Voyager WC - Regent Have Dropped The Ball

[room010]

We are due to leave in 3 weeks on our first Regent cruise (Sydney to Beijing) and still haven't received any paperwork from Regent despite several reminders/chaseups from the TA. This includes the small matter of a Chinese visa for our port of debarkation, Beijing. We are staying in Beijing before flying home to Oz and were told, after more calls, that we'd be staying at "the Marriott". Great, but there are several Marriotts in Beijing, which one is ours? Well actually not a very good one (thanks Tripadvisor) but we can't change because Regent has a 100% cancellation forfeit policy. We were not asked if Regent's choice of hotel was OK before booking, they just went ahead anyway.

 

I've been told today that the reason we don't have any paperwork is because Regent hasn't received our "Guest Information Form". Did Regent sent that to us? No.

 

All this can be sorted out fairly quickly and easily but I wonder what would have happened if I hadn't given them a prod?

 

And now on top of all this it looks like the whole east coast of Australia, particularly Queensland, is going to be hammered by a huge cyclone which will be there in the next 48 hours. Cairns hospital has been evacuated, as has the Hamilton Island resport in the Whitsundays and Townsville is also bracing for the worst. Brisbane is still underwater in many areas. All these places are on our itinerary :eek: but Regent are keeping very tightlipped about possible contingencies in the event Voyager can't call at any of these ports. This general lack of communication isn't giving me a warm, fuzzy glow I have to say.

 

Rant over and if someone from Regent is reading this - some reassurance would be very welcome at the moment. This is an expensive cruise.

[Travelcat2]

Unfortunately, your TA (travel agent) has dropped the ball. Your TA should be on top of all of this. TA's have contact people at Regent that are not accessible to passengers. They are receiving a commission from this booking and it sounds as if they are doing nothing to earn it.

 

This is quite mind boggling. Why do they not know the hotel, the status of the visa, the fact that you need to go online to fill out your form??? Did they also fail to advise you that excursions and dining reservations should have been online quite some time ago?

 

Unfortunately, unless you book directly with Regent , your TA is your contact and should be the one(s) helping you through the process.

 

Sorry you have to go through this. Suggest you have a discussion with your TA and insist that they take control of the situation immediately.

 

Please let us know how this turns out. Once everything is settled, I have no doubt that you will have a wonderful cruise with Regent!

[qldtraveller]

Hi

 

We have sailed Regent a number of times and we have had issues with paperwork and information.

 

It is not Regent it is the wholesaler for Regent in Australia. Even the TA's hands are tied.

 

The Australian wholesalers are hopeless with RSSC and other cruise lines please be assured of that. RSSC will not discuss direct with you after booking as it is the responsibility of the wholesaler in Australia again as they took the booking. Got around this by setting up an e-mail address(not usung my passengers name) and asking questions direct of RSSC and getting answers that way.

 

Don't blame the TA always.

 

We have solved the issues concerning RSSC reservations. We now book direct with them on the Internet in the USA and it is a dream. And with the paperwork you start getting is amazing what info. it has regarding blanket visas etc. Much simpler this way. We are including the pre-cruise and post cruise packages, get the cabin we want, and special requests are all done direct.

 

I know it is taking business away from local industry but it is your holiday and hard earned dollars and they need to step to the mark when dealing at this type of cruise level

 

Get your visa direct with Chinese Embassy in Canberra. It only takes a few days. Far simpler and eases the mind. Can get forms on-line.

 

Look at this way. If it is not Princess or HAL or Royal Carribbean which provide accom. main meals and entertainment only in the price and the area is NZ and/or Pacific Islands these wholesalers/consolidators are being taken out of their comfort zones and having to work for their money. It has occurred with all our cruises on RSSC, Paul Gauguin and even Oceania to a degree.

 

You will enjoy RSSC and get onto your TA to harass the wholesaler.

 

Brisbane is fine re : floods and Cyclone Yasi is this week so there will be damage but suspect places will start operating in 3 weeks(EG Hayman, Cairns etc.)

 

Have a great cruise

[turtlemichael]

Room010, as TC2 says all these issues are the responsibility of your TA to be on top of. If you haven't completed the required documentation, the requirement for which is clearly mentioned, this is not Regent's fault.

 

As to the cyclone threat it is not to "the whole East Coast of Australia". This is dramatic overstatement which could alarm people on no danger at all. It is a serious cyclone affecting North Queensland. Areas of Brisbane are not still underwater. I see no reason why Regent should consider making changes to its itinerary until the cyclone runs its course. It has not reached land yet and will be well gone when Voyager comes this way in 4 weeks. It may be thay have to make changes if there is damage. In the meantime I suggest you keep things in perspective.

