Booking Excursions Need Advice

[s2000drvr]

With the new Regent format, I was trying to review our excursions for our cruise in March,2013. The excursions open up in two days on the 19th. I went to my booked cruise area, and there is no information regarding the different excursions. I wanted to review which excursions we would be interested in and make some notes.

 

I called Regent and was told on the 19th is when the excursions open up for this cruise (240 days out for us) and at that time we would be able to see what is offered. We have approximately 35 excursions on this 78 day cruise. I cannot imagine how much time is involved in reading every excursion, etc. and trying to make decisions on what to do in the ports on the day the booking of excursions opens up.

 

Before the new format, one could review the different excursions for each place and when the time came to book the excursions, all one had to do is type in the excursion number.

 

Maybe I am not doing something correctly and just not seeing what excursions are available? Is anyone else having this problem?

 

Thanks for any help you can provide.

[Travelcat2]

Although the excursions can change, the best way to get a good idea of what the excursions will be is to go to the Regent website -- click on "Find a Cruise" -- enter the details to get to your upcoming cruise -- then click "Activities Onboard and Ashore. . . see details.

 

We did this prior to booking our February, 2013 excursions a couple of weeks ago. We decided upon a first and second choice (in case something changed) and had a pretty good idea what we would do when we were able to book. The day of booking we noticed that there were quite a few changes (more than usual) but I was glad that I was so familiar with the possible offerings. IMO, Regent should allow passengers the chance to look at the final list a week before the date you can begin booking.

[EZ99B5]

Unfortunately you have to use the Find a Cruise link to locate your cruise - and the excursions should be there. I actually found my cruise and "saved" it so now when I log into My Account I can click on it by clicking on the Saved Cruise button that is right next to Booked Cruise. Kind of silly they don't just make the name of the cruise a link you can click on!

[s2000drvr]

Thanks for the replies! Yes, I understand now how to look for the excursions.

[nanook21]

Before Regent recently changed the website, we were able to access the Excursions List after going to "My account" and opening "Booked Cruises". the cruise itinerary was shown, with a Tab at the top for Ports. You could view each port's offerings, and click on an option to "have excursions document sent by email". I haven't checked to see if this option is still there or not, but it should be!! That was very handy - hope they haven't removed it.

[xrvlcruiser]

I got an email - both before and after the web site changes - confirming my tour choices.

 

If you want/need to change a tour, that has to be done on the phone with a rep at Regent.

 

Peggy

[1982CruzStart]

Before Regent recently changed the website, we were able to access the Excursions List after going to "My account" and opening "Booked Cruises". the cruise itinerary was shown, with a Tab at the top for Ports. You could view each port's offerings, and click on an option to "have excursions document sent by email". I haven't checked to see if this option is still there or not, but it should be!! That was very handy - hope they haven't removed it.

 

I just went on the Regent website and found the option of asking for all the shore excursions to be emailed to you. I have been checking off and on since the website was updated and only just now found the link. I guess the link doesn't appear until the shore excursions are available or at least set up. It is nice to have the March 16th Voyager ones now available to view.

[forevertravel]

How did you find the excursions for Voyager March 16 (I'm assuming is the Beijing to Bangkok trip)? I can only see the excursions if I go to "find a cruise" and put in that cruise. There is nothing in "my account" showing the available excursions. It shows I can sign up for excursions September 17th but nothing more. Thank you.

 

Forevertravel.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

How did you find the excursions for Voyager March 16 (I'm assuming is the Beijing to Bangkok trip)? I can only see the excursions if I go to "find a cruise" and put in that cruise. There is nothing in "my account" showing the available excursions. It shows I can sign up for excursions September 17th but nothing more. Thank you.

 

Forevertravel.

 

That's the way it's been in the past, I'm not surprised it's still like this. They don't finalize the excursions until the first date when the can be booked. By going to the "find a cruise" section, you can see what might be offered.

[1982CruzStart]

How did you find the excursions for Voyager March 16 (I'm assuming is the Beijing to Bangkok trip)? I can only see the excursions if I go to "find a cruise" and put in that cruise. There is nothing in "my account" showing the available excursions. It shows I can sign up for excursions September 17th but nothing more. Thank you.

