papaflamingo

Yeah...you're right... other than cruise lines saying their testing policy is "in accordance to local regulations," and at least one cruise line stating the policy in Japan is due to govt. regs., I can't actually produce the regulation.... I also am unwilling to spend time scouring all regulations since the only "regulation" needed is the policy of the cruise line. Why they do it is irrelevant if I want to cruise on the line. But guess what YOU never produced..... a reason other than regulatory YOU think Regent and the other cruise lines began requiring tests ONLY for sailings from Japan. . Now's YOUR chance....let's hear it. If you truly choose to believe that a cruise line...ANY cruise line.... would randomly pick Japan to institute mandatory testing when they are struggling to recover from Covid losses, have instituted a no test policy worldwide, and state on their website that testing will be in accordance to local regulations, just to harass their passengers, then go ahead and believe that. Is THAT what you believe? 😏

Or...gee.... the Japanese govt. changed the regulations. 😏

We were on Navigator this past summer for 40 nights. Didn't wait for Compass Rose except for a couple of minutes once or twice. We did get turned away from Sette Mari on our first try so went up and got in line about 15-20 minutes before opening and no problem. But like you, we aren't really Sette Mari fans so it didn't bother us.

We did a cruise this past summer on Navigator from Montreal to Southampton. We had no issues with the included shore excursions. Busses were not full and the one Small Group tour we did was "In the Steps of the Beatles" in Liverpool. There were about 10 of us on a small bus so we had plenty of room, the guide was spectacular and we had much more time to see things since he was leading a small group and not "herding" a large group. The popularity of excursions and filling them up is no different than pre-covid. The only difference now is some tour companies went out of business so Regent has to compete with other cruise lines for the tours companies still in business. We just need to accept that busses will fill up more now and excursions will book out faster. That isn't anyone's fault, it's just the way life is right now As to the British Isles, we enjoyed all the excursions we took. Not sure if we were in the same ports you will be stopping at, but the excursions we went on were all good for us. About the only snag we hit was when one passenger walked away after lunch and we had to spend about an hour searching for her. Luckily we had a great tour guide who was able to work around the "lost hour" and still get us enough time to complete the tour. Other than that, no complaints on any of the British Isles excursions.

Sorry this happened to you, but your assumption that I haven't faced at least the potential of being a long way from home and getting quarantined is absurd. I am fully prepared, when I travel, to accept the potential consequences of MY choices. I have travel insurance for the very fact that at my age I could be quarantined or hospitalized for a number of illnesses, not just Covid. As to "change in policy," exactly WHAT change by anyone would prevent your husband from contracting Covid and being quarantined? As for being "5000 mile from home and told you should leave" seems like simply a suggestion to prevent you from contracting Covid and extending the quarantine. Were you required by law to leave? If not, then simply stay. We had friends who got off a cruise last year and when they did the mandatory test to come home the husband tested positive. They entered quarantine and after a couple of days the wife tested positive so they had to quarantine until she was negative, extending the quarantine for a few more days. That is simply travel during this time in history. No one said it wouldn't be a "horrendous experience," but that's a risk you fully accept if you choose to cruise in foreign countries. Again, what "change in policy" will work to prevent this from happening?

If you are afraid to test within 72 hours of your cruise I would suggest you simply stop cruising. Covid regulations worldwide are constantly updated and requirements will continue to shift. I have insurance that will cover Covid cancellations (as well as any other illness or accident). I suggest everyone do the same.

I would never let a handful of rude people chase me away from a cruise line. I can almost guarantee you'll find this behavior on every cruise line. Entitled people are going to behave like this no matter. We've seen chair hogs on almost every cruise. On one cruise (not Regent) I was up at 6 am so went to pool deck to get a coffee. A woman came out with towels and books and claimed 6 loungers. She was wearing a bathrobe, fuzzy slippers, and hair curlers. Pretty sure she wasn't about to go swimming.

