What's Up with Explorer? No Cruises Listed until May 2022

[Grandmaanne7]

1 minute ago, DaveFr said:

You are correct. Section 4f of the Ticket Contract says that you are not responsible for any fare increase if the cruise is lengthened.

 

Dave

Thanks!  Feels good to be right!

[annapolitan369]

I have talked directly to a Regent representative who confirmed that there will not be any increase in cost with adding one day to the cruise for those who were on the original Mariner cruise. 

[cruisepsycho]

Yes, looks like we have lucked out. According to the letter that was sent to my TA by Regent, it will be a direct transfer to an equal suite category on the Explorer. All previous bonus incentives and FCC will apply. The calls to Antigua and the Bahamas will be replaced by Puerto Plata DR and Bridgetown Barbados with one extra day at sea.

Ok by me.

[ronrick1943]

1 hour ago, cruisepsycho said:

Yes, looks like we have lucked out. According to the letter that was sent to my TA by Regent, it will be a direct transfer to an equal suite category on the Explorer. All previous bonus incentives and FCC will apply. The calls to Antigua and the Bahamas will be replaced by Puerto Plata DR and Bridgetown Barbados with one extra day at sea.

Ok by me.

Lucking you, if you got canceled and no other cruise matches your just S___ of lucky because Regent is doing nothing for you period.

[johng75370]

3 hours ago, cruisepsycho said:

The calls to Antigua and the Bahamas will be replaced by Puerto Plata DR and Bridgetown Barbados with one extra day at sea.

Also, the move from Mariner to Explorer Dec 9th sailing now has a Sunday sea day...does that mean a special Sunday Brunch?

[UK6]

I don’t know why anyone is surprised by the way Regent treats its customers prior to the actual cruise taking place. They are the worst cruise company I have ever dealt with in terms of money pinching inflexibility, they are simply awful. Sad to say I was somewhat relieved when they this week out of the blue cancelled our March 2022 Tokyo/Tokyo cruise as at least now we will get our money back (of course they need 60 days to do that, of course they do, I think we are meant to feel sorry for them). I have today already booked with a competitor with a better deal and complete flexibility, that’s it for me with Regent. It’s a shame as the one cruise we had with them in 2019 was fine. Good luck to those stuck with FCC’s and 

I hope it all works out for everyone affected by Regents actions.
Not that I understood the earlier reference to the song in an earlier post but oh-bla di, ob-la-da.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisepsycho]

Yes, Sunday brunch on the high seas on the Regent Explorer, doesn’t get much better than that!  I’m also  looking forward to dining at the Pacific Rim restaurant which isn’t on the Mariner.

[toolworker]

2 hours ago, UK6 said:

I have today already booked with a competitor with a better deal and complete flexibility, that’s it for me with Regent.

Who'd you book with?

[SireDoime]

On 5/28/2021 at 6:34 AM, Cruise Wonderland said:

Regent will rebook for the Mariner guests and move them to Explorer first.

This is what my Regent Consultant did for me back in April for my July 2021 Greek cruise cancellation on RSS Mariner. It got moved to the RSS Explorer for August 2022 (no cost increase, except for the Istanbul Visa of 100$, and 10$ for insurance adjustment); the cruise isn't going west (Athens to Venice), now it's going east - Athens to Istanbul.

 

We'll see what happens. If I can't go, I'll ask for the deposit back and move on. ✌🏿️😕

Edited May 30, 2021 by SireDoime
confirming no cruise cost increase

[Roger88]

I doubt we will see any actualt schedule any time soon. I expect to get news earlier this summer. I mean they can be hiding this information

[Pcardad]

6 hours ago, Roger88 said:

I doubt we will see any actualt schedule any time soon. I expect to get news earlier this summer. I mean they can be hiding this information

If they are hiding it then all but 2-3 people at Regent are in the dark as well. I do not believe this to be the case. I know we get info almost immediately after Sr. Management meets. They may hold back the data upon which they make their decisions but as soon as the decisions are made we are notified.

[toolworker]

Between my TA and Regent, what I understand is that the new Explorer itineraries - from late December to the end of May - will be opened for booking on June 2. The itineraries taken over from Mariner - up to late December - will have about 50 cabins available plus any Mariner pax who don't switch over, and those will open up about a week later. These are all listed on the website though the itineraries might change somewhat. They are currently shown as "wait list" but really just blocked.

