After 64 cruises, on most of the mass market and luxury lines, I eagerly looked forward to cruising with RSSC to experience their "5-STAR PLUS" service. Sadly, that was not the case. The food was only mediocre, certainly not gourmet, as we were led to believe it would be. The service really lacking in all areas, especially with the dining staff, as they seemed indifferent in their attitude and it was reflected in the standard of service they provided. The casual dining venue was terrible and looked like a bad "all you can eat" buffet, with limited selection and very unappealing presentation. Several times, I bussed my own dishes, because the staff was not around and I didn't want to sit with dirty dishes in front of me. The two specialty restaurants, Prime 7 and Signatures did have somewhat better food than the dining room and did offer good, competent service, which helped make them an enjoyable experience. Though the cruise was primarily port intensive and the reason we booked it, the sea days were long and lacking activities. Everything seemed to be scheduled before noon, with little or nothing to do in the afternoon. If you chose to relax and sleep in the morning, you basically missed the entire days planning and were left to make your own activities. Really boring! Even the port excursions, which were included in the price of this very expensive cruise, were not really as good as others we have experienced. The guides provided, did not have a good command of the English language and were very difficult to understand at times. Also, many of the venues were of little or no importance to the city being visited, just basically being used to fill tour time. All in all, I would rate our cruise on Regent Seven Seas Voyager a "3 1/2 to 4 STAR" at best and I'm being very generous.   Read Less

After cruised with Regent many times, we were looking forward to our western Caribbean "snorkel" cruise. After we paid our final payment, the excursions started to be cancelled. Before we even left for Miami, two snorkel trips were cancelled and our hotel was changed three times. Once on board, we discovered that the navigator was an old ship that vibrated and rattled and on the open ocean was prone to excessive rolling. The big surprise was to follow the first morning on the cruise when we couldn't stay in our cabin due to the noise. It was never disclosed to us that they would be doing construction work daily on the boutique directly below our cabin. Each day for five days was filled with the sound of power tools and hammering. Depending on who you talked to, we would receive a different answer; we'll stop it today or we have to do it, too bad. Our cabin was unusable during the day the first half of the cruise. By the time the cruise was over, more excursions were cancelled or unusable due to scheduling changes. This was an expensive trip for about a total of 1:20 snorkel time. But our biggest disappointment came when we got back and notified Regent through the encouragement of our travel agent of what happened. We received NO RESPONSE !! This was so unlike Regent in our past sailings and we were shocked until I learned that Regent had been taken over by Norwegian and they are not as service directed as the old Regent management Read Less

Voyager Master Suite My review centers specifically around the Master Suite experience, #700. This writing reflects a just completed 18 day Southeast Asia cruise. It is meant for the traveler that prefers the Master Suite and looks for that level of luxury. My family has traveled on this cruise line 7 or 8 times during the past 15 years. About half of those in a Master Suite. I have been on all of Regent's ships. I have also traveled with Crystal Cruises, most recently on the Serenity, in the Crystal Penthouse (top priced room), which was outstanding in every way. First I would like to say the staff on this ship and the food are exceptional. I would say this area of the experience is "luxury" and very good. I would also say that the production shows, although they do fewer than in the past, are also very high quality, with excellent talent. Now about the room, for a "luxury" cruise experience, for four people, that cost us more than $133,000.00, it is not at all worth it. This room, and the ship in general (staff/food excluded) is outdated and not at all "luxury." Honestly, out of five stars for the room, I give it 2 stars. I give the ship as a whole in common areas, a 3 star rating. It's on the level of a 3 star hotel. It is clean, but I would STRONGLY recommend if you choose this room and ship, you look at actual photos of the ENTIRE room (as opposed to drawings in the brochure) and look at size. Brochure photo makes the room look much larger and does not reflect current interior design. The suite is very laid out oddly. First it is on the front of the ship, translating into VERY bumpy. The worst area to put the best room. You will hear an extraordinarily loud noise when the anchor is dropped, but that is only on stops that require a tender. It particularly affects the guest room. The laundry is at the complete other end of ship, and only two wash machines service this level. Rarely is a machine available. (Crystal and other high-end cruises includes complimentary laundry with a Master Suite) Layout: The Master Bedroom is part of the bathroom, only a cheesy curtain separates the bath from the bedroom. The shower and toilet are very small and not even a fraction in design compared to what is out there on other luxury high-end ships. There is absolutely NOTHING about the Master Suite experience here that makes the guest feel special. We went from staying at a Four Seasons Hotel, in amazing rooms, to this. Honestly upon check in, it was a huge, depressing let -down. The room is VERY dark with low ceilings. It is filled with over 60 coffee table books that clutter every empty spot. There are very few open plugs to charge your electronics. Be sure to bring your european adaptor to increase places to charge. Doors are propped open with cheap yellow rubber door stops that slip and then the doors flap night. 2nd issue. This is a two bedroom. We brought our parents and put them in the 2nd room. Clearly now, I see for the same price, they could've had a suite--with more room, a closet and a patio. BIG MISTAKE how we booked this. This guest room is small, like a college dorm room. It has a very small box closet, a VERY small bath, and really is not a place you would put grown adults looking for a luxury experience. At least in the ship's Master Suite #1100, the second bedroom is a full size room with a closet and patio. So disappointing our parents had to spend 18 days in this space. Given the price we paid, we expected much more out of this room. Of course, immediately upon embarking, we expressed concern about the room. While the Executive Concierge and subsequently the General Manager were very cordial about the issue, they suggested "very rarely" are four adults put in this room (it would have been nice if the Regent Sales Rep would have mentioned this to our travel agent upon booking), there was never any offer to do anything to improve our experience--other than a minuscule "credit" on a future booking. Honestly, if they offered a free cruise for four, I would not take it. Regent's corporate office (the ones who seem to make all decisions) have no idea how to deal with upscale customers. Do you think that will change with the new ship coming online next year? Same people managing I assume....A minor "credit" for a future booking is not only rude but simply reflects that they are really out of touch. One question to consider...Do you really think this line is capable of managing "the most luxurious ship ever built?" (new ship coming online in 2016) Based on the material they provided onboard, booking a suite on the inaugural itinerary is 100% deposit--no refunds. I suggest high caution on this one. You're making an expensive decision with one enhanced photo and a lot of fluffy marketing. If you have an issue or a problem, do you feel confident you will be satisfied? That is key to operating in the high-end luxury world and unless there are internal corporate changes I question whether one wants to gamble to big dollars here.   Read Less

