September Cruises and Alaska

[Gcto]

What do people think is the chance Alaska or post Alaska will open. We are booked for a trip via Alaska in September and final payment is coming up. Don't think it will happen with Canada still shut down, Congress not moving on Jones Act and...and ... and.  So far no info from Regent if they are moving final payment date to a later point. I find it silly to have clients pay the full fare only to the refund it a few weeks later. Accounting might like it, but "customer satisfaction" will certainly take a hit. 

[gnld]

2 hours ago, Gcto said:

What do people think is the chance Alaska or post Alaska will open. We are booked for a trip via Alaska in September and final payment is coming up. Don't think it will happen with Canada still shut down, Congress not moving on Jones Act and...and ... and.  So far no info from Regent if they are moving final payment date to a later point. I find it silly to have clients pay the full fare only to the refund it a few weeks later. Accounting might like it, but "customer satisfaction" will certainly take a hit. 

We were on the last cruise of the season, Vancouver - Tokyo. Like you, we figured the 2021 Alaska season is toast. We cancelled Wednesday. Many of those on the thread for that cruise are thinking the same way, albeit waiting until next week hoping against hope.

[margretha]

Our TA has made a phone date with us for the 20th. If Regent extends final payment as well as the penalties we will hang on since the Vancouver-Tokyo cruise is so unique. If they don't we'll cancel with regrets. Cannot believe Regent's silence on the matter.

[Easterncommand]

13 hours ago, gnld said:

We were on the last cruise of the season, Vancouver - Tokyo. Like you, we figured the 2021 Alaska season is toast. We cancelled Wednesday. Many of those on the thread for that cruise are thinking the same way, albeit waiting until next week hoping against hope.

We were also booked on the Vancouver- Tokyo cruise, this being one of our bucket list cruises, however following Canada’s announcement barring cruise ships until 2022 we got ourselves in gear and looked to change. We have always wanted to do a Christmas cruise and our TA spoke with regent UK, who I turn spoke with Regent USA and we were permitted to do a sort of lift and shift to a Panama Canal cruise(Also a bucket list cruise for us) Now we in the UK if we cancel it is loss of deposit in our case approx £7k similarly if you don’t pay the final balance on time it falls to the cancellation terms which I believe is 50%. The long and the short of all this Regent transferred all funds paid to the new cruises and did not charge any   admin costs. Here’s hoping that cruising starts soon in the USA, stay safe everybody.

Regards

Harry & Helen

[ohmark]

RSSC has now extended final payment on Vancouver/Tokyo, and is keeping administrative fee as the penalty until final payment date.  From RSSC:  

 "We are modifying our payment schedule for the upcoming September 22, 2021 cruise on Seven Seas Explorer  for any reservations that have not yet been paid in full, final payment will now be due 60 days prior to cruise departure date.

Cancellation penalties will remain at their current level until the new final payment date."

[loriva]

40 minutes ago, ohmark said:

RSSC has now extended final payment on Vancouver/Tokyo, and is keeping administrative fee as the penalty until final payment date.  From RSSC:  

 "We are modifying our payment schedule for the upcoming September 22, 2021 cruise on Seven Seas Explorer  for any reservations that have not yet been paid in full, final payment will now be due 60 days prior to cruise departure date.

Cancellation penalties will remain at their current level until the new final payment date."

 

Interesting.  Our Med cruise on Voyager, departing nine days before yours, is still showing the original final payment date of 16 May.  Like the other August and September sailings, it went from availability in all but one category to waitlisted across the board on Tuesday.

[SusieQft]

2 minutes ago, loriva said:

 

Interesting.  Our Med cruise on Voyager, departing nine days before yours, is still showing the original final payment date of 16 May.  Like the other August and September sailings, it went from availability in all but one category to waitlisted across the board on Tuesday.

Sounds like they made a decision on that one, and plan to announce it before May 16.

[snorkle lover]

We are also on a September 22, 2021 cruise on the Splendor .....London to Barcelona. I have not heard anything about moving our final payment which is due on May 25. I believe it is also completely 

waitlisted. Considering that Europe is not in very good shape with Covid, We feel doubtful that it will go.

Even in  the slim chance that it does sail, it will be so different from our one and only other Regent cruise (that we loved).

We don't want to put out that amount of $$$$$ and be disappointed with all the restrictions.

