Have we made a mistake booking with Regent. Are they in Financial trouble?

[welshfamily]

We are new to Regent but experienced cruises.

Booked our first Regent cruise just over a fortnight ago.

Firstly no flights available to get from the Uk to Lisbon without a night in Heathrow at our expense.

We upgraded to Concierge.

Now We are not getting a hotel room due to the Pope visiting Lisbon at the same time as we do. Regent have given us a credit of £93 a person. There is no way this £186 ($223) will pay for a decent hotel room never mind the hotels mentioned on another thread. Considering the difference in cost between a veranda and a concierge room and the fact we are now paying for taxi’s from airport to hotel and hotel to port my husband feels we have been taking somewhat for a ride. 
Granted we may well have taken a taxi to the port if it turned out to be more convenient but that would have been our choice.

 

I think our main concern is cost cutting and it’s effect on board the ship.

 

Our TA, an experienced Uk Regent specialist had expected the credit to be around $300 if we decided to book a different hotel from Regent when we were notified of the allocation. Now I know we are not talking about a huge difference here. Regent are not able or willing to provide Hotel rooms due to the hike in prices due to the Popes visit. We have certainly seen for ourselves rates are 50% more.
 

Having had to go an extra day before the cruise to get business class flights ….Regent could not offer us any Business class flights on the 1st of August and now this we are being to wonder if Regent is mostly hype without substance or in Financial difficulties.  
Thoughts please 

[papaflamingo]

I'm sure cost cutting is high on the list as cruise lines try to recover from the Covid shutdown,.  But as a new Regent cruiser you won't notice them.  I can't really explain the airline issue for you, other than airlines are flying very full and higher prices.  So this will impact Regent's airline costs and will be factored into the cruise cost.  At least here in the U.S. they do say that the included airline only from specific gateways.  If you live in a non-gateway city there is an additional charge.  Likely that's your problem.  I assume you live in a non-gateway city and must come a night early to catch your Heathrow flight?  Can you catch a later flight to Heathrow and connect on same day?  

As for the hotel allowance, and the booked hotels due to the Pope's visit, check and see if any rooms are available and at what cost.  That'll tell you why they have to cancel. I doubt that they're "running a number" to decrease costs.  

We sailed since covid and found the even with supply train issues and new crewmembers, Regent did a great job to deliver the same experience as before.  We didn't notice any cutbacks and the only one I can think of is closing the Pool Grill for dinners.  I'm sure this is a cost cut because of the minimal use on most cruises.  However I believe they didn't even offer the Pool Grill until around 2018 so it's not like it was a traditional Regent offering. 

People tend to "read into" things.  I take them at face value.  If Regent cancels a hotel because of a huge event at the port city, then I accept that they cancelled the hotel because of a huge event in the port city, not as a prelude or result of declining revenues.  

 

[welshfamily]

S…….n.

Our closest airport is Manchester. Regent could shuttle us to Heathrow for a flight the next morning but we had to pay for airport hotel. Made more sense to stay in Lisbon and let Regent sort everything out. Upgraded to concierge. Lost shuttle to Heathrow . No flights.  Then asked to upgrade to Business class to see if this released other flights. 

Must say the TA held on for nearly 4 hrs to Regent.

Everytime a flight was offered and he told me ( I sat by the phone) the flights were gone.

Eventually got flights by going the day before. Quite happy to spend an extra day in Lisbon rather than cancel cruise.

No problem with return flights.  To be fair to Regent they waived the deviation fee.  

Now no Hotel.

Someone from the US has posted re no hotel before cruise so must be the whole cruise.

 

 

 

[welshfamily]

PapaF

No as far as I am aware we are a gateway airport. All major airlines flight out of Manchester. Most into their own hub eg Lufthansa… change at Frankfurt, AirFrance …..CDG etc to get to Lisbon. 

Azamara, Oceania and Seabourn no issues when flying out of Manchester even since Covid.

