papaflamingo

Welcome to post Covid cruising. 😎

Still think it's pretty harsh. Could be he actually IS consulting. But you know what? It's really none of my business anyway. I just choose to not sully the reputation of someone with no real knowledge of the situation. Maybe I choose to be naive, or maybe I just have more respect for people based on past performance.

That's a pretty hard criticism of a guy who everyone seemed to like and who most agreed did a good job.

No one other than the people who made the decision knows why certain people were given the offer and not others. Could have to do with Cabin Category, i.e. maybe they have a long Penthouse waitlist but not long for Verandah cabins. Could have to do with how much was paid for the cruise. If someone booked a long time ago (say 2 years) and got what is now considered a really good rate, maybe they ask them as they can sell the cabin for more money and push the lower rates down the road. My guess is that's it's a combination of both waitlist for specific category and cost of cabin when booked. But who knows?

Regardless, Regent has never (to my knowledge) offered more than Economy on Domestic flights except for occasional sales. lf it's not luxurious enough for you, do what I do and take the Air Credit and purchase your own First Class. By the way, "unrivaled" means "better than everyone or everything of the same type." I don't know of any other cruise line that offers Business Class as part of the cruise fare. So that, by definition, is "unrivaled."

I can only speak for Dublin, but no big deal. Tender trips generally seem to be about 15 minutes or so,. The only issue we had, you actually port at Dun Laoghaire, is that the port required an escort for each tender and they mandated that tender operations were shutdown at 9 pm. We overnighted so we had a choice of being back on the ship by 9 pm or spend the night on shore. Other than that, tendering is tendering, always dependent on sea state.

There is no such thing as "domestic Business Class." If you look at any U.S. Domestic airlines you'll find that Business Class is only offered on International or transcontinental flights (depending on airlines). Domestic offers First Class. When a transcontinental flight is booked that includes a domestic leg, if on the same airlines it is booked "Business Class" from the origin, that's why you get First Class on that domestic leg. If you read the Terms and Conditions, Regent makes no secret whatsoever about the class of flights that their pricing includes.

First, as to “we have overbooked this cruise and need people to switch out of it or we are going to have to cancel some of you if we don’t get enough volunteers," don't worry, they aren't going to involuntarily cancel you. We had a similar offer for our March cruise. We took it because we were in the middle of major house repairs after a Christmas water leak. Worked out GREAT for us. So... we were also on an Interline Rate. They gave me about 20% refund, and moved me to a Dec. cruise. Our original cruise was on Navigator in a Deluxe Verandah, we were moved to Mariner and a Penthouse A complete with a free hotel stay! The Regent agent, when we made the move said "wow, you're getting a great deal on this." Yup, that was an understatement! 😎 l read that others also took advantage of the offer. And they were NOT on Interline Rates. So it's not necessarily about the lowest rates and not like the airlines where they'll involuntarily cancel you. And since you said you can't move the cruise, then no worries, you'll be on that ship! Like I said, for us, it was a lifesaver. The offer came 4 days before the cruise and we had hardwood floor people and painters scheduled to come in while we were on the cruise. So not counting the significant upgrade, the fact we could be here for the repairs was fantastic. Have a wonderful cruise!

WOW!!! Nice!! I would just use the excursions that they show now and pick a couple of backups. Likely they won't change all that much, but that's a long cruise to do last minute. We usually just use the one's posted, do our port research based on those, then come up with 3 choices or so per port and have never had trouble finding one of our choices in each port.

Of course all we know is pure speculation, but we had a similar offer for our cruise in March. As it happened, we had a water pipe freeze and break on Christmas. Since the final payment was already past we were obligated to go on the cruise. We had arranged for the workmen to have access to the house while we were gone, but not ideal. Four days before the cruise we got the email so we jumped on it and delayed to Dec. We were in a Deluxe on Navigator but now are in a Penthouse A on Mariner (HUGE upgrade) and we received a very nice amount back, plus have a free hotel stay. AND it allowed us to be home for our house repairs. So a GREAT deal for us!!! As to "why," it worked out so well for us that I couldn't care less as to why. But my speculation is that they had a big waitlist. They already had our full payment so by delaying us to Dec. they could get the full payment from another passenger thus creating extra cash flow. Makes perfect sense as they try to dig themselves out of the Covid economic hole they were dropped in. But again, simply speculation. Could be that they made the offer so they clear some people off the waitlist just like an airlines offers money to give up a seat on an oversold flight. Who knows?

What cruise are you on?

The cost to build Grandeur is about $450 million (according to a 2021 Forbes article). The Fabrerge Egg is a mere 1/450 of the cost. Probably not that big a deal when you have a cabin like the Regency Suite that goes for $11000 per night. That's only about 90 nights to make up the cost. 😜

I'm curious pappy, what did you find funny?

