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I was having a great time on my recent Regent Seven Seas cruise before I started speaking to fellow guests. Some first-timers as well as long-time regulars raised issues which made me wonder if I was being too forgiving. After all, the trip had cost me a lot and it is worth being picky!
So, after digesting it all and taking on board their thoughts, here’s what I believe the line does well, differently, and what doesn’t work for everyone - and why.
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0:00
well I was having a great time on my
0:01
recent region 7s cruise and then I
0:04
started speaking to fellow guests some
0:06
first timers as well as longtime
0:08
regulars they raised a couple of issues
0:09
which made me start to wonder if I was
0:11
maybe being too forgiven after all the
0:13
trip had cost me a lot and so it is
0:16
worth being picky but after digesting it
0:18
all and taking on board their thoughts
0:20
here's actually what with reflection I
0:23
believe the line does really well does
0:25
differently and what doesn't work
0:26
certainly for everybody and why welcome
0:29
aboard I'm Gary benbridge making it fun
0:31
and easy to discover plan and enjoy
0:33
Unforgettable Cruise vacations first a
0:35
quick recap of what Regent is it's part
0:37
of the Norwegian Cruise group and they
0:39
call themselves the most luxurious
0:41
Journey at Sea it competes with ultra
0:43
luxury lines like Seaborn silver sea and
0:46
I guess now explored Journeys and the
0:48
revamped Crystal they say in their
0:50
advertising they have the most Fair
0:52
inclusions of all the ultr luxury lines
0:55
and I will keep coming back to this
0:56
because it's both a plus and it's a
0:59
negative everyone I spoke to agreed with
1:01
me though that they have beautiful ships
1:03
they have six ships at the time of
1:05
recording three are the same design
1:07
explorer that I was on Splendor and
1:09
Grandeur each carrying 746 Passengers
1:12
The Marin and Voyager are another design
1:14
carrying 698 and the Navigator have also
1:16
been on taking
1:18
496 the ships feel spacious for
1:21
relatively small ships I think they
1:23
never seem crowded at all inside I think
1:26
it looks stylish sophisticated the
1:27
furniture is all very plush it's all and
1:30
I think it looks expensive including the
1:32
artwork by the way which includes works
1:34
by famous artists like Picasso himself
1:38
it's probably not as contemporary Decor
1:40
I don't think as the newer Seaborn and
1:42
silver sea ships that I've been on but I
1:44
do really like the style of the ships I
1:47
also really like the range of venues and
1:50
Facilities on these relatively small
1:52
ships I think they've done a really good
1:54
job so for example on Deck 12 there's a
1:57
sports Deck with Crazy Golf paddle golf
2:00
deck games and a walking and running
2:02
track then down on Deck 11 there's a
2:05
pool deck a massive observation Lounge a
2:08
library a connoisseur Club Cigar Lounge
2:11
a card room and the culinary arts
2:14
cooking Center then right down on Deck
2:16
five you've got a spa with a big fitness
2:18
center just above it on Deck six which
2:20
is a good size an infinity pool
2:22
fantastic uh Coffee Connection which is
2:24
open most of the day with tasty snacks
2:26
the Meridian Lounge which is a bar at
2:28
night and serves afternoon tea in the
2:30
afternoon which is absolutely I think
2:32
one of the best at Sea guest destination
2:34
Services future Cruise sales internet
2:36
cafe dining reservations are also on
2:38
Deck 5 then down on Deck four there's a
2:41
surprisingly large Casino for the size
2:43
of the ship and a Swanky bar with dance
2:45
floor and then the shops there are 15
2:49
grades of suets which are a good size
2:51
for such a small ship for example I was
2:54
in an F2 Superior Suite in 803 which is
2:57
in the kind of the lower third of grades
2:59
but it was was comfy it was spacious had
3:01
a great bathroom and a good-sized
3:03
balcony so I do think the ships are
3:05
great but have you noticed I'm sure that
3:08
I didn't mention dining venues and
3:10
dining because that's what I want to
3:12
focus on next it's the second thing that
3:13
I think and I found that they do well
3:15
though I don't think they beat the
3:17
competition and I'll talk about that and
3:19
I do think they have a couple of issues
3:22
there are seven dining options on all
3:24
the ships but the smaller Navigator so
3:26
compass rose is the main dining room
3:28
it's open for breakfast and dinner it's
3:30
got uh a great big menu with standards
3:33
and then daily kind of rotating items I
3:36
saw firsthand through dining with some
3:38
