Regent Voyager & Seabourn - a comparative review

We had planned to go to Europe for Christmas and New Year but these plans were changed when successive flights were cancelled due to the snow at Heathrow Airport. Rather than mope around the house, we called our TA and asked if he was aware of any cruises that might be available. He suggested Regent Voyager, leaving from Ft. Lauderdale on December 27th and arriving in San Francisco on January 13th. We liked the itinerary and had heard good things about Regent so we booked up and off we went.

We had never cruised with Regent before but are fairly experienced Seabourn cruisers. So, naturally, we compared and contrasted. The purpose of this comparative review is to share our perspective with others. Please note that we are comparing with the larger Seabourn ships, Odyssey and Sojourn.

The Ship

Voyager is a larger ship than the Seabourn ones we are used to with some 700 passengers as opposed to around 450 on Sojourn & Odyssey or 220 on the smaller Seabourn ships. Public areas are on decks 4, 5, 6 and 11. There is also a jogging/walking track on deck 12 (a very nice feature - 7 laps equals one mile). Overall, we felt the décor was more “plush” and a little bit more traditional than on Seabourn. On the other hand, there was less public deck space and only one pool on deck 11. Consequently, deck 11 was always crowded.

There were four bars, 5 restaurants a coffee bar, a shopping area, casino and various other facilities. Overall, these facilities were broadly equivalent to the facilities to be found on the Seabourn ships. Other decks were uniquely for guest accommodation and each guest deck had a self-service laundry with two washers and two dryers. On Seabourn there are just two self-service laundries. There was also a Spa and a gym on deck 6. The gym was adequate and about the same size as the ones on Odyssey and Sojourn.

The suite

Our suite on Seven Seas Voyager (Deluxe) was broadly equivalent to a Veranda suite on Seabourn. The suite itself felt a little bigger although the veranda was a little smaller. In particular, it seemed to be better laid out than the Seabourn suite with more space to move around and a larger walk-in closet. Judicious use of mirrors may have helped create the feeling that it was larger. There were also more US style electric outlets than on Seabourn. The bathroom was slightly larger but not quite as luxuriously appointed. There was just one sink and the stand-alone shower was larger. The TV was larger than on Seabourn but there seemed to be fewer channels available. We were disappointed that there was no Ipod docking station. Apparently, that is only available in the larger suites. As on Seabourn, we also enjoyed the welcome bottle of champagne and bowl of fruit, refreshed daily, which awaited us.

Food, Bars & Restaurants

We generally enjoyed breakfast in the Veranda. This was a restaurant at the back of the ship and was broadly equivalent to the Colonnade on Seabourn. While there is an outdoor seating area it is smaller than in the Colonnade. The quality and variety on offer was generally good. For breakfast, in addition to the buffet selection, you were able to get omelets and other dishes prepared to order. We had lunch twice in the Veranda, which was somewhat average but the dinner, usually a Mediterranean theme, was excellent.

Compass Rose was the main restaurant. The quality of food was good but the range of dishes on offer seemed to be a less adventurous than in the MDR on Seabourn. Compass Rose was also open for lunch, which was very good. The seating formula was the same with open seating and the option of sharing or being on your own.

Signatures is a French style restaurant which was reservation only. We ate there on three occasions and the food was excellent on two; some food was a bit overcooked on the “dinner and a show” night. Prime 7 is a steak house, which was also reservation only. We ate there twice and it was equally very good. We found the system for making reservations for these specialty restaurants to be a bit cumbersome. There is no direct equivalent of this on Seabourn.

There was a grill on the pool deck (deck 11), which also did themed barbecues on sea days and where a light, self-serve, breakfast was available in the morning. We found this to be good for lunch but felt that it could have had longer opening hours. Unlike its Seabourn equivalent, it was not open for dinner.

There was no equivalent to Restaurant Two on Seabourn, which offers a tasting menu.

For those who like afternoon tea, this was a very fine affair with an excellent range of sandwiches, pastries and cakes on offer. It seemed better attended than on Seabourn, perhaps because Trivia was on every day.

Drinks and wines were similar to those we have experienced on Seabourn and were generally very acceptable. Overall, we found that the quality and variety of the food on offer was equivalent to what we have found on Seabourn.

