Big price drop after final pay

I just learned that the cruise we are on is reduced $2000 each two weeks after final pay. Not a happy camper at this point. We happened to book during their July 4 faux sale so my guess is that Regent will do nothing to lessen our disappointment with what went on

We were going to book a March 2016 sailing next week but now have no plans to book this far in advance.

All you can do is ask.

I have a call into the TA but no response so far.

Ann, which cruise is it? Think that I had better check the cruise we are on - also booked with the 4th of July special.

Any cruise over 14 days needs to be paid 4 months ahead Another recent Regent policy change.

A good reason not to book Regent. I am on the Explorer though, but that is an anomaly.

We're on the Voyager Istanbul to Dubai cruise in October which we booked in April 2014, 18 months in advance.

Then came the 4th of July "sale" (after final payment, of course) with up to a 4 cat upgrade. Our TA was able to get us a 3 cat upgrade and a bunch of OBC.

Today, I understand why Regent was apparently so generous in response to the 4th of July sale...they are now offering our upgraded category of suite for less than we paid for our original suite and added free business class air for all suites (not just penthouse and above). So, we are still substantially behind where we'd be if we booked today for the first time. Since we've already booked and paid for our shore excursions, we will be hard pressed to use all the OBC (though I can say goodbye to the launderette!) unless we can do the cancel and rebook on-board trick.

BTW, there's a roll call if anyone else in this thread has recently booked this cruise.

Not a long time RSSC price-watcher.

Is this a new phenomenon for Regent? ... bombing the price after final payment?

I thought they never did that? .. just added value to existing fares with extras, to fill the ship.

This practice has been SOP on Norwegian for years. Did it rub off on RSSC? :p

I think there is a lot of unsold capacity on some sailings. Here is Canada, our dollar has tanked and that coupled with huge price increases has made us and several of our friends look elsewhere or closer to home to spend our vacation dollars.

I received several time-limited deals (book today) recently for an additional 15-20% off even the discounted prices on some of these sailings.

Agree! This year is the first in memory when Regent appears to be having difficulty selling some itineraries. This probably has to do with the weak Canadian and Australian dollar as well as the Euro. Cutting prices, including business class air in all categories, etc. is not something we have seen from Regent in the past. Regent would have to give some pretty good incentives for us to book a cruise when we are onboard. We would rather forego the onboard benefit and wait to see what offers will be made by Regent when the cruise date becomes closer. We have already left a "hole" in our vacation plans for next year - just in case......

PG Cruises dealt with the weak Canadian dollar by offering several "at par"-like deals earlier this year. We booked on that basis with a 25% discount for Canadian residents. Perhaps Regent/Oceania should think about doing something like that. The lower dollar is good in lots of ways for Canada, but it sure hurts us who travel a lot.

Very, very dangerous tactic to tamper with the loyalty of early bookers.

Very, very dangerous tactic to tamper with the loyalty of early bookers.

Yes, but their options are limited - they need to fill the ships

We were furious last year when we learned that Regent had sold off fares for certain sailing in the UK for 50% of what we paid and several folks who paid half received free upgrades to higher cabins so I agree it is dangerous but it did teach us to shop around much more and perhaps wait a bit before booking

But you did book at least that one cruise for next May, no? I wonder if you've maybe cancelled that cruise and are waiting to see what happens? Just mildly curious.

Regent's options may be limited but dropping before final pay would be more honest and ethical. The Fourth of July sale with the 4 category upgrade was a further manipulation. We were fine with our G cabin. They put us in a D which we care nothing about but the price now reflects where we are located on the ship. Two weeks later the price drops for where we originally planned to book.

The booking started with the help of a Regent agent and TA took it over. It has been a mess from the start. Sure hope the cruise works out after all this. To top it off the onboard booking discount we got applied to a previously booked cruise Regent would not apply to this one. We changed to this one because we were concerned about the long flight on the one we had booked.

The extended time period required for the final pay if cruise is 15 days or longer is another issue.

We are very unhappy Platinum Regent cruisers.

But you did book at least that one cruise for next May, no? I wonder if you've maybe cancelled that cruise and are waiting to see what happens? Just mildly curious.

Hi Poss: No, we did not cancel the two 2016 cruises that we have booked or the one in November of this year (the very popular Cape Town to Cape Town itinerary). During the 4th of July promotion, we added a cruise in September, 2015 and are in negotiations to extend our Cape Town cruise in December (we received an offer from Regent to extend but are concerned about the flights).

The "hole" in our plans for next year are between June and late November. We may do a land vacation or, if there is a good special, would book a short cruise. in late August or September.

Have you made any decisions about the May cruise?

P.S. After writing the above I thought about it and we would cancel our May cruise if it looks like it is not filling up and if Regent is still discounting cruises after final payment.

Hi Tc-- thanks for responding.

Haven't decided for sure yet about the May cruise. With so many of the excursions not really do-able by my husband these days, it may not be worth it. Plus a couple of the ports don't sound awfully interesting. (We never like just strolling through towns, eating in a cafe, etc.-- and definitely don't like shopping.)

For active people, that itinerary sounds terrific though; I'd be surprised if the cruise doesn't get pretty full. I guess one thing keeping numbers down might be that most schools are still in session-- which is one of the reasons it appeals to me. In fact, though, on our previous Alaska cruise the ship was loaded with kids, and it was kind of fun for a change. Virtually all of them were well behaved if I'm remembering correctly.

I'm curious, and this thread simply died. Did anybody get some kind of satisfaction from Regent on this price drop?

I did not continue to post as there appeared to be no further interest.

Our TA contacted Regent on our behalf. We just got results this am. Regent's response restored our faith in Regent and continued our belief in our wonderful TA. They offered us something that we found quite acceptable. It was not a refund.

I did not continue to post as there appeared to be no further interest.

 

Our TA contacted Regent on our behalf. We just got results this am. Regent's response restored our faith in Regent and continued our belief in our wonderful TA. They offered us something that we found quite acceptable. It was not a refund.

That is why a good TA is worth everything. We learned that the difficult way but are quite happy with the one we share

Yes, Tallship, she comes thru for you when one needs it and it is within her power to do.

I, for one, was extremely interested! I have a granddaughter who will be graduating from college in about a year and a half, and I have promised her a cruise. It will have to be an itinerary that we both love, which should be easy to do, but Regent is one line I will be looking at. I won't pay 100% single supplement for just myself, but if the ports were "to die for" I would pay for two people.

Thanks for answering.

I am glad I saw your response today. The thread seemed to get lost into cruise planning.

We were very relieved that Regent didn't disappoint us as they are our favorite. We were prepared to book with another line for the Spring if they had not done something to enable us to trust them with another booking.

You and your granddaughter will have a wonderful time.

We booked a cruise on the June29 after being told that the fares would increase and the business class air special would disappear on 1 July. Well neither happened and I wrote an e-mail to my TA who then forwarded my email to Regent then called and suggested they look at how many crises we had been on and how many we have booked in the future. We were subsequently upgraded from a Concierge suite to Penthouse B suite. We are satisfied.

I had checked almost every day, to see if you had heard from Regent, but was giving them time to respond to your TA. I didn't want to nag; next time (if there is a next time), I'll nag just a little bit.