Regent Seven Seas Review: Two Sailings, Two Ships, One Very Consistent Product

I have sailed Regent twice on two different ships: Seven Seas Explorer northbound-style through Alaska, and Seven Seas Grandeur around Scotland, the Faroe Islands and Ireland out of Southampton. One in a Penthouse suite with a butler, one in a much more modest Deluxe Veranda suite, which turned out to be the most useful comparison of the two trips.

The two sailings

Dining: where Regent is strongest

Food was the highlight on both sailings, and the specialty restaurants are included in the fare, you are not paying a cover to eat well.

Pacific Rim: my favorite

Pan-Asian, beautifully executed, and the room itself is one of the most elegant spaces on the ship. The topic almost nobody talks about: after-dinner tea with dessert at Pacific Rim. They pour Tea Forté and the whole sitting is lovely, quiet, unhurried, and a fine way to wind down after the meal. It is served after dinner with dessert, not in the afternoon, and it is not to be missed.

What to order: the tuna tartare over mango is the starter I would repeat every night, the shrimp dumplings are delicate and worth the second order, and the pad thai is the one main that keeps people coming back. The curry is worth ordering, but the miso sea bass is the dish of the night, one of the best menu items I ate on the whole ship. Highly suggest it.

Chartreuse: go for dessert

Classic French, and very good. The desserts were the standout for me; if you only have a couple of specialty nights on a short sailing, Chartreuse earns one of them.

The savory courses hold up too, a rack of lamb under a herbed crust, a poached halibut with white asparagus, and a Dover sole that was one of the best plates of the week. The soufflé is the other dessert worth planning around.

Before your dessert order, they roll out a cart of macarons and chocolates and you select your favorites. It is served on little tiered tray, a nice touch, and a good excuse to try a few flavors you would not have ordered otherwise. The crème brûlée is the star of the show. The opera cake was just okay: pretty on the plate, but not the one I would order again.

Sette Mari at La Veranda: my favorite restaurant on the ship

At night the buffet venue, La Veranda, becomes Sette Mari, a casual Italian restaurant, and it is my favorite dining option onboard. There are no reservations. It is first come, first served, so arrive 20 minutes before it opens if you to avoid a wait. There is a rotating special, so it is worth going more than once.

Every table gets bread and a few little appetizers to start, but do not waste time on those. The reason to come is the cold buffet: grilled and roasted vegetables, caprese, and a whole head of roasted garlic that I spread straight onto the bread. It is great, go help yourself before your main arrives.

Mains are ordered from the waiter rather than taken from the buffet, and pasta comes in a small or large portion, the smart way to try a couple of dishes in one sitting. The gnocchi is excellent, and the meat dishes are good too.

Dessert is served buffet style. Whatever else you take, do not skip the tiramisu.

Afternoon tea: come for the scones

Afternoon tea is a daily ritual on Regent, and it is worth stopping in at least once. The tea itself is Twinings, perfectly fine, nothing special. My pick is the Lemon & Ginger infusion. The tea at Pacific Rim is noticeably better than afternoon tea service.

The reason to go is the food, and specifically the scones. Warm, with jam and clotted cream, they are the best choice on the tea cart, better than the pastries and cakes sitting next to them.

Prime 7: the polarizing one

Prime 7 is the steakhouse, and it splits the room. Steakhouse lovers love it and will happily eat there multiple times, if they can secure a second reservation. The average guest, in my experience, comes away thinking the other two specialty restaurants were better. My advice: try it once. If you have a serious meat lover in the family, they will appreciate it; if not, Compass Rose has plenty of meat dishes and the other specialty restaurants are stronger overall.

Dessert-wise at Prime 7, skip the fourteen-layer chocolate cake. It is famous, but I found it overrated. The two desserts to order are the Key Lime Pie and the Caramel Popcorn Sundae: made-from-scratch vanilla and chocolate ice cream topped with caramelized popcorn, salted peanuts, whipped cream, and dark chocolate and bourbon caramel sauces. It is the best way to finish off the meal.

Compass Rose

Compass Rose is the main dining room and effectively the largest specialty restaurant at sea. The range is enormous, traditional classics that are always available, plus a rotating menu that changes nightly, plus a build-your-own protein-and-sauce section. You could eat here every night and never repeat yourself. My one gripe: the desserts here were just okay. The savory side is where it shines.

The Culinary Arts Kitchen

Worth the money. The hands-on classes at the Culinary Arts Kitchen are a paid add-on and one of the few offerings onboard I would pay for again without hesitating, small groups, hands-on cooking, and the instructors are excellent. I have written more about the program in my Regent and Oceania culinary piece.

For a more detailed walkthrough of the food itself, see my Regent dining review.

Drinks: cocktails are the strength, wine takes asking

The service side of the beverage program is excellent. Regent's sommeliers were constantly circulating in the dining rooms, making sure everyone had what they wanted in their glass. You are never hunting someone down for a refill.

