Cruise overbooked? Email offer from Regent came today.

[dsindallas]

OK, so now Regent has me worried that they have overbooked my cruise that is coming up on June 11th out of Montréal. I received an email this morning from my TA with an offer to move my Canada/Bermuda cruise on a “voluntary basis” to one of three Canada cruises this Fall and I would get the Fall cruise for the same price that I paid plus up to $2,880 in cash back per suite if we moved. Cash back offer is dependent on which of the 3 cruises you choose. One cruise pays less. I attached photos of said offer. This is my first Regent cruise so I’m not familiar with their email offers before sailing but this pretty much says, “we have overbooked this cruise and need people to switch out of it or we are going to have to cancel some of you if we don’t get enough volunteers.” I’m sure many of you, like me, have heard the stories of the cruise lines overbooking this summer and now cancelling people’s cruises because they aren’t getting enough volunteers to move. This has me worried as I booked a discounted fare (I work in the airline industry so I’m familiar with the overbooking process) and feel that I will be one of the first to be cancelled. We are literally a week and a half away from sailing!! Moving my cruise is not an option!!! I do have insurance on the cruise but money has been spent on airfares and hotels, etc. The hotel in Montréal is refundable until the 8th, thank goodness. I’m sooo looking forward to this cruise and have had it booked for 6 months and been eagerly awaiting it and now I’m completely stressed that we will get cancelled! UGH!!

 

Thanks for letting me vent. 😳😤

And as I was typing this, I received another email with another cruise offer but much less money offer but with an upgrade to a penthouse suite. I’m already in a penthouse suite on my cruise. Lol 

 

Edited May 31, 2023 by dsindallas

[dsindallas]

Ok, I’ve started breathing again and decided that, if we get cancelled, we will make lemonade out of lemons and still go to Montréal and make up our own Canada vacation with the money we will get back since moving the cruise isn’t an option. 😀

[Techno123]

From what I have read on other posts/forums - some cruises are waitlisted with people happy to pay full price so if they give those people with a suite on a discounted fare a sweetener to move to another cruise, they get the full fare from the wait listed people. I don't think anyone is forcibly evicted.

[Techno123]

There is another thread just below this one with the same issue you have.

[dsindallas]

Thanks Techno123! That does make a lot of sense to offer the people who paid less than full fare a deal to get those who are willing to pay full fare off of the waitlist and onto the ship. It makes me breathe a little easier. 😃

[warmwater]

I got this as well, but Regent has my head spinning. They offered me a cruise that's already happened, and that's it! Oh my, guys we need some administrative assistance here...

 

[dsindallas]

I got that offer too and thought the same thing. Lol! Clearly a typo but doesn’t someone proofread these things? 

[papaflamingo]

1 hour ago, dsindallas said:

OK, so now Regent has me worried ..., “we have overbooked this cruise and need people to switch out of it or we are going to have to cancel some of you if we don’t get enough volunteers.” ... This has me worried as I booked a discounted fare (I work in the airline industry so I’m familiar with the overbooking process) and feel that I will be one of the first to be cancelled. We are literally a week and a half away from sailing!! Moving my cruise is not an option!!!

 

 

 

First, as to “we have overbooked this cruise and need people to switch out of it or we are going to have to cancel some of you if we don’t get enough volunteers," don't worry, they aren't going to involuntarily cancel you.  We had a similar offer for our March cruise.  We took it because we were in the middle of major house repairs after a Christmas water leak.  Worked out GREAT for us.  

So... we were also on an Interline Rate.  They gave me about 20% refund, and moved me to a Dec. cruise. Our original cruise was on Navigator in a Deluxe Verandah, we were moved to Mariner and a Penthouse A complete with a free hotel stay!  The Regent agent, when we made the move said "wow, you're getting a great deal on this."  Yup, that was an understatement!  😎

l read that others also took advantage of the offer.  And they were NOT on Interline Rates. So it's not necessarily about the lowest rates and not like the airlines where they'll involuntarily cancel you.  And since you said you can't move the cruise, then no worries, you'll be on that ship!

Like I said, for us, it was a lifesaver. The offer came 4 days before the cruise and we had hardwood floor people and painters scheduled to come in while we were on the cruise.  So not counting the significant upgrade, the fact we could be here for the repairs was fantastic.  

