69 Days From LA, Regatta Arrives for CruiseFest Week

The Regatta cruise ship arrived today at 2 pm. Lots of ship spotters were out to welcome her. She is on a ‘turnaround/transit’ visit and departs tomorrow Friday at 8pm.

Regatta has almost completed a 78-day, one-way cruise from Los Angeles to Sydney. The cruise commenced on 25 September and will finish in Sydney on 12 December. Along the way she has visited: Oregon, Vancouver Is, Alaska, Japan, Korea, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore, Java, Bali and the Kimberley.

She is a sleek and elegant cruise ship. MS Regatta was built for Renaissance Cruises as an R-class cruise-ship; she is now owned and operated by Oceania Cruises where she is part of their Regatta Class.

Built is 1998 by the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in St Nazaire, France at a cost of 150 million pounds, she was refurbished in 2022. Her length is 181m, beam 25m and draft 5.95m.

Here’s a great gallery of shots of Regatta’s arrival in Freo today.

She accommodates just 824 passengers and boasts a small ship with many big-ship features. One passenger described her as the perfect ‘Goldilocks’ ship – its not too big, not too small, but just right.

She has a crew of 372. Dress is informal – ‘country club casual’ in a luxurious setting; cuisine is 5-star. Guests are generally older and well travelled. The interior has lots of leather seats, teak lounges, an impressive library, ceiling murals and telescopes.

In case you are interested – there are free inside cabins for the 14-night Sydney to Bali cruise on 12 December, at a cost of $7,264. An Oceanview cabin costs $9,520. The Verandah and Penhouse suites are all sold out.

By the way, Coral Geographer has now been and gone.

Queen Elizabeth arrived yesterday and will be in port until Friday at 10pm, on then an 11-nighter from Fremantle to Sydney. If you missed our QE arrival feature, here it is again!

Noordam arrives at 6.30 am on Friday.

Then all three cruise vessels will be alongside at once. Quite a sight here in Freo.

So, don’t miss Friday night at the port – Regatta leaves at 8pm and QE at 10pm.

* WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHS by our Shipping Correspondent, Jean Hudson @jeansodyssey. Jean is also a regular feature writer and photographer here on the Shipping News. You may also like to follow up her informative Places I Love stories, as well as other feature stories and Freo Today photographs, right here.

WHILE YOU’RE HERE –