Regent Flights - with and without deviation

[papaflamingo]

14 hours ago, kirtihk said:

All is true.  Though, I noticed that Regent elevated air price exactly when they started to sell cruise only and add air - on our December 1 cruise the business air was $5,600 pp, and right after the pricing system change it became $7,620.  It has nothing to do with air company elevating prices, because, otherwise Regent would also increase prices at each time air goes up by an airline.  I randomly looked some other Regent international cruises and see the same outcome.

It has EVERYTHING to do with Airline's increasing their prices.  The airlines don't need cruise line contracts to sell seats, especially Business Class seats, and especially on desirable routes.  So the contracts expired and weren't renegotiable or were negotiated at a much higher price.  But Regent was likely getting KILLED in Air Fare (and still is) on cruises booked 2 years ago at a set air price. That's why it's so costly to deviate on many routes, because they simply can't get those old contract rates on flights anymore. So to deviate they have to charge you what they're being charged which often results in an up charge.  

Keep in mind, Regent acts only as a "travel agent" when selling flights.  They can only price them at the price they're able to get them.  In fact, the Terms and Conditions even states: 

"Regent Seven Seas Cruises® acts only as an agent on the Guest’s behalf, and does not operate, control, or supervise any airlines and is not responsible for carriers failing to meet schedules."   There are still many routes that you can get a cheaper rate via Regent Air, and some where you cannot.  So all you can do is look at the cost of air via Regent, then look at what you can book personally, and decide.  I take the cheaper of the options, and I get a 25% or better discount on Delta due to being a retired employee.  Except for my upcoming trip to Papeete I have always done better with Regent. In fact, that cruise ends in Cape Town and Regent can't even sell me a ticket on Delta.  Delta is at least 3 times more costly from Johannesburg (we deviated) than many other airlines.  So... bought my own ticket TO the cruise.  We're using Regent Air to get home with deviation and with NO up charge on a fairly desirable routing.  We added the Papeete cruise as a B2B in March, before the pricing changes.  The original cruise that ends in Cape Town was booked in 2022, at the contract rates in force at the time.  So it's still doable. 

Edited Monday at 12:06 PM by papaflamingo

[frankpc123]

We’re just off the Splendor where we did an Air Dev. If you peel back the onion you should simply price shop the total Air Dev cost from Regent vs what you can book flights for yourself (net of any Regent “no Air” price concession).  
I’m sure it can go either way depending on Regent contracts, routing, travel dates, airline pricing available,  etc. 

In our case the Regent Air Dev was less expensive (for an acceptable routing) by a significant amount. 
In a rare twist of fate, every one of our five flight segments for the cruise arrived on time or early. 😀 

 

Frank
 

 

[rallydave]

You have to remember and consider the flights you book yourself are likely non refundable and paid for when you book while regent booked are not paid for until final payment and are subject to regent penalties plus if your cruise changes starting or ending ports or dates regent makes tie changes at no cost while direct booked flights you may be subject to significant extra costs. Significant consideration 

[papaflamingo]

11 hours ago, rallydave said:

You have to remember and consider the flights you book yourself are likely non refundable and paid for when you book while regent booked are not paid for until final payment and are subject to regent penalties plus if your cruise changes starting or ending ports or dates regent makes tie changes at no cost while direct booked flights you may be subject to significant extra costs. Significant consideration 

That's an excellent point.  One advantage of booking Business Class, at least with U.S. airlines, is that they are usually changeable but not refundable.  So if you have a port change you can likely change the flight.  We mostly fly Delta as I am a retired pilot and get an employee discount, as well as I live in Atlanta.  We went to London in June (not cruise related).  I bought Delta One seats in Oct. of last year and changed them 5 times due to reductions in price.  I used the E-credits to buy a ticket to Hawaii next July for a family trip.  So it's not completely a bad thing.  But certainly one of the advantages of buying air through Regent is the ability to cancel the cruise or change the port if necessary. 

[TheShag]

A related question to papa/others. We are booked on Delta for a cruise that sails Dec 20th. Seats are all great and confirmed. RSSC have booked us a rather long RSW-MSP-LAX-SYD routing. I have found a more advantageous routing that gets us to LAX faster by routing through ATL. The wait time in ATL is ~90 minutes and the on time performance looks reasonable. Available seats through to LAX is better than through MSP. The regular “retail” ticket price is about the same. Routing through MSP at that time of year (weather) is also a concern.  I seem to think that ‘firm’ booking was 60 days before flight/cruise but I thought that has changed to 90 days. Given that if I call RSSC I will be charged a fee, do you think that I could call Delta and make the change? Do you think it’s “worthwhile” or could it cause problems “down the line” (cancelled/delayed flights, etc.)  if I make changes to an itinerary that RSSC has made? Seasoned travellers advice greatly appreciated’

