could overhear them complaining that it was overcooked and they were disappointed Chartreuse was our poorest most disappointing meal of the week. I ordered a tenderloin steak -- it was tough and not flavorful. The cheese souffle, which had to be ordered 20 minutes ahead of time, was ok -- not bad but not the best souffle I have had. Our first evening we dined in the main dining room, Compass Rose. I ordered the fish special of the evening which was pan fried red snapper. Something must have happened to my order as it took a long time and the waiter as well as maitre d came by to apologize for the wait and ensure me my meal would come soon. When the fish finally did arrive it was over cooked and dry. Other meals we had at Compass Rose were much better including our last evening on board during which I had a crusted baked salmon which was cooked perfectly and very tasty. We had breakfast each day at LaVeranda. I initially was impressed that their cooked to order egg station would take your order and table number and then deliver it to you. On Oceania, one of my main complaints for their similar breakfast station was that you placed your order and then had to stand with alot of other people waiting. Regent's ordering system was an improvement, with the exception of one morning where they must have lost my order and I waited and waited. My husband was finished with his breakfast and I was still waiting for mine. I had to ask wait staff a couple of times to check on my order. Lunches at the Pool Grill were all very good. In general, the wait staff throughout the restaurants are all very professional and eager to serve and please. Being all-inclusive, we enjoyed wine with every dinner and the somms kept our glasses full. The all inclusive for drinks and wine was one of the top experiences on Regent -- there was no waiting for a bill at the end of a meal or in one of the lounges. When we were finished we just got up and left. Entertainment and Activities: While I enjoyed several of the shows put on by the onboard singers and dancers, these were not to the taste of my husband. One evening was a country-themed show which he would not even go to so that evening we watched a movie in our cabin. Since the Mariner is a small ship there were not multiple concurrent choices for evening entertainment. The first night and a subsequent night they had a magician, Fred Becker with his wife/assistant who also sang. He put on a great show both nights they performed. He also did a workshop and taught a trick or two and answered questions which was interesting. On Oceania, there was a string quartet that played nightly. Regent did not have this. They had a duo with a guitar and a singer who were good but they were not in the Observation Lounge during the pre-dinner cocktail time. Playing at that time every evening was a pianist who played well but it was very much background music and not entertainment that you sought out. Our other issue with the entertainment was that shows do not start until 9:30 p.m. We were generally done with dinner by 8 or 8:30 p.m. which meant that we had time to kill before the show started. Moving up the show time to 9 p.m. would be a great help to how an evening flows for passengers. The shows were mostly sparsely attended with the theater on the main floor more than half empty and very few seats taken in the balcony. Moving up the time to start earlier I think would help draw a larger audience. Activities were few on board, although we did particpate a few days in trivia and my husband did the mensa quiz. The enrichment lectures on Alaska and wildlife were all interesting and well delivered. Cruise Director: The cruise director Andy was very outgoing. I saw and interacted with him and his wife, Tammy, who serves as social hostess, more than any other cruise director/team on any ship I have sailed on. Andy was at every show walking around and talking with people prior to the show. Tammy also was very friendly and talkative. They are excellent respresentives and ambassadors for the Regent brand. Ports and Shore Excursions: Another benefit of Regent is that we had many shore excursion options from which to choose that were included in the cruise fare. However, the best 'port 'was actually the afternoon we sailed into Disenchantment Bay and approached Hubbard Glacier, all while on the ship. We staked out a prime viewing spot earlier in the afternoon at the Observation Lounge which is forward on the top deck. The day we sailed in the weather was outstanding! The cruise director, the cruise enrichment lecturer, Eric Ball (who was excellent -- I attended all three of his talks) both said it was the best weather day all season for Hubbard Glacier. Being a smaller shiip, the captain was able to take us in extremly close to the glacier and we spent quite a bit of time 'hanging out' there. It was a festive, fun party atmosphere with all of the other passengers. Other shore excursions we took: In Sitka, we went two-person kayaking which was very scenic and enjoyable; hiking the Chilkoot Trail, although we had several older (in their 80s) passengers who clearly were not phycially fit enough to be on this excursion, which was rated a 3, the top difficulty rating. Consequently, we had to go very slow on the hike and continually had to keep waiting for them to catch up. I was concerned that one of them would fall going up or down the terrain. So this put a damper on this hike, although the trip ended with river raft ride along a river where we saw so many bald eagle I lost count. We also did a hike which was rated a 2 in difficulty that was a leisurely stroll through the Tongas National Forest with an extremely knowledgeable nature guide. The highlight of this excursion was that we were able to see lots of salmon swimming upstream. Another excursion was a 10-person canoeing trip to the Mendenhall Glacier. The canoeing ended up being more challenging than expected but it was very enjoyable and we got as close to the face of the glacier as we were allowed. We also went by Nugget Falls and were able to get out of the canoe and get some great photos in front of the falls. Overall: One of the reasons we were attracted to Regent originally was that the ship is a smaller ship -- under 700 passengers. However, this ended up in some respects being somewhat of a negative to the overall experience. Sometimes we were the only couple or perhaps one of two or three couples in the Observation Lounge or Horizon Lounge. Many areas of the ship were empty and 'boring'. The best times on board were when there were people filling the room and creating some buzz or excitement, such as when we approached Hubbard Glacier, and another late afternoon as we sailed the Inside Passage and people again gathered in the Observation Lounge to look for orcas and humpback whales, which we were delighted to see! The all-inclusive experience definitely has benefits. Passengers looking for a very quiet, small ship experience will be quite pleased with Regent. I would consider sailing with them again depending, of course, upon itinerary and pricing. However, for the overall experience, our next couples cruise will be back on Oceania. Read Less

Some friends our ours recommended this cruise after they had taken it and loved it. We booked it through the travel arm of a large retail enterprise, which was probably a mistake. Prior to the cruise, there were several communication glitches, but I don't know whether that was the fault of the travel "agent" or Regent. In the end, the glitches mostly worked out, but it was a frustrating start (example: took forever to get our flight information and then huge delay in the flights actually being booked, which made upgrades difficult). Then, when we arrived at the Anchorage airport, the transportation arrangements to our hotel (the Marriott) were chaotic. The young man who was supposed to be holding a "Regent" sign in the baggage claim area did not have a sign; we found him through the process of elimination, since the other cruise lines all had signs. Regent was taking guests to more than one hotel, and there was some disorganization surrounding getting appropriate bags onto the appropriate bus. Unfortunately, none of the people involved in the process inspired confidence, and were amused that any of us were worried about our bags that were nowhere in sight (turns out there was a third cart of luggage still inside the airport that was almost overlooked). Anyway, we and our bags got to the Marriott where we were not allowed to take our bags to our own rooms; the Marriott staff who brought them to our room entered without knocking, which of course is not appropriate, but apparently he thought none of us were in our rooms yet. Ah well, the bags arrived, and these were annoyances, not earth-shaking problems. It's just that is was surprising, given Regent's reputation. In the end, we enjoyed a very nice visit in Anchorage, with good food, some nice shops, and a visit to their very nice museum. The next day we took the two-hour plus bus ride to Seward to board, but we left much later than the time Regent had included in the materials they sent us, which was actually a good thing, again just surprising. It was a beautiful and pleasant and uneventful ride; our driver was personable and informative. The boarding process in Seward went smoothly and fairly rapidly, and we were happy to find our bags already in our room (a deluxe F suite on deck 8) when we arrived. Our room steward greeted us and was delightful. The distilled water I had requested for my husband's CPAP was not in the room and the steward clearly had not been informed of our request, but she very quickly retrieved some for us. What we missed, unfortunately, was a get-together that occurred promptly after boarding; it was on the printed materials left in our room, but we were focusing on getting somewhat settled in, changing clothes, etc., and had not yet read the materials, so we missed it. Live and learn, we won't make that mistake next time. As for the cruise itself: We were unbelievably lucky and had perfect weather the whole time. This minimized any negatives that occurred. We loved all of our excursions, which were all no-extra-fee. We loved Compass Rose and Prime 7; Chartreuse was disappointing in food, but the service was excellent (as it was for the most part in every restaurant). We mixed it up for many of our breakfasts and lunches - Pool Grill (excellent), La Veranda (also great), Compass Rose (became our favorite). We also liked the one dinner we had in Siete Mare. One of us attended the guest lectures, and was impressed. The other attended the wine tasting, which is basically an introduction to the wines they serve, and it was fun; the wines are not upper tier, but most were acceptable. We skipped the shopping presentations, because that was not important to us. We did not use the spa or the exercise facility. The casino was mostly dead every time we checked it out. As for the main theater shows, we were not impressed, but in fairness, we see many Broadway and Broadway-quality shows due to availability of extraordinary and top-notch entertainment where we live and where we travel. Kudos to the performers for giving it their all, but they need a little more support, direction and better material. However, we were very impressed with the pianists, the instrumental ensembles, and the duo (singer and guitar player) who performed in the bars and lounges; they were all excellent. And the final night show put on by the crew was delightful. For the most part, the staff was excellent and friendly, always a friendly greeting in passing, an offer to assist if it appeared necessary. We loved our room stewards, and they kept our cabin in great shape. There were occasional staff persons who were not very warm, but at least they were able to give accurate information. We thought the interior of the ship was really lovely, and we liked the art. It never felt crowded. We appreciated the laundry facilities, which we used several times. All of the seating in the restaurants, lounges, public areas was comfortable and almost always with adequate space. We had a few negative experiences that were puzzling. On our last night, we had a late reservation in Prime 7, so we went to the Observation Lounge to take in the beautiful view and have a drink before dinner. It was mostly empty, but we waited for over a half hour for someone/anyone to take our drink order; other people sitting nearby had the same experience. It was like we weren't there. I finally went up to the bar to order, and the bartender promptly prepared the drinks but seemed frustrated, so I have to guess there was some staffing issue that evening. They also had not cleared the tables the entire time we were there, so we and others eventually moved used glasses to other tables so that we had a somewhat clean place to put our drinks. That same lounge had seemed to have some trouble filling drinks orders a couple of days prior, which again appeared to be a staffing issue. When there are very few "customers", it's hard to understand why there would be very slow service or no service. The other negative experience was when we tried to contribute our remaining onboard credits to the Crew Welfare Fund. I asked at the reception desk who I should see to do that, and the gentleman working there told me it was not possible. So, we used the credits buying things we really did not need in the onboard boutiques. Later, someone else told me he was mistaken, that indeed we could have put our unused credits in the Crew Fund. So, while we would have been very happy to put a few hundred dollars toward the crews' benefit, his misinformation prevented it. Disembarkation went very smoothly. We placed our bags outside our cabin before 11pm, and they were waiting for us when we got off the ship. There was again some chaos in the terminal after we got off the ship, but the very friendly Canadians kept us smiling and eventually we were on the bus on our way to the airport. We have Global Entry, so the getting through U.S. Customs at the Vancouver airport was a breeze. We did not expect perfection, and overall we felt the experience was truly wonderful. But the few negatives did seem to be out of character for Regent's reputation. We will cruise with Regent again. Read Less

