Overall Very Good

On the plus side, the three day pre-cruise tour of Cape Town was excellent with a stay at the outstanding "One and Only" hotel, a mini-safari and wine region tour. We also enjoyed the Ostrich Farm visit especially sitting on an ostrich and petting its neck until it fell asleep.

The land excursions thereafter were a mixed bag:

1.Luderitz, Namibia. Could not get on the "Wild Horse Tour" despite being wait listed for a long time. We took the "Ghost Town Tour" which was okay; the highlight was talking to the locals and understanding what was their attraction to living in this desolate area.

2. Walvis Bay, Namibia. The "Swakopmund Township Tour" gives one an understanding of life for those trying to survive in Namibia. The "Moon Landscape and Welwitchia Tour" could have been great except the driver/guide had no working mike and didn't have a clue about the sights to which we were being driven.

3. St. Helena Island. The Captain changed course and headed to Rio. There was a medical emergency on board and the best option was to sail directly to Rio.

4. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The "Sights and Sounds of Rio Tour" was a farce. It was nearly fours of riding on a bus with a guide pointing out every subway stop and police station in route. We were dumped at a midtown shopping center for 45 minutes and offered a can of soda. The "Botanical Garden/Tijuca Forest Tour" was guided by someone who had little botanical garden knowledge. The drive did offer several photo opportunities and the guide was very personable.

Food and Beverage.

The food and beverage service was quite good except for the one time we ate in Sette Mari. Poor beverage and food service.

Stateroom Service.

The room was excellent and the staff outstanding.

Entertainment.

Excellent pianist. Jean Anne Ryan shows. Haven't changed at all. Crew show remains very good. The Christmas Show was excellent as was the party for the Gold thru Platinum members.

Lectures.

Okay. Good place for a nap.

Fitness Center.

Had only 2 working treadmills when we started. One broke down and we were left with one. Boo-Hoo. The rest of the equipment stood idle.

Other notes.

One elevator was broken and could not be repaired before Miami. Something happened to the ship's power system midway through the cruise and the ship could no longer move at top speed. For various reasons, Regent could not get a Cruise Sales person on the cruise. We were told to work directly with our travel agent. Sometimes there were errors made in the information given to us as to where an event was going to be held.

Conclusion: A very good cruise but not up to our previous experiences on Regent.