 

We're not interested, having already booked a cruise with Viking to replace the one Regent cancelled. BTW their "Risk-Free Guarantee" (up to 14 days before departure you can change at no charge, or cancel and get a 2 year transferrable voucher) has been extended through June 30.

[Grandmaanne7]

Anyone besides me anxious to see what cabin/category they are being transferred to (December Mariner to Explorer)?  I got really excited this morning when an email from Regent came in but it was just announcing that new bookings are open for itineraries after the transfers.  Still haven't heard a word from my TA who said she would only contact me once Regent had confirmed with her.  Should be interesting with everyone trying to book their shore excursions all at once.

[Pudgesmom]

We got our new cabin from our TA; they’ve put us in the same category and we are ok with the location. She received the email last night. Our shore excursions were preserved in two of three stops. They must be redoing the third as no excursions show up on the website. She was told she would receive another email today with the air. 

Edited June 2, 2021 by Pudgesmom

[Grandmaanne7]

16 minutes ago, Pudgesmom said:

We got our new cabin from our TA; they’ve put us in the same category and we are ok with the location. She received the email last night. Our shore excursions were preserved in two of three stops. They must be redoing the third as no excursions show up on the website. She was told she would receive another email today with the air. 

Good to know.  Thanks.  I am aware that many people have received confirmation.  We have not.  And until we do, I feel like we are in limbo - maybe we're booked on a cruise and maybe we're not.  Sure would like to be sure.  We've really been looking forward to this one to celebrate all we've overcome through the past 15 months!

[johng75370]

5 hours ago, Grandmaanne7 said:

I am aware that many people have received confirmation.  We have not.

I hope you post back on here that everything got sorted out.  We got our revised information this morning - it did have a different reservation number that our original itinerary, but otherwise everything transferred over including excursions already booked and OBC.  

[GOARMY]

Waited for this PM to revisit Regent site--on the advice of our seasoned TA. 

 

Slowly but surely most pertinent information pertaining to the switch from Mariner to Explorer for our October 31st Atlantic crossing to Miami has migrated.  New booking No.  Same Category--Penthouse C--but no specific Deck or Suite number assigned.  Already-booked shore excursions, to include those with a charge, are there. 

 

Pre-stay at Regent's Barcelona hotel is shown; together with Regent's responsibility for all our air segments from 10/29 SEATAC departure--to return on November 14th.   

 

Patience is a virtue which has surely been tested over the past 15 months on many Fronts all more important that cruising.  Still--

 

Hang in there. 

 

GOARMY!

 

    

[1teach53]

We are on the same October 31, cruise, now on Explorer. We are very pleased with the change! Nicer ship, nicer suite all good with us. We do have a suite assignment. 
Hope our good friends , who are waitlisted , can join us on this cruise!  Our fingers are crossed a few people drop their reservation! 
Counting the days! !! 
Karen 

[annapolitan369]

Have been told that it may take until June 9 until all the suites are assigned.  We are still waiting!

[pingpong1]

1 hour ago, 1teach53 said:

Nicer ship, nicer suite all good with us.
Karen 

Hi Karen - I haven't been on either the Mariner or the Explorer yet, but our first Mariner cruise will be from Miami to SFO on the December 18. I'm wondering why do you think the Explorer is "nicer"?  Is it just because it is newer or are their other significant features about the Explorer that contribute to your liking it more?  Just wondering?  Regards. 

[GOARMY]

Ping:

 

A quick pong comment to your query.  

 

Explorer:  A bit larger capacity allowing Pacific Rim as another Specialty restaurant venue.  Very nice.  Explorer's Penthouse Suites are significantly larger (about 100 sq feet) than those on Mariner.  This also applies to Category D through H suites which average about 50 sq feet larger than Mariner.  That is a noticeable difference when navigating within the Suite.

 

Explorer's Coffee Connection now has an outside seating venue (similar to Splendor).  La Veranda layout is larger.  Thus, less congestion. 

 

(Wonder if self-service buffet will still apply when we board Explorer in late October.)  Can't wait to find out.  

 

Overall--either ship is nice, and would suffice.  

 

GOARMY!

 

[InsGuy3]

We just booked a 10 day Miami to Miami cruise for February 4, 2022 on the Explorer. So looking forward to it. Our last cruise was in February 2020 on Viking. It’s been a while. Normally make our own reservations but used Amex Travel this time and received some OBC as well as some on board extras. 