The Pool Bar on deck 11 was fine except that smoking was allowed on one side of the bar and it closed at 6pm (see smoking section of this review). Given that we were in the tropics and the weather was warm, longer hours would have been preferable. The Horizon lounge was broadly equivalent to The Club on Seabourn and was on deck 5 aft. We found that to be an enjoyable location for drinks and cabaret. The Observation Lounge was forward on Deck 11. We used it on a couple of occasions but it was less well appointed than its Seabourn equivalent. There was no public deck space outside of it, like on Seabourn. The Voyager Lounge was on deck 4 and was also billed as the “night club”. We did not use this lounge very much, but did notice that smoking was allowed in one section of it.

Service

Service was good but not great compared to Seabourn. Other than our Stewardess, we were never referred to by name and there was a general lack of that personal touch from the staff. In some cases we noticed a lack of staff or fewer staff to serve passengers than we would have expected on Seabourn. As a result, there were occasions where we were looking/calling for wait staff, where service seemed to be slow and there were at least two occasions where our drink orders were forgotten.

Language was also somewhat of an issue. Most of the serving staff did not have English as a first language and on several occasions we had to make multiple repetitions to have our order understood. We also witnessed misunderstanding between bar staff and servers who were trying to have their orders filled.

The Cruise Director was much less present than we are used to on Seabourn and seemed more comfortable doing video recordings (which were broadcast on Channel one of the TV) than in actually meeting and interacting with the guests. This could be attributable to the staff and ship itself being larger.

Activities and Itinerary

One of the attractions of this cruise was the itinerary and we were especially looking forward to visiting Cartagena in Colombia. We were, therefore, very disappointed when this was downgraded to a “technical” stop and no passengers were allowed to disembark. The Captain’s reason for this was that adverse weather had delayed us by several hours and he was concerned about missing our slot for the Panama Canal. This begs the question as to whether our itinerary was so dependent on optimal sea conditions that bad weather could disrupt it. Many people also wondered why we did not leave earlier from the, relatively uninteresting, Cayman Islands given that the Captain must have known what the weather forecast was. To my untrained eyes it seemed like bad management/scheduling.

On another occasion, when leaving Puerto Chiapas in Mexico, the Captain (or whoever was in charge on the bridge) misread the swell, turned the ship to give the pilot some lee in which to disembark and causing a significant roll for several minutes. A large quantity of china and glasses were smashed as objects went flying. More importantly, three children who were in the pool could have been seriously hurt as could others who were out and about in the ship. One child was fortunate that a staff member reacted quickly to the situation and got her out of the pool. The roll was so pronounced that you could see the bottom of the pool as the water moved with it.

We have experienced missed ports and bad weather on Seabourn. Indeed, worse weather than we experienced on this cruise. On those occasions we felt that the captain handled the situation better and gave more complete information to the guests.

Most tours were free (there were some tours that were charged for) and this represented a significant cost saving over the Seabourn equivalent (probably $1000+ for two people). The tour experience was very good. Despite being free, they were just as professional as anything we had with Seabourn. We had received $200 shipboard credit from our TA and, unless you use the Spa or shops a lot, it is quite hard to spend. It is very agreeable being able to disembark at the end of the cruise with out having to settle a fairly large bill.

There was a range of activities available on board including deck games, bridge, trivia, etc. – equivalent to Seabourn. There was also a paddle ball court and bocce/croquet area on deck 12, which Seabourn does not have, and a larger “golf” area. On the first day, there was a 30 minute “block party” which was a great way to meet neighbors. We took part in the trivia which happened every day at 4.30pm (not just sea days) and which was usually very well attended. It was just 15 questions and went more quickly than we would have liked. Also, each session was stand-alone and not cumulative, so it was easier for people to play some days but not others. However, it lacked the team interactions and (friendly) rivalries that you get on Seabourn. On sea days, the trivia was followed by prize bingo where guests pay for their cards, but prizes are in cash.

For organized “prize” activities, Regent awards “points” that can be exchanged for prizes at the end of the cruise, whereas Seabourn gives prizes after each event. The Regent system provides the opportunity to get better prizes for those who are active in these activities.

Overall, the entertainment was very good with a better range of shows and entertainment staff than on Seabourn. Being a larger ship, there were more entertainers and the guest entertainers who came on board were of a very high standard.

