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We cruised on Princess and HAL before we moved to Seabourne then to Regent. Don’t get your expectations to high for the shore excursions….. there are the same ones you would get on your other cruise lines. Regent just provides them free(included in the ticket price) or for a small change if the original tour cost is over -$125-50. Usually your bus won’t be full if it is a bus tour… but Japan tours seem to be more popular with passengers making the bus fuller than usual.and tours sell out more than usual. We have had some outstanding Regent tours… but we have had a few bombs! Same as with other ships They all use the same companies. The greatest thing about using Regent tours from say like Princess is the ease which you can change something/add something once on the ship. Be sure and read everything about the tour not just the brief write up at the top. If you are fit… able to walk, stand, do steps with ease there will be lots of choices generally. If you are not that fit read carefully what you will do. Some tours will be sit on the bus and look kind for “old folk” but others will have a lot of activity involved. Ones I like best are the ones that go to a site/town telling you about the site and leave you to explore on your own especially in place as interesting and different as Japan. Enjoy!

Very good, but you have to be able to stand for 2* hours at the cooking station and at the chefs demonstration counter. There are no stools allow at the cooking stations. On the Splendor there were a few stools at the back of the room but you could not move them…. Had to watch the demonstrations on the overhead TV.

I don’t follow price increases that closely, we either book when cruises come out or nearly at final payment time. Pre Covid they were having price increases on some cruises every 3/4 months. The ones we book early, the price nearer cruise time has at times been much higher. But with the suite up grade depending whether currently pricing the lower suite or the suite that they would have gotten for the two suite up grade and whether total price is for two or the per person price it is possible.? And each country’s price structure is different. I am going by US experience. If they had contacted a T agent about the cruise and just hadn’t made the deposit they could ask the agent to talk to Regent a deal.

Glad to see a cruise blog again. Thank you. Please continue your reports as time allows.

This is a great cruise, we did it a number of years ago. Japan is very popular right now in the US, but this is a little longer cruise so may not book up as fast. Regent usually does a price adjustment upper ward on some but not all cruises every 3 months or so. They will also run promotions on some cruises that are not selling well. That doesn’t mean they reduce the price but do add some things like the cabin upgrade or OBC to sweeten the pot…. In the US anyway. All I can say is just watch the cruise and see if there is a change in pricing and cabins availables. The promotions in the US usually have a good until date so you know you have to book by then. I know each country has a different way of doing though.

Regent regularly does price increases. Usually the best price is when the cruise first becomes available. Sometimes they have special deals but they do not last long.

Yes, when you call to deviate at 210days (request your preferred flights) you can also request earlier dates. As said you need to research ahead of time flights you would like. Your choice may or may not be flights they have contracts with… ie… no up charge to you. But you will be able to make an informed decision about whether the up charge is worth it to you. You will also be responsible for hotel cost. I think you can request up to a week or two ahead or after the cruise, but definitely two or three days. Someone else can help you on that. We have requested 2 days. Had one hotel night free because it was a Grand voyage but had to pay for the second night. The contacted hotel shortly before arrival to get the same room for both nights.

There is nothing wrong with that. Sometimes passengers seem to forget Regent is a business and needs to be profitable. The upswell we have been offered are usually not a bad deal if one wants to try a bigger suite. The best we have ever had years ago was someone wanting our suit at apparently almost any price…..

There will not be the extra activities or at least not many going on….that is normal for a port day. But the pool and bars and places to eat will be open on a normal day time schedule. We often have a “sea day” at a port we are not interested in. I like to have room service on those days, breakfast, lunch and cocktails on the balcony and read.

That is your option, if you are uncomfortable with the current situation. We have done this in the past. For us things improved and if we had stayed the course it would have been fine. You never know though. We had a good time on our new choice and we didn’t have to stress.

Wow, they must be afraid the conflict is going to spread to the Suez Canal and Red Sea area. It is really sad there is so much discord in the world. Let’s 🙏 that is not the case! But todays news was not at all comforting.😟.

