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Seabourn versus Regent


Michaela Wild
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I believe Regent has no formal nights on cruises shorter than 16 nights. But Seabourn's formal nights are now optional so it's much more casual than it used to be. I wish everyone would just stop worry about about what they are going to wear. I see no such strong concern for the sights they'll see or the culture they'll experience.

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Honestly, no one on the ship recently talked very much about clothing.

 

They generally don't.

 

There was a couple on one of my cruises. They sat at the Observation Bar. She complained about falling dress standards to anyone who would listen while he quietly got sozzled.

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I wish everyone would just stop worry about about what they are going to wear. I see no such strong concern for the sights they'll see or the culture they'll experience.

 

Hallelujah, best comment I have read on dress codes.

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To David and Wendy - looking forward to your review in September. We just booked PG for the Marquesas in 2019 and are now targeting SB for first time in 2020. Hope to find a great Med itinerary with not too much in France since we’ve done that.

 

Nice!. Hope you love the Marquesas, we certainly did. We did that itinerary in 2008, wow, ten years ago, hard to believe.

 

I have high hopes for Seabourn, and will certainly write about it. Perhaps even while onboard, we'll see. Sea days are good for that.

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Regent is more expensive because it’s “all inclusive and free”. However you’re paying for that. If you book their more expensive tours you don’t get credit for the ones you’ve paid for with your fare. Also try to see how they mangle(d) singles.

 

The cost of the premium or "Choice" excursions is supposed to be offset by the cost of the free ones. I.e., they are cheaper than they otherwise would be. I say "supposed" because it's hard to prove that. We've been very pleased on Regent to do a mix of included and choice excursions, and last time spent about $400 total for a good mix on an 18-day cruise on Mariner. I love the fact that they include Business Air. For us, this is a huge advantage, although we still sometimes have taken the credit and booked our own.

 

I agree their single supplements are awful.

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The cost of the premium or "Choice" excursions is supposed to be offset by the cost of the free ones. I.e., they are cheaper than they otherwise would be. I say "supposed" because it's hard to prove that. We've been very pleased on Regent to do a mix of included and choice excursions, and last time spent about $400 total for a good mix on an 18-day cruise on Mariner. I love the fact that they include Business Air. For us, this is a huge advantage, although we still sometimes have taken the credit and booked our own.

 

I agree their single supplements are awful.

They do not include business air. It's factored into the cost of your cruise, Just like the "free" excursions.

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They do not include business air. It's factored into the cost of your cruise, Just like the "free" excursions.

 

This is always true. Nothing is free, it is a question of how one pays for it. For a non-cruise example, Canadian health care is not free; we pay for it in a different way than the US.

 

 

One reasonable strategy is to construct a spread sheet and include everything in it. The comparisons after doing this can be surprising. Of course, the numbers don't include personal preferences (I really dislike having to sign for a beer with lunch for example.)

 

 

Regarding business air, Regent gets a group rate and sometimes they pass some of the savings to their passengers, so their included business air ends up significantly cheaper than if you book your own.

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I believe Regent has no formal nights on cruises shorter than 16 nights. But Seabourn's formal nights are now optional so it's much more casual than it used to be. I wish everyone would just stop worry about about what they are going to wear. I see no such strong concern for the sights they'll see or the culture they'll experience.

 

Wripro, I appreciate all the useful advice you routinely give on these boards as an experienced

SB cruiser and one who regularly reads and comments. But in fairness, I think it misrepresents CC’s SB or other luxury cruisers to portray them as not expressing “strong concern for the sights they’ll see or culture they”ll experience.” There are plenty of threads and questions soliciting opinions about itinerary, excursion options, which spot is better than another, what is most interesting or representative of the area, etc.

 

People who are new are exploring dress codes, and regulars reply, because they understand they

1) want to respect the rules of the ship, and its traditions, and

2) know many pax enjoy dressing up (though the numbers are declining)

If they hate to dress up and do not, knowing others are expecting them to, it would be disrespectful to the line and to other pax counting on a certain environment, to then show up in shorts and a tank top with exposed hairy onychomycotic toes in thongs and a T shirt cleverly showing something like lizards humping, or with political in-your-face messages, while others are in formalwear (and they might not even be let into the dining room on some lines).

Some people decide to cruise one line instead of another that follows an identical itinerary because they think dress codes are stupid, or old-fashioned, or perhaps even because they believe they are above them, so asking in advance helps them plan to go on another line so they can properly relax without being rude or embarrassed when turned away.

