Good 2 days in Sydney before embarking. Excellent ports of call. Butler and room staff were perfect! Captain and staff were friendly, professional, informative, and reassuring. Restaurants and food, including in-room service, were exciting and well presented. Can't imagine how butler service could be improved. Entertainment was good, not excellent. Staff night was the best. So good to see youth of the world with talent, enthusiasm, and camaraderie. The world is in good hands. The workout facility was very adequate. We met and talked to many people on the pool level. The only disappointing aspect was the shore excursions. Although there is no way to see the country in one week without traveling by ship, the bus rides in each port were exhausting. If I were to offer comments to a friend asking about the Sydney to Auckland trip, I would suggest a private car with another couple and tour guide for most stops. Seeing and hearing about the highlights, walking the streets, meeting the people, eating lunch in restaurants, and visiting shops in the many towns would be far superior to traveling by bus with a few large group stops with orchestrated demonstrations. The day trips are more like looking at a travel log on television than actually visiting a foreign city. If there were no other options to the shore excursions, I would not recommend this trip. Regent has an excellent on board experience but the reason I travel is also to meet and see the world. The current format for shore excursions does not provide this. Read Less

We had been looking to circumnavigate Australia for years and were delighted when we saw this itinerary on Regent. We'd seen others but they were always over the holidays and weren't keen to be away at that time. It was amazing to see the entire continent -- intriguing history, friendly people, amazing wildlife -- plus Bali and Papua New Guinea to boot. What's not to like? Navigator is a ship that gets a bad rap. This was our first cruise on Navigator (our other was on Voyager), and after reading reviews here, we were concerned. Yet needn't have been. Her size means she is easy to navigate (pun intended) and is conducive to meeting people. Folks invited us to dinner (a first for us) and we did the same. Made terrific friends from Germany, UK, Netherlands, Canada and USA. A real family feel -- including crew. For an older ship, she is in good shape and was recently given a bit of a face lift, which resolved some past issues -- I'm looking at you Brown Water. Yes, her stern vibrates, she has no forward viewing lounge and only one specialty restaurant. But none of this mattered once the cruise began. Our mid ship cabin didn't vibrate, we loved happy hour in Stars lounge and Compass Rose was terrific -- and had enough variety even for our long voyage. We love the high quality and all inclusive value Regent provides. The staff was friendly, efficient and ever present. Passenger/crew ratio seemed luxurious. Lecturers on board were entertaining as well as educational. Hugh Neighbour provided geo/political insights, Michael Scott provided wildlife and port specifics, and Mary Atkins provided Australian cultural details. All were excellent. Veteran cruise director Ray Solaire kept us entertained on sea days with games, cooking demos, a Super Bowl party, an Oscar viewing (both at breakfast) and other classes. The onboard entertainment in the theater was terrific -- equal to or better than ships much larger, particularly the production cast. Read Less

Reason of choosing this cruise because it would bring us to parts of the world which we wanted to see. The route was one we believed was an attractive one, and turned out to be so. Lots of ports but also sea days could be enjoyed. Being on board ment meeting other guests and enjoying the warm embracing of the employees which were so incredibly friendly. Next to that and the every day big programme, which could be enjoyed, the food was SPLENDID. The choices were surprisingly great, the taste of every meal, can actually not discribe it. Hope everybody will understand the high level of it. In short; route was A very nice one. We learned much about many. The crew, completely marvelous. A great thank you to the captain Kristovic for sailing us save and sound to all the directions. Mr. Ray Solaire which was very informative and entertaining. A big thank you to the chef the cuisine Kelly Cochrane for the delicious food. Much appreciation to lovely Lusan and Saga who took care of our cabin. Who did I forget? hopefully no one. The ones, Koko, Maya and Ivana, lets not forget Ronald, we enjoyed having them around. All the employees deserve A BIG THANK YOU. We say ; untill the next time. Read Less

