Anyone been on Seabourn or Silversea within the past year?

[ivyleaguegent]

Hello,

 

We are Crystal refugees looking for a new home.  Just got off of a 12 day cruise on Seabourn Quest (we posted a thorough review on the Seabourn CC Board).  We are in the process of booking our next cruise to Europe on either Silversea or Regent and would appreciate any comparison of Regent (particularly the Navigator) to Silversea and Seabourn from folks who were recently on one of those lines and are frequent or infrequent Regent cruisers.

 

Thank you.

[Gilly]

Whilst I can't answer your specific query, we sailed on board Navigator recently (July-August) with two long standing Crystal guests who must have enjoyed their Regent experience sufficiently to book four further Regent cruises, at least two on board Navigator.

[labonnevie]

We were on your Seabourn cruise and sailed on Regent Explorer in January/February. We have five Seabourn cruises and nine Regent cruises (two more booked). Up until now we were more itinerary focused when choosing between the two. 

Our experience on Seabourn was disappointing, not at all what we have experienced before. Uneven service, uninspired food choices and presentation topped the shortcomings. In fairness, in reading the CC Seabourn boards, it appears the other Seabourn ships are delivering the expected experience. 
While a very light passenger load in January with Regent may have significantly enhanced our service, we will not be returning to Seabourn until we read glowing reports on CC wrt the problems being resolved on the Quest. 

[Ross4356]

Sailed on all the Cruise lines you mention above. Depends what part of Europe you are interested in sailing. Next summer in the Med I would try the New Silversea Nova. Most of the newer Fancier Ship are sailing Northern Europe and Scandinavia. Love Regent on the Splendor, not so much on the Mariner, Really enjoyed SilverMoon and SilverDawn but a bit more formal then Regent. in my opinion Seabourn Sojourn has the best Mediterranean itineraries next summer. Remember all these cruise lines are having staff shortages so don't expect things are like they were before. Good luck..

[kjbacon]

15 hours ago, ivyleaguegent said:

Hello,

 

We are Crystal refugees looking for a new home.  Just got off of a 12 day cruise on Seabourn Quest (we posted a thorough review on the Seabourn CC Board).  We are in the process of booking our next cruise to Europe on either Silversea or Regent and would appreciate any comparison of Regent (particularly the Navigator) to Silversea and Seabourn from folks who were recently on one of those lines and are frequent or infrequent Regent cruisers.

 

Thank you.

We were on the Quest just before you were and it was a disappointment for us. We far prefer Regent for being all inclusive, better shorex, service, food, wine, cabins, and public venues … everything!

 

6 hours ago, Ross4356 said:

Sailed on all the Cruise lines you mention above. Depends what part of Europe you are interested in sailing. Next summer in the Med I would try the New Silversea Nova. Most of the newer Fancier Ship are sailing Northern Europe and Scandinavia. Love Regent on the Splendor, not so much on the Mariner, Really enjoyed SilverMoon and SilverDawn but a bit more formal then Regent. in my opinion Seabourn Sojourn has the best Mediterranean itineraries next summer. Remember all these cruise lines are having staff shortages so don't expect things are like they were before. Good luck..

We have an upcoming booking on the Mariner so this caught my eye. Why do you prefer Splendor so decisively over Mariner?

[forgap]

We were on SS Whisper in August.   I compared it to Navigator in this review.   I would choose Regent.  

 

[ivyleaguegent]

2 hours ago, kjbacon said:

We were on the Quest just before you were and it was a disappointment for us. We far prefer Regent for being all inclusive, better shorex, service, food, wine, cabins, and public venues … everything!

 

We have an upcoming booking on the Mariner so this caught my eye. Why do you prefer Splendor so decisively over Mariner?

Just booked the Mariner for next summer. I had met four different couples traveling separately while on the Quest who had sailed on Regent within the past six months. All four couples strongly preferred  the Regent. 

[forgap]

We have had over ten cruises on Regent and my preference is as follows:

Explorer (restaurants, bars, cabins)

voyager (aft outside lounging, cabins)

mariner (beautiful common areas, smaller cabins, funky bathrooms)

navigator (cabins, bad aft vibration, small)

We try Splendor next year and, ofurse, Grandeur hasn’t launched yet.  

Edited September 22, 2022 by forgap

[hamasgirl]

Pre-COVID we sailed three cruise lines...Regent, Seabourn and Silversea.  In general we feel that all three lines offer similar experiences at comparable price points.  Having been cruising actively since we retired (at lease 2 cruises per year since 2012), we now choose which line to travel based on itinerary.  We can travel longer-than-usual cruises...like 35+ days....because we are retired but found a sweet spot in the 16-21 day cruise length for enjoyment before getting too overwhelmed with rich food, drink and pampering.

