Now that we’ve been on a Regent cruise… are we converts?

I have long maintained that when it comes to cruises, I am strictly a “small ship” person. I like to be able to get around the ship easily, and get outside to get the best photos. I like really good food, personalized service, and all inclusive pricing. I don’t care much about ship based Broadway shows, shopping on board, lots of restaurants, casinos, coffee bars, waterslides, or marble bathrooms.

I do appreciate spas, hot tubs, and pool areas, but they aren’t a must for me. I like having the chance to meet new people, but that’s also not an absolute must. I mainly just want to get through the week without constantly running into people who are annoying, or annoying other people myself.

I resisted trying Regent Seven Seas Cruises for a long time, because I figured the ship would be too big for me. I also read some reviews of their older ships that made me think they would disappoint me. Even though Splendor is a very new ship (for me, it’s extremely new), I was still kind of skeptical that I’d love it.

And… well… to be honest, while I had a great time on Splendor, I didn’t fall in love with it. I wasn’t wowed by the experience the way I was when I got off my first SeaDream or Hebridean cruises. Some of that may be because now I’ve done a few luxury cruises. It no longer blows me away to be able to order a cocktail on a ship and not have to worry about what it costs or what the tip should be. I’m older, and maybe I’m a little jaded. It’s been awhile since we were last “broke”. 😉 (knock on wood)

Maybe I’d be a confirmed Regent “cheerleader” if our most recent cruise was my first luxury experience. But it wasn’t, and there were some things I didn’t like about Regent. I think the main thing I noticed was that it wasn’t a very personal experience. Almost none of the crew knew our names or preferences. While that’s not a big deal to someone like me, it also doesn’t fit my definition of what a luxury experience is. One of the quickest ways to impress me is to call me by my preferred name… and not my legal first name! Call me Jennifer, and you’ll definitely annoy me. No one who actually knows me, calls me that.

Another thing I noticed was that the wait staff had some lapses in table maintenance. They were pretty good about replacing silverware and removing dishes in a timely manner, but they often neglected to pick up things like used sugar packages or other trash. Only one or two servers used a table crumber after the main course. Granted, table crumbing is a little thing, but I think if a line wants to bill itself as “luxurious”, that’s a necessary part of service. Especially when there are obvious crumbs that need to be swept up.

Regent had a lot of buffets. I don’t mind buffets, and what they offered was fine. In some cases, it was a real treat. I don’t get to enjoy a lot of fresh shrimp cocktail or prime rib these days, for instance. Regent’s buffets didn’t have a lot of lines, which is a good thing. However, table service, really, is more luxurious to me than going to a buffet. SeaDream and Hebridean both have the occasional buffet, but they are much less pervasive. Hebridean has a cold seafood buffet that is positively decadent and put Regent to shame. But then… the ships are much smaller!

I think, what Regent offers is a very comfortable ship. There aren’t huge crowds, and most everything is taken care of in some way. That’s a good thing, and I think their product is excellent quality. I would not balk at cruising with them again in the future, especially for the right price and itinerary. I probably wouldn’t book Regent for a common itinerary that I could find on a smaller ship. I never see my usual lines going to the Baltic Sea, so that’s why we tried Regent. It worked out great for that purpose. Moreover, I can’t deny that our superior suite on Regent was fabulous. It was the most comfortable room we’ve ever had at sea, and it wasn’t even their top category.

This couple was on our cruise, and they had a much fancier suite than we did!

I also think that I probably prefer land based trips to cruises. I usually only choose cruising if I want to cover a large area in a short time, or there’s limited or difficult accessibility by land means (say visits to islands). Sometimes, cruises simply work best for certain itineraries. Our last trip, for instance, was in an expensive area where there’s a lot of water and not too many land based options for travel. Cruising is good for the Baltic and Nordic countries, especially if you don’t have an electric car! But, given a choice, I’d generally rather arrange a road trip and stay in a really lovely hotel or self-catering place.

We didn’t cruise in Norway (where some people are actually discouraging cruising), but I noticed that most of the cars there are electric. Gas is expensive! Actually, just about everything in Norway is expensive, save for things like education and healthcare! I would have loved to have traveled by land, though, so I could see more of the country and explore its hospitality from locals. Ditto to Sweden and Finland, although we have driven in Sweden and Denmark. I am especially interested in doing some land travel in places like Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. I’m hoping that when the new Baltic train is completed, we can try it out.

I don’t know if or when we’ll cruise again. I suspect we will. I’m still dying to try a French Barge cruise, and I’ve seen some smaller lines that I think we’ll like, like The Majestic Line in Scotland. I’m also curious about certain unique ships like Sea Cloud, and Europa and Europa II, even though they aren’t all inclusive. I still love SeaDream for its friendly and service oriented staff and amenities, although I don’t think I enjoy the clientele as much. Of the lines we’ve tried so far, Hebridean has my favorite mix of crew and fellow passengers, but doesn’t go to as many places as other lines do.

Anyway… I do like Regent, and although I did say I wasn’t sure if I’d cruise again, the truth is, I probably will do another cruise with them someday. But I definitely haven’t joined the Regent Seven Seas “cult”. 😀 Some people get personally offended when people have anything negative to say about their favorite cruise lines! They all have their drawbacks, though, and it’s not a bad thing to point out a cruise line’s plusses and minuses. After all, these trips are expensive! Most people don’t want to gamble with $10,000, especially if they aren’t wealthy!

No line is perfect, but some lines suit certain people better than others do. I’m just glad there are so many choices to be made, and fascinating places to see. And I’m grateful to have the freedom and be in a position in which we can do these trips and enjoy them to the fullest. It’s a privilege to experience these travel adventures and get to write about them candidly. I could certainly be doing worse things with my time!

Champagne Bucket trips, Regent Seven Seas Cruise Lines

July 2… time to go HOME.

On the morning of July 2, it was time to start the process of ending our big trip of 2023. Again, I can’t say that I was sad about it. I love going on vacations. I enjoy traveling– seeing new things, buying new stuff, meeting people, eating different foods, and drinking different beverages… especially the adult varieties. But it all has to end eventually.