[room010]

I agree that my TA must bear a lot of the responsibility by not keeping on top of things but it's interesting that others have had similar documentation problems with Regent. There does seem to be a bad lack of communication between all the parties involved. After a flurry of activity at the TA today our visa applications have been sent off and Regent's passenger info form faxed to them. Apparently that's the trigger that gets all the other documentation sent to pax. I did make the point that if I hadn't mentioned anything I wonder what might have happened (or more likely not happened). It's a shame because we've been using the same TA for about 10 years and she's always been excellent. Not sure why she slipped this time and hope it's not a trend.

 

As for the situation in Queensland I can only go on what our news services tell us and the forced evacuations from certain areas are being widely reported. I understand that the cyclone will have passed by the time we are due in the region but if it's as damaging and devastating as the weather people tell us it will be a lot of the infrastructure and other services will be severely affected.

[room010]

Addendum: I took the trouble to book shore excursions several weeks ago and managed to get what we wanted but it was only because I looked at the Regent website and passed the choices on to the TA. Because I've had no documentation I haven't been able to book dining options at all. Lucky for Regent we are pretty relaxed about that kind of thing and will go with the flow and take what's available but it would have been nice to be given an option.

 

The more I think about it the more disappointed I am with the TA. She's earning a hefty commission from this cruise. I'm paying a single supplement for a good cabin on Deck 9 and so is my mother who's travelling with me.

 

Lesson learned. IF we decide to use Regent again we will definitely book with them direct.

 

I'm truly not this neurotic about trips, cruises included, but if my spidey sense starts twitching it's usually for a good reason. Let's see what happens.

[JMARINER]

Addendum:.......

 

Lesson learned. IF we decide to use Regent again we will definitely book with them direct......

 

Booking with Regent directly, IMO, is probably the worst thing anyone could ever do. My agent and many other agents that I know of that others who post here use, knows more about Regent than most Regent employees. Regent in house reps are many time just wrong in their answers and you will wait forever to get through. You will never do as well directly booking and there is absolutely zero cost saving doing so.

 

Since I assume that you can not use a US agent, find out who the top producer is in your area and use them.

 

Given what you are paying, you should tell your agent they need to personally compensate you for your aggravation.

 

j

[room010]

It's not about saving costs, it's about knowing I'm getting the necessary information in a timely manner but I take your point. I'm not generally a Sue First, Ask Questions Later kinda person and I'm going into this cruise with as positive frame of mind as possible because there's no point otherwise. I guess I'm just very disappointed that a "premium" cruise company seems to be so slack over the basics and can't help thinking it might be a taste of things to come... :confused:

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I guess you're in a different situation from us here in N.A. But speaking as a Canadian, I know that Regent is a real stickler for documentation these days. The Guest Information Form is notorious, I always get my TA to make sure it gets completed since your ability to fill in information online is limited. Our TA and staff are on this like a dirty shirt, very proactive--they have one person whose job it is to get these things right.

 

Hopefully you can get your TA to step up to the plate on this, time is getting close, or deal with Regent directly asap. Not sure which is best for you. Good luck.

[Dreps]

I guess what puzzles me are the comments about not being able to use a U.S.-based TA. I know for a fact that our friends in Australia, who are frequent Regent cruisers, use the same US-based TA that we do, and I am sure that they never have these problems. Our TA has many foreign clients. I don't know for sure whether the Australian "wholesaler" enters the picture, but I never heard mention of one.

[elmwood]

I am a little puzzled why you think the Guest Information form is problematic, Wendy. I have never had any difficulty with this and have always filled it out and submitted it online myself.

[Travelcat2]

The more I think about it the more disappointed I am with the TA. She's earning a hefty commission from this cruise. I'm paying a single supplement for a good cabin on Deck 9 and so is my mother who's travelling with me.

 

 

The best scenario in the future would be to use a TA with experience booking luxury cruises. Most TA's have a good general knowledge of all types of travel. Luxury travel, IMO, needs expertise. When you are onboard, you may want to ask some people who their TA is and what type of experience they had. As been said above, people use U.S. TA's -- even though they live in another country:)

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I am a little puzzled why you think the Guest Information form is problematic, Wendy. I have never had any difficulty with this and have always filled it out and submitted it online myself.

 

There are certain things you can't change once they are entered, like passport numbers, names, things like that. Our TA had to get these things changed for us. This came up when the whole TSA requirement for having people's full names (middle names included) came into being recently.

[wripro]

Your TA should have alerted you as soon as you booked that you will require a visa for China and how many entries you will need on that visa. The same holds true for India and Brazil as you will not be allowed to board the ship without your visa if you are traveling to these spots. And on the subject of visas be sure you have your electronic visa for entry to Australia.