of my YouTube channel members who are on
3:40
the cruise that they do cater for
3:42
vegetarian and vegan passengers well by
3:44
working with the guests individually on
3:45
the menus that suit them each day dinner
3:48
did get busy at peak times service then
3:51
could be a little bit slow but the good
3:53
thing is it's open- seated dining and I
3:56
could get whatever table configuration I
3:57
wanted be a dining alone or or with any
4:00
other guests that I met on the cruise
4:02
there are three speciality restaurants
4:04
included in the fair but I had to make
4:06
bookings for these and that was only
4:08
possible once I was on board annoyingly
4:11
I could eat in each one only once and
4:13
then I had to check in during the cruise
4:15
if there was space and availability to
4:17
go again highgrade suets I do believe
4:19
can go as often as they want to
4:21
especially restaurants now here's what I
4:23
thought was good and maybe a little bit
4:24
less good about each of these so Prime
4:27
7even is the steakhouse it is
4:30
undoubtedly a beautiful venue but pretty
4:32
much every line at every level uh has a
4:36
Stak house and I think it's really hard
4:37
to stand out I found it perfectly okay
4:40
other people I spoke to they were less
4:41
enthusiastic than I was they said the
4:43
Stak quality they didn't think was
4:44
fantastic and actually regulars but the
4:46
menu in here and actually on the other
4:48
restaurants is not evolving fast enough
4:50
for them they did have a tasty Smoky
4:52
tomato soup a moose Bush that I love but
4:55
regular said kind of this has been
4:56
around forever they felt there could be
4:57
more change but I did like it specific B
4:59
room was my favorite specialty venue an
5:02
amazing range of Asian food and a wow
5:05
factor looking venue I really like the
5:06
venue I had I had great service but I
5:09
did D there early again I met people
5:11
that said they had a slower experience
5:13
at peak times uh shter serves modern
5:16
French cuisine again another really
5:18
striking venue and I'm not a big fan of
5:20
French food but I did actually enjoy
5:22
this way more than I thought I would do
5:24
now they have another evening restaurant
5:26
which is called setti Mari at lavanda
5:28
now Veranda is it's a really good buffet
5:32
restaurant at breakfast and lunch then
5:34
at night it becomes a waiter served
5:36
Italian and it does have a great menu
5:40
and great food however it gets crazy
5:43
busy and I found it quite hard to get
5:45
into on this cruise and my previous C
5:47
Cruise because you can't do reservations
5:49
so like on that last Cruise people were
5:51
lining up ready for the 6:30 p.m.
5:53
opening to get a table so it kind of
5:54
takes a little bit of the edge off
5:56
luxury because it's a bit of a bunfight
5:57
to get in but really nice food there's
6:00
the pool grill with a healthy breakfast
6:02
option and you during lunch it then
6:04
serves pizzas Burgers sandwiches salads
6:08
that kind of stuff uh and they certainly
6:09
w't open for dinner uh on my cruise and
6:12
either of my cruises and I think this is
6:14
one of my misses there's no casual
6:18
dining option in the evening because the
6:19
only other option would be to you know
6:22
versus a sit down served meal was in
6:24
sweet dining and I'd really really love
6:26
the option of just having something
6:28
casual some night particularly I was on
6:30
an 11 night cruise I didn't want kind of
6:32
drawn out you know three course whatever
6:34
way to serve meals every day so they do
6:37
food well in my opinion and it's
6:40
definitely at worst on par with the
6:42
other Ultra Luxury competition food
6:45
definitely is better than say on premium
6:47
lines like cond America princess
6:48
celebrity that I've been on though I do
6:50
wonder whether their sister line Oceania
6:52
which is also owned by Norwegian because
6:54
they have great food it probably gives
6:55
them a little bit of the run for their
6:57
money because Oceana food is is pretty
6:59
elevated I think the other thing that
7:01
they do well is service of course all
7:03
sort of ultr luxury lines do have great
7:06
service it's kind of their thing and I
7:08
do need to factor in that some of the
7:10
crew do recognize or know me from my
7:12
YouTube channel but everybody I spoke to
7:14
I think agreed that the front-facing
7:17
crew are really friendly they take time
7:20
to chat they get to know you they they
7:22
really go full-hearted to serve you
7:25
they're efficient it's lighthearted it's
7:27
personal I won't spend a lot of time
7:28
talking about this because I think good
7:30
service is kind of a given at this level
7:32
of cruising so let me shift now onto
7:34
