Israel Next week Voyager

[Susan64]

I normally read and don’t post but….
 

We just found out, our friends who live in the UK were on this cruise,  they were allowed to cancel with full refund or change dates or remain on the cruise. 
 

I just  thought those who are on this sailing  would want to know.  Something to approach Regent with.  
 

I guess Regent likes UK guests better than Americans 

[Pcardad]

27 minutes ago, Susan64 said:

I normally read and don’t post but….
 

We just found out, our friends who live in the UK were on this cruise,  they were allowed to cancel with full refund or change dates or remain on the cruise. 
 

I just  thought those who are on this sailing  would want to know.  Something to approach Regent with.  
 

I guess Regent likes UK guests better than Americans 

Well...perhaps Regent really does do the right thing in the end. 🙂

[PaulaJK]

Perhaps R would like to clarify and articulate their policy if it has now changed. At minimum,

it would save them a lot of effort/ time in rescheduling flights if the passenger is not traveling.

[melbox4]

3 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

Well...perhaps Regent really does do the right thing in the end. 🙂

They do the right thing for  some but not all…we were denied a cancellation or credit. 

[Susan64]

Actually it sounds like guests from the UK have different rules 

[papaflamingo]

58 minutes ago, melbox4 said:

My TA called RSSC on Sunday and their agent had no idea there had been a major terror attack 36 hours earlier.

It was unsettling to hear that RSSC had not informed their agents of the attack. IMO...they had 36 hours to prepare their agents for the calls that would follow and they dropped the ball. 

RSSC should be open to hearing all of our concerns, criticisms, and praises. It would benefit the company as well their customers to learn from mistakes made. 

I am sure that everyone posting here has great sorrow and empathy for was has occurred in Israel. 

Honestly, I think you expect way too much.  When this happened the cruise that was affected was a week away.  It takes time to evaluate the situation, gather all the information, look at options, and come up with a plan.  The fact that the weekend phone agents weren't "read in" on what upper management was considering is not surprising at all.  You really think that a major decision like this should be made in the first 36 hours without complete information, without  time to consider alternatives, without exploring the actual ability to put alternative in place?   

[Pcardad]

They weren't allowing refunds for the UK either 2 days ago...

[Joanandjoe]

We asked our TA about why Brits were getting their money back and we weren't,  She said that the refunds were a matter of British law, and the US has no similar protective law.

 

BTW, we still haven't gotten flights for the revised trip.  We don't even know what day we are supposed to leave.  It's still possible that we will cancel.

[melbox4]

13 minutes ago, papaflamingo said:

Honestly, I think you expect way too much.  When this happened the cruise that was affected was a week away.  It takes time to evaluate the situation, gather all the information, look at options, and come up with a plan.  The fact that the weekend phone agents weren't "read in" on what upper management was considering is not surprising at all.  You really think that a major decision like this should be made in the first 36 hours without complete information, without  time to consider alternatives, without exploring the actual ability to put alternative in place?   

I don’t agree with you. 

[Levett]

We are canceling and are grateful to be safe and our losing money is of no consequence compared to the unspeakable suffering of the people in Israel and those who are innocent civilians in Gaza.   Profit is apparently of great consequence to RSSC.  A “holy land” trip without Israel is something entirely different than advertised.  Docking a ship with numerous American tourists in Egypt under current conditions is potentially dangerous and many guests will not risk disembarking.  Add in two gratuitous days at sea and this is not at all the product we purchased.   We have been loyal customers and devoted advocates of RSSC and are disappointed to be treated with such disregard.   A very shortsighted business decision.

[Pcardad]

1 minute ago, Joanandjoe said:

We asked our TA about why Brits were getting their money back and we weren't,  She said that the refunds were a matter of British law, and the US has no similar protective law.

 

BTW, we still haven't gotten flights for the revised trip.  We don't even know what day we are supposed to leave.  It's still possible that we will cancel.

Regent is calling/emailing people/TA's as we speak.

[Susan64]

How do you let some people cancel and others not.  

Not good business

 

what is Regent calling about? 

[Pcardad]

3 minutes ago, Susan64 said:

How do you let some people cancel and others not.  

Not good business

 

what is Regent calling about? 

Apparently there is a law in the UK that allows a client to cancel in the event or port changes due to war...and Regent is informing TA's/Clients about new flights.

[Susan64]

I would call Regent and complain that UK was allowed to cancel.  
let them explain how UK guests are more important than guests from the USA!!!

Edited October 10, 2023 by Susan64

[Pcardad]

Just now, Susan64 said:

I would call Regent and complain that UK was allowed to cancel.  
let them explain how UK guests are more imports than guests from the USA!!!

Has nothing to do with that....and everything to do with the laws if the UK. Still, time will tell...

[Susan64]

So they are only letting UK guests out because they have to? 
 

That almost sounds worse.  
 