The navigator Sydney to Hong Kong 24 days. Expensive fr mediocrity...here’s what happened. Rusty pipes pumping orange water. Washing machines leave a rusty film on clothes. My wife got contact dermatitis.. the suite is small. The shower smalles I have ever seen. The casino is small and temp 86.4 F because the outdated slots pump heat better than a fireplace. I The issue is that the corporate office does not let ship staff make any decisions, they simply tell us what we want. Should listen to customers. Food was ok, and the staff was extremely cordial. So this old Russian icebreaker is a small ship. We had 380 passengers. After dinner, nothing to do until one show at 9:30. Did not have America’s best selling single Amalthea, Glen Livet..pitiful. Lectures were not looking cation specific, mostly about Roman times etc. I strongly recommend you not get fleeced with high cost, we pai about 60K including air. I would never step on this ship. It is a true bait and switch.. Pass on this loser masquerading as a luxury 6 star. What a joke. Get this, they block early morning walkers and people are walking in circles around the pool until the sun comes up. Corporate thinks it is dangerous. BTW, fitness joint opens doors at 7:30.,pretty good, when open. Read Less

This was a cruise in celebration of forthcoming Golden Wedding and a birthday on board. We had selected this cruise because of recommendations from our friends how helpful they had found the crew with respect to special meals. We had sailed on one of the early voyages of the RSS Explorer in 2016 and found the service and cabin exceptional, catering for every need without any problems. On this cruise we experienced exactly the opposite. The special meals coordinator was not dedicated and had other duties that prevented him devoting detailed attention to our requirements compared to the one on the Explorer. The chef was laid back and whilst promised to make special exceptional dishes in addition to the prepacked meals to meet our dietary requirements did not check the food preparation and presentation so it lacked the finesse one would expect. It appeared it had been left to an apprentice chef to deal with our requirements. On several occasions we ate with friends we had made on the voyage, they being aware of our special Kosher diet. We always gave the special diets coordinate more than 24 hours notice of our requirements and where we would be taking our meals. Even so, when we "strayed" from the main dinning room we experienced major problems. Our table had been preordered and whilst the other guests made their selection of the dishes, ours had already been registered. Imagine having to sit at a table where the other guests had been served with their food and after a half hour our food had still not appeared. One of the other guests dinning with us summoned the head waiter and asked why our meal had not been served at the same time as theirs. There were apologies all round by the crew but the truth of the matter was as we were the only ones on the ship having Kosher food the buck was passed between the restaurant staff, the kitchen and the executive chef - the later could not even be bothered to express personal apologies nor did the Restaurant Manager. As to the prepacked Sterling Kosher meals they left a lot to be desired and were certainly not of gourmet standard one would expect, but more like economy airline meals. We had selected a dessert on several occasions and when it was presented in its prepacked package found that the packaging had changed, even though we had been assured that we would be served all of our pre cruise food selection - it was as if, as one of the waiters put it, the kitchen staff had found the same item that had come from previous voyages. When we requested to speak to the Provisions Manager to query this, the Executive Chef advised that they all work for him and it was his responsibility but he could not give us an assurance regarding this issue and did not consider it of any importance that old stock was being used. Of course the individual packages did not have the date they were prepared or a use by date and the Executive Chef claimed the date was on the outer packaging of the box. When we had booked the cruise in October, it was on the proviso that we could disembark in Singapore the day before the general disembarkation at that port. From the date of the booking till the night before our disembarkation nobody advised us that when early disembarkation takes place one is expected to take ones luggage off the ship and proceed to the port immigration. On the night before our disembarkation we received a letter in our state room advising that there would be nobody from Regent Seven Seas who would help us to disembark with our luggage. We immediately emailed the CEO of Regent pointing out this was not an acceptable way to handle disembarking passengers from a six star cruise but we received no reply. The distance from the ship on the elevated bridge to the immigration was 330 meters. We requested assistance from the front desk of the ship who refused as did all members of the crew who were going ashore. As such, since there were no trolleys available because the Port Authorities do not provide them for passenger use until after immigration, we were left to take 5 suitcases, including 2 carry-ons, with 4 hands, to the Customs & Immigration area. We had a schedule to meet after our disembarkation and we could not wait around even though we had advised the Front Desk 2 days earlier that we would be disembarking at a certain time.to meet our onward schedule. What a wonderful way to end an expensive superior luxury cruise. Certainly we would not recommend Regent after this experience. . . Read Less

