Navigator "complainers"

[LOGHL]

No word lately from those that were sore at the non treatment they received from Regent regarding the Beijing "problem" . Have they sensibly finally given up??

[rallydave]

No word lately from those that were sore at the non treatment they received from Regent regarding the Beijing "problem" . Have they sensibly finally given up??

 

EXCUSE ME!! Why would we "give up" and why are you branding us "complainers"? Are the people who took the Oct. 3 Voyager cruise to nowhere "complainers" as well? We are due compensation much as the people on the cruise to nowhere were due compensation. While dollars won't make up for the debacle in Beijing and all the money we spent with the expectation of visiting the Great Wall and not being stranded on a bus for many hours.

 

Still waiting for resolution. Have had a response from Regent with an apology of sorts and blame passed on to Regent's shore excursion company blaming them for not notifying Regent of the holiday which is interesting as the Mariner did the same port during the Chinese Holiday in 2009 so would expect Regent to have been aware of the Holiday. No mention of the Destinations staff being on the scene and not doing anything to speed up the "Time Share Presentation".

 

Was told that since we had disputed some of our charges, their accounting staff would be handling resolution. We are waiting for that resolution having shared the Regent letter with our credit card company.

 

Would be interested in the results of others who have requested resolution from Regent.

[cruisebugbit]

Ha! Great routine.

You guys should take it on the road.

"Why I oughtta...."

[Anna B.]

Ha! Great routine.

You guys should take it on the road.

"Why I oughtta...."

:D:D:D cruisebugbit! Sorry we didn't get a chance to meet during our very short stay on the Voyager!

[LOGHL]

excuse me!! Why would we "give up" and why are you branding us "complainers"? Are the people who took the oct. 3 voyager cruise to nowhere "complainers" as well? We are due compensation much as the people on the cruise to nowhere were due compensation. While dollars won't make up for the debacle in beijing and all the money we spent with the expectation of visiting the great wall and not being stranded on a bus for many hours.

 

Still waiting for resolution. Have had a response from regent with an apology of sorts and blame passed on to regent's shore excursion company blaming them for not notifying regent of the holiday which is interesting as the mariner did the same port during the chinese holiday in 2009 so would expect regent to have been aware of the holiday. No mention of the destinations staff being on the scene and not doing anything to speed up the "time share presentation".

 

Was told that since we had disputed some of our charges, their accounting staff would be handling resolution. We are waiting for that resolution having shared the regent letter with our credit card company.

 

Would be interested in the results of others who have requested resolution from regent.

didn't mean to offend you...but many folks who were in the same situation...carried on..figuring,.. Nothing could be done.

Anxious to know the final outcome & the compensation offered..

Hope it is to your satisfaction..

[rallydave]

didn't mean to offend you...but many folks who were in the same situation...carried on..figuring,.. Nothing could be done.

Anxious to know the final outcome & the compensation offered..

Hope it is to your satisfaction..

 

Thanks for the apology. Writing on the internet too often comes off harsher than intended by the writer.

 

Yes, many folks were in the same situation and were quite angry that evening and the next morning when we went off to our private tour. At the time, there was nothing that could be done but, that shouldn't have stopped the people from writing to Regent expressing their displeasure.

 

There weren't a lot of CC Members on the ship which explains how few expressed their displeasure on this board but, many at the site were very displeased and stated that they were going to write Regent requesting compensation and a resolution to the issue.

 

I too am interested in what Regent does for others and the final resolution.

 

Thanks ,

 

Dave

[Balliett]

I'll comment because 500 have viewed this thread. We were there. The great wall in China is amazing, I guess. Never saw it. More amazing is a bus full of oldies in a traffic jam and nobody got to pee in 5.5 hours. So the prepaid excursion to the great wall never happened on the Nav 2010 Seward to Bejing route. The next day in Bejing, we ditched the planned prepaid trip to T. Square and Forbidden City for a cab ride to a store we heard about. Now that was a fun trip. Perfect weather, cheap prices, friendly people, a walk in a park where we were the only tourists. Streets in the nice areas looked like Paris in the fall. Best wishes to Rally Dave, met him and his lovely wife on the cruise. But we didn't write a letter to Regent, figuring in travel, S*** happens. If Regent wants to give me a free something for compensation, they have my address. I don't think free excursions are a great idea, all things considered.

