Tentative date/itin for Explorer's maiden voyage

[Hambagahle]

I just received an e mail from Regent telling me that the tentative date for Explorer's maiden voyage is 20 July 2016 and the itinerary looks like Monte Carlo to Venice. Reservations are expected to open 19 January 2015...

 

Sounds like a perfect itinerary, especially for us (!) as we can drive to and from the ship.:)

[Caroldoll]

They are supposed to be giving reservations by the tier. Joe and I are at the bottom of the pile on Regent, so I guess we won't have a chance at all. It isn't so easy for us.

[Hambagahle]

I don't know about tiers. I do know that I asked my TA to get us a reservation. But the e mail didn't come from her...

[Caroldoll]

and she is the one who said it, I think. We don't have enough standing to wish for it. However, they are bringing Explorer to the Caribbean, so we will have to wait for another chance later. I am envious and hope you have a wonderful cruise.

 

On the other hand we are doing the Med in October and November of this year, so it isn't all bad. Doing Riviera.

[Hambagahle]

Carolldoll - we aren't ON the cruise yet! I suppose I will know after 19th Jan if we have been lucky enough to have a booking.

 

But we are booked on Riviera on 1 April for the TA and I am keeping my fingers crossed that we will have either Pritham or Churchill as our butler!!

[Caroldoll]

We will be on Jan 3. I heard we get John???? Do you know him?

[FloatSomeMore]

They are supposed to be giving reservations by the tier. Joe and I are at the bottom of the pile on Regent, so I guess we won't have a chance at all. It isn't so easy for us.

 

Are you suggesting that they might make reservations available by their loyalty tiers? We are waiting for the itineraries but had not considered whether we would even be eligible to sail. We are at their Gold level, don't know if that is of any significance in their initial sailings.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

We got our fancy invite today. We're Gold. Stupid waste of money.

[FloatSomeMore]

Just received this from our travel agent:

 

"...attended an in-house presentation by our RSSC

sales rep today and here is the latest from RSSC. You

will automatically be given priority for reservations on

the Explorer as a past RSSC guest so you don’t need

to register on the explorer website included in the mailer

you received unless you want to do so.

 

Also, you will be provided a definite date range in which

you can book based on your tier level. The itineraries are

all expected to be out on January 15, 2015. It is at that

point that each tier level will be assigned their booking

date range based on their tier level with RSSC. You will

be able to book between your tier range start date and

2/11/15 when the explorer will be open to the general

public to book."

 

Wendy, the invitation you received, was it a date range as suggested above or something more specific?

[Caroldoll]

You book according to tier level. My DH and I are out. We will wait for it to come to the Caribbean and take whatever. We don't want to do all the changing to go to the Med for a really short cruise. I hope their cruises are not as short as Oceania's are...otherwise we will pass. We don't like 7 or 10 day cruises.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

...

Wendy, the invitation you received, was it a date range as suggested above or something more specific?

 

Here's what it says: "To receive an exclusive booking package in January 2015, visit http://www.rssc.com/explorer, call 1884-473-4368, or visit your travel agent.

 

When I go to the website, you click on "Seven Seas Members Click Here", and you can fill out a form to get your invitation. And it says, "As a Seven Seas Society® member, you will have the privilege of priority booking for inaugural season voyages aboard Seven Seas Explorer®"

Edited December 4, 2014 by Wendy The Wanderer

[rcandkc]

At the Seven Seas party on the Mariner in November they said that explorer bookings would be done in order of loyalty levels. Frankly, although I've had 3 regent cruises this year but only high silver, I find this totally fair. I think it should be done this way. When the date for silver opens, we will look and see if we have any options to our liking.

[gnomie1]

We have been told that when booking opens up, the first three days will be limited to titanium members only, the next three days will be for platinum, the following three days will open up for gold members, followed by silver and bronze with three day intervals and then will open up to the general public.

 

I wonder if there will be a shake down cruise, since the ship is being built in Italy and the first voyage leaves from Monte Carlo. I wonder how one gets an invitation to a shake down cruise - does anyone know?