We selected this cruise initially because of the advertised stop at Papua New Guinea. Otherwise, we had previously visited almost all the other ports. The day before we boarded, we were advised by our travel agent that Regent had canceled the stop at Papua New Guinea. There were 3 or 4 different reasons going around among passengers as to why, although we never learned. The ship was very nice, the service generally excellent. The staterooms (they called them "suites") were a bit small when compared with other ships or cruise lines in this category. We were on for 36 days, and storage was a bit tight. There was no chair in the stateroom, but there was a somewhat uncomfortable two person couch, with a large high table in front. It just made things even tighter. The bed was moderately comfortable. We were offered a choice of either a firm mattress, which was like a board, or a too soft mattress with no edge support. If you sat at the edge of the bed while getting dressed or putting on shoes, you would slide right off. The cabin decor was pleasant, but neutral. The bathrooms were somewhat small, with a large walk-in shower with good water pressure, and a single sink, not a double as one might expect on a ship of this category. Re food, breakfast was most often on the Verandah deck with a large selection buffet and table service offering most anything you might want. The French restaurant had spotty food, excellent foie gras appetizer. Most of the dishes were French in name only. The service was excellent. Prime Seven was the steak restaurant, with lots of steak and non-steak choices. We thought it consistently had the best food on the ship. The main dining room, the Compass Rose had a relatively large rotating selection, changing every night, plus a large choice of "standards", always available. The service there was spotty, some waiters very attentive and quick, others not so. The food here was good to average. We felt the food of Oceania, owned by the same company, NCL, was quite a bit better. Overall, the food ranged from bland to the point of tasteless to very salty. I recall that the veal medallions were actually thick chunks of veal. The tours were average, no better than the standard tours offered by most other cruise lines. The few that were more interesting, were available at an extra charge. The entertainment was typical of mid-size ships. There was the standard group of shipboard singers and dancers, although there were more of them than on other ships. The "stars" which were brought on in various ports, performing twice in their visit, were not any better than other lesser-rated cruise lines. The cruise director was very good and an excellent entertainer in his own right. The enrichment lectures were topical and generally very good. One lecturer, who was only on the ship for the earlier segment, was the best I have ever heard, and could even make a laundry-list sound exciting. The ship's common areas where typical of ships in this category, with the usual number of cocktail lounges, a coffee-shop, and a nice theater was evening shows. Overall, it was nice, but not exceptional. Other than the few extra cost port excursions, and better grade wines, everything is included. It is very nice not to be nickel-dimed as on many other lines. Our big complaint was the price. It was considerably more than other cruises lines, but the product which was delivered was no better than many other less expensive lines, even if you include the cost of alcohol and tours. Read Less

Had a wonderful time on the Mariner in Australia. The ship is just the right size and Regent treated us to a spectacular New Year’s Eve party in Bali. We also were treated to a magical evening at the Australian Open tennis tournament. We had great seats in Rod Laver Stadium for two night matches. The crew and officers on Regent are friendly, efficient, and helpful. Since most Regent passengers are return guests, you usually meet up with people you have cruised with previously. After we returned home, we automatically scheduled ourselves to be available at 4:30 pm for Team Trivia. The competition and camaraderie was a “look forward to every day event”. The food could be upgraded a bit. The menu is great though with many offerings available every day. It is also good to be able to order from the dining room menu for room service. We will be staying with Regent. We already have a booking on the new ship, Splendor. Read Less

