REGENT or SILVERSEAS? - Which line do you prefer

REGENT or SILVERSEAS?

Which line do you prefer and why?

I dont look forward to non optional FORMAL nite...my DH refuses to wear a suit,,,just sport jacket,,at the most...and SS has 2 on cruise I wanted...even Seabourn is optional now.Would love to try SS,,but THATS the reason I havent.

Have taken Regent twice,,and liked the service,food,smooth ride on Mariner the best..Voyager had the vibration issues.

If they DROP that FORMAL thing,,,would give them a try.So far will stick with Regent,Seabourn,,etc.;)

As opposed to alexandra cruiser, I like SS specifically because there is still the opportunity to dress up. DW on the other hand does not want to carry all her finery with her; therefore we cruise Regent-guess who the boss is. I also think SS is marginally and only marginally better in service, food and ambience, mainly because of the smaller ships. Our favorite of all cruising platforms is SS Whisper, followed closely by Regent Voyager.

Oh dear ... I was just looking at a SS Whisper cruise but am not a fan of formal nights at all ( we loved Regent Voyager). We want to go New England and the only real choices are SS or Crystal. Does one have to join in the SS formal nights or are there other restaurant choices?

and read my answer to your post on Black Seas ...funny,,I m also looking at New England TOO...must be on same wavelength. :D

We sail both Silversea and Regent. Both are excellent cruise lines (IMHO). Silversea's Whisper is probably the most comfortable ship we have been on. Really love it. The Silver Spirit, on the other hand, is our least favorite ship.

Food and service are pretty much equal on both ships. Food was a tad bit better in La Terazza on Silversea than La Veranda on Regent. However, La Terazza recently changed and La Veranda will be changing in July. Compass Rose is a tiny bit better than The Restaurant on Silversea. Perhaps that is because of the complexity of some of the dishes served in the Restaurant.

It is difficult to compare suite size because Silversea has three different ship types. In general, regular suites are larger on Regent (just a tiny bit).

The reasons we sail on Regent more than Silversea are:

1. Smoking in suites (and some people still go out on their balcony even though it is supposedly not permitted). This does not happen on Regent.

2. It seems that every night is either "formal" or "informal" with too few casual nights.

3. Silversea automatically adds a donation to their charity onto your bill. You can have this removed. . . . however, donations should not be added without permission in the first place.

4. Regent has a much richer loyalty program than Silversea. After 21 nights internet is included as well as a couple of hours of telephone useage (while most of us do not call home, it is important to have in case of an emergency).

If internet were included (we currently have 21 nights on Silversea with 16 more booked), we would sail more on Silversea (Whisper or Shadow only). We can tolerate dressing up and are used to telling them to take off the automatic donation. If smoking next door became a problem, it would end our sailing with Silversea.

Nice post TC2, I would agree with you about most of it, but, subjectively the food issue is of course the difference.

Got to be honest; I could care less about internet or phone. I carry my own phone with an international card and on vaca certainly don't need internet. Obviously many others disagree.

The difference to me in the two lines is ship size and the imo far greater attention to pax on the shore excursions by SS-although I know you pay for it.

Both are terrific however and a treat!

We are in the process of booking the Silver Spirit for a 7-nighter from MonteCarlo to Barcelona....in a veranda suite.....why won't you book on that ship anymore?.........thanks....

Starshine, TC2 is cruising in the Med as this is written, so you may have to wait for her response. I know from her previous posts that she did not like the design of the Spirit.

I concur with her opinion about Whisper-it's the best.

Thank you, newlondon.......I guess we'll just have to experience the Spirit for ourselves, and then I'll let you know our thoughts.

We are in the process of booking the Silver Spirit for a 7-nighter from MonteCarlo to Barcelona....in a veranda suite.....why won't you book on that ship anymore?.........thanks....

Hi -- as newlondon indicated, we are in the middle of a cruise in the Med. on the Voyager. The service and food on the Spirit are excellent. It is the design of the ship that bothers some passengers. The "regular" suites were designed to have more space at the bottom of the bed (from the bed to the wall). However, due to problems installing the television into the mirror, they lost space. This created a more cramped situation than was anticipated.

La Terrazza is too small for the number of passengers on the ship. It is very difficult to walk in between tables.

This ship was built during a down-turn in the economy and it shows. We booked a Silver Suite. The furniture was fake wood (the type you would see in an apartment that you may rent while you are in college). The desk and make-up area did not even have drawers. There were three entrances into the lovely closet. One door must be open in order to access to drawers. You will find most of the "wood" on the ship is not wood (unlike the beautiful woods used on the Whisper and Shadow).

The most important point is that the service is exemplary and the restaurants are wonderful. We typically sail Regent but are quite taken by the Whisper and Shadow. If the Spirit had an itinerary that we could not do on Regent or on the Whisper or Shadow, we would probably book the Spirit again.

You will no doubt have a lovely cruise on the Spirit. Since we have choices, we choose to sail on the other ships. hope that answered your question.:)