We sailed on "Seven Seas Voyager" in June 2014 and had such a wonderful trip that we booked on "Seven Seas Navigator." Wow! It's like we are on a different (and much inferior,) cruise line! First, the ship itself.... Negatives: "Navigator" seems old and tired. There is a positively ALARMING prolonged vibration at times when underway...and we were on the top passenger deck, Deck 11. I saw this mentioned before we sailed in other reviews, so obviously Regent knows about it. But, clearly, they have done nothing to correct it. Nor do they mention or explain it onboard. It's like the proverbial "elephant in the room." The stabilizers, which I believe I read were retrofitted to this ship, do not do much to dampen roll. Additionally, the ship's short length accentuated pitch (forward-to-back motion.) Both combine to provide a much less stable cruise than "Voyager." The rugs and upholstery throughout the ship are stained and often worn-looking. The furniture and paneling are dinged, banged-up and scratched. The first water run into our bathtub was always rusty, (though it did clear quickly.) Here's a BIG one for us. Most of the deck where the Connoisseur Club smoking lounge is positively stank of cigarette smoke. Just walking from the front elevators to the Seven Seas Lounge, where most tours met, resulted in my hair and clothing stinking of smoke for several hours. Phew eee! The 3 elevators, both fore and aft, are arranged in a semi-circle, not in a straight line like "Voyager." I assume this is because "Navigator" is so much smaller. The problem with this is that they wait a very short time after coming to the summons of the button. You have to stand in front of the middle one and sprint to catch whichever of the side ones comes. (We joked that they had a sensor to tell them where you were standing, so the could offer you the one furthest away!) I rolled my husband around on a wheelchair we rented, and we missed A LOT of elevators because it was so difficult, on the padded carpets, to get him to the open one on time. We saw people on foot get left behind, too. We could see when we were ashore that only the very large, high-priced suites had the very comfortable "rattan" lounge chairs and tables on their balconies that we enjoyed in our Penthouse Suite on "Voyager." Our Penthouse on "Navigator" had metal chairs with plastic mesh fabric. Not as comfortable, at all. Positives: Can't think of any for the "physical plant." We should have had our first cruise on "Navigator," not on "Voyager!" Food & Beverages..... Negatives: Service was very slow and spotty, especially at La Veranda and the Pool Grill. It seemed as if the wait staff was more concerned with their own agenda that with the passengers' comfort or needs. At the Pool Grill, we heard a staffer, whose back was turned to the buffet as he worked on equipment behind the buffet, tell a man starting to dish up his breakfast from the that "The Breakfast Buffet here is closed. Go inside to La Veranda." I informed him that the food was still sitting RIGHT THERE, and that I was going to dish up breakfast! He did not object. For heaven's sake!! Repeatedly, main course dishes were not cleared to make room for our dessert. Indeed, wait staff would be busy setting up for the evening dinner service at La Veranda, when it becomes Setti Mari, rather than attending to the guests they had at present. When asked, they did clean the plate, but not the salad plate, rolls, etc. Often, we weren't offered beverages until we asked for them. Service could also be very slow in Prime & and Compass Rose. We spent almost 2 hours getting dinner at Compass Rose, and actually left without dessert because we had sat so long, with out empty entreé dishes before us We didn't want to wind up spending close to 3 hours for the complete dinner. THAT goes from "leisurely" to "too slow!" The beef onboard, whether at Compass Rose or at Prime 7 (which features "USDA Prime beef," they say) was tough AND virtually tasteless, except for the Filet Mignon, which was tender and tasteless! We noticed this on "Voyager," too, and chalked it up to European beef. We had anticipated a good, American steakhouse steak, at least at Prime 7. At these prices, why doesn't Prime 7 have dry-aged prime beef?! They promote it a so special, but it's not special at all. The pasta salads at the Pool Grill were often dried-out, with hard, chewy pasta. Undercooked? Left out too long? Can't say. The first "house" red wines offered were always sharp, rough and acidic. The Sommelier always brought a softer, mellower red when asked, however. Every "Rum Punch" I ordered (when in the Tropics...!) was prepared differently...light and dark rum/only light rum, different amounts of juice and Grenadine, different garnishes, some handled and some dispensed with tongs, etc. Positives: Except for the tough, tasteless beef, the food was very, very good. It was cooked to perfection, and very tasty. (BTW, steaks were always cooked perfectly, as ordered, too.) The pastry chefs are wonderful! Everything they made was delicious! (Too delicious!) Plates and utensils were always clean, with new utensils for each course. Wine glasses in Compass Rose were polished and sparkling. Butler Service: As with "Voyager," our Butler, Abhi, was WONDERFUL. He seemed to truly CARE about our experience. Once, I was in line to talk to Destination Services about a Tour the next day. He had simply seen me walking there with my Tour Tickets as he took a wheelchair passenger upstairs. He came straight back down and asked me what I needed, telling me to go relax while HE took care of it for me. Abhi kept our Suite positively perfect, keeping the refrigerator and fruit dish stocked and bringing us the single-malt Scotch we wanted. He served us dinner, from the Compass Rose menu, on the nights we couldn't face the spotty service at Compass Rose, and breakfast on the mornings we had early tours. He even got me some special almond cookies from the Setti Mari menu! Our butler on "Voyager," Samir, was similarly attentive. I really think the Butlers have their OWN code of conduct, setting for themselves the highest standards of care and concern for their clients. They are a true asset to Regent! Personnel in general: Our personnel problems were mostly related to my husband's need for a wheelchair for long walks. In anticipation, we actually rented a wheelchair, rather than ask Regent personnel to provide one, as we had on "Voyager." There were many, MANY wheelchair-using or elderly passengers on this ship. (One woman was 94!) We imagine that they all shared our problems: It often seemed to us as if this was an "Outward Bound" cruise. The Tours were so strenuous and unaccessible! Indeed, walks to the "tours" were often up to a mile, UPHILL, even if the tour itself was not strenuous. However, unlike some lines, Regent provided no pier-shuttles...you had to walk from the ship or miss out! The "Enrichment" lectures were a wonderful asset tour trip...even though Regent did not provide a way for my husband to appreciate any of the cultures he mentioned. DON'T THEY KNOW THE DEMOGRAPHICS OF THE MAJORITY OF THEIR PASSENGERS?? The people who booked this cruise, by and large, older and sometimes handicapped in some way. But the ADA simply does not apply with this ship! The Destination Services Manager was oppositional and uncaring. Because of her, we cancelled tours we had been looking forward to. She insisted they were "too long a walk," or "too strenuous" for my husband, even with me pushing his chair. In retrospect, she was often wrong about this, since it was eminently possible to wheel him to a tour and keep the wheelchair there for our return. (He can walk, climb steps, etc., but doesn't much stamina.) BTW, I had to push, because no one from Regent was available to do so!! This was not the case on "Voyager." They wheeled him to faraway busses, etc. The Security Staff at the gangway were uncordial and grudging in their assistance to me. My husband could walk down the gangway just fine, but I (I'm 69) could not get his wheelchair down myself. I usually had to ask someone to bring it to the pier for me. Then, no one EVER offered to help me wheel him. Luckily, on Roatan (The place with the mile+ uphill walk,) a Port Security officer carried us on his golf cart to and from the ship. Even I could not have negotiated that grueling walk! I assume it is so long because Royal Caribbean, who built the Port facility, wants passengers exposed to the many, many shops enroute to the busses. hence, they offer no transportation that would by-pass those shops. I can only speculate that Regent gets a cheaper docking fee by also forcing us to endure that long walk, rather that providing us with transport to the busses.   Read Less

This was our first ever cruise and we were very impressed on arrival. During the cruise, the crew was exceptional and attentive and the food was overall very good including the wine selections. The furnishings in the ship were good as well. The excursions ranged from excellent to average. We did experience vibrations as others have commented on especially in the rear of the ship and in the theater. We did have a MAJOR problem with a recurring noise in our cabin that woke us every night or early morning. As a result, we never got a good night's sleep and were extremely tired most days. When the noise first started, I complained to the Guest Services/Reception desk who said they would look into it. The loud noise sounded like two empty pipes hitting together and originated from the ceiling in the bathroom or in the hall inside the cabin outside the bathroom. It lasted no more that 1 or 2 seconds but was loud enough to wake us. Guest Services/Reception was good in following up saying they checked during the day when we were on an excursion and could not hear anything. I continued to complain and finally took my complaint to the General Manager. I suggested the clanging noise might be due to water hammer causing the pipes to vibrate and hit together. At my suggestion, he went to the cabin above while the guests were out and opened and closed the faucets and could not replicate the noise. As the days passed, I started noting the time noise occurred. The strange thing was that it happened every morning at ~2:50 am! I kept my watch by the bed and every morning was awakened at that time by the clanging. It also happened at other times sometime one clang and sometime two clangs, one after another. I asked about moving to another cabin but the only one available was at or near the rear of the ship where there would be some amount of vibration. We had already experienced vibration in the rear of the ship in the restaurant, etc. so that did not sound like a good alternative so I declined. We had also had a couple of nights of rough seas and purposely selected our cabin to minimize ship movement. The last night we were onboard, we had just fallen asleep at ~10:15 pm and got a double clang! I was very upset and called the GM. After apologizing, he or the Concierge said they could move us to cabin 619, next door. I was shocked that the cabin door was vacant and wondered why we had not been offered this before! In any case, to get dressed and move at 10:30 pm did not have much appeal and the move might be so upsetting we may not have gone back to sleep so we stayed in 621. Unfortunately, maybe we should have moved. The double clang at 10:15 pm was followed by the 2:50 am clang, another at 4:30 am and a double clang at 6:30 am! By 6:30 we had enough clanging and got up. We were not in the cabin much during the day except during a day of sailing. The noise did occur but I cannot remember how many times.   Read Less

Our flight to Lisbon on TAP from Ft. Lauderdale to Lisbon was good with the exception of arriving about 5:30 a.m. Fortunately we had made our own hotel arrangements and they accomodated us and let us check in at a very early hour. Before I go any further I must say that I have given much thought to writing a negative review about Regent since we are gold members. We have been on many cruises on the Voyager and the Navigator and the Mariner and we loved them all. This time we were looking forward to it because a Larry Cohen bridge program was always outstanding in every respect. Our cabin attendents were the best ever and we really liked the refurbishment of the ship. Sadly, everything else went down from there. We had to miss three ports. The reasons were understandable but the attitude was "take it or leave it". We know the crew was overworked and understaffed when there was no time for a smile and the maitre'd was bussing the tables. The quality of the food and wine had gone way down. The specialty restaurants were no longer special. For entertainment on a missed port day we were given an English country fair. It was fun until we got to the bowling booth. It was tasteless to use frozen chickens for bowling balls. What a waste. We regret to say that the only way Regent is a luxury line now is in the price.   Read Less

