By Ruth J. Katz

Photos provided by Regent Seven Seas Cruises

It’s hard to imagine that there is feverish activity below decks, while you are more or less inert, above deck, sunning languorously poolside, with a frothy, umbrella-adorned beverage in hand. Such is “the life” on deck 11, on an at-sea day on Regent Seven Seas Cruise Line’s stunningly appointed Explorer, with its exquisite décor—punctuated by its extensive, on-board art collection, valued at some $6 million. 

But, on levels one, two, and three, there is unremitting bustle, a floating beehive in perpetual motion.  Your seamless and cosseted experience is possible only because this well-oiled hospitality locomotive—comprised of both “machinery” that boasts DNA as well as inanimate machinery—is constantly rechoreographing its balletic acrobatics, reacting to guests’ needs and assuring their comfort and well-being. 

Your experience is not about the state-of-the art sundry engines and sophisticated equipment that chug along without your being aware of them and which contribute to your seamless journey.  But, more importantly, it’s about the 2,200-odd legs and arms that belong to a crew of more than 550, a cohesive corps who inherently want to spoil you and the other 745 passengers on board.

Among the upmarket cruise lines, Regent stands arguably alone when it comes to truly embodying the meaning of that “all inclusive” sales message: No tipping; no add-ons for alcohol (save, for example, for a Connoisseur Cognac Tasting); no fees for the more than 2,000 diverse shore excursions, in over 500 ports of call.  (NB:  There are some tariffs for a handful of over-the-top adventures.)

Always on the qui vive for enriching and previously-uncharted experiences for its customers (many of whom are brand-loyal to the core), Regent staff and its boots-on-the ground excursion partners plumb their imaginations and local geography and history to dazzle you with alluring excursion programs.  Recently added to the mix are Behind the Design Tours and Eco-Connect Tours, all touching on popular themes.

In keeping with the mantra that pampering knows no bounds for Regent guests (clients fly Business Class to and from their ships, on intercontinental flights from the U.S. and Canada), the 4,443-square-foot Regent Suite on the Explorer—the ne plus ultra cabin—is outfitted with a $150,000 Savoir No. 1 bed, which takes 120 man hours to hand-build, and which sports a mattress-topper lavishly layered with horse-tail hair, lambswool, pure cashmere, and even Mongolian yak hair. The company refers to its Regent Suites (one per vessel) as the most exclusive addresses at sea.

But even if you are not in a Penthouse Suite, outfitted with a pillow menu (gel, memory foam, down, buckwheat-hull—you get the idea), you will find luxury and service above your wildest expectations.

And while you slumber in comfort, that city that never sleeps below you is humming 24 hours a day: The engines, the mechanical systems, a desalinization plant, the laundry and dry cleaning plants, staff quarters, food and alcohol stores, butcher shops, galleys, room service staff, and crew-training facilities, are all purring efficiently, keeping everything ship-shape, just for you.

It is here in the wee hours of the morn that a half-dozen or so pastry chefs are knocking out thousands of rolls, croissants, brioches, muffins, donuts, Danishes, and even gluten-free breads for breakfast alone, while the crew in the laundry are washing and pressing thousands of napkins and tablecloths daily.  And the housekeeping staff are loading their carts with thousands of freshly laundered towels and getting ready to pounce like Ninjas to clean your suite after you have left for an excursion, and, of course, to replenish Nespresso pods and the L’Occitane Mer & Mistral line of toiletries in your marble-clad bath.

Multiple traffic cops and computer systems are in place to keep this human “appliance” waltzing smoothly, so that the many galleys are never bereft of, say, soy milk. During a typical seven-day cruise, more than 500 gallons of milk alone are consumed. In fact, on a galley tour, if you snoop around the refrigeration units, you’ll see they are filled with regular milk, heavy cream, half-and-half, 1% and 2% skimmed milk, regular skimmed milk, as well as almond and rice milks—maybe even a cow secreted away in the fridge.  On a typical seven-day cruise, the 82 galley chefs might blitz through 900 dozen eggs, 800 pounds of butter, 600 pounds of lobster, 700 pounds of cheese…and guests will consume 4,800 bottles of wine and nearly 1,000 bottles of Champagne!

