TheRampantSnail

Surely the hound is there to take the dog watches (16:00 hours to 20:00 hours)

You clearly choose to misrepresent my comments and cannot understand why I make an issue of what has happened. I think other people do understand so I say no more.

Have I ever made an accusation of fraud? No. Read carefully

I knew there would be some pushback on this. How dare I criticize Regent. My point, if you bother to read my original post carefully is not that they changed the itinerary but that the timings and the lack of any communication give me cause for concern.

As I said, I have no evidence, just suspicion. If I had not been offered a full refund I would certainly have followed this up legally.

We were booked on this Voyager cruise -Istanbul to Barcelona 27th October. After a less than satisfactory cruise on Splendor in 2022 we saw this cruise, found the itinerary very interesting with a mix of familiar ports and a few couple of new ports, and decided to give Regent another chance. We booked the cruise at the end on September 2023 and, because of our level and cabin category, we were able to book our excursions at the end of October. A post on another thread alerted us to something going on but I checked My Account on the Regent website, saw that the map was still showing the correct ports and assumed all was still OK. Two weeks ago, I checked again and the map was still correct, but when I went further this new itinerary was there - completely different and not an itinerary that we are at all interested in. To date, I have heard absolutely nothing from Regent - they have changed the cruise without any forewarning and if it were not for Cruise Critic I would still be assuming all was OK. As I hadn't heard anything I contacted our cruise agent yesterday. They were unaware of any change but contacted Regent UK on our behalf. They were then able to confirm to me that the cruise had changed to the new itinerary and that Regent are giving us three options - take the new itinerary, transfer our deposit to a new cruise or cancel and have our deposit returned. I should add that, being in the UK, our deposit is not $100, not £100 but approximately 25% of the total cruise fare. I believe that, apart from being negligent in not informing us of the change, Regent have been very devious and, I suspect, mis-selling the cruise. It takes time to make so many changes and I am of the opinion that at the time we booked (late September) they must have been at the very least considering making the change. By late October, when we were able to book excursions, they must surely have been working on the changes. Clearly, I do not have the facts but those are my strong suspicions. Needless to say, we are cancelling and taking the return of the deposit. We will not consider ever booking again with Regent as how can we ever trust them again. I am angry and very disappointed.

Regent UK website still showing changed itinerary as of now. Who knows what is going on

Sorry, I think you may have misunderstood. It is the 4 port 3 sea day itinerary that is now appearing in My Account

See my recent post. That earlier post was in response to a post where someone mentioned this change but when I said the original itinerary was still the same, they found it had changed back. It seems Regent are playing the hokey-cokey - first the original iitinerary is is, then its out, then its in again and now its out again. Dreadful customer service.

Removed duplication

I should add that we have heard nothing from Regent. I would not have known about this if I hadn't logged in here. We booked our trips weeks ago without any problem. Clearly I do not know the reason but the cynic in me screams cost cutting.

I have just checked My Account on the Regent website and this change is showing. This is intolerable. We also would not choose this itinerary as all the more interesting ports for us have gone - the remaining ports are places we have visited many times and 3 sea days out of 10 is too many. If I find out more I will post again.

Thank for this - reassuring. The changed itinerary you were sent would not suit us. Three sea days in a 10 day cruise would be too much and the appeal of this cruise was the variety of locations and countries. We have been to almost all these places, but it is always easy to find new parts to explore.

I have also just checked My Account on the Regent website, which is also still showing the original itinerary.

Are you sure about the Voyager Istanbul to Barcelona cruise on 27th October 2024 has changed in the way you describe. I have had no notification from my travel agent of any change and the UK Regent website is still showing the original itinerary.

On both Regent and Silversea the speciality restaurants have to be booked, and in both cases the earlier the better. However, there is one difference in that the Italian restaurant on Regent, Sette Marie, cannot be booked. From experience, if you don't arrive for the 6:30 crush, getting a table later is very hit and miss. For that reason I much prefer the Silversea method of booking in advance.

Glad you are enjoying your cruise on the Moon. We had two excellent trips on her last year. They may not be back on board, but look out for John Michael and Aslan - two excellent waiters (well, they all are). Aslan is Turkish.

For what it is worth, here are my thoughts on the Splendor speciality restaurants. Others will probably not agree with me, but they are based on our last two cruises on Splendor. Prime 7 on Splendor is a lovely restaurant. We particularly enjoyed the tables for two by the windows - especially when open at lunch time, as it was on many days on our cruises. Service was always excellent as was the food. Chartreuse was also excellent in terms of food and service (although the latter was a little over the top on some occasions. The only aspect we did not like were the two horseshoe banquettes - we found them very uncomfortable - but there are plenty of other tables. Contrary to most others, we did not enjoy Pacific Rim. On the first cruise service was perfunctory and rushed - our main courses were served immediately after the starter dishes were removed. We also had to wait a long while before any wine was served. The soft shell crab was excellent, but the dim sum were tasteless. For our main courses, my wife's fish was so overcooked as to be dry and tasteless; my duck was overcooked to the point of being inedible. Staff seemed to be hiding so we could not summon anyone to point out what was wrong. We got up and left. (I did notice a poster elsewhere commenting that they had observed a couple leaving a meal uneaten and being chased by staff to find out what was wrong - that certainly didn't happen in our case). We did try Pacific Rim again on the second cruise. Service was still sub-par and, although not a repeat of the previous disaster, we did not find the food to be anything special. As has been said above, those three restaurants have to be booked. Sette Marie does not have to be booked - and we wish that were the case. If you don't join the 6:30 crush and prefer to eat a little later, you may well find you cannot get a table until after 8. (Perhaps that is not such a bad thing, as when we could not get in to Sette Marie we were offered a table in Prime 7 or Chatreuse). When we did get to eat there, service was good and he food good, but not excellent. As I said, those are our experiences and observations. Make of them what you will.

Drinks with a price list? Not for me. That's not luxury.

Nice one. Couldn't work out whether the British Aisles meant you were visiting supermarkets or churches!

$99! That's a rip off. Turkish evisa is $20 for UK and US(unless you are Canadian or Australian - you get the "privilege" of paying $60!)

Oh for something different! Regent, Silversea (and probably all other cruise lines) it's the same old, same old. Queen , Broadway, Abba over and over again. I just wish they would broaden horizons. I may well be in a minority but I find the shows very tedious.

Having sailed with both Regent and Silversea a number of times we have never been given any OBC.

Thank you for this insightful and intelligent contribution. It's exactly how I believe.

We did a Barbados - Barbados round trip last November. As ever, our return flight to Heathrow was in the evening. A couple of days before the end of the cruise we had a letter telling us that there would be a tour and lunch for us after disembarkation at no cost. We were dropped at the airport at 3pm, but it was far better than being there at 9am.