Regent Letdown

[SusieQft]

13 hours ago, rallydave said:

Glad to hear at least one insurance company will insure FCCs. Earlier reports were that none would insure thus my previous response. 

I think that it took the insurance companies a while to figure out how to handle the FCCs arising out of the COVID cancellations.  In the past, they mostly associated FCCs with some sort of bonus incentive (like the 25%), rather than as something that the traveler actually purchased.  Crystal has made their terminology a little more clear, giving a 100% FCP(ayment) and a 25% FCC(redit).  I think but am not certain that other companies besides Travelex may have also come around to insuring the FCPs, even when in the past they did not insure FCCs.

[johng75370]

On 12/4/2020 at 6:49 AM, Rivercruisevirgin said:

My email states that i will be refunded the amount paid for the original cruise.

Hi Rivercruisevirgin - 

Did you get the original amount refunded?  We’re in a situation where we had a paid-in-full cruise cancelled by Regent in October, and before choosing to do a “lift and shift” asked our TA if we could cancel and get a refund before the new final payment date.  Her email was clear that yes we could.  Based on that (and other answers that turned out to be false) we told her to go ahead with the new booking.  This past week we decided the new booking won’t work for us, and so we’ve asked for a refund - and the answer back is no.  Our TA apparently just found that in doing the lift and shift Regent converted our amount to FCC, and now Regent is not budging on a refund.  Never have had to deal with getting incorrect answers from a TA before, and wondering if her email is sufficient for Regent to honor what she told us.  

[ronrick1943]

Just saying, it may be time for a new TA.  That's why they get paid, if they gave you the information that you'll get a refund it's up to them to deal with it and get you that refund.  Any TA should know what they are talking about and have it in writing before they talk or write to you.

[Rivercruisevirgin]

11 hours ago, johng75370 said:

Hi Rivercruisevirgin - 

Did you get the original amount refunded?  We’re in a situation where we had a paid-in-full cruise cancelled by Regent in October, and before choosing to do a “lift and shift” asked our TA if we could cancel and get a refund before the new final payment date.  Her email was clear that yes we could.  Based on that (and other answers that turned out to be false) we told her to go ahead with the new booking.  This past week we decided the new booking won’t work for us, and so we’ve asked for a refund - and the answer back is no.  Our TA apparently just found that in doing the lift and shift Regent converted our amount to FCC, and now Regent is not budging on a refund.  Never have had to deal with getting incorrect answers from a TA before, and wondering if her email is sufficient for Regent to honor what she told us.  

Hi there johng75370.........I spoke to my TA early this week and he confirmed after having spoken to Regent  that i would be refunded the full amount of cash paid for the original cruise and confirmed the actual amount.

In fact, i have already received the initial amount of deposit paid as i did this via an on-board booking a couple of years ago......he submitted my request on December 2nd, but of course Regent claim 60 days, however given receipt of the initial deposit, i feel confident.

Anyway, good luck to you

[GrJ Berkshire]

No Letdown from Regent.

Our NEW YEAR wish has got to be that it survives the pandemic, and that the ships will sail again? not go to the breakers yard. The way things are going now re covid-19, much of 2021 could well be a write off. The relaunch costs after 18 months no sail will be enormous.

I hope that this is too pessimistic having around £40k tied up in FCC for 3 more bookings, but it's hard to see travel positives for 2021, we in UK are now barred from 40+ Countries. Hopefully the vaccine will come in time to save the Cruise industry and Regent ?

[rallydave]

2 hours ago, Rivercruisevirgin said:

Hi there johng75370.........I spoke to my TA early this week and he confirmed after having spoken to Regent  that i would be refunded the full amount of cash paid for the original cruise and confirmed the actual amount.

In fact, i have already received the initial amount of deposit paid as i did this via an on-board booking a couple of years ago......he submitted my request on December 2nd, but of course Regent claim 60 days, however given receipt of the initial deposit, i feel confident.

Anyway, good luck to you

As I understand the Regent policies around refunds vs FCCs when a cruise is cancelled by Regent you have a choice of FCC or refund which has to be identified by a certain date or it automatically becomes FCC. There is no lift and shift policy but you can move the money to another cruise and that is then considered FCC. And once the money becomes FCC it remains FCC and cannot become refundable. 
 

the situations of Rivercruisingvrgin and johng75370 are different and extremely disappointing if johng753370 was given incorrect information or misunderstood what their TA and if incorrect the beef is with the TA and hopefully the TA will clarify and make things right. 

[johng75370]

6 hours ago, Rivercruisevirgin said:

I spoke to my TA early this week and he confirmed after having spoken to Regent  that i would be refunded the full amount of cash paid for the original cruise and confirmed the actual amount.

Thanks - I’m told from my TA that she’s escalating this within Regent, but it will likely be 2 weeks or more before she gets a response.  

