RSSC Free Unlimited Shore Excursions is False, Misleading, Untrue

[TV Dad]

RSSC advertises free unlimited shore excursions on its cruises, but because of the pandemic it is not true. And while I understand these are difficult times and we should understand cruising will not be as free and unlimited as it used to be, I'm a bit offended by this ongoing shore excursion lie. This post is designed to let me vent (thank you for that) and to warn fellow passengers, you might be shut out of any or all shore excursions, in some ports, on RSSC.

 

I have an upcoming Panama Canal cruise in January. In one port, Grand Cayman, there are only two shore excursions offered by  RSSC. Both are sold out. There are no excursions available. Normally, that would not be a problem. I would book my own independent excursion, or just explore the port. But RSSC's revised cruise contract advises passengers they may not be allowed to disembark the ship EXCEPT on RSSC excursions. If I book an independent excursion, I may not be allowed to take the excursion. 

 

I understand these are unusual times, as the cruise industry tries to create safe, marketable cruise experiences. I also understand this is a replacement cruise. The ship moved to Panama Canal after its Asian itineraries were canceled. I called RSSC and the agent told me they had trouble finding and contracting with shore excursion providers on short notice (one year).  What I don't understand is why they still use the term "Free Unlimited Shore Excursions" when it is not true. I would argue no available shore excursions is very limited! I just wish RSSC would be more upfront and tell prospective clients that due to COVID, shore excursions may be limited or unavailable. 

 

Don't get me wrong. I am not going to let this ruin what I am sure will be a lovely cruise. And I appreciate RSSC's attempt to keep us all safe from COVID. 

 

BUT if you have not booked your cruise yet, I'd suggest you research your shore excursions, before booking, to avoid my disappointment.

 

[mrlevin]

There have been many of us that have complained about the "marketing" of FUSE for years.  There have been many port where the total of free excursions have been less than the number of passengers onboard.

 

As for your issue with Cayman Islands, the port is closed to cruise ships and is currently planned to still be closed in January.

[jhenry1]

Yes we have also complained and most of the time very difficult to book more than one excursion in a port. 
 

I have bee noticing the last few cruising years prior pandemic the number of free excursions has slowly decreased and the number of pay for has increased. If the island is closed to cruise ships why are they offering any excursions? I guess they are counting on them being open for the Jan cruises. 

[Mudhen]

Question for TV Dad....Is Grand Cayman the only port where you can't get a shore excursion....or are there others unavailable on your cruise?

[flossie009]

From Regent's Ts&Cs for included items:

"Free unlimited shore excursions are capacity controlled, and on first-come first-served basis"

Not sure what is "false or untrue"; Some find the word "free" to be misleading but most realise that it is marketing shorthand for "included".

 

We have had no issues booking excursions for our future Regent cruises, but recognise that the ongoing pandemic may affect the itineraries & details of what is on offer. Local rules in the countries to be visited may also affect what can/cannot be done ashore.

 

 

45 minutes ago, jhenry1 said:

I have bee noticing the last few cruising years prior pandemic the number of free excursions has slowly decreased and the number of pay for has increased.

We have not found this to be the case, but some destinations have always had more included excursions on offer than others.

 

 

[rallydave]

45 minutes ago, flossie009 said:

rom Regent's Ts&Cs for included items:

"Free unlimited shore excursions are capacity controlled, and on first-come first-served basis"

Not sure what is "false or untrue"; Some find the word "free" to be misleading but most realise that it is marketing shorthand for "included".

Yes, the T's and C's cover this however yes the word free is misleading as free is not the same as included where one pays for all of the included items.  Any you are forgetting the word unlimited where the T's and C's say capacity controlled which is certainly NOT unlimited.  

 

Clearly there is a contradiction between the marketing hype and the T;s and C's and that is where the people are complaining.  As the marketing hypes are clearly contradictory to the T's and C's especially with the words "free" and "unlimited"  

 

And if free means included as you stated flossie009 then everything on the cruise is free as everything is included so why are they not marketing the entire cruise as free as they do only some of the included items??