This was our first Regent cruise after being urged by several friends who are sold on Regent. We are occasional cruisers in our 70’s who take at least one cruise a year, and we prefer to travel upper end in the cabins and flights. The all inclusive feature was what our friends are sold on and it was appealing, so we booked the Baltic Seas cruise. Our baseline for upper end has been set by NCL’s suite level with butlers and all that, so we have a pretty good idea of what to expect. The arrangements to fly business class were satisfactory after we put our foot down and insisted on non-stop from LAX to London on both legs of the trip. We also had requested a deviation for extra time in London and Stockholm at each end of the cruise, and this was honored. The price included an overnight stay at the Landmark Hotel in London and motor coach to Southampton. The Cabin We booked a Seven Seas Suite on Deck 7, and it was quite nice and great sitting area. The service staff was exemplary and was almost invisible as the cabin was freshened up every day. The lighting was fantastic, and my spouse was happy with the mirrors and lighting for all her retirements. The butler was quick to respond to our service requests and was in and out in a flash. The Excursions One of our favorites was Bruges where we walked about in the quaint town and attended a Belgian Chocolate Demonstration which was quite informative. Rain plagued us so a group ended up at an outside tavern and got to know each other swapping lies and have local beer. Our least favorite was in Copenhagen where we have signed up for a canal cruise and it rained when three buses were loaded onto a canal boat that should have less passengers, so it was unpleasant and a few folks had to stand outside in the rain. We began to see a pattern of Regent reducing cost for the all-inclusive excursions, and did not appreciate this at all. Russia probably had the best tour guide and bus drivers, they were very efficient at getting us in and through the Hermitage and St Catherine’s Palace. The morning excursions returned about the time that lunch dining was being shut down, so we felt rushed as the servers were cleaning off the food area and clearing tables. That was annoying. Dining The food was mediocre at best. We ate in Prime 7 one night and the service was terrible, as was the servings. We found the main dining rooms were better for service and food. Since we like to meet people, we choose to sit with shared tables and the conversations generally carried on for several hours. Wine was poured on demand and the quality for the house wines was OK. One irritating aspect was lots of private parties going on that shut down all or part of the smaller main restaurant. We never were able to dine in this restaurant at night. There wasn’t a buffet at night so dining was either in your room with room service or in the main restaurants. so the evening meals tended to be heavier and later than we prefer. Entertainment There was only one show at 9:30 PM, and with the exception of one show, we walked out on most. Our opinion was they were poorly done musicals, and we don’t care for poor music. Overall Having all the drinks included makes it seem more like home entertainment since it is included and no one has to foot the bill. However, one of the topics during the evening meal that always came up was the question of how many Regent cruises one had been on. Many of us were first timers. Most of the first timers we talked to pretty much felt like us, never again. The reason: too high a price for what was delivered. Regent is pricey, and just isn’t worth it to us because they just don’t deliver the top quality service they are charging for when compared to other cruises we have been on at less than half the cost for twice the service (and food).   Read Less

We booked the Navigator Alaska tour Anchorage to Vancouver July2-9,2014. We were assigned Suite 870, last cabin at the end of the ship. We discovered SEVERE VIBRATION and noise immediately departing the pier, which lasted the entire trip. We discussed the problem with Executive Concierge and told "they were full" and we couldn't be moved. Total cost of our trip was $16,751.00. We were unable to sleep throughout the ENTIRE cruise. The bed never stopped vibrating and the loud banging under the bed was continuous. We discovered, after an Engineer friend met with the ship's engineer, that THE NAVIGATOR was never built as a luxury ship. It was a Russian Icebreaker or research ship that was gutted and given a makeover. Unfortunately, no attempt was made to refit motors or their placement with consideration for the paying passengers. We also found out that if you booked a cabin at the Concierge location (midship), the vibration was reduced but not entirely unnoticeable. It wasn't as if the midship location was better and worth extra money, it was clearly the ONLY place that was mildly acceptable. Regent knew this ship was problematic compared to the others in the line, and there were definite loud noise and vibration issues and never disclosed this information. Food was mediocre for the price. Entertainment was good. All land excursions are passengers responsible to book and prepay. We found there wasn't enough time in port for more than one activity for the day before having to re-board. Read Less

After two years since our last Regent cruise, we sailed again on Navigator. We did not have a six star experience but the ship is a well-maintained ship in all the public areas. We chose Navigator for its size and intimate atmosphere aboard. The ship’s stabilizers were not working as we pulled out of Miami to Key West, but when departing Key West, they had been fixed. They were definitely needed for about four evenings at sea. The Good Cabin – our portside Deluxe Veranda was roomy enough for us. Walk-in closet space was very good. Toiletries were of high quality. The current choices of on-demand movies, ship event briefings, access to our on-board account and presentations of cultural talks were all available en-suite via the flat screen TV. Not all high end cruise lines provide these amenities. The SpaClub is one of the best on the ocean. It is key benefit for people like us who have a workout routine. The space available for stretching and free weights is huge. There are the usual aerobic machines and some resistance training machines. There are mats, foam rollers and plenty of space to conduct your workout. The locker room adjoining the sauna, showers and steam room is a well-designed location for helping muscles relax after a workout or a particularly challenging land excursion. The place was always abandoned as the other guests were not interested in the health club portion of the Club. Better for us, I say. The Pool Grill and Pool Bar got much of our time with comfortable table seating. The mixed drinks were generally good but the skill of the bartender was low. The Pool Bar is full of unskilled workers mixing things which don’t even resemble what was ordered. We did drink at all the available bars and found that the most capable bartenders were at the Navigator Lounge and the Galileo Lounge. Regent was very generous in their constant offer of alcoholic drinks. La Veranda was perfect for breakfast where we would sit outside and have either buffet or order our meals. Service was consistent and mostly good. The omelet station was simple, limited and not very good. At night, La Veranda turns into Sette Mari – a casual food venue where Italian specialties are the highlight. The service personnel were the best on the ship at this location. They were friendly and accommodating, a refreshing difference from Prime 7 and Compass Rose. If it wasn’t for the performance of the crew who supported Sette Mari, the dining experience based on the other venues would have earned the ship a complete ‘C’ grade. Pool area is well thought out with many very comfortable lounges on two decks with both shade and sun. The ratio of passengers to lounges was so good; there were vacant lounges throughout the entire voyage. The lounge chairs were plush and comfortable. Extra-large plush towels were plentiful. Two whirlpools could have been hotter and the pool was good size for the few people who used it. Since the median age group on board had to be in the 70’s, there were not many sun worshippers and fewer bathers. The only problem with the pool area is when the smoking section was filled with smokers of cigarettes and cigars. The Bad Prime 7 was a huge disappointment. We could get only one night there and it turned out to be a blessing. Our head waiter was gruff and not friendly at all to most of the members of our table. This attempt at a prime steakhouse atmosphere failed on many levels. Most of the same meals were available at Compass Rose. Compass Rose was staffed with pretentious management, but great servers and waiters. This venue catered to the guests who crave having excessive attention paid to them. During the evening service, too many cruisers were full of complaints about nonsense items about the service. The whole scene is a real downer. Food quality was good and portion control was proper. The Ugly The Connoisseur Club is a euphemism for chocking, stinking, smoking room. Once again, Regent caters to smokers because those are the only people who can “stomach” being in the room for more than a minute. How Regent thinks that any person in their right mind could enjoy themselves with a fine Scotch or brandy in a room densely filled with cancerous air and phlegmy coughers is a mystery. For four days, dark brown water came out of the shower head and sink faucet. Each day, the incident was reported to the registration desk. Each day, a sugary, smiling reply was “just run the water for 10 minutes and it will clear up” Four days is more than 10 minutes and at $1000 per day, we won’t be buying any more of Regent’s brown water. Read Less

As background, this is probably my 35th cruise or so over the last 30 years. The level has spanned from Crystal to Oceania, Princess, Windstar, NCL, and a few others I've forgotten or don't exist anymore. Looking for an upscale cruise this time for our 30th, but a smaller ship than Crystal, we booked this Regent cruise. I'd like to be able to comment more on the quality of food, etc., but on day 4 I got the stomach flu, which lasted the duration of the trip. Last time out on Oceania (same parent), same thing happened to the wife in Bangkok. Now the concept of cruising has always had appeal for me, but these cruise lines really need to step up and get real as to what's creating this problem. It's the food serving areas and the housekeeping. The veranda buffet is all self service -- everyone handling every spoon in every bowl. Does Regent seriously think the Purell dispensers they've placed out are going to kill flu virus? No they don't - Why not serve the passengers in the line ?? . There is also this continuous exchange of unused plates and silverware from table to table in the dining room - just another way to transmit viruses. And then there's the problem of the stateroom two doors down that overflowed its toilet and had our housekeeping staff cleaning and drying that mess up for a couple of days and also cleaning our room. Another big red flag for virus transmission. So in summary, our 30th was a bust and it cost me a lot of coin. Regent would like to position itself as a six star line. Not in my book. Beware ! Read Less

My husband and I have been on at least 25 full length cruises, including four on Crystal Cruises and one on a Queen Mary II grill suite. This was the worst ship and worst value of all - I would not classify this as a luxury cruise. The fares are outrageous for what you receive. The cabins are fine, but the public areas are very cramped and unattractive. The pool deck has only few lounges in the shade - these are 'reserved' with passengers' beach bags early in the morning. The remaining lounges are in full sunshine - there are not enough when the ship is at sea. So many passengers said the other two Regent ships (Mariner and Voyager) are very much better - why did they come on this cruise? We had a terrible storm at sea - the first time I have ever been seasick. I heard two scenarios from other passengers - either the ship has no stabilizers or they were installed after the ship was built and are not adequate - apparently the hull was built for a Soviet military ship and modified to be a cruise ship. This ship had far more motion in calm waters than newer, larger ships. The food was mediocre to poor, with the exception of the Prime 7 steakhouse which was excellent. Our cabin attendants were excellent. There were many issues with the rest of crew - no smiles or friendly greetings in the dining room. I asked an assistant waiter for drawn butter with a lobster tail and was told they didn't have it - I mentioned this to the waiter (after I ate it) - he checked and explained that the other guy was confused - he meant it didn't come with the dish (???) I saw people with canes in the buffet who were never offered help - I guess they should have asked, but you don't have to ask on Princess or Celebrity. The entertainment was about what you would expect on a small ship. The production shows were good and the dancers were excellent. The individual performers - not so great.   Read Less

