Picking up from yesterday, we continue after embarkation. So the ship is only for 700+ guests and that makes it very intimate. From from one lounge to the other takes less time than to walk through the Lido on a large ship.  Seven Seas Cruise lines is somewhere between being very modern (all elegantly casual, except on world cruises) and retaining some old  world routines, so there is still a daily program with all the details. One thing that hit me straight off, was the paper quality of the Daily program, called “Passages”. It  is so much better than with other company’s. As a lover of books, for me it is important  to feel something good in your hands when holding it and this daily paper feels GOOD.  If you have a company that makes you live your cruise on an APP on the cell phone / mobile phone that is fine, but nice quality paper JUST feels good. (Although Regent has an APP and that is for reading your daily news and also magazines)

The Master of the ms Seven Seas Voyager is Captain Stanislas Mercier de Lacombe, he is french, very french and a very gregarious person who sailed most of his life with Regent. During his first announcement he compared himself to Inspector Clouseau of the pink panther and he sounds somewhat like it. But I like a man who does not take himself to seriously. He lives in La Boule on the west coast of France, a place I remember well, as I was there for the new build of the Noordam (III) in 1983/84 at St. Nazaire. It is a holiday town and during the summer season it is invaded by Parisians for the summer holidays. But he has a boat there, so he has a way out.  His wife is from Croatia so he is really part of a very international seafaring community.

Captain Stanisas Mercier de Lacombe. Master of the ms Seven Seas Voyager.

Once on board we found out that this cruise is a “spotlight on sparkling wines” with throughout the cruise tastings and wine pairings. Those are not included in the package (on average $ 235,– for an event) and a special sommelier is on board for the proceedings. Apart from having a “champagne breakfast” which is part of the cruise, there are special events which are of high quality but not free of charge.  My taste buds are not attuned to champagne so I do not know the difference between Krug, Dom Perignon, or Roederer, or Chateau Plonk, so I will stay away from it.  When we came into the cabin there were already 2 bottles of champagne waiting so we do not not feel left out. One as the regular welcome on board and one together with a large box of Leonidas chocolates as a gift from the management. It seems that they  have already found out about me and the blog and if that results in extra alcohol and chocolates, then I am all for it.

A very nice gift, and they say that Leonidas chocolates are calorie free so we have nothing to worry about.

Once on board, we had to make the obligatory visit to our muster station; we had to report to the Steak Dining room, called Prime 7. A very nice dining venue, so even if the ship would sink we can await our final fate in style.

The cabin has a walk in wardrobe which is sufficient for about a 14 day cruise, maybe a bit longer if there is no formal night. Any longer, then you will have to rotate from the suitcase. On the other hand there is free laundry for everybody, except dry cleaning which is not free, so you can get by with not too much stuff. Then just around the corner there is a self service laundry for those who do not like to send things down to the laundry.

There was some sort of of welcome on board deck party , a bon voyage social, on the pool deck, with the ships band, so we went there to get a feeling with what sort of guest cruises sail with Regent. A lot of guests are doing a back-to-back so the bar was full of (very) happy people. Drinks aplenty and a bar stand with nibbles, including Jumbo shrimp. While listening to the music my eye fell on the large array of Star Link antenna’s above the Deck. Never seen so many antennas’s on a smaller ship, so I think we can be insured  that we will have a good internet signal.

I think I am right to say that this is a “forest of antennas. It turned out that the internet (free except for streaming) was indeed very fast.

Next thing was cocktail time, where to go. . Based on our experience with Silver Seas where we found out that there was hardly anybody in the lounges in the evening, so we opted for cocktails in the Observation Lounge on deck 11.  We arrived that at 18.30, only to find the place heaving.   It turned out that at 18.00 hrs. there had been a  “Spotlight on sparkling wine welcome”, with an introduction by the guest Sommelier, Kelly McAliffe. So by the time we walked in, everybody present was already quite happy. Luckily the call for dinner was there was well and most guests made their way to one of the 4 restaurants on board.

This is a view of the observation lounge. I have not yet been able yet to take photos myself from the public rooms, So this a stock photo from the internet from before the 2026 upgrade. It looks a bit lighter now than what you see in this photo.

For dinner there is the Compass Rose which is the main restaurant on board, the Pool Grill (very casual), the Sette Mari at La Veranda (Italian), the Chartreuse (very french) and the Prime 7 (very beef steak).The latter ones are included in our cruise package with two visits.  We went to the Compass Rose for the first evening and the first thing I saw was Versace plates on the table. And those are not cheap, even when it is not the top range. When I was captain on the Prinsendam, we had the Versace Medusa range for the Captains table and the complete set for 10 seats was in the area of $ 15,000. Each wine glass was $ 175,— or something. When I dined from them, there was a special steward hovering around to ensure that each piece of crockery and glass work was taken, on tiptoe, to a special section of the kitchen so the dish washing boys and regular stewards could not get their hands on them. And here the whole dining room was full with it. But our waitress did say that she was very careful with them. The Maitre d’hotel, Mr. Francesco (27 years with Regent) said that he more worried about the Versace plates than about the service.

I will post some menus during the cruise, but lets say, there are at least 10 entre’s available every day standard, and another 10 that change each day.  And that is without counting the desserts.  By being there just after 19.00 hrs. we could easily make it to the show, as even at a gentle pace with good conversation (and good standard wines included), the service only takes about 100 minutes.

Cruise Director Callie Smit

The Constellation Show Room, is a 2 deck happening near the bow, with excellent sight lines. No poles anywhere and the upper level railing is low enough not to be in the way. Each seat has a table so you can have  a drink, if you want to. I have not found out yet, if they also serve before dinner.

The show was a sort of throw back to the olden days as this first Welcome On Board  show was a sort of variety show where the Cruise Director introduced the ships routine and had a singer do a small performance. Normally  there would have been a cast performance as well but they had joined the ship today and so they still had to rehearse. If you have dealt with entertainers /cast on board then you will know that when they are starting up. it is a few days full of drama and controlled panic so they are kept behind closed Firescreen doors until they are ready. The Cruise Director  who was the compare for this whole show is from South Africa and his name is Callie Smit. You can google him on line and he has a very good track record.

He was the man who spoke this evening the immortal words: “Welcome to Regent Seven Seas, Welcome to the Upgrade”.

And he was right, if you want to grade from 5 star, then Regent might be a very good decision. We will find out in the coming days, if VERY good applies. After the show we decided to retire as tomorrow morning we are going on our first (included) tour. With the coach along the Amalfie coast to  Sorrento.  I have taken my ship several times in the past sailing close to the coast as the scenery is very beautiful but I have never been ashore and seen the land based side so it will be very interesting.

Now  how does first day feel…………….. Extremely positive , I could not find anything wrong on board so far and that does not happen very often.

Weather tomorrow: Partly Sunny with temperatures around 70oF / 21oC and very little wind. Great weather for cruising and exploring.