 

Apart from following rules, and respect for other pax’ expectations on formal nights or otherwise, some of us enjoy looking at beautiful or interesting unusual clothing, usually worn by women, so we look! It is a small part of my enjoyment on-board. I see enough ugliness all week in my high stress profession. You have made clear you don’t get it, but let those of us who are visually aesthetically inclined (and also know that changes in fashion follow cultural changes) have some fun on our holidays observing, learning what we can expect to observe on what line, dressing up, or going elsewhere.

 

As somone now too ill to look good with bare shoulders, and who would fall and risk breaking a hip again in very high heels, I have worked out some appropriate compromises, so I can still enjoy the view on formal night if in the mood, or have room service course by course if having a bad day, or ho to the casual buffet. None of this interferes with my or other pax’ enjoyment of ports and whatever culture we can absorb in one day.

If I had to wear binding corsets in hot and humid weather, with no AC, like in the Victorian era, in my health I would rather not travel, so there are of course limits.

 

DH and I had tried Regent instead of SS where we started modern cruising because it was less formal ( DH works in high tech in very casual, nerd-replete silicon valley, so he was not used to fussing about or noticing clothes. SB has turned out a good fit for us so far, all-around.

 

Author Lynne Truss wrote a fun book about ten years ago called “ Talk to the Hand: The Utter Bloody Rudeness of the World Today,” which some here might appreciate.

 

Thanks again for all your contributions to this board.

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Catlover54, You sound like a delightful woman and I hope to meet you on a future cruise. I admire your aesthetics and understand that you enjoy observing lovely formal evening clothes. I do as well--but hate packing them. I have a lovely formal midi length dress and I enjoy wearing it in Dallas but I am loathe to transport it across the world. I took it to Houston by plane for a formal occasion and found that it did not travel well. For that reason, I've opted for more practical options for formal night--still fitting within the parameters and, on our last cruise, I felt that I fit the norm in the MDR. I will always take something appropriate for formal night, even if we end up in a more casual venue, because I like to be prepared. On our June Ovation cruise, there were about 4 or 5 women who wore true evening gowns. The rest of us tried to approach formal, respecting the dress code.

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Carlover54,

 

I certainly appreciate your point of view re: dress codes and thank you for your thoughts on my posts.

 

I guess I am just reacting to the constant obsession with the dress code. Nobody really cares except the repeat posters on these boards who want to influence the way others dress. I give my fellow passengers enough credit to assume they will dress properly without repeated threads on what proper is. And is someone is not dressed properly it simply does not bother me. I certain;y would never let it affect my enjoyment of a cruise.

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Carlover54,

 

I certainly appreciate your point of view re: dress codes and thank you for your thoughts on my posts.

 

I guess I am just reacting to the constant obsession with the dress code. Nobody really cares except the repeat posters on these boards who want to influence the way others dress. I give my fellow passengers enough credit to assume they will dress properly without repeated threads on what proper is. And is someone is not dressed properly it simply does not bother me. I certain;y would never let it affect my enjoyment of a cruise.

My thoughts EXACTLY.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Well you will insist in splitting hairs.

This is NOT splitting hairs. It is FACT. Regent factors the air and the excursions into the cost of the cruise. If anyone want stop delude himself that he/she is getting something for free...go for it.

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Just got back from a Regent cruise on Mariner to Alaska a few days ago, and sailed Seabourn in the Med last summer. For context, have also sailed SeaDream, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian.

 

I think I can definitively say we prefer Seabourn by a mile. Regent is very nice, and I think had I NOT have been on SeaDream/Seabourn I would have found it spectacular compared to the other cruise lines of the world.

 

Food and drink is free and plentiful, there are always staff around in some form or another, the ship is large enough that there are always quiet places to curl up and watch the scenery or read a book, and the balcony suites are great. I also just loved Alaska and have only wonderful things to say about the itinerary as a basic, intro to Alaska trip.

 

Now the comparisons. And I FULLY admit this is nitpicky, but we're talking luxury cruising. If I wasn't going to nitpick the details, I wouldn't be on this type of cruise.

 

- Regent costs more on average than Seabourn. This is (I am guessing??) because they include flights and excursions. We did not take the flight, and instead got $600 taken off of our overall bill. We did have transfers from airport to hotel to cruise in Vancouver, which we since learned were charged $70 per. The walk from hotel to cruise was 5 minutes downhill and we skipped the bus entirely.