Where the bar team excels is cocktails and mixed drinks. The bartenders are good, the spirits are premium and included, and if you have a drink you like, they will remember it by day two.

The included wines are average. By default the staff pour a specific white and a specific red each night and push those, you do not have to accept them. Ask what else is open, or ask for something specific: if you know what to ask for, there is usually a very good bottle available at no charge. The rarest high-end wine is the exception and comes at an extra charge by the bottle.

One last tip for savvy wine drinkers: Regent lets you bring your own wine aboard. If you are already in Europe before the cruise and can pick up a few bottles you love, that is probably the best approach of all.

Excursions: the included tours are good, the paid ones were better

Regent includes a wide range of shore excursions in the fare, typically the four to six hour tours. Longer full-day tours, small-group tours and anything with a meal are Regent Choice excursions at an added charge. On both sailings, the paid tours were where the memorable days came from.

In Alaska we paid for a small-group whale watch, four to six guests only. We got remarkably close, and the Alaska Native captain made the morning. That is not an experience a fifty-person coach tour can replicate. On Grandeur, the paid excursion to the Castle of Mey was wonderful, and the Vestmanna sea cliffs in the Faroes was a true highlight of the entire trip.

That said, plenty of the included tours were excellent. Standouts: Dunrobin Castle: Mousa Island Discovery, and Mount Stewart House and Gardens. In Victoria we did the included Butchart Gardens tour and still had enough time in the day to add a second included outing, afternoon tea at the Teahouse at Abkhazi Garden, which was lovely.

Two practical notes. Regent enforces a strict 75-minute gap between the end of one tour and the start of the next, so stacking two tours in a port takes a little planning. And on a long port day, plan a sit-down meal break, the food onboard is part of why you booked.

When the ship's tours are not the answer

Dún Laoghaire is the clearest example. Nothing on the excursion list appealed to us, every option was too short to do Dublin justice. So we took the train into the city ourselves and hired a private guide, for the full day. It was one of the best days of the cruise.

This is exactly the kind of special touch I arrange for clients: a vetted private guide for the day, and for guests who would rather not navigate a commuter train in a foreign country, a private car to and from the city instead. If the ship's excursions do not interest you, ask me and we will build the day to your preferences.

Suites: any suite on Regent is good enough

In Alaska we paid up for a Penthouse on Explorer, largely for the butler, and the butler service was excellent (butler service starts at Penthouse categories on Regent, not below).

Then we sailed Grandeur in a Deluxe Veranda, several categories down, and came away with the conclusion that matters most in this review: any suite on Regent is good enough. The fleet is all-suite and effectively all-balcony (Seven Seas Navigator keeps a handful of window-only suites), the bathrooms are excellent throughout, and every inclusion that makes Regent worth booking applies at the entry category. If a Penthouse fits the budget, enjoy the butler. If it does not, book the lower category and spend the difference on excursions.

One tip I would tell every guest regardless of category: the in-suite bar setup is complimentary at every level: and they will stock it with full bottles of spirits. Just ask your butler or suite steward for what you prefer to drink.

Room service was also wonderful on both sailings. In the Penthouse, the butler sets a proper table in the suite, linen, silver pot, the works, and it arrives hot. Breakfast in the suite on a slow sea day morning is one of the best luxuries on the ship, and dinner can be served course by course from the dining room menu if you would rather stay in.

The laundry benefit is the best perk

My single favorite Regent inclusion, and the one guests underestimate: valet laundry is free in every suite. Not a bag allowance, unlimited unlimited laundry. Dry cleaning is the only exception (higher Seven Seas Society tiers add that). I used it constantly on both cruises. It changes how much you pack, and on a twelve-night sailing it is priceless

Wi-Fi

Fine for most users, email, messaging, browsing, uploading photos. The limitation worth knowing is no streaming on the standard allotment; streaming is a paid upgrade, and top suites include it. Full detail in my Regent Wi-Fi breakdown.

Entertainment: the weakest part

Both ships had an excellent house band, that part I would happily sit through every night. The resident production singers and dancers were just okay on both sailings, and I think that is structural rather than a criticism of the performers: the cast is small, so the production shows can only be so big.

The bright spots were the one-night guest acts brought aboard, several of which were excellent. But if evening entertainment is what makes or breaks a cruise for you, Regent is not the line that leads with it. You sail Regent for the suites, the food, the excursions and the inclusions.

My take

Two ships, two regions, two very different suite categories, and the product was remarkably consistent. Regent's case is the fare: included excursions, included specialty dining, premium beverages, gratuities and free valet laundry all in one price. Air is not included, but we can book it through Regent's Air department at their preferred negotiated rates with transfers and schedule protection handled.

Where I would set expectations: entertainment is average, Wi-Fi will not stream, and Prime 7 is not for everyone. Everything else held up across both sailings. If you are weighing it against the obvious alternative, my Regent vs Silversea comparison lays out exactly where the two diverge.