We have never been on Regent....

[Pipkins]

We are ardent Seabourn cruisers, and sailed on the new Sojourn two months ago, having previously been on the smaller yachts. In earlier days we have been on Crystal twice, which we found a bit stuffy, and Royal Caribbean - which was an early days mistake!

 

Seen an itinerary for Navigator for September 12th 2011, which looks attractive - a three week cruise. Any advice would be welcome. We tend to book first level balcony, but comfortable beds, good food, a choice of reasonable wines, are the most important things to us. We are late 50's.

 

Thanks!

[bamadad]

Pipkins,

 

My wife and I are booked on that cruise. It will be our second cruise on Regent (Alaska last year on the Mariner) and the first on the Navigator. We are big fans of the Regent experience and looking forward to 3 weeks together (without our wonderful teen and pre-teen children). I do not think you will disappointed in the food, wine or cabins.

[kvisf]

We have not sailed with Seabourn, so can't offer comparison comments, but have sailed Regent three times (Mariner twice, Navigator once this Spring) and I suspect you will like the experience very much. The Navigator's suites are very nice indeed, the food is uniformly good to excellent, and the included wines on all our cruises have been more than satisfactory, with a wide range of choices. To us, Navigator seemed to have more "personality" than Mariner, perhaps because it is smaller, perhaps it was just the chemistry of the crew on that particular voyage.

 

Just one recommendation and one comment. The recommendation is that you should not book in the aft section of the ship, as even modest high seas will produce noticeable vibration there, unless that doesn't bother you. The comment is that the ship has no forward observation lounge, and the only reservations-required restaurant, Prime 7, has a strange and rather off-putting configuration (though the food's quite good if upscale steakhouse is your thing).

 

Those are minor issues and the overall shipboard experience was really delightful.

[mkfussbudget]

We are ardent Seabourn cruisers, and sailed on the new Sojourn two months ago, having previously been on the smaller yachts. In earlier days we have been on Crystal twice, which we found a bit stuffy, and Royal Caribbean - which was an early days mistake!

 

Seen an itinerary for Navigator for September 12th 2011, which looks attractive - a three week cruise. Any advice would be welcome. We tend to book first level balcony, but comfortable beds, good food, a choice of reasonable wines, are the most important things to us. We are late 50's.

 

Thanks!

 

Hi Pipkins,

 

My husband and I have been on 2 Radisson/Regent cruises (to the Greek Isles/Istanbul and Alaska) in the past, and are soon to embark on a biggie from Sydney to Auckland, all three cruises on 3 different vessels. Each experience was so great that we keep coming back.

 

I can't speak to the Seabourn or Crystal experiences, but here are the reasons we keep choosing Regent (not necessarily in order of importance):

 

1. All inclusive. Hate the idea of being nickle-and-dimed (or perhaps I should say $20-and-$50-ed) to death.

 

2. Really large, luxurious cabins. Love love love that separate "living room"!

 

3. Restaurant-style eating; no set dining times or dining companions. WE can choose when, where and with whom to eat.

 

4. Free excursions (see point number 1)

 

5. Staff and service - again, don't know about other lines, but our experience with Regent has made us believe again in the old-fashioned concept of fabulous service with a smile.

 

6. (Maybe this should be #1): The general type of Regent clientele, which we find to be very sophisticated without being snobbish or pretentious. We have met passengers who can (and probably do) take multiple, expensive trips each year. Others, like us, may need to save a bit and plan ahead for a wonderful "splurge." It doesn't seem to matter; we always feel comfortable with our shipmates.

 

So, as the saying goes: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. That's why we keep coming back.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Susan

[wripro]

Other than the included excursions there's no need to point any of this out to A SB passenger. They're both good so if you like an itinerary why not try it?

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I haven't had the luck to try a Seabourn trip, but I am booked on my 10th Regent trip coming up this fall. Regent is very nice, the standard staterooms are really great, on Nav almost all with balconies. Navigator has some of the intimacy that I suspect Seabourn prides itself in, being the smallest ship, not much choice of alternative restaurants. But a very nice ship.

 

So I think you won't have a bad experience if you like the itinerary. Then you can make your own judgements about which line you like best. I suspect you will find it neither stuffy nor pretentious, both qualities that I have (probably mistakenly) associated with Seabourn!

[Host Dan]

I suspect you will find it neither stuffy nor pretentious, both qualities that I have (probably mistakenly) associated with Seabourn!

Yes, you are most definately mistaken! :)

 

Host Dan

[laryrob]

We are ardent Seabourn cruisers, and sailed on the new Sojourn two months ago, having previously been on the smaller yachts. In earlier days we have been on Crystal twice, which we found a bit stuffy, and Royal Caribbean - which was an early days mistake!

 

Seen an itinerary for Navigator for September 12th 2011, which looks attractive - a three week cruise. Any advice would be welcome. We tend to book first level balcony, but comfortable beds, good food, a choice of reasonable wines, are the most important things to us. We are late 50's.

 

Thanks!

We love Regent for all the reasons you list;we were on the SYD-NZ cruise last year and are on the CPR to Rio one this year in Dec. The beds are very comfortable(I have multiple replacement parts from youthful sports injuries and slept better than at home),the wines were very good and if you dont like the day's selection,ask for something else(no problem). Food was also very good and if you want something not on the menu that night-again-just ask. The Staff couldn't have been more accomodating.

In addition,the passengers are also very interesting-last year there were entrepeneurs,attorneys,judges,(I'm a lawyer ),an author, a wine distributor,a cowboy etc. virtually all suites have balconys and are nicely appointed. If you are offered an upgrade it to a penthouse or higher its usually very reasonable and you should take it.

We are very active people in our "just 60s" who cruised only when forced when our kids were younger and vowed to avoid it at all cost in the future until one of my partners who is very particular touted Regent when we mentioned we wanted to go to Aus and NZ last year. We weren't at all disappointedd.

[Travelcat2]

Having not been on Seabourn, I have read on the boards that many loyal Seabourn passengers prefer the "triplets" over the newer, larger ships. I suspect part of this has to do with the intimacy of very small ships that is difficult to obtain on large ships. As you know, the Navigator is slightly larger than the Sojourn. So, if you were comfortable on the Sojourn, the size of the Navigator should be fine.

 

I do suggest booking a mid-ship suite on the lower levels (which you mentioned you like) as the ship has an aft vibration that you should avoid. The Navigator is a lovely ship. While you may decide to continue sailing mostly on Seabourn, switching to other luxury lines for the itinerary should work out well (we have two non-Regent cruises booked -- based solely on itinerary and will no doubt continue to be Regent loyalists).:)

[Pipkins]

We are ardent Seabourn cruisers, and sailed on the new Sojourn two months ago, having previously been on the smaller yachts. In earlier days we have been on Crystal twice, which we found a bit stuffy, and Royal Caribbean - which was an early days mistake!

 

Seen an itinerary for Navigator for September 12th 2011, which looks attractive - a three week cruise. Any advice would be welcome. We tend to book first level balcony, but comfortable beds, good food, a choice of reasonable wines, are the most important things to us. We are late 50's.

 

Thanks!

 

Thank you all for your input, which is much appreciated, and has been most helpful.