We booked this cruise from Buenos Aires to Rio De Janeiro because we wanted to see these 2 cities, and to visit Brazil and of course to sail on Regatta again. We had had such a fantastic time on our previous cruise on board her. However this time we were sadly so disappointed. So much was not right.

Embarkation in Buenos Aires was delayed for about 4 hours with little information and certainly no refreshments, not even a drop of water. We did hear later that some guests received emails about the delay and were even given on board credit as compensation but we certainly received neither. We were eventually told that the delay was due to a complete sanitisation of the ship as virus had broken out on the previous voyage. We later also discovered that the guests who were not leaving the ship in Buenos Aires were given a complimentary excursion with lunch but those joining the cruise there were ignored.

On board ship we discovered the full extent of the infection through the written notifications delivered to our stateroom and announcements by the Captain. In addition life on board was seriously curtailed. The guest launderette was permanently closed although guests could have items laundered at separate prices for each item. Only later in the week was this switched to a bag of 20 items for a fixed price. Regatta has a wonderful library and although it was kept open the bookcases were locked shut and each had a warning notice displayed. It was even reported that some books were destroyed at the end of the previous cruise. I cannot understand how touching books or keeping the launderette open would increase the chance of spreading this sort of infection. Read more