I missed Noyzi. I craved having access to my washing machine. I worried about the pile up of mail. I even had fond memories of my bed, which really needs a new mattress. And, even though not that many people want to read my blog posts about our travels, I was really itching to write and upload all of the photos I took over the two weeks we were gone. I prefer to write on my desktop computer, which is at home. So, home was where we needed to go.

Bill checked out of the hotel, while I went to the handy self check-in kiosk in the hotel lobby. I printed our luggage tags and boarding passes, and we made our way to the luggage drop off point, which was actually a pretty stout walk within the airport from the hotel. It was especially rigorous, since we had heavy bags. I was thanking God that I booked business class on the plane, because it got us into the short security line, and we were able to get through and into the SAS Lounge (which also serves Lufthansa passengers) in no time.

The Copenhagen Airport has a pretty decent lounge, although I didn’t make full use of it. I just sat in a nice chair and drank sparkling water while we waited until it was time to make our way to our gate. Once we got there, we found it backed up with a lot of passengers and not enough seating. Typical! 😉

I was a little worried that maybe our plane would be like the one we flew out of Bergen on… two by two seating in a very narrow aircraft. But it was a nice spacious plane, with three seats per row. Since we were in business class, we had an empty middle seat, and we even got served “breakfast”… which was mostly stuff I don’t eat. But they did have warm croissants and orange juice, which was fine for me. I also appreciated the chocolate they gave us afterwards!

The flight was perfectly lovely, and we landed on time in Frankfurt. It took forever to get our bags, and I think we might have even been the only ones who checked baggage. We were the only ones we noticed from our flight waiting for bags, which took over a half hour to get to us. While we were waiting, we encountered more Americans. One was a woman who looked a little annoyed when I sat down in a chair near her luggage. She changed her tune when she started wondering aloud about transportation and Bill helpfully piped up with local insider info. She asked us where we were from, and we answered America… but now we live here in Germany, and boy has it changed us in profound ways.

I don’t know what the woman and her husband were here for. The way she was dressed and the amount of luggage she had suggested that maybe she was going to go on a Rhein cruise or something. But those usually start in Basel, Switzerland or Amsterdam, Netherlands. They do pass through the Rheingau, though, and I often watch them and think… maybe I’d book one of those if I didn’t live so close to so many of the stops!

We found the Volvo and drove home, quickly unpacked, and I started doing laundry. I turned on the robot mower to deal with the very high grass. I checked out our rain barrel, which was full of nasty critters I’ve been killing all week. And I’ve been writing on this blog for a solid eight days. I’ve still got some more to write about, but the actual blog series on our big Nordic trip is over now. I hope some of you enjoyed it.

For those who are curious… This trip ran us approximately $22,000. We don’t usually come close to spending that much on a vacation, and we spent more than we had to. This was not an economy trip, by any means. We were also gone for two weeks, traveling in style in a very expensive area of the world. So…

*Cruise was about $12,000 or so… Concierge E on Regent Seven Seas Splendor, which is a luxury class, all inclusive cruise ship.

*Business class plane tickets from Frankfurt to Oslo, Bergen to Stockholm, and Copenhagen to Frankfurt, probably about $2,000 or so.

*A compartment on the train to Bergen from Oslo, about $500

*Hotels for eight nights, about $2,000 or so. Those, we paid at the hotel, rather than ahead of time.

*Trip insurance for a year about $1,000 (covers all trips all year)

*Food, booze, shopping, transportation, tickets to activities etc. about $4,500

I also haven’t factored in how much Noyzi’s boarding was. We had to prepay that in cash before we left.

If we’d wanted to, we could have pared down costs considerably. This summer, we really just wanted to enjoy ourselves. We definitely aren’t alone. Europe is teeming with people this year, and prices are pretty high. I’m happy to report that most of these costs were paid off before our trip started. We just need to work on paying off the stuff I didn’t pre-pay or pre-book.

It was a special pleasure to visit Finland and Latvia, two places I had never been to before, and learn about other places I’d never heard of, like Visby and Bornholm. It really was a good time, albeit very different from our usual road trips south!

So, that about does it for this series. I have to close now, as workmen have just shown up to replace the windows in my house. Hope to see some comments at some point!

Champagne Bucket trips, Regent Seven Seas Cruise Lines, tours

Many critters were born free in Bornholm, Denmark…

Our final day of the cruise was in Rønne, a town in Bornholm, Denmark. We had a late excursion, which took place at 4:00 PM. To be honest, I was kind of tempted to skip the last bus tour, as I was a bit “toured out” by Thursday, June 29th. But that would have been a big mistake, because I ended up liking Bornholm the most of all the tours during our week on Regent Splendor.

I mentioned that we stopped in Rønne, but actually, our bus tour (The Best of Bornholm) didn’t really go through the town that appeared closest to the pier. Instead, we basically had a tour of the Danish island of Bornholm, which is off the southern coast of Sweden. Once again, this was a place I knew absolutely nothing about before we went on this cruise. I ended up finding it a very charming place. Several British passengers on the tour with us mentioned that it reminded them very much of Cornwall.

There were other tours offered besides the one we went on, but they were mostly fully booked by the time we signed up for the cruise, back in late April. So “The Best of Bornholm” it was, and it was a good time, even though I was tired, and even though our guide didn’t have the best “stage presence”.

I was charmed by the rustic beauty of the island, even spotting a large wild hare and several deer cavorting in nature as our guide droned on, rather haltingly. At first, I was a little annoyed by the guide, but as I listened more closely, I realized that he really did know a lot about the island. I suspect that if he was giving us the tour in Danish, he’d be a lot more engaging to listen to, because I noticed that when he spoke Danish, he sounded a lot more animated. I have empathy for that issue, since I know firsthand that it isn’t easy to speak a language that isn’t your mother tongue, especially if you aren’t practiced. I don’t know how often our guide gives tours in English, though.

The first thing the guide pointed out were the huge parts of windmills that were being built. They are destined to be installed in the Baltic Sea, where they can generated power for people on dry land. I have seen the windmills all over Europe, but was never close enough to one to appreciate their massive size. Those things are HUGE!