 

3 hours ago, rallydave said:

the situations of Rivercruisingvrgin and johng75370 are different and extremely disappointing if johng753370 was given incorrect information or misunderstood what their TA and if incorrect the beef is with the TA and hopefully the TA will clarify and make things right. 

My suspicion is that the TA got it wrong, which does not give me confidence that I’ll have any outcome other than FCC.  She has already said Regent is not going to be flexible.  Worse outcomes than FCC I guess, but not what we would have chosen if we knew the real choices.  Here is the exchange with her (bold emphasis added); if I misunderstood then happy to put tail between legs and move on:

Question:  If we switched to the Mariner Dec 8th sailing, what is the cancellation policy?  Is there a later refund date, or is it just FCC if we cancel?
TA Answer:  If you re-book the Dec 8, 2021 Mariner voyage from Miami it will fall under the "Regent Reassurance" policy, which means that you can cancel up to 15 days prior to sailing for 100% Future Cruise Credit. Prior to that date the standard cancellation fee's apply which would mean: 121 days or greater prior to sailing - $100 pp fee, 120-91 days prior 15% penalty, 90-61 days prior 50%, 60-31 days prior 75%, 30-0 days prior 100% penalty. If cancellilng under the standard timeframe - depending on the penalty percentage the balance would be refunded. If cancelling under the "Regent Reassurance" policy up to 15 days prior - that would be 100% Future Cruise Credit only - no option for refund. 

 

Edited December 23, 2020 by johng75370

[rallydave]

Well everything they wrote was correct if you pay out of pocket for the December cruise. What is missing is the fact if you rebook with FCCs it remains FCCs forever. There is a bright spot in that you got 125% FCCs that will help cover the substantially increased fares.  

[Pcardad]

This isn't Regent's issue - your TA screwed up.

[johng75370]

2 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

This isn't Regent's issue - your TA screwed up.

This is where I feel in uncharted waters - isn’t my TA an agent of Regent?  Wouldn’t Regent be compelled to honor what their agent communicated?  I can see that if she just made stuff up that Regent would have to draw the line, but if she was honestly confused I would hope they would support her (or ban her from being able to book Regent in the future).  My apologies in advance; I’ve never really understood where the line is between the agent and the travel company itself.  

[Roger88]

Regent kept on many hopes of cruisers but unfortunately we have to face this thing once again. I really hope it all will change some day and we will be able to cruise as usual. Have a great week guys 

[Pcardad]

25 minutes ago, johng75370 said:

This is where I feel in uncharted waters - isn’t my TA an agent of Regent?  Wouldn’t Regent be compelled to honor what their agent communicated?  I can see that if she just made stuff up that Regent would have to draw the line, but if she was honestly confused I would hope they would support her (or ban her from being able to book Regent in the future).  My apologies in advance; I’ve never really understood where the line is between the agent and the travel company itself.  

Nope...your agent is a separate entity from Regent. They are not employees of Regent and Regent is not liable for what your TA tells you.

[Roger88]

Regent is a totally different story. I doubt there will be any changes. I mean you cant blame it all on Regent alone. As long as there is information available that can be shared - we can stick to it 

[Roger88]

1 hour ago, Pcardad said:

Nope...your agent is a separate entity from Regent. They are not employees of Regent and Regent is not liable for what your TA tells you.

Agent is more of a person from a call center these days who can only tell you where to get the information. All the real information is possible to acquire exclusively from the cruise company itself. Its been so long since my last attempt to get the agent talking business.. these days I rely only on myself

[Pcardad]

Regent has Agents who answer the phones and can book your travel. The vast majority are extremely helpful.

 

A Travel Agent is independent from Regent and works with the client and also with Regent. They can work for a large company or be a sole proprietor of their own business. They can solely book travel or they can provide a wide range of additional services that Regent cannot. On a scale of 1 to 10, they range from 1 to 10. Choose carefully.

 

An exceptional Travel Agent is a valuable person to have on your side as they will be available 24 hours a day and can provide service beyond the scope of the internal call center agents at Regent.

 

Which method is best for you is entirely based on your needs and wants.

 

I wish you a happy resolution and a wonderful trip!

[rallydave]

14 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

An exceptional Travel Agent is a valuable person to have on your side as they will be available 24 hours a day and can provide service beyond the scope of the internal call center agents at Regent.

Absolutely.  And a good TA will save you thousands of dollars off of the amount you will pay by booking direct with the cruise line.  They also thru groups like Ensemble, Vacations.com and others get you additional free excursions and other benefits.

 

And, have found that Cruise Line agents on a scale of 1 to 10 are mostly below a 5.   People have come up with a term called HUCA when dealing with company agents including cruise lines and HUCA stands for Hang Up Call Again because of so much misinformation and you need several answers to make sure several give the same answer in order to get the right answer.