 

Nice to know we won’t notice a drop in standards once on board.
 

[Pcardad]

This is the Post-Covid world of airlines/hotels and related businesses. There is no shortcoming on Regent's side and their very recent earnings report was remarkably strong given a 2 year shutdown. I've been on 6 cruises since resailing and they were all top notch.

[mj_holiday]

We have sailed Regent post COVID and saw no degradation in the on board experience.  Their shore service was sketchy at some ports, very good at others, but we were told by tour guides several times that our cruise was their first cruise since covid, so hopefully this is getting better.

 

But must agree that flights and hotels are still impacted by COVID and then the Pope decided to visit Lisbon which I am sure adds another layer 

[phillipahain]

We have sailed Regent many times certainly see no need for Concierge 

 

Both before and after Covid cant fault Regent 

 

Equally often book cruise only and fly to the port day before much less stress 

 

I am sure smaller hotels in Lisbon have space at sensible rates ...for just a night have never seen a reason to use the big boys .

 

The one thing Covid has done and also effects of high energy costs has forced business to close which has a knock on effect on tourists 

[Techno123]

Can't you just fly EasyJet on the day - much easier than faffing with overnights in a busy city 😁

 

[welshfamily]

Techno

Easy jet does not get us into Lisbon in time to make the 4pm cut off time. Same reason for Regent wanting to shuttle us to Heathrow the night before.

 

We are more than happy to pay extra for Business as son is 6 feet  6inches and needs space. We didn’t mind paying for an extra night in a hotel.

 
Fortunately Lisbon isn’t particularly big and hopefully large taxis are readily available, there is 4 of us with luggage.  Just researching that now as hotel we have chosen is a boutique known for its excellent service but does not advertise a car service.

 

[Gpilon]

34 minutes ago, welshfamily said:

Techno

Easy jet does not get us into Lisbon in time to make the 4pm cut off time. Same reason for Regent wanting to shuttle us to Heathrow the night before.

 

We are more than happy to pay extra for Business as son is 6 feet  6inches and needs space. We didn’t mind paying for an extra night in a hotel.

 
Fortunately Lisbon isn’t particularly big and hopefully large taxis are readily available, there is 4 of us with luggage.  Just researching that now as hotel we have chosen is a boutique known for its excellent service but does not advertise a car service.

 

You may want to check prices for Blacklane…they offer terrific service.

[annapolitan369]

We've had good service from Welcome Pickups in Lisbon

[welshfamily]

Thank you.

will look into both suggestions.

[wcsdkqh]

The only problems I saw on Splendor last November were all supply-chain related and inexperienced staff. Hopefully, those issue will be resolved on my next cruise in October.

[Techno123]

21 hours ago, welshfamily said:

Fortunately Lisbon isn’t particularly big and hopefully large taxis are readily available, there is 4 of us with luggage.  Just researching that now as hotel we have chosen is a boutique known for its excellent service but does not advertise a car service.

 

We stayed near Parc Eduardo and there is a lovely little cafe called Linha d'Água at the back of it, close to the El Corte Inglés shopping centre where you can escape the hustle and bustle of the city 😁 but a bit of a leg stretch from your hotel. Mind you on the day we walked back from Belem to Lisbon we got the metro back and sat watching the rain fall on the lake like water feature - it was like being at home 😂😂

[ToxM]

I would imagine the fact part of the issue with flight times and hotel prices is the Papal visit which will no doubt drive up prices due to demand. 

 

 

[ysolde]

I know this is less than ideal but if Lisbon is going to be a madhouse due to the Papal visit, can Regent allow you to start your cruise from the first port rather than the embarkation port of Lisbon?

[welshfamily]

Thank you for your thoughts.

We have never stayed in Lisbon although we have visited as a cruise passenger therefore we have chosen a good boutique hotel as we have already sorted out Business flights with Regent.

