Shoreviewgirl

2 hours ago, rallydave said:

That’s exactly what I am saying based on their written terms a conditions. I will repeat there have been reports that regent has helped people in the past but remember cruise critic is not a very representative group of cruise passengers maybe 10% so not a good sampling 

 

hoping regent will help but no guarantee like many people  believe. 
 

also have had reports from people with airline probkk k end while traveling at airports who only phone regent for flight help and sometimes no answer or help 

 

The first thing to do with airline issues is to phone the airline while getting in the line at customer service to get your flights fixed. The airline is responsible and knows this  contacting regent simply delays the fix as they have to go thru the airline as well. With time differences regent may not be available.  God luck your flights are in time 

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. 😃

45 minutes ago, rallydave said:

As fo missing the ship flying in day of embarkation. Per the terms and conditions regent is not responsible for issues with third parties that regent had booked and airlines are third parties 

 

that said regent in the past has hrlpdd with third party issues so the answer is wish ways but legally they don’t have to help. 

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.

11 hours ago, Lonedaddy said:

If you or anyone needs expert flying info just ping me I’ll do my best to get a timely response.  You might check sites like kayak and you might be able to book air cheaper.  I would think that time of year you might find a deal from a booking site .

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. 

4 minutes ago, asnaleah said:

We took the air credit from RSSC and booked our own business class seats on Iceland - saved $600 pp. You just have to check for yourself and see what’s the best value for you. Traveling from Chicago does give us a lot of options.

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. 

5 hours ago, CardowMD said:

I had options for no upcharge which would have been fine, but liked the direct flight with the lay flat business class configuration better for solo traveler. Although the connections in Europe from US going to Istanbul would have worked, there was a 4.30 layover and the 4 hour Turkish air from Geneva to Istanbul was European business class. Similar to US continental first class. 2*2*2 with standards seats that didn’t lie flat. 😚
 

I also put in option for the earlier Turkish air flight, mid afternoon day earlier because of seat arrangements. Their standard flight was at 11pm but older plane .You can check Seat Guru for airlines that don’t show on their site when making dummie booking. 
 

I have learned a lot from everyone’s input on these CC sites!

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

8 minutes ago, pingpong1 said:

As Lew just stated...If you're not using one of many TA's (specifically, the ones who give you either a percentage discount off the published Regent fare... or give you an actual cash rebate after you've paid the published Regent fare)...you're leaving a whole lot of money on the table! A "whole lot" as defined by Thousands of Dollars!  Plus OBC's that Lew mentioned.

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?

7 hours ago, pappy1022 said:

I will add that the credit that Regent was offering to arrange my own flights from Austin to Copenhagen and return from London to Austin on our recent cruise wasn’t enough to warrant taking the credit. The credit was almost enough to book a coach ticket with extra legroom, not anywhere near the cost for me to book my own business class seats. The moral of the story is that it all depends and you should look at both options to see what works best for you. If you do use Regent’s air, definitely use the air deviation process to be able to get the best itinerary for flights.

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.  

3 hours ago, Lonedaddy said:

If you are using a TA they should be aware of this if not you should get a better TA.   Are you booking for dec '24 or dec '25 out of CPT?

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.  

43 minutes ago, RELS said:

 

It is on page 2 of your guest statement, under Cancellation of Ancillary Items. In case you haven't booked yet, here it is:

 

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

34 minutes ago, Lonedaddy said:

YMMV I was not happy with the last regent air.  You can select the regent air as a backup and if you can find better before you have to deviate - you can cancel.  if the allowance is 6700 add 175 to your cost if you want to deviate.  Thus if you want to book your own you are saving 6875.  I was able to find air using awards to SA but I also found many fare at or better than the $6675 I would have paid on RA.   for example I found united fares JNB-EWR-DFW for 2700 One way.  TK was always less and QR was near the price.  You also have more flexibility if you want to do a Stopover to break up the trip.  You will also get domestic 1st if you book your own.  Use Kayak or Google flights to track prices.  some airlines you can book 360 out vs US carriers 330, I start looking at 360 and they seem to vary quite a bit from 360 to 270 days out so you can find a deal if you diligently look or have your TA watch for good fares.  You can always fall back on the regent air if you can't find something.

35 minutes ago, Lonedaddy said:

YMMV I was not happy with the last regent air.  You can select the regent air as a backup and if you can find better before you have to deviate - you can cancel.  if the allowance is 6700 add 175 to your cost if you want to deviate.  Thus if you want to book your own you are saving 6875.  I was able to find air using awards to SA but I also found many fare at or better than the $6675 I would have paid on RA.   for example I found united fares JNB-EWR-DFW for 2700 One way.  TK was always less and QR was near the price.  You also have more flexibility if you want to do a Stopover to break up the trip.  You will also get domestic 1st if you book your own.  Use Kayak or Google flights to track prices.  some airlines you can book 360 out vs US carriers 330, I start looking at 360 and they seem to vary quite a bit from 360 to 270 days out so you can find a deal if you diligently look or have your TA watch for good fares.  You can always fall back on the regent air if you can't find something.

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?