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.

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.

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.