My travel agent booked this cruise for myself and my husband. I did not read any reviews on about this cruise or ship until after we had already booked the tour. As we trust our agent very much. However, after reading the reviews, I was quite upset and almost ready to cancel the getaway all together. I am very happy that we didn't cancel and went on this cruise. Although we read in many reviews that the food was mundane or just ok, we felt that it was great. We saw many people state how the ship was old, musty and rusted; however we did not see this. As to us it was very beautiful. We stayed in the Horizon Suites and couldn't have been more comfortable. The service on the ship was complete accommodating, organized and did everything they could for us to make sure we were happy. We were able to book all the excursions that we wanted with no issues, while some we were put on a waiting list, they still made sure we somehow were able to join the rest of the passengers in these adventures. Not everything was "perfect" as nothing always is. There were a few hiccups along the way but nothing to be upset about. Read Less

This is a terrific cruise line. The staff was a wonderful cruise. Every meal delicious; prepared and presented beautifuly. The suite was very well appointed and the room attendant took spotless care. The only disappointment was the lack of entertainment. It was very hard to find live musical entertainment early in the evening. It seemed all of the music was at off hour and you had to hunt to find it. This was a real missed opportunity. A combo with singer in the lounge a 5:00 would be lovely. They had an enrichment speaker but could have used another on another subject matter. The exercise facility was adequate and the spa was serviceable but not luxury. I had a massage in the spa and it was good and the spa prices were reasonable for a luxury line. Overall we had a wonderful cruise but we did miss nightly pre-dinner lounge entertainment. We also missed hearing music as we walked about the ship. Read Less

Chose this because cruise on explorer last year was great. Sadly this was a waste of money and took until day six to sort all issues out. Aft cabin ( 675) intolerable because of vibration. Bought this specifically for balcony size. Moved to ( downgraded) veranda suite ( 754) Filthy balcony with caulking between teak boards stripping out and staining carpet, clothes shoes. After carpenters tried to fix ( apparently they already knew about this) we had to move again to 817 veranda suite which was OK. Offered $1000 pp towards next cruise ( not refund!!) Special diet ( coeliac) organisation awful. Food generally very very average . La veranda by time back from shore excursions bereft of any decent food. Compass Rose closed at least twice for lunch. Dried up scrapings on offer and empty dishes failing to be replenished. Chaotic end of dining service restaurant with sudden changing to get ready for dinner while still diningWines poor quality ( unless of course you pay the extra) Staff almost invisible. Chartreuse noisy chaotic and more like a cafe. Prime 7 average. Even had an offer from cruise director who was having lunch next to using La Veranda to take my dirty plates from my table when the waiter failed to clear up! Drinks, when could find someone to order, frequently failed to be delivered. This was particularly evident at pool and in La Veranda Three staff worth mentioning plus the Butler who were all excellent. Simone, the Maitre D in La Veranda tried very hard to redeem situation and personally was the best service ever.. Janina, the Exec Concierge responded quickly but did not follow up on first occasion. She was practically helpful . Allisone in La Veranda tried hard to organise dietary requirements. Guest lecturer awful. Went on one occasion and he was ill prepared, unfocussed and side commentaries were made assuming that all his audience were Americans. Shore tours were mostly excellent but started at 0800. After talking with fellow travellers on this ship it was evident that even the most faithful RSS clients were exasperated. I am awaiting the company's comments on the whole experience but I am not going to hold my breath! Conclusion is simple. Don't go on this ship unless you are willing to pay a lot of money for a poor service food and perhaps accommodation Read Less

Well what a very poor cruise. Regent has gone from elegance to budget. Staff are sloppy. Spill a drink and just walk off. Order a cocktail and end up with anything but what was ordered. Staff seem to not understand English when it suits them. Entertainment zero. Towels thread bare. Even holes in bath towels and mats. Could not believe it. Dress code really? Baseball caps in main dinning room. Shorts worn everywhere after 6pm. Excursions started at breakfast time and not back till afternoon so no breakfast or lunch. Saves them a fortune. I really thought it was a bad dream. Paid a fortune and received zero for the money. Officers had family aboard and staff seem to eat in public areas. Nice to line up for a coffee after staff are served. Unbelievable. Regent are on the way out and the sooner the better. Keep well away. Complimentary wine very poor and seems to be a push to buy the premium range. Prime 7 lobster raw. Chatreuse appalling. Bar staff couldn’t make a decent martini and didn’t care less anyway. Read Less

While we're relatively experienced cruisers (over 200 days on Silversea, 50 on Seabourn) this was only our second Regent trip. On the previous one, Seven Seas Navigator, we loved the relative informality and the quality of the F&B, but were not too impressed by the ship, so were looking forward to experiencing the Seven Seas Voyager. Overall, this trip warranted a "Good" rating, and we generally enjoyed it. Embarkation was efficient and timely. The Cabin (Veranda on Deck 7 Midships) met our expectations for the category, although the veranda itself would have benefited from a good clean and repaint.The shore excursions were generally very good, the organisation of disembarkation for the excursions was excellent, and the quality of food and wines was also good to very good. Unfortunately, though, this trip was let down by staff attitude. This was not universal by any means, but too often we encountered a patronising attitude, which at times made us feel that we were being a nuisance. This was exemplified on our only visit to the Compass Rose, where the attitude of both the waiter (think plates being placed quite forcefully on the table, rolling eyes) and the wine waiter (who tried hard to convince us that a standard Valpolicella was the same as a Valpolicella Ripasso) were so poor that we did not return, choosing instead to dine at the alternative venues. Having said that, the staff in Chartreuse and Prime 7 - where we managed to dine several times - were very good indeed, as were Setti Mare. The Pool Grill staff were acceptable, but lacked the finesse expected on a Regent cruise. There also seemed to be frequent problems with the coffee machines at the Coffee Corner, which led to queues at the service counter. We were also very disappointed to find, on four separate days, that we'd been supplied with bath towels which were worn into holes and/or frayed. After the fourth occurrence, I mentioned this to the Reception staff, and in fairness it did not happen again. The point, however, is that with a company such as Regent which claims "luxury" status, it should not have happened at all. The "acid test" is whether we would take another Regent cruise, and the answer is yes, we would, given the right itinerary. However, there were unfortunately too many small negatives to make Regent our first choice. Read Less

