Regent Seven Seas Cruises plans its biggest ship ever

mercedes · March 19, 2008

The next Regent Seven Seas ship will be the luxury line's biggest ever. But don't expect a huge jump in size from Regent's biggest ships today, the 700-passenger Mariner and Voyager.

That's the word from Regent president Mark Conroy, who says the next Regent ship will carry about 750 to 850 passengers.

Conroy made the announcement today on board Regent's Seven Seas Mariner during a town hall meeting with passengers to talk about the line's next ship. The Mariner, pictured above, is on a special 10-night "Build Your Ship" cruise during which passengers are being asked to submit ideas for the coming vessel and attend focus groups with Regent executives.

Conroy opened the meeting in the Mariner's Constellation Theater by telling passengers that Regent already is talking to four shipyards that could build the new ship, and the line could be ready to place an order by early September. Assuming it does, the vessel will debut by 2011 or 2012.

While noting that the line hasn't made a final decision on a shipyard, Conroy spent much of his introduction showing off a detailed proposal from Italy's Fincantieri shipyard. The proposal calls for a 66,000-ton ship, somewhat larger than the Mariner, that would use the same hull as those found on Oceania ships now under order. Regent and Oceania recently were taken over by the same parent company and are now sister lines.

The Fincantieri proposal calls for a ship with 406 cabins, up from 350 on the Mariner and Voyager. At double occupancy, that would result in a ship with 812 passengers, although Conroy also noted that the line is considering single occupancy cabins, something that is increasingly rare on ships. Conroy also mentioned the possibility of family cabins, something the line does not offer now (indeed, Regent has a three-person limit for cabins, forcing even four-person families to buy multiple rooms).

Conroy says the line has little choice but to make the ship bigger than earlier Regent vessels. All the major shipyards building cruise ships are in Europe, and with the U.S. dollar falling in recent years, the cost of building ships has soared. Now only bigger ships make financial sense due to their economies of scale.

"People ask me why do you want to make it bigger," says Conroy. "It's just pure economics."

Conroy says the new ship also will have to have pricier cabins than Regent's current vessels for it to make sense financially. As a result, he's looking for new amenities he can add that will convince passengers it's worth a premium amount per day.

One clear upgrade for the new ship as presented in the Fincantieri proposal is that it will have about 30% more space per passenger. Cabins will be larger, and public areas, too. The proposal also calls for four alternative restaurants on the new ship, up from two on Mariner. And the spa and wellness area will triple in size from the line's current ships, spanning over two decks for the first time.

"We're hearing more and more from you that the spa is important, and you've told us it's hard to get reservations especially on sea days," Conroy says.

ConroyÂ´s talk was followed by a spirited discussion with passengers in the audience who made dozens of suggestions to improve the lineÂ´s next ship. Passengers called for everything from better lighting in cabins to more outlets in bathrooms to more alternative restaurants.

Joanandjoe · March 19, 2008

This is old news to us. As Regent cruisers, we've been following thus cruise on the Regent portion of the critical board, on a luxury cruise talk board, and on a USA Today blog. The arrogance shown by Mr. Conroy and and his boss, Mr. Del Rio, is appalling. For us, and for many others, sailing Regent is a budget stretch that is worth it because of the quality of the experience, and the total lack of the nickel and diming so prevalent on the mass cruise lines. Increasing the price substantially, as Conroy indicated in the town meeting, would price us out of the Regent market.

Posters on both the critical and luxury boards were quite unhappy with the comments made by Conroy and Del Rio. (Yes, that Del Rio, the President of Oceania.)

BTW, our next scheduled cruise is on the Regent Seven Seas Mariner, to Alaska, on 5/27/08.