Will there be any further Regents cruises in 2020?

[Travelcat2]

24 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

Apollo tries to avoid hiring Americans...

 

Yes - I know.  In general, people in the U.S. could not work the long hours or provide the level of customer service that is shown by crew members on Regent (and other cruise lines).  For better or worse, crew members tend to make themselves  subservient to guests.  Passengers can yell at them and they remain calm (I am usually very calm but have come to the defense - rather loudly - when Regent passengers have screamed at crew members.  I have no tolerance for disrespect (may or may not be a good thing:-)

[fizzy]

1 hour ago, Pcardad said:

Apollo tries to avoid hiring Americans...

I certainly didn't specify nationality. Cruise Critic has a world wide membership.The comment was a non answer to my question.

[Travelcat2]

19 minutes ago, fizzy said:

I certainly didn't specify nationality. Cruise Critic has a world wide membership.The comment was a non answer to my question.

 

However, IMO, Pcardad made a good point since the majority of Regent cruisers are from the U.S. followed by Canada, the U.K and Australia.  The majority of cruisers on the Regent board are from the U.S., Canada, and U.K. so the majority of the responses would be from those countries.  I also do not see many Brits on the crew (but do see quite a few lovely British officers).

 

Your question may not receive a lot of response as some posters are not interested in cruising at the moment.  If they are, they may shy away from the first few cruises.  On this board, there are only a handful of cruisers that are as anxious as we are return to Regent ASAP.

Edited May 15, 2020 by Travelcat2

[ArtsyCraftsy]

8 hours ago, fizzy said:

I would be interested to know from those who are hell bent on getting back on a Regent cruise, or any cruise, ASAP, would they want THEIR kids or grandkids applying for positions opening up on board whether the population are 28 year olds or 80 year olds......great way to see the world and get paid...... and if not, why?

 

I'll take a stab at this one.  I have no kids or grandkids, but if I did, I'd have no problem with them applying for positions on a Regent ship (maybe not so much on some other cruise lines, but for other reasons).

 

I believe that most cruise lines will be hyper attentive to ship maintenance/sanitation and passenger health in order to avoid a repeat of what got them into this situation in the first place.  All it would take is for one ship -- any ship, any cruise line -- to have another problem after resuming operations and the entire industry would be at risk (again).  I don't think Regent would resume operations, even on a limited basis, until/unless new protocols were in place to proactively guard against new infections and to respond quickly to any situation indicating the presence of any contagious illness (not just coronavirus, either).  I said while I was onboard the Mariner on the 2020 world cruise in Feb-Mar that I felt safer there than I would feel back home, and that is certainly the case at the moment.  I would LOVE to get back onboard a Regent ship and I trust that Regent will be able to balance new safety protocols with providing a high-caliber luxury experience.  

 

Both of my brothers married Filipinas.  Several members of one of my sister-in-law's large extended family in the Philippines are already employed by several cruise lines (among them Seabourn and HAL) and are now "on furlough" due to the current situation.  From what my sister-in-law says, they're all eager to return to work as it's a good living and they actually enjoy it.  It's hard work, yes, but they love working with the guests onboard and seeing the world (and making what in the Philippines is an upper-level salary).

 

I currently have four Regent cruises on the books, one of which will definitely be canceled (B2B July 1 from Vancouver to Alaska and July 8 return to Vancouver).  I'm holding out hope for the Oct. 29 cruise from LA to Miami around South America on the Mariner, but I put the odds on that one as slightly less than 50-50.  The other two are in 2021 and 2022 and I'm hoping they'll happen.  

 

I trust Regent to resume operations when they feel it's OK to do so.  Whenever that is, I'll be ready.

 

Lana in Bellingham, WA

[cruiseluv]

5 hours ago, Travelcat2 said:

 

Yes - I know.  In general, people in the U.S. could not work the long hours or provide the level of customer service that is shown by crew members on Regent (and other cruise lines).  For better or worse, crew members tend to make themselves  subservient to guests.  Passengers can yell at them and they remain calm (I am usually very calm but have come to the defense - rather loudly - when Regent passengers have screamed at crew members.  I have no tolerance for disrespect (may or may not be a good thing:-)

Thankfully Ive never witnessed such a crass behavior

[Travelcat2]

57 minutes ago, ArtsyCraftsy said:

 

I'll take a stab at this one.  I have no kids or grandkids, but if I did, I'd have no problem with them applying for positions on a Regent ship (maybe not so much on some other cruise lines, but for other reasons).