Edited September 19, 2021 by rallydave

[RetiredandTravel]

It would be more indicative of the experience if they advertised "Regent offer A free excursion" because its not necessarily the one you want.  Its the new cruisers in veranda rooms that generally get shut out of excursions not frequent cruisers or higher suites.   My last cruise was 100% full, I had no problem getting every excursion we wanted with a concierge room.

 

They could definitely do a better job staggering the excursions.  When you are in a smaller port with one primary point of interest almost the entire ship descends on one location at the same time.

[rallydave]

5 minutes ago, RetiredandTravel said:

They could definitely do a better job staggering the excursions

Is it possible that the "free" excursions are staggered the way they are to avoid people taking multiple excursions in the single day?

[CruisetheCs]

Why Regent continues to use "free" in its advertising for things that are obviously not free is strange for a company that want's to present an image of outstanding quality, service, etc.  

 

Some advertising guidelines:  https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/16/251.1

https://www.bbb.org/code-of-advertising/#Free

 

Does Regent seriously believe that its advertising is in compliance with guidelines??  I would love to hear an explanation.  Maybe someone from Regent could address this issue on this CC thread.

[RetiredandTravel]

My wife loves the "free" advertising.   We should feel fortunate though that we are getting the 2 for 1 deal on the price and the exquisite wines (retail $8-14).  Rally when I'm on an excursion they may be saving money.  😲

[rallydave]

14 minutes ago, RetiredandTravel said:

My wife loves the "free" advertising.   We should feel fortunate though that we are getting the 2 for 1 deal on the price and the exquisite wines (retail $8-14).  Rally when I'm on an excursion they may be saving money.  😲

Sure they save much more money when you don’t take a “free” excursion as likely they pay the tour operator a minimum of $50 per “free” excursion and would be difficult to drink that much wine at what they pay in a single day. 

[RetiredandTravel]

Making a funny Rally. 

[rallydave]

1 minute ago, RetiredandTravel said:

Making a funny Rally. 

Could be a funny but true. For sure Regent makes more profit each time people don’t take a “free” excursion. 

[nonu731]

10 hours ago, flossie009 said:

From Regent's Ts&Cs for included items:

"Free unlimited shore excursions are capacity controlled, and on first-come first-served basis"

Not sure what is "false or untrue"; Some find the word "free" to be misleading but most realise that it is marketing shorthand for "included".

If there's a disclaimer, I fail to see what Regent is doing wrong. 

 

OP would have a case if there was no disclaimer but I feel the disclaimer is clear enough that you're not always going to get to go on an excursion. 

 

 

Edited September 19, 2021 by nonu731

[nonu731]

2 hours ago, RetiredandTravel said:

My wife loves the "free" advertising.   We should feel fortunate though that we are getting the 2 for 1 deal on the price and the exquisite wines (retail $8-14).  Rally when I'm on an excursion they may be saving money.  😲

For what it's worth, I appreciated your little joke 😀 

 

I think you can now say life has truly peaked. 

[labonnevie]

12 hours ago, Mudhen said:

Question for TV Dad....Is Grand Cayman the only port where you can't get a shore excursion....or are there others unavailable on your cruise?

For our January San Diego to Miami cruise, we are waitlisted for Grand Cayman tour (who knows if we will actually go there) and shut out for tours we would like to take on Catalina Island. Not too concerning for us as we found your can walk Grand Cayman and see most everything. Also we are close to Catalina so can go there if we choose (understand this is not true for most). Had hoped to take a tour into the center of Catalina, which we have not done. Also Catalina weather in January is highly likely to be poor.

Our experience has been tours are easy to book if you do it when they open one year out. Also we have had success booking tours that were waitlisted once on board, seems there are quite a few cancels or sometimes Regent adds capacity if possible.

[mj_holiday]

TVDad said

I have an upcoming Panama Canal cruise in January. In one port, Grand Cayman, there are only two shore excursions offered by  RSSC. Both are sold out. 

 

When I can't get an excursion because it is sold out, I call Regents and ask to be put on the wait list, and I have gotten the excursion.  I think you can now do wait list on-line.  They have always cleared for me.