We visited a really cool looking round church called Osterlars, which, besides looking really handsome in the Danish countryside, also had the added benefit of a clean public toilet. 😉 The guide pointed out the metal rings installed in the wall around the church. The rings were where the locals parked their horses and buggies on Sundays. Each family had its own “parking spot”.

Next, we stopped in an adorable town called Gudhjem, which was right next to a beach. The guide said that there used to be a lot of fishing there, but the fishing had stopped, mostly because the waters were depleted by overfishing and the many seals who had descended upon the place. There weren’t any seals visible when we visited, but the guide said it was a very normal thing to see them hanging around the beaches.

We stopped at Hammershus Fortress, vast medieval castle ruins that were partially demolished around 1750 and partially restored sometime around 1900. Our visit didn’t include actually going to the ruins, which were a stout walk from the parking area, but visiting a wooden overlook that gave us good views of the ruins, as well as a flock of sheep grazing nearby. It might have been fun to go to the ruins, but that would have taken a lot of time that we didn’t have. But… I did mention to Bill that I liked Bornholm enough that I wouldn’t mind coming back for a land based visit. If we ever do that, maybe we can visit the ruins properly.

As we continued on our journey, the guide explained some interesting history about Bornholm’s role in World War II and how it was not liberated at the same time the rest of Europe was. Even though Bornholm was part of Denmark, some people did not consider it a part of NATO, because former Soviet leaders determined that there would be no foreign military activity on the island. They decreed that any NATO military troops on Bornholm would be considered an act of aggression against the Soviet Union, and that Denmark should keep troops there to prevent any NATO military action from occurring. The Soviets were especially against any US troops having a presence there. Of course, now, no one doubts that as part of Denmark, Bornholm is also part of NATO.

At around this point in the tour, it was time for us to taste smoked fish. There are many fish smoking facilities on Bornholm, but only one place still uses an open fire to smoke fish, rather than more modern facilities. So, we stopped at that smokehouse, which was also deemed a “museum”, which made it possible for them to smoke fish the old fashioned way, and we tasted their product, washed down with cold, Danish, draft beer (or soda). This was included in the tour. The young, affable guy who spoke to us about the smoked fish said that he had to get the fish from other places, as there aren’t enough fish around Bornholm anymore.

*Good stuff, if you like fish, which I do.*

After we tasted the fish (which I found delicious, though I know not everyone likes fish), we headed back toward the ship, the guide talking the entire time about other unusual and interesting towns in Bornholm. It really does look like a nice place to spend a week or so. I’m sure they get their share of tourists, but it wasn’t nearly as busy as Visby was.

*Danish fish smoker explaining the process.*

Incidentally, I read today that the current Splendor cruise, which has been doing a ten day Baltic itinerary, had to skip Visby. They had 40 MPH winds that prevented them from docking!

Now, a word about the last day of food…

For lunch, we stopped by Prime 7, which was serving lunch that day. The speciality restaurants mostly serve dinner, but sometimes, they have a short lunch service. Thursday was the day for Prime 7, and that was the only day we visited a specialty restaurant for lunch.

Our waiter was a nice fellow, who was a little more familiar with us than I’m used to on cruises. He came up to us with a big smile (good thing) and immediately addressed as a William and Jennifer. I stifled a laugh and said, “No one ever calls us that. I ended up telling him that we go by Jenny and Bill.” He hit upon one of my many personal pet peeves.

It’s not that I need to be called Mrs. I just think being called Mr. and Mrs. is polite and businesslike. I dislike the American fake familiarity trend that has everyone assuming we should all go by our first names. In our case, no one who actually knows us, ever calls us by our first names. I personally hate being called “Jennifer”, because it reminds me of being yelled at by my mother. Also, it just doesn’t suit me. If he had called me Mrs. as a matter of course, it would have given me the chance to tell him which name I preferred. Besides, it’s just more professional.

So, after we told the waiter the preferred versions of our first names, and kind of cringed at the faux pas, he brought us our lunches. Bill had pork barbecue sliders. I had a burger. It wasn’t the way I would have fixed it for myself, but it was tasty enough. Afterwards, we had dessert. The waiter brought out a carousel of mini versions of Prime 7’s desserts for us. We each ate one, but I think the idea was to try them all. As if I need more encouragement to expand my backside. 😉

After our excursion on Bornholm, we had our last dinner in the Compass Rose restaurant. I didn’t see any specials that interested me, so I wound up having a steak for dinner. No wonder my heart rate has been elevated lately. We ran into the same waiter we had at lunch, who, to his credit, remembered our names. But then he called Bill “Mr. Bill”. I asked him if he knew about the old Saturday Night Live character, “Mr. Bill”. Naturally, he didn’t. So I had to explain… People have been calling Bill “Mr. Bill” forever, not just because his name is Bill, but also because he had a “Mr. Bill” moment when he was in high school. One of his buddies literally backed over him with a Subaru Brat (car)! Oh noooooo!

Poor Mr. Bill! Always having accidents.

Anyway, here are photos of the last supper on Splendor… We were allowed to dress casually for it, because everyone was packing their luggage for disembarkation day. I had a baked potato with my steak. It tasted like it was pre-baked and chilled, then heated up. I guess I can’t blame them for that, but it kind of spoiled the magic a little.

Although I thought we might visit the Meridian Lounge one more time, it wasn’t to be. We decided to go back to the room and rest up for the next day… when it would be time to leave behind Regent Splendor for more plain lodging.

Visiting God in Gotland… Visby, Sweden!

On Tuesday, June 27th, Regent Splendor called on Visby, Sweden. Visby is a place I’d never heard of when I booked this cruise, but it’s actually a pretty cool place to visit. Located on Gotland Island, off the eastern coast of the Swedish mainland, Visby is a well-preserved walled medieval town, with beautiful gardens, historic homes, and a huge, majestic church.

It looks like there were only two tours offered during our Visby stop. We ended up taking the Medieval Visby tour, which appears to be very much like the other tour, Visby Walk & Historical Museum, except the tour we were on did not include a visit to the museum.

