We have two more regent cruises booked but we also have another NCL cruise booked. I book cruises based on Itinerary. We have been on Disney, Princess, Royal Caribbean, NCL, Tauck and Regent.

This is my honest opinion

Best room...Disney Dream (Disney rooms tend to be bigger to accommodate families)
Best Bathroom....Regent Mariner
Best storage space...Regent Mariner
Best service...Disney Dream (Disney bends over backwards to make the entire family happy. There are children only areas as well as adult only areas)
Best food...Disney Dream
Best internet...Regent Mariner
Best tours...Royal Princess
Best entertainment...Disney Dream
Easiest check in...Tauck MS espirit
Easiest Disembarkation...Regent Mariner

Best Overall cruise...Regent Mariner
From start to finish...Regent provided business class air to and from the cruise. Regent provided 5 star hotels pre and post cruise. Regent provided all excursions. Regent provided all alcohol. Regent provided 5 restaurants no up charge. Regent is truly an all inclusive cruise.

However....we always prebook excursions, alcohol packages, internet etc...so when we get on board any cruise line...it feels like an all inclusive cruise.

Most boring ship...Regent Mariner. The ship carries 750 passengers...most are retirement age. There is entertainment if you like to play bridge, or bingo, or ring toss. No bars open before 10 am and most open late afternoon. There is entertainment...sometimes.

So my answer to your first question is yes...Regent is worth the money...IF you are flying LONG distances like STL to Tahiti and Sydney to STL, because business class air alone could run $16,000 for a couple. So again....I book by Itinerary.

My answer to your second question is...I like a couple of sea days but 4 sea days in a row on a small ship was boring. Regent did a great job of staying overnight in a few of the larger more popular ports....Tahiti, Auckland, Sydney. We have a Baltic cruise booked and we will spend three nights in St. Petersburg Russia.

In answer to your third question...I would LOVE to do a world cruise...but for us...it is just impractical. We are just going to have to do it a leg at a time. We simply cannot be gone for 131 days. We have animals and children and grandchildren and elderly parents. We were gone 25 days on this trip. I think it proved to us that a 30 day trip would be about the maximum we could do. We hired a house sitter to take care of our home and animals. I made sure my sister knew that i would support her decisions regarding our parents and that we would not expect her to wait for us to return. As it turned out, our adult daughter had to have emergency surgery and I wrestled with the fact that i was not here for her when she needed me. The reality is, they handled it without me...but it was still hard for me. So I think anytime we travel...we have to think about what happens if we cannot get home quickly. Sometimes, it is just impossible. If you are in the middle of the South Pacific...you cannot click your heels and come home.

I would not want to be on a freighter but that is a personal opinion.