Husband, son and I have been cruising for over 25 years. Ages are 63, 56 and 23. It is our favorite vacation thing to do. Started on Carnival (actually met my husband on the old Celebration) and moved on up from there. About eight years ago, we tried Celebrity and that was that. It became our favorite cruise line. So other than the occasional inexpensive three or four day trip to the Bahamas on Carnival or Royal Caribbean (we live in FL, so it's easy for us to just jump on), we stick to Celebrity. But this year, we decided to step up to one of the luxury lines and went with Regent Voyager Barcelona to Athens. We are going on Celebrity Edge this winter and considered it for this cruise, but when we added on the business air that came included with Regent, the prices were pretty much the same. So I'll just cut to the conclusion and if you want details, keep reading further. Regent is just lovely and we had a nice time, but it's back to Celebrity for us, unless we got some sort of insane deal on Regent. Very soon, Regent is going to have to figure out how to cater to a younger, more dynamic, well-heeled passenger, as their very elderly passenger base is not going to be around much longer. So here's our breakdown: Room- Regent wins. We were in 867, which is a Penthouse Suite B. It is very comparable to a Sky Suite on Celebrity, which is what we usually book. We loved it. Big walk in closet. Curtain that separates living room from bedroom at night (helpful if you have a third passenger, as we did). Bathroom had separate shower and bath. Great towels and toiletries. Tip: If you do have a passenger sleeping on the pull out couch, ask for a mattress reinforcer. Made a big difference. As others have noted, the balcony furniture is a little too big for the space. Food- For the MDR, Regent wins going away. Really good food. For pool grille, best hamburgers goes to Celebrity, ambiance goes to Regent. Buffet food was a tie, although Regent had less of a cattle call feel. Specialty restaurants food were a tie. In factoring cost effectiveness, we have to pay for specialty restaurants on Celebrity, but they are included with Regent. Regent does enforce the no jeans dress code in the dining room in the evening, which is pretty silly in this day and age. A man in a nice fitting pair of dark wash jeans with a collared shirt is a much better look than some of the stuff that we saw that technically fits the dress code. Drinks-Regent. However, we pretty much only drink wine and champagne, with an occasional martini or cosmo thrown in. The daily wines were perfectly acceptable and flowed freely. We did not feel pressure to buy more expensive bottles. All the bartenders we met were pleasant. No ubiquitous surly Jamaican bartender at the pool bar. And none of that annoying standing in line and having to produce your card. You ask for a drink, you get it. Lovely. Casino- Celebrity. At least on our sailing, the casino was dead, dead, dead. There were many times we were the only people in there. We are gamblers so we usually get offered significant discounts on future cruises after the pit boss sees our level of play. Regent offered us $1000 off any future sailings. Whoopee. Clientele- Regent. Everyone was super friendly and well traveled. Of course, this was a much smaller ship size. There is a significant 80+ clientele. The bulk of them were impressively active and friendly, but the experience and amenities they are looking for were quite different from ours. (Clientele can vary wildly sailing to sailing and I might be a little bitter about our last two on Celebrity. They were spring break cruises and Costco travel had sold the bulk of the reservations to a certain demographic that I won't specify.) Officer Visibility-Regent. I have never seen and met so many officers and been on a first name basis with them. Very impressive. Entertainment- For in house talent, Regent. For specialty acts, Celebrity. Pool- Chairs and amenities, Regent. Music, Celebrity. The piped in music at the Voyager pool was just excruciating. One more instrumental round of "The Girl from Impanema" anyone? Come on. They call it yacht rock for a reason. Please play it. Or reggae, mellow rock, current pop. Anything but what they played. Again, the elderly clientele seemed to like it. Shore excursions - tie. Shore excursions on both are such a crap shoot, whether you pay for them or they are included. We are reaching the point where we just want to book from outside companies. Internet-Celebrity. Regents was HORRIBLE. And we paid $100 for the upgrade! A deal breaker for us. My husband still has to work when he's on vacation and my son, well, he's 23. We gotta have decent internet. Service- ever so slight edge to Regent. We have had outstanding butlers and we have had indifferent butlers. There just doesn't seem to be any set standard on either ship. So our Regent butler was one of the indifferent ones. But everyone else was really good. Laundry-Regent. There is a passenger laundry room on every floor. While it's not particularly high end to do your own laundry on a cruise, it's certainly better than paying those insanely high fees. Cost-Celebrity. Except for the Edge, which is on a par with Regent. Read Less

Regent continues to be our cruise line of choice. Everything is taken care of and they do not nickel and dime you. Staff is very accommodating and service is 1st rate. As soon as your glass is empty someone is offering another drink or glass of wine. Food in all venues was excellent with wonderful choices in Compass main dining room and included availability each night of basics (steak, lobster tails, etc.) . Entertainment staff was talented in shows and accommodating when participating with guests in other venues (Beatles night and Bar B que were both spectacular and everyone out there dancing and singing). Specialty restaurants were also wonderful. Casino staff very friendly and eased pain of losing. Some excursions could be improved as to scope and content. Tour of Malta particularly disappointing as coordination with harbor cruise resulted in missed ferry. Voyager facilities and public areas were spotless and in good repair. Read Less

We sailed from Amsterdam to New York. The ship was great. It is small which I liked but it would have been nice to have more public space with more comfortable chairs. The remodel they did in June was lovely but more focused on design instead of comfort. Our room was lovely and was in a great location. I LOVED the walk-in closet and bathroom. Room Service food service was EXCELLENT...always on time or early! Our Room Stewards were very good. The dining room was lovely and food was very good. Our itinerary was very good and the captain and crew were focused on our safety by skipping one port to avoid a storm. Most of the entertainment was very good. Some of the singers were "weak" but they sure gave it a lot of effort. Cruise Director Ray was a real showman and a wonderful entertainer with a fabulous voice! Piano man, Clive, was delightful. He should have been in a bigger lounge though. Free access to the Internet was GREAT! The daily schedule of activities was a bit repetitive...same activities every day. And you better get to the games at least 15 min early or they won't let you play! The people who ran the games were the singers and dancers. Some were great but most didn't like running the games and it showed. Most of the shore excursions were very good but we did not like waiting in the lounge for the tour tickets. This could have been handled much better. The enrichment lecturers on arctic animals and the history of the North Atlantic were interesting but there were no programs about any of the port destinations. All port info was on the website and there was no one on the ship to ask questions about the ports. And there was no info on the website that free shuttles would be available in the ports. This was disappointing. Our flights that Regent booked for us to Amsterdam were great and on time but when we arrived in Amsterdam, no one from Regent was there to meet us. We only had 4 hours to get to the ship and this was very unsettling to have no one there to take care of us. The phone numbers I had on our documents to call were in Florida and Belgium! After 1 1/2 hours and the help of the Airport Information Desk, we finally got a Regent agent to come see us and they informed us we were not on their list. I had them check if we were on the ship and thankfully, they said yes, but we would have to pay to get to the ship. We booked our flights thru Regent so transfers were included but they said NO. They got us an Uber and charged $200 to our room. We got on the ship by 4pm which was a bit late, but we made it as the ship sailed at 5pm. After contacting our travel agent and complaining to Destinations team, we did get a refund but no apology from Regent for not meeting us. Then halfway thru the trip, Destinations sent us a form to fill out about our flights home and true to form, they told us we had no transfers....they had been cancelled 4 months BEFORE we booked the cruise! Wouldn't you think they would have re-checked this after we had a problem arriving? But no. So after contacting our travel agent again and complaining to the Cruise Consultant, we were informed the next day that we did have transfers and we finally got a lame apology for being left at the airport (only 2 weeks after the fact!). And if that wasn't enough, the Destinations manager told us to de-book a shore excursion that required a 15 min walk to the tour boat because my husband needed a little extra time to walk the distance. No accommodation from them at all. I told them we would just work it out. In Nova Scotia, I went and talked to the local tour people on the dock and they were very kind and helped my husband get an early start on the walk to the tour boat. Thank God for the friendly and welcoming Canadians! We enjoyed the boat tour a lot but met another lady who had the same experience as we did, and her husband didn't take the tour. She kept saying he would have really enjoyed it if only the Destinations dept was more accommodating and kind. By the way, we were surprised when people in wheel chairs and people with crutches were on our tour! When we got off the ship in New York, our assigned bus driver did not know which airlines were at which terminals at La Guardia. Regent agents had to be called to get the info. Then when we got to the airport (which was torn up under construction), the driver could not find the way to the terminal that the majority of the passengers needed. After two trips around the airport, a man got on and told us we would all have to get off and take a shuttle bus to our terminal and we would have to "lug" our luggage with us! Needless to say, no one was happy and some of the passengers vehemently told the driver to "Find our Terminal" or get us a taxi! A policeman finally came and directed the driver to our terminal. So as you can see, just about everything the Destinations team organized was a disaster for us! Because of all the trouble we had with the Destinations team, we did not book another cruise on Regent as we had planned to do during the voyage. Their rudeness and lack of customer service and lousy organization really turned us off. Also we felt that the ship's staff really catered to returning passengers and the 12 of us who were on Regent for the first time were not a priority. We did like the all inclusiveness of the cruise so we will look for another cruise line (maybe Viking), who will hopefully have a Destinations Team that will be more organized, accommodating and friendly. Read Less

We chose the cruise because of our prior excellent experience on Regent, including the Navigator and because of the interesting, 20 day itinerary. Exploring 10 ports in Norway was eye-opening, getting to know the culture some, the immaculateness everywhere, the Norwegian friendliness and their commitment to the environment. Murmansk, Russia was a forgettable industrial, gray, crumbling city. Two other Russian ports had to be omitted because of approaching storms and Regent did an excellent job explaining why this decision was made and happily substituted 3 additional Norwegian ports. The U.K ports were well chosen and interesting. Embarkation was perfectly and efficiently handled. Regent's pre-night hotel in London, the Langham, was a first rate luxury hotel One negative was the severe rumbling at times in the ship's theater during shows. It interrupted the speakers and performers and set the glasses rattling. Apparently this has been an issue in the past, but the design of this 20 year old ship prevents a fix. Another negative was the difference in window size (30% less) of deluxe suites which are priced the same with the ones with the larger windows located on one deck above (!). No one at Regent could seem to answer why. The cabins and public spaces, recently refurbished, were very nice and comfortable. The dining experience got a bit old...but perhaps that's a function of the length of the cruise (20 days). The service was superb and having sailed Regent twice before, there seemed to be an increasing number of crew addressing guests by name---a nice touch. All in all, a very nice experience. Read Less

