ChucktownSteve

It's a promotional insulated beverage (bottle or can) holder; usually made of neoprene with a printed company's logo handed out for free.It's supposed to keep the bottle/can cold. In Australia it might be referred to as “stubby holder”.

Yeah they do if cold liquid. That's why I put them in a koozie. 😎

It appears from this post that the most important aspect to you for cruising is price regardless of what you get. Would you say that's accurate? You can always find cheap cabins on ships that don't sell because an empty cabin is lost revenue forever. Good for you getting the cheap prices. Many others have different priorities though and are willing to pay based upon value. Cheapest is not always the best value.

For those who consider food important to their cruise experience as I do, I've attached a sample of Regent's Main Dinning Room, Compass Rose, every day menu. You want lobster, Dover Sole or scallops every night without an up charge? How about a Filet or Veal Medallion? No problem! Then there's the specialty entree menu which changes daily. If you download the attached pic, you should be able to enlarge it. https://www.rssc.com/experience/cuisine/compass-rose

I believe you're correct. What I like about Regent's bar set up is that you request two of your preferred liquor brands. They deliver in liter sizes. Plus they replenish them should you drink the bottle empty. Last cruise I requested three...Walker Black, Grey Goose and Seagrams VO.Not a problem. Their aluminum refillable water bottles are a nice touch too as a bring on excursions and take home.

Is neither an option?

@Zitsky, Before recently booking a Regent Grandeur cruise, I compared it with the Celebrity Ascent. Both are new ships sailing in the Caribbean February 2026 with overlapping dates. I had a two category suite upgrade during the Regent promotion last month. I stripped out the included Air and hotel for calculation since I won't be using them. I priced a Regent Concierge.Suite but booked a Penthouse Suite for the same price. I also prefer 14 day cruises which Regent offered to the Southern Caribbean but Celebrity only had an 11 day sailing. Celebrity used to offer a lot of 14 day cruises which I booked often. While the Regent sailing has the ABCs which I wanted, Celebrity doesn't go there on their longer cruise itinerary. The Regent Penthouse is 561-644 Ft2. The Celebrity Ascent Celebrity Suite is 501 Ft2 and the Royal Suite is 759 Ft2 . Since the CS is priced much lower than the RS and the Regent Penthouse Ft2 falls between the two Celebrity, I used the CS size for price comparison. I also included the cost of gratuities on the Celebrity booking since Regent includes that. Both include Butler, WiFi and premium drinks. Celebrity includes Luminae but no specialty restaurants. I've eaten in Luminae; wasn't impressed but was bored with the offerings.The Regent MD, Compass Rose. is (IMO) far superior even with their every day menu of USDA Prime steaks and a wide seafood assortment. Then there are three Regent Specialty restaurants included in every reservation. The regent bonus' are: included excursions in every port, daily valet laundry returned same day, 746 pax vs. Ascent's 3,260 pax, and a pax to crew ratio of 1.37 vs. Ascent's ratio of 2.32 I prefer more intimate personalized service regardless of which suite you're in since Regent's whole ship is only suites. Therefore the whole ship is the Retreat. After all that, Regent was still priced $52 pp/pn lower than the Celebrity Suite for the larger Regent Ft2suite. And that is why I booked Regent over Celebrity for this cruise. Regent was the better itinerary and value to me. YMMV. However I've found the best time to snatch a booking's best price is when they first release the itineraries. As a side note: I've taken the air credit on our previous three Regent cruises.

Good luck with that. For us, that mass market cruise line ship has already sailed until they change course back to better quality/value. JMHO.

Here's another consideration. The person who receives commission on the booking, still receives their full commission on the cancelled cruise.

The "new normal" due to covid and the supply chain? 😆

I believe I was were you are now. I'm halfway between you two in age. A few years ago I did an analysis of my retirement account with very conservative returns and very high spending for vacations to see how much would be left at age 92, if I lived that long. I wound up changing my cruising paradigm. I didn't see why I should leave so much to nieces and nephews. Before retiring, I was a workaholic and planning for retirement. I did take cruises but not as many. Plus the market has been exceptionally good to me. That's when I began elevating to premium and luxury cruise lines. I found I liked it more than mass market lines on large ships. I enjoy the variety of various itineraries on a cruise while gaining a glimpse of places I've not been before. So many places to see and so little time before my sell by date.Then I look at cost pp/pn with what's included. IMO, I've also found value at the higher cruise level. Those that enjoy destination inclusive resorts or large cities in upscale accommodations do what they enjoy more than cruising. I prefer getting away on the water. It relaxes me more between ports.

I haven't sailed this ship yet but looking forward to it. But it appears there is a wall between the two. Here's a link to to a 360 degree virtual tour through Grandeur's Penthouse Suite. You can drag and "walk" throughout the layout. https://www.rssc.com/discover-more/virtual-suite-tours/seven-seas-grandeur/penthouse-suite

You got a great price on Eclipse. Bookings must have been weak on that sailing. I've always found the best time to book Regent is when the itineraries are first released and when they do a two category free upgrade. During the pandemic while Celebrity was raising prices dramatically to eat up all those FFC which weren't as prevalent on Regent, Regent was MUCH less pp/pd and an incredible deal. That's why I booked three sailings then. Unlike dynamic pricing, it appears Regent raises the price at the beginning of each month. Watch for it.