Maybe that’s where the 25% FCC figure came from.? My Mana just to tell me if wishes were horses beggars would ride.🤣

Thanks for the offer🤣. actually the Israel cruise we canceled just before final payment (couldn’t change air so did a strange/fun land trip to India and Germany) was the reverse of your itinerary but starting in Mumbai and ending in Rome I think. HD didn’t trust the canal passage and the unrest in the area… the trouble had just stirred up. Actually we did the Suez Canal part a few years later… it is really very interesting! But Israel was still not to popular/safe for tourist. That whole area can be a tender box and tricky for cruise travel. In ‘15 we were on a little Seabourn sister (the one that out ran the pirates on an earlier cruise) Dubai to Istanbul. We lost a port because we had to travel in a blacked out convoy with tankers and such. We had a US Navy ship beside us and US Navy heli circling around the convoy. We also missed out refueling stop and had to refuel in Saudi Arabia. That whole trip was most interesting😮😀!! As far as the rest of this discussion is. concerned…Regent is probably not giving a refund or a free future cruise in bad situations (beyond the cruise company’s control like this unless they do not sail), basically per contract. I don’t think it will make much difference. Regent sailed a altered cruise and gave a 25% FCC. Yes some will leave Regent over this decision, but there are many more possible cruisers out there that will fill the berths. I think the bigger concern for Regent is getting to big (too many ships and bigger ships) to orovide the personal service we find now on the ships. Already I feel that some of this “specialness” is lost in the glitter of the new ships. Only time will tell. It has happened to many business.

This amazes me also. What ports did the complainers think Regent would substitute for missed ports in Israel and Egypt if there was unrest. It isn’t the first time there has been a problem in that part of the world. It is not the first time ports have been changed at the last minute and the changes are always in the general area….. in this case the Greek Islands. And apparently people are having a beautiful cruise. No one forced anybody to go on the cruise if they didn’t like/ have been to the new ports. But they did sign the contract that allowed this. And they freely chose not to take cancel for any reason insurance that would have covered some of the lost trip cost, yes the insurance cost more and doesn’t cover everything Just 75%. Regent is offering 25% FCC to everyone. Since Covid onward that seems to be standard when something really goes side ways. And if you you went on the cruise regardless of the ports the ship is going, the crew to give it their best! It is up to you to enjoy it or make yourself miserable.

What is wonderful for RCL to use the Rhapsody for the evacuation and housing of foreign nationals. I read they were beginning taken out by sea today. This makes perfect sense as the Rhapsody was using Haifa as a home port and doing 4/5 day round trip sailings from Haifa to Crete which were canceled. Carnival has used their Gulf Coast home ported ships in this way during the recovery from bad hurricanes in the past.

That is about 92% full. Maybe managements plan worked fairly well. I don’t think any of us really knows what the head office plans for situations like this. We know on CC a couple didn’t make the cruise because of illness. Also some canceled.

How do you know they didn’t have some idea what they could/do if Haifa was closed? No my opinion would not change if we were on this cruise. I know the risk is ours and has been with every cruise since we started cruising almost 40 years ago. Cruises cost a lot of money but you assume the risk responcibility after final payment. I think within 2/3 days they had a new schedule and were rebooking air for people. People still complained about Egypt and they changed those ports also. Someone posting here booked their new air and hotel right away. Regent was dealing with 100’s of people from all over the world. The process takes time. We don’t use Regent air and hotel because it is easier to get what we want doing it our selves. We are not on this cruise but we are on the Grand Arctic that has a segment that includes those ports. We have many days with Regent. If you have followed my trip reports over the years we have had some issues butRegent is much more responsive to problems than the other two luxury lines we have sailed with. And as someone else said we like their over all product. We also do family cruises on Cunard and RCL and take the grandkids on short homeport carnival cruises