I kind of liked our tour guide, an older lady who was a native of Visby. She was very knowledgeable about Visby, and enthusiastic about her job. I heard her say that she taught classes in a university. I could believe it. She really knew her stuff, and she was entertaining, too. We were all given headsets that made it easier to hear her. The one I had didn’t seem to work very well and with every step, it bounced against my boobs, so I just listened to her live.

Although Visby has a walled in old town, most people no longer live in the town proper, as the historic museum has a lot of rules about what people can do to the historic homes there. There are rules about construction, painting, and even what kinds of windows people can install. Our guide showed us the smallest house in Visby, which she said sold about ten years ago for about $200,000. It’s so small that one can’t even stand up straight in it. The guide, who appeared to be short like me and said she couldn’t stand up in the house, explained that the buyer was actually the next door neighbor, as buying the tiny house was the only way to have more space at his house!

We learned that Visby used to have a train, but it was stopped in 1960. People are apparently still kind of bitter about losing the train, but the guide explained that it wasn’t really practical to have it. Using buses is more efficient. The old train station still exists, and is now used for a different purpose.

We also learned that there are homes in Visby that are built entirely of wood, including the nails holding them together. And when Visby was conquered, residents were encouraged to build stone houses. They were given excellent tax incentives to use stone, rather than wood, as the wood was a valuable commodity for sales abroad. Some residents tricked the tax authorities by covering up their wooden homes with stone facades. To this day, it’s possible to spot homes that are actually wooden, covered up by stone to fool the taxmen.

As interesting as Visby is, I think some people on our tour were a bit frustrated, as the guide moved at a slow pace. I heard one woman loudly complaining to her husband that the guide only went a few yards at a time before she would stop to tell a story or explain something. Also, I know some of us really needed to pee. At one point, I followed a fellow passenger to a restaurant, which kindly allowed us to use their facilities. The toilets were pretty nasty, though, especially the one the other lady used. It reeked of something very foul! She looked horrified when she came out. I held my breath and was spared much of the olfactory torture.

We were only able to visit the chapel in Visby Cathedral, as the main part was not open. I understand there are toilets at the cathedral, too, but they weren’t open, either. I think people who didn’t go when I did used another restroom at a restaurant.

My favorite part of the tour was probably the botanical garden, which was very beautiful and well-tended, with many different trees and smaller plants. We also visited Gallows Hill, and our guide explained how condemned people were treated back in the day. The hill is located well outside of the walled city’s gates, which our guide told us were closed every night, and made it impossible for people to go in or out. For many years, no one lived outside of the walls of the old city, so much of the island was “wild”. Obviously, that’s no longer the case today.

Below are some photos from Visby!

*Of all the places we visited, Visby’s port was the most bombed by seagulls!*

The photos are actually a little bit misleading. Visby was pretty crowded when we visited. I couldn’t help but think that as charming as the town is, I would think all the tourists and tour groups would get very old for the locals. But I guess they do provide some valuable economy for the island. Below are some more photos I took… and as I look at them now, I’m amazed by how pretty they are. Visby is very interesting and charming, but like I said, quite populated with people like us– tourists! However, everywhere we went, except for that one bathroom, smelled heavily of fragrant flowers. The roses and linden trees were especially intoxicating.

After our tour, we went back to Splendor and prepared for our 6:30 PM dinner reservation at Chartreuse, the ship’s French specialty restaurant. I got the feeling that of the three specialty restaurants, Chartreuse might be the least popular. I enjoyed it, although I felt the food was a very Americanized version of French cuisine. I was especially delighted, though, to get somewhat early reservations. Bill and I are not night owls. I probably would be more of one, if not for Bill, but he’s very much an early bird. His brain goes down with the sun. 😀

Here are some photos from Chartreuse…

*The champagne glasses were a little “sweaty” when we got them.*

As we were leaving, the waiter presented me with a little box. Inside were two fresh pistachio macarons. Very nice, but since we live next door to France, it probably wasn’t as exciting for me as it is for other passengers. But they had no way of knowing that! 😉

After dinner, we had a nightcap in the Observation Lounge. I had some of my favorite Armagnac. Bill had a gin and tonic. We rushed back to the stateroom so I could get shots of the incredible sunset. That was when we noticed the “mail” in the slot by the door… an “invitation” to the following night’s dinner in the other speciality restaurant, Pacific Rim. We also got one for Chartreuse, and I’m sure we had one for Prime 7, too. I just neglected to take photos.

The sunset really was incredible…

We decided to try breakfast in the room on Wednesday, so we made our selections of what we wanted and hung the sign on the door. More on that in the next post!

Champagne Bucket trips, Finland, Regent Seven Seas Cruise Lines

Helsinki! Helsinki! Our first look at Finland’s capital city!

Years ago, Bill and I were big fans of the British comedy show, Little Britain. That show featured various character skits by comedians David Walliams and Matt Lucas. One skit they did consistently involved characters named Lou and Andy. Lou asked Andy where he wanted to go on holiday, and Andy insisted that he wanted to go to Helsinki…

Lou suggests Florida, but Andy reiterates he wants Helsinki… but then changes his mind.

I didn’t change my mind about Helsinki. I was genuinely curious about it. On our first day aboard the ship, we were to take a short bus trip into Finland’s capital and take a harbor cruise. This was one of the “free excursions” offered by Regent. But first, we needed to fuel up with breakfast. So we went down to the Compass Rose restaurant and enjoyed some very hearty fare, delivered to us by warm and attentive wait staff.

*Sparkling water… we had to request it a lot!*

We were arriving in Helsinki during the late morning hours, so we had time for a leisurely breakfast and, as it turned out, a quick lunch. I’m glad we had lunch before we got off the ship, as our excursion took place during the time when we might ordinarily have a midday repast. There’s a reason I mention this, and I’ll get to it in a couple of posts. 😉 Suffice to say, we went to La Veranda again and grazed the humongous buffet so we’d be well-fortified for our trip to the city of Helsinki.