what I think they do that is unique and
7:36
is different when I look at their
7:38
brochures and their website they talk a
7:41
lot about region 7 se's having the most
7:44
inclusions within their Fair now
7:46
although this is true versus pretty much
7:48
all the luxury lines silver SE is kind
7:50
of shifting a little bit close to them
7:51
building more into their fairs however I
7:54
do think with this they creating a rod
7:56
for their own back as I will explain
7:59
what's included in the region 7 C's fair
8:01
then economy flights and transfers
8:03
although pentas and above get business
8:05
class flights concierge and higher
8:07
grades also get a pre Cruise hotel stay
8:10
within their Fair everybody though gets
8:13
unlimited chore Excursions Unlimited
8:15
drinks gratuities special restaurants
8:18
laundry and unlimited Wi-Fi but in some
8:22
of these inclusions there are a couple
8:24
of kind of issues so first of all when
8:27
it comes to the included transfer and
8:29
hotel stays both before my Caribbean and
8:32
Japan cruises neither felt that
8:34
luxurious I thought there was a bit of a
8:36
disconnect between the luxurious of the
8:38
ship and the kind of the transfer Hotel
8:41
experience on land it was uh you know at
8:45
the airport look for the cruise line
8:47
sign kind of wait get on a bus to the
8:49
hotel the hotels I felt were pretty
8:52
standard chain conference package type
8:54
Hotel so for example in Japan it was the
8:56
Hilton Tokyo a pretty standard room it
8:58
was really packed with other groups and
9:00
tours in terms of the unlimited shore
9:02
excursions there are a couple of issues
9:05
here and a couple of upsides though
9:07
first of all they released about a year
9:09
before the cruise at a certain time of
9:11
the day and so people all swoop into at
9:14
that time and pick out all the best ones
9:16
so for example on my Tokyo trip they
9:19
released sort of sometime after midnight
9:21
so I thought I'll go to bed uh I logged
9:23
in at 6:00 a.m. when I woke up and I
9:25
found that some of the included
9:26
excursions that I really wanted to do
9:28
were already weight listed now some of
9:30
the other lines like silver that
9:32
includes uh excursions they uh release
9:35
them when you actually book The Cruise
9:36
so they reward early Bookers more which
9:38
I think is kind of a nice thing to do
9:40
some of the better and the more
9:42
interesting excursions with costly
9:44
elements do have charges so for that
9:47
Tokyo trip I actually paid although I
9:49
had these included excursions a total of
9:51
$400 for excursions in three of the
9:53
ports like a visit to the Mountaintop
9:55
Shrine that required a cable car ride a
9:58
visit to some caves in Kachi and then a
10:00
more in-depth tour of Tokyo than was the
10:03
included one the included tours although
10:05
there is definitely a decent number of
10:07
choices per Port I felt tend to be a
10:10
little bit more walking panoramic tours
10:12
with some of the entry fees covered so
10:14
for example access was covered into the
10:16
kto nio palace grounds but you had to
10:19
pay extra then to tour the actual Palace
10:21
itself I did also see a lot of no shows
10:24
so you know particularly after a long
10:25
day like after that Kyoto or people in
10:27
the morning handing back tickets but of
10:29
course by then region have had to commit
10:31
to the guides the buses all the cost so
10:34
that kind of cost is already has to be
10:36
built in so I think there could be a lot
10:38
of wastage you now and I wonder if that
10:39
actually affects what they can offer so
10:41
I do feel it could be kind of creating
10:43
some problems anyway the Excursion
10:45
process I think also could probably made
10:47
a little bit more luxury you know like
10:49
big ships uh cruises you have to meet in
10:52
the theater you get a tour bus number uh
10:55
other luxury lines have sort of shifted
10:56
where silver sea I believe for example
10:58
they'll allocate your tour as you leave
11:00
the ship it just feels a little bit
11:01
classier now I'm probably overthinking
11:03
that but these little things sometimes
11:06
uh you know can add to the feel of
11:08
luxury overall I don't want to appear
11:10
too negative because I did enjoy the
11:11
included excursions I went on I did
11:13
think there was a good amount of choice
11:14
but there are a couple of kind of quirks
11:16
and issues within them now because I
11:18
don't drink alcohol I asked a lot of
11:20
people on board about the included wine
11:22
the drinks and the cocktail lists and I
11:25
think there was pretty much Universal
11:26
agreement that it's a long good and
11:28
generous uh list of inclusions what I
11:30
did love which does show luxury is that
