Regents Seven Seas newbee's, any one had a bad experience?

[Happyras]

I learned a few more tricks over the weekend I would like to share, and also ask about others experience with Regents Seven Seas.

First, my DW and I wanted to upgrade from the Celebrity "Retreat" Suites and NCL Haven Suites experience. We have done close to 40+ cruises and run out of but a few remaining areas of the world to see. The larger ships with a ship within a ship are nice, but it still a lot of passengers and crowded main areas now that covid has magically gone behind cover.

We wanted to see more of Japan and found options with Regents, Oceana, and Silver Seas but the air fare RT SEA to Tokyo was always $8500 to $15000 pp for Business class. Regents offered a promo for business class air included, or a credit/discount of $7025 pp if deleted. I tried my normal search using miles, and google flights still getting fares way too high. We live in the Seattle area and can drive 3 hours up into Canada to fly out of Vancouver.

At first I tried multi city through YVR and either it came back very high or not allowed. I then tried YVR to TYO, and wow, I got RT business on JAL for $3500 pp. For those trying similar destinations, you might try booking a cheap flight (or drive) to YVR and a separate flight to Asia. This booking is 1/3 the cost of flying from SEA RT, and no one is going to tell you this since you have to cross the border.

So since we now had a reasonable air fare, I found that Vacations to Go and Costco both had the cruise, but neither one offered the same perks/pricing. so I call Regent SS, they gave me the standard 2 for rate, but offered many promotions included additional fare discount, 3 day pre cruise hotel with tours and transfers, free shore excursions (built into price I am sure) but also $1000 OBC, and a few more that Costco did not show. In the end, they set it up to transfer to Costco Travel which will now provide a Cash Card rebate $875 and some more OBC and normal on boarding perks. We could not be happier at this point, but have no experience with this brand of cruise.

Does anyone here have recent experiences with this cruise line they can share?

 

[Gulfbeach]

Our last cruise before COVID was on Regent and we liked it very much. We had moved up from Celebrity to Azamara and Oceania. We then tried Regent for our 50th anniversary trip with an itinerary from Lisbon to Miami. Because Regent is all inclusive the costs are taken care of up front, which we liked. We also have an excellent cruise planner at Oceania, which is owned by Regent, and she did a great job with both lines.
The food and drinks were all excellent and service was outstanding. Business class airfare and overnight hotel were also included.

 

[Amethyst]

I've been on two cruises with Regent and have two more scheduled, so obviously I like them. I've never used a cruise planner, just picked from their web site.

They send way too many big, glossy brochures, though. If they cut back a bit on their mail advertising they could probably reduce their prices, lol.

All the cabins have balconies, which to me is a plus. The overnight hotel stay is a perk with more expensive cabins (what Regent calls "Concierge" class and above). I did a lot of comparisons, and don't see the value in their "Penthouse" class cabin. It's the same size as Concierge but comes with a butler, whose services I am unlikely to require. Naturally they have even more expensive suites, way out of my price range.

 

[levindb]

DW and I did 137 day World Cruise on Regent and really liked the entire trip. Having excursions included was a great benefit because we got to see so much more of the world when we were not penny pinching at each port. I would highly recommend the cruise line and would be happy to answer any questions you might have. We also charged the entire trip on our Costco card and got 2% rebate which was significant for that trip.

 

[Marc]

Over 30 cruises with Regent including 149 nights post-Covid; you will not be disappointed. You scored great flights. I am doing Tokyo to Vancouver next April and decided to take Regent air as it didn't look like I could beat their fare to Tokyo.

Marc

 

[Happyras]

Thanks for everyone's comments/experience. Its hard to judge until you get on board, but it does sound like the upgrade we were looking for. Our last cruise a few months ago on NCL was a bit long for a first time on NCL. The Haven promised to be as good as it gets, but as with Celebrity the food quality has degraded since Covid. That larger ship just seemed crowded unless we stayed in the private Haven areas. We are hoping this will be much better for about the same cost.

 

[MichealKnight]

Regent - will be like a better version of The Haven - only the whole ship is The Haven.

Back in my old life - was only Regent , or Radisson Seven Seas as they called it. Upon having kids, wanted more choices, options etc so doing a PH or RS on Celebrity was 'it' for us -- with a few Haven NCLs also. To each his own - but I felt that Celebrity was already going from "slightly premium" to mass market before Covid.

It's a first world problem but what gets me is that overall, people just 'accept it'. I get inflation, etc - -- but they've RAISED prices......and instead of keeping amenities the same, they watered it down a bit. Yet people - just go with it so I guess why not charge more, offer less. In the end I figure - hey, I'm on a cruise - something is going very very right.

To each his own - - but on Regent - securing Prime 7 reservations is high on my list - I won't admit it's #1 )

 

[Amethyst]

One negative thing about RSSC is that, since the ships are smaller, the fitness center is tight. Few machines, and at times very oversubscribed (the crew and stage performers need to stay in shape, too).

 

[MichealKnight]

RSSC

Not sure what ship you might go on with Regent - maybe you wrote it but I didn't remember.


FYI....

Navigator -- while this is true for many ships - THIS one I can tell you......the higher your cabin is, and the more to the end of hall -- the more waves you will feel. Seriously. I got educated the hard way on that one.


Voyager - I forget what it's called. But the "Grand Suite" category. .... all the fixtures jigggle all and it's noisy. These are 2 very needle in a haystack comments - - but man I wish I had read them before I did it myself