Flight with Regent to Miami ( UK resident)

[eric4395]

Flying from Scotland in November  to Miami. for cruise on Grandeur

TA said almost certainly via London then direct to Miami with prob BA or maybe virgin flights

the day before cruise and a overnight hotel stay pre cruise.

Anyone any idea when you approx get notified of flight details, reason i ask is the flights from London have been open for reservations a few weeks now and thought for that reason i would have heard something by now.

[welshfamily]

Flights are usually released some time after 290 days. We booked for August 2024 first week in September 2023. Outgoing flight was available in October return flights 16 days later. We are going for 16 days.

TA gave me the dates when flights would be available. 

We always deviate and upgrade to Business class which gives us control over flights.
Sorry not sure what happens if you just wait for Regent. 

[eric4395]

12 minutes ago, welshfamily said:

Flights are usually released some time after 290 days. We booked for August 2024 first week in September 2023. Outgoing flight was available in October return flights 16 days later. We are going for 16 days.

TA gave me the dates when flights would be available. 

We always deviate and upgrade to Business class which gives us control over flights.
Sorry not sure what happens if you just wait for Regent. 

Dont think there will be much point in deviating, we are guaranteed a 1 night  pre cruise hotel stay, flights from London get you to Miami either in the afternoon or early evening so it has to be one of them. If we were to fly from Scotland to Miami via a changeover in Europe somewhere i dont think you would even get to Miami on the  day before our cruise. Do you mean expect to here about flights 290 days before our cruise ie March Seems strange as flight reservations are available at this moment. 

[welshfamily]

This is because of the contract Regent has with the different airlines. For example, We can get Lufthansa flights before KLM.

We fly from Manchester and avoid Heathrow as we have been very unlucky with shuttles with BA. Lots of cancellations.

 

[wcsdkqh]

As i recall, if you don’t deviate, you will get flights at the 75 day mark.

[Gilly]

10 hours ago, welshfamily said:

We always deviate and upgrade to Business class which gives us control over flights.

We also do this  and choose which flights we want.

[Techno123]

We flew to Miami December 2022 and it was a nightmare! If you are flying to London from Scotland I strongly recommend travelling to London the day before and staying in an airport hotel.
 

We live in North Wales so Manchester is our nearest airport. Regent had a shuttle from Manchester to LHR then either a 9am (ish) BA to Miami or we were offered a later flight with the shuttle on the same day. Having experienced BA losing luggage we flew on the shuttle the day before to get the 9am flight then the weather hit!

 

Terminal 3 at Manchester was chaos - all the morning flights everywhere from T3 cancelled, planes refreezing as quickly as they were de-iced. Our flight was early afternoon, actually left Man at 6pm and got to the hotel just as Harry Kane kicked the ball over the crossbar 😜.

 

If we had gone for the same day shuttle we would have missed our flight to Miami.  Oh, and on the way back, we made our LHR -Man flight by the skin of our teeth but the luggage didn't - we saw that a week later!!
 

Edited January 17 by Techno123

[lprp]

100% agree with everyone about (a) paying the deviation fee and (b) getting to LHR the day before and staying overnight.

As @Gillysaid, if you deviate you get to choose which flight you want (tip: do your research before calling or getting your TA to call them) and as per  @wcsdkqh, if you don’t deviate you won’t be notified of flights until 75 days before…

We flew LHR-MIA in December for our Christmas cruise on Mariner and we stayed at the Sofitel at T5, you just have to use the walkway to get into T5. We live about 90 miles from LHR and our flight with BA wasn’t until 14:15, so an overnight stay might seem like an extravagance. BUT, we have to navigate the M25 and M4, never fun at anytime of year, but definitely not in winter. This time it paid dividends as we received a text from BA at 08:15 advising that our flight was delayed until at least  18:30. As we were effectively at the airport we toddled over, spoke to the lady on the Club World check in desk and asked her if we could be transferred onto one of the 2 early AA flights. They were full, so they offered us Virgin with all the relevant Tier points and Avios! Definitely worth it.

[eric4395]

Looking at the flights available on the day we fly there are 3 or 4 choices. BA,American Airlines and Virgin leaving from Heathrow sometime between 10 am and 14 :00. These are the only flights that would get you to Miami and be able to book into your pre night hotel.

