Ngaire, A long time ago you reviewed Voyager suite locations. We have a deposit down on a "horizon view suite (877) and I am concerned about the continued talk of vibration in the rear. Should we switch to a Penthouse suite instead? Many thanks. Sorry if this is repetitious but I can't find the original from you. Maxine

Yes, I would suggest you switch to the Penthouse suite.

The Horizon suites are simply a standard suite with a VERY large balcony at the rear. Some do like the Horizon suites for the balcony size. However, many do feel the vibration at the back of the ship. This varies by the cruise, the weather, the seas and the sensitivity of the indivual. Regardless of the vibration issue I personally do not like the location at the back of the voyager. It seems a long way to everything and just "not my cup of tea".

The Penthouse suites are not much bigger than the standard suite but have a completely different layout that I think works well. There is a neat wrap around curved drape in the bed area that separates the living area from the bedroom at night. There is a sliding glass door to the balcony AND a large picture window. Makes the cabin seem much larger.

There is also a great wrap around desk starting at the vanity table. As a woman who curls my hair, does make up and wears jewelry this is the BEST cabin for practicality. You have your vanity table drawers (which are too small) and the big drawers in the wrap around desk that are accessible while you sit on your stool at the vanity table. I love this cabin.

So to me it is a no brainer. I would rather have a standard cabin forward or mid ship cabin than the Horizon suite. The penthouse, if you are willing to pay the difference is far superior in my opinion the Horizon suite.

I am sure some reading this say "I loved my Horizon suite, the balcony was great" and that is what makes the world go round. As I have always said "different strokes for different folks".

This is just my opinion.

I would agree with Ngaire, if you are willing to pay the difference, the PH's are great. We love the layout, and have had a PH twice on Voyager, and they are wonderful, I really love the layout for all the reasons Ngaire mentioned, and even though they aren't much larger, they do feel larger. We were on Deck 8 both times in a PH, 862 and 861, there was no vibration, they were very quiet, and found them to be very well located. Now that said, we just did two weeks on B2B in a standard suite and we were just fine.
I would personally have issues with the vibration in the Horizon suites, and even though called Horizon suites, they are the same as regular, unlike on Mariner where they are actually a much larger suite.

Thanks, Ngaire and JoAnn - this is great information! We are on deck 8 in a PHB this October...we would not have booked a PH except for the fantastic free business air deal that went with it. The difference between booking a standard cabin & paying for biz air through Regent vs. booking PHB and getting free biz air was so little that it was a no-brainer to upgrade. And I realize the size difference of the suites isn't much, but as you ladies say, the layout and extra window make it seem bigger. Greg pointed out that a lot of space in a standard suite is taken up by the hallway when you walk in, whereas a PH has no hallway, it's got immediate usable space.

That said, for VIKING we are booked in a G guarantee, and I am sure we'll be happy with whatever suite we're given. I kind of like the surprise element of it!

Kristin,
We ended up in a PH on the Voyager once when we had a guarantee. I liked the squareness of the room as well as the extra window for additional light. It also has a larger walk in closet which was wonderful ! I think you'll be very happy!

Thanks, Marcie! I think so too. Layouts can make a huge difference, I've already learned that in my (very few) years of cruising.

I loved this cabin on FJORDS, suite 721....the butler and iPod dock were added +'s.

Can't wait--we've booked 723 for the Rio-FLL segment of the 2009 Discovery cruise on Voyager. I'm really looking forward to having a special cabin!

Great location Wendy and nice cabins! I remember leaving notes etc for Suzie on her door in 721 and it was quiet nice hallway -

Maxine - To offer another contrarion view of this matter, we think that 877 is (for the $$$) one of the great bargains on Voyager. We, along with a few other LCTers, love that wrap around balcony. It's fantastic if you are on a scenery-intensive cruise, as we were on the Norwegian fjords - Captain Dag's Norway. We weren't bothered by the vibration, which is less intensive on the starboard side than on the port side, as far as we could determine. If one is sensitive to vibration, 877 or any other aft cabin would not likely be a good option. Further, if your cruise is not extremely scenic or if it involves long stretches in open sea at high speeds, the aft cabins are not the most desirable. But, if there is a lot of great scenery, we would choose a wrap-around deck over a wrap-around desk any day (of course, we don't do hair curling or make-up; so the handy desk ain't an issue for us...). All that being said, we, like Wendy, have booked a PH for the Rio-FLL cruise, on which cabin comfort will be much more important than scenery from the balcony. Geez, it looks like either option is pretty good, no??!! Cheers, Fred

Many thanks to all you who were kind enough to answer so quickly. We are on the Rio to For Lauderdale trip in Dec,09 and really appreciate the comments re: open seas v. scenic intensive. Too bad no special on Business class air that I am aware of but think I will go for the wrap around desk and butler instead of the vibration, Hope to meet you other sailors on the trip, and a special thanks to Ngaire. Maxine

Yes Maxine, too bad no Business air deal, I agree.

Let's just all hope we get to take this trip. I'm putting off planning pre-cruise details for now, probably until next year, but we want to spend some time in Rio and vicinity at least.

A special hi to Fred and Wendy: Just wanted to thank you all again and say that we have switched into PH 861. I am really excited about the trip and since we now have a "butler" i am tempted to invite you all in for a drink. How about it? Maxine

Alan and I really liked our PH suite on Lamb. Maxine, you'll really enjoy the layout and the butler!

Donna, I love the PH suites on Mariner. I think they are the very best. We had a Horizen Suite for Lamb and it was "grand" but I am always happy with a regular suite - we paid to upgrade to those suites - we said why not??? Probably will not do it again, been there done that - great experience but not that important vs regular cabin ---butler soooo unnecesary, I think

I would second Joanna, to me the Mariner Penthouse suites are my favorite of all Regent suites, had one on Mint, and are positive that upgrade deal with never happen again. We were upgraded to a Horizon suite on Voyager on 007 and we liked the bigger balcony, vibration really did not bother us, but to me the Mariner Penthouses takes first place.

FV

YES we had one on Mint, too, Frank - that was fun cruise!!!!!!!! You are right never happen again

We had a Penthouse suite on one of our first cruises on the Mariner. It is one of the nicest layouts. You will love it.

Maxine, thanks for the invite. Maybe we can take turns! Since I have no idea what to do with a butler (except to deliver hors d'oeuvres in the afternoon), we should make him work, for sure!

Are you going to do a pre-cruise at all? As I said elsewhere, I'm not going to plan this for a while, especially since I'm thinking about Tahiti right now, not Brazil. But it would be nice to at least spend some time in Rio and environs, if not further afield.

861 is a great PH suite, as said above we had that on CROSS, and we had no issues at all, even with 8 days crossing the Atlantic. We had a cocktail party and just told our Butler how many, and what time, and he asked a few questions and did the rest.

Enjoy!

Wendy: We were in Rio 2 years ago before a S. Am.cruise. We went down a couple of days early and toured with a private guide. Just great! Saw Corcovada, Sugarloaf, Copacabna, Impanema, etc. Unless we decide to do a trip to Iguazu Falls, we'll probably not go too much before the cruise. Maxine

Hi Maxine, this will be my first time in Rio, but my husband spent a week there about 10 years ago, and loved it. Depending on time and resources, I'm thinking of some of the resort towns nearby, or a nearby city, or Iguazu, or maybe even an Amazon cruise. Who knows? We'll at least spend 2 or 3 days in Rio beforehand. We also have a full day on board in port I believe.