We chose this cruise because if was from Sydney to Bali via Brisbane, Townsville, Cairns, Cooktown, Darwin, Komodo and Bali. The ship was impressive. Cabin was excellent. All balcony ship. Bathroom was spacious and kept in good clean condition with lovely L'Occitane toiletries. It was all inclusive and the ships complimentary tours were good except for Bali. Unfortunately due to heavy traffic in Bali the 5.5 hour tour extended to 6.5 hours and 5 of those were spent on the bus sitting mostly in traffic. The tours in Australia were excellent and very enjoyable. We found the food plentiful and mostly excellent. Lobster tails, sea scallops, prawns, fillet steak,etc,etc were always on offer so there was always good choices available. The downside for us was the outside back deck for the Le Verandah restaurant. Very small area and lack of staff here made for an extremely poor eating experience. There was virtually no service in this area. I feel that spare cutlery should be made readily available both indoors and outdoors because once they remove your plate with your cutlery you could spend hours waiting for fresh cutlery especially outside. This happened to us. Also the drink waiters were lacking in Le Verandah. The general waiters would pour you a water but never ask if you required a further drink and it was hard to get a wine or other at times in there. Compass Rose was lovely but the service was hit and miss mostly. Staff need better training. Prime 7 a lot of huff and puff over nothing. Food better in Compass Rose. Chartreuse similar. Menu unexciting and hardly French food in my opinion. Again very disappointing. We visited each once and that was more than enough. The coffee area on Deck 5 was lovely. Plenty of areas to sit quietly. Afternoon tea in Horizon Lounge was lovely. The pool deck BBQs at lunch were a bit underwhelming. The ship ran out of Baileys, tomato juice and celery amongst many other items before we hit Darwin. Really? Not good enough for the prices they are charging. It is a beautiful ship and all inclusive and we did enjoy it throughly however for the price of sailing on this ship they need to lift their game in food service. Would I sail again. Mostly definitely but only at a price I would consider fair and reasonable. I feel it beats Silverseas hands down despite the issues we had with service. Read Less

This cruise was in 2018. Regent should just give up on this ship and ship out the cruise director too. The staff on Navigator is simply outstanding. The food, overall, is terrific and the staff goes beyond and above each meal to bring a wonderful experience for everyone. The ship is clunky and quickly reveals the origin as a Soviet vessel designed for either spying or ice-breaking. You can put lipstick on a pig but Regent needs to give up plowing money into this tub that has internal problems. Imagine purchasing a suite complete with good service, attentive stewards, a well-stocked bar and a comfortable bed and then when running the bathwater in this exquisitely appointed suite, see orange water spewing from the faucet. This was not a one-time event, just look at other reviews for this ship. The other downside was the cruise director, Paul Reynolds who appeared more interested in his own social life than providing a great experience for the passengers. The pool deck staff were attentive, the main dining room service was superb, but one passenger at our table requested a dining room chair that didn't have a loose leg and two more chairs brought out to replace it was also ready to be retired after a long life. There was a row of damaged chairs sitting outside the dining room that evening, apparently not for people to take a break but because they were broken and waiting for a crewman to remove them to the cargo hold. Keep the staff, dump the cruise director and put them on a new ship. Sell this one back to the Russians. Read Less

We sailed 1/12-1/26 on the Regent Seven Seas Voyager. At $32,000 for both of us, we knew we could expect luxury and personal attention. What we got was disappointment. Regent can not be faulted for the weather, but for lack of planning, perhaps, and definitely lack of transparency. They must have known well before they told us that the weather would prevent us from cruising the fjords of Milford Sound (a highlight of the cruise) and from getting into the port of Picton, New Zealand. Instead we rocked and bounced on the Tasman Sea far longer than expected. The captain referred to the weather as a low pressure area whereas the TV weather channel called it a hurricane. Whatever it was, elevators were shut down, 11th level buffet was closed because plates, bottles of wine and the buffet went crashing to the floor. In the main dining room, a window frame broke and water came gushing in. It too was closed. Passengers kept to their cabins, seasick and unhappy. I heard a fellow passenger remark about the mediocre service saying she thought many of the experienced waiters, stewards, etc. were taken off the Voyager and assigned to the new Explorer. This may or may not be true, but the service suffered. Six hours after I requested some more Perrier bottles in my room, I bumped into the steward and he assured me he would deliver them right away. I had already gotten them from Room Service, having given up on the steward. Many shore excursions were included but it was difficult to get on a first