Recently completed a 7 day Alaske cruise on Regent's Seven Seas Mariner. My wife and I had planned this trip for several years and finally decided to travel this past July (2019). We chose Regent at the suggestion of our Agent. On receipt of their sales brochure we "poured" over the information and decided it was time to "treat" ourselves to a high end cruise. We purchase the cruise for $17,000.00 dollars for a balcony room on the 9th level. NOT A SUITE. We have cruised many times in the past with our children and our friends. We have booked on Royal Caribbean and Carnival ships with travel throughout the Caribbean and Mediterranean Seas. What sold us on the Regent cruise was the "promise" of a "top of the line" all inclusive experience. Boy were we disappointed. As I will enumerate below. 1) The embarkation process in Vancouver was rudimentary at best. We arrived with plenty of time to spare and recieved our documents in a timely fashion. After a very long walk with carry on luggage we boarded the ship to a glass of sparkling wine. 2). Our room was ready to occupy. It was clean with a bowl of "aging" fruit available for consumption. The small refridgerator was stocked with 4 cans of soda pop and one water. I asked the room attendant about wine and spirits availablity (which we thought would in the refridgerator) and was told that individual servings were available through "room service". Who wants to wait 45 minutes for a glass of wine? My wife odered a bottle of wine (California Chardonnay). 25 bucks at Costco and was charge $60.00 on the cruise. Premium Wine and Spirits were to be included onboard as part of the "package". At the lounges we were offerd mixed drinks....mostly of a lower quality range of spirits. You had to request "top shelf" spirits. I'm not a big drinker but for $17,000.00 bucks I would expect top quality. 3) We met our room steward ONCE during the cruise. Never once were we asked if anything additional was needed to improve our cruise experience....BY ANYBODY.... Our friends who stayed down the hall had money stolen from a wallet during the day, they spoke to Guest Relations and recieved an inadequate response. Lesson learned.... lock your stuff in the safe. 3). The ship was in "good condition" and the maintenence crew kept it clean. It was quite clear that the Cruise Ship Operators" poured a great deal of their resources to its upkeep. 4) The entertainment was ok. Some good, some not so good. The Cruise director "Andy" was slightly overbearing constantly trying to "shill" the products both on the ship and at each port. I overheard several guests stating that the shops at the ports paid for this service. If I want to buy something I really don't need a strangers input. 5) There were plenty of "shore excursions" available at no charge, but.....If you wanted to partcipate in "upscale" excursions there was a charge We purchased 4 days of excursions for 2 people at a additional cost of $1900.00. Getting near $20 grand now. 6) The FOOD. Very disappointed. We were ALLOWED to dine at the upscale restaraunt only once during our cruise. We were told at the main reservation desk on deck 5 to inquire daily about cancellations then were told there that we needed to go to the individual resaurants and inquire. How embarassing, that we receievd poor treatment from ALL the maitre d's at the specialty restaurants. We dined a Prime 7 and had a wonderful dinner the crab legs served were what you expect from Alaska. Other than that evening the food and the service was subpar in the main dining room. My wife order lobster one evening and got somthing that resembled several large shrimp. I had Dover sole and had to remove pinbones fron the filets. Being that we were on an Alaskan cruise I would assume that Shrimp, Salmon and Crab Legs would be highlighted. Not on this cruise. The shrimp cocktails contained shrimp that were meally/old and the crab legs when available in the main dining room were that of "Red Lobster" quality. 7) Disembarkation. Now here is where Regent gets 2 stars. Smooth transition. I thought that this process was the only thing that Regent did properly. Probably to get the passengers off the ship and get the next "goats" onboard. All in all, quite a disappointing experience for what was billed as the cruise of a lifetime. Never again with Regent! Read Less

Went on Baltic cruise on 22 July 2019. We started at Copenhagen and finished in Stockholm, visiting Rostock, Tallinn, St Petersburg, Helsinki. We have sailed with regent before and with Seabourn. I must say this was our best ever cruise to date. The ship is beautiful with lots of space, well laid out and felt very luxurious. We eat at all of the speciality restaurants which included the Pacific Rim which was not on the Voyager. All were excellent but we felt the Pacific Rim was the beast. It was it was a shame the cruise was only 1 week long and only had one see day to enjoy the ship properly. All of the staff seemed genuinely happy and were easy to engage and chat with. The service was also excellent. We only once had to be seated for dinner as we wanted a window seat at the Sette Mari (Italian) Restaurant. The head waiter suggested to go to the pool bar, have a drink and he would let us know when the table was ready. After about 20 minutes he personally came and collected us and showed us to our window table We went to 4 of the shows and all were excellent. All of the singers and dancers could have been on a West End show. We had a mixture of free tours, small group tours and in St Petersburg we went for the Classic Tour and paid the extra $120 dollars each which included a meal in an excellent roof top restaurant. Great cruise which was helped with come exceptional weather for the Baltic. Read Less

Family vacation with our two teen sons. Firstly we booked a 15 night cruise with Regent at no time did they tell us that the cruise was two bolted together. Beware this seems perfectly normal and somewhat shady. The net effect is that entertainment and menus repeat for both weeks... I think this is very unfair and should be addressed and I would advise people to check prior to booking unless you dont mind having a mirror image of the first part of the cruise in your second week. Ship: First time on Seven Seas and was bursting with excitement. I found the ship to be boring to be honest lacking the distinction and a personality I was expecting from Regent. Everything seems underwhelming not pretty and basic fit out Cabin: Best part of the ship nicely appointed decent size room and bathroom, balcony was a bit cramped to move around on but useable. Bed was very comfy. Staff: Very mixed firstly on the pool deck their never seemed enough of them but given the drinks were included one cant help but think this was deliberate. As a result the staff at the pool bar were unwelcoming and stressed certainly no service. The staff in the buffet were mixed in respect to attitude, one felt that the training was lacking with a number of staff many seeming distant and uninterested. The supervisor in Prime 7 was damn right rude I think he felt he owned the place! Prime 7 was okay but we didn't have a compulsion to go back. I have dined in far better on more traditional steak restaurants on cruise ships Prime 7 was average at best. Shore excursions: well a mixed bag supposedly all inclusive despite anything decent being charged for. The chargeable ones were good albeit out trip to the Ferrari museum 1.5 hour drive each way ended up leaving us just 45 mins to get round before being hearded back onto the bus. In the event they refunded just $30. Sums up Regent in my opinion...Cheap! I have been on Silverseas and Seaborne and have seen reviews that Regent are better. In my opinion they are in a different class. Both the aforementioned are far beyond Regent in every way for example both offer cold towels round the pool Regent does not, both offer fresh fruit kebabs at the pool Regent does not. Both offer deck dining quality at night Regent offers burgers. All very low end with high end pricing. In the end its everyone's choice but for me this was an excellent itinerary and we as a family had the trip of a lifetime, Regent had every opportunity to win our business in the future and simply failed to achieve the high standard they advertise themselves to be. We wont be back!! Read Less