Our concerns were the issues Regent were having supplying what was advertised I.e flights and a pre nights stay before boarding. We do not sail for nearly 6 months. Regent could not supply flights, we had to travel 2 days before the cruise and book business class to get flights and then there is no hotel or transfers. Whilst we understand these things happen the credit from Regent is $223 per cabin. This very small amount worried us …not because we cannot afford to pay for a decent hotel room for ourselves more the message it gave us. Having waited nearly 6 months to get all our money back from cruise companies due to the Pandemic, then last year escaping the  Crystal collapse by the skin of our teeth we were nervous about the financial position of Regent. 
When we booked we had flights and as yet to be named hotel. Within the space on a fortnight we lost our flights then the hotel room.  Hence our concerns.

 

 

[Pcardad]

19 minutes ago, welshfamily said:

Thank you for your thoughts.

We have never stayed in Lisbon although we have visited as a cruise passenger therefore we have chosen a good boutique hotel as we have already sorted out Business flights with Regent.

Our concerns were the issues Regent were having supplying what was advertised I.e flights and a pre nights stay before boarding. We do not sail for nearly 6 months. Regent could not supply flights, we had to travel 2 days before the cruise and book business class to get flights and then there is no hotel or transfers. Whilst we understand these things happen the credit from Regent is $223 per cabin. This very small amount worried us …not because we cannot afford to pay for a decent hotel room for ourselves more the message it gave us. Having waited nearly 6 months to get all our money back from cruise companies due to the Pandemic, then last year escaping the  Crystal collapse by the skin of our teeth we were nervous about the financial position of Regent. 
When we booked we had flights and as yet to be named hotel. Within the space on a fortnight we lost our flights then the hotel room.  Hence our concerns.

 

 

NCLH is far stronger now than 1 year ago and bookings are through the roof.

[SireDoime]

On 3/7/2023 at 8:18 AM, welshfamily said:

S…….n.

What does this mean?

[pappy1022]

On 3/9/2023 at 3:48 PM, Pcardad said:

NCLH is far stronger now than 1 year ago and bookings are through the roof.

Certainly the cruise industry is bouncing back after the COVID years but all cruise lines took on enormous debt to stay afloat and now those loans and the interest associated with those loans need to be paid. This is a financial burden they didn’t have before COVID so they need to increase revenue and cut cost to make up for this additional financial burden. Add the negative impact of inflation and supply chain issues and it all adds up to a very challenging environment. The bottom line is that Regent is part of a company that needs to be profitable to stay in business and to satisfy its stockholders. You can only increase prices so much. The only other lever to pull is to cut costs and become more efficient. 

[Pcardad]

2 hours ago, pappy1022 said:

Certainly the cruise industry is bouncing back after the COVID years but all cruise lines took on enormous debt to stay afloat and now those loans and the interest associated with those loans need to be paid. This is a financial burden they didn’t have before COVID so they need to increase revenue and cut cost to make up for this additional financial burden. Add the negative impact of inflation and supply chain issues and it all adds up to a very challenging environment. The bottom line is that Regent is part of a company that needs to be profitable to stay in business and to satisfy its stockholders. You can only increase prices so much. The only other lever to pull is to cut costs and become more efficient. 

They are doing both - 15% cut in non-fuel costs.

[mrlevin]

3 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

They are doing both - 15% cut in non-fuel costs.

I wish they would cut their ESG and DEI programs; what a waste of money.

[pappy1022]

Agree with you Mr Levin on the ESG and DEI programs that are costing private, public and government institutions a ridiculous amount of money and that adds to the cost of everything we purchase. I personally see no value in the elaborate and expensive non service related items such as some of the artwork, the entry to restaurants like the Pacific Rim and other fixtures. The slogan that Regent likes to tout about the most “expensive ship ever built” seems misdirected and is a turnoff to many people. Instead they should focus more on the client facing services that people interact with every day. Of  course, I realize that some people find value in extravagant art and decorations and maybe I am in the minority. Regent provides a great cruise experience but there are some places in the customer service areas where they need to improve upon and their focus should be in those places.