or second choice. I tried the day we could book them in July, and had to settle. Those who tried to book them on the cruise itself were met with frustration. The lines for the Destination Desk were long and slow because they only had two people working at a time, although there were three computers. The Destination people didn't seem familiar with all the tours and were unable to help many people. The "included" tours were mostly acceptable, but the ones worth taking cost extra. Many of those I signed up for started at 8:10 am which would have been OK, but for two nights, we had to set our clocks ahead one hour. This in effect, made the excursions an hour earlier. Food in the main dining room was acceptable, but not great. Our best meal was a Filipino one arranged by our Filipino waiter. (Most of the service staff is Filipino.) The two :"optional" dining rooms were difficult to get a reservation. Our travel agent, fortunately, had booked one meal in each the day reservations were accepted. And lastly, the Canyon Ranch Spa: overpriced! My shellac manicure was $126 and a 50-minute massage, $200. I would highly recommend readers look into Silversea. We had a far better experience on that cruise line. Read Less

This was only our second cruise, our first being years ago on another small ship with Renaissance. We had a port-side balcony cabin that time and that was our main criteria when searching for a cruise this time. We had always wanted to visit Australia and New Zealand and had originally booked on Oceania, when we found a similar cruise with Regent for virtually the same price, only with everything included in the cost. In pricing out the tours we wanted on Oceania (some as much as $300 per person), the potential cost of our alcoholic drinks, internet and gratuities, it was a no-brainer to switch to Regent and we are so glad we did. We felt spoiled from the moment we walked onboard, greeted at embarkation with a glass of champagne, our luggage waiting in our cabin, as well as a welcome tray with a bottle of Champagne, flowers and fruit. We could order two bottles of liquor for our cabin (I ordered more Champagne and Absolute vodka, which were delivered immediately.) On subsequent days, we could order wine by the glass from room service, at which point they asked "Do you want a bottle?" and from that day on a fresh bottle of wine appeared in our room. That, plus the fact we could order everything from aperitifs to wine to cocktails to after dinner drinks and suffice to say we were well taken care of. One of the main reasons we chose Oceania initially was its reputation for fine food. I certainly don't have any complaints about the Voyager on that score. Every lunch and dinner was like dining in the finest restaurant back home. You could order anything you wanted, as much as you wanted. One dinner, for example, I had fois gras sliders and tuna tartare as appetisers, beef wellington and butter poached lobster an an entree and grand marnier souffle with vanilla sauce for dessert. Each day there was a themed lunch on the pool deck: once it was an Australian buffet, including kangaroo and crocodile, and every type of barbeque. The next day was a seafood buffet, with local New Zealand green lip mussels, king crab legs, made-to-order Pad Thai, sushi, fish curry and paella. (OK, the paella wasn't very good - the seafood and sausage were way overdone.) We could order from the room service menu and did that for breakfast every day but one. I don't think the breakfasts were very good, probably because they were overwhelmed with having to prepare that many in a short amount of time. Everything was overdone - bagels were almost burnt, the french toast was so hard it bounced off the plate when we tried to cut it. Once we ate breakfast at La Veranda and the made to order cheese omelet was incorrectly prepared. He added the cheese to the eggs and stirred them, instead of melting the cheese inside the omelet. But those are quibbling complaints. In general, the food was so amazing, the first thing I wanted when we returned home was a plain burger! Our cabin was so beautiful, everyone who saw our photos exclaimed "That is your cabin on a ship???" A beautiful marble bathroom with a shower AND a bathtub. A walk-in-closet, extremely comfortable bed with as many pillow as we wanted, a lighted vanity and chair, a sitting area, desk, sofa, two chairs and a coffee table that was transformed into a dining table when room service used a tabletop which was stored in the closet. There were comfortable throws which we used to sit on the wicker-type furniture on the deck at night, binoculars in the cabinet, a flat screen TV and our own Illy Espresso maker. I could easily live in that space indefinitely. My only complaint was I couldn't blowdry my hair in the bathroom because there was no plug. I had to do my hair at the vanity next to the bed, which was hard to do sitting down and which disturbed my husband every morning. There must be some reason they don't put a hairdryer plug in the bathroom, but I don't know what it is. We spent