Another fascinating aspect of the galley—and throughout the ship, in fact–is the separation of trash. Mindful of global ecology, Regent is striving to cease supplying guests with single-use plastics and in an effort to cut down on paper waste, the company has shifted paperwork to digital formats. In the galley, trash is scrupulously segregated:  Pulpable waste, shells and bones, plastic, cans, paper, non-pulpables, and so on, all have their own receptacles. And don’t think for a minute that the refuse you drop into your cabin garbage bin isn’t sorted.  Batteries, razor blades, plastics, are all separated.

But all these numbers and policies mean nothing, unless the services behind those facts and figures are delivered with a smile and style.  And, that they are. Regent is holistic in its approach to training staff and maintains a school in the Philippines, as well as a teaching facility on board. What is most important to the company, however, is to hire people who comprehend that they are the public ambassadors of the brand and its philosophy. Regent is committed to its mantra of serving guests with the utmost care, always remembering that they are the face of the company, and that the attention they give to details—anticipating and exceeding guests’ expectations—is Regent’s “normal.”  The crew, from nearly 50 countries—be it Kyrgyzstan or Mauritius—must love their jobs, as they repeatedly return to work on a Regent vessel.  Many have worked for the company a very long time, including Theodora, an employee in Prime 7 (the on-board steak house), who has been a Regent employee for more than 25 years.

You may well find that after your first Regent journey, you become just as regular a Regent devotee as its longtime employees and other guests. Bon voyage!

Regent’s six ocean-going vessels sail all year long, to seven continents, to more than 100   countries and 350 ports of call; more than 2,000 complimentary excursions are offered.  Average pricing for most Regent cruises starts at approximately $3,999 per person.

Additional Info: rssc.com

What Else is Cooking?

In between lazing about, eating, attending enrichment lectures, and heading shoreside for excursions, you will definitely want to save two hours for at least one of Explorer‘s Culinary Arts classes—assuming you can snag a place for these waiting-list-is-the-norm cooking classes. These hands-on, instruction-filled lessons were designed to enhance guests’ appreciation and understanding of a local port’s culture, history, and, of course, singular culinary profile. Taught in a state-of-the-art kitchen-classroom (deck 11, starboard, with sweeping, floor-to-ceiling window views), each student’s station is equipped with an induction cook stove, stainless steel sink, and quartzite work counter.  The program was designed by executive chef Kathryn Kelly, a graduate of and former instructor at the Culinary Institute of America. She first joined sister cruise line Oceania in 2011, when that company launched a highly successful seafaring cooking school on its Marina vessel. Regent’s classes include basics for those interested in things like knife skills, but the program excels at truly innovative, interesting classes, focused on ports of call…such as Epicurean Safari, which highlights delicious cuisine from Morocco, South Africa, and Namibia.  — RJK

© 2024 Ruth J. Katz   All Rights Reserved

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Three countries the easy way: you don’t have to drive, you don’t have to schlepp your suitcase around, you get picked up at your hotel each morning and you get as many days as you’d ever want in Morocco – and you don’t have to spend a lifetime learning to speak Moroccan Arabic!

Insight Vacations, of course, is only one of the tour operators covering this area of Western Europe and the top left part of Africa but as we travel around, we hear it is the most dependable. We like the fact it is part of a large company, the Travel Corporation, which carries a million dollar bond on its members, and the fact that it’s been in business for a long, long time.

Dependable is important when some of the travel touches a country like Morocco, a place you are not likely to be visiting again and where you would surely hope to get it done right that one time.

An Insight Vacations staff member collects us in Madrid airport and takes us to our hotel. Our tour leader, Toni Aguilar, welcomes us there enthusiastically. “You are going to see our countries better than you ever imagined possible,” he says. “What you see will be like picture postcards. But the photographs will be yours and they will stay in your memory.”