 

I believe that most cruise lines will be hyper attentive to ship maintenance/sanitation and passenger health in order to avoid a repeat of what got them into this situation in the first place.  All it would take is for one ship -- any ship, any cruise line -- to have another problem after resuming operations and the entire industry would be at risk (again).  I don't think Regent would resume operations, even on a limited basis, until/unless new protocols were in place to proactively guard against new infections and to respond quickly to any situation indicating the presence of any contagious illness (not just coronavirus, either).  I said while I was onboard the Mariner on the 2020 world cruise in Feb-Mar that I felt safer there than I would feel back home, and that is certainly the case at the moment.  I would LOVE to get back onboard a Regent ship and I trust that Regent will be able to balance new safety protocols with providing a high-caliber luxury experience.  

 

Both of my brothers married Filipinas.  Several members of one of my sister-in-law's large extended family in the Philippines are already employed by several cruise lines (among them Seabourn and HAL) and are now "on furlough" due to the current situation.  From what my sister-in-law says, they're all eager to return to work as it's a good living and they actually enjoy it.  It's hard work, yes, but they love working with the guests onboard and seeing the world (and making what in the Philippines is an upper-level salary).

 

I currently have four Regent cruises on the books, one of which will definitely be canceled (B2B July 1 from Vancouver to Alaska and July 8 return to Vancouver).  I'm holding out hope for the Oct. 29 cruise from LA to Miami around South America on the Mariner, but I put the odds on that one as slightly less than 50-50.  The other two are in 2021 and 2022 and I'm hoping they'll happen.  

 

I trust Regent to resume operations when they feel it's OK to do so.  Whenever that is, I'll be ready.

 

Lana in Bellingham, WA

 

So glad that you responded. Today's news has been a bit depressing so I need to concentrate on the hope that Regent will resume sailing soon.  My husband said tonight that we are fortunate to have done as much traveling/cruising as we have because it will never be the same in our lifetime. 

 

I hope that your October 29th cruise sails as ours is right after that (on Explorer).  All we can do in hope that our future Regent cruises come to fruition.  In the meantime, we watch and wait.

 

Maria, I wish that we had not seen the behavior that we have seen. One case was in La Veranda, where a passenger was screaming at a crew member.  I more or less yelled "stop".  This got their attention.  I reminded them that the crew were human beings and deserved to be treated with respect.  I then found a manager, advised them of the situation and left.  

[ronrick1943]

17 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

Maria, I wish that we had not seen the behavior that we have seen. One case was in La Veranda, where a passenger was screaming at a crew member.  I more or less yelled "stop".  This got their attention.  I reminded them that the crew were human beings and deserved to be treated with respect.  I then found a manager, advised them of the situation and left.  

And more people should do this, if something goes wrong , a problem you should just state the facts in your normal voice.  In a few minutes things will be worked out.  When people scream at anybody they just show who they really are and that's somebody I don't wan to know.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I just heard a federal cabinet minister (I believe it was transport minister, Marc Garneau), saying that the decision about opening up Canadian ports of cruise ships after June 30th will be discussed in cabinet soon, and a decision made in a timely manner so that cruise lines will have lead time to plan their summer routes.

[Travelcat2]

1 hour ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

I just heard a federal cabinet minister (I believe it was transport minister, Marc Garneau), saying that the decision about opening up Canadian ports of cruise ships after June 30th will be discussed in cabinet soon, and a decision made in a timely manner so that cruise lines will have lead time to plan their summer routes.

 

I'm anxious to learn when it will open as we have a "potential" flight out of YVR in November (if the cruise sails).  Yesterday I was reading that some European countries are opening borders between their countries if the number of cases the of the virus are similar and if they have enough hospitals and doctors.   I wonder why some provinces (like British Columbia - if they meet the criteria in terms of cases - cannot open before another province.  This could monitored by showing your drivers' license to prove residency.

 

BC has around 5M people while Washington has around 7.5 million.  Unfortunately, BC has way more cases and deaths than WA so I'm likely arguing with myself.  We just miss Canadian friends and wish the border was open.  As an aside (and it likely only people the live in BC would "get" this_ The lines at Trader Joe's and Costco are still very long.

 

P.S.  Like your new avatar!

Edited May 16, 2020 by Travelcat2

[witt's end]

31 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

 

I'm anxious to learn when it will open as we have a "potential" flight out of YVR in November (if the cruise sails).  Yesterday I was reading that some European countries are opening borders between their countries if the number of cases the of the virus are similar and if they have enough hospitals and doctors.   I wonder why some provinces (like British Columbia - if they meet the criteria in terms of cases - cannot open before another province.  This could monitored by showing your drivers' license to prove residency.

 

BC has around 5M people while Washington has around 7.5 million.  Unfortunately, BC has way more cases and deaths than WA so I'm likely arguing with myself.  We just miss Canadian friends and wish the border was open.  As an aside (and it likely only people the live in BC would "get" this_ The lines at Trader Joe's and Costco are still very long.

 

P.S.  Like your new avatar!

