Category Archives: Reviews

Regent Seven Seas proves not all cruise companies are created equally

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Regent Seven Seas’ Explorer is reflected in the windows of the concert hall in Kristiansand, Norway.

            I’ll admit it. I hate cruises. You’re stuck with thousands of people, people get on your nerves, staff make too many mistakes, and the tours aren’t usually that great.

            But then I recently took a cruise on Regent Seven Seas’ Explorer. Unlike P&O, MSC, and other cruise ships for the masses, Regent Seven Seas is considered to be a luxury liner the likes of which makes even Cunard pale in comparison.

            Yes, the prices will make your eyes water (a 7-night cruise usually starts at £10,000 per person), but there are many discounts on offer to help the costs a little. One thing that stands out when you look at a Seven Seas Cruise is that the costs are front-loaded. By that, I mean that you really don’t need to spend anything unless you want a spa day, to buy something from the gift shops on board, or try a premium drink.

            The price includes your stateroom, all meals in all restaurants, most alcoholic beverages, soft drinks, specialty coffees, ice creams, and most importantly, excursions. All of these are usually extra costs on the other cruise liners where prices seem a lot cheaper.

            The cruise my family did was a 12-night Norwegian cruise along the western coast above the Arctic Circle and into the fjord lands of this beautiful country. This included ports such as Copenhagen, Denmark; Kristiansand, Bergen, Hadstad, Geiranger, Bodø, Aselund, Norway; Gothenburg, Sweden, and Oslo, Norway. Of the 12 days on board, two were at-sea days and one included a technical stop before anchoring at Geiranger for a day.

         

The Regent Seven Seas Explorer can be seen from a lookout point in the Norwegian town of Aselund.

   One of the striking differences between Regent and other companies is that the ships are relatively smaller. Explorer, the largest ship in Regent’s fleet, can accommodate 750 passengers, a far cry from the 5,000-plus the super carriers can house. It also has capacity for a staff of more than 700 which means you have an almost 1:1 ratio of passenger to staff. Other companies are lucky if the ratio is 10:1 passenger to staff. This makes a significant difference when it comes to your experience on board.

            Explorer staff are very attentive and will remember you. I had the habit of having afternoon mojitos and malbec at dinner. After two days I didn’t need to order, the staff remembered what I drank.

            Meals are provided in several restaurants. Veranda is the buffet style restaurant on the top of the ship. In the evening, a part of Veranda becomes Sette Marie, an Italian restaurant. Compass Rose is the formal dining room. The ship also has the pool grill restaurant which is open at lunch and dinner. There are three specialty restaurants on board: Prime 7 (steakhouse), Chartreuse (French), and Pacific Rim (Asian). You are encouraged to make reservations at each of the three speciality restaurants.

            Seven Seas’ other draw is that the majority of the land excursions are included in your price. The only time you pay a supplement is if your excursion is something like a boat ride, a hike, or a visit to a family’s home. If you are interested in the panoramic or museum tours, these tend to be at no extra cost. Nothing adds up on your tab on other ships like excursions. You can easily spend thousands extra on tours especially on a 14-plus day cruise.

            Overall, I found Regent Seven Seas to be well worth the price of admission. It follows the old adage: You get what you pay for. Yes, you will probably never pay more for a holiday than you will on Regent Seven Seas, but your experience most likely will be something you’ve never had before. Regent has four ships in its fleet with Explorer the newest having launched in 2016. Next year, Regent will launch its fourth ship, Splendor.

Review: It’s a comedy of errors on board MSC Cruise Lines

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            For many people, cruise ship holidays are wonderful. For people like me, I can take them or leave them.

            Don’t get me wrong. I can understand the appeal of cruises for people with young families or the elderly. You get on board, unpack once and pick and choose what excursions you want to do. All of your meals are included and, depending on your drinks package, so are your drinks.

            Unfortunately, like group tours, if there are any annoying people, you’re stuck with them for the duration of your trip.

            One that that I found to be quite evident about people on cruise ships is that they become oblivious to everyone and everything around them. Maybe it’s because they are on holiday, but people cease to think rationally on cruise ships.

            Take the lifts, for example. If you are in a wheelchair, you will wait a long time for a lift at peak times because people suddenly forget how to walk or, more importantly, their consideration for those who aren’t able to use stairs.

            This post will outline what had to be the worst cruise experience we have had. IT was on board the Italian cruise line MSC this past New Years on a week-long trip around the Persian Gulf with stops at Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sir Ban-i-Yas Island, Bahrain, and Qatar.

            Our cruise package allowed for unlimited drinks of all sorts. So, you can imagine our shock when we got a bill for our first round of drinks. It seemed that the clerk at check in didn’t bother to put that sticker on our shipboard cards.

            On the first night, we decided on the excursions we wanted to do. With about 40 people in line, the ship decided it was best to have only two clerks on the excursion desk.

            As I said, it was an Italian ship. You would think on an Italian ship the food would be decent. It was uninspiring at best. The breakfast options were exactly the same every day. No effort was made to offer regional foods. In the lead up to New Year’s Eve, there were advertisements of special New Year’s Eve dinners. However, it turned out to be exactly the same as any other evening. I have been on other ships on Christmas or New Years and they made an effort to offer a special meal.

            I overheard people asking staff what happened to the New Year’s Eve dinner and got zero response from the staff. Either they couldn’t care to respond or were too embarrassed to be thrown under the bus by their bosses.

            The lunch menus tended to be extremely stereotypical fare such as pizzas and pasta dishes.

            When we stopped in Bahrain, our tour guide left with the rest of the group because we took a little time to get off the coach. When we confronted her about why she didn’t wait around, we got a flimsy lie about how she came back when we knew she did not. In Qatar, we signed up for a private tour and waited an hour after telling ship staff that we were ready to leave only to be told we were late when they came to us an hour later.

            The nightly ritual for my niece and nephew would be to stop in the main floor bar for a hot chocolate. When we ordered from one of the wait staff she adamantly insisted that hot chocolate is included in the package but we had to pay for whipped cream. Other wait staff would look the other way and give the children free whipped cream because it wasn’t a big deal.

            I’m sure, like everything in this world, there are good and bad things, but I can say that MSC is definitely not a good quality service.

            Our next cruise is in August 2019 around the Norwegian fiords on Regent Scven Seas which is supposed to be one of the best companies in the business. My parents have used this company twice and had excellent experiences. I’ll be sure to write about that one towards the end of the summer.