[petlover]

Ditto what Dreps says. I definitely know Auzzie's who use the same USA based as we do (and quite a few who post here on cc). She and her staff are always on top to make sure forms are in, visas are being handled. They leave nothing to chance. I think you need a new TA, but for the time being, glad you were on top of things yourself.

 

We are on the same cruise as you from Sydney to Beijing....maybe we'll have a chance to meet ! That would be nice.

[elmwood]

There are certain things you can't change once they are entered, like passport numbers, names, things like that. Our TA had to get these things changed for us. This came up when the whole TSA requirement for having people's full names (middle names included) came into being recently.

 

 

Ah, I see. I guess I've just been lucky in not making any mistakes when entering these details.

[KathyPet]

My T/A told me that I needed to go online and fill out my guest information form. She never told me REgent would send it to me.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

They don't send it to you, yes, you can go online to fill it out.

 

But, my TA sent me the info form for me to *check*, and when I found mistake, these were corrected for me. Made sure my APIS information was correct as well (which is not relevant in this case.)

[room010]

Update: Regent have come to the party at last and everything will be sorted out by the end of the week including a Beijing hotel WE want to stay in, not the one that Regent wants us to say in and they are waiving the 100% cancellation fee. I should think so too.

 

Potentially very important news: The TA spoke to a senior Regent person who intimated that a change of itinerary is absolutely being considered as the massive cyclone that's bearing down on north Queensland will almost certainly mean that Cairns and Townsville won't be practical or safe to visit in the aftermath as local services and infrastructed are likely to be severely disrupted. And of course there is also the safety of the ship to consider in such wild weather.

[mrlevin]

Potentially very important news: The TA spoke to a senior Regent person who intimated that a change of itinerary is absolutely being considered as the massive cyclone that's bearing down on north Queensland will almost certainly mean that Cairns and Townsville won't be practical or safe to visit in the aftermath as local services and infrastructed are likely to be severely disrupted. And of course there is also the safety of the ship to consider in such wild weather.

 

"Safety of the ship????" What would a storm three weeks in the past have to do with safety of the ship?

[room010]

I admit I've probably been influenced by the rather alarmist tone of certain media reports in the last 48 hours. The cyclone hit landfall in the Mission Beach area south of Cairns which has survived without any serious damage by all accounts. Missioon Beach, Tully and Dunk Island bore the brunt of it but it's only just daylight up there so we don't know the full extent of the damage. No reports of any casualties thank goodness.

[grapejuice]

Room 010,

You sound stressed out. Seems like you need a holiday.

Relax, chill out everything will work out just fine.

[room010]

LOL How right you are! Thanks for the reality check. I will pass it on to my mother ;)

[qldtraveller]

Hi there

Again I will stress that it is easier to book with RSSC direct using e-mails and the internet.

 

Alaways review cruise critic for any issues with the cruise line and/or vessel. Most information is available.

 

Not sure what the problem is with passenger information form. We have always done that on-line and never had a problem.

 

Also there maybe some TA's that know about RSSC very well and what it offers but the general market does not know that much except what is provided in a glossy brochure. If you live in a regional area you will have very little chance of findinga TA who knows the 5 - 6 star lines or small to medium cruise lines. This is one of my pet concerns with the travel industry in a general sense in Australia and has always been.

 

We book most of the hotels, tours, cars, flights from bucket shops in England to go to Europe etc. on the internet and use things like Tripadvisor to check on them.

 

Enjoy Regent as it is a wonderful cruise line and enjoy the ports

[qldtraveller]

Booking with Regent directly, IMO, is probably the worst thing anyone could ever do. My agent and many other agents that I know of that others who post here use, knows more about Regent than most Regent employees. Regent in house reps are many time just wrong in their answers and you will wait forever to get through. You will never do as well directly booking and there is absolutely zero cost saving doing so.

 

Since I assume that you can not use a US agent, find out who the top producer is in your area and use them.

 

Given what you are paying, you should tell your agent they need to personally compensate you for your aggravation.

 

j

 

Hi

Fortunately you are based in the USA and RSSC have HQ in Florida USA. This makes life very simple at that end as many TA's would know about RSSC and can access them easily as you could.

 

However, being located where we are(14 1/2 hours by plane from LAX) the local consolidators for RSSC in Australia(there is now only one as one was dropped at end of 2010) are ignorant of what RSSC can do etc and it takes a minimum of 72 - 96 hours to get feedback and even then the question is not answered fully.

 

This consolidator also does the reservations for some 30 other cruise lines from around the world so how would they know and deal with everything effectively.

 

Going direct we get an instantaneous response and what we want.