Jackie, please check your facts on BC cases. BC has under 2500 cases and 140 deaths as of today.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

2 minutes ago, witt's end said:

Jackie, please check your facts on BC cases. BC has under 2500 cases and 140 deaths as of today.

 

You're right. The total cases, of course, depend on testing.  The death stats don't.  Here are the Washington stats from worldometer today:

Total Cases  Deaths

18799           1005

 

Here are the stats from B.C. today:

Total Cases  Deaths

2,407

140

[Travelcat2]

Oops - sorry - I typed that paragraph so many times that it became a mess..  I meant to compare cases in Whatcom County, WA (where we live and where the closest border crossing is) with BC.   Whatcom County has 345 cases and 35 deaths.  

 

We have a very close relationship with BC with many thousands of Canadians driving down each month.  The fuel and milk prices are apparently much lower in the U.S. (amongst other things).  One friend used to come down just to mail letters and have a glass of wine.  Very easy access for those of us with a NEXUS card.  There are also many of us that prefer YVR airport to SEA - not only because it is closer but because it is more efficient and beautiful (I read somewhere that it one of the best in the world).

 

Thank you for catching my ridiculous error! 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

1 hour ago, Travelcat2 said:

One friend used to come down just to mail letters and have a glass of wine.  

 

Now that I can easily imagine, since it takes three weeks or more usually for snail mail to go between the U.S. and Canada.  In either direction.

[travlr21]

1 hour ago, Travelcat2 said:

 I meant to compare cases in Whatcom County, WA (where we live and where the closest border crossing is) with BC.  

Not sure why you would want to compare one county to a province. (Shameless promotion here.) I live in the beautiful Okanagan Valley, home to one of Canada's wine regions. We are served by BC Interior Health division, covering about 750,000 people. Have 181 case and 2 deaths in our region. Been doing drive-by pick up from wineries within 10 - 20 K of home since our physical distancing started. Come visit some time, when the border opens.

[Mudhen]

5 hours ago, witt's end said:

Jackie, please check your facts on BC cases. BC has under 2500 cases and 140 deaths as of today.

I know that statistics are just what they are, but I question worldometer in some of it's tallies. We live in NY (not the city) but so far none of there numbers come even close to what we're getting from NYS. I'm not saying that "our" numbers are correct, but after watching worldometer for several days now, I'm not seeing where they're getting their numbers....some are very much higher and some are insanely (I do wish they were correct) low. I think everyone should take all of these numbers with a grain of salt...and not really hold a lot of faith in them.

[Travelcat2]

2 hours ago, travlr21 said:

Not sure why you would want to compare one county to a province. (Shameless promotion here.) I live in the beautiful Okanagan Valley, home to one of Canada's wine regions. We are served by BC Interior Health division, covering about 750,000 people. Have 181 case and 2 deaths in our region. Been doing drive-by pick up from wineries within 10 - 20 K of home since our physical distancing started. Come visit some time, when the border opens.

 

I heard that the cases of the virus on the East Coast of Canada (and the U.S.) were quite high.  So, I wondered why individual provinces could not have different rules (more or less like the states in the U.S. ).   That way, the West Coast could open their borders between our countries.  

 

You’re right about my comparing a province to a county.  Comparing it to a state would have made more sense.

 

I have heard wonderful things about the Okanagan Valley.  Would love to visit there.  

 

Mudhen, I found the worldometer website to be quite different than the numbers I see when I look up state or county statistics individually.  It is an interesting website but I still look up each country, state, county, province, etc. individually.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

15 hours ago, Mudhen said:

I know that statistics are just what they are, but I question worldometer in some of it's tallies. We live in NY (not the city) but so far none of there numbers come even close to what we're getting from NYS. I'm not saying that "our" numbers are correct, but after watching worldometer for several days now, I'm not seeing where they're getting their numbers....some are very much higher and some are insanely (I do wish they were correct) low. I think everyone should take all of these numbers with a grain of salt...and not really hold a lot of faith in them.

 

I'd be interested in seeing the sites that you use for NYS.  I've been using worldometer a lot, but if there are better stats for specific places, I'd love to find them.   

[mrlevin]

Wendy, here is site for NYC.  Just be careful as no site is perfect; NYC numbers decreased one day last week.

 

https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/covid/covid-19-data.page

 

I use worldometer primarily because you can sort it however you want and you can go to each of their sources.  Also, any anomaly is usually identified.

 

Marc

 

PS Happy Victoria Day.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

2 minutes ago, mrlevin said:

Wendy, here is site for NYC.  Just be careful as no site is perfect; NYC numbers decreased one day last week.

 

https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/covid/covid-19-data.page

 

I use worldometer primarily because you can sort it however you want and you can go to each of their sources.  Also, any anomaly is usually identified.

 

Marc

 

PS Happy Victoria Day.