*Looks like a ham and cheese baguette for Bill…*

Cruise director Jude made an announcement that Finland’s authorities had cleared the ship and people could get off the vessel. There were complimentary shuttle buses into town, or those who had excursions could go to the Constellation Theater and trade their tickets for group numbers, which they would then give to the locally hired tour guides.

One thing I immediately liked about the Regent experience is that they do have the complimentary shuttle buses. Regent bills itself as the most “all inclusive” cruise line available. Actually, I think Hebridean Island Cruises is (or was) more all inclusive than Regent is, but it’s a lot less famous and goes to far fewer places than Regent does. For a well-known cruise line that goes worldwide, I do think Regent probably does offer the most bang for the buck. But I caveat that by saying this as someone who hasn’t experienced a lot of different cruise lines.

On both Royal Caribbean and SeaDream, if we weren’t signed up for excursions, we had to find our own ways into the cities. Sometimes, that wasn’t a problem, but other times, not signing up for excursions meant being stuck at an ugly port, walking into town, figuring out and taking public transportation, or hiring a cab. Regent does have buses for those who want to do their own thing. I also want to mention, in fairness to Royal Caribbean and SeaDream, their policies may have changed since we were last aboard their ships. I honestly don’t know.

I ended up enjoying the harbor cruise excursion, as Gail and Ger were also on the boat with us. One group got off about midway, because they had paid for an extra segment of the tour. We were just fine with the boat, which had three guides offering commentary about life in Finland. When they mentioned that Finland had just joined NATO this year, everybody cheered!

The harbor cruise boat was comfortable, with seating available on top and inside the cabin. There was a bar serving snacks and beverages, including local beers. They also had clean toilets, which was a huge plus. In fact, the guides encouraged everyone to use the toilets on the tourboat, since public restrooms in the market area in Helsinki are scarce.

I thought the tour guides on the harbor cruise were basically good. There was one who did a bit of rambling. It was as if she wanted to keep talking to prevent people from talking among themselves. I know that once people get to talking, it can be hard to get them to be quiet again. But the rambling was noticeable.

Nevertheless, we did learn a lot about how cold it gets in Finland in the winter, as the guides showed us the ice breakers that keep the shipping lanes open. The guides also said that the ice gets hard enough that people can walk or even drive on it, although global warming is changing that reality. Personally, I think I’d be afraid to walk on the ice!

The guides also spoke at length about sauna culture in Finland. Apparently, many people have their own saunas at home. Sometimes you find homes with private saunas in Germany, too, but in Finland, it’s evidently very common. Lots of people own boats and second homes, too, even if they aren’t very wealthy. Or, at least that’s what we were told.

Below are some photos…

*Waiting in the theater to be invited to our bus.*

After the boat tour, we walked around the marketplace, where vendors were selling everything… There were a lot of really nice souvenirs. I bought a silk scarf for myself, and a couple of wooden toys for Bill’s youngest grandson. I wish we’d had more euros on us, although a lot of places also took credit cards.

There was also a ferris wheel and live music playing. I would have liked to have spent more time in Helsinki. We’ll have to go back, if only because I also noticed an Armenian restaurant near the port!

Here are some more pictures of Helsinki, some of which were taken with my digital camera, as opposed to my iPhone.

Some of the above photos have a glare on them. I am still learning how to edit photos, so I need to find a way to get rid of the glare on the above shot. It’s a keeper. One thing I didn’t like on Splendor is that there seemed to be a lack of open deck space, which made taking photos of scenery challenging. I could take pictures from my balcony, from the top decks, or on deck 5. But if I happened to be sitting in the observation lounge and noticed a particularly beautiful sunset or leaping dolphins, there was no way to easily get outside to get a good shot. And getting to a place where taking a good photo was possible would take a lot of time. That’s one thing about Regent Splendor I don’t like. I wish they had an outdoor area near the Observation Lounge. Even the pool area was kind of enclosed on the sides, though it didn’t have a retractable roof.

Oh well… another first world problem…

When we went back to our suite, our laundry was waiting for us, boxed up and gift wrapped. And again, because we were concierge guests, there was no extra charge!

Each item of clothing had a little tag in it with our suite number. It was all expertly cleaned, pressed, and folded. Very, very nice!

For dinner on the 24th, we decided to try Sette Mari, which I had read gets very crowded as people discover it. We went early, to make sure we’d get a seat. A poised young woman with black hair and a braid over the top of her head took care of us. She was very polished and professional, as she brought us Italian dishes. Sette Mari does offer table service, but there’s also a buffet for salads and desserts. I noticed it got a bit rowdy in there, but the food was good. We enjoyed it. I wish we’d had another chance to dine there. Maybe on another cruise.

Here are some photos from our visit to Sette Mari.

After dinner, we spent a little more time in the Observation Lounge. I had a Brandy Alexander. Bill had ginger ale, because he wasn’t feeling well. We decided to go to bed early. At about 9:30 PM, a steward brought us the beer I requested. He seemed surprised to catch me in my nightie.

So… that about does it for Helsinki. Stay tuned for Tallinn, Estonia!

Champagne Bucket trips, Finland, Regent Seven Seas Cruise Lines

Our first impressions of dinner on Regent Splendor…

Our first night aboard Splendor, we had dinner reservations in Prime 7 (the steakhouse) for 8:30 PM. We don’t usually eat that late in the evening, but there were no earlier times available. Since I wanted to try all three of the specialty restaurants, I took that time. It wasn’t a bad plan, as a lot of people don’t book the specialty restaurants on the first night. Also, at this time of year in Scandinavia, the sun still shines brightly at 8:30 PM.

Bill could have put an eye out when he opened our sailaway champagne!

We had plenty of time to kill before we went to eat dinner, so Bill and I went to the Observation Lounge on Deck 11 for the welcome party. As we were sitting there listening to a guy name Rick “tickling the ivories” and sipped wine, we heard someone call our names. We turned to our left and there were Gail and Ger, whom we met on our second SeaDream Yacht Club cruise in November 2011.

We got up and hugged them, then moved to their table for four, where we caught up on things. Ger and Gail live in England, and like us, they’d moved since our last in person meeting. Ger is a pilot and is about to retire. When I asked him if he was okay with that, he seemed very honest and happy when he reported that he truly is. Now he can travel for fun even more often!