 

Also you have to remember that company agents work for the company and are likely to try and upsell you or simply not tell you things that won't get you the best value vacation and will not and cannot get to the people who can make exceptions while good TA's have contacts in the Executive area who can make magic happen..  Your choice but, by not using a good TA you are leaving thousands of dollars on the table for your vacation. 

[johng75370]

1 minute ago, Pcardad said:

On a scale of 1 to 10, they range from 1 to 10. Choose carefully.

Ha!  How true - thanks for the clarification on the agent’s role.  Mine may have been a 7 or 8 before, and now is a 1.  Despite being part of a large consortium and having credentials, I’m believing that my agent is having a tough time financially (as a lot of people are), wanted to hold onto the booking, and so told me whatever.  In addition to asking about the refund and getting a wrong answer, we also asked if the passenger names could be changed - she told us yes up to 60 days ahead for a $100 per person fee.  When we tried to change names to give it to one of our kids, of course the answer was no (more specifically, we could change one name but not both).  Lessons learned - I should have deeply questioned her answers when they sounded fishy.  Regardless, I’m confident there will be a good outcome, it may just not be exactly what I wanted.  

[Pcardad]

2 minutes ago, rallydave said:

Your choice but, by not using a good TA you are leaving thousands of dollars on the table for your vacation. 

 

I've yet to see a relationship between the amount of money a Travel Agent kicks back to a client and the quality of the Travel Agent...

[rallydave]

46 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

 

I've yet to see a relationship between the amount of money a Travel Agent kicks back to a client and the quality of the Travel Agent...

I guarantee they do exist.  You simply haven't found the right TA who for your clients could save them tens of thousands of dollars and provide excellent service 

[Pcardad]

1 minute ago, rallydave said:

I guarantee they do exist.  You simply haven't found the right TA who for your clients could save them tens of thousands of dollars and provide excellent service 

 

I said there is no relationship between the amount of kickback and the service provided...not that there are no travel agents who kickback funds and also provide good service. I am certain there are...but there is no relationship between how much they kick back and the level of service they provide. The kickback and the service are independent variables. 

 

 

 

[nfcu]

We usually have booked with a TA to save money (the "kickback"), but in the future, we think we would rather book directly with the cruise line.  It was a major hassle dealing with a third party TA during this pandemic when we were due big refunds for cancelled cruises with Regent and Crystal.  From now on we prefer to deal directly with the cruise line, even if the cruise ends up more expensive.

[RJ2002]

We are happy to work with an agency that offers nice rebates, and is top seller with Regent and other luxury lines as well.  It is nice to have our agent standing with us during these challenging times.

[Ladys Mom]

For many years we worked with a large travel agency who gave good rebates and reasonably good service.  That is, until Covid hit.  Then they were impossible to reach.  As I have said on these boards before, they charged a final payment to our credit card a month before it was due to Regent.  Then when we wanted to cancel the cruise we were forced to take FCC instead of just getting back our deposit.  When we tried to reach them over other issues we were forced to send an email to a generic address, and hope that someone would get back to us.

Since then we have switched to a small agency who, while not giving the same rebates, gives us good service and includes travel insurance, that more than makes up for the rebate.  When I send an email with a question I always receive a prompt response.  That to me is service.

[daetchief]

On 12/5/2020 at 10:46 PM, SusieQft said:

I was told by Travelex that I can insure the FCCs that represent money I initially paid to Regent, but not the 25% bonus FCCs that I did not pay for.  They assured me that if I cancel for a covered reason, that my insurance will reimburse me for the 100% FCCs as well as my new cash payments, as long as I have purchased sufficient insurance to cover that amount. 

Aloha, Haoli Makahiki Hou!

Not sure if I'm reenforcing the message(s) or refuting it but I wanted to offer my recent experience.  My wife and I had a TravelGuard policy that wasn't used from our March 2020 cancelled voyage. [Splendor was not splendorful due to COVID...] I had to have my TA twist some arms at AIG but they agreed to apply the past policy fee from our last cruise and apply it to our next cruise in Dec 2021.  

 

The 'Book' value of the new cruise was more than the previous coverage - but it was all covered by FCCs - plus the 25% given by Regent for the cancellation.   AIG/TravelGuard requested we pay only the difference between the coverage we needed on the new policy from the cost of the previous policy.  So... I am assuming, or believe, that I'll be covered for the value of all of the FCCs; since I didn't have to add any cash. (Except upgraded Regent Air seats.)  I sincerely hope I'll never have to test this scenario.    Bottom Line, I don't think AIG knows whether I used FCCs for the new cruise.

Edited December 28, 2020 by daetchief

[SusieQft]

11 hours ago, daetchief said:

Bottom Line, I don't think AIG knows whether I used FCCs for the new cruise.

I think any insurance company will be happy to take your money to purchase a policy in whatever amount you want.  When/if you make a claim, that is when the documentation will be required.  Then they will only pay out for the covered expenses that they consider valid.