Our Picture Postcards

We are going to start our three-country trip in what he calls “The Land of the Bull.” We think he means the land of the bullfight but he means we will see several replicas of bulls propped up in farmers’ fields standing like the advertisements they once were for the Osborne sherry company.

Our coach is a gorgeous Mercedes-Benz, with enlarged seating space and a toilet. It will take us into this land of windmills, made famous when Cervantes told us how Don Quixote tilted at them, but windy Andalusia still harnesses its blustery weather even today.

We will meet Cervantes and his favorite characters more than once as we travel across our countries with Insight in what the company calls “the Art of Touring in Style.”

The question we got asked on our return was typically, “Was it all that special compared to what other tour operators offer? We don’t know what all the other companies offer but we were well pleased with Insight Vacations. It was true to the promises on its website. The hotels were better, much better, that what we’ve experienced with other tour operators as were the chosen and special restaurants. Both hotel and restaurant staffs looked after us really well. Toni made an interesting suggestion that we wear our identification tour badges for the first day only then not wear them. He felt when we came into what were often upscale restaurants we’d be received better as a small group rather than thought of as a tourist party to be shuffled to a less charming rear room.

The coach, carefully washed and polished, was gleaming at us every morning, the amiable drivers impressive with their skills on the occasional narrow mountain roads – and Toni, our suave tour operator was very helpful with the pride persons take in themselves when they know they are doing a really good job. Insight Vacations hospitality was not unlike what we saw in an Old Master oil painting in one of our hotels: understated but personal and friendly.

Spain’s cities and small towns were all different. Poised at an elevation of 3400 feet Toledo above the river Tagus seemed more like a German medieval hill town and Salamanca rather like a French university city. In the main square of Salamanca people sit surrounded by plaques on the walls dedicated to previous monarchs. Amongst them is a plaque to, of all people, General Franco, the man who creating a civil war, and almost destroyed his country.

Lisbon comes in like a breath of springtime. What a magnificent history for such a relatively small country; at 36,000 square miles it is about one fifth the size of Morocco. Here lies the body of Vasco de Gama, the famous explorer and navigator of the New World lying in state in the Jeronimos Palace and round the corner beside the figure of a wine snob showing he knows all about Port wine stands another snob. (See one you’ve seen ’em all!)

So it’s people who make photographs special. In Morocco how a man values his donkey. How a woman values her cell phone or her baby. And how an older woman values a job, work that keeps hunger at bay.

And what does a nation validate? Again, work. Its reputation – even if from Hollywood. Its history, here guarding the capital, Rabat. Its tradition: ze the belly dance. Its ceremonies. And in the main market square in Marrakesh, the same market that opened Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much, two performers who jingle as they move but they’re having fun.

Then once we get off the ferry from North Africa there’s Gibraltar complete with its famous Barberry Apes.

And Spain’s famous cities: Cordoba. Once the most splendid Arab city in the world. And there in the Old Jewish Quarter, the Arabs of the past pay a tribute to a Jew, the Jewish scholar and physician, Maimonides.

Seville comes in the heart of Andalusia, that mystical part of Spain that holds on the best to all Spain’s traditions. It has the second largest bull fighting arena in the world and…

…And it has the flamenco, the most intimate personal dance of any nation. The dancers, our guide says, do not take their style, their tempo from the music but from the audience’s reaction and support – and the musicians take their timing from the dancers. In the Cathedral here lies the body of Christopher Columbus. The Dominican Republic said it had his body but our bones were tested with DNA from his brother Diego. This is the correct grave.

Surrounded by simple homes stands Granada, the special but somewhat simple place the Moors built to show how superior their religion and their art was, compared to Christianity. To today’s tourists dragging through tours of the Great Cathedrals of Europe, the Arabs failed to demonstrate that superiority but Granada does not leave a bad taste in the mouth, an impact on one’s conscience that the poor peasant of medieval Europe were beggared to create the wealth of The Church.

This will be a great year to repeat this tour.

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