REGENT CRUISE online ads said "OVER 300 UNLIMITED EXCURSIONS INCLUDED on the $30,000 cruise that my wife and I had paid for Rio to Miami 21 days cruise. Weeks before the start of the cruise, we were wait-listed on about 50% of our excursions that we signed on. In Fortaleza, our first excursion after embarking from Rio de Janeiro, the captain arbitrarily chose not to dock the ship; thus deprived the over 650 passengers a much-needed stop after several sea days. The water in Fortaleza was calmed when we look out the veranda contrary to what the Captain claimed that the ship had difficulty with the gangway. He made the excuse that “his decision was to insure the safety of the passengers. At St. Bart's we failed to get our excursion ticket “Highlights of St. Bart’s” because “we were on the Wait-List.” Michael the Destination staff asked us to wait stand-by at the Constellation auditorium. After almost 2 hours, he asked us to go ashore and wait again for another 2 1/2 hours. Another Florida couple also waited. Regent load the passengers with tour tickets on several waiting taxicabs. When it was our turn to ride the waiting taxicabs; Michael decided not to utilize the waiting taxicabs and informed us that there would be no tour for us ---5 hours after we waited patiently. The evening SHOWS were mostly mediocre compared to the many cruises that we have done with Seabourn, Celebrity, Norwegian, Holland, Windstar etc. Regent Cruise is like the equivalent of HMO in healthcare. Pay first before the services are delivered. The problem is once Regent got the payment of $30,000; we saw great deal of reluctance in delivering the promised services which Regent advertised. Many Regent customers were likewise disappointed by Regent’s poor management of the cruise line and their “false and misleading advertising.” Safe to say we and another couple from Hawaii will never cruise Regent again. We plan to cruise 3-4 times a year. Regent will not be on our list. There are better values for the money with Seabourn at ½ the price of Regent. Avoid Regent Cruises.   Read Less

We took the RSSC Mariner from Rome to Barcelona on a 10 night cruise. From the day we made our reservation, we found RSSC very difficult to deal with. A day after we made the reservation, they lowered the price. They refused to adjust our fair. They did upgrade our room to concierge class, but without any pre-cruise amenities. When we got to Civitavecchia, there were several RSSC employees at the dock check-in. Despite this, we were told to take our luggage over to the baggage area ourselves so it could be taken aboard the ship. Gave us a bad first impression. Check-in was easy. Getting aboard the Mariner was not. They had a very steep gangway and the woman in front of us could barely make her way up it. Did any RSSC employees assist her? No. They stood and watched her struggle. Two gentleman passengers helped her. We went to the veranda restaurant for lunch, which was good. Our room was a concierge suite on deck 10. The room was spacious and well-appointed. Lots of storage space. Large bathroom. However, the carpet was wet. It stayed that way for two days. According to our room steward, the previous occupant had spilled a bottle of wine on the floor. Other than the wet floor, the room was immaculate. Although we asked for soft drinks, they were not replenished unless we asked again. I never did get the diet ginger ale that I requested. We took the cruise because we were told the food on Regent was fabulous. Except for Prime 7, which was outstanding, the food was acceptable, sometimes good sometimes bad. We ate in Setti Mari one evening, and both of us had stomach problems the following day. The days we ate in the main restaurant for breakfast, the service was painfully slow. In La Veranda, it was often impossible to find a seat. The waiters were overworked. One morning, we put in orders for eggs. 30 minutes later, still no eggs. It seems some of the waiters were switching the orders so their tables were served first. Another morning, got oatmeal. It was cold. Complained to the maitre'd. He got me another bowl. It was also cold. Finally got a third bowl. It was hot. Lunches were even worse. Excursions would return at the same time, hundreds went to lunch, out of food. This is supposed to be a high end cruise line? Had dinner in Signatures - bad service, bad food, entree was dried out and cold. Dinner in the main restaurant was uneven. Service was usually slow. Food was okay, certainly not gourmet quality. Wine service was fairly good, and the wines were decent, although some of the stewards took it personally if you did not accept the restaurant wine pairing for the food. Some nights the service was abominable. We waited 90 minutes one night to get our appetizer, risotto, and when it came, it was cold. Another night, half the table was served, and the other half got their entrees 15 minutes later. Only 6 people at the table. The bar service was excellent, and the choice of liquor was outstanding. The entertainment in the bars was mediocre, but par for the course on a cruise ship. The shows were okay. Most of the excursions were wonderful. The guides were knowledgable and the the itineraries were well chosen. We did not get to Valencia, supposedly because of weather problems. We spent an extra day in Barcelona, which was unscheduled. Other than a shuttle to expo center, no activities were offered. Most of the customer relations staff on the Mariner were condescending and not helpful. The woman in the Internet cafe actually told us to use the internet away from the ship, because it was much faster. In summary, RSSC customer service did not impress me. The worst service I have ever had from a cruise line. The suites on the Mariner are lovely, spacious and clean. The excursions are very good. The food is mediocre, except in Prime 7. The bar service is great. Would I take another RSSC cruise? Only if it were deeply discounted. Read Less

We sailed with Regent on Seven Seas Voyager from Istanbul to Dubai over 21 nights. We booked and paid for a concierge level cabin and selected cabin 741 from the deck plans as we felt that, being midship and not too high, it would be more stable than some other cabins. After an absolute comedy of errors involving our booking disappearing completely, amongst other things, we finally boarded at Istanbul. We were greeted on board by a steward with a dribble of sparkling wine (champagne?) and then left to find our own way to our cabin, which was not overly difficult. The cabin was small but adequate, with sitting area, bedroom area, bathroom, small verahdah/balcony, and large closet. It was not a stateroom, it was a cabin, and calling it a stateroom was misleading. We noted that the concierge level amenities (coffee machine, binoculars, pashmina etc) were not present but presumed, from reading other literature in the cabin, that the coffee machine was not there because of safety concerns. It was only on day 10 or 11, when we went looking for the binoculars, that we realized that everything else was missing. On enquiring at reception, we were told that our cabin had been downgraded to deluxe, and we were not entitled to concierge amenities. Hmm...we had already had NUMEROUS problems with our booking, largely caused by Regent's complete inability and/or refusal to COMMUNICATE with their clients, and now we discover that we have been DOWNGRADED with not so much as a whisper!!!!!!!!!!!!! After proving to reception that we had indeed booked and paid for a concierge level cabin, and asking the following day as to what was happening, the missing amenities appeared the next afternoon with no explanation, no apology, nothing.....!!! Nor were we ever offered a change of cabin up to concierge level. So if you are looking for a cruise line which cares and communicates, the Regent is probably not for you. The included excursions were basic but acceptable, as the ports were all on minor Greek islands (except for Rhodes), or minor Arabian ports, with not a whole lot to offer anyway. The guides which we had were local and knowledgeable and all spoke good, comprehensible English. The excursions which we wanted to do and which offered the most interesting locations were all charged as extras - no surprises there. We originally booked to go to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings, but due to the political upheaval in Egypt these were cancelled and other ports were added and/or rescheduled. This rescheduling caused havoc with our pre booked and paid for excursions, and once again Regent FAILED to COMMUNICATE with us (or with any passengers) as to what was happening and/or what options they could offer for the new ports/dates. They also told us quite categorically that we were not booked on any of these excursions and once again I had to provide proof of our bookings. Our TA was next to useless as she disappeared for 3 weeks to do a French river cruise, then disappeared again later in the process, and Regent's agents in Sydney (Wiltrans) were also very NON COMMUNICATIVE and UNHELPFUL when we had major issues which needed sorting out. Our cabin had, as expected, quite a bit of the vibration we had been warned about, and regularly STANK of either diesel fumes or cigarette smoke or both. Someone near our cabin was obviously smoking but we were never able to pinpoint where it came from. But the heavy, overpowering stench of the diesel was really annoying and caused my asthma to play up whenever we were in the cabin. Leaving the verhandah door open alleviated the smell somewhat, but there is a ventilation/air intake problem with the air conditioning if this smell is permeating into cabins via the air conditioning. As to the vibrations, it is obvious that there is something intrinsically wrong with Voyager's engines, as no other vessel we have ever sailed on has anything like this vibration. The food was nice without being 6 star and the menus in Compass Rose bore a boring similarity to each other after about 5 days. We ate at La Verahda/Sette Mare several times to alleviate the monotony. Signatures and Prime 7 both had good menus and good meals, however the service at Prime 7 left a lot to be desired. We had a 7pm reservation and it was obvious that they wanted the table again for 8 or 8.30 as they were preparing our main course by 7.40pm. When I objected and told the steward that we did not want our main until at least 8pm, it obviously caused him a problem. He stalked off the the Maitre d' and, after much gesticulating our way and tapping of watches, the Maitre d' came to us and apologised and assured us that we should not hurry (as if we were ever going to hurry anyway!!!). As it was, there were still several unused tables in the restaurant the whole night, and they were still unused when we left at 9.30pm. The service staff in all areas were amazing. Housekeeping, bar stewards, wait staff, cleaners, everyone was absolutely top notch, caring, polite, pleasant and nothing was ever too much trouble for them. Reception and Destination Services were coldly polite and generally uninterested especially when we had problems. We asked for binoculars on one day and were told that a pair would be sent up immediately. 24 hours later we approached reception and asked what had happened and why we had not received them, and that's when we were told that we were not in a concierge suite. We can't understand why reception did not simply ring us back and advise us that there was a mistake and that they were unable to provide binoculars - another example of Regents FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE. Overall we enjoyed the cruise, however we did not appreciate Regent's lack of communication on many, many issues relating to itinerary changes. We did not like being informed that our cabin was downgraded and we feel that we have certainly received a lot less than what we paid for and expected. We have, thus far, received no response from Regent to our queries and to be quite honest, we don't expect them to bother replying. I know that there are many other cruise lines which provide the same type of service which Regent claims to provide so we will be investigating them further for the future. After the poor booking experience and the APPARENTLY DELIBERATE lack of communication by Regent, we would never even consider sailing with them again. Given that we were close to being the youngest passengers on the boat by at least 10 years, and that we can obviously afford to cruise in the style Regent offers (but does not provide), I would suggest that Regent needs a wake up call if they wish to attract our demographic. We have many more years of cruising ahead of us but they won't be with Regent. Unfortunately I feel that Regent are resting on some fairly ancient laurels and getting by on a past reputation. Read Less