Yeah I know but that's a copy and paste so it is how they market it. That's why the word free was in caps. Marketing. lol I wasn't going to retype the list. One thing that makes a difference to me is ship size. Ascent has 3,260 pax while I prefer the smaller ships which have advantages. Regent's largest ships are 750 pax with a higher crew/pax ratio. They also tend to include some ports the larger ships don't include. Being more port intensive means I'm usually not as energetic at night. Later port times also makes a difference.

When we booked a 2/2026 Regent Grandeur 14 day/ 8 ports Southern Caribbean (including the ABCs) last week, we got a 2 category free upgrade to Penthouse suite; (561-626 SQ FT). Without air or the pre-cruise hotel, it came to $782 pp/pn. Included are: FREE Unlimited Shore Excursions FREE Unlimited Premium Beverages, Including Fine Wines and Spirits FREE Open Bars and Lounges Plus In-Suite Mini-Bar Replenished Daily FREE Pre-Paid Gratuities FREE three Specialty Restaurants FREE 24-Hour Room Service FREE Unlimited Wi-Fi FREE Daily Valet Laundry Service PENTHOUSE SUITES AND HIGHER INCLUDE: FREE Personal Butler and more On Celebrity Ascent, also in 2/2026, an 11 night/6 port Southern Caribbean (without the ABCs) in a Celebrity Suite; (501 SQ FT) is $836 pp/pn. It includes the Luminae specialty restaurant only, premium liquor, butler, gratuity and wi-fi. Since the Regent Penthouse Suite falls between the Celebrity Suit and Royal Suite, (which is 759 SQ FT), I didn’t price the latter because the Celebrity Suite is already more expensive. IMO, Regent has had the best food I’ve eaten at sea with a wide variety of everyday options of upscale seafood and USDA Prime steak not available on Celebrity without an up charge. Our last three cruises were on Regent totaling 43 nights. We have three booked on Azamara and one on Regent. Celebrity used to be our go to until about three years ago just after we hit elite+ and they shortened many cruises. We like 14 to 18 day sailings. However too many cuts finally chased us to find other value. Unlike the title of this thread, in my case, Celebrity is more expensive than Regent.

Forgot to mention...full screen the video to get a much better view!

P1 aft view is my favorite. I love spending time on the veranda watching the wake and the horizon at sunrise. This was taken from 6090 on Quest December 2021. Our next three AZ cruises are aft facing on deck 7. Also the P1 includes internet, premium liquor pkg and some obc. But please don't book any P1's on cruises I want to take. It's like recommending a good restaurant to lots of people; then you can't get a reservation yourself when they become so popular. 😁 Azamara Dec aft view.mp4

In keeping with what some others have posted, I just did a South Caribbean cruise comparison with Celebrity and Regent Seven Seas for a February cruise. Granted they’re one year apart, but Celebrity hasn’t released their 2026 itineraries yet. Regent Seven Seas Grandeur (2023) eight ports for 14 nights, has 746 passengers at capacity with 1.37 passenger/crew ratio. four ports for 11 nights, has 3,260 passengers at capacity, with 2.32 passenger/crew ratio. Grandeur 561-626 sq. ft. Penthouse suite with personalized premium liquors in suite and around ship, daily laundry, Wi-Fi, four specialty restaurants, gratuities and excursions in every port included in price. $743 pp/pn. BTW the everyday menu in the main dining room is far superior to Celebrity’s food offerings. They include Prime steaks, scallops, lobster, shrimp and more besides the daily special menus. Beyond 501 sq. ft. Celebrity Suite. Specialty restaurants, daily laundry, premium liquor package and excursions NOT included. $1,034 pp/pn. Why would someone select a Celebrity suite over a Regent suite based upon this?

Wow thankx. I was just about to pull the trigger on a Regent FP cruise for Feb 2026 until I saw this. I then looked up the weather info. There went that cruise! Two of our Three Regent cruises to Eastern Canada and Alaska were rain nearly daily. Did not make my spousal unit happy. Ergo, note to self...avoid rainy seasons. That's one grief factor I can avoid. 😁

This was posted by excitedofharpenden (Phil) in 2020. However what's available will probably be dependent on where you are sailing and what's available when they provision. I wouldn't expect anything good to be included in the non elevated package. I've attached a downloadable PDF of the current AZ website's beverage packages with included brands ...of course subject to substitution. AZ beverage-packages.pdf

I feel 21 years to get a restaurant reservation is just too long! 🤣

That may be the case in some ports however I have booked directly in foreign ports over the years with cruise excursion tour vendors or their competitors. Sometimes the cruise tour vendors were so booked they couldn't accept additional customers due to lack of resources.

Thankx. I didn't know if AZ uses internal employees or not. Others I have sailed on have used excursion companies on board. However whether employees or not, the only way to generate revenue is to mark up their tour operator cost. Thus always more than booking on your own with the identical tour operator. The difference is profit margins charged.

I don't know if this helps but I used to live in a tourism cruise port on the east coast. It was a well known fact that whatever the tour companies charged, the cruise ships usually doubled their regular rate on the same tours so people could walk off the ship and book the same for much less. I've also observed that some cruise lines use a vendor as their excursion company onboard. Does anyone know if this is the case on Azamara or they are internal employees?

TY Phil and Betsey. In your opinions, have you experienced the Chef's table and is it worth the new $125/pp charge?