Wanted to try a high end cruise to see if Regent was better than my other cruises -- in a word, Regent is far below their competitors. In the past six years I did an Alaska cruise on Celebrity. I had an aft cabin and we had our own restaurant (Blu). All meals were ala carte, served fresh, hot and delicious. The price, as I recall for a 9-night cruise (instead of the 11 on this sailing) was about a third of Regent's price. Then I did two European river cruises on Avalon. Of course there is a much smaller number of guests on a river cruise, but every meal had a half dozen of ala carte meals, paired with very good wine. This brings us to our Regent Mariner experience. First of all, the pros. The ship was exceptionally clean, the staff was very friendly, the cabin was nice, unless you sleep on the left side of the bed like I did. If you get up to use the loo in the middle of the night, always remember that there is a wall facing you about 10 inches from your bed! There is a great Coffee Connection place where they served liquored coffee drinks and snacks, enjoyed that immensely. Now, one of the main things you go on a cruise for is good food, right? Overall, the restaurants were a major disappointment. The two "specialty" restaurants, Prime 7 and Chartreuse, were only made available one time during an 11-day cruise. Big mistake by Regent. We did eat there twice after going to see the concierge but they make you wait until 8:30, much later than we like to dine. Prime 7 was a disappointment. I had their signature dish, the surf and turf. I don't know if the beef was supposed to be prime or not, but it was just OK, certainly not memorable. The lobster was gummy and tasteless. My wife had the Alaskan king crab legs. The portion was generous but the crab was served absolutely lukewarm and had no flavoring at all. When I make crab, I use Zatarain spices so that the seafood has some flavor. Regent's food seemed like they deliberately cook everything to be bland. Of course their customers are mostly old, and it's like they want to avoid upset stomachs. By far one of the MAIN complaints about this cruise was the wine selection that was offered. That night they were serving "Josh" cabernet, which anyone can buy for about $8-$10. For what I paid for this cruise I was expecting $40-$50 type wine. For cocktails, Regent's bars were stocked with high end spirits, but they went EXTREMELY cheap on wine. Given their profit margin on their cruises this was a total disgrace. They claimed that the chef used this "pairing" to complement the food. The only thing that this wine could complement is a cold baloney sandwich. I use better wine than Josh (and the white equivalent they served that night) when I make my homemade spaghetti sauce. I made the waiter get me a French red (medium body) that was only slightly better. Another area where Regent goes wrong is the total lack of ambience is the two specialty restaurants. They are very sterile, and look like a chopped off half ballroom at a Marriott in Tulsa, OK. (Sorry, Tulsa). They have a very good piano player (Nick) who is playing to a mostly empty room on the way to the restaurants. Why don't they pipe in the music to the restaurants? I felt like I was eating at a nursing home, no atmosphere at all and mediocre food. At Chartreuse, the experience was better, the food was prepared better but again the wine selection was less than stellar. We had a great waitress (Zenife --she said call her Jennifer). She had a great personality and was the most outstanding waitperson we had on the cruise. Throughout this cruise, the food was often served lukewarm, and it was this night as well. I never had a hot meal the entire 11 nights, that is simply terrible. Their kitchen to customer wait time is simply too long. There were many times when I saw my food sitting on the service table, getting cold, before the waiter or waitress could get back to the station to serve the dinner. The servers were running around like crazy, so the problem was not them. Management need to put more people in the food preparation/serving process. I hate cold or lukewarm food, and that's all I got. I tried the Italian restaurant one night --this is the buffet converted to and Italian themed restaurant at night. You still have to get your own salad and dessert. The food here was blah and I never went back. That left a LOT of nights dining at the Compass Rose restaurant. The service in this place was wildly inconsistent. Sometimes you would get an attentive, personable waiter who seemed to care about your dinner. Other times not so much. This is an example -- we both ordered coffee after dinner. The waiter brought out TWO bowls of sugar, but no cups or coffee. Ten minutes went by -- I clocked it --- then he brought two cups and saucers. Again, no coffee. Another 10 minutes -- I clocked it-- he finally brought coffee. He apologized and said that the coffee just finished brewing. 20 minutes to get a cup of coffee --- really??? One night in the Compass Rose I had lamb chops with simple mint jelly. The food was again lukewarm and tasteless. When I make lamb at home I used onion and garlic powder, olive oil, and other seasonings. Again, nursing home food. I had a side of Lyonnaise potatoes. This was brought out after the entree and the potatoes were ICE COLD, not even the lukewarm I was used to. Other meals I ate were better (dover sole was tasty). I received a mid-cruise comment card and I shared the opinions I've laid out here. I received calls from several chefs and I explained the complaint about the blandness and temperature of the food. They tripped over themselves apologizing but things never improved. The best thing about Compass Rose was that they made fresh souflees at night. Finally something warm and usually delicious. Went there every night for dessert, no matter where I ate. The Mariner desperately needs another restaurant. On at least one of their sister ships they have a Pan-Asian restaurant. They just renovated the Mariner about a year and a half ago and why they didn't put another restaurant in, I'll never know. The worst thing is that they are going to use the Mariner for a half-year sailing next year. If you made me eat the food I had for that long, I would go insane. I am somewhat of a foodie, and this was the worst overall food experience I've ever had on a cruise. Add the terrible wine, and I felt that the value of this cruise was horribly, negatively skewed. Entertainment --- Sort of typical. They had a 12 person group of singers or dancers, backed by a house band. The band was good, and after they show they played at the Horizon lounge. Good listening and dancing music. The 12 person group was so-so... lots of energy but short on talent. A dark haired woman could really sing, but the rest were just ok. The first night they did a tribute to the Rat Pack, which is my kind of music. They just didn't have the voices or talent to pull it off. One of the lead male singers was singing the famous Sinatra song "One for my Baby". I literally could hear Frank turning over in his grave (just kidding, I think). There was a good female entertainer who did 2 shows and a comedian was pretty good. The rest was blah. The cruise seemed to be sort of disorganized in some spots. On the day we went to the glacier, it was midday. Everyone was out to look at the glacier and the viewing ended at about 2 p.m. when most restaurants (Compass Rose) closed, except for the buffet. Everyone went up there and unfortunately they ran out of food. It took 45 minutes to get a hamburger made. On that day, why not keep the other restaurants open later. Just poor basic management. Another warning -- there is a little sitting area around where the grill is located. The smell and smoke in that enclosed area seemed toxic to me --- couldn't wait to get out of there. There are so many suggestions where sound management principles could improve the customer experience. Again, this is not a 3 day Carnival cruise. Regent should be ashamed. Better yet, hire me as a management consultant! By far the biggest complaint I have (besides everything mentioned here) is their utter disregard for their customers in it's refund policy on unused shipboard credits. The main reason I went on this cruise was to go on the glacier hike. I had a total on $1400 in shipboard credits. Apparently $1000 was "nonrefundable" credit and the rest was cash. The glacier hike was $806 for both go us. We get to the pier and they tell us that the tour was canceled due to poor visibility. I was totally bummed but understand that they can't control the weather. I called reception and was told that I had to use the non-refundable credits onboard. We had a slip in the room that said we had these credits and that the could be used "for cash advances or casino credits". I tried to get them to refund the money back to my credit card and they said it had to be spent on the ship. Furthermore they would NOT let us use it in the casino, despite what their card indicated. I was absolutely livid. It was too late in the trip to use it for any other decent paid exclusion. We wound up spending almost $700 for a cheap watch and some wildly overpriced costume jewelry. My wife asked of the earrings were silver, and was told they were. She is allergic to any other metal. They apparently were made of some other cheap alloy, and now she can't wear them. Another lie from Regent. They should have willingly paid back the unused credit in cash, as their own card states. Terrible management. As I said in the beginning my expectations were very high due to the high price I paid for this cruise. Regent simply did not deliver and if you are reading this before you book, just don't spend the extra money to travel on this cruise line. It isn't worth it. They have lost a customer for life. Read Less

We selected Regent because we have friends who highly recommended Regent as the best in the business. We were a party of 9 on this cruise to Alaska. 1 Grand Suite, 3 Penthouse Suites, and 1 Concierge Suite. The cabins were very nice although the Grand Suite had A/C problems from the start and took repair on several occasions. This should have been repaired prior to boarding. All other staterooms were in good condition except for a bathroom door that needed repair. Lets talk about water. Yes water. Regent has decided to process their own bottled water with little information as to where the water is coming from other than to say they have a new filtration system. We preferred Evian water which they had but it was like pulling teeth to make sure it would be available. Many times we would wait 5 to 10 minutes for our waiter to locate and provide us our request which is unacceptable. Also our Butler made it clear that it was not readily available. Really, on a 6 star ship Evian is not available. Somehow throughout the cruise we were accommodated. They are pushing their new water claiming that it is more ecological for the environment. I guess Regent no longer recycles? Lets talk about the food. We have been on several other cruise lines some with the same rating as Regent and others with 5.5 Stars and their food is much superior to Regents. We dinned in the Steak house that apparently serves USDA Prime Beef. Trust me this is not Prime Beef unless the new definition is bring a chain saw with you to dinner. The veal is also very tough. There is no question in our minds that NCL is using their standard beef selection from their other lines on Regent. We dined their several times and the beef just does not add up to choice much less Prime. The main dinning room was just ok and most of the food is pre prepared, and when served shows dried out edges on the food, in some cases food was served cold. Breakfast, lacks any special flair and the pancakes on one day were literally inedible and the bacon was full of grease and clumped together. Typical cafeteria style food. Does this sound like a "6" star ship ? Lunch, was ok but again nothing special like other 5.5 and 6 star ships. They also had a grill outside near the pool that had no ventilation and you could eat their but then you needed to wash your clothes and take a shower as you smelled like you had been working as a short order cook. This is not an exaggeration by any means. With the cabin categories we had for the 9 people and Butler service you would think making dinner reservations would be easy. Think again. The ship is well maintained overall and pleasant. The captain did a 5 minute viewing of Hubbard Glacier as he did not plan ahead for the bad (fog) weather and their was a ship right behind ours that was on schedule for their viewing of the glacier. One of the main reasons for the cruise is the Glacier but somehow the Captain missed the memo. We cannot say this was a bad cruise but neither can we say it was a great cruise and by no means a "6" Star cruise. This is the problem when great cruise lines get bought up by larger more generic cruise lines. They try and integrate less with more and end up average. Read Less

I chose this cruise because of its itinerary. This was my first time on Regent. I usually do Princess. If you want to try Regent, start with another ship. The Navigator is old, small, has very little entertainment during the night or day and the decor is average at best. One of my biggest problem with this cruise line is their costs to book your hotel and airport transfers. They pay for your first night before the cruise, but obviously it has been figured into the cost already. If you want to stay additional nights, I strongly suggest that you book it yourself. They charged $419 per person for the additional night. Our room only cost about $300 a night for double occupancy. So by booking with Regent, I paid over twice as much for that second night. I had my daughter with me on this trip and even though she was staying in our suite during the cruise, I had asked for an additional room for her before cruise. They put her in our room on the sofa bed and charged an additional $769 to do so. So now this extra night has cost me $1,607. Apparently, a third person in a suite does not get a free room the night before. I was encouraged by Regent agent to book the room through them because they could not guarantee both nights would be in the same room if I did not. I ended up paying for my daughter to have her own hotel room for both nights and Regent would not refund me the $769 because it was not done 30 days prior. I did not realize there was only one hotel room until I arrived in Dublin. Long story short - I would have saved a lot of money if I had personally just booked two rooms for two nights and skipped on their "free" one night of hotel. The airport transfers are no better. They have a private driver pick you up at airport which is very nice but they forgot to notice that my daughter was on a different flight and then never picked her up. She took a cab for $56. Regent charged us $113 times 3 for airport transfers. It did include a ride on a bus from the hotel to ship but still very pricey. The positive things about this cruise were the staff and the food. Everyone that assisted us on the ship were top notch. The food was the best I have had on a cruise ship. Their one specialty restaurant was excellent but we could only get one night's reservation on a 12 night cruise. All alcohol is included with your cruise and they serve excellent choices of liquor, wine and beer. The downside is people can over drink when it is basically free. The excursions were also included and they were satisfactory. We ended up paying for premium tours 3 times but there are plenty of free ones. Be sure and book those early on and do not wait till right before the ship departs. The good tours fill up fast. Read Less

We chose this cruise and ship because we had been on the same ship with a different itinerary less than 2 years ago. We even chose the same room. We were told that the ship had been refurbished. Not so, at least in our cabin. So many things were wrong that it is hard to know where to begin. We boarded the ship at 2PM and didn't get our luggage until 5:30PM. The staff was all flustered. Something was off with the staff the whole voyage. Our cabin had stains on the carpet, rust on the balcony and lots of mold. The service at the restaurants was awful. The staff was inattentive and didn't clear tables, so we all ended up waiting or sitting at dirty tables. We had lots of trouble with our reservations at the specialty restaurants. The food was decent, but not terrific. Even on the first night, when the staff was introduced, they were not "on." Something felt off the whole voyage. We were supposed to leave Ketchikan at 4PM and didn't leave until 4am, so we missed all of our excursions and one whole day in port. That left us at sea for 3 out of 6 days. We got little in the way of an explanation and were each offered a voucher for $750 good on another cruise. Who would want to take another Regent cruise after this one...Viking is so much better and we are very avid high end travelers... Read Less