Have a wonderful cruise! 

[Hanoj]

56 minutes ago, warmwater said:

I got this as well, but Regent has my head spinning. They offered me a cruise that's already happened, and that's it! Oh my, guys we need some administrative assistance here...

 

Are the “terms and conditions” of this offer retroactive then?🤪

[pappy1022]

As I said in a previous post, I sense a lack of attention to detail

[dsindallas]

That’s great, Papaflamingo (cool name, btw)! Since this is our first Regent cruise, I was just a little freaked out about the email as you could tell by my post. With the craziness that this year’s summer travel is going to be plus the stories of cruise lines being overbooked, I was a little verklempt. I’ve gone back to normal now with the help of people like you letting me know it will be fine. Thanks! 

[NYC-London]

I am curious - what cabin did you book? We are also on that cruise but didn't receive any offers.

[dsindallas]

Penthouse A suite

[NYC-London]

We are in a deluxe veranda suite and did not receive the offer - I know other people on the cruise and only one other couple received the offer, the other three did not - I wonder how it was determined who would receive the offer - any insights?

[nfcu]

Regent will never bump anyone from a cruise without their permission.   They will just keep increasing their offers with more cash/upgrades/etc until they get the right amount of volunteers to go on a different cruise.  Works every time. 

[scottie920]

40 minutes ago, NYC-London said:

We are in a deluxe veranda suite and did not receive the offer - I know other people on the cruise and only one other couple received the offer, the other three did not - I wonder how it was determined who would receive the offer - any insights?

Perhaps where the guests reside. 

[papaflamingo]

2 hours ago, NYC-London said:

We are in a deluxe veranda suite and did not receive the offer - I know other people on the cruise and only one other couple received the offer, the other three did not - I wonder how it was determined who would receive the offer - any insights?

No one other than the people who made the decision knows why certain people were given the offer and not others.  Could have to do with Cabin Category, i.e. maybe they have a long Penthouse waitlist but not long for Verandah cabins.  Could have to do with how much was paid for the cruise.  If someone booked a long time ago (say 2 years) and got what is now considered a really good rate, maybe they ask them as they can sell the cabin for more money and push the lower rates down the road.  My guess is that's it's a combination of both waitlist for specific category and cost of cabin when booked.  But who knows? 

[Pcardad]

20 hours ago, Techno123 said:

From what I have read on other posts/forums - some cruises are waitlisted with people happy to pay full price so if they give those people with a suite on a discounted fare a sweetener to move to another cruise, they get the full fare from the wait listed people. I don't think anyone is forcibly evicted.

100% true. Not overbooked...just demand greater than capacity. They are trying to move a paid client to a cruise with no waitlist to capture another client. You woukd NEVER be bumped.

[dsindallas]

Thanks everyone for helping calm my rattled nerves. I knew I could count on all of you! 😀

[rallydave]

Wait lists are likely not the problems.  Everyone is missing the point that guarantees have to be accommodated to liely it is finding suites for guarantees thus the ones geting the offers are those in categories that have people with guarantees and n place to sleep.

[ILCTCRUISER]

On 6/2/2023 at 12:00 AM, dsindallas said:

Thanks everyone for helping calm my rattled nerves. I knew I could count on all of you! 😀

We had our GTY stateroom assigned today.

[Chateaunole-du-pape]

2 hours ago, ILCTCRUISER said:

We had our GTY stateroom assigned today.

On which sailing? We sail in just over two weeks, from Stockholm... Still waiting for our GTY to turn into a real stateroom! I'm confident that it will, but we're very excited to see where we'll be!

[RELS]

3 hours ago, ILCTCRUISER said:

We had our GTY stateroom assigned today.

 

My cruise starts in a week. Still waiting for my GTY suite assignment...

[zalusky]

We just took a move over offer from Viking.  They completely refunded our fare including cruise sponsored affair.  They then let us pick any sailing 15 days or less in the next two years.  They offered a category upgrade and tips/booze package.   The kicker is they discounted the new sailing by the amount of the refund effectively giving us a free sailing.  A very good deal so it’s interesting to see what a higher end line is doing and it does not measure up.

Edited June 8, 2023 by zalusky

[Lonedaddy]

Sounds like it may be a smoky cruise .