NEW Regent Air option/promotion to start 1 April

[Kwaj girl]

"Save even more on your voyage with our new Flexible Air* offer, giving you Up To 40% Savings when you choose Premium Economy Air over Business Class Air on select sailings to Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and the Pacific.

Book by May, 31 2023."

flexible-air-offer-flyer.pdf

[pappy1022]

40% off what? The cruise or just the airfare?

[cruiseej]

3 hours ago, pappy1022 said:

40% off what? The cruise or just the airfare?

 

Since you're not paying separately for the airfare, it has to be 40% off the cruise. That's not as crazy as it might sound: the cost of business class air has gotten so high that it could well be half the cost of a 7 day European cruise. With not enough business class capacity, it makes sense that they're now trying to induce people to settle for less-premium seats.

 

And keep in mind it says "up to" 40% — which often means very few people will get 40%, and others might get a lot less. On a Regent cruise we booked for this summer, there was a Seven Seas Society savings of "up to $1,300", but it turned out that only the top-level Regent Suite got $1,300 off; a Penthouse suite got only $375 off, and verandah suites were $200, I think.

[mrlevin]

Fine print says only new bookings; I guess they are not interested in us down grading existing flights.  After 32 Regent cruises I am using Regent air for the first time next year and then again in 2025.  For westbound flights I wouldn't mind premium economy as I never recline my seat flat.

[Kwaj girl]

Fine print says "*40% savings is off of the cruise-only fare portion of total fare, which excludes applicable air and Free hotel fare/credit"

[pappy1022]

Yes, “Up to” is always the catch. Since business class cost is the same for every person no matter what cabin level they have on the ship, maybe the 40% will be geared more toward lower cost cabins. Before booking my upcoming Regent cruise I did look at the airline prices and routes and yes indeed they are very expensive. Regent’s credit for not taking Regent included flights were nowhere near the price I would have to pay on my own for business class seats so I don’t know what their contract rates are with them. 

[pappy1022]

4 minutes ago, Kwaj girl said:

Fine print says "*40% savings is off of the cruise-only fare portion of total fare, which excludes applicable air and Free hotel fare/credit"

Does that mean they now have to tell us what the cruise only fare portion is? Sounds like the Oceania model where they publicize the cruise only fare and then a fare for included perks.

[jctdlt]

You can find out the cruise only fare on cruise.com

[PaulMCO]

4 hours ago, pappy1022 said:

Does that mean they now have to tell us what the cruise only fare portion is? Sounds like the Oceania model where they publicize the cruise only fare and then a fare for included perks.

They always tell you what the cruise only fare is.  It is on the bottom of the page of fare which lists the biz air credit.  If you do a dummy booking on the site you can find out the hotel credit too if applicable.

 

Also note the fine print --- not available for higher than PH cabins.

 

If you do not want the "free" 2/3 day land pre/post cruise land program -- there is a credit for that too.

[pappy1022]

Yes but the business air credits are fairly small. On my current reservation, Regent was offering a $2,500 air credit. When I looked online as to what it would cost me to do my own business class airfare, it was 3X the credit Regent was offering. I couldn’t even get the higher end coach class flight for the Regent credit, so it was a no brained to stay with Regent air. That credit was about 16% of the total cruise cost, so at 40% it makes it more interesting and viable. We shall see what it winds up being after all the dust settles and we get a better understanding of the specific credits. I am all for Regent giving us options as long as reasonable credits are involved. I think Regent should let us take credits for any non on ship services that they don’t directly provide, including shore excursions. I would gladly reduce the cruise fare to somewhere close to 50% and do all my own air, hotel, transportation to and from the ship, and plan and schedule my own shore excursions. But the credits need to reflect closer to the market value of the service. Airfare is the biggest one and it seems the biggest Regent complaints I read about on this forum are those non on board services like air, hotels, excursions, etc. There are mostly positive comments about the food, the cabins, the beauty of the ship, etc. It also feels like Regent doesn’t actively manage their 3rd party providers and often just give the standard answer, “we can’t do anything about that since these people don’t work for us”. Having said all that, I know that many people love the all inclusive approach that Regent offers, so Regent should still provide that option. They are almost there in allowing us to deselect some services that are not on ship services. So finish the job and let us decide what makes sense for each of us. The only caveat is that the credits need to be reasonable and not what they have been, especially for air credits.

[cruiseej]

3 hours ago, pappy1022 said:

The only caveat is that the credits need to be reasonable and not what they have been, especially for air credits.

 

Ain't gonna happen. 🤣

[pappy1022]

One can dream. For my upcoming cruise, if I were to get 40% off the base fare for an airfare credit, it would make it more feasible to plan and pay for my own airfare. Not sure if this is a temporary credit due to increased short term issues with getting business class allocations for Regent or if this will be an ongoing “offer”. Time will tell. It would be interesting to know the real strategy behind this offer but we will never know.

[jeb_bud]

19 hours ago, pappy1022 said:

I would gladly reduce the cruise fare to somewhere close to 50% and do all my own air, hotel, transportation to and from the ship, and plan and schedule my own shore excursions.

You can do that already simply by booking a cruise with Oceania or any of a number of other cruise lines. 😉

[Yankeeclipper1]

IMO nothing to see here. 

