Regent offering another cruise to cancel maiden voyage !

[lisemare]

Out TA just sent an offer from regent to voluntarily cancel our current maiden voyage booking on explorers July 20th sailing and replace with August time to Lisbon or Oct Monte Carlo to Athens with a cash bonus incentive .

 

 

This is worrying! They have oversold, and are offering cruises that are nowhere near as attractive as the one we have booked , and fully paid for.

 

 

 

Choose One of These Alternate

SEVEN SEAS EXPLORER European Voyages

With Very Attractive Incentives!

 

We would like to present a completely VOLUNTARY OPPORTUNITY to cancel your booking above and take one of the rewarding, alternate Seven Seas Explorer Inaugural Season adventures described below, sailing in a similar or upgraded suite, as indicated.

 

The alternate voyage will be at your current cruise fare after deducting the CASH BONUS listed below.

This offer is intended for those guests with flexibility in their travel plans. The number of volunteers will be limited so this offer is on a first-come, first-served basis!

[DaveFr]

Since the offer to cancel is voluntary, there is no need to worry. Just say no to the offer and you will remain on the Maiden voyage. If Regent does not get a sufficient response to the offer, it will keep sweetening the offer until enough people accept it. Our upcoming cruise in December was the result of a similar offer that was very advantageous to us.

[ChatKat in Ca.]

We accepted a very sweet offer several years ago and ended up on another sailing we enjoyed.

 

While a maiden voyage is a fun thing to cross off the bucket list, there are often unfinished items or things that go wrong. Personally, I would rather sail on a ship that's already been tested and finalized.

[JMARINER]

Adding to Dave and ChatKat, they will keep upping the cash until they find someone to take the deal. We just had a similar offer on an upcoming Voyager cruise and the cash offer was impressive, about 30%, plus free upgrade to a Penthouse B from an F. I have never heard of an involuntary bump.

 

J

[ChatKat in Ca.]

When we accepted our offer, we just assumed the same ship would do the same itinerary again the next year. New sailings had not been announced and they moved the ships around and the price went up substantially (We were bumped from the Navigator and the new schedule was on the Voyager and was longer) The time period for the similar sailing was also different and at a time our business would not allow us to go. Food for thought.

[Travelcat2]

Agree with DaveFr and JMARINER's posts. I would not be concerned at all about what appears to be "overselling". Regent also does "upsells" (offering upper suites at discounted prices so they can sell the lower suites to passengers on a waiting list for them). I would definitely stay on the maiden voyage as this is a once in a lifetime experience.

 

The ship will be in great shape. I'm currently on the Mariner and have spoken to crew members that will be going to the ship in May. Unlike the "old days" with Regent and Oceania when the ships had unfinished items on the maiden voyage, this was not the case with the Riviera maiden voyage and should not be the case with the Explorer.

 

P.S. Many, many people on our current, very popular, cruise received offers to "voluntarily cancel" and take another cruise. While this cruise is not as special as yours, most people did not accept the offer.

Edited November 25, 2015 by Travelcat2

[RachelG]

If you are not interested in changing at all, just let your TA know not to bother you. I have received several offers to change cruises over the years. Never took a change offer; however, we did get an offer to cancel at the last minute (the night before flying out) that was absolutely too good to be true, and we accepted. But it was VERY generous.

[Travelcat2]

If you are not interested in changing at all, just let your TA know not to bother you. I have received several offers to change cruises over the years. Never took a change offer; however, we did get an offer to cancel at the last minute (the night before flying out) that was absolutely too good to be true, and we accepted. But it was VERY generous.

 

Interesting! With the offers made to passengers on the maiden voyage, you could pay for another cruise. Anyone who booked the maiden voyage as an investment has done well for themselves. Still, if we had booked that voyage, we would not have changed.

[lisemare]

My travel agent said she thought twice about sending it on as didn't want to worry us , but felt she was obligated . We already have paid the final deposit , being in Aus didn't want the exchange rate to drop further . Not interested in any sweet deals to sway our minds .

[gnld]

We got an offer 3 years ago to give up our booking on a Montreal-NYC cruise on the Navigator. They'd put us on the same cruise 3 weeks later, but with the ship continuing on down the eastern seaboard to MIA. So a longer cruise at the same price - and they'd upgrade our suite.

I said NO, as I calculated the original date for viewing fall colors. Indeed, during our pre-cruise travels in the Adirondacks, we hit fall colors at their peak - and they were beautiful!

Plus, the cruise 3 weeks later ran into Superstorm Sandy off Nova Scotia! Very rough seas, had to o/n in Halifax as it was too dangerous to venture out to sea. Rough going down the NE coast; missed Bangor totally and late into Boston. My wife would have been VERY upset at the rough seas!

Saying NO turned out to be one of the best cruising decisions I ever made!

[crooz4fun]

We got an offer 3 years ago to give up our booking on a Montreal-NYC cruise on the Navigator. They'd put us on the same cruise 3 weeks later, but with the ship continuing on down the eastern seaboard to MIA. So a longer cruise at the same price - and they'd upgrade our suite.

I said NO, as I calculated the original date for viewing fall colors. Indeed, during our pre-cruise travels in the Adirondacks, we hit fall colors at their peak - and they were beautiful!

Plus, the cruise 3 weeks later ran into Superstorm Sandy off Nova Scotia! Very rough seas, had to o/n in Halifax as it was too dangerous to venture out to sea. Rough going down the NE coast; missed Bangor totally and late into Boston. My wife would have been VERY upset at the rough seas!

Saying NO turned out to be one of the best cruising decisions I ever made!

 

Just and FYI, I was on the "Hurricane Sandy" Cruise. The port in Maine that we missed was Bar Harbor and had an overnight in Halifax. The biggest disappointment was the we missed the scheduled NYC overnight but had an extra sea day and a very enjoyable day in Norfolk. Also, there were NO ROUGH SEAS at all; avoided by the overnight in Halifax. Still a very enjoyable cruise.