 

But most important to us is to sail new ships.  We have sailed on the older ships (like for example Regent's  Mariner and Voyager) but do not enjoy the older look and feel of ships of this age.  And I have a sensitivity to salt and as much as I try to drink only still, bottled water on older ships, I always get swollen ankles and lower legs on older cruise ships which are very uncomfortable.  The newer ships don't seem to cause that problem and the 'newness' of the ship facilities are what we truly enjoy.

 

All that being said, Seabourn was our favorite and most-frequently booked cruise line pre-COVID.  However their new ships are Expedition ones and those fares are too rich for us.  So, for now, we have 7 cruises booked through early 2025....4 on Regent, 2 on Silversea and 1 on Seabourn.  And with the exception of the Seabourn one, all are on the newest ships...Regent on Splendor and Grandeur and Silversea on Nova.

[Dr. Cocktail]

I have really enjoyed this threat with my "return" to cruising being on Regent.

 

My follow-ups will be on Explora .... I've been fascinated to see how little presence they've had, especially as there is soooooo much money behind their start-up.

 

It appears that the concept that they'll be offering really lines up with what I want.

[Mahogany]

On 9/22/2022 at 11:58 AM, Dr. Cocktail said:

I have really enjoyed this threat with my "return" to cruising being on Regent.

 

My follow-ups will be on Explora .... I've been fascinated to see how little presence they've had, especially as there is soooooo much money behind their start-up.

 

It appears that the concept that they'll be offering really lines up with what I want.

Isn't Explora pretty big? How many passengers?

[Dr. Cocktail]

3 hours ago, Mahogany said:

Isn't Explora pretty big? How many passengers?

Explora will be 63 900 grt with 922 passengers as compared to Splendor/Explorer/Grandeur at 55498 grt but with 722 passengers.

 

So a 15% increase in size but with 25% more passengers - still a very high space ratio.

 

As a comparison, the Viking ships are approximately 47 000 grt with 930 passengers.

 

The vast majority of Explora’s suites will be Ocean Terrace Suites at 301 square feet + balcony - there’s nothing smaller. They really don’t have a huge amount  of “grand” suites.

 

The design is very contemporary, sleek Italian and I love the myriad of outdoor lounges and spaces. Also - no show lounge or production shows!

 

But - tbd!

 

 

[PhD-iva]

59 minutes ago, Dr. Cocktail said:

Also - no show lounge or production shows!

Very interesting, no investment in production shows. We always say, if you want a good production show, go to Broadway! 

[Dr. Cocktail]

3 hours ago, PhD-iva said:

Very interesting, no investment in production shows. We always say, if you want a good production show, go to Broadway! 

It's funny you say that ... my partner and I see about a dozen shows every year on Broadway or "slum" it by seeing shows at the Stratford Festival or in Toronto!  The (insert-name-here) Lounge proudly presenting (noun)! with the (insert-name-here) click-track singers and dancers usually strangely falls short ....

 

I sound like a shill for a product that may totally suck (well, I hope not 'cause I've booked a lot of nights ...) but Explora and McKinsey & Co. surveyed 20 000 people to see what people wanted.

 

A large theater production was not among the choices ... it makes sense. On extended voyages, do you want to see the same shows over and over again? As someone who likes to have dinner late every night, I've always been frustrated in either having to miss the show or go for an early performance ... when I knew I likely wouldn't like it in the first place!!!

 

Having two "big" lounges with continuous performances of bands/singers/comedians makes a whole lot more sense.

[shemansl]

We are Regent Platinum and recently tried Silversea Muse for a quick 7 day Alaska itinerary.  We were not impressed.  The restaurant situation is confusing at best, there is not clear "main dining room" wiht the expansive menu like Compass Rose.  French restaurant charged $60 pp and felt similar to Regent.  Spa was terrible, steam room didn't work.  Included wines -- not much selection that we liked.  One plus was the door to door service, we did enjoy the limousines.  Also, the pizza restaurant was to die for--amazing!  Exursions were comparable to Regent.  No shows at night.  No vibe at the bars at all.  Won't be booking another SS. 

[RELS]

I think that the Silversea ship you are on can make a huge difference to the quality of your cruise. Both the age and the size are big factors, as is whether the cruise is an expedition or classic itinerary. We've been on Regent's Mariner and Explorer, and we found things more alike than different between the two. I've read the other responses on this thread, and our experience feels different. Probably because our ship is one of the newest in the fleet.