three days with their pre-cruise package in Sydney (well worth the extra cost of only $399 per person) and one day post cruise on our own in Auckland. Our pre-cruise tours included a boat cruise of the harbor one day and a trip out of town to the Blue Mountains on the next. Our hotel was the Four Seasons, which was in an excellent location to walk to the Rocks, the bridge, the harbor and the Opera House. Our favorite restaurant (Jacksons on George St.) was right across the street from the hotel and we ate most of our dinners there. It is a reasonably priced Irish pub with fabulous pub fare, including wonderful lamb shanks and steak and kidney pie. We watched the Voyager come into port from our hotel window with great anticipation. At first, we had received word that we would not be able to board until 5pm that evening, due to a problem the ship had with people getting sick on the previous voyage. (It was only a small percentage - 2% I believe.) To compensate, the cruise line arranged a free lunch for the passengers at the Four Seasons. In the end we were able to board by 4pm. Then an announcement came from the captain informing us that because of high seas we would not be able to depart that evening as planned, but would stay in port until the next morning. It was a beautiful evening in Sydney and we had an amazing dinner on deck with a perfect view of the illuminated Opera House and shimmering water. I was in the computer room the next morning when I felt the ship moving. Speaking of the computer room, that was the only downside of the trip. I love photography and writing and was looking forward to chronicling our trip daily from our cabin or balcony on my blog. That proved to be impossible, since the internet was so slow as to be infuriating. It seems that is a common problem at sea. The person on the ship with the most thankless job, in my opinion, was Emily who was in charge of the computer room. She had to remain tactful and patient with every person who was irate at not being able to connect in their room, or even had problems in the computer lab. I heard her say the same things constantly to person after person every time I was in there. As part of our package we had received $750 in shipboard credits (some from the ship, some from our travel agent.) which could be spent on spa treatments, more expensive wines and spirits or at the gift shop. Everyone was scrambling on the last day trying to spend those credits. The jewelry was very expensive as was almost everything in the gift shop. I didn't want to spend $350 on a blouse! I was able to spend part of my credit splurging on a special event in the Observation Lounge: a champagne and caviar cocktail party. I love caviar, but wouldn't normally spend $105 for a little jar, (there there three different priced options, that being the most expensive) but I could do it guilt-free on this journey. While in the Observation lounge we were treated to a whale sighting. Once, during dinner, we spotted a pod of dolphins leaping out of the water next to the ship. We had many land tours to choose from and because we were in a deluxe suite, we were able to book our choices in advance of the lower classifications. We booked our tours on the first day we were able to do so and it is a good thing we did, because those choices sold out quickly and other people had to go with their second choices. I was happy with our choices. Many involved long-ish bus trips, but the countryside was so beautiful and I too many photos out of the bus window. We punted (a flat bottomed boat guided by handsome young men, like Venetian gondoliers) on the Avon River in Christchurch. We had a wild ride on 8 person Argo vehicles in Dunedin, seeing seals and a lone penguin emerging from the sea. We had tea at a sheep farm with a sheep herding demonstration at Pencarrow Lodge in Wellington. I took hundreds of photos of the incredible colors and sights at the Hot Springs and Thermal Baths in Rotorua. In the end, I had 1800 photos to edit and whittle down, which I liken to having to choose among favorite children. A special treat in Wellington was a completely unexpected opportunity to visit with an old friend we had not had contact with in almost 30 years. We happened to be in port and available at the same time as him. A resident of New Zealand, he had visited our area that many years ago and we had a short but sweet time together. As it happened, he was in town and available and picked up us at the ship. We spent the afternoon together and he drove us all over town, showing us Lord of the Rings studios, beachhouses Peter Jackson had built for the cast, up to a mountain lookout, and down to a lovely beach location where we had coffee and finally he took us to Parliament for a private tour (because he works there). His greeting and farewell to us was "Kia Ora" a lovely Maori phrase meaning "Be well/healthy", doubling for "Hi". The New Zealanders are among the friendliest in the world. As we were punting on the Avon, we witnessed picnickers teaching their little children to stand, smile and wave to us as we floated by. The night before the last day at sea I found myself getting teary during crew's farewell show in the two floor Constellation Theater. I felt such gratitude for the amazing experiences we had and the love and care we felt onboard. The choices we made, beginning with switching from Oceania to Regent, our choice of Australia and New Zealand, our choice of cabin, our choice of tours, were perfect and I wouldn't change one thing. My memories will stay alive for the rest of my life due to the many photos I took. If you would like to go on a virtual journey with us, they are located here: https://picasaweb.google.com/maggiwun/BucketListTripToAustraliaAndNewZealandJan2014?authuser=0&feat=directlink Read Less