It you right to say what you think about this situation. It will not change the facts if you signed the cruise contract. It allows any and all changes regardless of what the cruise was called. There are many hotel/resorts that have a no refunds if you don’t show up and they are open for business. Slightly different I know and with cruises you DO have a sliding scale of refunds based on time. You need to look at any cruise itinerary as this is what we to hope to do but it all can change at any time. You usually have 90/120 days before sailing depending on the cruise to get your money back at that time you assume the risk at least under US law. If you are lucky you might get some FCC stick with the cruise if you cancel usually no such luck. At least that was what was happening during Covid in some cases

I usually skip the poncho most of the time, it is just too hot. I find the best thing for my husband and me is shirts, skirts and slacks made from something like parachute cloth but maybe a tad heavier. It is light weight, dark colors are non see though and the clothes dry very fast.m, like in a few minutes.

So glad you made it safely to the ship and things are up to snuff on the Voyage. I am sure the crew will take good care of you. Saw the tender versus waves on another site. That was exciting I bet! Thanks for the good report.

How many times has this happened? Having to change the embarking port is very rare, it boggles the mind to think that a cruise line would have to go to the expense of having plan “B” in place if something happened. The passenger always pays and many are complaining now about being priced out of cruising. Piers are booked way in advance and are very extensive. Reserving buses, hotel rooms, personnel to work the list goes on, the cost adds up for a rare what if? With only 7 days to do it, Regent got a new port, hotel space, airline seats and transport for the disembarking and embarking passengers. Don’t what the number of people actually using Regent air and hotel, but the report is about 600 made the cruise(happily or not) and not all used Regent air and hotel. I think the Voyager holds about 650. A few had to cancel the cruise at the last minute for illness etc, some who would not do the cruise because of the change, about 92% made the cruise…why would Regent go to extra expense for what if situation.

My perfect cruise is one where you have a port or two then a sea day or two. We enjoy the ports but we also like the sea day daytime activities on the ship….lectures, crafts, wine tastings and trivia and sitting on the veranda and reading. We like the forced down time in the port mix. If we are in a port we find it hard not to at least get off and walk around. The most sea days in a row we have had is on the Navigator ….9 1/2 days. We lost a port due to weather. DH did get a little antsy😐! He is good for about 6! But the crew did a wonderful job keeping us busy.

Any itinerary that includes stops in the Holy Land is a very tempting way to visit there because one feel some protection with the all inclusive nature of cruising. We did exactly that …a Med cruise Athens to Rome almost like this one in the late 90’s. Things seem to be calm at the time, we hadn’t booked too far ahead and all worked out. But we also knew and accepted the risk of missing those ports, The options for the cruiser have not changed… insurance didn’t cover acts of war and the ship could change the ports to keep us safe with no refunds as long as the cruise sailed. Though airline changes were easier to deal with then. We have tried do a cruise including the Holy Land with Regent since then, but things got iffy around final payment time so we canceled. We were to sail from India to Istanbul. Couldn’t change the air so figured out a land trip in India and added a flight back to Europe and did a land trip in Germany. Score flying home! We are trying for Israel again in 2025 with Regent but time will tell. We self insure and have been doing it long enough that we are ahead. We also know and accept the cruise T and C are in the cruise lines favor and that probably will not change in the US anyway. The customer beware. My parents taught me to read and be sure I understabd ever contract I ever sign. They were wise people.

As I have said before if you really want to visit a place, do a land trip. You can t really see a place in a few hours on a bus or van tour or even with a private car and driver. Cruising is a wonderful way to to have a relaxing vacation and maybe get a taste or a neat site or two but making that special port always comes with sone risk. Sibce we retired we have traveled around the world twice, once for 5 1/2 months and once fie 4 1/2 months. Both times we patched the weeks long land sections with connecting cruises of 2 to 3 week cruises. I really don’t like flying given a choice so we drove ourselves or had a car and driver for the Asian countries. In 2018 we did the WC and had a ball visiting favorite sites or places we had eaten again during the port stops. We missed several special ports due the accident and weather which was disappointing because we will never get there again, never the less the cruise wasn’t ruined and we had a good time.