You don't specify if final payment was paid before or at the final payment date. If before, you should be able to take advantage of new rates BUT you will lose any "perks" (OBC, pre-cruise stay, etc) that you might have with your original rate and will be booked under the new rate. If after final payment, you're probably unable to get any reduction. I have 5 cruises booked and none would be better off with the new programs when I figure the "perks" I booked under. All you can really do is figure the bottom line and see. Then get your TA working on it.

You need to be on the waitlist for a sold out excursion. if you haven't done so, then get on the waitlist now. You can ask the butler but I suspect all he can do is pass your request to the Shore Excursion people. We were only on the waitlist twice and both excursions cleared shortly after boarding. But we never asked the butler about it as we had all our excursions when we had a butler. As for caviar, never ordered it, but I believe it's not supplied other than on Sunday free of charge. I imagine if you want to order caviar for a charge your butler should be able to arrange this. It's also possible he might be able to get it free, doesn't hurt to ask.

Actually, it is yours to explain, since my original comment actually ASKED other than govt, mandate, "What reason would explain this?" Regent also clearly states on their website ""Subject to local requirements, all guests are welcome with no tests required, regardless of vaccination status." So both Regent AND Princess either state or indicate that they're only requiring tests due to govt. regulations. When you responded I simply, again, asked what rationale these cruise lines would use to put a testing requirement on ONLY Japan cruises and not any other countries of origin? Like I said, I don't get it. Why else would Regent require this? Simply asking your opinion since you seem convinced this is a requirement that was randomly placed by multiple cruise companies.

Yeah..you're probably right. The cruise lines must have gotten together and said "hey... now that we've lost billions, and are working on recovering, how about we all agree to simply piss off passengers traveling to Japan by randomly requiring a Covid test? You know, no where else in the world, only Japan. That'll be fun...right?" Tell you what... how about YOU tell ME why YOU think Regent, Princess, et. al. decided RANDOMLY to ONLY require a test in Japan? Nowhere else in the world, ONLY Japan. I'd be interested in why YOU think they would do that. 😏

We have 5 cruises booked over the next 2 years. Every one of them would be more expensive when adding up OBC, etc. if I cancelled and rebooked under the new pricing program. So we simply kept what we have.

The Navigator Lounge across from the Coffee Connection has a bar that you can get specialty coffees.

It's a govt. mandate. It doesn't have to make sense.

I don't get why anyone thinks that Regent "randomly" placed a Covid test requirement ONLY for cruises from Japan. What reason would explain this? It's a Japanese requirement. Regent clearly states that "Subject to local requirements, all guests are welcome with no tests required, regardless of vaccination status." As to notification, they go on to state: "Specific requirements, if applicable, will be sent to all guests approximately 30 days prior to sailing." Additionally, if you look at there Japan cruise requirements for other cruise lines you'll find they also require a test. Here is a quote from Princess Cruises: "Based on current requirements for cruising in Japan, guests aged 5 and older will require a negative viral COVID-19 test result taken before boarding."

From the Terms and Conditions page: "Gold members and above receive four unique log-ins with FREE Unlimited WiFi per suite." https://www.rssc.com/legal/terms-conditions

I agree... I don't get why some people feel entitled and that the rules don't apply to them. If everyone simply acted in a considerate manner we'd be in a lot better shape. It's easy... simply follow the rules and act like a mature adult and... no problem.

I'm sure cost cutting is high on the list as cruise lines try to recover from the Covid shutdown,. But as a new Regent cruiser you won't notice them. I can't really explain the airline issue for you, other than airlines are flying very full and higher prices. So this will impact Regent's airline costs and will be factored into the cruise cost. At least here in the U.S. they do say that the included airline only from specific gateways. If you live in a non-gateway city there is an additional charge. Likely that's your problem. I assume you live in a non-gateway city and must come a night early to catch your Heathrow flight? Can you catch a later flight to Heathrow and connect on same day? As for the hotel allowance, and the booked hotels due to the Pope's visit, check and see if any rooms are available and at what cost. That'll tell you why they have to cancel. I doubt that they're "running a number" to decrease costs. We sailed since covid and found the even with supply train issues and new crewmembers, Regent did a great job to deliver the same experience as before. We didn't notice any cutbacks and the only one I can think of is closing the Pool Grill for dinners. I'm sure this is a cost cut because of the minimal use on most cruises. However I believe they didn't even offer the Pool Grill until around 2018 so it's not like it was a traditional Regent offering. People tend to "read into" things. I take them at face value. If Regent cancels a hotel because of a huge event at the port city, then I accept that they cancelled the hotel because of a huge event in the port city, not as a prelude or result of declining revenues.

