r/FATcruises

For those who have been on both, which did you prefer? Hoping to convince the wife to try an easy Caribbean itinerary on one of these

I’ve done some research. Azamara often stays longer in port and has AzAmazing evenings. Windstar has the marina platform and a smaller ship.

Let’s assume cost and itineraries are comparable. Just looking for some personal experience.

Thanks!

Debating between Seabourn and Regent for Alaska. 5 couples, very active, in our late 50's -Early 60's.Seabourn has two sailings that go to Glacier Bay, while Regent does not. I'm sure we would be happy with either line but for those that have done both, I'd appreciate the feedback.

I've sailed RSSC 3-4 times now and like the product, even the one time the ship we were on (Voyager) crashed into the pier in Civitavecchia and made us miss our Pompeii excursion!.

BUT

I'm really not sure if the RSSC value proposition works as well for us anymore especially since they got rid of the included business class airfare for international. And now that Oceania is adult only, that is a HUGE plus for us. We never really ran into kids on RSSC that were a problem but it is certainly not impossible especially on cruises over the holidays or week long in the Caribbean. Oceania seems to capture 90% of what we like with Regent, and we've met a few people on RSSC that said they actually preferred Oceania.

For those of you that sailed both, I'd like an honest pro/con between the lines? I really like the open bars on RSSC but to be honest most of the drinks we have are nothing fancy, wine and mix cocktails. Perhaps the odd highball but the requirements are not top-shelf by any means. Thinking about Panama Canal, *maybe* Trans-Pacific but this is still super early days.

Booked a cruise through Silversea going to Antarctica. it is not cheap! could potentially be a down payment for a cheaper house, and I already paid more than half of it. and honestly. I'm considering canceling the whole thing now.

The biggest frustration has been the concierge/customer service experience. My original concierge apparently left the company, and nobody even informed me. I only figured it out after trying to follow up multiple times and getting nowhere.

Since being reassigned, communication has been terrible. I can basically never reach this representative by phone because it always goes to voicemail, and email replies are often extremely delayed, sometimes taking weeks.

Recently, I scheduled a call with her 7 days in advance for May 1 at 9 AM. She completely missed the call. No call, no follow-up at the scheduled time, nothing.

Later, she emailed me apologizing and said she “just to clarify, attempted to reach me as scheduled; however, I was unfortunately routed to voicemail.”

The problem is the “scheduled” call she referred to was on May 4, which was never the agreed date. I literally had the original email confirmation showing May 1 at 9 AM.

So I replied politely with the quote from her own email confirming the original time. I stayed unemotional and factual, but it just feels off to me now.

At this point I’m debating canceling the trip altogether. For people who’ve cruised with Silversea before, would you still go on the trip and move on, or would this kind of experience leave a bad enough impression that you’d cancel?

Wondering if due to the expedition nature of the cruise it isn’t as fancy at night?

Planning on bringing chinos and collared shirts/sweaters for the evening. Maybe a casual blazer.

Thanks for any advice.

Flying into Vancouver for 2 nights pre-cruise. Could extend to 3 or 4 nights pre-cruise but don't want vacation exhaustion before we embark. All running within 100/125 dollars a night of each other on Amex FHR. Deluxe Double Fairmont Pacific Rim, Deluxe double Rosewood, One Bedroom Azur. Landing at 6:45 pm first night. It is really just one full day in Vancouver. But convince me to go Earlier. I currently have a really fabulous 4 night stay booked at Fairmont Pacific Rim.

I recently signed up for an Alaska cruise on SilverSea, sailing May 28. The Cruise Consultant was kind, attentive and very helpful. I paid the full price of $40,000 and she asked me if I wanted to pay extra for travel insurance. I told her yes, and please debit my card on file for the extra fee. Within two days I started getting dunning notices telling me that they were going to cancel my cruise and I would forfeit my $40,000 if I didn't pay the remaining bill for travel insurance. Each dunning notice I forwarded to my Cruise Consultant and reiterated that she should bill my card on file. Finally after two weeks, someone from accounting called me up and I told them to bill the card on file and they did.

I got assigned another Silver Concierge person to assist me with any questions. However, neither that person nor the original Cruise Consultant reply to any inquiries. Questions about visas, departure times, boarding times, shore excursions go into the void with no reply. There is no one to call, no one to talk to. Once they get your money, you're on your own.

Such a nightmare from an allegedly premium cruise line!