 

We were on the Silver Moon around Iceland and down the coast of Norway (B2B) in June. Things that we liked about the Moon: The S.A.L.T. Bar was tiny but wonderful! I believe it's unique to the Moon. The cooking classes in the S.A.L.T. Lab are free, but you have to reserve early.  We should have made better use of our butler, but he was a gem, and went way out of his way to make one of our party's quarantine as pleasant as possible.

 

Things we like about Regent (from pre-Covid): Included business class (had to pay extra on Silversea), specialty restaurants are included (You have to pay on Silversea), you get as many shore excursions per day as you can squeeze in (one per day included on Silversea).

 

We are cruising on the Regent Splendor in December, so I will know better how Regent does post-Covid.

 

We're also cruising on the Silver Origin in February, which is Silversea's Galapagos expedition ship. The expedition cruises are entirely different than Silversea classic itineraries, and the Galapagos expeditions even moreso, so I don't think I'll be able to compare that cruise with Regent at all.

 

Going forward, we're unlikely to book on Silversea again, unless they have an itinerary that we can't get on Regent.

Edited September 28, 2022 by RELS

[RELS]

2 hours ago, shemansl said:

We are Regent Platinum and recently tried Silversea Muse for a quick 7 day Alaska itinerary.  We were not impressed.  The restaurant situation is confusing at best, there is not clear "main dining room" wiht the expansive menu like Compass Rose.  French restaurant charged $60 pp and felt similar to Regent.  Spa was terrible, steam room didn't work.  Included wines -- not much selection that we liked.  One plus was the door to door service, we did enjoy the limousines.  Also, the pizza restaurant was to die for--amazing!  Exursions were comparable to Regent.  No shows at night.  No vibe at the bars at all.  Won't be booking another SS. 

 

On the Silver Moon, there were shows. Four singers performed pretty much nightly, a variety of styles. A couple of them were very good, a couple of them were eh. When some of them were quarantined, they cobbled together a show featuring the lounge pianist and one of the singers and it was one of the best shows. They had a guest comedian a couple of nights. We went the first night, and stayed as far away as we could the second performance :).

 

For dinner, the Moon has two walk-in restaurants, three that need reservations but are included, and two that cost extra. Plus the pizza place.

 

The Jazz restaurant has a duo. You have to reserve it, but it didn't cost extra. The food was uninspired, but if you like Jazz, the duo was quite good.

 

I do agree that the standard restaurants were pretty uninspired for dinner. The menus were the same all through the cruise, except for the S.A.L.T. Kitchen, which had specials that featured local cuisine. Those special menus changed every two or three days. If you went for a sit-down lunch, though, those were often more variable. There was roast goose at the lunch buffet a couple of times. I liked that.

 

The specialty Japanese restaurant charged at night, but was open for lunch no charge. The sushi there was awful, as was the premade sushi at the lunch buffet.

 

As I said in a previous reply, the tiny S.A.L.T Bar was our absolute favorite, especially late at night when it wasn't crowded.

 

[ronrick1943]

We cruise a lot of Regent, but will be booking a few Silversea cruises.  I think it depends on your Suite, and the vice you get on the cruise (for that cruise).  All three are good, We’ve had some great Regent cruise’s and some bad ones.  Perks are good, but the Suites we book you get most perks as part of the suite-so those aren’t important for us to stay with one cruise line.

[Thundery]

We did the Silver Spirit this summer - were not impressed

 

[2SailingNomads]

On 9/25/2022 at 7:21 PM, Dr. Cocktail said:

It's funny you say that ... my partner and I see about a dozen shows every year on Broadway or "slum" it by seeing shows at the Stratford Festival or in Toronto!  The (insert-name-here) Lounge proudly presenting (noun)! with the (insert-name-here) click-track singers and dancers usually strangely falls short ....

 

I sound like a shill for a product that may totally suck (well, I hope not 'cause I've booked a lot of nights ...) but Explora and McKinsey & Co. surveyed 20 000 people to see what people wanted.

 

A large theater production was not among the choices ... it makes sense. On extended voyages, do you want to see the same shows over and over again? As someone who likes to have dinner late every night, I've always been frustrated in either having to miss the show or go for an early performance ... when I knew I likely wouldn't like it in the first place!!!

 

Having two "big" lounges with continuous performances of bands/singers/comedians makes a whole lot more sense.

We prefer small ships, first was on Seabourn Legend, last one on Scenic Eclipse but have done 450 and 600 Seabourn and 900 Crystal (once) but have a cruise booked on Explora that we are looking forward to.  Having seen many greats bands, performer's, shows on land I personally do not pick a ship for the entertainment.  I would prefer an interesting conversation with someone I just met vs. a mediocre performance.  JM preference.