Suzez

Jumping in here: Remind me, please, how one uses OBC for up-charge excursions.

 

Suzez: I hope you don't mind my intrusion on your question, and I hope you will enjoy your first Regent experience. We have much enjoyed every one of our cruises on Mariner and Voyager (have never been on Navigator).

Not at all :)

New to the Regent experience. We have some money coming back to us from Regent in the form of on board credit. Does this show somewhere on our personaliser/account. I have looked everywhere and can not see anything about on board credit that is added. Should we not get confirmation of this from Regent? Thank you

Well, if you're in 820 on Navigator, take good care of it as that's where we are this summer. :D

I would leave it tidy, but we are in 836 :)

Really, people believe a ship at sea won't rock or sway:rolleyes:

I like that :)

As I recall, we were offered an upsell on our first cruise on Navigator, we paid extra for an upgrade to a Navigator Suite; the suite itself was nice, the location right below the pool deck, well, not so much. Then a few years later we upcharged about 3 weeks before sailing (?) to a Mariner Suite - we loved this one, it was worth every dime we paid for it. The suite upgrades appeal more to my better half, as she tends to spend more time in the cabin - I, on the other hand, usually wander the ship, enjoy the lounges, etc.

 

I'm at the point now that it would have to be a very, VERY nice upgrade at a similarly nice price to convince me to pay for the upsell, as Regent's basic suites are nice even at the lower price ranges. We don't get that much use out of our butlers (although they ARE nice to have) - we're in a D Concierge for our upcoming cruise, and it's a good location (I think) so we're not inclined to pay more unless it's for something awesome.

 

:)

I like the look of the suites, they are plenty of space for us. We don't have any days at sea, so will not be in the suite much during the day. I dont need a butler. We too have a concierge D book on deck 8 mid ship:)

Suzez,

Glad you obtained what you wanted from your Agent and Regent. Hope you have a great cruise.

 

 

Just to give some further information from our experience of booking in the UK:

 

UK Booking Conditions are such that once you have placed your deposit (usually 20%), you have no right to object to a drop in price etc. and would lose your deposit if you cancelled the booking.

However our experience has been that when we have raised an issue with our Agent and/or Regent, Regent have always '

done the right thing

' in terms of compensating for the drop in price by offering an upgrade, on-board credit, future cruise credit (or a combination to make up the difference) :). We have never managed to get them just to lower our invoice to the new price!! :(

 

Upsells (i.e. offering an upgrade for additional cost, but lower than the brochure difference) are seldom, if ever, offered to UK customers :confused:

 

Booking on-board offers many advantages to UK customers in that a lower deposit is taken and you have the option to move that deposit to a different cruise if you change your mind or to cancel for a nominal admin fee i.e. booking on-board brings UK customers the advantages of US booking conditions, but you are still covered by UK travel protection (ABTA, ATOL etc) :)

 

Hope this helps

Thank you for this info. It seems we have done well then. I must admit, our agent always say. 'lets see what we can do for you' We didn't expect anything as we were very happy with what we paid in the first place. This difference in OBC is a nice bonus and much appreciated. I just had confirmations that it has been added to our 'account' .

Thanks for reporting back! Hope you have a great cruise:)

Thank you, we will do our best and let you know in May

:)

We will be sailing on Navigator in April, in the med. I do hope we have picked the right ship! This will be our first cruise with Regent Seven Sea, we have high expectations of this brand. We did take a look around Voyager, which we thought was very nice. I have seen what Navigator is like in comparison. I just hope her re fit will fix her plumbing issues. Other than RSS being all inclusive, I have nothing I can compare her to, on a 6* basis. Maybe I shouldn't expect too much!

Again, keeping in mind that things may differ in the U.K., when you purchase an upsell, it does not include business class flights - you are upgrading the cruise-only portion. Wish this were not the case but it is:o

We have been offered an upgrade, but you are right, this is for the cruise only and not the flights. We have decided not to take the upgrade as the suite is the same size as the one we have and we like our position on the ship. However, we can take the difference in on board spending money, so that will be nice to have to spend on treatments and other such goodies :)

Thank you. I will call my agent tomorrow. I do not know anyone in the Uk that has sailed with Regent. I am very happy with my suite option. It would be nice to have the option to upgrade if possible. The next cabin grade is to a Penthouse suite, with this we would get business class flights.That would be rather nice. :)

I was just wondering, do Regent SS offer their early booking customers cabin upgrades or on board spending money..... As our cruise draws nearer, the prices have dropped on certain cabins. Some are on guarantee, some not. What happens to those that have paid the higher prices?

Plug style in drawer of vanity by the balcony. Bring a rubber band to hold down switch. Have a wonderful trip!

That's a good tip, thank you

I will have to look back at our booked excursions as we have not been able to cancel them online in the past (although I did make a suggestion that we should be able to cancel online - the same as we are able to do with dining reservations). It would be nice if they made the change. On our last cruise we had to call Regent in order to change or cancel excursions. Perhaps this is different in the U.K. (BTW, the new U.K. site has amazing Explorer descriptions - much better than we have on ours -- just a bit jealous;) )

Thank you for your information. I have highlighted the tours we definitely want to do. I will book those on Thursday. I think I will leave the rest until we are onboard. Some of the ports look easy for just wandering. I don't want to be too tied up with times for tours.

Explorer looks wonderful. Maybe another time for us :)

1. Often, times are not noted until a good deal later. Back in the day, we were often able to book tours for both morning and afternoon. In our most recent 3-4 cruises that's been less do-able for some reason. I believe that 75 min. is required between excursions; but of course it's difficult to determine what you'll be able to manage without the times, both start time and length of tour itself.