I'm currently looking at sailings for my husband's 40th. He's never been on a cruise and has said he is not a cruise person. I want to prove him wrong. This trip will also be around our wedding anniversary so this will be my surprise gift for him. He enjoys chill, laid back vacations with warm weather. I have a few questions:

For someone's first cruise, would 7 days be too much?

I'm a light sleeper, are the walls and floors thin? Would we hear every step or door close around us?

I recently read about the Hilton and Explora partnership. I'm debating booking my trip myself under Hilton but would a TA be a better option? The $200 credit seems nice.

Which sailings have been your favorite and which would you skip next time?

Open to any suggestions

This question it is for the fashionistas or people who like to get dressed up to go out. I'm sailing 12 days on SilverSea from May 26 - Jun 7. I like dress codes for luxury events. I have a lot of nice clothes but no place to wear them. I live on an island and wear shorts and flip flops all the time. There will be the Before 6pm and the After 6pm clothes. I planned on wearing the Before 6pm clothes on excursions since we are only doing a couple hours off ship to walk around, go to wineries, artesanal markets, museums or have a local lunch at the port stops.

How many check-in size suitcases do people really bring? How many pairs of shoes? 3 pair total seems a little unrealistic to me if you are a "dresser".

I stumbled upon a small cruise ship for rent, and it costs 700k per week! Who the hell books something like that. The capacity is 36 people, which is almost 20k per week per person, no way you can make money by selling individual tours on this.

Has anyone used luxuryonlycruises for cruise booking (explora or otherwise)? I see this along with panache cruises listed in cruisecritic search. Are they reliable?

Any specific travel agency that’s great wrt luxury cruises? I normally book through my CC company as travel agent for 8x points. Appreciate any input. Thanks

I'm hoping for some advice or reassurance. We're on Silversea Silver Ray arriving in Barcelona on October 29. I just arranged flights through Silversea last week for a 1:30pm flight out and received notice today that the flight time had been changed to noon. Will I have any problems making that transfer and checking in for that flight assuming the ship arrives on time? I checked and there are three other cruise ships arriving that morning.

So my family have booked a 7 night Greek cruise on the nova.
The ship by all accounts looks great but I am slightly concerned that it’s going to be like gods waiting room.
The party I’m going with are from the ages of 20’s to 60 so hoping it’s not all bingo and pacemakers

Not looking for a knees up like celebrity or RC but a bit of pizzazz is good 😂

We have a Nice to Nice cruise from May 26 to June 7th.

Already I'm getting bad vibes from SilverSea's customer service and the functionality of their website while trying to make pre-cruise bookings. First, the website won't allow you to book the same spa service for different people at different times. Nor are you able to book the same time for 2 different people for different services. When I contacted customer service, all they can tell me is they would have to do the same thing that I did. Then the next excuse was that it's based on availability, which doesn't quite make sense, because that would mean that only one spa service is available for an entire day for anybody. Then they say we'll fix it on the ship. Well I would if the existing availability wasn't being rapidly sucked up 30 days out.

I've sent emails to the Shoreside Butler, our orignal contact person and Special Services. None with replies after days.

Anyone else experiencing this? Is this a prediction of the service we'll get on the ship?

Grew up watching nature documentaries and the Galápagos was always the one place that felt almost mythical. Just pulled the trigger on a Silv͏ersea expedition voyage and now the anticipation is almost unbearable. I know every island offers something different and I want to make sure I don't come home wishing I had chosen differently. What was the one excursion or landing that you would go back and do again in a heartbeat?

Looking for true luxury cruise with a mix of great service, itineraries, excursions and some liveliness on board in terms of entertainment and activities

Any recommendations? It doesn’t seem like Viking is very solo friendly but I like their itineraries.

Has anyone used this website? I have a close friend who asked me about it. I can only find one review for them which is a red flag for me. Thanks.

Atlas Ocean Voyages have introduced a new “Atlas Assurance” program and also updated their Virtuoso perks.

Atlas Assurance
This is probably the most notable bit —

• You can cancel for any reason
• And get 100% of your cruise fare back as a future cruise credit
• Applies on select 2026 sailings

That’s pretty rare for expedition cruises, which are usually quite strict with cancellations.

Updated Virtuoso perks (can be combined with their promos):

• Up to 40% off on some sailings
• Air credit (up to $3,000 per suite) — essentially reduces your cruise cost to offset flights
• $300 savings per booking or onboard credit option

Overall, it feels like they’re trying to make it easier to commit early — especially for 2026 — without locking yourself in completely.

Has anyone here actually sailed with Atlas? Curious how it compares to something like Silversea Expeditions or others in real terms (service, food, excursions, etc.)