 

Forevertravel.

 

Yes it is the Beijing to Bangkok cruise I was referring to. I found them through my saved cruises as I had saved this cruise when i was trying to decide if we would switch cruises or not. After reading other posts i gave up trying to access them through my account. I received the email of all the confirmed excursions. Like you we can't book our excursions until Sept 17th. :(

Maybe someone that is allowed to book now can tell us if the excursions can be accessed through my account once the excursions are open.

[DaveFr]

How did you find the excursions for Voyager March 16 (I'm assuming is the Beijing to Bangkok trip)? I can only see the excursions if I go to "find a cruise" and put in that cruise. There is nothing in "my account" showing the available excursions. It shows I can sign up for excursions September 17th but nothing more. Thank you.

 

Forevertravel.

 

Yes it is the Beijing to Bangkok cruise I was referring to. I found them through my saved cruises as I had saved this cruise when i was trying to decide if we would switch cruises or not. After reading other posts i gave up trying to access them through my account. I received the email of all the confirmed excursions. Like you we can't book our excursions until Sept 17th. :(

Maybe someone that is allowed to book now can tell us if the excursions can be accessed through my account once the excursions are open.

Excursions can be booked through my account once they are open. You click on "VIEW THIS BOOKING" for the booked cruise you want to check. On the page that opens up, go to the Shore Excursion section. It will tell you that you can book excursions. Just click on the "CUSTOMIZE" button to get started. Hope this helps.

[1982CruzStart]

Excursions can be booked through my account once they are open. You click on "VIEW THIS BOOKING" for the booked cruise you want to check. On the page that opens up, go to the Shore Excursion section. It will tell you that you can book excursions. Just click on the "CUSTOMIZE" button to get started. Hope this helps.

 

Thank you for the information. When we finally get to book I hope I will remember your helpful instructions. :)

[JACKHAWK]

We just finished booking all the excursions on the March 16 Beijing cruise. They showed up in our account today as available to book.

 

Some people say they can't book until Sept. Passengers who are Silver or above can book 240 days in advance.

 

Hope this helps.

[1982CruzStart]

Unfortunately we aren't silver or above as this is only our second cruise with Regent. As well we decided against concierge level suites as we just didn't think it was worth the extra money. Hopefully when we go to book in Sept we won't regret that decision though i don't think we will. The most important tours for us on this cruise are the pre- & post ones and we are doing both. I am very interested in all the ports but I haven't found a tour that I have to have.

[forevertravel]

JackHawk and 1982Cruz,

 

Are you taking the pre-Beijing 3 day free package? We signed up for that but it does not show under "already reserved pre/post land packages". My Regent TA assures me we are booked on it and it shows on our invoice. The package is sold out. If you signed up for it, do you see it in "my account"?

We are looking forward to this cruise it sounds wonderful. We won't be Silver until we take our Alaska cruise in August. Hopefully, we'll be able to book excursion without having to wait until September.

[forevertravel]

1982CruzStart,

 

Where did you find the link to have excursion for Beijing cruise emailed to you?

Thank you.

[1982CruzStart]

Find the cruise, then go into the activities onboard & ashore, select any port to view the excursions and below the name of the port & above the list of shore excursions in blue is "Receive all available tours by email" , click on this link and it will take you through the process. Very easy.

Yes we are taking the pre-Beijing tour only we paid for it as we wanted to do both tours and the pre-beijing one looked cheaper so we paid for it and took the post-Bangkok tour for free. If you go into your account, find the booked cruise and click on the calendar it should show up on the first day of the cruise.

[forevertravel]

Yes, I found the Beijing "precruise package" on the calendar "after" I called my Regent TA. Somehow there are still bugs with the new website and someone from IT had to go in an add it. Thank you for telling me about the link to request email of excursions. I found it after I posted. I printed all the pages tomorrow so my husband can look at them. I noticed that prior to new website there was an excursion in Bangkok called "Thailand Ancient Capital". It's no longer there. We are staying in Bangkok for three days after cruise so I have no interest in the few cruises they have for Bangkok. We didn't want to do the post-land package because we wanted to see more of Bangkok. I think this cruise will be wonderful.

