Exclusive Gold member activity?

[Donaldm]

As a gold or higher member, you are entitled to an "Exclusive Gold, Platinum and Titanium activity aboard or ashore on every sailing."

On the Navigator last month, our exclusive activity was getting to hear the Regent cruise consultant make a sales pitch for future cruises. I was not overwhelmed by this exclusive activity. On the prior cruise there were only 6 gold members. The ship had not planned any event and asked what we wanted. I voted for a bridge tour, but this was rejected. Our choice was a sales pitch or a galley tour.

In a previous cruise two years ago, the event was staged in an elegant restaurant on shore. Although the food was not up to par, the event was quite nice.

What "exclusive" events have been staged for other cruises? Has Regent eliminated on shore events?

[dfb]

During the first 2 months of last year on Mariner, we had the following Gold, Platinum and Titanium events:

Sunset Champagne and canapes on deck 8 forward, also happened to be the only appearance shipwide of King Neptune to mark the Equator crossing.

 

2:30pm during scenic fjord cruising, in Compass Rose, a wine tasing by Montes Vineyards representative with tapas

 

12:30pm sail in to Rio on deck 7 forward with refreshments

 

12:30pm cocktail party in Horizon Lounge with entertainment by PGT troupe and CD with champagne, caviar, seared foie gras, chilled shrimp and steak tartar. This was held as a pool deck BBQ and tendering for Devil's Island were occurring.

 

Debbie

[PaulaJK]

Debbie

 

All of those sound special. We have had no event on 1 cruise and rahter limited back of the house tours on two. Not too special, I'd say. Regent needs to deliver what it promises or remove the promise from its list of perks or tone down the rhetoric.

[Travelcat2]

We are almost gold (will be after November cruise). . . . sure hope we have what Debbie has had on our first "gold" cruise:)

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Me too, we'll be Gold after our Rio-FLL trip (3 days short.) Just in time to reduce our cruising because of belt-tightening! :rolleyes:

[RachelG]

We also will be gold after our next cruise. Don't expect a lot extra, but a little bit would be nice.

[mrlevin]

Most of my Gold, Platinum, and Titanium Events have been disasters; or, at a minimum, not very special.

 

In Alaska, they had a special dinner in the closed side of La Verandah. Captain and other officers were there. Intent was good; execution was terrible. First, they only had the run of the mill La Verandah menu. Second, they only had one waiter for around 30 of us. It took an hour just to take everyone's order. Three and a half hours later, we completed a very boring dinner.

 

In Oslo, there were well over 100 Gold, Platinum, and Titaniums. They arranged a private tour of one of the ship museums. Only problem is that most of us already had tours booked prior to finding out about the special tour.

 

In Dalian, they had lunch at a nice restaurant ashore. Menu was not very exciting. Restaurant was rotating at top of hotel. Good views but not much to look at. Because of the lunch, we could not take any of the tours in Dalian.

 

In Venice, the plan was to have pastries and champagne on the foc'sle as we sailed into Venice. Only three problems. First, we sailed in an hour before the event was scheduled for (no coordination between Cruise Consultant and Captain). Second, the Security Officer kicked us off the foc'sle (no coordination between Cruise Consultant and Staff Captain). Third, they did not have audio from commentary hearable.

 

For sail around Capri, they set up a special area on port side outside of Horizon Lounge with champagne, drinks, shrimp, and canapes. Only problem is that the Captain went clockwise instead of counter clockwise around Capri so we were on wrong side.

 

On Navigator Athens to Istanbul, we were invited to bridge on last day prior to sail into Istnabul. They had coffee and pastries only. Unfortunately, they could not have us there through the Dardanelles or sail into Istanbul; both of which would have been much better.

 

On my last Voyager cruise, we had a wine tasting STANDING in galley outside wine cellar. There were only five of us. We tasted three wines from the reserve list. It was nice but not as good as our previous run of the mill wine tastings where we can sit and take notes and try more wines. Leaving, I realized that the tasting would have have been special if they had just offered to send one of the wines to each of our tables that night.

 

The lack of execution is my main gripe. They are not as bad as the Amex behind the scenes tours (after all, how many times can you take the same tour). With all inclusive, it is hard to wow us (me) without providing something unique. I wish Regent would invest $50 or so per person and make it a bit special.

 

Marc

[PaulaJK]

Marc

 

I couldn't help but laugh at the descriptions of your 'special events'....although I appreciate that they may have been no laughing matters. Perhaps this is the basis for us only being taken on back of the house tours! It does sound as though Regent tried to make it special once upon at time [even if they failed miserably in execution] and sometimes succeeded [Debbie]. I would be interested in recent cruisers' experiences. From my perch I once again will express my very strong feeling that Regent ought to do what it promises or remove the promise from the table. I feel this way about 6* whatevers such as cuisine and service. Yes, nothing is perfect.....but I'm not expecting perfection. It would be quite easy for them to simply have a cocktail party,etc.

[NCCruzQueen]

I can say that the Gold, Plat & Tit Events have attended were somewhat lack luster. Twice (on the Mariner and Voyager) I have been invited to the Laundry for cocktails. It was hot, in one case crowded and just not special. On the Navigator two years ago, we were invited to a special opening of the "new" boutique with champagne and Bloody Marys plus a gift of a Navigator wine stop. Three weeks ago on the Mariner in Alaska, we were invited to deck 8 to a private viewing of Hubbard Glacier with wonderful hot chocolate.

 

It would be nice if Regent had a shore event for us. With the special shore events on some cruises, these take the place of GPT events.