We had long talked about booking a cruise, and spent a lot of time researching the different options and itineraries. As we have stayed with Regent Hotels before and we had read a lot if good things about Regent Seven Seas, when we this cruise, the Red Sea Odyssey, from Istanbul to Dubai, we thought it was a good choice. The cruise was very expensive and was the most expensive holiday we have ever booked. However, as it was for a special anniversary we thought it was worth it, giving that it was 6* all-inclusive luxury. I regret to say we found the entire experience very disappointing and got off the cruise after only 4 days on board. We flew to Istanbul and stayed overnight at the excellent Intercontinental - the staff and rooms were both very good and we very much enjoyed our short stay. We were transferred to the port, which was not very salubrious and consisted of a number of rundown buildings. Check-in was ok, and after we queued up and collected our room keys we went through passport control, and saw the ship. No one was around to show us where to go, so we just made our way up the ramp. We were met by a security man who swiped our keys, and were then met by a Stewardess holding a tray of champagne glasses with a dribble of champagne in each - I could not help but think 'why bother?'. There were no directions as to what to do and we just wondered around for a while, until I heard someone say let's go up to deck 11. We went up in deck and saw that quite a number of guests were already there and helping themselves to a buffet lunch. Again there was no one around to explain what we did so we just found a table and sat down. I went up to the buffet and tried to order some food but did not know my table number - again no explanation. The food was ok, but staff were not particularly warm and just kept saying 'do you want a drink?'. We made our way to our Penthouse Suite which was towards the rear of deck 9. The 'suite' was very compact and bijoux, and was not really a suite at all - the bed area was curtained off from a very small seating area, and there was a good sized bathroom (rather dated but clean) and a roomy walk-in closet. The balcony was very small and quite rundown looking. The suite had not been laid up as requested - two single beds and not a double bed, blankets not duvets etc. The soap dishes were hanging off the wall in the shower, and the shower was very slow to run away and overflowed. We could not turn off the air conditioning and hence we found it very hard to sleep at night. The cabin also vibrated very badly and sitting on the chair it felt like a massage chair. We spoke to staff about the problems and despite various people coming and going nothing was really resolved, although they did manage to re screw the soap dishes to the wall. Dining on board the ship was ok, although the food was quite repetitive, especially in Compass Rose, the main restaurant. This restaurant was very busy as it seats over 500, and was consequently very noisy. This may not be a problem for many but is not my idea of 6* luxury. The excursions we did manage to make were of very poor quality on old clapped out coaches with very poor itineraries. The guides were ok, but as both excursions were in Greece all we heard about was how bad things were for the Greeks, whilst being driven around rundown, vandalised, rubbish filled areas. By the fourth night we both felt really unwell due to the lack of sleep and I asked to move cabins. I was shown a suite on a lower floor but it was vibrating and swaying just as much as ours as it was only a little more forward. We spent a very bad night and despite my partner taking motion sickness medication, he felt worse. I spoke with both the Chief Concierge and the General Manager on the ship and expressed our concern and disappointment and how ill my partner felt, but there was no offer of any medical assistance and I felt very worried about staying on board so after much soul searching we decided to disembark. Out of courtesy I let the ship know and instead of them trying to stop us, and help us the response was 'Oh, ok then'. Within minutes of me letting them know were were inundated with demands to go to Immigration within 10 minutes with all our luggage - we weren't even packed! So when I refused I was told we could make an appointment to go later that morning. When we got off the ship, after a mix with porterage, there was no one to meet us and we had to go back on shop and ask for help! No one from the ship was there to see us off and in my opinion they could not have cared less. The cruise was billed as ultra all inclusive 6* luxury and for what we paid - the price of a brand new family car - it simply was not worth it. We realise this was our first cruise, and thus we have nothing to compare it to, but on the basis of this cruise we would be by unlikely to cruise again. Read Less

We have just returned from a Regent cruise on the Voyager starting in Rome, around Italy to Croatia finishing in Venice. This is our 3rd cruise, the first two have been with Azamara which we thoroughly enjoyed and had no complaints at all. We decided to try a different cruise line as a comparison and paid more as we had read good reports about Regent. It’s difficult to know where to start with the disappointments. We were aware that the Voyager had been having a refit prior to this cruise and we took the 4 hour delay in our transfer from the Rome Sheraton to the port in good faith as these delays can happen, an apology for the delay would have been nice instead we encountered stressed staff with strained smiles and at the dock, cues out of the reception tent door. Firstly I would not recommend the Sheraton, a mistake on Regents part with sullen staff apart from a few lovely bar staff, poor and expensive food and drink, but we looked forward to an elegant, clean ship, which it was. We had expected excellent service, we ordered drinks for our suite from our steward, we had to ring reception on 3 occasions to remind them and waited two days for the requests to be fulfilled and excuses were made about the telephone system having a problem, even though we had asked the steward in person for the items, we even had to ask for the bottled water to be replaced in the cabin. We found most of the food to be boring, lacking in flavour and very often cold, particularly in the pool bar, we had to return cold tuna burgers (this could have been a health issue) and when we questioned any of the poor quality food, we were given an excuse not an apology and no offer to improve the situation. The desserts in most restaurants and snacks in Coffee Connections were tasteless and of poor quality. One night in Compass Rose we spent 30 minutes trying to get a glass of wine, staff seemed to be in a particular area and forgot about us. Breakfast in our room was uninspiring with water too cold to make tea and as it was often necessary to have breakfast in the rooms, more than we would have liked, as the trips were organised far too early. The only half decent meal we experienced was in Signatures on our last night but no better than a regular meal experienced on Azamara Journey in the general restaurant. In addition, the opening times in all restaurants was too limiting which put pressure on guests to plan their day around activities trips etc. Regent seems to have forgotten that a holiday should be relaxing as well as having stimulating trips. We often found that food was being taken away in the Veranda restaurant without being replaced well before the official closing time. We had expected themes in the food linked to each place we visited, there was no connection with the cruise and its ports of call, and it was reminiscent of canteen food. In addition staff tended to rush the eating experience, giving the impression that they wanted to clear away to encourage guests to leave. There were a few attentive members of staff but only a handful, a very inconsistent regime. One striking thing, which seemed to prevent guests from socialising in communal areas, was due to the temperature, it was really cold, and left these areas as a barren wasteland, particularly in the evenings when you would expect more interaction between people as they made their way to restaurants and theatre etc, this was mentioned to staff by many guests but the temperature never improved. This takes me to the entertainment; this was uninspiring apart from guest entertainers Soprano Rachael Russell and Comedian John Martin, both from Liverpool, who were excellent. The theatre seemed under used and was mainly a venue to congregate for the trips early mornings. We did have some unexpected humour with other guests due to the ‘lift music’ loop piped constantly in the pool area; it was so poor that we all commented on it and a bit of fun. If we heard ‘Two Lovely Black Eyes’ once while sitting there we heard it 6 times. We did catch Paul the Cruise Director on a fleeting pass in the atrium early in the cruise and mentioned this poor musical entertainment, he abruptly, without empathy, said it was on a 24 hr loop and must have a problem, nothing changed throughout the cruise and many people complained. The Spontaneous duo were good and could have been utilised up on the pool deck more often, the only time we saw them we couldn’t hear their music. As you will see from the comments, we felt this cruise was poor value for money and not a pleasurable experience, we are not naturally the type of people who give this level of criticism and when you are on holiday it is an unwelcome impression to leave with. We found we were constantly commenting to each other about problems which did spoil the holiday. To generalise we found the staff on this ship to be too serious, they did not interact with staff and gave the impression that guests were an inconvenience (remember we are their salary source). This holiday was low on fun, lacked exciting flavours in food and offered boring entertainment. There seems to be a great deficiency of pride with the staff on this ship. I must add other guests agreed with our findings, some had cruised with Regent on many occasions and were surprised at the poor quality of this cruise experience compared to previous trips. We are so disappointed that we waited until Regent lowered their standards but not their prices. However, some of these poor experiences have nothing to do with money its more to do with a poor positive attitude from Regent. On a final note on return I have logged onto my account on Regent’s website to discover they have removed the history of passed cruises, maybe the just hope we will forget about this disappointing cruise! Before posting this review I asked Regent’s guest services for their comments, after a week I received a two page letter giving feeble excuses for some of the points raised. We will not be cruising with Regent again. Read Less