Gail and Ger were also booked in Prime 7, but they had an earlier reservation. So after a little more catching up, they took their leave, and Bill and I hung out in the lounge a little bit longer. Rick, the pianist, had packed up and left by then, so we listened to the easy listening/jazz/mellow R&B that seems to be piped in all over Regent Splendor. I didn’t mind some of the jazz selections they were playing. I even Shazamed some of them. As I type this, I’m listening to music by Diane Kirkwood, a jazzy singer I discovered on Regent Splendor. I even downloaded her album.

Some of the other music they piped in was decidedly “elevator music” style, which I like a lot less, and sometimes even find a little “triggering”. Yes, I know that sounds ridiculous, but some of you haven’t been forced to ride for hours in the back of a van with a hyper-controlling musician wannabe father who hums, and it shows. 😉 While it’s true that Regent has a number of “senior” folks aboard, most of them seemed far from needing a nursing home. I think if anyone from the cruise line asked me for my opinion, I’d advise Regent to ditch the “beautiful music” style tunes and stick with a more adult contemporary sound. But, that’s just me.

When it was time for our reservation, Bill and I headed to Deck 10 on the starboard side, where we were met by a smiling man named Aras who said he had a table, but not one that was by a window. We said that was okay, since we were there to eat, rather than look out the window. Bwahahahaha… Actually, I like looking out the windows when I travel, but I knew we would certainly survive dinner without direct window access. So we sat down and enjoyed a very beautiful meal… See below!

After dinner, we waddled back to Suite 964 and watched the sunset as we left Sweden for Helsinki, Finland. Helsinki is, of course, the original place we were going to visit. Finland won the champagne bucket draw, after all. I was looking forward to seeing a new place in a country I had never visited before. But first, we had to get there, and it would take all night, as Regent Splendor gently made her way…

We tucked ourselves into bed and soon fell fast asleep. No joke… Regent Splendor’s linens are absolutely exquisite. It took no time before we were sound asleep.

Regent Seven Seas Cruise Lines

Our first impressive impressions of Regent Splendor…

Bill and I followed the crowd up the gangplank, where several ship staffers of obvious Asian descent smiled brightly and welcomed us aboard. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t mention this, except that I noticed that it seemed like so many of Regent’s crew members hailed from Asia. I always find it interesting to talk to people who work on cruise ships, because I like meeting people from other countries. I never really got a chance to talk to a lot of the Regent crew, as they were all working very hard. But on Hebridean Princess, most of the crew were from Eastern European countries– especially Latvia, Poland, and the Czech Republic. SeaDream seemed to have a lot of crew from the Philippines and South Africa. Our waiter on Vision of the Seas was Bulgarian. And Regent had a smattering of people from all over the place, but it seemed like the crew mostly came from Asian countries.

Someone handed us glasses of champagne as they scanned our IDs for the first time. We walked into the impressive atrium with its prominent wooden staircase, and another staffer directed us to go to our muster station near the Pacific Rim restaurant (one of Regent Splendor’s speciality restaurants). I must say, the “muster drill” was extremely easy on Splendor. Instead of having the entire ship gather at the muster stations wearing life jackets, we simply went to the muster station as we were; then, a crew member asked us if we’d watched the one minute safety video Regent sent us before we embarked. When we answered affirmatively (we’d watched it twice), he scanned our IDs, and that was that. Embarkation was very quick and simple, with a minimum of waiting around in crowds and lines. That’s a plus!

Our stateroom was 964, which was on the portside aft of the ship. I chose the suite not knowing where we might rather be on the Splendor. It wasn’t a bad choice, except that it was at the ass end of the ship, which gave us some good opportunities to stretch our legs. That wasn’t a bad thing for either of us. One of our next door neighbors had a Master Suite, which is one of the most expensive and luxurious staterooms aboard the Splendor. The other neighbor was in a Concierge E stateroom like ours.

Regent Splendor does not have any inside staterooms for passengers, and all rooms have private balconies. Most of the staterooms are like the one we were in, which is a “Superior Suite“. We were in a Concierge E stateroom, which means that the room was just like a superior suite, except we got some extra perks, like the “free” night at the Nobis Hotel, “free” bus transfer from the hotel to the port, a small discount on premium booze and choice shore excursions and experiences, “free” professional laundry services, “free” unlimited WiFi for up to four devices (although this didn’t really work out for us), and “free” porterage. I put quotes around the word “free” because it’s not really free. You pay extra for these perks.

In our case, I’m not sure concierge class was totally worth what we paid, since we booked so late that we couldn’t really book any “choice” excursions or experiences (like the gourmet cooking class). But it was convenient to have the Stockholm hotel and transportation to the port arranged, and I definitely appreciated the laundry service after our six sweaty nights in Norway! Regent Splendor also has self-service launderettes, but we never needed to use them. I’m sure they were fully engaged as the voyage wore on, as people did laundry while on the cruise.

There is a smaller stateroom available called the Veranda Suite. These are the cheapest cabins aboard, but even they are very nicely appointed with queen sized beds and private balconies.

We weren’t able to go directly to our suite after the muster drill, as the stewards were still preparing them after the previous cruise had ended. We were instead invited to go have lunch. Regent Splendor has several restaurants aboard. The main dining room is called Compass Rose, and it’s on Deck 4. There are three specialty restaurants which require reservations: Prime 7 (a steakhouse), Pacific Rim (Asian cuisine), and Chartreuse (French cuisine). There’s also a buffet area called La Veranda (breakfast and lunch), which, at night, turns into Sette Mari, an Italian restaurant (does not require reservations). And there’s also the Pool Grill, which offers table and buffet service outside. The Pool Grill (and its accompanying bar) is the only venue we didn’t have a chance to try during our week on the Splendor.

We chose to have our first lunch at La Veranda. We hesitated for a moment at the entrance, but were then invited to sit wherever we wanted, as it’s open seating. That was a change from Hebridean Princess, where seating is assigned. I enjoyed prime rib from the buffet… the first I’d had in a very long time, and shrimp cocktail, also a rare treat.