 

Just called Regent to book two more on my Tahiti cruise. (1/28/24)  Bottom line - savings totally obfuscated. It was not obvious to me on the website that the price you now see is the price that includes Premium Economy - they don’t give you the BC price until you book into the engine and then see that the price for BC was the same (with a little bit added price increase for the cruise as announced).  If I add in the previous BC credit of $8000 the price comes back down to the same cruise only.  If I add the Premium Economy credit of $5300 aganst the now published cruise rate the includes PE, I am back to the same cruise only price again.  The Regent agent could not really explain where the 35% savings in addition to the airline credit were.  

 

IMO total shell game to get you to ask for PE but you arrive at the same price (or near) regardless of which airline class you use.  NO THANKS.  BLUF - cruise only price is about the same - no real savings - on the test case I used.  BUT you can now have them arrange Premium Economy if you like. 

[pappy1022]

5 hours ago, jeb_bud said:

You can do that already simply by booking a cruise with Oceania or any of a number of other cruise lines. 😉

I know. But I do prefer the onboard experience with Regent. It’s the off the ship stuff through 3rd parties that isn’t up to par.

[Yankeeclipper1]

10 hours ago, Cheddar Biscuit said:

I think this is what I was seeing as large fare decreases today.

 

Cheddar Biscuit - I don’t see any cruise fare reductions at all.  The new prices are just the included price for premium economy.  The two things RSSC controls are the cruise only fares and how much of a credit they want to give for not taking - what is now available  - two airfare options.  

 

The apparent reductions on the website are actually the fares that now include the Premium Economy offer (so I was told by Regent Rep).  Business Class included fare is now buried inside the booking engine.  When you do a cruise only and take out the airfare you are back to about the same cruise only fare - or actually a little higher than before.  The Regent Rep was at a loss to actually explain where the up to 40% (35% in my example) savings is.  

 

I see no cruise fare savings - just an offer of Regent providing a lessor class of air travel with a lessor commensurate air credit.  As always each traveler decides if the credit and total inclusive cruise fare is worth having Regent do your air or you take the credit and do it yourself.  

[Yankeeclipper1]

Just checked my test booking.  Looks like they were still sorting it out on the website.  It now shows the full BC included fare in the booking screen, the full $8000 credit for booking your own flight - then mentions under "offers".  "Save 35% on this voyage by choosing to fly Premium Economy. Or arrange your own flights and transfers to still save 35% - plus $5,400 in the form of premium economy air credit." 

 

So, the booking screen changed from Saturday but I still haven't figured out how to figure out where is the 35% savings.  When I take air out I am back to the original (or near orignal)  cruise only fare (all higher).  So it still appears to me to be no change except the addtional option of getting Regent to arrange Premium Economy for you.  Anyone else see it differently?

[pappy1022]

This promotion just gives you the option of taking premium economy vs business class airfare or no airfare at all (this last option was always available). Nothing changes as far as the base cruise cost. If anything the price has gone up. Really all it boils down to is that you can now select premium economy airfare for overseas trips, which is less costly than business class fares. Remember, business class airfare was included in the Regent quoted fares for non domestic flights. Business class airfare is much higher than premium economy airfares, so that is reflected in the Regent quoted price.  

[seaknots]

3 hours ago, pappy1022 said:

Nothing changes as far as the base cruise cost. If anything the price has gone up.

 

but the small print in the flyer in post#1 says

*40% savings is off of the cruise-only fare portion of total fare, which excludes applicable air and Free hotel fare/credit. Guests will receive a cruise-only fare savings of up to 40% on select voyages when selecting Premium Economy Air promotion

 

[mrlevin]

5 minutes ago, seaknots said:

 

but the small print in the flyer in post#1 says

*40% savings is off of the cruise-only fare portion of total fare, which excludes applicable air and Free hotel fare/credit. Guests will receive a cruise-only fare savings of up to 40% on select voyages when selecting Premium Economy Air promotion

 

Really quite simple and usually not that good a deal.

 

If cruise including air is $18,000 and air "credit" is $6,000; then the 40% is calculated as 40% of $12,000 or $4,800.  If they include economy air at $1,200 they have given you a 40% credit (in their parlance).

 

I really don't think anyone is going to save much money unless they like the coach fare; if you already have taken air credit there is absolutely no savings over your existing invoice.

[pappy1022]

I stand corrected. Thank you for the explanation.

[PhD-iva]

On 4/1/2023 at 11:59 AM, jeb_bud said:

You can do that already simply by booking a cruise with Oceania or any of a number of other cruise lines. 😉

Very good point. Last November I cruised on Mariner for 16 days, and I’m just back from my third cruise on Oceania. The food is very comparable on both lines, both are excellent. The included wines are similar as well, meaning, not so great, but you can always find some thing that will please. Oceania is my preferred line specifically because it offers the same quality food as Regent, but their pricing model is à la cart, allowing me to book private excursions where I want to. I usually do the Oceania air, and lately it has been an unpleasant experience, but that’s the new world we live in.
I will say that the Regent Mariner was a nicer ship than the three Oceania ships I have been on, but really nothing that you would notice unless you are that picky.