Other lines are letting guests cancel 

[roninman]

1 hour ago, GMIAC said:

Larger lines likely have enormous customer service departments, and cancellations probably don't affect them as acutely as smaller lines, much like a small restaurant is more affected by a cancellation than a large one. W 

I would suggest it's not the size of a customer service department that matters, but the ratio of customer service agent to passenger, and that companies that position themselves as luxe would be expected to have a lower number of customers per agent, so as to provide a more personalized level of service.

 

And that if customers are told they should have known areas of the Near East are known hot spots, then all the more reason companies should know, thereby having contingencies such as corporate insurance, and contracted business travel companies who can handle sudden overloads resulting from unexpected events resulting in the need for many immediate travel changes.

 

In this case, however, the decision to make customers whole through refund or credit is not left up to CSRs, but to executives, who can make a decision in minutes.   It's very much the job of executives to make important decisions even when all the information is not in; to their credit, other cruise companies did just that, and offered their customers refund and credit.   On the other hand, according to some posters here, Regent, too, made a quick executive decision, but in their case it was to immediately inform customers there would be no refunds and no future credit.

[cwn]

11 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

Has nothing to do with that....and everything to do with the laws if the UK. Still, time will tell...

 

7 minutes ago, Susan64 said:

So they are only letting UK guests out because they have to? 
 

That almost sounds worse.  
 

Other lines are letting guests cancel 

Maybe a UK member will chime in but this has been a source of complaints over how the countries laws affect the businesses’ rules. UK has heavy duty customer protection laws, the US doesn’t. 
The Brit’s complain that our deposits are refundable until a few months before sailing and are less. Their deposits are non refundable and more, also the cruises are more also. As I understand from friends.

[PhD-iva]

The cynic in me suggests that Regent is trying to minimize the number of pax who cancel prior to embarkation. The more pax who go on the cruise, the fewer “refunds/FCC” R will eventually need to pay out to fewer clients.

Outlandish thought?

[Susan64]

Regent should start hearing from some people who are not happy that UK guests were allowed to cancel and Celebrity allowed their guests to cancel.  

[Gilly]

1 hour ago, Susan64 said:

Actually it sounds like guests from the UK have different rules 

Yes, UK/European Ts and Cs are different from those in the US because of our consumer law.  I can't explain detail because I'm no expert but hopefully someone here can offer a better/clearer explanation.  

[papaflamingo]

2 hours ago, melbox4 said:

I don’t agree with you. 

Ok...that's what discussion is about... differing opinions.  

[Techno123]

2 hours ago, Gilly said:

Yes, UK/European Ts and Cs are different from those in the US because of our consumer law.  I can't explain detail because I'm no expert but hopefully someone here can offer a better/clearer explanation.  

Taken from an article in the Independent newspaper I believe this is the UK/EU 'rule' for package holidays (which a cruise holiday is). So it's not Regent favouring UK guests over others, it is a legal responsibility. However, as they have changed the itinerary, I don't know if that changes things as the cruise won't be going to Israel 
 

Late on Sunday the Foreign Office strengthened its warning to read: “The FCDO advises against all but essential travel to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories [OPTs].”

 

Therefore due to package holiday rules, Travellers who have booked packages to Israel and are due to travel imminently can cancel without penalty for a full refund because of the “no-go” warning from the Foreign Office. 

Edited October 10, 2023 by Techno123

[Texasrocks]

5 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

This just happened, less than a week out for Regent to figure out how to route hundreds of passengers in and out of a new port, Istanbul.  So I don't get your comment "they are trying to force us into a last minute flight from the U.S. to Istanbul."  Of course it's "last minute."  Have you looked at flights lately?  The airlines are booked up for weeks to months.  Suddenly hundreds need to get to Istanbul on the same day less than a week away, and you're surprised that it' s taking them some time? 

I hear what you are saying but we had AF flights already with them on Wednesday the 11th (tomorrow)  but instead of booking available connection to IST, The geniuses at Regent booked one of our rooms to Friday on Turkish and the other on BA to LHR with a 7 hr connection arriving at midnight on Saturday.  Had the air only asked ours was an easy fix and there are still seats on TK Wednesday and Thursdays.  We are will to get our own hotel what seems to be a win win but the lack of communication resulted in a horrible situation for us.  I recommend this cruise and regent to 3 other couples and feel responsible and embarrassed at Regents response so far.  We booked regent because of the air and this is frist time using that service.  I doubt we will sail them again and have 3 cruises to cancel and a FC cert.  We had a good time on SS and now that they are going more casual it becomes an easy decision.  Our TA will be calling in the AM to try to get switched to a Thursday or Wednesday flight.  I tried today as well and got a very rude agent Janine who said they are doing everything they can, i told he I disagreed.  After the call ended and before we disconnected she yelled "GODDDDD" .  Great service.  

[mrlevin]

Texas, you so eloquently stated the problem; sanity is not part of the decision process.  They need to spend five minutes on the phone with each client (how many can there be on Regent air) to discuss before finalizing.  This is the exact reason that I have not been using Regent air.