Smoking

It is with some trepidation that I bring up the emotive subject of smoking, but this review would be incomplete without it. Smoking was allowed in one section of the pool deck and on one side of the pool bar. While Seabourn also has some smoking areas, the ventilation is better and the smoking is not as noticeable. I may be wrong but I don’t think that Seabourn allows cigar smoking in public areas. There were a couple of individuals who smoked cigars at the Voyager pool bar every afternoon and the smell was very noticeable on the pool deck and also when walking on deck 12. Since this was the only pool area and outside bar, it was unavoidable if you wanted to enjoy these amenities. According to the information pack in our suite, smoking of cigars, cigarillos and pipes was not allowed at the pool bar, although according to the information at the pool bar, such smoking was allowed. Therefore, we complained to reception and were told that cigars were allowed at the pool bar despite written information to the contrary, but that they would inform the executive concierge of our complaint. We received no further acknowledgement of our complaint and the cigar smoking continued unabated. As there is only one pool bar, this is a significant negative for us and could be a deal-breaker for future Regent cruises.

In addition to the above, there is a closed smoking/cigar lounge on deck 4, smoking was also allowed in one corner of the Voyager Lounge and in the outside area behind the bar on deck 5. Additionally, smoking was allowed in the casino and this could be very unpleasant given that the ventilation was not great (despite a portable air cleaner being in use).

Conclusion

Both cruise experiences have much to commend them and there are many similarities between them. On both Seabourn and Regent the suites and the dining experience were comparable and excellent. The larger Seabourn ships are better laid out than Regent Voyager and offer more choice of public deck space. We also felt that, overall, service on Seabourn is superior to the service we received on Regent. On the other hand, the inclusion of tours and the payment of air fare gives Regent a definite price advantage over Seabourn. However, in choosing between a future Seabourn or a future Regent cruise, the smoking issue highlighted in the previous section could be a deal breaker for us.

Thank you Charles for your very well written review!

Host Dan

BTW- Seabourn allows pipe, cigar and cigarette smoking on the port side of deck 9 - sky bar.

Thank you Charles for your very well written review!

 

Host Dan

 

BTW- Seabourn allows pipe, cigar and cigarette smoking on the port side of deck 9 - sky bar.

I knew they allowed smoking there but was unaware that pipes and cigars were allowed. This is possibly because it has never really been noticeable for us and we have never found the smell to be sufficient to be noteworthy.

Thanks for the comprehensive and fair review. You really can't go wrong on either line.

Very well written and non-judgemental. Thanking you for taking the time. For a few years I have antipated my first luxury cruise. Prior to the launch of Odyssey, I had planned on Regent (Voyager). Your review helped confirm my decision to book with Seabourn. Your narrative on the smoking issue was excellent. I am a little concerned about the Seabourn offices moving to Seattle with integration? into HAL. I took one HAL cruise and will probably never do it again. I am hoping Seabourn can keep their own staff on the ships. Although I do not like hearing that people are losing their jobs, I am less concerned about HAL Seattle office staff managing some of the Seabourn positions. Hopefully they will get more training and be up to the task.

Having sailed with both Seabourn (Pride and Odyssey) and Regent (Mariner) I was interested to read this comparison and pretty much agree with the conclusions. The main difference would be that as ardent non smokers we were not bothered by smoking on either line. We had been concerned that the fact that Seabourn permits smoking in suites would mean we might be troubled by smells from previous occupants but this was not our experience.

The comments on service mirror our experience. We are not at all bothered about not being remembered by name (just as soon they forgot us!) but our experience has been that Seabourn is generally a notch and a bit up on Regent in this regard and that on our Odyssey cruise last summer was truly excellent, better than the Pride (which was v good) and Mariner (also good).

In my view they are both good products if you can afford them and certainly the comparison has not put us off Regent, we are sailing on Wednesday from FLL around the Western Caribbean.

Thanks again for the balanced and thoughtful post.

Although it's been > 2 years, and 3 Christmases ago, I had a similar experience.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=895854&highlight=regent+voyager+review

Although it's been > 2 years, and 3 Christmases ago, I had a similar experience.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=895854&highlight=regent+voyager+review

Reading your review reminds me that we did have children on board, especially on the first leg to Puntarenas, and they were 1) extremely well catered for by the ship/crew, 2) extremely well behaved and polite and 3) somewhat unobtrusive (they didn't want to be with adults either). There were no toddlers in the hot-tubs.

I am not going to comment further on the smoking. I have said what I intended to say. However, I would sail with Regent again if the itinerary was right.

Charles,

Thanks for taking the time to write up your review. Very well written and informative. Sharlene and I will miss you guys on our upcoming Hong Kong-Singapore on the Sojourn.:D

Hope you and Susan are well.

Cheers!