[islandhalls]

On our most recent cruise - we were disappointed that the special event was for breakfast in Signatures on our only sea day at 8AM - pass! We did appreciate that they let us do our UK customs inspection before the other passengers.

[mariners]

NCCruzQueen, was there an event on the Navigator Rio to Fort Lauderdale last year? If there was then either we didn't get an invitation or we were invited and didn't go. I guess the third option is that I just don't remember the event.

Marc, like Paula, I had to chuckle as I read your report on events. Regent could really benefit from hiring an event planner.

[Portolan]

Two post-Gold cruises:

 

Voyager Panama Canal last New Year: their first Dinner and a Show (not open to regular pax as I understand they are now). Two nights actually since on this immediately-pre-World cruise segment there were about 200 total Gold-Platinum-Titanium...done on two nights (Plat/Titan & Gold).

 

Mariner Alaska this past June: Cocoa and more substantial drinks on the crew observation gallery across the front of the ship as we sailed off of Hubbard Glacier. I never even knew this gallery was there. Spans the full width of the ship and was very nice observation/photography location since otherwise I'd have been running back and forth between the observation deck open areas flanking the Observation Lounge. Just the opposite of the Panama Cruise in terms of crowd...maybe 20 total Gold+ pax.

 

Anybody have a recent Baltic Gold experience? We'll be back on the Voyager for the 10-day extended Baltic Cruise next July.

[mrlevin]

Two post-Gold cruises:

 

Anybody have a recent Baltic Gold experience? We'll be back on the Voyager for the 10-day extended Baltic Cruise next July.

 

Scott, my last event, the galley wine tasting, was on the Voyager in the Baltic in August.

 

Marc

[ChatKat in Ca.]

We were on the Nov 2007 Voyager Crossing and it was our first Gold Event. They had cocktails, Champagne and Caviar on the bow with the captain and took a group photo. Captain Knute climbed up on the ledge at the bow, holding on to the flagpole and scared me because it appeared dangerous. I was standing next to him. One rogue wave or bump and he'd have been Captain Overboard. There were quite a number of Gold and Up members on that sailing. It was a beautiful sunny day, the caviar was good. Too many people for a special dinner, it was a bit too much standing around waiting to get all the people posed for a photo. I am sure they can't do it again - no more photographers are on board.

[fansynancy]

For what it's worth, there was no AmEx Platinum event on our PG cruise in August.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

There was no Amex Plat event on our last PG cruise either. That's become a non-event I think, why bother.

 

And don't get me started on the Seven Seas Society event. It's been a non-event for a while, but since the all-inclusive change, the only reason to drop by is to get some caviar.

[Hambagahle]

On Navigator in May (Funchal to Monte Carlo) the Gold/Titanium etc event was a cocktail party in Gallieos. Not earthshaking, I thought!!

[NCCruzQueen]

Mariners, I believe the event on that segment was supposed to be a Polo Match in Barbados, but if my memory serves me, the polo field was flooded and it was changed to a private event at the Concorde Experience. We went snorkeling and drank rum!!:p

[mariners]

Thanks B! We should have joined you. Instead, we went looking for a barber.

[grapejuice]

I came across this post and couldn"t believe my eyes.

What exclusive activitiy would you be wanting that you didnt already get on RSSC. It appears nothing would satisfy.

I say chill out, get out and ENJOY LIFE!!!!

[neviboy]

Quite right , Aussie !! Cocktail parties are a redundancy, but good to meet people. With most excursions now free, 'special events' are also gilding the lily.

[mrlevin]

I came across this post and couldn"t believe my eyes.

What exclusive activitiy would you be wanting that you didnt already get on RSSC. It appears nothing would satisfy.

I say chill out, get out and ENJOY LIFE!!!!

 

Juice, there are plenty of special events that would make me happy. Some of them wouldn't even cost Regent very much money.

 

Foc'sle for sail into Venice...but do it right.

 

Tour of the engineering spaces.

 

A wine tasting and then our favorite bottle sent to our table for dinner.

 

A cocktail party with a drawing party favors; e.g., good champagne, wine, or even a free cruise if there are a lot of Gold, Patinum, and Titanium (Regent gave away a free cruise on my first cruise).

 

A visit to the bridge while sailing the Dardanelles or other scenic locales.

 

Yes, Regent does include a lot but they need to make loyal customers feel special. Of course, the best benefit they can give for loyalty is free cruises. :D

 

Marc

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I agree that there are small things that could be done. Not even as a group, but perhaps an array of small events to which you get at least one invite. We got invited to the bridge on the PG last December for the sailaway through the gap at Rangiroa. This was very nice--we got to hang out on the flying bridge watching for dolphins and sipping champagne. And we're not even Gold yet (but we were in a fancier suite, and now have 42 days on the PG which perhaps makes us another kind of gold, maybe "coconut".)

[Donaldm]

It seems that with Regent's mostly free excursions, an on-shore gold activity is not really feasible as it would likely conflict with those excursions. I like the suggestions being made about going to off-limits places on the ship, prize drawings, etc. Although recent Regent gold+ activities have been less than imaginative, I still think the gold+ activities are an appropriate way for Regent to give an extra pat on the back to its most loyal customers.

[Travelcat2]

This is definitely an interesting thread for those of us that will be Gold next year. I think that dinner at a local restaurant would be a nice event. This could work almost anywhere in the world and the odds of going to the same place twice is minimal. It would not need to be an ultra expensive place -- just good atmosphere, great local food and nice wine.