Confused / Disappointed

We recently booked our first Regent cruise. We are experienced cruisers (Crystal, Silversea, Seabourn, Oceania, Azamara, etc. etc.)! After booking we attempted 6 times to complete our Guest Registration Form online, receiving an error message each time. We finally called RSSC and they said there was a problem with the online system. Why not fax it? With no fax facility available (who does?) they suggested emailing it to customer services. I did this, asking for acknowlegement ... 1 week later and still no response. This process has now taken over 2 weeks. We then thought we should 'reserve' our excursions. On all but 2 of our 7 ports, any excursion we wanted was already booked full (with 2 exceptions). Our cruise is not until February!!! Soooooo, the 'included' excursions aren't exactly generous! Please re-assure us that we have not made a huge mistake!?? We thought Regent was something to aspire to?? So far, not impressed. We are on Navigator Feb. 9. Thanks for any input you may have.

First of all welcome to Regent. I am sure you will have a wonderful cruise.

They are apparently having an issue with the online registration, I was trying to update our passport info this week and also kept getting an error message. I emailed the info to our TA and she called her contact at Regent and it was done within a couple of hours, so you might try calling your TA if you used one, otherwise I think you can just call Regent and they should be able to do it on the phone with you, not sure why they didn't offer that option actually.

As to the excursions, chances are if you waitlist for the ones you want, they will clear. We did that on our recent Panama Canal cruise, and the one we were waitlisted for cleared about two weeks out from our cruise, we have even had them clear after we have embarked. They will add more buses when and where possible. Its actually not surprising that very popular excursions would be full three months out, but again 99% of the time wait listed guests will clear.

Hope you have a wonderful cruise and that Regent will meet and exceed your expectations.

You are getting to the time that you can book dining reservations. Check your account on the Regent website to see the exact date that you can book. I suggest that you go online as soon as possible (reservations open midnight Eastern time on that date). While you can get reservations on board, you may not get the time or table size you want. On the Mariner and Voyager, you can book one reservation for Prime Seven and one for Signatures. The Navigator only has one reservation - Prime 7. We book as soon as we can and always get the dates and times that we want.

I always suggest dining in Compass Rose on the 2nd night on board as this is usually the night of the Captain's Reception (the only time it isn't is if you overnight in your embarkation port) and the menu in Compass Rose is special.

Regarding the issues you are having with Regent. May I assume that you booked directly with Regent instead of with a TA (travel agent)? While it may be too late to change this booking, in the future I would suggest using a TA that is experienced in booking luxury cruises. Not only can they give you the best information about what suites to book (or stay away from), you can get a rebate and many times receive OBC's (on board credits). There is no down side to booking with a TA. While they could not assist you with full excursions, they could certainly help with the Guest Registration Form.

Note: Excursions are open for booking months in advance of the cruise. For that reason, it is not unusual to find many excursions waitlisted. We booked our upcoming cruise (November/December) late and are facing waitlists. Hopefully they will clear.

Hope your upcoming cruise exceeds your expectations:)

Sorry you are having troubles. You need to go ahead and wait list the excursions you want and make dining reservations as soon as they become available.

I am actually kind of surprised about the excursion thing as I just booked a cruise on navigator for March 2016, which is very last minute for me. I was able to get every excursion I wanted to clear. So either the website is having an issue, or your cruise was booked solid way ahead of time. Or I just like unpopular excursions!

Rachel: Are you still doing May as well?

OP: I concur with everything that the other three responders have said, and I especially believe that you'll have a wonderful cruise with Regent. Good luck with ironing out these early issues. I hope that it's clear sailing from here on out. Btw, which itinerary are you doing?

Hi poss: They are doing the Miami to Miami itinerary on February 9th (I missed that part of their post as well until you asked the question and I reread it). :)

Tc: I mean "instead of" or "in addition to"?

or perhaps none of my beeswax?

And I hereby promise a genuine and determined attempt not to post things not immediately relevant to the original post and ensuing thread.

Thanks to JoAnn, Travelcat2, Rachel G and poss for your kind, considered and helpful replies. They were very much appreciated. Yes, we will look out for the restaurant reservations when they open and be 'johnny on the spot' with our booking(s). As to 'waitlisting' for excursions, as far as I could tell, there was no option for 'waitllisting' - there was only a recommendation that you check onboard ... or am I missing something?

Thanks again everybody. Yes, we are looking forward to our first Regent experience. A rocky start, but we are certain it will 'surprise and delight'! John

Thanks to JoAnn, Travelcat2, Rachel G and poss for your kind, considered and helpful replies. They were very much appreciated. Yes, we will look out for the restaurant reservations when they open and be 'johnny on the spot' with our booking(s). As to 'waitlisting' for excursions, as far as I could tell, there was no option for 'waitllisting' - there was only a recommendation that you check onboard ... or am I missing something?