11:32
it did have kind of all the quirky
11:34
drinks that I like like caffeine-free
11:36
Diet Coke actually also had
11:37
caffeine-free regular Coke they had
11:39
sugar-free ginger ale and other drinks
11:41
that I normally struggle to get on many
11:43
other lines including some of those
11:44
luxury lines I had to pay to upgrade to
11:47
streaming Wi-Fi because only basic is
11:49
actually included in the fair and that
11:51
was pretty so so but this is going to go
11:53
away because starlink is rolling across
11:55
the fleet and everyone will get fast
11:57
Wi-Fi included I I could get as much
11:59
laundry done as I wanted and it would
12:01
come back the same day I love this there
12:03
were though very busy guest laundry
12:05
rooms on all the decks because
12:07
apparently people told me they didn't
12:09
trust sending their fancy or delicate
12:10
clothes to the laundry so that's
12:12
something to be of interest perhaps now
12:15
I often ask how region differs from the
12:16
other Al luxury lines and I I will
12:19
actually dive in more detail in a
12:21
separate video because it's such a big
12:22
topic uh there's a lot that is similar
12:24
as I've mentioned and here's a couple of
12:26
kind of headline differences uh so not
12:28
completely ignoring that question unlike
12:30
Seaborn and silver sea Regent do not do
12:33
Expedition cruising that's one big
12:35
difference Seaborn for example has gone
12:37
down the route of more celebrity
12:38
Partnerships they have or have had
12:40
because they evolving some of them
12:42
Partnerships with like Thomas Keller and
12:43
dining stim rice in entertainment Dr
12:47
Andrew will in Wellness Molton Brown in
12:49
toiletries hel Hansen in clothing and so
12:52
on they also do have a really focused
12:55
enrichment program with a thing they
12:56
called their conversation series which I
12:58
think I think is a Miss as I'll talk a
13:00
bit later on Regent silver sea has a
13:02
slightly different feel it's more
13:04
European and approach they have Butlers
13:05
for every grer sweet and what they do is
13:08
they focus on what they call Salt their
13:09
sea and land taste Gourmet program and
13:12
that affects the menus they have onboard
13:15
events excursions and I think they are
13:17
also very destination immersion focused
13:20
you know and based on what I've seen
13:22
from an upcoming South African trip I've
13:24
got booked with them although they have
13:26
fewer options of excursions they do seem
13:28
to have more pre premium excursions that
13:30
region do included within the fair I
13:32
would say the daily program cross all of
13:34
them are pretty similar with the usual
13:35
trivia debt games themed song and dance
13:38
shows uh but I do think that the lack of
13:41
kind of History cultural enrichment
13:43
talks and poort talks which the other
13:45
lines do a bit more of is more of a Miss
13:48
with Regent Regent actually costs though
13:50
less than I think many people appreciate
13:52
though of course it is at a price that's
13:54
way out of most people's budget but to
13:57
put it in context I went on the Cruise a
13:59
few weeks after Royal Caribbean Symphony
14:01
Of The Seas where I'd booked a suet on
14:03
there because I wanted to test out the
14:04
whole suet experience on a big ship the
14:06
cost per day on Raw Caribbean once that
14:09
added in all the add-ons like Wi-Fi
14:11
especially dining excursions drinks
14:14
gratuities transfers all the stuff that
14:16
including the region Fair it cost me
14:18
exactly the same per day as my region
14:20
trip but of course it was a very
14:22
different experience on Symphony Of The
14:25
Seas I was paying for a big high scale
14:27
theater water shows wide range of
14:30
facilities lots of choice and a sweet
14:32
area to escape crowds and noise on
14:34
Regent I had less of that but I was
14:36
paying for a smaller sophisticated more
14:38
reserved much more personalized kind of
14:41
service which they do well so when
14:43
people ask me if I think Regent is worth
14:45
the money I say it's all about what is
14:48
important to you for me I would love and
14:51
I was happy to pay that amount of price
14:54
for that experience but I met people on
14:55
the trip who actually said actually they
14:57
missed the big shows they missed the
14:58
bustle and they missed the big choice
15:00
now if you want to know much more about
15:02
Ary cruising and other things that I
15:05
think I see people misund understand
15:07
join me in this video where I talk about
15:09
something that I still can't get over
15:11
compared to Resort and premium Cruise
15:13
Lines see you over there
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