[Pilot70D]

We too went through the 2020/2021 cruise cancellation wringer. Over this period we had seven cruises (I think it was seven but they blur together after a while) cancel. The most recent of these was the Sydney to Auckland cruise on the Explorer departing December 20th but there is a happy ending (we hope).

 

Let me step back a little. We have sailed with RSSC for several years now. During this time we have have booked direct and have done so via one of RSSC's TA's, Keith Shields. He has done a really good job on our behalf during both smooth sailing years and then through the COVID years. We were on our way to the airport to fly to the City of Lost Wages as part of the officiating crew for the Team Bryan National Tennis Tournament when Keith called. RSSC had just cancelled our Australian cruise and he wanted to tell us this before the email came out. OK, all of us including Keith assumed that the Explorer would remain somewhere in that part of the world but with a new itinerary until Australia opened up. We asked him to move us if possible to this new hypothetic itinerary. 

 

Well, RSSC surprised all of us and moved the Explorer to the Caribbean. We thought that RSSC would give priority to those who had bookings in this same time period for whatever the itineraries morphed into. We were wrong and I think RSSC was wrong in their decision to not unequivocally priority or consideration to those with existing bookings.  Fortunately Keith got us booked on the December 20th Explorer cruise out of Miami (we could not do the December 11th sailing) and in the same cabin type (GS).

 

But wait, there's more. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the Suite Guru here on the RSSC Board. Our cabin location was directly under the pool. Past experience taught me that locations like this can be noisy. I looked at hi spreadsheet and indeed reviewers mentioned that it could get noisy early in the morning there. I wanted this to be the cruise of a lifetime for the War Department. However, she spells morning 'mourning'. I called Keith again and there was an MS available on Deck 8, all the way aft. The War Department loves to sit on the balcony and watch the wake behind us so she will have that cruise of a lifetime after all.

 

The bottom line (for us anyway) is that RSSC management could have made it a lot better for a lot of us but chose not to do so. Our situation was salvaged through the efforts of Keith Shields. I do have a slightly more jaundiced view of RSSC's top management though after reading other posts in this thread coupled with the ups and downs we experienced.

 

We are now really looking forward to sailing on December 20th. I hope that everyone encounters smooth sailing and enjoys that next cruise.

 

Have a great day out there.

[pingpong1]

18 hours ago, GOARMY said:

Ping:

A quick pong comment to your query.

Explorer:  A bit larger capacity allowing Pacific Rim as another Specialty restaurant venue.  Very nice.  Explorer's Penthouse Suites are significantly larger (about 100 sq feet) than those on Mariner.  This also applies to Category D through H suites which average about 50 sq feet larger than Mariner.  That is a noticeable difference when navigating within the Suite.

Explorer's Coffee Connection now has an outside seating venue (similar to Splendor).  La Veranda layout is larger.  Thus, less congestion. 

Overall--either ship is nice, and would suffice.

GOARMY!

 

Hey Army - Thanks much for the facts and impressions.  For some reason (maybe I'm just an old  contrarian), DW and I had been resisting the crowds of fans that have not surprisingly been flocking to the Explorer and Splendor upon their arrival on the scene.  Maybe out of some kind of "goofy loyalty" (or to avoid the crowds), we where "hanging with the 3 older sisters" (Voyager/Navigator/Mariner).

 

But inevitably, I know we will wind up on "E or S" at some point within the next couple of years.  It would be dumb not to and certainly not the worst thing in the world!  The new PH's do look very nice!  I think we have tended to pick our past cruises based more on itinerary and cruise length rather than ship, and there also has seemed to be a difference (a bit more expensive) in per diem prices, between the 3 older ships (which we thought were "just fine" for us) and the 2 newest ones.  At some point though, I know we'll be hearing about Navigator's retirement and that will be a "sad day" for us.  I certainly hope to see you on a future cruise - no matter which ship it's on!  Best Regards.

 

But I know at some point, 

[Grandmaanne7]

On 6/2/2021 at 7:53 PM, johng75370 said:

I hope you post back on here that everything got sorted out.  We got our revised information this morning - it did have a different reservation number that our original itinerary, but otherwise everything transferred over including excursions already booked and OBC.  

Just a brief update that we are STILL waiting.  Nothing from Regent or our TA other than a brief response to my emails asking for patience.