Boats07

We have a cruise booked for April 8th in the Med aboard the Splendor.  Called our TA to just check if we could have the two category upgrade.  Regent told our TA the cruise is Sold Out....... We can only hope, if it doesn't go, it will be our third canceled cruise.  We will then keep looking and book something else.

Our Seven Seas Society has been updated from our canceled cruise!!!

Also, received an email from Regent today,  with balance of FCC from cruise that was canceled and we have already booked two in its place.  Still have a credit......Will hopefully use once on board to book another.....

recording is saying the webinar will begin shortly

55 minutes ago, UUNetBill said:

As usual, I’m late to the party.  Seems like we’ve gone from cabins to camping to riots.  Never a dull moment on these boards...

 

I had to agree with the camping comments - I used to love camping out when I was younger - West Virginia and Colorado were personal favorites.  But after 20 years of military service, several of which included ‘non-voluntary, non-recreational camping’ it kind of lost its luster.  And my wife is also of the ‘roughing it is not having room service’ persuasion, so camping isn’t in the cards for me any more.  An RV, maybe, but even then, I prefer a cruise.   🙂

 

We’re planning a short ‘vacation’ to Norfolk in a few weeks to see our daughter, who is FINALLY back from Afghanistan.  She was due home in April but Covid had different plans for them.  So she’s back on US soil but in a 14 day lockdown.  As soon as she’s free, we’re going to spend a few days with her.  That’ll be fun!

 

This was the same daughter we had planned a cruise with, well, right now (we were supposed to be in the Med right now).  Obviously that didn’t go so we’re looking to the fall (unlikely) or early spring (a bit more likely).  

 

So much going on in the world today and all I want to do is take a cruise for a few weeks. Does that make me a bad person?  LOL!

UUNetBill, please tell you daughter Welcome Home!  And thank her for her service and thank you for your service.  My husband is retired from the USN after 24 years.  I remember teasing him that I had to stay home with the kids while he was on a 6 month CRUISE!  

Enjoy the visit with your daughter!

4 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

 

Adding to cruiseluv's response (which I thank you for) if you have set up "My Account" on the rssc.com website, you will see the SBC's.  When you book your excursions and/or cooking classes, it will be deducted from the amount that you have.  

 

I'm sure that you will love Splendor.  I've only seen photos, however, our favorite ship is Explorer (that we will be on in November and January - fingers crossed) and Splendor is very similar.  We will not be sailing on Splendor until March so I'll be anxious to learn how much you enjoy your cruise!

Jackie

Thank you Jackie, after I asked the question, I logged onto RSS website and it was all on the page with our cruise.  

We were to be on the 4/16-5/12/2020 and used our FCC for the Caribbean cruise in January and a cruise in April in the Mediterranean and still have FCC to use while we are on board to book another trip.

Our TA got us the new SBC that is now being offered.  Very pleased we were able to have that added on both cruises that were already booked.

Thank you for your information 

Pat

10 minutes ago, cruiseluv said:

I'm not Travelcat, but the answer is yes

Thank you!

29 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

 

The cruise that was cancelled was around $33K (we had just taken an upsell to a higher category suite).  I have no clue what our FCC's were that were transferred to our new cruise, however, since we had a balance of $12K, we paid around $45K for the new cruise.  My DH handles the finances of our cruises while I do all of the bookings (including figuring out air, excursions, etc.).   In any event, we do not want to go over $50K for a cruise.  If we do, we will take a transatlantic cruise to make up for it.  In recent years we have sailed on Regent twice a year (with a quick, inexpensive 7 day cruise out of Seattle or Vancouver on another cruise line in September).  

Travelcat2, doing directly to you for a quick question.  We are booked on a cruise on Splendor in January and just received the SBC that is now being offered.  Are SBC able to be used for excursions and/or cooking classes?

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Pat

1 hour ago, Travelcat2 said:

gr'aunt - Hopefully you have read the latest communication from Regent.  You know can cancel within 36 hours of the cruise and receive a 100% FCC.  And for those passengers that will stay with their April/May bookings that include Italy will receive a 25% FCC.

