What I find annoying about Regent pricing model

[newlondon]

Amen:)

[TedC]

New small brochure in mail today:

 

"Discover Northern Europe"

 

"Free Business class Air*+

on all voyages"

 

Of cause it is NOT TRUE - *see back for terms and conditions and +applies to Penthouse suites & higher"

 

 

Why can't the marketeers be HONEST! Do they think we are all stupid?

 

VERY ANNOYING and SICKENING!!

 

This kind of marketing is beneath the Regent I thought I knew.

[sevenseassailor]

Regent went into crapper when Mark Conroy got "let out to pasture". His non-compete clause is expiring soon and I expect he will be grabbed by another luxury line. Where ever he goes, I will go. As Platinum level on Regent I hate to start over at bottom but... Regent is "giving" everyone all the "perks" I have earned over the years. Not fair to me but good deal for newbies. I have two Regent cruises booked for next year already. Probably last ones.

[motone]

Hi Everyone, Me and my husband have just booked our first ever cruise with Regent - 21 June 2014 on Voyager to the Baltic. As a previous member wrote we have just received an e-mail from Cruise Critic showing discounted prices on various Regent cruises for 2014 and ours is one of them. We've just checked our TA's invoice and found that Regent's price is £2.50 cheaper than our TAs (we're from the UK). We will keep checking to see if the price comes down any further and if it does, ask our TA if Regent can charge us less. Is this what you regular Regent cruisers do? Does anyone have any advice for us regarding Regent? We have sailed many times with Seabourn, Silversea and others and thought we'd give Regent a try. Have we done the right thing?

[TedC]

I think you'll like the Regent experience - please tells us on Cruise Critic how Regent compares with your other cruises.

 

 

Often "discount" prices do not include "free air", taxes, fees and pre-cruise hotel night etc.

 

Compare oranges to oranges!

 

 

Have a wonderful cruise!!

Edited December 16, 2013 by TedC

[motone]

Thanks for your message. Not sure how prices are worked out in the US but our cruise here in the UK includes a free night pre-cruise plus business air fares and transfers. Certainly makes a refreshing change from Silversea where they only quote the cruise fare and then we have to add on any extras, i.e. air fares and transfers. Although Regent's brochure says all the excursions are free, we had to pay extra for two excursions we're doing in St. Petersburg. Is this the norm?

[rallydave]

Thanks for your message. Not sure how prices are worked out in the US but our cruise here in the UK includes a free night pre-cruise plus business air fares and transfers. Certainly makes a refreshing change from Silversea where they only quote the cruise fare and then we have to add on any extras, i.e. air fares and transfers. Although Regent's brochure says all the excursions are free, we had to pay extra for two excursions we're doing in St. Petersburg. Is this the norm?

 

Absolutely the norm. The "all" the excursions are free is not true and simply a marketing hype. There are free (included is a more accurate term) and then there are Regent Choice which supposidely take into consideration the cost of the included excursions and you supposidely pay only the difference between the more expensive excursions and what the included ones would cost. Bear in mind, the prices that Regent charges for the Choice excursions are inflated such that the extra price you pay is often more than booking that excursion on your own with the same or similar tour operator. With Regent being almost all inclusive, they have to make more profits on the extras.

 

in regards to your previous post, to expand on what Ted told you, another bit of marketing hype where they remove some of the included items such as air, hotel, etc., provide a lower price and if you add in what you are missing, you will most probably come up with the same price as you paid. Regent takes this approach to marketing and rarely, if ever acctually lowers the price that you paid.

 

Read the fine print and you will see the differences and more than likely it's not a better deal than you already have unless you want to give up some of what you already have. Plus, if you are in the cancellation phase, you would have to pay moeny back to cancel and rebook. No need to watch the pricing as it will more than likely not go down.

[motone]

Thanks for the info - will bear all in mind.

[Travelcat2]

If Regent Choice excursions are inflated, they are considerably less inflated than on Silversea. The cost of the exact same Regent Choice excursion in Alaska this past summer was $700/couple on Silversea and $325/couple on Regent. I went online to see if I could book the same excursion myself and I could not.

 

Regent does bundle the cost of hotels, airfare, excursions, etc. People who prefer ala carte cruising have many options. The advertising has been the same for a while and I do hope it is changed -- mainly because Regent is no longer as inclusive for non-concierge guests as it is for those booked in concierge level suites.

 

My vote would be to go back to the "Regent Experience" slogan. It seems to fit much better:)

[rallydave]

If Regent Choice excursions are inflated, they are considerably less inflated than on Silversea. The cost of the exact same Regent Choice excursion in Alaska this past summer was $700/couple on Silversea and $325/couple on Regent. I went online to see if I could book the same excursion myself and I could not.

 

Regent does bundle the cost of hotels, airfare, excursions, etc. People who prefer ala carte cruising have many options. The advertising has been the same for a while and I do hope it is changed -- mainly because Regent is no longer as inclusive for non-concierge guests as it is for those booked in concierge level suites.

 

My vote would be to go back to the "Regent Experience" slogan. It seems to fit much better:)

 

What you are missing in your comparison Regent vs. Silverseas is that you need to add $150 to $175 pp to the Regent price to cover the price of the included excursion. Regent should not and am pretty sure does not charge the full rate for the Regent Choice excursion. They should and am pretty sure do factor in the price of the included excursion that the customer could take at no charge.

 

In your example, therefore, the price comparison would be $700 to $650-$700 being approximately the same. Don't disagree that all cruise lines charge exhorbitant excursion prices as they need to improve profits. Regent and Silverseas in your example are pretty much equally exhorbitant and not considerably less inflated than Silverseas when considering that the customer does pay the first $150 to $175 per excursion within their cruise fare be it for included or Regent Choice.

[cAPS lOCK oN]

I had been getting emails nearly every day warning that the prices were going up in the new year. So today I checked Regent's website to see what our upcoming Baltic cruise would cost after the increase. Not only did the cruise not increase in price, but Regent now offers $699 business class upgrades (we paid $999 per leg), and are including a $500 shipboard credit per cabin.

 

I got on the phone with my TA this morning, and Regent agreed to give us the cheaper air upgrade (a $1200 savings), and are also giving us the $500 shipboard credit.

 

So kudos to Regent, and it's been a pretty good day for me!