 

- Excursions also fill up EXTREMELY quickly. We ended up deciding to do 2 premium (additional cost) excursions, and fortunately cleared the waitlist for the 2 non-premium we chose. Quality wise, they were all great, no obvious difference between free and non.

 

- Same with spa reservations - no appointments were available. Ever. The ENTIRE CRUISE.

 

- our suite door was left wide open one day, I don't know for how long. We came back from an excursion and the bolt was thrown to keep the door open...we only noticed AFTER showering and realizing we could hear outside voices very closely.

 

- Basic maintenance wasn't there, surprising for a boat that was just refurbished. The toilet in our suite clogged one morning, and flooded our entire bathroom another. A panel in the ceiling rattled all night one night, keeping us both up. At least one elevator was out of service every day.

 

- Also basic service - there weren't any towels when I got out of the hot tub (in the cold, in Alaska). Never saw our room steward after the first day, and had to leave notes asking for more towels and the mini bar to be re-stocked. Cleaning rags were left in the room twice. Cups would be left on tables around the ship for a long time. I couldn't find a napkin anywhere in the coffee bar. Staff would often be congregated near a service door chatting for a noticeable amount of time.

 

- Restaurant reservations for the two specialty places requiring them also filled up fast - opening at midnight, and gone by 6am. We were part of a party at 7, and could only make "adjoining table" reservations in advance. Once on board, they did make adjustments to accomodate us - we were given a shared table at 6pm (restaurants normally opening at 6:30) for our two special dinner nights.

 

- The staff will say no or not know answers, and often are not particularly helpful. I got an "I don't know" when I asked for a ladies room the first time I was on the ship, I heard one woman being loudly told that she would need to go to another deck if she wanted soy for her coffee (at one of the bars)...little things like that. There definitely were staff who were very kind and helpful, but that was more the exception than the norm. In general the staff was more heavily worked than on Seabourn (for example: one bartender doing service for 3 resturants and a stand up bar), and just had less time & were not empowered to help. Also only saw the cruise director on television (the "Mariner Today" TV show)...never in person.

 

- Wine selection was okay, I found things I liked, although I usually had to ask for them as they weren't the wines of the day (very similar to Seabourn where you just have to ask). Liquor collection was not anywhere near as good. We spotted Pinnacle Whipped Cream vodka the last day, which was just hysterical.

 

- Passengers. I have never seen so many miserable looking people on a vacation! I am used to saying hi when I pass people in the hallway, and generally tend to get to know a fair number of people on board by the time the cruise is over (and I'm normally not a huge extrovert in real life). In general, people were not friendly and would not even smile in a shared elevator. Dunno if it was just this cruise, Alaska, more families, Regent...whatever it was, it was noticeable and very strange.

 

- Food was much better in general on Seabourn. Regent had a significant lack of fruit, vegetables and salads on Regent, with most veggie preparations being very overcooked or dripping in butter. They were also very small - a quarter cup of corn as a side. Seabourn's specialty restaurant is miles above any of Regent's as well.

 

- Regent did go out of their way to make a special cake for a birthday we celebrated on board, and decorated the celebrant's room, which was very much appreciated. I think the difference here is more that we had to ask for it, follow up on it daily to make sure it was on their radar, and so on. Seabourn's unexpected "wow moments" are real and we definitely experienced those last summer. Everything that happened on the regent ship happened because we made it happen.

 

So I wouldn't NOT recommend Regent or tell someone not to go, but when comparing the two...I definitely suggest Seabourn over Regent.

 

OK I've rambled enough, happy to answer any questions if anyone has, but will stop here.

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This is NOT splitting hairs. It is FACT. Regent factors the air and the excursions into the cost of the cruise. If anyone want stop delude himself that he/she is getting something for free...go for it.

 

I never said it was free. You come across as quite hostile. I'm out of this.

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Yes I agree. The now, not so new, menu in the Regent main dining room has excellent always available choices. Far better and more comprehensive than its three competitor lines. One of the reasons why Regent is top of our list/

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This is NOT splitting hairs. It is FACT. Regent factors the air and the excursions into the cost of the cruise. If anyone want stop delude himself that he/she is getting something for free...go for it.

 

 

 

The post you were responding to called it “included”, not free. That is an appropriate term IMO.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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