This was the first luxury cruise my husband and I have taken; and given the price tag, we expected 5-star (or at least near 5-star) service. Sadly, it was more of a 3.5 to 4 star experience (at a 5+-star price). I don't normally write reviews; but feel I have to so that people don't waste thousands of dollars on future trips. Multiple times we arrived in the main dining room only to wait 2-3+ minutes with no one making eye contact or saying 'hello' until we flagged someone down. I get better service at McDonald's! Then our waiter the first night came to our table without no "hello", no smile, no "My name is ... and I'll be your waiter". It was a bit surreal. Not a great way to to start a "luxury" vacation. Other nights were similar with the exception of one waiter who knew the meaning of service. We talked to many other guests having similar spotty service experiences. We went into a lounge for afternoon tea one day and sat down at the only table available that was full of dirty cups, plates, etc. We were there at least 15 minutes and no waiter bothered to come by and pick up any of this. Again...surreal for a "luxury" cruise. One of the main points of the Regent travel brochures is how the in-suite fridge is stocked daily. Not true...at least two of the days the fridge was not restocked. We ordered drinks/appetizers one night before dinner and finally got it after well over an hour (after multiple calls). We ordered two orders of the "salmon/bagels/cream cheese" dish and it came without cream cheese. The first morning we went to the breakfast buffet, smoked salmon (our favorite) was out and not replenished for 30 minutes! The list goes on! I do hate to emphasize the negative, but in this case, that is mostly what we had. I will say though that I thoroughly enjoyed the food. It was all very tasty (a nice surprise for a cruise). The Prime 7 specialty restaurant did have good service and food; but you could only make reservations for one night there. The entertainment was good; and the enrichment lectures were also worth attending. But I still come back to my expectations for such a pricey cruise. There was very little attention to detail or service; and that is a huge miss in my mind. We got FAR better service on a Disney cruise that was half the price per person. I almost wonder if the all-inclusive (including gratuities) worked against us since the crew had no immediate incentive to give good service. We will absolutely not cruise Seven Seas again and cannot recommend it for others. Hopefully this post will save more people from being duped into Seven Seas' 5-star claim. Thanks, Alice   Read Less

Our difficulties began when our flight to Venice had been cancelled. Regent refused to assist with rescheduling the flight even though they had arranged the flights to begin with. We missed the first day in Venice due to the much delayed flight. When we finally arrived at the Ship, our first reaction was, where is all of that cigarette smoke coming from (we soon realized that it was from the crew's smoking areas). Food was OK but didn't live up to our expectations. The fellow passengers that we met were lovely and were from all over the globe. The cruise music and entertainment was very subdued- a little too much big band music for a couple in the 40's-50's age range but hey, I would rather it be that way than too much in the other direction. They make a great deal out of the specialty dining but again, seems way overblown to me based on the experience that we had with service and food quality-again, nothing horrible but far short of other dining experiences that we have had. Upon arriving at the airport in Athens, we were told that our return flight had been cancelled--again, Regent had handled the flights as part of their package--you can imagine our shock to find out that we didn't have tickets on a sold-out flight --UGH -I would be hard-pressed to consider Regent again. Read Less

Given Regents reputation I was completely and thoroughly disappointed with this cruise. I just got back today. Do NOT BOOK! I was so excited to be going on my first Regent's cruise, expensive but hopefully luxurious. Unfortunately this brand is resting on it's laurels because as it stands it is a mediocre 4 star experience and certainly not five or six stars. You can get the same thing for much less money. First, the boat has a structural problem that causes it to vibrate and shake. Our bed on the 9th deck aft was like one of those "magic fingers" massage machines all night. Very annoying and nothing could be done to fix it. Shame on Regents for allowing this boat to go to sea given the awful vibrating. Especially a luxury line! The suite was spacious and nice if you could deal with the vibrations. Second, the staff while trying hard, have no ability to respond to special requests or to accommodate anything out of the ordinary. The foods and beverages are with different wait staff so nothing is properly coordinated. And if you have special requests FORGET ABOUT IT. The food is never really hot and the taste of it is mediocre. Yes they have luxury items on the menu but they are not of the finest quality. I found the food lacking flavor. The produce on the ship was not ripe. Third, they would cancel excursions at will and you don't get compensated if this happens. So I would rather go on a line where you pay for them because at least you get what you pay for. We missed a port due to weather but frankly it did not seem that bad to me and then I heard through the grapevine that they often cancel this port (Costa Maya). Fourth, The entertainment was very corny and cheesy except for the piano player from Russia who was superb. Fifth, Several cabins on this ship were flooded with water due to broken plumbing and Regents was very reluctant to compensate them. One person I know got only a $300.00 ship credit and this was after much protest and complaint. I found Regents to be cheap, frankly. Sixth, The pool area is super crowded with the chaise lounges because crammed against each other as if you were on Coney Island Beach. I had a very unpleasant interaction with the ship General Manager Davic whom I didn't know who he was until I spotted it on the Ship program. I asked if I could move a chaise to the deck above (there were already several there and it was less crowded) and he replied abruptly that I could not. There were not nearly enough chaises to accommodate all the people that wanted them and he could care less. Remember this is a LUXURY cruise! The manage was there to lay down rules, not to extend themselves for your comfort and enjoyment. Seventh, some friends told us they were in the lounge doing karaoke at 12:00 midnight and they were informed by the cruise director Lorraine (whom speaks in the phony happy tone of a television evangelist and appears to be something of a stepford wife) that they would have to wrap it up in 30 minutes! The positives were as follows: 1) Beautiful spacious cabin and the room stewardesses were wonderfully with great service. 2) Pre cruise hotel, The Biltmore was truly a luxury experience and wonderful. 3) The bridge instructors were fabulous, Bob and Nancy. I would never cruise Regent's again at any price but at the price I paid I felt I was taken because they have a 6 star reputation but they give a 4 star (at best) product. Read Less

