What Advisors Should Know About the New Seven Seas Grandeur

This week, Regent Seven Seas Cruises christened the newest addition to its fleet, the Seven Seas Grandeur. The all-suite, all-inclusive ship follows the blueprint of its sister ships—Seven Seas Explorer and Seven Seas Splendor—with some of its own, unique touches.

Those include some design differences from Studio DADO, which took full ownership of a Regent ship for the first time after designing some parts of Explorer and Splendor. Also, the spa’s outside deck doesn’t have the infinity pool featured on Explorer and Splendor, instead, it has smaller Jacuzzis, and the ship’s 1,600-piece art collection, the largest at sea, is highlighted by the first Fabergé Egg to permanently reside at sea, a touch that came from Regent’s choosing of Sarah Fabergé as the ship’s godmother.

Grandeur also debuts with Regent’s first-ever digital art tour, called Art Experience, which guests can access via the Regent mobile app. Here’s what else advisors should know:

High guest-to-space and guest-to-crew ratio
Grandeur has a gross tonnage of 55,000 and 548 crew serving 746 guests onboard, making it among the highest space and staff-to-guest ratios in the industry.

The team from Studio DADO told press this week that words from Frank Del Rio—“space is luxury”—remained in their mind while they were designing the ship, choosing not to overfill space with furniture and instead allowing natural vistas and promenades to be created throughout the ship.

All suite ship
Like the other ships, Grandeur is an all-suite ship, a signature from Regent.

In total, the ship boasts 15 different suite categories, ranging from 307 square feet to over 4,400 square feet. The top offering is the $11,000 per night Regent Suite, a two-bedroom suite that includes a personal in-room spa, sauna, dining area, and piano, along with two different Picasso pieces of art.

There are also 55 Penthouse Suites onboard. Those go up to 644 square feet with balcony space of up to 194 square feet all featuring a separate seating area from the bedroom.

Below that, the ship offers four different 2,100 square foot Master Suite, which also include two bedrooms, two marble and stone detailed bathrooms, and almost 1,000 sqare feet of balcony space. After that, there are eight Grand Suites, which include one large bedroom and two bathrooms; 16 Grandeur Suites; and four Seven Sea Suites.

TMR stayed in the Superior Suite during this week’s sailing, a 464 square-foot suite with its walk-in closet and marble-appointed bathroom with a separate bathtub and shower and dual marble sins.

The entry-label suites are called Deluxe Veranda and Veranda Suites, which offer 361 square feet of space, including 108 square feet of balcony space. Grandeur’s Deluxe Veranda and Veranda Suites include a soft pink and muted color scheme.

Dining choices
In total, Grandeur offers guests eight different dining experiences, including five complimentary restaurants. The menus at those restaurants include 130 new dishes created exclusively for Grandeur.

The signature restaurants are Compass Rose, the main dining hall onboard; Prime 7, a New York-inspired steakhouse; Chartreuse, a French eatery that’s inspired by the cafes of Paris; Pacific Rim, an Asian eatery that features a glass cherry blossom tree outside; and La Veranda. While found in other parts of the fleet, all of those restaurants have been reimagined somewhat for Grandeur, whether it’s the design, artwork, or menu.

For instance, those specialty restaurants now have small bars inside their entrance, allowing guests to have a pre-dinner cocktail inside their chosen restaurant instead of at one of the ship’s other lounges.

The ship also offers 24-hour room service.

All of the specialty restaurants, along with the room service, coffee from the coffee bar on the ship’s fifth floor, cocktails at the bars and lounges, and more are included in the fare. There is only some wine that would incur guests an extra charge.

Culinary Arts Kitchen
Grandeur returned with Culinary Arts Kitchen, a guest favorite from other Regent ships.

Culinary Arts Kitchen hosts 90-minute cooking classes where guests can learn how to prepare dishes inspired by the region the ship is sailing through. According to the Regent Seven Seas team, the classes run twice per day, have 18 stations, and almost always sell out, so guests are recommended to reserve spots as early as possible in their sailing.

Some of what’s on offer include lessons in French food and wine, the meat and seafood of New Zealand, and tastes of the Pacific Northwest.

Entertainment
The entertainment for this week’s christening cruise included Kristin Chenoweth during the ship’s christening ceremony on Sunday, along with John O’Hurley, of Seinfeld and Dancing with the Stars fame, performing standards on Monday.

For future sailings, guests will get to take in four new productions on Grandeur—Pasión, Ignite the Night, Marauder’s Ball, and ICONS. The shows feature some well-known names in entertainment, including Dancing with the Star’s Britt Stewart, Argentine Tango royalty Francisco Forquera, and acclaimed Broadway director John MacInnis.

All of the entertainment took place in the Constellation Theatre, a two-deck intimate theatre with a range of seating options from banquette sofas, to bar seats and stadium seating.

Elsewhere onboard, Regent’s bars and lounges are filled with music, including the top deck Observation Lounge, TMR’s favorite space onboard, which offers signature cocktails paired with the best views on the ship. The ship also has a non-smoking, small casino on Deck 4.

Itineraries
Grandeur’s upcoming schedule includes more sailings in the Caribbean, followed by two transits of the Panama Canal before heading up the Eastern Seaboard. From there, it will sail across the Atlantic from New York to Barcelona next Mach, before spending the summer in the Mediterranean.

After that, Regent plans to have Grandeur back in the northeast in the fall of 2024 for Canada and New England itineraries before returning the ship to the Caribbean at the end of 2024.

Regent said this week that its inaugural season is already “close to sold out.”