I don't think my post was disrespectful, you want shore excursions pulled out of the pricing. Others want drinks pulled out, etc. So it seems to me that you would like Regent to be more like the Oceana model and only offer the services YOU like as inclusions and ala carte those you don't wish to use. Then again, that's just my opinion.... please respect it. 😏

We were staying in Fort Lauderdale a few years ago and booked an Everglades tour including Airboat. It was fantastic! Definitely worth doing if you can.

I have never sailed on Oceana, but have done sound 40 cruises, only 2 on Regent. So my opinion is based on the Regent model vs. the al a carte model. We do long cruises on Regent. We like the all inclusive. I have booked many, many third party tours over my cruise "life." For long cruises I don't want to have to spend hours and hours researching tours and tour companies then sending my credit card info worldwide for a 70 night Grand cruise. So I like simply looking at the Regent excursions and pick from them. I don't like having to purchase a drink package then show my card every time I want a drink. I don't like having to pay gratuities at the end of the cruise. I don't like having to pay extra to eat at a specialty restaurant. So I like Regent's model. Now, if the time comes that I don't want Regent excursions, included drinks, included dining, included gratuities, etc. I will look at sailing on another line that allows me to al a carte pick and choose. I will look closely at Oceana for sure. For all those who want to see Regent change their model to be more like Oceana, then all you're doing is turning Regent into Oceana. Why would we want Regent to be "just like Oceana?" Just sail Oceana.

So, you booked the UDP at a discounted rate, saw a better rate and cancelled YOUR UDP but then found out that the better rate was limited to first come, first served and you came late. So you are upset that YOU couldn't. get a "good deal" and they wouldn't give back your original "good deal," and you are blaming RCCL for "cheating?" You're trying to manipulate the system and you got "bit." That's what happens when you try to manipulate the system. When you have a price you are happy with, stick with it and don't cancel until you verify you can actually get the new "good deal." But hang in there, there'll probably another opportunity for you.

As everyone said, bus rides are completely dependent on the distance from the port to the sight. It's definitely not the a "rule" on Regent, depending on port you can get tours as long as 12 hours or as short as 1 hour.

Us too on Navigator last summer. A second bottle just "miraculously" showed up when we were a bit below 1/4 left. I love "miraculous" events. 🥃 😎

I agree with curmudgeon, you get a credit for unused hotel. As I remember, it should be enough to cover the cost of private transportation. Will definitely be worth it to not move hotels and to not have to ride in a bus to the port. You should get your TA to price the credit out for you and see what you think.

I can't really say I know for sure, but my understanding is that Regent won't give free or discounted upgrades as it degrades their product. They often run "2 category upgrade" specials but if you booked way out it isn't a savings, and they generally don't include above penthouse. So you can upgrade from a Concierge to Penthouse, but that's as high as you can go. Again, that's only my understanding.

You should be able to book for each SEGMENT of the cruise.

We did Montreal to NYC last May. Montreal is a great city for sure. We spent only a couple of days as it was May 2022 and many things were still closed from Covid. But enjoyed it for sure. I can't say that I specifically remember the sailing from Montreal to Quebec City but it was scenic leaving Montreal, etc. It was overnight, but remember it's light up in that part of the world late into the evening. BUT, we loved Quebec City and really wished we could have spent a couple days there. So for us, we would have preferred the cruise had started in Quebec City and would likely (since Covid is no longer much of an issue) have spent a couple days in Montreal then a couple days in Quebec City, then board the ship.

Honestly, you're overthinking this and creating a problem that doesn't exist. Assuming there are enough passengers staying on board you will be offered a tour on turnaround day. The information will come to you plenty early once on board. That's how it's always been done. No reason to find it "incomprehensible." On our cruises, one was 44 nights, one was 40 nights, where we booked on a single booking number, there was excursions offered on turnaround day. On the cruise where we had one segment as a b2b there was not. On the b2b cruise there were only 6 of us staying on board. On the other segments, the one's booked as a single cruise, there were up to 95 of us staying on board. So excursions were offered. I suspect that since you state your cruise was offered as a 33 night cruise then there will be excursions offered in Sydney once you're on board. But honestly, Sydney is a great city with lots to see around the dock area (depending which port you dock at). If you dock at Circular Quay you are walking distance to the Opera house, you can catch a ferry to Manly Beach, take a harbor tour, grab the. hop on hop off bus, or visit the many shops and restaurants in the area.

Yes... that, exactly, was my point. That the airlines responsibility is only to get you to the destination. I agree that the cruise line also needs to get you to the destination port, and will. My comment was actually in answer to the question "If an airline diverts to another city, do they just strand their passengers in that city and make them find they own way to their final destination?" There are some comments that indicate people think that if a destination port is changed, like Venice was, that the cruise line is responsible to book new flights, get passengers to the airport, etc. It's not. They are only responsible to deliver you to the end point port, even if that means being bussed. Getting to the airport is your problem if you booked independently. Any additional costs, like flight changes, unexpected hotels, etc. are what cruise insurance is for. Now, if you booked as part of your cruise package then the cruise line now bears some responsibility.