Bare in mind we have to get from Edin to Heathrow first so the 10:00 am is prob to tight to arrange us on. I'm not sure where deviate comes into it in our situation other than making the choice to fly down the day before as suggested by  poster Iprp  and stay in a Heathrow airport hotel before maybe catching the 10 :00  flight to Miami. So extra expense to deviate, extra expense for a airport  hotel, extra expense to make sure we are next to each other ( business class flights promised on this particular booking!). Our TA hasn't mentioned any of this to us so far🙂. Anyway await to see what we eventually end up with.

Edited January 17 by eric4395

[eric4395]

9 hours ago, wcsdkqh said:

As i recall, if you don’t deviate, you will get flights at the 75 day mark.

Sorry don't even know what this means if you don't deviate?

What is the 75 day mark?

 

[Jane Mitchell]

I would talk to your travel agent.  We booked last March for a cruise starting in Feb 24.  We didn't deviate ie pick our own flights but the TA gave us the flight details about a week after booking.  We don't have an extra step involved as we are relatively close to Heathrow but I don't see why this should make much difference.  They should at least be able to give you a timescale as to when things might happen if they can't provide details straight away.

[Gilly]

Clearly @lprp and I think along the same lines - living a similar distance away but in the opposite direction.  We're also Sofitel overnighters, preferring to check in the evening before (after 4pm for a BA flight the following day). That means we can get up and go straight through to the lounge the next morning with no hassle or queues.  We used to make use of the Valet Parking at LHR too, but found that since Covid (and resultant staff shortages?), their Meet and Greet service is as good if not better.  So, we leave the car with them, wander over to check in at whatever time we arrive, offload our bags and go off for a peaceful evening and a good night's sleep before starting the journey in a calm and relaxed frame of mind.

[eric4395]

3 hours ago, Jane Mitchell said:

I would talk to your travel agent.  We booked last March for a cruise starting in Feb 24.  We didn't deviate ie pick our own flights but the TA gave us the flight details about a week after booking.  We don't have an extra step involved as we are relatively close to Heathrow but I don't see why this should make much difference.  They should at least be able to give you a timescale as to when things might happen if they can't provide details straight away.

My TA is  going to email Regent tomorrow to see if there are any updates or a rough timescale when I should know my flights

Edited January 17 by eric4395

[wcsdkqh]

48 minutes ago, eric4395 said:

My TA is  going to email Regent tomorrow to see if there are any updates or a rough timescale when I should know my flights

That question was already answered. If you didn't deviate (to select specific flights and dates), you will receive your flight details 75 days prior to boarding. If you don't know what deviating is or means, there is an entire sticky thread devoted to that topic at the top of the list of threads.

 

[eric4395]

Just now, wcsdkqh said:

That question was already answered. If you didn't deviate (to select specific flights and dates), you will receive your flight details 75 days prior to boarding. If you don't know what deviating is or means, there is an entire sticky thread devoted to that topic at the top of the list of threads.

 

My TA hasn't even mentioned the word deviate or told me to look for flights that  maybe suit us. Our reservation is from Scotland to Miami with business class flights in each direction arranged by Regent , we didn't have to upgrade to a suite for this and we are in a deluxe balcony. We leave on Nov23rd and have a night in a pre cruise hotel in Miami before the cruise on the 24th.

To get there at a reasonable time from Edinburgh/ London / Miami we would have to leave London anytime between 10am and 14 :30. So I assume it has to be one of these flights and deviating and looking for something specific doesn't really matter in our case I presume? So are you saying we will get all these details about 75 days before the cruise. Our TA is under the impression (and she has reserved this type of intinery before) that we should here about our flights prob within the next month but is going to email  Regent for an update tomorrow. She said she is unaware of any problem before when arranging similar ( although the business class flight is not a normal perk) and nobody deviated to her knowledge as there are limited choices in getting from Edinburgh to Miami in a reasonable time which includes an overnight stay in Miami.

[SusieQft]

Does Regent have different flught booking rules and time tables for UK and US?

[liptastic]

I agree with Gilly and Iprp re flying to Lhr and staying overnight at the Sofitel. Our nearest gateway airport is Aberdeen, which is a good 90 minutes drive. We can get the first shuttle to Lhr and then connect transatlantic if the flight is after lunchtime, but also have the option to stay fly night before and stay over.  It’s best to get all your options from your TA and work out what’s best for you.  It’s good to have a nice leasure start to your cruise.     Jean. 

[Jane Mitchell]

2 hours ago, wcsdkqh said:

That question was already answered. If you didn't deviate (to select specific flights and dates), you will receive your flight details 75 days prior to boarding. If you don't know what deviating is or means, there is an entire sticky thread devoted to that topic at the top of the list of threads.