We look forward to 2022 being a better year for cruises.

[Stickman1990]

1 hour ago, SusieQft said:

Sounds like they made a decision on that one, and plan to announce it before May 16.

I think they’ve actually made the decision on September cruises but just don’t want to announce that yet - it’s all about cash flow 

 

For the Vancouver to Tokyo cruise in September how can they actually deliver a cruise ex Vancouver and have they checked out the situation in Tokyo where a state of emergency was declared yesterday? 
 

They just don’t want to make refunds - yet 

[SusieQft]

50 minutes ago, Stickman1990 said:

They just don’t want to make refunds - yet 

Of course you are right.  But there is something about that sudden 100% waitlisting that puts the (almost) final nail in the coffin.  Until then, Regent (possibly) and some passengers (probably) may be clinging to the last often very tiny shred of hope that circumstances might miraculously change and make it possible.

 

Regent probably wants you to cancel under penalty instead of waiting for them to cancel.

[Frncie]

1 hour ago, SusieQft said:

Of course you are right.  But there is something about that sudden 100% waitlisting that puts the (almost) final nail in the coffin.  Until then, Regent (possibly) and some passengers (probably) may be clinging to the last often very tiny shred of hope that circumstances might miraculously change and make it possible.

 

Regent probably wants you to cancel under penalty instead of waiting for them to cancel.

I think that’s what’s happening. Our September 22, 2021 New York to Montreal is completely waitlisted now, and the final payment date is unchanged, May 25, 2021. Between the departure point in the US and the destination in Canada, this cruise ain’t happenin. This would have been our first Regent cruise. We are all now unwilling participants in a game of chicken ☹️

[mrlevin]

Final payment on cruises longer than 14 days is 150 days prior to sailing whilst final payment for cruises of 14 days or less is 120 days prior to sailing; they have adjusted those cruises wherein final payment is due in the next few days.  

[1982CruzStart]

14 hours ago, Frncie said:

We are all now unwilling participants in a game of chicken

We were just involved in that game of chicken. Final payment date was this weekend which essentially meant yesterday and they waited until yesterday to announce the change to 60 days. We had instructed our TA to not make final payment and that we would transfer our deposit and onboard savings to a new cruise.  The change in payment date came through just before we made the change.

 

I am quite disappointed with Regent and how they are handling this situation. A number of cruisers from our roll call canceled before yesterday hence losing any deviation fees they paid as well in some cases the admin fee because they now say they will take their business elsewhere. Most being first time cruisers with Regent who have been left with a very bad taste in their mouth from this nonsense. 

 

It made absolutely no sense to wait until the last day to make the change as there was no hope that Canada was going to open the port or the CDC change their restrictions before final payment.  Surely gaining the pittance of deviation fees and admin fees from a few cruisers is not worth the potential loss of new cruisers taking their business elsewhere. 

 

I know it is extremely tough times for the cruise industry but that doesn't excuse acting in bad faith with your passengers. 

[Frncie]

57 minutes ago, 1982CruzStart said:

We were just involved in that game of chicken. Final payment date was this weekend which essentially meant yesterday and they waited until yesterday to announce the change to 60 days. We had instructed our TA to not make final payment and that we would transfer our deposit and onboard savings to a new cruise.  The change in payment date came through just before we made the change.

Was there any difficulty or downside to moving your deposit to another cruise? We have not made final payment, and it is not due for another month. The best outcome for us would be simply to shift the September deposit to our January 2022 cruise if we can do so without penalty. 

[SusieQft]

The down side would be if your T&Cs include an administrative penalty.  Transferring your deposit to another cruise would turn the amount of the admin penalty into FCC.

[Grandmaanne7]

17 hours ago, mrlevin said:

Final payment on cruises longer than 14 days is 150 days prior to sailing whilst final payment for cruises of 14 days or less is 120 days prior to sailing; they have adjusted those cruises wherein final payment is due in the next few days.  

Is this only for September sailings or for all 2021 sailings?  This is the first I am reading about this.  Where would I find confirmation?

[mrlevin]

12 minutes ago, Grandmaanne7 said:

Is this only for September sailings or for all 2021 sailings?  This is the first I am reading about this.  Where would I find confirmation?