Are you on the Oct.3 sailing on Voyager? We are also on that cruise. We also live in Atlanta and are flying a couple of days early. I opted for the Delta non-stop, figuring it's worth it to be non-stop. Also got the non-stop home from Rome on Delta with no uncharge. Looking forward to this cruise. It'l be a good one. 😎

The article is written from a very cynical point of view and ignores the lowering of prices as well as increasing cost. In 1897 (when I got hired) the average price to fly was $587. In today's dollars that is $1542 today. The average air fare today is $392 which, in 1987 would have been $149. The airlines added seats because people wanted cheap tickets. With the fluctuating oil prices and demand for low fares it was all they can do to be profitable. it has nothing to do with a concerted effort to make people miserable enough to buy higher priced seats. It simply has to do with rising costs vs. decreasing air fare. The was driven by multiple events (like 911 or Covid) including demand, fuel costs, Southwest Airlines, etc. You can say the same for cruise lines. In 1987 the cruise experience on major lines was significantly different than today, and significantly cheaper. Our first cruise in 1998 cost $750 per person for an inside cabin. Today that would be $1376. I can get an inside cabin for on the same week, same ship for $470 or in 1998 dollars $256 I doubt the cruise lines purposefully made the experience worse just to drive people into expensive suites. It was simply a shift in the economy from a "Neiman Marcus" experience to "Walmart." People want to pay as little as possible so the corporations adjusted to be profitable on as little as possible fares. It's all the wishes of the consumer. So sure, "agree to disagree." But if you really examined how cost structures change, you won't find any discussion or idea about "calculated misery," in fact quite the opposite.

I spent 29 years as a major U.S. airline pilot. Admittedly I was never involved in any financial decisions but I don't accept the premise that airlines purposefully make economy miserable to force sales to higher priced seats. Pricing is competitively based. The airlines charge what the competition allows. The cost of an economy ticket is extremely low in general, especially if compared to many years ago. The airlines added seats in order to carry enough passengers to make the flight profitable. When I got hired in 1987 our break even load factor was 52%. After the fare dumps in the early 90's the break even load factor climbed rapidly and is now around 72-78%. So the planes need to average that to simply not lose money.

Missing a port is always hit or miss (pun intended). You simply don't know until it happens. Most 3rd party excursion companies understand this and will allow a full, or at least a partial, refund if the ship misses the port for any reason. We did 40 nights from Montreal to Southhampton and missed ports in Greenland and one in Iceland but made every port in the UK. If you want to book a third party excursion then look for ones that have a full refund or at least only keep a small deposit and go ahead and book them. I wouldn't let the fear of cancellation of a port drive any decision. You really just never know with a cruise.

DOH! Wrong Monday. We board on Mar. 13. 😎

We're on the same cruise! We are just finishing the repair of our house from a water line break on Christmas. Need this cruise desperately! 1 more week! Can't wait! 😎

I actually wasn't questioning your comment that excursions run $150 per person, but your comment "c Sure Regent loves customers who don't take the included excursions and that is pure profit and adds to the bottom line." I suspect, don't actually know, that Regent books excursions at a guaranteed amount regardless of how many show up to take the excursion. I also suspect that to add extra busses, etc. they will now need a certain minimum to warrant the cost. If they go to optional excursions, and a particular excursion doesn't get enough to meet the minimum cost. they'll end up cancelling that excursion. As it stands today, it seems they book...say a bus for 60...at a fixed cost for UPTO 60 people and if only 10 book it, it goes anyway. So those who choose to sit on the ship or book their own excursions, are supplementing the rest of us. But I doubt seriously that people failing to show up on any excursion is actually " pure profit and adds to the bottom line."