pappy1022

I have been on Oceania and enjoyed it very much. I will have to say that for me, Oceania is a step below Regent as far as the cabin and the food. I did consider them for my British Isle cruise but I liked Regent’s itinerary better and for me the destination is as important as the cruise ship.

Dave, how do you find out how many open cabins are available on a specific cruise?

Seanots, nope that isn’t my argument. Just stating what reality is when it comes to booking shore excursions. I don’t appreciate the personal shot.

The realistic definition is that all excursions are available to some (with status) because the best one’s get filled quickly when early selections are available to them, I take advantage of early excursion selection by getting a concierge cabin, so I am not complaining about early access, just stating facts. As far as unlimited excursions per day, it’s rare that the excursion schedule will allow for more than 1 excursion per day. On my next cruise, only 1 of 10 ports have schedules that will allow multiple excursion selections. This is especially true on port intensive cruises. So, the Regent definition of unlimited is much different than the Webster definition of unlimited.

No limit on the number of excursions but on our upcoming cruise, there is only 1 out of 10 ports that there is actually a possibility to do more than 1 excursion in a day because of the necessary time needed between excursions. So, I agree that theoretically it’s possible (marketing) but isn’t practically possible (reality) in most ports.

Me too, as long as it comes back. 😀

Absolutely agree that we need to take direct responsibility for our airline itinerary and stay informed of any changes. My question was more geared toward what actions Regent takes, if any, if there is an issue with an airline reservation that changes significantly. For example, let’s say we find out about a change in our airline itinerary where it was originally a direct or 1 stop flight and now has multiple stops or may make us concerned about connection times or some other aspect of the new itinerary. We may find about this change months or weeks in advance. Will Regent work with us to change the itinerary, maybe even to a different airline or are we stuck with whatever the originally scheduled airline offers after the original booking? If Regent gets involved to help us get a more reasonable itinerary do we pay another deviation?

But they do represent Regent and provide an onboard service that Regent is directly responsible for and Regent directly manages. I’ve had hundreds of contractors in my workplace over the years and if there was an issue with the work quality or work quantity of a contractor, I was directly responsible for fixing the issue. Those contractors represented my department to my internal customers as much as a full time employee and most times, my internal customer never knew if they were an employee or a contractor. I will stress that is extremely important for the employee/contractor and their supervisor to get feedback so they all know if the person is doing a good job or needs improvement. Everyone should be given a chance to improve and get better at their job but they need feedback. Sometimes, and I found it to be rare, that a person just doesn’t improve and needs to be replaced. Many times it isn’t the person but it’s a process issue or a policy/procedure issue that is the root cause.

A promise is a promise. If you can’t deliver, don’t promise.

I get sick of people saying if you don’t like it go somewhere else. That is a shallow argument and to me a very immature response. We pay for shore excursions and when Regent allows us to book an excursion we expect to get one and if something happens to change that specific excursion they should offer alternatives and if none, they should offer something like a nicer bottle of wine or something. That is called customer service.

I side with Mr Stanley on this one and I don’t think he’s gone overboard with his expectations and response. Regent cruises include port excursions and he was able to make a reservation based on Regent’s options provided to him. When that option was cancelled and no other excursions were available, I think he has the right to some form of compensation, maybe shipboard credits at least. We pay for excursions even if they are called “free” by Regent. In my mind, Regent made a promise to provide a tour. Yes, stuff happens out of Regent’s control and I understand that being flexible is important but Regent collected his money and they aren’t paying a supplier to provide a service in this case, so it should be refunded in some form. It’s peanuts in the big picture but it would be a great customer service gesture on Regent’s part.

Agree, totally unacceptable. Regent needs to make this up to you and to all the people who are waitlisted and won’t be able to get an “included” excursion.

I have always done my homework on available flights and given my TA 2-3 acceptable flights before she talks to Regent. I have always received acceptable flights on the first call between my TA and Regent. This last time, I actually got a better flight (direct) than the one’s I chose because I didn’t include an airline (Virgin Atlantic) that Regent and my TA suggested. If Regent’s goal was to make the deviation process more streamlined and efficient and this new policy does just that, then I am good with it. My friends on the other hand didn’t get any of the 2-3 choices they had selected and had to go back a second time to get reasonable flights, which turned out to be very good for them. I guess they would have had to pay the $150 (2 people) to make the second call. Maybe it’s best for the customer to call directly because they could works things out between them and Regent vs having a middle person (TA) do the talking for them. Ideally, it would be a 3 way conversation between the customer, the TA and Regent but that might be too difficult to coordinate given the Regent call wait times.

Warmwater, how did you become aware of the change? What changed for you? Time, plane equipment, seat assignment, etc.?

It isn’t that uncommon these days for airlines to change flight schedules, equipment or routes after you have booked a flight. Given that deviated flights can be booked 210 days out, I would think that this issue occurs. Having experienced those changes, but not on a Regent booked flight, what is the Regent process when an air carrier makes significant changes that will impact your schedule, route or even seat assignment because equipment is changed? Will Regent notify you of such changes? What does Regent do for the customer to help them get new flights and does this type of change require another deviation fee? With the new Regent air coordination policy, does the customer have a different avenue to talk to a Regent air coordinator, or do they wait in the queue to talk to an agent. Does the TA get involved any more with regards to air planning?

I stand corrected. Thank you for the explanation.

This promotion just gives you the option of taking premium economy vs business class airfare or no airfare at all (this last option was always available). Nothing changes as far as the base cruise cost. If anything the price has gone up. Really all it boils down to is that you can now select premium economy airfare for overseas trips, which is less costly than business class fares. Remember, business class airfare was included in the Regent quoted fares for non domestic flights. Business class airfare is much higher than premium economy airfares, so that is reflected in the Regent quoted price.

No, that is not what I am saying. They obviously have some cost associated with these activities. I was just answering the question as to whether Regent provides these external services at a profit. Of course they do and I don’t have a problem with that. What is reasonable is another story. Hotels are often 2X what you can get on your own. I do believe that Regent gets better rates for airfare then what I can do as an individual but their credits for not using their “included” flights is very low in my opinion.

Yes they are profiting from this “service”. They profit from every external “service” including airlines, hotels, excursions and transportation. They do have people on staff to coordinate all of these services, so there is some additional expenses incurred. The also have contracted rates for all of these services and their credits for not using one of these services is well below what they contractually pay for them.

You are welcome. Glad it worked for you and we could be of help. I remember my first Regent booking and not knowing what to expect and appreciated all the help that I got from the fine folks on this board. Enjoy the cruise.

When I did my online excursion selections in September, it took 10-15 minutes because I had all my excursions ready to choose. I got all of my first choices and I didn’t have to wait until the next day to talk to an agent. Either way works. I used to grill Regent for their website performance when selecting excursions but on my most recent experience, I was pleasantly surprised.

And, GO SABRES & BILLS

Book early or risk not getting what you want. I always get on the website as soon as it opens for early booking (concierge level or above). If you haven’t already done so, look through the excursion options and have a number 1 and 2 priority identified so you aren’t wasting time looking for options during the open period.

I know. But I do prefer the onboard experience with Regent. It’s the off the ship stuff through 3rd parties that isn’t up to par.

I do the same as you. Suspect that many don’t do their own research.