2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 - read the Terms & Conditions

 

https://www.rssc.com/sites/default/files/2019-07/rgtterms_040919_070119.pdf

 

I am amazed by those that book a multi-thousand dollar cruise and never read the T&C.

Edited April 24, 2021 by mrlevin

[Grandmaanne7]

10 minutes ago, mrlevin said:

2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 - read the Terms & Conditions

 

https://www.rssc.com/sites/default/files/2019-07/rgtterms_040919_070119.pdf

 

I am amazed by those that book a multi-thousand dollar cruise and never read the T&C.

You are indeed correct.  I never bothered to count the days on my booking invoice but that is exactly what it comes out to.  Thank you for enlightening me.

[Carol From California]

The final payment on my Alaska September 1, 2021 cruise is due May 4. I know it is doubtful that this cruise will go ahead, but I did get an email from my TA that the final payment is due soon. I know that they are still hoping to be able to work things out to salvage some of the Alaska cruises but it's not looking good. I hope they change the payment due date to 60 days out as some of you have noted. 

[ohmark]

36 minutes ago, Carol From California said:

The final payment on my Alaska September 1, 2021 cruise is due May 4. I know it is doubtful that this cruise will go ahead, but I did get an email from my TA that the final payment is due soon. I know that they are still hoping to be able to work things out to salvage some of the Alaska cruises but it's not looking good. I hope they change the payment due date to 60 days out as some of you have noted. 

Learn form my experience just recently on Vancouver/Tokyo.  RSSC extended the final payment/penalties date one day before final payment was due.  Those who paid before that or whose TA's paid for them before that were out of luck.

[Gcto]

10 minutes ago, ohmark said:

Learn form my experience just recently on Vancouver/Tokyo.  RSSC extended the final payment/penalties date one day before final payment was due.  Those who paid before that or whose TA's paid for them before that were out of luck.

yes, and that's why it is important to have a great TA who's on their toes...and communicate with them.  I do hope though that we are getting back to normal at one point.   But honestly, no matter what, I would be annoyed if my TA "paid" for anything without communicating or getting approval from me, the client.  If I'd agreed to them do whatever they see fit, shame on me, but otherwise, communication is key. 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

18 hours ago, Carol From California said:

The final payment on my Alaska September 1, 2021 cruise is due May 4. I know it is doubtful that this cruise will go ahead, but I did get an email from my TA that the final payment is due soon. I know that they are still hoping to be able to work things out to salvage some of the Alaska cruises but it's not looking good. I hope they change the payment due date to 60 days out as some of you have noted. 

 

This comment is not directed particularly at you, Carol, but I'm wondering why someone wouldn't just go ahead and cancel?  It's obvious that this cruise will not go--Canada will not be opening its port up that soon.  Is it that you're hoping for an enhanced FCC?  I'd rather take the refund, myself, so why wait?  I presume you can take any penalty and use it to on a future booking?

 

[1982CruzStart]

23 hours ago, Frncie said:

Was there any difficulty or downside to moving your deposit to another cruise?

In our case the deposit was from a cruise that was booked onboard at a discounted rate. We are allowed to move our deposit one time and maintain the discounted amount as well as the onboard savings. In the end we haven't moved the deposit as we are holding out hope that Regent will cancel before the 60 day revised final payment date.  We want them to cancel so we can get back our deviation fees. If we cancel and move to another cruise we lose what we paid. We knew that was a possiblilty when we booked a deviated flight but if the cruise isn't going it would be nice to get back that money. 

[Carol From California]

3 hours ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

 

This comment is not directed particularly at you, Carol, but I'm wondering why someone wouldn't just go ahead and cancel?  It's obvious that this cruise will not go--Canada will not be opening its port up that soon.  Is it that you're hoping for an enhanced FCC?  I'd rather take the refund, myself, so why wait?  I presume you can take any penalty and use it to on a future booking?

 

I contacted my TA and she said they will most likely extend the final payment due date so she told me not worry about paying the balance on May 4. That being said, I am still slightly hopeful that the Alaska cruises may go ahead. I read something this weekend about a lawsuit with Florida and Alaska and the CDC. I am not doing this for an enhanced FCC. I'll wait a little bit and see what happens. 

[Pcardad]

There are no more FCC being issued, enhanced or otherwise, unless you paid for the cruise with an FCC then it reverts back.