Thank you for your wealth of knowledge!   I do have a question, where can I locate the information regarding 

passengers that will stay with their April/May bookings that include Italy will receive a 25% FCC.  

We are on the Splendor April 16th - May 12th, there has already been many changes to the itinerary that we are happy with.

Enjoy your upcoming trip aboard the Splendor!

Thank you for the pictures and great information.  We are less then two months from our TA on the Splendor and truly getting excited.  Enjoy the remaining of your TA and beautiful weather.

Thank you to all bloggers.  We will be boarding the TA 4/16 till 5/12 and so looking forward to our first time with Regent. We will be following along and are looking forward to it all.

Safe travels to all of you and enjoy the beautiful new lady!

On 1/1/2020 at 1:05 PM, Boats07 said:

We are new to Regent and booked on our first cruise on the Splendor, April 16 to Venice.  We have been reading a lot of recommendations and cautions from the board here on Cruise Critic, which as been very helpful.  

We have not seen anything like what we discovered this past week.  Last Saturday I was reviewing our trip on Regent’s website.  I was looking at our flights that we had arranged through Regent’s deviation (if that is what it is called) and the flights had all changed.  The leg for my husband showed a flight from London to Phoenix but no flight from Venice to London, as previously booked.  My flight was on a different airline ending in Seattle, we fly to Phoenix.  The flights had been booked by Regent with British Airways, I went onto Brtitish Airways website and the flights were not even showing up.  I told my husband there was nothing that could be done till Monday. Meanwhile, I looked up flights to see what else would be available.  

 Patiently, I waited till Monday morning to call.  I was not surprised I was on hold for over 30 minutes but was very fortunate to speak to a very professional, kind and helpful representative.  She reviewed the flights and said “this is a mess, your husband doesn’t even have a flight to London, and you are going to Seattle”.  She apologized for having to put me back on hold and contacted the airline or whomever.  She found out British Airways canceled the flight from Venice to London.  She also told me there was only one flight with one stop so we would not have to be traveling all day.  It happened to be the same flight I had found.  She also let me know she grabbed the flight with only two seats next to each other in Business Class and the second leg of the flight as well.  I felt like I could not thank her enough.  

I felt like we truly witnessed the Regent Seven Seas experience.  Within the hour, we received the confirmations and everything was updated on Regent’s and the airline’s websites.

I did send an email to Regent’s CEO just to let him know what an amazing employee he has.  I do realize he may never read the email but at least I feel better knowing I had sent it.

We are truly even more excited for our cruise and looking forward to more bookings with Regent Seven Seas.

Just wanted to let everyone know, as I mentioned in the above post, I had emailed Jason Montague complimenting the representative that assisted us the mixup on our return flights.  I truly never thought he would read the email let alone respond.

I did receive an email back from Jason Montague with such kind words and appreciation.  Jason did give me the representatives full name and I will definitely put it one the survey once we are on the ship.

Another reason we are sold on Regent even before we sail.

10 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

Furthermore, how do you know the OP hadn't already engaged a TA, but chose to deal with this issue directly?  Big assumption on your part.

 

I can tell you....if I had the similar issue, I would not be getting a TA into the middle.  But then, I'm not someone who just hands off everything to others.

Thank you again FlightTalker, as you mentioned we do have a trusted TA and I was able to have everything handled by the time the TA would have been open for business.  I am not a person to use a middleman if I am able to handle myself.  

Just a little back ground...my husband was in the military for 24 years and if I did not handle things myself we would have been bankrupt, homeless and I can't imagine what else.  I am grateful my husband appreciates my independence.  

Thank you again for your wealth of knowledge.    

12 hours ago, JMARINER said:

Why didn't you let a professional competent Travel Agent handle this for you? Most expedience Travel Agent can save you a lot of money and time, particularity when dealing with Regent. Find an Agent who is experienced with booking Regent and transfer the booking to them.

As FlyerTalker mentioned, I do have a trusted TA and I was able to call Regent on Monday at 7 am CDT or wait until 9 am CDT to contact the TA, it didn't make sense to have the TA call Regent as the middleman. (our TA had contacted Regent early on in the booking to advise I would be able to act on my own and not through the TA for handling all flights).  I knew what the problem was and had it all handled by the time I would have been able to call the TA.   

