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Wonderful Cruise. Beautiful Ship. Superb Service. Terrible Air Arrangements

Seven Seas Splendor Cruise Review to Transatlantic

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 3
Helpful Votes: 422

Overall rating:

4.1 out of 5
Verified Review
Seven Seas Splendor

14 Night El Teide To El Yunque (Barcelona To Miami)

Sail date: November 20, 2023

Ship: Seven Seas Splendor

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 729

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 9 months ago

Review summary

The Atlantic Crossing Cruise was spectacular. Too may wonderful aspects to name all here. The negative was the transportation to Barcelona (from Florida) and from Miami back to our home. On prior Regent cruises, we were given good flights and excellent Business Class seats, usually operated by a "name" carrier like British Air or KLM. This time we were given Business Class seats on Discover Airlines (a division of Lufthansa). The flight (involving a jet that seemed way past its prime) departed three hours late (had to change our connecting flight in Frankfurt). Business Class was a complete joke and disaster. Seats didn't fully recline, were uncomfortable, and had a small "ottoman" for legs that would not comfortably accommodate any adult's legs (we're 5' 8" and 5" 2"). The food on the flight was inedible. The "amenity bag" was a Dollar Store reject. There were many more terrible aspects to this flight and the best advice I can give readers is to avoid Discover--no matter the price. Our other flights (Lufthansa Frankfurt to Barcelona and American from Miami) were better (had we kept the Camel we rode on the Lanzarote excursion and rode it to any destination it would have been a better option than Discover). Great, great cruise. Terrible, terrible Transatlantic flight. Shame on Regent for booking it. If there is a next time, we will handle our own transportation (which is what we think Regent is driving customers to do, since it now has deleted pricing from all marketing brochures and has embraced two-tier pricing--with and without airfare). When an agent quotes the price of a Regent cruise, be careful to make sure you know if airfare is included. Several future Regent cruises we've been tracking showed similar prices between, say, December 2022 and October 2023. However, we learned that the December price included Business Class international air while the October price (about the same as the December quote) excluded air. This is a devious, back-door way that Regent (NCL) has SUBSTANTIALLY increased its fares. Be forewarned.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5
We've sailed with Regent before but not on the Splendor. The 2020 ship is beautiful and functional--the best ever in our experience. Every meal, regardless of venue, was truly excellent. And, the service everywhere on the ship was as over the top superb.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

Entertainment

4 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
Everywhere...best ever.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
Best cabin ever. Spacious (400 sq. ft. plus or minus), very large balcony with chaise lounge, table and two comfortable chairs. Large walk-in closet. Many drawers for storage throughout the cabin (didn't come close to using all of them). Perfect bathroom (though we didn't use the tub--possibly a waste of space). And, saving the best for last, our cabin attendant (Ali) and his Assistant were the best we've ever had.

Ship tip

The Conciege Suites are much larger than are the Standard Suites and offer an included hotel night in advance of sailing. For a small premium over the price of lower class cabins, the customer gets much more.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Arrecife, Lanzarote, Canary Islands

5 out of 5

Santa Cruz De La Palma, Canary Islands

2 out of 5

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

1 out of 5
One star is generous. A beautiful and historic island was blemished by an inept guide, driver, and traffic. Basically a worthless bus ride with lots of flea market-type stops to oogle at cheap wares. We thought we were taking a "historic" island tour with commentary on the evolution of the Dutch and French communities on the island. Not so. We spent time at a small beach bordering the airport waiting for a jet to stop its taxiing and watch the rear thrust create waves in the water that body surfers rode--what a complete waste of time.
Thumbs Up

San Juan, Puerto Rico

3 out of 5
Been to San Juan often. It's a picturesque, historic city. But we did nothing extraordinary here. Should have gone to the Rainforest instead (though on prior visits, we did the Bacardi Rum Tasting and it was great)
Thumbs Up

Miami, Florida Did not visit port

The Volcano Park and Camel Ride in Lanzarote, Canary Islands was one of our best ever excursions (after 20 cruises). Not to be missed. The opposite was true of La Palma. And, the excursion on St. Maartin (our 4th visit to the island) was absolutely awful. Poor guide. Poor driver. Way too many hours on the small bus were dominated by a boisterous driver discussing exotic recipes with an equally boisterous passenger sitting behind him. We learned nothing about the sites included on the tour. Regret doing this.
Thumbs Up

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
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