I was not planning to post a review until I read a recent 3 star review which I felt was inaccurate. We recently spent 5 weeks on a Sydney to Hong Kong cruise that was initially plagued by problems but then turned into exactly the experience we had hoped for despite the issues caused by local problems--traffic. We boarded Voyager in Sydney and it was a breeze; the sail out from the harbor was as advertised, fabulous. We spent 3 days in Sydney, courtesy of Regent-no longer available-which allowed us to begin to understand the national culture. The commentary as we sailed out therefore helped. No sooner had we left the harbor than the captain announced we would be sailing into inclement weather. Boy was he right. Within 4 hours we were in the beginnings of a cyclone which worsened over the next day. We arrived in Brisbane reasonably on time but our wonderful shore excursion was cancelled because of the weather. After a much less attractive bus tour we were told we must leave Brisbane the next morning and then head for a protected anchorage for a 24 hr wait. Having sailed through a worse hurricane in Chile on SS I was surprised by this decision and it proved to be costly. Many passengers had come on this cruise, us included, to see the Great Barrier Reef. After this pause a terrible decision was made in Miami to skip both Whitsunday Island and Cairns eliminating any chance to visit the GBR. The mood on board changed dramatically as most passengers could do the math and understand that one miss was necessary but not both. We then proceeded to Cooktown a port that should never be included on any cruise. We assume we had to stop there to prevent too many consecutive sea days, but it sure had nothing to offer. Miami should visit it. After this disappointment the mood was bad and Miami announced they would be on board in Bali to answer complaints; things, however, got worse. A lovely young lady, the lead singer of the entertainment group, fell while rehearsing, banged her head, performed, went to sleep and then did not wake up. The same injury sustained by Natasha Richardson, with the same result, subdural hematoma. The Darwin police, understandably held us for an extra 24 hrs while the investigated The end result of this delay was one day in Bali instead of two. RSSC management at this point made a wise decision as they were losing their constituents,they announced a 50% refund on the fare from Sydney to Singapore. While this did not satisfy all, as some wanted cash upfront and this was a credit to future cruises, we felt it was generous and appropriate. The mood from this point forward improved dramatically On to the ship: The service was impeccable and friendly. We love the physical design of the cabins and ours was in perfect condition. Our butler, Irfan, was outstanding, our stewards Ronalyn and Carlo also above and beyond. Needless to say we tipped them generously despite the no tipping guidelines. We also rewarded Adorable, Milly and Deva our servers in CR, after a long a trip and such good service we felt it was the right thing to do. Destinations did a good job getting a full ship off to tours efficiently. Unfortunately several passengers-they know who they are, totally ignored instructions by trying to be the first on buses, rather than waiting until called. Very annoying. The food: A disappointment. My wife said the fish in general was excellent. I'm not a fish person. The meat was very disappointing. I make a much better coq au vin than was served-tough and dry, the short ribs indonesian style were inedible; unless you focused on the beef there was a problem. Signatures was excellent, Setti Mari good and Prime 7 ok. The excursions were in general medium. Destinations was fine, but some of the local contractors had not been properly vetted by home office. We also felt there should be a RSSC rep on every bus, Silversea does! Major disappointments: No interaction with the officers; no bridge tour; lack of transparency during the difficuly start. Major plusses: Ray Solaire; the entertainment in general; Sandra Bowern-the lecturer; the overall effort by the crew. This was not an unmotivated group. We will definitely sail with RSSC again. They are not our favorite-SS-is but they will still be able to proudly call themselves a luxury line; not because of Miami, but in spite of it. Read Less