[Island Cruiser]

I'm on the Navigator as I write this, just down wind from the Great Wall incident. Marvelous cruise so far. But I perceive there are a growing number of Regent loyalists like me who think the "free" excursion thing is anything but good. First, they ain't "free." The cost is built into the price of the cruise. Second, the most popular excursions fill up quickly leaving those who book a cruise later with "leftovers." So you not only pay a higher price for booking late, you have to accept excursions nobody else wants. Finally, the policy places a surcharge on booking excursions privately. Tomorrow, we will pay for a private excursion in Hobart to make best use of our time when we have also paid for a ship excursion. That stinks! But the marketing department at Regent loves the policy.

[room010]

Can someone please post a link to the thread where this "debacle" was originally discussed? I've tried to "Search" without success. We disembark from the Voyager in Beijing in March 2011 and while we know that tours aren't offered or included after disembarkation we plan to make private arrangements and need to ensure whatever happened doesn't happen to us too. Thank you.

[rallydave]

Can someone please post a link to the thread where this "debacle" was originally discussed? I've tried to "Search" without success. We disembark from the Voyager in Beijing in March 2011 and while we know that tours aren't offered or included after disembarkation we plan to make private arrangements and need to ensure whatever happened doesn't happen to us too. Thank you.

 

Try this thread, http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1276740&highlight=rallydave&page=4 post 75 starts the description. Also search for posts by me as I believe I also posted on the thread about the Voyager Oct. cruise cancellation and other places.

 

In our case, one of the highlights of the cruise was an included overnight in Beijing on the last nite of the cruise including the Great Wall (never got there), Tienimen Square, Forbidden City, hotel stay, etc.

 

You shouldn't have the same issues we had without the included tour and the fact that yo won't have the Chinese week long holiday where it seems everyone in China goes to Beijing.

 

One issue that occurred to people embarking in Beijing is the port itself is about 50 miles from Beijing and when we arrived, we were among the first to arrive at the port and there was a lot of confusion with independent tour operators finding this new port and taking many hours to get there. Our driver from the port missed the toll road to Beijing and had to turn around.

 

Just beware of extra cost tours and their worth and hopefully the Destinations staff on your cruise will be responsive to your needs and not treat you like we were treated.

 

Have a great cruise and visit the Great Wall for me!

[wripro]

From the moment Regent announced the "free" excursions I thought it was a bad idea. Prices were raised to cover the "free" excursions just as they are not being raised to cover the "free" hotel rooms. These are marketing gimmicks, pure and simple.

[rallydave]

From the moment Regent announced the "free" excursions I thought it was a bad idea. Prices were raised to cover the "free" excursions just as they are not being raised to cover the "free" hotel rooms. These are marketing gimmicks, pure and simple.

 

wripro, while I totally agree with your as well as others comments regarding "free" excursions, the debacle in Beijing was not really from the "free" excursions, it was a different ploy by Regent in conjunction with the Grand Asia Pacific cruise series where they have all passenger "special events" at different ports for full GAP as well as people on that specific cruise. This special event debacle would probably have occurred even without the free excursion marketing gimmick.

 

This is not to say there weren't issues with the "free" excursions. We had one extra cost excursion at $199 pp extra that was shorter, went to fewer sites, and had a much worse tour guide than other excursions also in Japan that ranged from "free" to $109 - $149 extra pp. For future people on this itinerary, that was Kamakura and our description of that excursion was that it was a bait and switch rip off excursion. Had it been one of the "free" excursions, it probably would have been acceptable but, for $398 for the two of us, we felt like we had been taken to the cleaners by a pay day loan type of excursion.