We are back home and finally unpacked from our Baltic adventure. I will be happy to answer any questions for those that have them but here is a summary.

The ship seemed somewhat empty compared to our other sailings and she had only 555 pax. I never find Regent ships to be crowded but this was even more noticeable.

Service issues have come up on this board so I’ll add our thoughts. We had no problem getting timely service in any venue. Although they do seem to serve coffee after you have finished desert. I supposed I could just sit there and wait for the coffee but that doesn’t seem to be lack of service just their timing. They still pulled out chairs but only put napkins in our laps about half the time. Also, at the buffet, in the past, they would take your napkin and put it to the side or on the chair arm when you were getting food. This, too, only happened about half the time. We had no problems getting drinks at bars and as for wine at dinner, I spent more time saying I’d had enough than looking for more.

It was a very port intensive cruise and we felt we didn’t get to enjoy the ship as much as we wanted. Every city we hit was new for us so we had to go touring, of course. The only trip we took with Regent was the day trip from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Left the ship at 6:30 am and returned at 10:45 pm. La Veranda had been closed for dinner that night and they had a special buffet for us at 10:45 pm. I think also, the people from the ballet trip were at the buffet with us. It was more like the usual La Veranda lunch rather than the dinner. There was a sign that said it was a private function.

We did a private tour with DenRus for 2 days in St. Petersburg and were very happy to be touring with just the 2 of us. It was expensive but we didn’t waste any time.

The Seven Seas Society party lasted about half an hour, only about 75 people were there but I think the captain said 250 were invited. They served caviar and shrimp along with the drinks. I think I ate caviar a total of 4 times and, no, I did not order it from the menu that requires payment. I also ate lobster 4 times but they were the little lobsters, usually 3 per serving. Ted had lamb chops once and said they were good and they were available several other times.

The internet was quite slow and down completely in 2 ports. Can’t remember which. I intended to post updates to this board but it was so slow and I was so busy…well… enjoying my cruise, I just never got to it.

The coffee machine at the coffee bar did not impress Ted. I’m not a coffee drinker. He thought it was instant. The coffee in the restaurants was fine. A barista staffed coffee bar will be nice.

Oh yes, we arrived at the port at 11:30 am and boarding was to begin at noon. We arrived early because I wasn’t sure how far our hotel was from the port and what traffic would be like and we had to check out anyway. We were perfectly willing to sit for half an hour as the port in Stockholm had a snack bar and some chairs. But the guest service manager was letting some of the staff’s family board at 11:30 and rather than keep us there, he let us board, too. The seats on the Voyager were so much more comfortable than the plastic chairs at the port. We were not able to check in until noon and our suites were ready at 2:40 pm. Both La Veranda and the pool grill were open for lunch.

I saved all my daily PASSAGES so if anyone has a specific question feel free to ask. I’ll be back here over the next few

Thank you, Colleen! I haven't been rattled too much by the "service issues" that everyone has been reporting, and from the sound of it, they are quite minor, if any. Having sailed both SS and Regent, I am always pleasantly surprised to find out that Regent guests are allowed to board early - and by that, I mean prior to 3pm. SS charges guests to board before that, and I have never understood why, but always paid for it because I figured getting the luggage onboard would be a relief, and we otherwise would have had to pay for lunch somewhere off the ship.

What type of suite were you in, and were you satisfied with it? I hear so much about vibration but I just don't think that will bother us.

Would love to see pictures if you have some to post - the Baltics must be so wonderful!

We did what we thought we'd never do, pay for early boarding on the Silver Whisper last April. We did it for the same reason Kristin did--we would have spent much of the $100pp for lunch and drinks back at our hotel. We discovered there are two differences between early boarding on Regent and on Whisper. On Whisper the main dining room, The Restaurant, was open for lunch, not so on Regent (I don't mind this. After all, lunch on Regent is a freebee.) The other difference is when you early board Whisper they notify housekeeping and your room is ready for you after lunch. That was a real bonus for us and something we hadn't expected. We love both Regent and Silversea and find the Whisper to be very much like the Navigator.

We were in Penthouse 658 (port side, mid ship). We had a butler. As for vibration. Boy, I just don't know what everyone is talking about. We spent 17 days in 671 (starboard rear) on an earlier cruise. Did the ship vibrate? Yes, occassionally for a few minutes usually while docking. Were we ever bothered? No, never. I'm not a particularly heavy sleeper but I was never woken by vibrations.

Another note on the food. It tasted fine. We were just commenting today how food tastes better when you don't have to cook or clean up but we both woke up every night with such dry mouths. I can only guess that they use more salt than I am used to. Granted I use very little salt while cooking and never season my food with salt after it is cooked. So even if the kitchen used a normal amount, it might very well be more than Ted and are used to. Since we live in a very dry climate and since the humidity on the trip was higher than we are used to, I can only guess the dry mouth may have been from salt.