Thanks again everybody. Yes, we are looking forward to our first Regent experience. A rocky start, but we are certain it will 'surprise and delight'! John

Unfortunately, the Regent UK website appears to have had some problems in relation to booking excursions. We found that speaking direct to Regent was the best way to sort matters out, and I would suggest you do this before you get onboard. They are very helpful in the UK Office and were able to add us to a wait list for an excursion which we were unable to do online, e-mailing them at SpecialServices@rss.com with your 'wish list' may also help. Good luck and I am sure you will enjoy your Regent experience.

or perhaps none of my beeswax?

 

And I hereby promise a genuine and determined attempt not to post things not immediately relevant to the original post and ensuing thread.

poss: I love your posts but am confused about your response to me. I thought that you were asking the OP about their itinerary which is why I responded the way I did. Perhaps my mind is just muddled - trying to get ready to leave next week for Cape Town. We'll be gone over a month which is a challenge from many perspectives.

Anyway, Gemlea does have the best advice as things are different in the U.K. than here. Two of our upcoming waitlisted excursions do not have the waitlist option. I've decided to deal with it when I'm on the ship. I do have one more bit of advice and that is going to the theater about a half an hour prior to the time passengers on a particular excursion are due to get there and do "stand-by". We did not clear the waitlist for the excursion we really wanted and tried stand-by. It worked and we enjoyed the excursion.

Wow! Great advice from both of you. Thanks!!!

Wow! Great advice from both of you. Thanks!!!

Forgot to mention that you do need to go up to the desk in the front of the theater and ask to be put on the stand-by list:)

Tc: Confusion comes from my bad habit (I guess it's a bad habit) of commenting on "internal" aspects in a thread if something speaks to my attention, rather than sticking with what the original post was about. Rachel had mentioned in one of her posts on this thread (2:28 yesterday) that she'd recently booked a cruise for March 2016. That made me wonder whether she's still good to go for the May cruise, so I asked that question. When you said that "they are doing the Feb 9 cruise," you meant, of course, OP (and I had, indeed, asked OP that question). Dumkopf moi mistakenly thought you were talking about Rachel. In short, I was curious about whether Rachel and George were doing both a cruise in March AND the cruise in May, or whether they are doing the March cruise INSTEAD of the Alaska cruise.

As I said, not really any of my business, and I regret, too, taking so much time/space in another person's post. My bad!

poss, you never take up too much time (jmho);)

Poss, no problem answering your questions! George and I are still doing Alaska in May. My youngest son (25) and I are doing a 7 day western Caribbean for a mom and son trip in March.

Sometimes even in this age of the Internet it's better to speak to a human being on the phone to organise things like excursion bookings or restaurant reservations or any other questions you may have rather trying to do it all online. I'd say having a TA "watching your back" is always very useful and reassuring and speaking to Regent direct can often shortcut an otherwise laborious and frustrating process.

We were first time Regent travelers last year on Voyager from Dubai to Cape Town with many excursions and we faced similar problems with filled excursions. Here are a couple of hints:

1. Pay 100% of cruise sooner next time so you can book them early.

(I realize its too late for that now, obviously. I learned the hard way as I had no idea they would fill up)

2. book everything you can ahead including some extra paid ones. They are refundable if you cancel. Book two per day when you can.

3. Check the website portal every day - things open up as they get cancellations. Know the final date payments are due as thats the day excursions open up too.

4. The moment you get on board, make your first stop to the excursions date and tell them the ones you really want. They will note it and try. And ask the desk every day if there are cancellations.

5. If you have a butler, ask for help.

6. If still unsuccessful, go to the theater at the time of the excursion, walk up to the front desk to "exchange" your ticket - that you don't have. Ask them if they have openings. Every time we did this - they had openings.

Good luck.

The above post illustrates the exact opposite of "luxury" to me. Having to worry months in advance if a restaurant or an excursion will be available when I want it is the same as lining up at the movies to get in. If the ship offers an excursion it should be available to everyone who wants whenever they want it. That's what they advertise....Relax, it's all included." It's not "Relax, it's all included IF it's available."

wripro - Regent does indicate that there are limitations on excursions - this is not something that is hidden. There are pros and cons involved in booking excursions and/or restaurant reservations in advance (IMHO).

When you book at the last minute (even 3-4 months in advance of a cruise), there is a high likelihood that you will be waitlisted on at least some excursions. While some waitlists will clear, others will not. My experience with this is very recent - we booked the cruise that ended December 23rd very late and were waitlisted on most excursions. Some cleared - others did not. Regent will add buses to accommodate as many guests as possible (this, to me, is a negative) but some excursions in some ports simply cannot handle hundreds of guests.

