''Seven Seas Explorer'' is an ''Explorer''-class

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports of call, where passengers may go on Tourism, tours k ...

currently operated by

Regent Seven Seas Cruises Regent Seven Seas Cruises (RSSC), formerly known as Radisson Seven Seas Cruises, is a luxury cruise line headquartered in Miami, Florida, United States. Since September 2014, Regent Seven Seas Cruises has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Norwegi ...

, a subsidiary of

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) is a holding company that is based in the United States and domiciled in Bermuda . It operates three cruise lines as wholly owned subsidiaries: Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, and Regent Seven Seas C ...

. Debuting in 2016, she became the first new-build ship for Regent in more than a decade and the largest ship to ever operate for Regent.

History

Planning

On 10 July 2013, Regent Seven Seas Cruises announced it had entered into a contract with Italian shipbuilder,

Fincantieri Fincantieri S.p.A. () is an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. Already the largest shipbuilder in Europe, after the acquisition of Vard in 2013, Fincantieri group doubled in size to become the fourth largest in the world (2014 ...

, to build a new vessel named ''Seven Seas Explorer''. The ship was initially designed to house 738 passengers, a 5% increase in passenger capacity over existing Regent vessels at the time, and would also be 12% larger, at , providing more space per passenger. As on ''Seven Seas Voyager'' and ''Seven Seas Mariner'', Regent intended to make ''Seven Seas Explorer'' an all-suite ship. The order for the ship reportedly cost US$450 million, with each berth costing over US$600,000, and was scheduled to debut in the summer of 2016. The debut of ''Seven Seas Explorer'' would reportedly mark an increase in Regent's capacity by up to 40%.

Construction

On 15 July 2014, Regent celebrated the steel cutting of the new ship at Fincantieri's yard in

Sestri Ponente Sestri Ponente is an industrial suburb of Genoa in northwest Italy. It is part of the Medio Ponente ''municipio'' of Genoa. Geography It is situated on the Ligurian Sea four miles to the west of the city, between Pegli and Cornigliano. Its po ...

, near

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

. On 21 January 2015, a coin ceremony was performed for the laying of the ship's keel. Three different coins were welded into the keel: a 1921 Peace dollar, a 1959

Italian lira The lira ( , ; : lire, , ) was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002. It was introduced by the Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic), Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1807 at par with the French franc, and was subsequently adopted by the different s ...

, and a commemorative coin minted for the ceremony. On 30 October 2015, ''Seven Seas Explorer'' floated out from the

dry dock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

at the shipyard following completion of her exterior outfitting. The remainder of the construction was completed with the ship in wet dock.

Delivery and christening

''Seven Seas Explorer'' was delivered to Regent on 30 June 2016. She was christened in

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo ( ; ; or colloquially ; , ; ) is an official administrative area of Monaco, specifically the Ward (country subdivision), ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is located. Informally, the name also refers to ...

Charlene, Princess of Monaco Charlene ( ;Since her marriage, her name has been Gallicised by adding a grave accent to her name in French documents. born Charlene Lynette Wittstock, 25 January 1978) is princess consort of Monaco, Princess of Monaco as the wife of Prince Albe ...

on 13 July 2016.

In media

* ''The World's Most Expensive Cruise Ship'' Channel 5

Design and specifications

''Seven Seas Explorer'' currently features a total of 377 passenger cabins, all of which are suite accommodations. There are also a total of 325 crew cabins, making for a total capacity of 1,360 passengers and crew. She currently has 13 decks, a length of , a draft of , and a beam of . She is powered by a diesel-electric genset system, with four total MaK engines, producing a total output of . Main propulsion is via two

Wärtsilä Wärtsilä Oyj Abp (), trading internationally as Wärtsilä Corporation, is a Finnish corporation, Finnish company which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the Marine propulsion, marine and energy markets. The core ...

propellers, each driven by a electric motor. The system gives the vessel a service speed of and a maximum speed of . The ship features all-inclusive dining establishments, including a steakhouse, a main dining room, and a convertible buffet-restaurant. There is also a two-level theater and different lounges, including an observation lounge and a music lounge. There are multiple suite categories among the offered accommodations, with each category of cabin showcasing different layouts and design elements, as well as including verandas with every cabin.

Service history

Deployments

''Seven Seas Explorer'' set sail on her 14-night maiden voyage on 20 July 2016 from

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

. The ship spent her inaugural season sailing in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

, before re-positioning to

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

for cruises in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

. Since then, ''Seven Seas Explorer'' has also visited ports in

Northern Europe The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other ge ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. As of February 2020, ''Seven Seas Explorer'' was sailing Caribbean voyages and

Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...

transits, and re-positioned to Europe in April, sailing Northern Europe and Mediterranean itineraries. In the latter half of 2020, she was to debut in

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, and sail her maiden

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

season in the summer of 2021, however, these voyages were disrupted by the

Covid-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and the subsequent suspension of cruises embarking through September 2021. The ship had also been due to sail in

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

in the winter of 2021.

References

External links

Regent Seven Seas Cruises official site page about the ship"Ultimate Cruise Ship,"
NOVA television program about the construction of the ship (aired Feb. 8, 2017) o
PBS
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seven Seas Explorer 2015 ships Cruise ships Ships built in Italy Ships built by Fincantieri