Touted as the best experience in cruising. Extremely disappointed doesn't even describe our experience. Had the best cabin on the ship (Master Suite) for a $60,000 experience of a lifetime on the Seven Seas Mariner for the late June 2019 cruise departure. We booked the cruise about 18 months in advance to have the selection of cabin and itinerary that best fit our schedule. Unfortunately, 2 days of the 8 ruined by engine failure and weather with very poor communication from the Captain and Cruise Director for explanations of the issues and a 12-hour delay in Ketchikan that forced us to miss the port of Juneau (where most of the best excursions were planned). Food and specialty restaurants a joke with respect to quality or food selection. Inedible pancakes delivered to our stateroom that could serve as hockey pucks or an entire day's salt intake. If you like waiting for service and having your meals delivered cold and late, you can dine in the specialty restaurants (but only once or twice if you are traveling with other family members not in the Master Suite). The Italian restaurant and main dining room had incredibly variable service and menu choices that did not vary much over the entire sailing. We have sailed on over 30 cruises with other lines and really loved Oceania (3 prior Owner's Suite sailings). We were told by everyone from the travel agent to the butler that we would have a great time and that the Alaska cruise would be memorable. Offered a meager $750 credit on a future tour. Gave comments mid-cruise that were not addressed and Regent's Customer Service extremely rude and unapologetic for the voyage. The company's marketing of the cruises is superb, but the execution of the logistics and services was the worst I have ever experienced. There are many other superior cruise lines that are happy to have the bookings. The Alaska itinerary was the standard northbound passage from Vancouver. The pre-cruise hotel was very good, but transfers were disorganized. Embarkation was promising when they poured a glass of champagne and had a steward lead us to elevator (who subsequently pushed the floor button on the elevator, dropped our bags, and exited the elevator). This was only the first comedic event of many notable missteps during the cruise. Our Master Suite was listed to be ready at noon. About 10 minutes after we arrived, about 40 travel agents and staff came in to the room and started touring the cabin while we were out on the front balcony-no apologies or explanations from the cruise management. No butler introduced himself for about 2 hours and the on-board phone system was not working in port. We were happy to come back home and see more whales off the coast of Boston than we saw during the entire Alaska sailing! Eventually got a reply from the Customer Service office with really no admission that sailing was sub-par or that Regent needed to improve anything with respect to service, dining, or accommodations. Clearly, they don't understand that customer service is everything and their reputation will suffer especially when touting their cruises as unique luxury experiences at a very expensive price. Read Less

