With inlaid Carrara marble floors, grand mahogany staircases, Murano chandeliers and actual Picassos decorating the hallways, Regent Seven Seas Explorer isn’t exaggerating when it claims it’s “the most luxurious ship ever built.”
The $450 million, all-suite vessel launched this summer on the Mediterranean, with a lavish christening ceremony in Monaco attended by Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene and featuring a live performance by tenor Andrea Bocelli.
Now the Explorer is heading stateside, making its North American debut in Miami on Dec. 4, with a 14-day Caribbean cruise that includes stops in tony St. Barts, Barbados and St. Kitts.
You won’t find water slides, an ice bar or a 3-D cinema on this ship — the intimate, 750-passenger Explorer focuses instead on refined luxuries: gourmet dining in its seven restaurants (meals are served on Versace and Bernardaud china), a Canyon Ranch spa with signature seaweed treatments and an outdoor infinity pool, and a Culinary Arts kitchen where you can learn classic French cooking techniques.
While every room enjoys a balcony and ocean views, the ultimate splurge is the custom-designed, $10,000-a-night Regent Suite — a 2,917-square-foot-two-bedroom apartment with a massive, 958-square-foot wraparound deck that includes a private garden. New York designer Dakota Jackson kitted it out with a grand piano, a $90,000 Savoir mattress, and its own spa area with a sauna, steam room and unlimited in-room treatments.
Fares for the all-inclusive 14-night cruise from Miami start at $6,655 and include round-trip airfare, free unlimited shore excursions and free 24-hour room service.