We always book excursions online but contact Regent if we need to cancel or change. I am hoping that Regent will change the online software to accommodate changes/cancellations so we can make changes ourselves.

In terms of dining reservations, we would much rather book in advance to get the date and table size that we want. You can change your reservations online or when you get onboard if the original date/time no longer works for you (may have to share a table.). I do not like the way it is handled on Silversea -- booking when you get onboard.

bluejayrover's points are excellent but I have a different opinion in terms of going directly to Destination Services once onboard. If they are even open when you get onboard, there will be a long line of people waiting to talk to them (most of them have either not booked excursions, are waitlisted or want to make changes). It generally takes forever to get through the line and, IMO, it is not worth the wait (unless your excursion is the next day). If you are waitlisted on an excursion and there is a cancellation, the next person in line on the waitlist will get the excursion - not the person that walks up to the desk and checks every day.

There is a standby list in the theater for the day of the excursion. You will have to wait until everyone else is processed to see if there are any "no-shows" and, if there is, you will be called. We have only done this once but was successful in getting on.

I do not understand the first point - about paying your cruise in full so that you can book excursions earlier. We never have our cruise paid in full when we book excursions (around 240 days in advance of the cruise). There is no requirement for this - at least not in the U.S. After you book you cruise (deposit only), go into "My Account" on the Regent website and enter the information for your cruise. Once that is done, the date you can make reservations for dining or excursions will "show up". You can book starting 12:01 a.m. (eastern time in the U.S.) on the date indicated. While most excursions should be available at this time, there could be additions/changes to the excursions so I agree that it is a good idea to check the website periodically.

I can understand why this process seems tedious to some people but it is pretty easy once you are used to it.

wripro - Regent does indicate that there are limitations on excursions - this is not something that is hidden. There are pros and cons involved in booking excursions and/or restaurant reservations in advance (IMHO).

REALLY!!!! Seems Regent advertise "free unlimited shore excursions" How does unlimited indicate limitations on excursions???

Yes, deep in the fine print there are vague references to possibly not getting your chosen excursion but, think it is clear that "unlimited" means exactly what it states, no limits!!!!

The word "unlimited" is not hidden but, references to the possibility of not getting your chosen excursion isn't in the same big print and front of the advertising.

Really surprised that someone hasn't taken Regent on based on that word????

Are you saying that if every passenger on a particular sailing chose one specific tour, Regent should be obligated to take all 700 passengers (about 20 buses) on that tour?

And that should be true for every tour offered?

Think of the fact that if there are 5 tours offered in a particular port, the arrangements for each one of them wold have to be set up that way - and then reorganized as time went on, when the number became firmer.

I'm sorry but I don't see much logic in that and the financial obligation would be incredible, I would think.

I realize I'm pushing the limits . . . . .

Peggy

I don't understand the comment about paying in full early in order to be able to book excursions either. You can't book earlier than 240 days out whether or not you have paid in full. The excursions don't become available to book for anyone until that time.

Agree Peggy! You explained it well.

I really cannot understand how anyone can misconstrue Regent's statement about "free unlimited shore excursions". It makes me think of Disneyland - all the rides are included but that does not mean that you can actually ride them all. Some are closed - some have long lines, etc. Regent offers multiple shore excursions at each port - not because a person can take all of of them on the same day but because space is limited (Regent does not set the limits -- the number of buses available as well as the capacity of the places you will be visiting creates the limits).

P.S. I was just imagining 20 buses with 700 people going to the same place. Interesting visual:)

Are you saying that if every passenger on a particular sailing chose one specific tour, Regent should be obligated to take all 700 passengers (about 20 buses) on that tour?

 

And that should be true for every tour offered?

 

Think of the fact that if there are 5 tours offered in a particular port, the arrangements for each one of them wold have to be set up that way - and then reorganized as time went on, when the number became firmer.

 

I'm sorry but I don't see much logic in that and the financial obligation would be incredible, I would think.

 

I realize I'm pushing the limits . . . . .

 

Peggy

Agree Peggy that it is quite ridiculous to expect what you proposed but, if a company advertises unlimited, without any qualifications, it needs to be able to support everyone and anyone wanting to go on each and all of the free excursions.

Look at it this way, auto dealers advertise cars at really low prices but, in the fine print they say supplies limited or put one or two stock number as the only ones available at that price otherwise they would have to sell that model car to everyone who came in and wanted to buy one.

Many stores advertise low prices for particular items but, if it says supplies are limited, they say so in the advertisement otherwise people expect and are entitled to rain checks if the item is sold out. If there were asterisks or something referring to words elsewhere, that would be different but, have not seen those in any advertising either in print or on the website.