PHOTO: This rendering shows what the new library will look like on the Seven Seas Navigator. (Photo courtesy of Regent Seven Seas Cruises)
Regent Seven Seas Cruises is launching a massive $125 million refurbishment of its three ships to bring them up to the level of the upcoming Seven Seas Explorer, billed as the "world's most luxurious cruise ship."
The project will upgrade the existing ships to be more in line with the workmanship and features to be found on Explorer when it enters service in July, company executives said. It also will make the fleet more consistent.
"Once this is complete, every single suite and public space will be touched," said Jason Montague, president and COO of Regent Seven Seas Cruises. "We're using the Explorer as an inspiration."
The major project continues renovations of the existing fleet done over the past several years.
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"From 2008 to 2015, we spent a little over $150 million combined on the three ships," Montague said at a press briefing aboard Seven Seas Navigator in Miami. "Now we're spending $125 million in two years, so this is unprecedented."
The 1999-built, 490-guest Seven Seas Navigator will be first up, undergoing renovation in 12 days in April in Marseille, France. Next up are the two 700-passenger ships - the 2003-built Seven Seas Voyager in late 2016 and the 2001-built Seven Seas Mariner in spring 2017.
As part of the refurbishment, a Coffee Connection lounge will be added to the place now occupied by the library, which is moving down the hall to the spot that now is the Connoisseur Club smoking lounge.
With the change, indoor smoking will no longer be allowed on the Seven Seas Navigator; there is a smoking area outside on the pool deck. The indoor smoking ban will be tested and is not yet being implemented on the other ships, said Franco Semeraro, senior vice president-hotel operations for Regent and sister company Oceania Cruises.
The new library will have cream-colored couches, a fireplace, marble floors and dark wood cabinets with glass doors.
The main dining room, Compass Rose, will be redone in dark blue, gray and antique bronze with touches of silver leaf. Crystal chandeliers will be installed, along with a larger wine cellar.
The reception area will get new marble inlay flooring in a compass-like design and polished stone walls with metal inlays under a ceiling fixture of backlit onyx.
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The Galileo Lounge on Deck 11 will convey a celestial feel with an abstract design reminiscent of the solar system and an oval-shaped ceiling with fiber-optic stars over a wood inlay dance floor.
Suites will get new décor and Elite Slumber beds. The deluxe suites - the largest collection of accommodations on the ship - will get new padded leather headboards, marble-topped desk and vanity table, rich dark wood furnishings, more plugs next to the bed for charging devices, and better reading lights, Semeraro said.
Following the dry dock, Seven Seas Navigator will spend the summer traversing the Mediterranean and late fall in South Africa.
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