Shoreviewgirl

We did experience a missed connection to Singapore a few months back in a Holland cruise with their air. My husband stood in the American line to get rebooked while I worked the Holland Air dept. Holland was able to find us another flight before my husband reached the counter so perhaps we just got lucky - it was midnight too in LAX and the Holland agent wasn’t the happiest but she did get us rerouted. If booking on my own, I would never wait until 75 days out to secure a flight. I start looking immediately so we can get a good itinerary and seats. I then watch the prices to see if the airline reduces it. Just got back $100 ea on a flight to Lima. 😃

So, are you saying, Regent isn’t responsible for helping us if a flight they booked for us is delayed and we miss the embarkation? I thought that was one of the main reasons we would use them.

Lonedaddy, That’s a very generous gesture. I may seek your advice at a much later time, we just booked Feb. 2026 Capetiwn to Dubai. In the meantime, I will try to educate myself on flight classes, etc. Just searched ChatGPT and got a very quick but detailed explanation too so that’s a good start.

Good to know. I did think that it should be fairly easy to check flights beforehand to know how it compares. We fly out of MSP do should have good options as well. Thank you for responding.

I am sure learning a lot today! The people on this site are so helpful. Thank you for your input.

So it sounds like I should be using a TA. Our past experience with a few TAs is that, while we received t and smaller perks, it was a hassle to contact the TA with questions I might have and if she/he couldn't answer them, would have to wait for her to contact Regent and get back to me rather than just going straight to the cruise line. This could take days! So, my next question is, would someone recommend a responsive Travel Agent/Company for cruising?

Wow! Again, sounds promising. I'm still not sure I am accurate in my understanding of how the "air deviation" policy works: 1) When first booking, you choose Cruise with Air option. 2) 210 days prior to the cruise, you contact Regent Air with flights you have found (do you look for flights that are within the allowance or do you pick any?) You pay them $175 pp and they will see what your flight prices out at? It sounds like they are able to do better pricing. If you pick that flight, they roll the $75 into the air fare? or, do they come back to you with other options? When you do contact them and pay the $175 though you aren't aware of what they would have chosen for you at the later date, right? So, by doing it at the 210 day mark, you have a better chance of getting the flight you want? So confusing.

Our tour isn't until February 2026. We aren't using a TA for this. On all but one of the many cruises we have taken across a variety of cruise lines, it has just seemed easier to work with the cruise line directly.

Thank you for this. I am going through their website right now and hadn't come across this yet.

Lone daddy, good to know. I didn’t know you could select as a backup and cancel if you find something better. I need to find where all this is spelled out somewhere so I’ll check their site.

#Tsunami74, thank you for your reply. So far, the consensus is leaning towards using them. I love how helpful this forum is!

#2012 _Alaska_bound (am I replying to you correctly? I’m new to this board). Thank you so much. That is very reassuring, and so much more information than what I was given from the agent.

CardowMD Thanks for your perspective. I hadn’t considered that Regent could change the itinerary. The cruise we are considering - Capetown to Dubai - isn’t until Feb. 2026 so I have only been able to see prices and routings for Feb. 2025. The price range now for Business Class air is huge, depending on airline and length of travel. Ranged from $6000-$14,000 and 22 hours to 40 hours travel time!! While the airline allowance is about $6400, there is no way I’m taking a routing that is 40 hours! I’m wondering if anyone is ever happy with the initial routing Regent offers for the price, or do most people end up spending more for a better route? What is the $75 inquiry fee?

Thank you for the info. That sounds promising even though you had to pay a bit more. The way the rep presented this to me though made me leary. I said I wanted to book with air which is a $6700 airfare allowance. He said Business Class would be for flight over water only with one stop. If I get booked on a short international flight i.e. New York to London but then have a flight from London to South Africa, I'm paying a lot for the shortest part of the trip. (I really don't want to be in main cabin for 11 hours!) Does that happen very often? I can't compare their rate to doing it on my own as it is more than a year until my trip.

Have you been pleased with your flights? We haven't tried booking a cruise with flight and am told only the portion over water is First Class. Is this always a good value or would it be better to book on my own. I understand the value of having the flight booked with the cruise in the event of any flight issues but for the money, is it worth it?