I just need to get my head wrapped around the long flight.

 

forevertravel:)

[JACKHAWK]

Yes, I found the Beijing "precruise package" on the calendar "after" I called my Regent TA. Somehow there are still bugs with the new website and someone from IT had to go in an add it. Thank you for telling me about the link to request email of excursions. I found it after I posted. I printed all the pages tomorrow so my husband can look at them. I noticed that prior to new website there was an excursion in Bangkok called "Thailand Ancient Capital". It's no longer there. We are staying in Bangkok for three days after cruise so I have no interest in the few cruises they have for Bangkok. We didn't want to do the post-land package because we wanted to see more of Bangkok. I think this cruise will be wonderful.

I just need to get my head wrapped around the long flight.

 

forevertravel:)

 

I see you are traveling from the east coast also. Have you received your flight reservations yet?

 

We are happy with the flights they offered going to Beijing, but not so much coming home. (SAV-IAD-PEK) & (BKK-NRT-IAD-SAV)

[1982CruzStart]

I see you are traveling from the east coast also. Have you received your flight reservations yet?

 

We are happy with the flights they offered going to Beijing, but not so much coming home. (SAV-IAD-PEK) & (BKK-NRT-IAD-SAV)

Which flights were you hoping to get on the return? For a change we have the advantage of shorter flights being on the west coast. We have requested BKK -HKG-YVR. We haven't heard back from our TA to see if we got them or not.

[forevertravel]

I was going to use Regent's air and had upgraded to business plus I wanted deviation because we are staying in Bangkok at end of cruise. I got lucky and was able to snag two business class tickets on United using miles. We are flying Orlando to Dulles and Dulles to Beijing non-stop. The return is not so good. We fly (at 6am) to Tokyo, Tokyo to Newark and then Newark to Orlando. I think the flight is something like 22 hours. I can't complain since I'm using miles and saved myself the upgrade to business plus got the air credit. We'll be Silver in two weeks (our Alaska cruise). Do you think I'll be able to book excursions then instead of waiting till September? That would be nice. Looking forward to seeing you next March.

forevertravel

:)

[Travelcat2]

We'll be Silver in two weeks (our Alaska cruise). Do you think I'll be able to book excursions then instead of waiting till September? That would be nice. Looking forward to seeing you next March.

forevertravel

:)

 

Assume you are asking about booking excursions early for the cruise that you will become Silver on (Alaska). I asked a similiar question to Regent about our Asia cruise next February. We will become Platinum and hoped to be able to deviate air at no cost. Their response was that we do not become Platinum until we step foot on the ship. You could certainly ask again and see if you get a better answer.

[JACKHAWK]

Which flights were you hoping to get on the return? For a change we have the advantage of shorter flights being on the west coast. We have requested BKK -HKG-YVR. We haven't heard back from our TA to see if we got them or not.

 

We were asking for BKK-NRT-DFW-SAV on AA (would have allowed us some sleep before leaving BKK). Our main problem is SAV(not too many flight available).

 

You're lucky that you have a large airport & that you are on the west coast. Our return last year from Sydney was so long plus going thru LAX is terrible.

[forevertravel]

TravelCat2,

 

We are returning from our Alaska cruise August 26th and we'll be Silver then. I was wondering if I could book excursions for Asia at that time instead of waiting till September 17th. I should ask my TA. Thanks for reply.

[1982CruzStart]

We were asking for BKK-NRT-DFW-SAV on AA (would have allowed us some sleep before leaving BKK). Our main problem is SAV(not too many flight available).

 

You're lucky that you have a large airport & that you are on the west coast. Our return last year from Sydney was so long plus going thru LAX is terrible.

 

You have my deepest sympathy on having to go through LAX last year. I will do anything to avoid that airport.

The one advantage we get being on the west coast is traveling to Asia and Australia. We can actually get a non-stop direct flight from YVR to PEK, such a nice change for us.

We are still waiting for our deviation request to be approved. My TA tells me they are swamped and that we are finally nearing the top of the list. We sent in the request about a week ago. Here's hoping all goes well.