 

gnomie :)

[Hambagahle]

You ask, I suppose. Some time ago Mark Conroy told me that he had me in mind for the shakedown cruise of the (now named) Explorer. But clearly he is gone and this no longer holds. One of the reasons he said this was that I live less than 4 hrs drive from Genova. Anyway, I am not holding my breath on this one! But I do hope that Ken and I can get on the Inaugural - the itinerary is "made in heaven" for us. We can drive to and from both ports. That rarely happens...

[WesW]

gnomie1 (good ? on how one gets a Explorer shakedown invitation),

 

In the recent past (5 years) for PCH (i.e., Oceania) new ships, you were invited (by FDR)on the shakedown of the Marina (in my view) if you are a prolific poster/frequent sailor on Oceania or Regent. Both Horndorner, Stan and Jim are both very, very frequent//loyal posters on the Oceania board were not only invited on the Marina's shakedown but were given complimentary (incl Biz Class air) trips to the float-out for the Marina. FDR very smartly realized how much return on this small investment-- positiveCC buzz Oceania (Marina) would get by Don, Stan & Jim's subsequent CC posts.

 

They absolutely delivered for Oceania's CC Marina threads and provided an invaluable service posting outstanding commentary/CC posts with fabulous pix/video Pls see this thread as just one example:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1153839

 

We were also invited on the shakedown of the Marina (am a very, very infrequent poster on Oceania (never sailed) but 5 yrs ago (we don't sail Regent now--we sail Silversea) was a reasonable frequent poster on the Regent board. Alas, we did not get to enjoy the Marina Shakedown. The Marina Shakedown was canceled due to delays in finishing the Marina.

 

My guess if invitations go out to the Explorer float out and or shakedown cruise (besides invitations to, PCH members involved in the Explorer build process, and exceptional (successful) Regent Travel agents), a few special invitations will go to one or two prolific posters from the Regent board, if the past (Marina shakedown invites) is any predictor.

Edited December 4, 2014 by WesW

[WesW]

Regent now has Explorer webpage (if u have not seen):

 

http://rssc.com/seven-seas-explorer/

[hondorner]

gnomie1 (good ? on how one gets a Explorer shakedown invitation),

 

In the recent past (5 years) for PCH (i.e., Oceania) new ships, you were invited (by FDR)on the shakedown of the Marina (in my view) if you are a prolific poster/frequent sailor on Oceania or Regent. Both Hondorner, Stan and Jim are both very, very frequent//loyal posters on the Oceania board were not only invited on the Marina's shakedown but were given complimentary (incl Biz Class air) trips to the float-out for the Marina. FDR very smartly realized how much return on this small investment-- positive CC buzz Oceania (Marina) would get by Don, Stan & Jim's subsequent CC posts.

 

They absolutely delivered for Oceania's CC Marina threads and provided an invaluable service posting outstanding commentary/CC posts with fabulous pix/video Pls see this thread as just one example:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1153839

 

We were also invited on the shakedown of the Marina (am a very, very infrequent poster on Oceania (never sailed) but 5 yrs ago (we don't sail Regent now--we sail Silversea) was a reasonable frequent poster on the Regent board. Alas, we did not get to enjoy the Marina Shakedown. The Marina Shakedown was canceled due to delays in finishing the Marina.

 

My guess if invitations go out to the Explorer float out and or shakedown cruise (besides invitations to, PCH members involved in the Explorer build process, and exceptional (successful) Regent Travel agents), a few special invitations will go to one or two prolific posters from the Regent board, if the past (Marina shakedown invites) is any predictor.

 

Ah, Wes, you've outed me. You have a good memory. Yes, Jim and Stan and Betsy and I were invited to the Float-out of Marina in Genoa, took a hard hat tour of the unfinished interior (pictures are still on YouTube, search for "hondorner"), and also witnessed the first steel cutting of Riviera. In fact, we signed that first piece of steel. When I asked FDR "Why us", he replied that we had always been "fair" to him and the cruise line.

