Seasoned cruisers, first Regent....EXCELLENT
Seven Seas Navigator Cruise Review to Transatlantic
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 45
15 Night Atlantic Expedition (New York To Amsterdam)
Sail date: May 15, 2019
Ship: Seven Seas Navigator
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 5 years ago
Review summary
Regent cruises caters to folks who want a comfortable, no hassle, luxury cruise experience with fewer passengers on a smaller ocean liner. It was an amazing experience. You pay one price for shore excursions, specialty dining, beverage pkg, gratitudes. You may also include options such as air, hotel & transfers. I was impressed with shore excursions busses that accommodated 40 but only had 20 passengers on each bus.Embarkation
There was a bit of a line up but it was fun chatting and meeting the passengers we’d be sailing with.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Compass main dining room was our favourite for dinners, the pool buffet was exceptional. The attention to food quality was excellent, we customized our meals, every request was met with their usual courteous, friendly service.
Onboard Activities
We enjoyed the quiet daytime activities, so enjoyed the various informative entertaining presentations. Especially enjoyed Q Evon jewellery designer. It was fun just enjoying the uncrowded atmosphere pool side in the shade or sun. The social director & group had fun day & evening activities, they were always approachable & pleasant.
Entertainment
Evening entertainment in the theatre was varied and very good. We especially enjoyed the crews entertainment program where they practiced for hours, on their own time, talented galore, enjoyed their cultural dances & music in their own costumes! Unforgettable!
Children's Programs
We don’t have children
Service and Staff
The attentiveness and personal service was superb, incredible. Everyone loves their job....and it shows in how they respect and treat passengers. The captain was constantly mingling, spoke highly of all his crew. It was a honest friendly interpersonal caring atmosphere.
I witnessed 2 medical emergencies and I was impressed with the professionalism of how everything was handled by the crew on Regent. Quick. Efficient. Organized. It was lovely to see the assistance provided to the spouse. This is the way it should be conducted but I’ve seen many situations on other ships where it looked like a panic underway. Kudos to Regent medical personnel.
Ship Quality
At first we were shocked at how small the ship was. It didn’t take us long to appreciate the shorter walking distance and stairs navigating on the ship. Maintenance & cleaning was impeccable so the slightly outdated elegant decor was didn’t bother us.
Cabin / Stateroom
The bed was unbelievably comfortable. The toiletries were superior quality. Enjoyed the expresso maker & the illy coffee. We had a concierge suite so the suites up to penthouse were all the same size which was adequate. Enjoyed the fresh orchard plant, nice touch. Fridge was replenished daily with whatever we wanted.
Ship tip
With Regent you pay price, it’s all inclusive. Air, hotel, transfers, uncrowded shore excursions, specialty dining, unlimited beverages alcohol & non, gratitudes. It was carefree having a second glass of wine with dinner or specialty coffees. We so enjoyed our KLM flight ANS to YYC, 9 hours of pure heaven on a plane, included in the one price. It was so nice not being nickeled & dimed, paying ridiculous amts for everything.
Thumbs up
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Ports of call
Regent put us in in a 5 star hotel in Manhattan, view from the 29th floor was amazing. Walked about 10k on the busy sidewalks of NYC. Loved the hustle & bustle & activities.
Shore excursion in Hamilton which we’ve done before. Next day we got info & a map from the local on the ship’s destination desk, enjoyed our walkabout in St. George. Skipped the Crystal Caves, 90 steps down & 90 steps back up wasn’t music to my knees that day.
Very quaint, lush and green. Our shore excursion was hot springs & botical gardens. interesting to see the fields of organic tea, bought some, delicious; hot springs was okay, nothing exceptional
Excellent tour guide who explained how Azores is self sufficient with dairy cows, growing enough for themselves pineapples, etc., not reliant on imports.
We arrived on a chilly rainy Sunday so there were no stores or restaurants open in Morlaix, amazing architecture, cobble stoned roads & sidewalks. Toured Chateau de Kerjean, steeped with history. History buffs heaven. In the process of modernization so some places were not available toggle public. Would like to visit Morlaix when everything is open. French spoken, managed with the odd French word & sign language!
Looks like an interesting city full of history with their tall buildings, narrow streets, interesting looking buildings. We did a guided walkabout with an English speaking guide. Would like to see more of Brest on the ocean.
I was shamed into going to Flanders Field in Ypres by friends. Our tour guide was outstanding who shared her knowledge of WW1. Poppy season was almost over, saw the occasional flower. Our visit to Flanders Field Memorial was unforgettable. I don’t think there was a dry eye when you saw the miles & miles of small white crosses set in a respectful setting with memorial statues. As we toured the countryside to Ypres we saw small white fenced enclosures with white crosses where solders had died & were laid to rest.
Tour of Flanders Field was good. Listened to Sgt John MacCrae’s report of the war, it was wonderful to see his poem encased in stone along with his picture. Bought all sorts of poppy souvenirs. Saw lots of foreign school kids, some vacationing from Canada & US, others on school trips from France. Architecture typical European beautiful.
We only saw Amsterdam from the ship as it sailed in early morning. Had an excellent tour guide who explained why the Netherlands is below sea level, how they monitor the water level. We went to the touristy windmills, parking lot was packed with charter buses and the grounds were shoulder to shoulder. We did buy tee shirts & others things, which they had at the airport. We stopped at a quaint little community that had a farmers market with fresh produce, cheeses & other goodies. Beautiful setting. The tour of the Edam cheese farm was informative. Seeing how they make wooden shoes was fascinating. Bought cheeses that were correctly sealed for customs.
Highly recommend a visit to the countryside if you want to experience the Netherlands. A country where everyone cycles, travels by boat, or the efficient train. They’re called the cycling capital in Europe.
Disembarkation
We were given our customs info, baggage tags few days in advance. On the morning of, we took our carry on to our meeting spot, left the ship into a garage where the bus to the airport awaited. Again, no overcrowding, passengers who needed assistance were helped and we were on our way to AMS airport. Organized, efficient, enjoyable.