Enlightenment Deluxe

Regent hosts a public broadcasting theme cruise that’s top of its class.

- John & Sandra Nowlan

MOST LUXURY CRUISE SHIPS have plenty of activities to entertain and enlighten. But Regent Seven Seas Cruises takes it one step further by partnering with Seattle-based Artful Travelers and public broadcasting stations across the United States to provide a unique and enriching cruise experience centered around PBS and NPR personalities, programs, and creators.

In 2004, Artful Travelers organized its first PBS theme cruise on Regent with broadcasting legend Jim Lehrer aboard to give illustrated lectures and to lead discussions of current issues. Now, 15 years and 30 cruises later with some of Regent’s highest ratings and occupancy rates, the partnership is thriving. Three or four Spotlight on Public Broadcasting theme trips are scheduled each year. The PBS cruises are certainly entertaining, but they also provide a unique perspective on current events, history, culture, and the arts.

Our cruise ship was the 500-passenger Seven Seas Navigator, sailing from New York with scheduled stops in New England, Canada, and Bermuda before returning to Manhattan. The comfort level on Regent ships is always very high. Although Navigator is the oldest and smallest ship in the Regent fleet, it includes all the facilities of the larger vessels. Particularly impressive were the library, the comfortable lounges (all beer, wines, and spirits are complimentary), and the main theater with the best sight lines we’ve seen at sea. There are several dining options with extensive menus that are identical, we were told, to Regent’s bigger ships. Even the generous, 300-square-foot rooms were impressive, with comfortable king-size beds, walk-in closets, and bathrooms with both a shower and bathtub (rare on cruise ships).