 

Later, we were invited on the "Friends and Family" shakedown on Marina, however, as Wes said, there were delays at the shipyard, the shakedown was canceled, and Marina "hightailed" it direct from Genoa to Barcelona to begin her maiden voyage. We sailed on the maiden voyage, but that was not complimentary. Subsequently, we were invited on the "Friends and Family" christening cruise after the Miami naming ceremony, a quick hop from Miami to the Bahamas and back, for travel professionals, travel writers and travel agents, and the four of us as "token passengers".

 

Because of the Riviera steel signing ceremony, the four of us, along with three other couples based on the number of cruises they had taken, were invited on the complimentary Christening cruise of Riviera from Monte Carlo to Venice, with the actual naming ceremony in Barcelona. We then continued on the Maiden voyage from Venice to Athens (not complimentary).

 

Since then, I believe they have learned some things about "Friends and Family" cruises, and I expect the Explorer invitees will be from the most loyal supporters. They'll likely get an ear full if not, especially from the self-entitled "Old Guard" at Regent ;):).

 

I'd love to sail the maiden voyage of Explorer, if only to complete my "hat trick" of maiden voyages, but we're still 4 points away from Silver and will be far down the list. It's also been 4 years since we sailed Regent (seems like yesterday), as our cruising budget had to be pared down a bit (with the obvious exception of the once-in-a-lifetime World Cruise on Oceania, starting in just over a month). But, I'll dig deep in my pockets if I get a chance to sail Explorer.

[RachelG]

I went to the website and filled out the form. It asks if you have any upcoming cruises booked on Regent. And it says that either someone from Regent or your TA will contact you. So whatever that means?

[JVNYC]

deleted

Edited December 4, 2014 by JVNYC

[Zqueeze1]

I went to the website and filled out the form. It asks if you have any upcoming cruises booked on Regent. And it says that either someone from Regent or your TA will contact you. So whatever that means?

 

Same here, I filled out the form this morning and received an email from Regent requesting that I contact my TA. When I called, I was provided same info as online. My TA mentioned that she had received ten emails from Regent regarding the launching of their Explorer website, etc., so it looks as if Regent is setting the wheels in motion.

 

Getting pretty psyched.

 

Z and TB

[hondorner]

According to the Explorer website, the ceremony of welding coins to the keel will be sometime in January, attended by "...executives, dignitaries, travel partners and loyal guests..." It's possible those guests already know who they are, or soon will.

 

This is former Oceania President and Prestige Vice Chairman Bob Binder welding the coins to Oceania Riviera (Oceania photo; I wasn't there):

 

[Pam]

I wanted to see the brochure, so went to the website to request one. Within 20 minutes, a "full service" travel agent (not mine) called, ready to book the "cruise I had requested". Um, no. I am gold on Regent and have a very good agent. I was told they would "disregard". Whatever.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I wanted to see the brochure, so went to the website to request one. Within 20 minutes, a "full service" travel agent (not mine) called, ready to book the "cruise I had requested". Um, no. I am gold on Regent and have a very good agent. I was told they would "disregard". Whatever.

 

What did this mean, 'I was told they would "disregard".'?

[gnomie1]

We are anxiously awaiting to see what the pricing structure will be for the new ship. I know for the summer of 2015, most of the cruises are about $1000 night/per person, which, at least to me and my family, is a considerable amount of money. We would not mind spending that amount of money if we believe we were getting good value and as of now, we are uncertain about that. There is a much different level of expectation when one is spending $600 night/per person and when spending much more. I do not believe we are alone in this thinking.

 

The new ship sounds amazing - many of the staff on the Mariner are talking about it and we are anxious to be passengers and see for ourselves. However, we many have to wait until all the excitement dies down before we can experience it for ourselves.

 

Funny enough - we have not received any emails about the new ship.

 

gnomie :)

[Pam]

Wendy, I have no idea what she meant by "disregard", maybe my fictitious plans to book a cruise right then.