 

Thanks.  Ditto Memorial Day.  No fireworks, no bbq's (we're in a condo), no cottage.  Not even really decent weather.

 

PS I like that they separate out Deaths and Probable Deaths

Edited May 17, 2020 by Wendy The Wanderer

[loriva]

On 5/9/2020 at 11:56 AM, jawz33 said:

With final payment date approaching, I am more than a bit anxious.  I am still waiting on a refund from Celebrity.  
We are booked on Navigator, Caribbean bound in late Oct, and I have read so many differing thoughts my head is spinning. 

A crystal ball sure would come in handy now.
According to FDR, Regents and Oceania will make a phased return later this year.

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/5340/

Any guess which vessel will be first?

 

Back to OP and the original question, I believe we are scheduled to be on the same cruise as OP.  The TA will take our final payment this week.  I'm hopeful the cruise will go as it leaves and arrives at a U.S. port (NYC and Miami, respectively) and goes to Bermuda and then the Caribbean in between.  Who knows whether the islands will be open to cruise ships or not, but a small ship like the Navigator might be an easier-to-manage test case for them.

 

Of course, there are no guarantees--including that the cruise falls in the final month of hurricane season.  For those of you who have cruised with Regent before--this would be our first cruise on the line, but we have experience with a number of others--how long before your cruise did Regent notify you of the cancellation of your cruise?  Did they offer any benefits beyond the 100-percent FCC under Regent Reassurance?  (Princess offered us a 125-percent FCC for a cruise to Canada and Greenland in August they cancelled earlier in May--even though we had already cancelled our reservation.  As a cruiser, I thought that was pretty generous; as a CCL stockholder, we'll see...)

 

Many thanks,

 

[GOARMY]

Loriva: 

 

Quick response:  Granted, our experience was exceptional, based on the current COVID-19 situation.  We have been with Radisson/Regent for over 15 years.  Only cancelation either by us or Regent was on the afternoon of March 13th.  That was less than one day before our scheduled boarding on Splendor at San Diego.  Regent canceled. 

 

We were already at Regent's San Diego hotel when the word came. 

 

Were offered either 125% FCC, or full cash refund.  We (through our TA) opted for the full refund.  The paperwork was submitted on March 17th.  Still waiting (along with our other "fellow travelers") for that refund. 

 

Believe you will enjoy the Regent experience, once that becomes available.  But, it will be a different ambience tempered by Govt. regulation and common-sense.  (Example:  no-more self-service buffets.  Darn!)

 

GOARMY!

 

 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

6 minutes ago, GOARMY said:

But, it will be a different ambience tempered by Govt. regulation and common-sense.  (Example:  no-more self-service buffets.  Darn!)

 

Yeah, I admit I like the buffet too, although I know many don't.  I've never been a germaphobe, but I guess I am now!

[Travelcat2]

We will also miss the buffet.   I was becoming more of a germaphobe prior to Covid-19 as we tend to sail in the winter months and often got colds, coughs, etc.  We started wiping down areas around us on airplanes at least two years ago and sanitized our hands after going to the buffet (after using the same utensils as others).  I wonder what Regent will do with the Coffee Connection.  Perhaps they will have some baked goods hidden somewhere that they can serve.  

 

For La Veranda and Sette Mari, I'm imaging that they could block off the buffet areas for guests but keep the food out (keeping it hot) so that servers will be able to pick up the food and serve it to guests quickly.  

[GOARMY]

TC:

 

Exactly!  Somehow, we will come to accept this new service protocol as yet-another reality as a minor inconvenience given the significant international health situation.  For those that cannot, or will-not make that transition from the "old days":  Spend those tourist dollars in another way, or not at all.  Or, as was suggested about six months ago on another Thread:  Find 10 of your best friends who are worth at-least 1B.  Buy a small ship; hire a crew; agree to an itinerary.  Sail-away. 

 

I am reminded of Post 9/11 reactions to enhanced (and continuing) TSA protocols.  No one is forcing anyone to go the airport and utilize commercial transportation to get from Point A to Point B.  OTOH:  No one is "entitled" to board a commercial aircraft without conforming to those Federal requirements.  These will continue to evolve. 

 

GOARMY!

 

 

   

 

 

 

[Travelcat2]

GOARMY - You just brought back so many memories.  I'm trying to recall the event (not 9/11) when we no longer could take liquids aboard an aircraft.  Whatever the event was, we were in the air going to Copenhagen.  We had no idea what was going on but sat on the tarmac for about 2 hours.  On the way home, all of our liquids were confiscated - our names were put on the bags so that we could collect at the end of our flights (we never did pick them up). The delays were horrendous but necessary.  Now, many years later, it has become normal and no one even thinks about it.  

 

Do you happen to recall what triggered this?  I suspect that it had something to do with explosives being brought on board a flight in liquid form.