North to Alaska! A review of our recent voyage on the Regent Seven Seas Mariner from Vancouver BC, Canada to Seward Alaska Alaskans are justifiably proud of their state! And, as we found out…. in Alaska size really does matter (as we were reminded constantly!). Alaska is BIG! So big they consider Texas "Cute" :-) So BIG that if the outline of Alaska is superimposed on the outline of the "Lower Forty-Eight” It stretches from COAST-TO-COAST! BTW... most of the t-shirts appear to be somewhat of an exaggeration :-).... I'm just sayin' Alaska! It's also stunningly beautiful and awe inspiring on many levels and in its big BIG way! Overview and Why My wife said “it’s time to visit Alaska” and I agreed. We looked at the various options and decided a cruise would be just the thing to give us the opportunity to experience a wider sampling of what Alaska had to offer… in a pampered sort of way of course! We looked over the different cruise offerings and decided to try Regent Seven Seas despite the much higher price tag attached. We reasoned there were some perks offered that would somewhat offset the higher costs. 1. It is an “All Inclusive” cruise line so alcoholic beverages are included. Not that my wife is a big drinker (she’s not :-) but I have been known to tipple a bit. 2. A gourmet food experience that Regent advertises as “Exquisite Cuisine” 3. All balcony suites on the ship (SS Mariner) 4. And the real equalizer… A very good selection of included shore excursions. The only excursions that sported an additional cost were usually the helicopter and seaplane sort of excursions and a few of the all day things. I thought to myself “we could make up the difference in cost by taking advantage of this”. 5. Regents reviews and reputation as a first class, luxury cruise line. Note: I should have dug deeper! As we discovered some of the above is true and some not so much. Purchase Experience The purchase experience couldn’t have been easier. After choosing the cruise I simply called Regent and spoke to one of their representatives. He was helpful and guided us through the process smoothly. One thing to note is that Regent supplies airfare and all transfers as a normal perk of your cruise package. You can save some money by doing it yourself of course but then you have to take care of all airport/hotel transfers yourself. In the case of the Seward to Anchorage transfer (2.5 hours) that could be up to five hundred dollars! If you book one of their cruises and are flying intercontinental the covered airfare is Business/First Class. Since ours was not an intercontinental flight it was cattle car class. But, since the flights were direct to Vancouver and a direct return from Anchorage it was all good… On the surface this looked like a great cruise. It was rather shorter than many of the other itineraries (only 7 nights) on Regent or the other cruise lines. That was good for us as this was sort of a last minute decision (at least for us) and was only booked three months prior to departure. Looking at the cabins we a booked a “Concierge Suite” and were "treated" to an extra day in Vancouver at the Four Seasons Hotel. I liked this idea, not because of the extra day in Vancouver, but because we arrived a day ahead of the cruise to minimize any possibility of a travel snafu. Pre-Cruise - Pick up at the airport went well. Regent was well represented and greeted us as we exited customs. Transfer to the hotel was in a nice van with five other passengers. We were dropped off at the Four Seasons the rest of them went on to the Trump Towers. Luggage was handled appropriately while we checked in at the front desk. The hotel clerk immediately tried to up-sell us to a suite. If I understood her correctly it was “only” $950 for the night. After a split second I was able to choke out… “No thank you…” I told her… “we will be fine for the one night in the room booked by Regent.” The Four Seasons itself was nice but somewhat tired.... definitely showing its age. The neighborhood was fine and great for walking. After taking a walk we looked at the hotel food offerings and opted to go outside. At the recommendation of one the hotel bell staff we tried the Cactus Club Restaurant just down the street. It was great! A great choice whenever in Vancouver! Regent supplied a good breakfast through the hotel the next morning and at 11:45 we were bused to the Ship. Embarkation - started smoothly. We had to once more go through customs only this time it was US customs as our destination was, of course, Alaska. We had one heart stopping moment as one of the Canadian customs agents announced we needed to have our “TICKETS” in hand. “TICKETS??!!?? I don’t know anything about stinking TICKETS!” I started canvasing our neighbors in line to find while most had a printout of their “ticket” many did not. I snagged the first official looking (uniformed) person I could find and asked the question….”Do we REALLY NEED a ticket?” Thankfully the answer was “No, just show your passport and state what ship you will be boarding…” Whew! First bullet dodged. Heart Stopping moment #2 We wended our way through customs (Thank you sir, enjoy your trip!) and made our way through the Regent line to the check-in counter. They had eight or ten positions open and were smoothly processing passengers until, of course, I step up and hand them our passports. We took pictures in turn and then the agent went to find our ship passes and keycards and came back empty handed. While the agent approached us still clearly standing there in line another passenger pushed passed me and my wife and laid her documents on the counter glaring at the gate agent. I paused just a second and politely (kind of) said “excuse me… I don’t believe we are quite finished here.” She looked at me like I had a bug on my nose… for a moment I didn’t think she was going to yield but she did sort of huffing and puffing and with a bit of blustering and posturing…. Turning back to the gate agent I noted she appeared somewhat flustered as she told me it would be just a moment before calling a floor supervisor over. I glanced back to see “Pushy Lady” visibly fuming at the delay. Smiling inwardly I turned back to the agent now joined by a supervisor. I heard snippets of their conversation and understood her to say she couldn’t find our reservations in the system or our keycards in the pile. The supervisor calmly typed for a moment and pointed something out to the agent, left and came back with our documents a moment later while the agent stood frozen smile on her face. All was well and we boarded the ship leaving the dazed gate agent and “Pushy Lady” behind. We boarded the ship thinking to go directly to our room and drop off our carry-on stuff. Well that was the plan but we discovered that our boarding time was considered “early” and nothing was ready. In fact they later made a ship-wide page to the effect the rooms were off limits until announced. That could have been made clear upfront but it was not. A simple note via eMail or being told that at check-in would have been sufficient but neither effort was made to the best of my knowledge. A kind of ship-wide announcement in a semi-scolding tone was made but probably was not the best way to make that known. In any event we were able to tour the public areas of the ship and have a nice lunch at the Pool Grill. Initial Impressions Initial impressions of the Mariner were very favorable. As we moved about the public areas of the ship we were struck by the cleanliness and overall well maintained look of the vessel. The lounges, the restaurant areas, the seating areas and other public areas were clean, comfortable and inviting. Public toilets were spotless. The Pool Grill and Pool Deck was a great place to chill out while waiting for our room to become available. Food was sampled and found to be of good quality served buffet style. The Mariner is one of the oldest ships in the Regent fleet but has aged gracefully and appeared to be in great condition and more than serviceable. When we were finally able to enter our cabin it was a pleasant surprise. A very spacious “shotgun suite” awaited us. The suite contains a sleeping area that can be separated from the seating area by a heavy drape. The seating area has a, more or less, full size couch (actually more “Love Seat” size), small table, 55” flat screen TV atop drawer/vanity area, bar essentials (glasses and corkscrew) and a mini fridge stocked with beer and soft drinks. You also have the option to customize the stocking of the mini-fridge by contacting your room steward. Fresh fruit along with a bottle of Champagne were waiting for us. Neither of us are much in the way of champagne drinkers so it eventually went back into the fridge to be passed along to the next customer or, hopefully, a crew party. The WALK-IN CLOSET had a generous supply of hangers with ample room for clothes and a nice row of drawers for storage. The closet also has a safe and the Life Vests. The bathroom is large with a very reasonably sized shower equipped with both rain shower and hand held shower heads. Each suite has its own balcony… excuse me…. Veranda…. that was generous in size with two wicker chairs and a small table and topped with Teak decking. All in all a SWEET Suite! Tipping Mariner is a “No Gratuity” ship. “Gratuities are neither expected or required” as it was stated. That is certainly the case and never was there a hint from any of the crew that they were fishing for a tip. The Hospitality Crew and the Room Service Crew was universally polite and attentive and I could fault none of them. I enjoyed several conversations with several of the service staff. The majority seemed to be from the Philippines with several other Asian nations represented. There were also many others from Eastern Europe and Russia. The officers and administrative crew again represented several nations with our Captain from Italy, the Cruise Director from the US, and the rest from all points in-between. While our service crew and operational crew seemed to really be engaged in their jobs, our administrational and entertainment directors really just seemed to be “phoning it in” and were somewhat disconnected and appeared somewhat distracted. Entertainment - was a mixed bag. There were several entertainment venues on the ship. Most of the lounges, including the Observation Lounge, Mariner Lounge and Horizon Lounge had grand pianos or even a full stage that were in turn manned by a pianist, a duo (guitarist and a singer), single guitarist, or a full band. There was also the late night Stars Lounge that featured either Denis and Elina (Guitar and Vocalist), Karaoke or a jukebox request sort of thing. The Constellation Theater was the venue for the Broadway style Mariner Production Cast singers and dancers with the Mariner Orchestra (6 piece), the Featured Entertainers and the occasional movie. Throughout the voyage we took in several shows and found them to range from very good to just OK. Since Broadway shows aren’t our thing we really did not attend too much of the Mariner Cast Productions. What we did see was fun and good but did not strike me as stellar. The band was always good and the singers/dancers good but a bit variable. The “Headliner” this trip was Matilda with Patrick Murray. Billed as "Jamaica's Number One Comedienne" Matilda is a ventriloquist's dummy and the alter ego of Patrick Murray. Together a charming and funny duo! Overall the entertainment seemed slightly sub-par for a uber-luxury, and expensive, cruise line experience. The voyage itself was a relatively short itinerary. That was what we were looking for as we have much longer cruise coming up in August so thought this shorter cruise would be ideal… as it turned out, it wasn’t the best choice we could have made. Our published itinerary; June 25th – One night extension in Vancouver, Canada June 26th – Embarkation – Vancouver, Canada June 27th – Cruising the Inside Passage June 28th – Ketchikan, Alaska June 29th – Juneau, Alaska June 30th – Skagway, Alaska July 1st – Sitka, Alaska July 2nd - Cruising the Hubbard Glacier July 3rd - Seward, Alaska – Debarkation This looked like the ideal short-form itinerary but it wasn’t to be. What it ended up looking like was this; June 25th – One night extension in Vancouver, Canada June 26th – Embarkation – Vancouver, Canada June 27th – Cruising the Inside Passage June 28th – Ketchikan, Alaska June 29th – CANCELLED - Juneau, Alaska Just another lovely day “Cruising the Inside Passage” June 30th – Skagway, Alaska July 1st – Sitka, Alaska July 2nd - CANCELLED - Cruising the Hubbard Glacier Just another lovely day “At Sea” July 3rd - Seward, Alaska – Debarkation A little about about the TWO MAJOR stops on the itinerary were missed for different reasons. On the second day of the cruise one of the starter engines for one of the main engines failed stranding us overnight in Ketchikan Alaska. That might have been marginally OK if they had let us off the boat to go explore Ketchikan (again) at night... but no, that didn't happen. Instead they kept quiet about the issue even though everyone could see that the departure time had come and gone. A 4:30 pm departure had slipped to 4:30 AM with no information forthcoming from the Captain or the Cruise director. And, even as we got started, it was easy to see the ship was not running on both main engines and was just limping along! The constant TV presence of our Cruise Director, Andy, still extolling the wonderful sights we were about to see in Juneau suddenly shut off without a word leaving only a blank screen. Finally mid-morning there was an announcement.... Cruise Director Andy informed us that due to the (and only just now announced) engine problems. we would be skipping our stop at Juneau and would have another lovely day at sea on our way to Skagway. The passengers grumbles were louder than both engines when working. I was very disappointed because Juneau would have been our first Glacier experience! In my opinion it was unconscionable, inconsiderate and childish of Regent to keep us, the passengers, in the dark for so long on the status of the mechanical problem. It also blows my mind that a mission critical part was not stored on the ship. Sometime in the early afternoon we all heard and felt the second engine start and the ship jumped back up to a brisk 15 knots. Too little too late to save our Juneau stop.... In any event... while a major stop on our voyage was canceled we were still going to go to the face of the Hubbard Glacier, one of the four largest Tidewater Glaciers on the planet, and the largest in Alaska, on the next to last day of our trip. Right!!??!! We were supposed to go in, on the last day of our sail on the SS Mariner, through Disenchantment Bay to the face of the Hubbard glacier. The Hubbard Glacier is the largest tidewater glacier in North America and is a stunning seventy-six miles long, seven miles wide and over one thousand two hundred feet deep at the foot of the glacier! At least that is what we were told. Cameras were checked and rechecked.... Parkas and foul weather gear donned and snugged up tight. The big day comes and several passengers, including myself, are up early on the top deck freezing our "you know what’s" off. As we started to round a bend in the fjord called Disenchantment Bay we were faced with a monstrous wall of dense fog still several miles ahead stretching from mountain to mountain across the bay. The Captain and the Passage Pilot made the decision not to enter the fog because of some significant icebergs floating about. A second major disappointment was about to rear its ugly head... This one weather related :-0 Whether right or wrong, or for better or worse, we were told we could still see the glacier as that bright line across the top of the fog bank!.... I, for one, would have rather NOT HEARD that little tidbit! Disappointment on Disenchantment Bay how apt is that?.... Ironic or not???!!! This second MAJOR disappointment on this short voyage was very hard to take. Really, I certainly have no issue with the safety decision that was made... just disappointed (once again). After returning to the cabin to lick and bind my wounds (metaphorically speaking of course!) I emerged and prepared for our now established daily routine..... BREAKFAST, LUNCH and DINNER! The next day was Seward and the end of the trip. This was a rather pricy disappointment… but live and learn :-) But! We liked what we saw and experienced in Alaska so much that my wife and I agreed we would return in a year or so and give a different cruise line a chance! A brief note on the rest of the stops and sights we did see. I liked Vancouver, at least what I saw of it was a beautiful city and it would certainly be worth spending some time in the city and the area… at least more than a night and part of a day to see more of the city. Chinatown maybe??? Ketchikan, Skagway and Sitka were great stopovers and with more time in port could have been fantastic! Hey wait! We had that extra time in Ketchikan that was totally wasted and inaccessable! Seward, well, nothing to say or see… Got off the ship…. Got on the bus. The Food I know that this is what some of you were waiting for so here goes…. Regent touts the food on board as; "EXQUISITE CUISINE" "Nothing can elevate travel quite like cuisine. That’s why we take so much pride in creating exquisite dining experiences that are nothing short of superb. Experience all the wonderful flavors and delightful scents of choice cuisine from around the world." (direct from the Regent website) It goes without saying that the food is one of the most important components of a cruise for many passengers. From elegant A La Carte dinning to the Grand Buffet the food is oft the star. And while, for the most part, the food at most of the Regent Mariner venues was good, sometimes VERY good, it was far from consistent. Here I’m just going to detail our experiences at the two Regent Specialty Restaurants, Chartreuse French Restaurant and Prime 7 Steak Restaurant and give you a few overall impressions about the other eating venues. Chartreuse French Restaurant That evening I had scored an early reservation (it was the best I could do) at one of the Regent Signature Restaurants, Chartreuse a French Restaurant. I was excited to try what Regent called "Modern French Cuisine". While the dining room was well appointed and comfortable the initial service, and later the food, were a disappointment. We were the first in the restaurant (right at our appointed time) and service was, for lack of a better word.... inattentive. For being the first customers (read ONLY Customers) it took a while to be noticed and seated. The sommelier was slow in visiting the lone table we were occupying . Then the sommelier immediately tried to up-sell me to a $275 bottle of wine and it took me just a moment to catch on. I did ask him what the featured wines were that evening and he recited them showing them to me on the wine list. Regent advertises as an "all-inclusive" cruise and indeed they are. Two wines were included that night, as in every night, a red and a white. But.... If I had not noticed the tiny prices following some of the selections I would have purchased a $125 to $300 bottle of wine. When I quizzed him about the menu he reluctantly confirmed that there was indeed an "upcharge" for those particular premium selections. I told the sommelier please just bring the "house red" after I was clued into the rules. He was visibly disappointed at the lack of the sale :-) I afterwards found that there may have been additional wine selections included for the asking. However, even though I had asked, no other options were offered or clarified. The waiter came to the table immediately after the sommelier vacated and told us of that evenings chef's special choices then left us to peruse the menu. He returned after an appropriate amount of time and left with our order. For appetizers my wife ordered Escargot and I ordered the seared Duck Foie Gras. Entrees were roasted lobster for her and double cut Lamb ribs for me. The Escargot were terrible. Served in a disgusting gravy of some sort they were rubbery and served removed from the shells, a good indication they were (possibly) frozen or even (GASP!) from a can. My Foie Gras was somewhat better. It was nicely displayed/presented with three little apricot dots arranged on the plate. Taste was meh... rather tasteless and bland. The entrees didn't fare any better. My wife's entree, Roasted Lobster with Scallop Mousseline, Green Asparagus and Fava Beans (no Fava Beans were visable), was displayed well but was extremely overcooked resulting in a tough, tasteless piece of unrecognizable meat. The vegetables that were there were fine and well cooked. My lamb was delivered beautifully presented and flanked by two Chickpea Fritters. However I had ordered the lamb Medium RARE. It arrived terribly overcooked and tough. As a result of this criminal treatment of what likely started as a decent piece of meat it was largely tasteless and tough. My desert, Creme Brûlée was well presented and was tasty, rich and creamy with a satisfying sweet/bitter crunch from the caramelized sugar on top while the wife's Chocolate Napoleon was inedible. Prime 7 Steakhouse Tonight was our second specialty restaurant reservation. This time at Regent's steakhouse, Prime 7. We had been by the restaurant several times on the way to the Compass Rose and it was always busy and packed. We had a late reservation at 8:30 pm on the 30th. We showed up about five minutes early and were asked to wait in the lounge area. The Maitre D' came and collected us after a short wait at 8:33.... Perfect! After being seated we were immediately approached by our waiter and the sommelier. The menu as suitable for a steakhouse, was simple and to the point featuring mostly beef offerings with a few chops, seafood and poultry choices. We made our orders and sat back with a little of the house vino. A Palate cleanser of Tomato Bisque was delivered to the table followed closely by the appetizers. The presentation on her appetizer, the Tuna Tartar was very nice and she enjoyed it. My appetizer was Foie Gras Sliders with Rhubarb Chutney. It came out looking like two tiny little hamburgers, which I thought entirely appropriate for a steak house lead-in and they were delicious. Our entrees arrived. She had ordered King Crab and I ordered a 18oz Bone-In Ribeye. Mine was delicious! This was at least a pound of steak-y delicious-ness. Billed as a Prime, Dry-Aged piece of meat, it was cooked perfectly to my ordered medium-rare temperature with a beautiful seared crust on the outside. It was all I could do not to pick up the bone and start gnawing away at the steak like a wild animal. Luckily I was able to control myself and waited until the end of the meal before waving the bone around making a fool of myself. As delicious as my steak was, my wife's King Crab was not. She certainly received a big ol' plate of Crab. But that plate was overcooked, dry and lifeless. She could finish only a small portion of the total before calling it quits. I definitely felt bad for her and told her so between mouthfuls of my perfectly done steak! Dessert was Cheesecake for me and a Berries in Creme Anglaise for her. Both were a good choice and satisfied that Dessert Jones.... We said thank you to our stellar waiter Rochcelle.... and headed out. Some brief thoughts on the other dining venues…. Compass Rose – Compass Rose is the main dining room. Comfortable and well-appointed we found food here consistently good. Everything, with few exceptions, was well prepared and generally tasty no matter what was ordered. Service was always prompt and extremely courteous. Surroundings and ambiance were open, elegant and comfortable. It is open seating and we were always able to score a table by a window. Open for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner it is always menu driven. La Veranda – Our choice on deck 11 for Breakfast and Lunch. La Veranda is buffet style serving. More elegant and more variety than the adjacent Pool Side Grille Buffet. It was consistently good. In the evening La Veranda transforms into the menu driven (only buffet in sight is a salad bar) Sette Mari At La Veranda Italian Restaurant. Sette Mari is a great alternative to the Compass Rose and other eating venues. The food is very good with a good Italian themed menu offering. The Pool Grille - was the one breakfast, lunch and dinner venue that allowed a casual dress in the evenings. The food there was served buffet style and usually had a good mix of everything from hamburgers to some simple seafood selections. Ice Cream and deserts were also featured along with a Fresh Juice Bar. For convenience it was located adjacent to the Pool Bar. NOTE: One thing that was, unfortunately, true across ALL of the RESTAURANTS is that they could not deliver a piece of fish that was not overcooked to the point of being criminal. Shrimp and Scallops on the other hand were usually delivered perfectly. Lobster and Crab… not so much. Meat temperature was better with my lamb served at Chartreuse being the major exception. My steak at Prime 7 was perfection! I also give you this as a sample excursion/meal… A Shore Excursion that featured a Crab Feast! Note that this was one of the MANY Shore Excursions that was supplied at NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE. Cruise St. George Inlet and Crab Feast We enjoyed our time in Ketchikan walking around the city before going to a Crab Feast. Before the feast we went on a bus trip and then a small boat into the St. George Inlet. we saw some Bald Eagles and pulled up a crab trap to play with some crabs (yes, I know what that sounds like :-) Heading back to the small boat dock restaurant, The George Inlet Lodge, we indulged in our feast. It was all served with a large heaping bit of wit and wisdom from Asley our Charming Young Lady (I never thought I would live long enough to use that term... But there it is!!) of a server. It was very simply, a salad, a cold beer, and a never ending pile of the best Crab I have ever eaten. If you ever find yourself eating Crab at the George Inlet Lodge and served by Asley give her a big hey from Regent 06/28/2019 :-) Debarkation was fairly well organized but had a few hiccups. Debarkation occurred through an exit on Deck 6. Luggage was tagged and picked up from the cabin the night before. We had our breakfast and then made our way to the Coffee Connection area on deck 6 to wait for the call to exit and board the buses that would take us to Anchorage. The only sore spot was the ladies toilets on deck 6 were closed for whatever reason (men's was fine). My wife had to go down one deck to get to a bathroom..... That would not have been that much of an issue but all of the other ladies-in-waiting had to do the same and almost immediately a line formed. There were of course other public bathrooms but on the higher decks and not as convenient. As the traffic became heavier in the one bathroom on deck 5 the toilet paper ran out and was not replenished. It seemed to be “a not so fond farewell....” The bus ride to Anchorage (2.5 hr) was fine but stretched to 3.5 hours because of an accident on the one highway to Anchorage. Upon arrival, because our flight was in the evening, we were taken to the Anchorage Hilton to a "Hospitality" area arranged by Regent. For the end of a supposedly "high-end" cruise the "Hospitality" area was rather weak.... It was an old, no longer used, restaurant at the top of the Hilton. It was a bit tired looking and had little in the way of amenities. No water, hours old coffee, no hot water, and only a tray with a few cookie crumbs being there. No one replenished anything during the time we were there. There were people to help us with the shuttle transfer to the airport at our designated/selected time. We went out for lunch and settled on a nearby restaurant called "The 49th State". It was a casual nice place and had cold freshly on-site brewed beer and upscale pub grub. We ordered a pizza featuring Reindeer and Elk sausage that we enjoyed very much. When in Anchorage it would be a good lunch or evening meal stop! We wandered about downtown Anchorage for another hour or so and returned to the hotel for our trip to the airport and back to “The Lower Forty-Eight”. The wrap up! The Regent cruise wasn’t a total bust. The accommodations (cabin) and the hospitality crew are first rate. The fact that out of five stops we only truly made three was more than a little disappointing. I can’t say that Regent didn’t offer an accommodation because of the issue in by-passing Juneau, they did. But, it was not enough, in my opinion. What was offered was a $750 per passenger ($1500 total) off the your NEXT CRUISE with Regent. Sorry, those of us that were on this voyage, at least in my case, were not going to sign on again. We have been home now since the 4th of July and have heard nothing from Captain, Cruise Director, Chief Engineer or Regent Corporate concerning what happened. That seems like a bad case of “don’t give a crap” at the very least. A head-in-sand attitude at best. Regent is billed as one of the world’s premiere cruise lines which is why we gave it a whirl. Reviewers rate Regent very highly… I can only speculate they were not on our cruise! Would I cruise again with Regent? No, not as it stands now. That said…. If the perfect itinerary at a decent price appeared at the perfect time… I never say never :-) Read Less