[cwn]

2 hours ago, mj_holiday said:

TVDad said

I have an upcoming Panama Canal cruise in January. In one port, Grand Cayman, there are only two shore excursions offered by  RSSC. Both are sold out. 

 

When I can't get an excursion because it is sold out, I call Regents and ask to be put on the wait list, and I have gotten the excursion.  I think you can now do wait list on-line.  They have always cleared for me.

This is the simple solution and it works! Buses are added and people drop the tour all the time. Even the ship  can cancel the tour after sailing for some reason. We have always been able to do the tours we wanted, if they ran if we got on the waiting list. It is months before your cruise, a lot can and does happen especially with Covid!

[RachelG]

I just booked our excursions for our Sept 2022 Montreal- NYC cruise.  Lots of choices in most ports, and I was able to book 2 excursions in 2 of them.  Could have probably done so in more had I wanted.  Same for our Jan 2022 and June 2022--no problem booking excursions at all.

 

For me though, the looming question is--will we be able to get off the ship and roam around on our own?  One of our favorite things to do is find a local spot for lunch and just wander.  If we aren't going to be able to do that, I am going to have to book more excursions!

[UUNetBill]

1 hour ago, RachelG said:

I just booked our excursions for our Sept 2022 Montreal- NYC cruise.  Lots of choices in most ports, and I was able to book 2 excursions in 2 of them.  Could have probably done so in more had I wanted.  Same for our Jan 2022 and June 2022--no problem booking excursions at all.

 

For me though, the looming question is--will we be able to get off the ship and roam around on our own?  One of our favorite things to do is find a local spot for lunch and just wander.  If we aren't going to be able to do that, I am going to have to book more excursions!

@RachelG We're the same way - maybe do a quick overview in the AM, then spend lunch and the afternoon just wandering on our own.  Have found some fabulous meals, shops, vistas, etc. just taking a stroll.  I sure hope we're able to do that sooner rather than later.

[ronrick1943]

Tours really aren’t my thing——however if Regent offers them—they should be available equally to everyone that wants to take them.  It truly is an cost savings to Regent, no other way to look at it.

[gcorgain]

I think the Grand Cayman example in January is an imperfect example. The government has said that they will not even review excepting cruise ships until a January 27th meeting, and our supposed stop is January 5th. I believe most tours and tourist activities are banned or closed. Unless something radically changes, this port stop won't happen. Now where we go, or what we do I don't know, but I didn't bother signing up for a tour there (they were open when I booked) given this situation. It will be interesting to see what Regent does.

 

 

[Dolebludger]

To me, there is a difference between not being able to get you first choice excursion and not being able to get any at all. Pre-pandemic, we often couldn't get our first choice, waitlisted for it, and sometimes got it and sometimes not.I sense that all cruise lines are jumping the gun a bit with cruise resumption, given the situation. 

[GOARMY]

Given the direction this Thread is going--

 

Of relevance are postings on separate Thread, "Excursions". 

 

GOARMY!

 

  

[mountaindoc358]

I just booked an excursion from Villefranche, the alternate port for Monaco which was closed on the upcoming Splendor cruise from Athens to Miami. I had previously booked the excursion to Rothschild estate which was free when the ship was docking in Monaco but I was upset to find the same excursion was now a Regent choice excursion costing $99 from Villefranche. The description of a Regent Choice excursion is as follows on the website:  In addition to offering FREE UNLIMITED SHORE EXCURSIONS on every voyage, for those intrepid explorers who wish to delve deeper into a region’s culture and history, we offer REGENT CHOICE SHORE EXCURSIONS in each destination. The unique and one-of-a-kind content of these popular excursions require a highly discounted supplementary charge to partially offset the cost of their more extravagant nature.

The Rothschild estate is 3 miles from the Villefranche port and costs 15 Euro admission. Foe me, this does not meet the criteria for a Regent Choice excursion, especially since it was offered free when the ship was docking in Monaco. The trend towards charging for more excursions is quite evident here.