[papaflamingo]

20 hours ago, TheShag said:

A related question to papa/others. We are booked on Delta for a cruise that sails Dec 20th. Seats are all great and confirmed. RSSC have booked us a rather long RSW-MSP-LAX-SYD routing. I have found a more advantageous routing that gets us to LAX faster by routing through ATL. The wait time in ATL is ~90 minutes and the on time performance looks reasonable. Available seats through to LAX is better than through MSP. The regular “retail” ticket price is about the same. Routing through MSP at that time of year (weather) is also a concern.  I seem to think that ‘firm’ booking was 60 days before flight/cruise but I thought that has changed to 90 days. Given that if I call RSSC I will be charged a fee, do you think that I could call Delta and make the change? Do you think it’s “worthwhile” or could it cause problems “down the line” (cancelled/delayed flights, etc.)  if I make changes to an itinerary that RSSC has made? Seasoned travellers advice greatly appreciated’

If your booking with Regent was a "deviation" and you already paid the $75 then you will not be charged again to call about the SAME reservation.  If you just accepted their booking then don't really know, but I THINK that if you are calling about an existing flight then you do not get charged.  However, you MIGHT be able to change the flight if you call Delta directly and the ticket has been paid for.  I worked directly with United for our last Feb. cruise, but had to wait until 60 days out. That was when Regent actually paid for the ticket.  Not sure if Delta will do the same.  They are really tight on their flights as to contract rates.  So even if you can get it changed, it may result in a significant up charge.  

[TheShag]

2 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

If your booking with Regent was a "deviation" and you already paid the $75 then you will not be charged again to call about the SAME reservation.  If you just accepted their booking then don't really know, but I THINK that if you are calling about an existing flight then you do not get charged.  However, you MIGHT be able to change the flight if you call Delta directly and the ticket has been paid for.  I worked directly with United for our last Feb. cruise, but had to wait until 60 days out. That was when Regent actually paid for the ticket.  Not sure if Delta will do the same.  They are really tight on their flights as to contract rates.  So even if you can get it changed, it may result in a significant up charge.  

Thanks! Yes, have already paid deviation fee. I have called them in the past to check to see if they could give me better routing. The first time they did it but the second time they said it would be a charge. Confusing. In any event I will wait for 60 days, not the 90 days that I thought. Given the “retail” prices are about the same, I assumed that the contract rate would be same/similar. Is 90 minutes in ATL enough for plane change?

[papaflamingo]

21 hours ago, TheShag said:

Thanks! Yes, have already paid deviation fee. I have called them in the past to check to see if they could give me better routing. The first time they did it but the second time they said it would be a charge. Confusing. In any event I will wait for 60 days, not the 90 days that I thought. Given the “retail” prices are about the same, I assumed that the contract rate would be same/similar. Is 90 minutes in ATL enough for plane change?

Personally I always try to schedule a longer sit time anywhere, but 90 minutes should be long enough.  If your flight from RSW is the first flight of the day you should be just fine.  Things can back up in Atlanta due to weather, etc.  So for me, if there's a longer connect time I'd opt for that, but that's just me.  If it's the best you can get, I'd certainly take it over the original routing.  

As for a new change fee, that's normal.  Once you accept a route, any changes is effectively a "cancellation and re-booking." 

And as for contract rates, I imagine it will cost more.  If it's advertised for the same cost as your original flight, you have a chance, but Delta tends to not give contract rates on the most direct or non-stop flights. But you won't know until you ask. I would call Regent and ask if they can get you the better route and what the additional cost is.  If it's not too bad, even with a new $175pp added, it might be worth it.  Flights from ATL to LAX tend to sell out in First Class.  So by 60 days out you'll may find yourself priced out of the change.

  For our last cruise, about a month after I booked the flight from ATL-SFO-HKG the "turn time" in SFO changed from 4 hours to 1:40.  Too close for me. So I called Regent and tried to see if we could get a published routing that actually got in the night before, but it would have been considered a "stop over" even though United had it published.  So that would have added $500 pp to the flight, plus a new deviation of $175 pp.  But the Agent did tell me the day the ticket would be paid, so I waited until a day or so after to call United and they, being extremely nice I must add, changed us to a departure with a 13 hour sit in SFO and arrival HKG the same day as originally planned, but 12 hours earlier for no additional cost.  So I took it. Interestingly Regent was aware of the change because our actual flights showed up on our final paperwork.  Always worth asking. 😎