We wanted to see Alaska & our travel agent advised us that Regent would offer us the best experience and value. Things didn’t go well at all & we feel we never got a true Alaska vacation as promised or the Regent experience! The ship lost an engine & we had to eliminate Juneau as a port & we had to eliminate the Hubbard glacier due to fog. We were at sea 3 of the 6 days. Not what we wanted and were only offered a $750 credit towards a FUTURE cruise to be booked within a year! In addition, restaurants were difficult to get seated in. Even the no reservation Italian restaurant had an hour and a half wait to be seated! Finding a table for 4 was virtually impossible. And to top things off, the casino manager cheated my husband out of winning a black jack tournament by verbally helping the other person in the finals! He then begged my husband to keep it inside the casino. We had 3 witnesses, reported it to executive concierge and the guest relations office has declined to offer an apology and/or give us any monetary compensation for a very bad cruise for so many reasons. Even my travel agent tried in vain to get us $1500 cash instead of future cruise credit, but they refuse to budge. What a terrible way to do business! Read Less

Very poor experience with company Customer service will never help you If they do it takes a month to get back to you Off ship tours not quality of what you pay for Poor service on airport pick up On board no one to help out issues They just don’t care about there guests Most of the areas need to be redone Laundry machines broken Slot machines broken for the whole trip of 14 days There pre-cruise excursions were poor and very costly The Belmont train which was a special gift for our anniversary The food selection was Poor,with no choices of food selection Ireland was very hot this summer and there was no HVAC IN THE observation car nor dinning rooms The cabins were so small you could not get in the bathroom There was to be high tea every day but we never had it Rooms and train could have been cleaner Read Less