Once again, we were seated near Americans who were quite loud and might not have realized that they were sharing so openly with everyone in the vicinity of their table. I asked for a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, and I’m pretty sure I got California Chardonnay. Meh… I don’t really like Chardonnay that much, but it’s a first world problem!

I did like most of the wines by the glass offered “free” by Regent. I noticed that they didn’t seem eager to sell any expensive fine wines. We saw the sommelier once or twice; he was casually advertising a wine pairing lunch for an extra charge. We might have been interested in booking that, except it took place during one of our excursions. Other than that, we didn’t encounter anyone trying to upsell the wines or anything else, really. That was one thing I really liked about our Regent experience as opposed to our Royal Caribbean experience years ago.

After a leisurely lunch at the buffet, we were finally invited to our stateroom. I must say, our room on Regent Splendor was absolutely fabulous. The bed was extremely comfortable and had wonderful linens… I wish I could have brought them home with me– the bed included!

The room featured a walk in closet, a marble bathroom with a bathtub that was deep, but looked a bit “short”, a rainfall shower, his and hers sinks, and a fridge stocked with beverages. I requested that the Budweiser be replaced with Stella Artois or Grolsch and was surprised when a steward brought both! There was a fruit plate that was restocked daily, and a beautiful balcony with a table, two chairs, and a lounge chair, each with cushions.

The flat screen television offered information about the ship, as well as movies, news, and television shows. It could be swiveled so that we could watch from bed, or from the small couch in the sitting area. There were PLENTY of electrical outlets for both US and European plugs. Since we have electronics with both types of plugs, it was handy to have so many outlets.

Yes, when I think about the cruises I’ve been on, Regent Splendor’s superior stateroom– even though it’s not the best on board– easily tops the list of the most luxurious I’ve ever experienced, personally. The most expensive stateroom on Regent Splendor is the size of a 4000 square foot house! Our suite was one-tenth the size of the Regent Suite, yet it was extremely posh and comfortable.

Below are some photos from our first impressions onboard Regent Splendor.

*The beer selection could use some work… InBev’s best.*

One thing I think Regent gets right on the Splendor are the staterooms. We definitely were right at home in ours. I loved the balcony, and managed to get some pretty nice selfies on it, including the one below… It’s not so easy for me to look relatively pretty in photos these days, so this alone was probably worth the price of the first night.

*The sea breeze does wonders for the mood… I did edit out the sore spot under my nose. Darn colds!*

Below are a few more photos from around the ship… including some of the beverages we enjoyed while waiting for our room. We never did get the chance to try the pool or hot tub, as it was a little too chilly for swimming. Plus, we were pretty busy during the days, enjoying our “free” excursions.

Champagne Bucket trips, Regent Seven Seas Cruise Lines

All aboard the Regent Splendor…

The featured photo is of the hapless guys trying to load the luggage. They’d lost about half of the load pictured when I took that photo from the ship.

On June 23, 2023, Bill and I embarked on our very first Regent Seven Seas cruise. This was an unusual experience for us, because although we do cruise on occasion, our cruises have overwhelmingly been on much smaller and older vessels. Aside from our very first cruise, which was a short Baltic cruise in June 2009 on Royal Caribbean’s Vision of the Seas, we’ve only done cruises on SeaDream I or Hebridean Princess. SeaDream’s ships carry a maximum of 112 passengers each. Hebridean Princess maxes out at 49 passengers. Hebridean Island Cruises just acquired a new ship that is also very small. We haven’t sailed on the Lord of the Highlands yet, but she only carries 38 passengers!

Our first cruise on Vision of the Seas was fine, but we determined that we prefer smaller boats that are more all inclusive. So, for 14 years, we have avoided big ships. In fact, I hadn’t wanted to do a cruise at all this year. Originally, I’d hoped we could do a land based trip to Finland, which won our champagne bucket draw, and then go to the Baltic nations on our own. But, as I tried to plan the trip, I was confounded by the lack of easy transportation options in the Baltic countries. And although there are trains in Norway, Sweden, and Finland, they aren’t super convenient like they are in Germany and other European countries. Like, if you wanted to go by train from Bergen to Stockholm, you’d have to go to Oslo first.

At this writing, there aren’t any train connections between Tallinn, Estonia, Riga Latvia, or Vilnius, Lithuania. If we’d done a land based trip, we’d have to rent a car and drive, fly, or take buses. Or… maybe use the ferries, which basically amounted to cruising, right?

Anyway, I noticed that Regent had a handy northern European itinerary available, and I’d been somewhat curious about luxury cruising on a big ship. It helped that the voyage was on sale. So we pulled the trigger, booked our spots on the Northern Folktales & Traditions cruise, and boarded the gorgeous Splendor on that auspicious June day.

Well… I don’t know how auspicious it really was. As we waited in the lobby at Nobis Hotel, I already sensed that we’d be rubbing elbows with people who had the potential to be irritating. I’d been sitting next to Bill and got up to use the ladies room. When I came back, there was a rather assholish looking older man sitting near Bill. There was enough room for me to sit down in my former spot, so I did.

The tall, distinguished looking man with the perfect haircut didn’t seem to appreciate that very much. After a few minutes of sitting near me, he got up and sat on the other side of his painfully thin and rather well coiffed wife, who bore a resemblance to Blythe Danner circa 1991 (when she was in The Prince of Tides). *shrug* I guess he has no respect for the “unwashed masses”… emphasis on masses. I’m sorry to say that COVID and the onset of menopause, plus my love of boozy libations, has done a terrible number on the size of my ass. It’s too bad I never learned to play tennis or golf. Maybe I’d be more the type of person that guy likes to hang around with. His wife, by the way, seemed a lot nicer than her (I assume) husband. We shared a shrug and bemused smile when there was a sudden crash outside.

I don’t want to dwell too long on this first impression of the other passengers. It’s just that this guy gave off serious narcissistic “boomer” vibes. He sort of exuded masculine power. He was handsome and tall, appeared to be very fit, and if I were to guess, I’d assume he comes from the southern USA (as I do) and has a longstanding membership at a country club (as I don’t). He seemed much like someone very privileged who doesn’t like to mingle with people who either aren’t physically attractive to him, or don’t share his level of financial success.

