Regents vs silver seas

Trying to decide between the 2, looking at Med cruise for 10 days. Not big drinkers so not sure of the value, but want the business class airfare and wondering if pricing bus airfare and other luxury line would be better value and same luxury.

Also like that Regents includes shore excursions, but would be really upset if after spending that much money, the excursions are "sold out" or cancelled. This would be one of the main draws to choosing this line.

I see travel agents offering "deals" is there any truth to that or going thru the cruise line is same deal.

Thanks for the help!

Jean

Hi Jean - we have sailed both Silversea and Regent (but consider ourselves Regent customers). We sailed on the Silver Spirit, Silver Whisper and Shadow and have toured the Cloud. We absolutely loved the Whisper and the Cloud - good size - lots of space yet small enough to be cozy. Our first cruise with Silversea was on the Silver Spirit. We did not like the ship for many reasons but was impressed with the service and food. So, in terms of ships, we would only sail on the two mid-size ships - the Whisper and Shadow (note: Cloud looked too old and was too small).

Regent's ships, as you probably know are larger (490 to 750 passengers). I rate the service the same and find some dining venues better on Regent and some on Silversea. My only concern about Silversea is that they do not completely refurbish their ships as often as Regent and it shows.

In terms of Business Class air, it will be included on all Regent voyages sometime next year (forget the date). Obviously, nothing is "free" so the fares are a bit high.

While I am not a fan of Regent's "included excursions", as long as you book far enough in advance, the odds are high that you will get the excursions that you want. Out of 300+ days on Regent, there was only one excursion that we wanted that we couldn't get. People booked in concierge suites or higher can book excursions around 240 days in advance of the cruise. I believe it is 180 days for the rest of the passengers.

IMO, these are both excellent cruise lines. Had I started cruising with Silversea before Regent, I probably would have stayed with Silversea. Since Regent was first, it is our favorite with Silversea second.

Hope this helps.

Keep in mind that the really good excursions on Regent cost extra. When I say really good I mean the ones you'd actually want to take if you wanted any ship's excursion at all. Personally, I avoid them like the plague and along with them Regent.

i never intend to cruise on Regent far too expensive

That's because of the "free" excursions!!!

We're two people who are very comfortable with the included excursions on Regent. We've done a certain number of the up-charge excursions and were quite pleased with virtually all of them. Unlike wripro, we find that there are many, many included excursions that we "actually want to take." I'd say that about 90% of them have been fine and dandy, with some misses. Plus we don't mind being on buses to get to various places of interest rather than private car. Indeed, sometimes we even prefer it (though I know that some dislike "group travel"). We're not big drinkers either, so we're aware that we're "paying for" those who are-- as the folks who rarely use the included excursions are "paying for" ours. Tc is correct that if you book far enough in advance, the likelihood is that you'll get your first choices. We've virtually never had a problem with that.

Have never sailed Silver Sea. Our first cruise was on Regent (Radisson) about a dozen years ago, and we've just had no interest in exploring other options.

As for Travel agents offering "deals": There are many who offer a percentage back of the cost of the cruise. Also, the lines themselves often offer "specials."

Have fun.

To add to what I said a few moments ago, it occurs to me to mention that the two main reasons why we've never tried Silver Sea are the smoking policy, which I believe is more lenient than Regent's, and the bed size. Bed size seems not to matter much to people (at least I don't often see it mentioned on CC), but it really does to us. Regent had the widest beds (almost as wide as American kings) of any of the other lines; all the other luxury lines that I checked had queen size beds. (I haven't checked in a while; perhaps bed size has increased on some other cruise lines.) Just thought I'd mention in case that's important to you.

Thanks everyone for the help! Spoke with silver seas, and they don't have the airfare, excursions included in their rates for 2017, so kind of hard to compare to regents at least "price wise" Last two cruises on Royal Caribbean doing med, I arranged own Business class airfare, several nts before and "Private excursions-based on trip advisor review" and thought we got a good deal. BUT I hate the crowds of Royal, hate the lunch buffet option, hate the lounges with chair hoggers(sure that happens everywhere) and the food won't be the gourmet food I would get on the luxury lines.

That said I will look into pricing Crystal Cruises as well, any comments on them?

I appreciate your help! As I said before it may be nice to have it all packaged together, but I may be able to get similar pricing when done separately and perhaps better excursions, not a fan of big group excursions.

Jean

Sounds like you should talk to a good TA who is knowledgeable about luxury cruise lines and he/she can answer all your questions.

even on the luxury lines you are better off to organise excursions by yourself or with some other people

on Crystal the Lido can be very crowded for breakfast as well , also on Seabourn with the closing down of MDR both for lunch as for breakfast

I did not hear anything so far about it this year ...

Crystal has bigger ships and great things to do. There are no crowds or lines. I have been on the Shadow in Alaska and loved it especially the room size with walk in robe even at entry level. I won't be going back until the ship is refitted though. The excursions on SS were great but expensive. You are better to organise your own if you wish to save money. Good luck..

It is interesting to see Crystal enter into the conversation. While I have thoughts as to why Crystal does not meet up in some areas to Silversea or Regent, I hesitate to make an unrelated post on this thread. Suffice it to say that one should look into the cabin/suite size and dining options on Crystal's older ships. Hopefully their new ships will have true open seating and the suites will be able to compete with Regent, Silversea and Seabourn.