 

Not strictly true.  As I mentioned above, we didn't deviate and we had our flight details a good 10 months before our cruise.  This may be a UK vs US situation, but it's what happened for us.

[eric4395]

Just now, SusieQft said:

Does Regent have different flught booking rules and time tables for UK and US?

I'm a novice 1st time cruiser with Regent and looking at the posts especially the deviation information , it seems to be a US situation more than a UK one. The only decision I might have to make is as has been stated by other UK customers is whether to go to London the day before the flight from London & Stay in a hotel prob at the Airport.  I booked a cruise with Regent with business class flights in each direction and a pre cruise hotel in Miami and expect Regent to provide exactly this. The TA doesn't seem to think there is any cause for concern either as she has reserved many with  the same scenario.

[swansong]

3 hours ago, eric4395 said:

My TA hasn't even mentioned the word deviate or told me to look for flights that  maybe suit us. Our reservation is from Scotland to Miami with business class flights in each direction arranged by Regent , we didn't have to upgrade to a suite for this and we are in a deluxe balcony. We leave on Nov23rd and have a night in a pre cruise hotel in Miami before the cruise on the 24th.

To get there at a reasonable time from Edinburgh/ London / Miami we would have to leave London anytime between 10am and 14 :30. So I assume it has to be one of these flights and deviating and looking for something specific doesn't really matter in our case I presume? So are you saying we will get all these details about 75 days before the cruise. Our TA is under the impression (and she has reserved this type of intinery before) that we should here about our flights prob within the next month but is going to email  Regent for an update tomorrow. She said she is unaware of any problem before when arranging similar ( although the business class flight is not a normal perk) and nobody deviated to her knowledge as there are limited choices in getting from Edinburgh to Miami in a reasonable time which includes an overnight stay in Miami.

It’s my experience that in the UK flights are notified with a booking reference within a week or two of them becoming available. E.g. about 10 months prior to departure. They are not ticketed until about 70 days before departure. We don’t have the same procedures with flights as in the US. Your TA can usually ask for a choice of times or airlines ( limited in the UK) but as your BC flights are part of the deal you may not get a choice.

Edited January 17 by swansong
Added info

[eric4395]

Just now, swansong said:

It’s my experience that in the UK flights are notified with a booking reference within a week or two of them becoming available. E.g. about 10 months prior to departure. They are not ticketed until about 70 days before departure. We don’t have the same procedures with flights as in the US.

The flights have been available for a few weeks now, that's why I thought I would have heard something by now.

[swansong]

Ask your TA to chase it up. I ask mine to diary the enquiry when I book albeit that I don’t always take the Regent flights if they are overpriced. 

[eric4395]

Just now, swansong said:

Ask your TA to chase it up. I ask mine to diary the enquiry when I book albeit that I don’t always take the Regent flights if they are overpriced. 

My TA is  contacting them tomorrow and mines can't be overpriced as they are included in the booking😊

[cruisevirgin24]

We also always overnight in the Sofitel before flying from T5. Like Gilly, we visit the terminal the night before, check-in, and return to our room for a glass of bubbly to start our holiday a day early. 

My DH drives from Bath to LHR 4 or 5 times a month and spends many of these journeys in heavy traffic. I don't want that anxiety when travelling for enjoyment.

[seasickphil]

Eric,

 

 Also agree with @Jane Mitchell & @swansong our flights on our Regent cruises have been given way earlier than 75 days out. We have been informed of our flight times by our TA normally around 9/10 months before our cruise departs. If the flights offered don't suit you then you can always ask Regent if there are alternative flights available, we did this last July for our cruise on Splendor, where we flew out of our local airport instead of having to travel down to London We were given BA flights from Heathrow [obviously not ticketed] to Rio in July 2023 for our March 2024 Rio to Lisbon cruise aboard Voyager, we would have asked Regent once again if they could arrange flights from Norwich [via Amsterdam] to Rio but unfortunately my wife's mother is very poorly with cancer, therefore we cancelled the cruise just before Christmas so as she can be with her mother.

So if you do not like the flights/times offered then don't be afraid to ask if there are alternative flights available from airports that are more suitable to you. We have gone with the original flights offered by Regent from London, we have also asked and were provided with alternative flights from Norwich [small charge] and we have also made our own flight arrangements instead of taking ones offered by Regent.