This was going to be the Cruise of a Lifetime for my companion's 50th birthday. She has always wanted to see Alaska and I figured we would truly "go in style." I wanted the very best in service aboard a smaller, more custom vessel. 1. AIR TRANSPORT This therefore narrowed it down to either RSSC or Silverseas. What sold me on Regent, like many other passengers I am sure, was that they include airfare while Silverseas may or may not, in a sailing-versus-utilization scheme that's more complicated to understand than your cell phone company's data plans. But as it turned out, this "free" airfare was a huge hassle, and ultimately a very expensive perk: we were traveling on to Hawaii, and while Silverseas flat-out refused to even consider ending up at a different airport than where we started (Newark), RSSC was quite accommodating. But here's the catch: because our other connections were made by us (RSSC was only responsible for getting us to and from the ship), that meant that if our other carriers failed to make connections we were on our own. And of course, that's exactly what happened - our Go! airlines flight was cancelled coming back, creating a domino effect of missed flights and resulting in us having to pay $900 in additional airfare - not to mention taking almost three days to get home. In addition, I later discovered that Alaska Airlines (the preferred carrier to the Navigator) actually flies direct to Kauai, which would have saved us considerable funds and literally days off our round trip; but RSSC's air program only covers Honolulu. NONE OF THIS is RSSC's fault, and I am definitely not dinging RSSC here: if your plans take you directly to and from one of the preferred airports that RSSC's air program covers, then this is a pretty good deal (but even then, do not expect RSSC to make the effort to find you particularly efficient connections). My proviso is that if your plans involve going to any secondary airports, or on to other destinations, then RSSC's included airfare may not be the bargain it first appears. 2. COMMUNICATIONS RSSC does TERRIBLE job of communicating to passengers, and perks that they claim are available often simply don't actually exist. We booked a deluxe cabin, which included a butler. Did we actually require a butler? No. But my companion was very much looking forward to having one if only for bragging rights. Aboard the ship, we were introduced to our stewardess (who was indeed friendly and helpful). But no butler - RSSC had changed their web site and their policy regarding which cabins are butler-equipped...months after we had paid in full. Another example: each deck has a big map of the ship next to the elevators. Except they don't accurately reflect the ship's layout (deck eight showed a laundry, but deck seven did not, even though the laundry is there). The map handed out said something different, and the maps on the company's web site said something else yet again. Internet is not included (well, stay tuned) and is unbelievably pricey - really? An Internet plan for $1,200?!? That was pretty hard to swallow, but the punch line was this - on the last day of the voyage, after we had been directed to the Internet lounge to print boarding passes, we discovered that our cabin came with 60 minutes of free Internet. Nobody had ever told us. One thing that people DID tell us, including an announcement by the cruise director, that if the ship was sinking we were to report to our mustering stations printed on the back of our room keys. Except no such information was on the keys. To his credit, the Cruise Director was very glad to hear of this and promised to correct his briefing - but he had not been told by the junior officer to whom we pointed out this important safety misinformation on the first day. While in many instances the information coming to us was wrong or missing, a place where they definitely overcompensate is the number of emails they sent us in the months leading up to departure. I just tallied them up: seventeen emails with "latest" or "updated" itineraries. Except...for the most part, they were identical copies of each other - but one included a change in airline departure time, and boy that one change would be easy to miss buried inside 17 otherwise identical emails. 3. PORTS OF CALL Here is the one place where I really felt let down. RSSC makes a major point of the Navigator's small size and how her smaller size allows her to go places where the bigger ships cannot. Well, I guess from a technical point of view that may be true...but the fact of the matter is that at least on the Seward-to Vancouver run, the Navigator follows EXACTLY the same course as the bigger ships. I know this for a fact, because we often were part of a convoy of ships including Princess, NCL, and Holland America, and we followed in each other's wakes. It was very disappointing to find that RSSC makes great play about the Navigator's special abilities but fails to mention that they don't utilize any of it. 4. EXCURSIONS It is certainly nice that RSSC includes many excursions in the fare. Naturally, the better ones are not included (if you do go, absolutely take the float plane glacier ride; worth every penny. Don't waste your money on a helicopter unless that chopper is also going to touch down to let you do something useful) (this advice applies to Alaska; there are places in for example Hawaii where a helicopter is worth the extra price). Of the ones that are included, warning: take RSSC's guide to physical fitness with a grain of salt! The "nature walk" requiring you to be in good physical condition refers not to YOUR condition, but that of your walker. The only thing that required anything more than a heartbeat was the kayak and even that was ultra low-key. And having excursions included means that you are restricted to RSSC's contracted schedules, which can be very limiting. We wanted to go ziplining but it did not fit in with our other excursions. I checked around (we did not know we had free Internet yet, but there's a McDonald's in every port...) and found that the zipline operator had lots of other times, including at other ports. But the "destination services" desk wasn't interested in trying to book us for a different time, even if we were willing to pay for the excursions ourselves. 5. COMFORT The Navigator is a fairly fast and comfortable ship. The cabin was very nice but it showed a surprising amount of wear, including a bathroom cabinet whose door was caved in. The bed was firm but very comfortable. But it was NOISY when the ship was underway - all kinds of squeaks and buzzes coming from above the ceiling. In desperation I tried stuffing toilet paper above the ceiling tiles - only to discover toilet paper already there from previous passengers! As it turned out, the noise was coming from joints and piping above the ceiling and simply could not be silenced by any means other than a pillow over the head. The Navigator was built as a research vessel, not a cruise ship. When I was aboard the Norwegian Dawn, the only time the cabin ever made noise was while the ship was at top speed and with the stabilizers going full tilt in a rough sea - in the middle of night a slow, distant groan came from a ceiling panel. The Navigator creaked at the slowest speed in the calmest sea. 6. FOOD Okay, now we're getting somewhere. The Navigator really does great meals, and room service is terrific. But even this comes with caveats: a) most liquor, and some pretty good wines, are included. But it is impossible to know what complimentary wines are available. In each restaurant, on each day, the menu will list one red and one white. But all the wines listed in all the restaurant menus throughout the ship for the entire cruise are complimentary - you just don't have any way of knowing what they are. Worse, the wait staff also don't know what they are. The head sommilier printed me a list, but when I said that list should be available to passengers or at least to the wait staff he was less than thrilled by the suggestion. I had one waiter who insisted that the red and white on the menu were the only complimentary wines I was allowed to have. b) we already had a reservation in Prime 7 (the excellent steakhouse) before we boarded. Supposedly that's not allowed, but I had made it clear that if I did not have reservations for my companion's birthday we would book elsewhere. I was told repeatedly that we could book another dinner there once everyone had a chance to make a reservation - according to the concierge, no later than the second night. As it turns out, this is just baloney - the head maitre'd later confirmed to me that nobody gets a second reservation. STAFF The officers are European and are generally excellent, although the woman at destination services made me feel like it was my duty to do her job (when I was trying to resolve a conflict between the start time of an excursion between what was on the excursion ticket versus what was in the excursion schedule). The staff, and especially the wait staff, were another story. They all were earnest but some of them spoke so little English as to make any attempt at communication pointless. Trying to find out if they had "Smirnoff Ice" led to an ongoing running comedy that would have made the Marx Brothers proud. ENTERTAINMENT One definite drawback of such a small ship is that there is only one troupe of entertainers on board; the same group perform every show. So Shakespeare, 50's Rock-n-Roll, and Acrobatics. The two main stars were wonderful; the supporting cast belonged in a High School musical, and not the kind that anyone other than parents show up for. CONCLUSION I had a great time on the Navigator. But I had an even better time on larger ships whose fares cost literally a third as much. Most - but not all - of the touted advantages of being on such a ship don't really pan out in reality. If I had to do it again, I would have taken the Silverseas and planned my own transportation. Silverseas has the additional advantage of moving passengers from Anchorage to the ship (a trip of several hours) via the very nice and romantic train shoreline, while RSSC puts you on a boring bus. But I am sure that I would have had every bit as good a time on an NCL ship - and had many many thousands of dollars left over a consolation for not having a butler... Oh, that's right - I didn't have one anyway! Read Less

We just returned from a cruise on the Regent Mariner. We were so disappointed. Last year, we cruised on the new Oceania Marina. It was absolutely wonderful, but this year we decided to kick it up a notch and try Regent, mostly because of the Black Sea itinerary. In every single category, Oceania was superior. On both ships, we booked a penthouse suite. Although a few feet bigger, the Mariner suite was not nearly as nice. Although the ship says it was refurbished in 2011, our suite's furniture was quite shabby. In addition, the arrangement of all was inferior. The deck was very narrow, and the bathroom was tiny. We had to ask for lounges to replace the very uncomfortable little chairs they had put on the deck. The food in general was a HUGE disappointment. In both the specialty restaurants and the main dining room we many times felt as though we were invisible because the service took so long. When you have to wait 20 minutes to place your order, and then the waiter does not show up as though he had forgotten you even existed, and you must flag down another waiter to track down your order, you begin to wonder about the luxury label. The only dinner we can truly say was memorable was our dinner at the captains table. The two specialty restaurants left a great deal to be desired. In both, we received main courses that were not cooked to our instructions. It wasn't just us, but four out of the six people at our table. Medium beef should not arrive with blood pooling under the meat and the center so cold it hadn't even been touched by the fire. The same with lamb chops on another evening. Five of the ten evening's dinners were a disappointment. The free tours were no better then the run-of-the-mill tours on other ships. The drinks are free but finding a waiter who wants to serve them is often a challenge. The pool bar closes at 6:00 PM, which is not what you want when you're looking for a cool dip and drink after a day of touring. None of the lunch venues stays open pass 1:30 except the pool bar, where you must wait to place your order in a cramped narrow and very smoky area. There were a couple of pluses. The production shows were excellent, room service was very good, and our butler Bish was terrific. I know that a lot of people love Regent and are repeat customers. However, I have never been on a cruise where so many passengers were complaining about so many things. Sorry Regent, but we won't be coming back. Read Less

My wife, daughter and myself recently took a cruise on Regents Mariner from Rome to Istanbul. We had taken cruises several times in the past, primarily on Crystal. We decided to book the Seven Seas Aft suite (cabin 988). From the moment we entered our cabin we were overwhelmed by a very strong sewer odor. We repeatedly complained to staff, including reception and anyone else who would listen to us. After several hours, someone from engineering appeared, ascertained the situation and then left. I tried to ask him what the issue was, but he indicated he did not speak English. The problem persisted into our second day on board the ship. Again, we kept asking for someone to come to our cabin and explain to us what was happening. No one came. I was curious to find out if this was an isolated situation and googled the ship's name and sewer odors. Apparently this has been an issue on the Mariner, particularly in the stern of the 9th deck. Finally, towards the end of the second day I sent an e-mail to our travel agent, who is with the Virtuoso travel group, indicating that we had enough and wanted to leave the ship at our next port-of-call unless the problem was fixed. She, in turn, contacted a fellow agent who was on board the ship. That agent was able to talk to someone in a position of responsibility on the ship. The sewer odor ceased for the time being. After two days of unanswered complaints we were finally contacted by the ship's assistant general manager. She indicated that we were the only people on board that complained of the odor. I mentioned to her other passengers near our cabin told us they also complained. She denied that was the case and the conversation went downhill from there. I was then contacted by the general manager who met with me, apologized and told me the problem involved disposal of effluent from the ship's wastewater system. He assured me the problem was resolved. For the next 6-7 days that was the case. However, for the last day and a half, it came back with a vengeance. At that point, we just wanted to get off the ship. The sad thing about our experience is there is a lot to like about the Mariner and the Regents cruise line. The staff was friendly and helpful. The food was consistently outstanding. Many of the excursions were well thought out. Unfortunately, the ship is badly in need of an overhaul. We were not the only ones with complaints about the ship itself. For example, the couple next door to us were able to unlock their door only half the time. It seemed like every time we saw them they were waiting in the corridor for someone from engineering to change the door's locking mechanism. The TV system throughout the ship went down for the last two days of our voyage. It was rare that we could hear a ship's announcement. Much of the furniture looked as if a bunch of kids went after it with scissors and knives. Floorboards on our cabin's balcony were coming up to the point we tripped over them. Nobody expects perfection, but passengers deserve better than this. Instead of being defensive or evasive about their ships' shortcomings, Regents should be pro-active in addressing the issues of their passengers. Will we ever cruise on Regents again? Maybe, but only on a ship that has been newly overhauled. Read Less