34 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

It is especially important to have that number in addition to the six character locator.  Just note it somewhere and keep it with you and your documents.

 

For whatever reason, the major Chinese airlines and a number of other smaller Asian carriers have their systems oriented around the ticket number.  Sometimes they will want that from you.

 

In addition, if you end up in a snafu situation, the number is the ultimate reference to your ticketing.  Had a situation with DL where the ticket number was the lifesaver (as the locator had somehow been corrupted).

 

And, as mentioned....no number, no ticket.  It's merely a booking reference until then - which is often the case with cruiseline provided/arranged air.

I have printed out the paperwork and it is currently with all of our docs.

Thank you again!

40 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

A couple of fact points for all to consider:

 

1) You aren't actually booked into an airline seat until you have a 13-digit ticket number.  Not the six character locator, as that is merely a pointer.  And until you have that number, you are technically still in limbo.  Keep that number with you - it's the magic key.

 

2) Even with a ticket number, you are not guaranteed to be flying on that date, time, flight number or routing.  Due to schedule changes and operational requirements, all of that is subject to change.  The only obligation of the carrier is to get you from point A to point B - at some time.

 

3) One should never be using a cruiseline website to be checking the status of flights, itineraries and ticketing.  Go directly to the airline website, as that is the most current public status obtained directly from the airline's own reservation/ticketing system.

 

4) At best, the cruiseline website is only reflecting data that they have received from the airline.  It may or may not be current and/or accurate.  By way of analogy, would you want to go to an airline website to check on cruiseline schedule data?

 

5) On the airline website, confirm that you are actually ticketed (13 digit number) and that the number corresponds to your records.  Further, if you have code-shares or multiple carriers, be sure to confirm the locators for those carriers and confirm the data on their websites as well.

 

6) If you are expecting to be informed of everything by someone else, at some time you will be highly disappointed.  There is a certain amount of individual responsibility to go directly to the source and confirm arrangements on a regular basis.

 

FlyerTalker, Thank You!  Your information is very useful.

I did locate the 13 digit number on the airlines website.  Thank you again for your feedback.

We are new to Regent and booked on our first cruise on the Splendor, April 16 to Venice.  We have been reading a lot of recommendations and cautions from the board here on Cruise Critic, which as been very helpful.  

pappy1022, what you are saying is exactly what our flight with Delta was like.  We were assigned economy seats and when tried to move seat/upgrade, we also received the same message.  After a few phone calls to Delta and Regent we learned we had to wait till the cruise was paid in full. Once the cruise was paid off, we then called Regent and was told to give it 2 hours for the update to process on Delta’s website.  And it took exactly 2 hours.   

Good luck, we received the seats we wanted.....enjoy your journey!

pappy1022, we also did the air deviation for our Regent cruise 4/2020.

When we tried to change seats on our Delta flight, we found out we had to wait till the cruise was paid in full.  Once our final payment was made, we called Regent travel to show the update, then we were able to select the seats we preferred.  Instead of making the update on the airlines site, we called so we could upgrade the seats using points.  The strange thing was our return flight with British Airways, we were able to change our seats prior to the cruise being paid in full.

Hope this helps.

Looking forward to your on-going review aboard the Splendor.   We will be on the Splendor in April.  Enjoy your trip and we will be following along.  

Travelcat2, have missed seeing you on this site.....

Looking forward to following along on your trip.

Have a great time!

Thank you for that question and answers.

We also saw the pictures on another "social media". 

"ONLY" 151 days until we sail on the Splendor!!!

2 hours ago, SWFLAOK said:

We've never done any spa services on a cruise and never will. We consider it a waste of space. We find it annoying that we're approached by spa people trying to get us to buy their services. We also never go to spas when we're not cruising. Is there anyone else like us, or do most people on cruises use the spa on a regular basis?

To each their own BUT we agree with you, we do not use a spa on land or sea.   

Personally, would rather spend money elsewhere. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Shauna!!!!!  Have a wonderful day!

mj, thank you for a wonderful review and beautiful pictures.