Luxury encompasses the entire passenger experience. The physical environment of the ship is part of this experience, and the Seven Seas Explorer does present an environment that is richly decorated and often spacious, but the passenger experience suffers some of the same faults that I have encountered on other Regent ships.

After a rather bad experience on a recent cruise on the Seven Seas Voyager (previously reviewed on Cruise Critic), we were hesitant to take another Regent journey. However, we had already booked this trip, the itinerary was one that had great appeal to us (one of the few that have three full days in St. Petersburg), and several friends who had been on the Explorer raved about it, so we decided to go ahead. The cruise was certainly an improvement over our one on the Voyager, but not quite perfect.

Our suite, a Concierge E level, was indeed one of the best cabins we have had on a cruise ship. It had plenty of sitting room, was well furnished, had a very comfortable bed and a large balcony, and more than enough drawers, cabinets and closet space. The bathroom was also well designed, with two sinks, a tub and a very good shower, and again plenty of drawers and shelf and counter space. Although the Explorer offers even larger suites, we saw no need for anything bigger. Read more