I could be totally wrong, of course, and I realize that I’m judging him as much as I perceived him judging me. But I’m pretty good at observing body language, and his body language told me to keep my distance. So I did that… but later, I also noticed him in the Observation Lounge with his very slim and attractive wife. She was always walking several paces behind him and seemed very much like a second banana to his self-presumed awesomeness. I guess he wanted her to keep her distance, too, lest she cast a shadow on his narcissistic glow. Yes, she was well dressed and very pretty, even in her (I assume) 60s. She and her husband exuded an obvious air of wealth and prosperity. But… I sure wouldn’t want to trade places with her.

We all clambered aboard the first of many tour buses. A beautiful Swedish woman wearing a Regent jacket and scarf took attendance, then wished us a pleasant journey and got off the bus. It was now her job to welcome the departing cruisers from the voyage before ours who were staying for a night in the Nobis Hotel. These were folks who’d had Regent arrange their air, or booked post cruise tours, which Bill and I did not do.

I was excited to catch my first glimpse of the Splendor, which was built in 2020-21 and carries a maximum of 746 passengers. Splendor’s godmother is none other than supermodel, Christie Brinkley. It seems very fitting that such a beautiful ship should have a supermodel as her godmother.

But before we could embark, we had to go through security and pick up our new ID cards. So we got in line and soon found ourselves talking to a very young man– I’d guess maybe aged 19 or 20– who asked us if we’d been vaccinated for COVID and wanted to know if we’d been feverish or had diarrhea in the days immediately prior to our sailing. Then, much to my amusement, he asked me if I was pregnant. Ordinarily, such a question might irritate the hell out of me (as it did in France back in 2014). But… since I turned 51 years old three days before that conversation took place, I simply had to laugh and say, “No, I’m not pregnant.” If I had been more on my toes verbally, I might have added, “That ship has sailed.” 😉

But instead, I added, looking at Bill, “And he’s not pregnant, either.” As one commenter on Cruise Critic pointed out, you just never know these days. 😀 We shared a quick laugh, and eagerly made our way to the gangplank.

Here are a few photos from our journey from Nobis Hotel to the port in Stockholm, Sweden.

*Stockholm is lovely. We will have to go back and properly explore it.*

I really wish we’d had more time to visit Stockholm. It was our second time in the city, but once again, we were unable to explore it because it was on the end of a cruise. Our 2009 Vision of the Seas cruise ended in Stockholm, and we had to rush back to Germany because Bill (still in the Army at the time) had a conference he had to attend.

This time, we missed a proper tour because I wasn’t able to easily book two nights there, due to our stay at the Nobis Hotel booked by Regent. It was possible to book a second night or simply stay in a different hotel, but that would have required some finagling and probably paying more than we needed to. As it turned out, we decided it was better to just relax in the hotel, since we were both battling colds, as were a lot of other passengers. More on that in a subsequent post.

Hebridean Island Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruise Lines

I’m looking forward to writing up this cruise…

As someone who usually opts for small cruise ships, I’ve definitely been noticing a lot of pros and cons related to being on a much bigger ship, like Regent Seven Seas Splendor. To be honest, I think I prefer the smaller ships, and will probably stick with those, unless there’s a specific destination I want to visit.

I do want to comment, though, on an experience I had a few years ago. I even blogged about it here. There was a thread on Cruise Critic about luxury lines. I had mentioned that I was surprised Hebridean Island Cruises was not listed as luxury. Some snobby woman argued with me about my classification of Hebridean as a “luxury” line. Her reasons that it wasn’t mainly had to do with things like the ship’s lack of a spa or casino, or lower thread counts on the sheets (although the Princess has wonderful linens). I thought her definition of luxury was pretty limited and said so. She’d never been on Hebridean Princess, and I have. Now I’ve been on Regent, which is her favorite line. And, I gotta say, I think I much prefer Hebridean and, yes, even though it lacks a spa and a casino, I think it’s more luxurious by far.

When I have more time, I will explain my many reasons for feeling this way. To be sure, Splendor is a BEAUTIFUL ship, and most everything has been very good. But in many areas, Hebridean Princess and even SeaDream (although it’s been ten years since my last SeaDream cruise) outshine Regent. But… I also realize that both Hebridean and SeaDream might be different post COVID. I’ll just have to cruise them again to know for sure. 😉

Anyway, for some reason, I’m having trouble linking the post I referenced, so here’s an ugly link if you’re interested in that original discussion. I’ve been thinking about that exchange a lot, though, since we’ve been on Regent. I intend to flesh it out some more when I’m not so pressed for time. Maybe I’ll even get to it today, since we have a shorter excursion planned.

Luxury is personal and subjective…

I think this trip will keep me busy blogging for a long while…

Finland, Latvia

Sorry for the break!

We are into our Baltic cruise now, and Internet access isn’t always a given. It is included with our room, but we’re limited to four devices. I may end up buying a package for the computer, because I have a lot to write about, and plenty of photos to share.

As I mentioned yesterday on the main blog, Regent Seven Seas is a very pleasant way to travel. I wish we had more time in port to see some of the fantastic cities we’re visiting, but seeing these places once or twice helps us decide on future trips. We already knew we liked Tallinn when we were here in 2009. Now we know we like it even more.

Yesterday’s visit to Helsinki was also a success. We managed to find a few gifts for Bill’s grandchildren, as well as a few things for us.

Unfortunately, Bill has picked up my cold. He’s not as sick as I was… or have been, as I’m not 100 percent back to normal yet. Now, I have an annoying cough and a stuffy nose. But I have more energy and feel better. I can see I wasn’t the only unfortunate to pick up a cold on this trip.

Tomorrow, we head to Riga, Latvia, a place Bill have been to twice. It will be my first time there. I’m looking forward to seeing a new place and adding a new mug and magnet to my collection. We set sail in about an hour.

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The Traveling Overeducated Housewife

…the wanderings and ramblings of a boring housewife…

Tag Archives: luxury cruises