flossie009

When we enquired about the demise of the document pack in the UK, we were told this by the Regent(UK) MD in April 2022: "I can confirm that the UK and Europe has volunteered to trial an Edocs solution similar to those offered by almost every other brand in hospitality. It is a trial through June and we are gathering feedback, positive and negative. There are a many reasons why we see this as a positive step forward for Regent, cost cutting does not feature in the study. I can assure you, we will do nothing to diminish the Regent experience and our intention is to continue to evolve and improve this experience at every touch point" As we know the European 'trial' extended long past June 2022 and is only being rolled out worldwide this coming Summer. At least Regent did respond to feedback. At the start of the trial, nothing was sent in the mail and the coloured deck luggage tags had to be picked up at the embarkation port. This did not work well and later in 2022 they moved to the present system of sending the labels out in advance which is a much better solution. I hope Regent never moves to DIY print at home labels reinforced with sellotape etc. 😱 Excellent idea. During our cruise at Christmas we met a couple from North America who were 'refugees' from Crystal, trying out various alternative cruise lines. Their initial impression of Regent was very favourable. In particular they said “Regent thinks so carefully about the small details; for example we were so impressed with the full document pack that we received by mail in advance of the cruise” ............... 🙄 We passed this positive feedback to Regent on our return from the cruise.

20 to 40 nights is our ideal cruise, preferably with a balanced mix of port & sea days

As you arranged your own air and hotel then the Regent transfers will not be available to you. You will have to make arrangements to get yourselves & your luggage to the cruise embarkation check-in location identified on your cruise documents. You and your luggage will then be taken to the ship. Any queries then speak to Regent.

This should not be an issue. As you know, forward reservations are not available in Compass Rose but the maître d' will always try to accommodate your requirements. If you are travelling as a party, who wish to dine together each evening, I suggest you seek out the F&B Manager or Dining Room Manager on boarding to discuss your wishes.

Just for clarity, in how many ports have you found excursions to be unavailable or subject to late cancellation on your past or future Regent cruises?

Hi Bill, A review for an Explorer F2 suite attached Explorer_Feb 2023.xlsx

The cruise has many late arrivals and some early departures. Has that impacted excursion scheduling? Have the port timings changed since the cruise was first offered? Hope you have an enjoyable cruise despite the late excursion cancellations.

Is this correct? It is not our recent experience.

.............. or just ring the Southampton office to avoid any confusion as to the luggage tags you are seeking (phone number at top of their webpage). Usually easy to get through and all their reps are extremely helpful 🙂

That is enlightening. According to UK Government advice, reflected in Regent(UK) advice, South Africa only requires 2 consecutive blank pages in your passport, and 6 months validity, on arrival in the country.

In the UK, the flight credit shown on the website can be misleading for some cruises. For example, if your cruise begins or ends in Europe, the fares for Penthouse suites and higher include Business Class flights whereas Concierge suites and below only include for Economy flights. The website says: "A saving of up to £xxx per person is available when arranging your own flights and transfers". The higher level of saving will only apply to those bookings with fares that include Business Class flights i.e. PH and above. It would be useful if Regent would clarify this for affected cruises on the UK website.

We like Mariner and find the layout of the public areas much better than some of Regent's other ships; although the suites & bathrooms are superior on Regent's latest ships We last cruised on her in October last year. Here is our blog: Post #184 on page 8 gives a summary of our experience on board. Our next cruise on Mariner is at the end of this year and we are looking forward to a Holiday cruise up the Amazon on this excellent ship.

Thanks, Mike Any plans to replace the system with something else? The few times we got to use it we found it very useful, but I know a few guests had difficulty connecting and some guides refused to carry the Wi-Fi transmitter

Did it never open for lunch during your cruise? The image that some are objecting to was during lunch service in P7

An indication of the air credit is shown on the relevant cruise page on the RSSC website. Easiest way to find out the exact credits available on a specific cruise is to ring Regent's Southampton office (they are very helpful) or get your TA to check. Splendor is a very good ship; better than Explorer in many aspects. I assume they will make a few more tweaks on Grandeur.

Regent's offering is inclusive for the period of the cruise. Credits may be taken for the pre & post cruise items i.e. flights, pre-cruise hotel, pre & post cruise land-tours. Most enjoy the Regent experience, and presumably find their cruises offer good value, whether or not they choose to make full or partial use of the included excursions:

You are correct; but the defined term "cruise" does not occur in Parts 1, 2 or 3 of the policy and therefore, IMO, NW/UKI could not use that definition to refuse a claim made under those parts of the policy. For parts 1, 2 & 3 of the policy the cover is for a "trip", the definition of which does not exclude cruises. The defined term "cruise" only comes into play for the extra cover acquired by purchasing the optional upgrade for cruise cover in part 4 of the policy. However, I am sure there is someone on CC with a legal qualification who could confirm. I agree that it would be simpler if NW could remove the reference to CLIA. If I remember correctly NW got into a bit of confusion previously when there were domestic cruises in the UK during the pandemic and one of their definitions appeared to imply that the medical cover was insufficient to satisfy cruise line requirements.

I am sure @Mike Mooreshould be able to assist you

There is an interesting discussion about NW Travel Insurance for cruises on another CC Board:

IMO this issue only affects the optional upgrade for "Cruise Cover" as this is the only place where the defined term "cruise" is used in the policy. Generally an Ambassador cruise will still be a "trip" under the policy definition so the cover for cancellation, delay, medical expenses etc should still be covered. When selling the cruise cover upgrade, UK Insurance should make it clear that this is only available for cruises on cruise lines that are members of CLIA.

On all Regent cruises (pre & post pandemic) we have been able to book all the excursions we wanted. Sometimes we have had to waitlist for our preferred choice but those waitlists have cleared in over 90% of cases. We have occasionally had the disappointment of a cancelled tour; sometimes too late to organise a replacement. Disappointing, but not to the extent that we have let it spoil our enjoyment of that day in port. Dave, in the UK Ts&Cs there are very clear, & IMO reasonable, caveats: "The applicable details of all shore excursions (including departure times) are subject to change and excursions may on occasions be cancelled. Shore excursions are capacity controlled on a first come first served basis. Requested excursions may not be available at time of booking. Some shore excursions are subject to cancellation if a minimum number of participants is not achieved"

Agreed. In our experience slower than expected laundry or pressing is normally down to the steward’s timeliness in delivery to and/or collection from the laundry rather than the efficiency of the laundry. As others have advised, if you have continuing issues with the servicing of your suite then do not hesitate to ask reception for a visit from the Chief Housekeeper or his/her assistant. On Regent there is no reason to lower your expectations unless those expectations are unreasonable, which yours are not. Enjoy the rest of your cruise 😎

We have a B2B under one booking number but since it was not offered as one voyage by Regent we have to book each segment separately - at the 365 day mark for each segment. Excursions on turn round day will not be offered until we are on board.

We usually ask to share in Compass Rose. Obviously it depends on other guests doing the same but also we have found that some of the restaurant staff are better at arranging this than others. Hope you are successful when you give it another try. We have met some great table companions just on the off-chance; very few have been of the "maybe not another evening" type; even fewer "never again" 😉

Hope you have been able to resolve some of your issues by raising with relevant Regent staff members on-board including the GM. Did you fill in the mid-cruise comments cards? What was the feedback? Look forward to your review and hope you will also share your experience with the Regent Miami office, either via the end of cruise survey or by email.