We booked our cruise over 6 months in advance after researching for a service-oriented cruise. We initially had booked with Oceania but cancelled and rebooked with RSSC because their advertising "misled" us to believe that the customer service experience would be far better. We opted for a butler level suite as we are service junkies and are used to high-quality service in our daily lives. The first problems arose after booking but prior to the cruise - due to "computer issues" we had to re-input our guest information 3 times and in the end, the cruise documents that were sent to us were wrong and I had to spend more time to correct the information; aside from that the cruise representative was not helpful or particularly competent. We opted to arrange for our own private transfer to the port and I can't tell you how glad I was to do so as we left the hotel at about the same time as the Regent cattle herding and it was impersonal, disorganized and truly chaotic (we arranged for a towncar ourselves for less than 200euro - Regent wanted to charge us 4 times as much!). Fortunately, we arrived at the port before everyone else so we had a perfect boarding experience (in hindsight, this was more likely due to the fact that no one else was boarding at the same time). All around, our 1st day was practically perfect and we were very pleased and relieved. Unfortunately, our 2nd day was drastically different - terrible customer service, noticeable decrease in quality of services and food. It was night and day - I guess they figured they could stop trying after you were onboard. Our first port was changed to Naples (instead of Sorrento/Capri); however, our shore excursion remained the same. Naples is a terrible port - nasty. Fortunately, we thoroughly enjoyed our "free" shore excursion to Pompeii - guide was a nice elderly man who was very knowledgeable and entertaining(despite a few too many corny jokes), too many people on the tour but the guide provided headsets so that we didn't miss any information. 2nd port: Amalfi/Positano. Beautiful surroundings but disorganized and unacceptable tour. Everyone met in the theater which began the cattle-herding. Then were squeezed into a tender boat (far too many people) and tendered to shore only to find another chaotic meeting place with a tour guide who was an elderly man with a bad attitude and a very quiet voice, let alone clearly incapable of guiding the tour. Unfortunately our group was 38 people and half of the people could not hear a word he was saying (no headsets either) - despite several people speaking up, no improvement was made and we decided to returning the pier to speak with the excursion "director" in an attempt to obtain a few suggestions for us to pay for an alternative (we would have done anything from a local double-decker tour bus to a private driver). She was very unhelpful and seemingly unconcerned. The only advice she had was to wait for the last group to arrive because they had less people (only 27!) - so we opted to wait at the peir for our boat transfer to Positano. Our excursion began at 8:15am and the transfer boat didn't leave Amalfi until after 10am - even after our group caught up to us, we waited almost an hour on the transfer boat so that the rest of the Regent groups could transfer at the same time (even though they had the benefit of sleeping in and starting the day later without waiting like we had to do). Again, terrible chaotic and crowded. Positano was beautiful but the "tour" portion lasted about 5 minutes (just to walk up some steps). By the time we returned to the ship, we felt that we just wasted 6 hours of our lives to something we could have done in a 15 minute boat ride past the two seaside villages. We wish RSSC would have provided more details in the excursion description as we would have opted to sleep in, relax and maybe take in an extra spa service. 3rd port: Florence/Pisa. Due to the terrible experience from the prior day, we booked a last-minute private excursion through Regent for this stop - Although it costed us more than $1600 to do so, we were glad as both our driver and our Florence guide were wonderful. It was a shame we had to do this in order to experience a satisfying tour though. However, if you make the mistake of booking with Regent and have expectations for good service and experiences, I highly recommend booking private tours as even the paid group tours RSSC offers seem crowded and disappointing. Florence was wonderful, Pisa was picturesque but VERY commercialized. We apparently returned to the ship prior to the cattle herding (but after 5pm) and as a result, boarded and missed the staff welcome ceremony, which was unfortunate. 4th port: Monte Carlo. We opted to back out of our group tour again because of the poor previous experience. We slept in and then went to shore on our own - which was great because we missed the crowds at tender time. Taxis are few and far between so we ended up hiking up to the casino (not for the faint of heart) but had a good experience and were able to secure a taxi easily from the casino back to the pier. 5th port: Saint-Tropez. We made the mistake of trying the group excursion again. And again a horrible experience. Port Grimaud was a planned development community build in the 1960s that was very uninspiring - they made it very touristy and attempted to mimic a Venice style village - but it was poorly done and unsuccessful in their aspirations. Took an unguided boat tour - in a residential canal that had absolutely no appeal...and then had some free time to experience not-so-friendly service and a local restaurant. Very cheesy and a waste of time. We had spa appointments booked for that evening and the tour was running late so in order to avoid further disappointment, we exited the tour upon returning to Saint-Tropez and missed that waling tour. Again, this involved a bad tender experience with excessive waiting and a crowded tender boat. 6th port: Provence. We again opted for a private tour - this time it was $1900 - but again, it proved to be worth it because we had an enjoyable time. The guide was not worth it and we were put in a van instead of a towncar as requested but thankfully, I had been to this part of France before so I directed the day and provided my husband with a very guide overview of some off-the-beaten-path stops (in addition to the popular Avignon, we went to Pont du Gard, Arles, the castle in Torascon). Out of time, but so much more I could say. Butler service was disappointing, food and waitstaff were disappointing... The only thing that was good was a response and temporary improvement in service when we complained to the executive concierge. Although, this improvement was temporary. Restaurant officer was great. Room service was inedible. Last day of service was dreadful - couldn't find anything edible and service was virtually non-existent. Debarking was horrible as well as service from the Regent staff at the port in Barcelona -they should be fired. Definitely left us with the impression that all they care about was shoeing us off fast without any cares about service and focusing on putting on a good show for the next group's first day. Our total cost was over $20,000 for a "6-star cruiseline" that provided 3-star service and experience. We will book our next cruise with another cruiseline. Read Less

We had booked back to back cruises on Oceania's Maiden Voyage which was cancelled. Then booked with Regent, their sister company. Two days after booking we had to cancel due to a court appearance which was unexpected. Regent would only give us 75% of our money back if we booked another cruise which we did. Our Travel Agent had to fight tooth and nail to get this concession. The only cabin available that didn't cost less than this 75% (which Regent was keeping no matter what) was the Master Suite which we of course were required to pay still more for. The cabin is very weirdly configured with the prow of the ship cutting into the balcony and bedroom. The anchor at 6am some mornings made a horrendous noise, and sleeping impossible, Although spacious it is certainly not worth the money. The dining room staff were not at all welcoming and the food was adequate, but not much more. The specialty restaurants were also very mediocre. One bright spot was our butler, who not only dealt with our occasional requests, but also managed to anticipate others. Regent seems to have shifted toward free shore excursions. Predictably, we got what we "paid" for: overcrowded excursions and mediocre guides. Our overall feeling is that Regent has become an organization that is focused intensely on reducing short-term expenses and seems to care little about how this might affect relations with their clientele, and therefore their long-term profitability We were on the Mariner last year and had a much better experience. We are now booking a Grand Voyage for next year and it certainly won't be on Regent. Read Less

My review is actually a mid cruise review of Regent Seven Seas Mariner. We had a very pleasant flight to Lima, Peru and landed around 10:00 pm. My husband booked a room at a hotel that was across the street from the airport, so we were able to gather out bags and walk to the hotel, which was a Ramada. I would recommend this hotel if you arrive at night. The next morning, we asked the hotel to request a taxi for us, which they did. The port was about 15 minutes from the hotel, and everything was fine until we got to the security gate in the port. They told our driver to move his car over to the right out of the way of traffic, and there we sat, and sat, and sat. Unfortunately, we do not speak Spanish and our driver did not speak English, so we had not idea what was going on. After about 20 minutes, another car pulled along side us and we were told to get out of our taxi and into this other car. Now we are starting to wonder what is going on, but we did as we were told. This car drives up to the gate and again we are told to wait We sat for another 10 minutes and eventually we were let in. This was not Regents fault in the least, just the way it was in Lima, Peru. We have sailed on many cruises, mostly with Seabourn and Oceania. This was our first time on Regent and we had heard many good things about it. The ship is all inclusive and their tours are also included in the price. This is what I would like to address in my review. We booked our cruise about 2 1/2 months before it was leaving. Once you purchase your cruise, you are allowed to go online and choose which excursions you would like to take. Many of the tours were already closed down and you are then put on a wait list. I called the main office before leaving for our cruise, and was informed that most of the tours will open up and that my travel agent would be notified. Okay, I thought, this is going to work out. I then called my travel agent prior to leaving and asked him if he had heard anything from Regent. He had not. So far throughout our cruise we have not been able to get on many of the tours that we wanted. When you go to the service desk and ask if anything has opened up, the answer is no. This is a problem because if you do not book way in advance, you probably will not get a tour or the tour that you really want. What's the point? Why pay for tours if you can't get one? I have many years of cruising ahead of me, but I'm afraid to say Regent will not be seeing my husband and myself in the future, mainly because of this tour issue. On a lighter note, the cruise director on board is delightful, Ray. We have a balcony stateroom and it is nice, I did have my room steward take out a rather large chair, which made the room seem somewhat cramped. I put on my mid cruise review that I wished I had an ipod docking station, and one appeared the next day. Very nice! The food is not nearly as good as the food on Oceania Marina which we were on twice last year, sorry Regent, but it's true. The ship is nice, a little worn, but not nearly as nice as Seabourn Sojourn. Sojourn has larger staterooms and just a better ship's layout. The wine selection though on Regent is much better than on Seabourn. The bottom line is that there is good and bad to every ship. My main problem with Regent is the tour situation. Please don't advertise excursions are included when you can't get on them. I hope this helps you in your future decisions as to which line you want to cruise with. Happy cruising! Read Less