 

2. Yes.

 

3. Yes, though of course the tour you want may not be available once you're on board. Actually, it usually works out that even though tours seemed full before embarkation, by the time one is onboard, things often seem to open up. I'm not sure that we've ever not been able to do an excursion that we wanted. (though we tend to book early as possible)

 

4. Yes, almost always.

 

5. I tend to book tours soon as I can, not sure what others do.

 

I think you'll love Regent!

Thank you, I am very much looking forward to this cruise and visiting all of these wonderful places

Hi Suzez! What excursions are you going to do? Let's chat on the Roll Call that I started. It looks like the two of us are the only ones on CC right now.

Hi Thats a great idea :)

We are booked on Navigator for next April. I can book out tours this week. I have a couple of questions, can any help on this please? its our first cruise with RSS.

Our cruise is the Jewels of the adriatic Rome -Venice.

1. Can we book more that 1 tour in a day. I can see any times online at the moment. Do they show times when you book?

2. Do Regent offer shuttle buses to city/town? For those not wanting to do a ship tour.

3. Once you have booked your tours, can they be easily changed? even when on board?

4. Do you get options at the end of a booked tour, to stay in town by yourself and walk back to the ship?

I would say premium is included. Grey Goose and single malt scotch, for example, are included and I consider them premium

Premium-premium is extra but as someone already said, it will be on the drink list

Thank you for all of your comments. Apart form the occasional pampering treatment, there shouldn't be much more on the bill. We are really looking forward to be treated like royalty, not sure how that will feel :)

Thanks for all the replies. I did end up answering honestly in the rating and making both positive and negative comments at the end. For those wondering, we didn't do anything to their gratuities except add a little more in an envelope with a thank you note on the last day. I know they all work hard, but our servers (and steward) were better than most.

 

To clarify, the table cloths with crumbs and spots leftover were not seen during dinner but during lunch and breakfast in the MDR. That happened almost every time; of course, there's more light so perhaps more noticeable, but they should be able to see too. Regarding this and the drink service, I should have mentioned to the M'D but didn't as I really don't like face-to-face difficult conversations; sometimes no matter how nice and tactful I present it, it's not well-received.

It's always best to deal with these things honestly and without confrontations and embarrassment. I have seen the tablecloth flipped on another cruise line. I must admit, I wasn't impressed as this could be carrying germs. These things should be pointed out, either via the questionnaire or email/letter. If the cruise line don't know, they can't correct it. Glad you kept the auto tip on. But that's another subject .

I have actually walked off the ship at the end of the cruise with a zero balance several times. And we usually have some laundry done and have a few spa treatments. But with most TAs that deal with regent to a large degree, you will have a nice on board credit that will cover that stuff.

A few people have mentioned this, sadly for us, no OBC has been given to us. We will have to pay for our treatments.

Photos: Do they seem to be taken photo's all the time, or can you say no thank you not today.

 

Thank you for reading, and all have a lovely day :D

You do not have to have your photo taken, they don't mind. It's up to you. If you do, there is no obligation, whatsoever to buy anything.

You just go to the photo shop and have a look and decide when you are ready, if you want to buy.

The only extras you might incur are probably obvious: laundry and dry cleaning (the self service launderettes are free), spa services, boutiques, Internet access and ship to shore phone beyond what might be included as a promotion, casino, and the extra-cost excursions. We have never had a balance due at cruise end except for back in the day when Internet wasn't included in most of the fares.

That's useful to know that the launderette is free. Not that I am planning on doing much, one has to occasionally rinse something out, whilst away.

Absolutely agree with the others: You should have a truly top-notch experience without having to spend an extra penny (except as described above). I wouldn't focus on the 6* detail, though. Who knows what such things mean? We've loved every one of our cruises on Regent, and except for spa services (which are often covered by OBC's), we've not spent anything extra. (Oh: there are a number of excursions that are not "included," but presumably you've already seen note of that.)

 

Enjoy!

Yes I have had a look at the included excursion, luckily all we need to do and see is included in the fare.

Hi, we are sailing on Navigator next April. Having read a few threads recently. I have a question regarding what is included. Drinks, are there drinks that are not included, are most included, do you have to ask what is or isn't included? We really don't want to have to be doing this. Once we have paid our balance , we just want to enjoy the cruise, without having to keep checking on what we have to pay 'extra ' for.

We have never sailed with a 6* cruise line before. Thank you for any replies

Hope you have a good TA as that definitely makes things easier. What you will be doing is cancelling a cruise - getting a $200 cancellation fee (unless it has gone up) that will be transferred to your new booking. I mention this so you understand charge and subsequent credit when you see it. Regent can handle this directly but, as I said, I would rather work through a TA.

 

Yes - the new booking is based on today's pricing.

Thank you, I did think there would be a cancellation fee. The other cruise is in February, before Navigators refurbishment happens. It is also to The Caribbean, we have not been here before. The difference is about £300-£400 each at the same level of cabin. Then we would need to add on the fee to cancel, say about £140 in my money. I will have the think about this. I like the other cruise, again all new ports to us. But the ship will not have be refurbished. I do like the idea of this :)

We are doing our first cruise with Regent next year. It is a treat to ourselves for being married 30 years. We are also sailing with Celebrity in September for the first time. I do think it is worth sailing with a different line. You get different experience. I don't think I would want to sail with the same line all the time. We have booked concierge balconies for both ships.

As our cruise is on Navigator end April next year. Am I right in thinking that she will have had an extensive refit?