Never thought I'd get this annoyed/disappointed with Regent

[poss]

I'm wondering if this is happening with other itineraries, viz.:

We're booked on Celtic Charms for August. Excursion booking has just become available. In some of the stops, Voyager is in port for 10-12 hours. Unlike for all our past cruises (on Regent!), a person can sign up for only one cruise at each port. E.g. in Dublin, we're in port from 8:00 AM-8:00 PM. ALL excursions leave at 8:30 AM. On every other cruise, on those long port days, we've often been able to do a tour in the morning AND one in the afternoon. We'd love to be able to do a tour of Dublin in the morning and visit Powerscourt Gardens in the afternoon; there's PLENTY of time for both.

Just curious: Are others finding this new limitation on excursions? We find it very frustrating.

[cruiseluv]

Hi Poss,

I'm still waiting for excursions for our 8/19 cruise (right after yours) to be made available in a couple of weeks. However, I have noticed that at least one excursion that used to be "free" now has a supplement. My theory in the matter is that they are being less generous with their "Free" excursions. Just another way to save money. But this is just speculation on my part. We also have some ports with long hours. I'll let you know after 2/20 if I encounter the same thing as you.

[TedC]

I understand your frustration, but I suggest take a Dublin Regent excursion and then, on your own, take Dublin's hop on/off bus which is best we've ever used anywhere by far.


It was our experience the drivers had great information and were VERY witty.

One caveat: There may be two (or more) hop on/off systems and I can't remember which one we used - probably the least expensive.

[Travelcat2]

Really happy to hear that the ports stops are a bit longer. It really helps those of us who prefer doing our own thing.

In terms of excursions. . . Regent has been "attempting" to manage "free" excursions for 2 years or so and are rarely successful. The way they manage the excursions, it's amazing they can get 500+ passengers on one excursion per day. . . . perhaps they realized that doing two just wasn't working:o

[AWED23]

Really happy to hear that the ports stops are a bit longer. It really helps those of us who prefer doing our own thing.

In terms of excursions. . . Regent has been "attempting" to manage "free" excursions for 2 years or so and are rarely successful. The way they manage the excursions, it's amazing they can get 500+ passengers on one excursion per day. . . . perhaps they realized that doing two just wasn't working:o....You do your own thing and yet you know that Regent is not managing their shore excursions well?....Remarkable...We have well over 100 days and use the provided excursions almost exclusively...Regent does an excellent job in that department based solely on my own experience. Their methods of assembly and monitoring gangway or tender traffic is as good as it gets. But then, since we almost always use the ships tours, we are possibly biased.:cool:

[wripro]

They advertise "Excursions Included" not "one excursion per day included." I have said from the beginning it's a marketing scam which seems to be working in terms of selling cabins. But then half price and two for one scams work on many people too.

[Travelcat2]

....You do your own thing and yet you know that Regent is not managing their shore excursions well?....Remarkable...We have well over 100 days and use the provided excursions almost exclusively...Regent does an excellent job in that department based solely on my own experience. Their methods of assembly and monitoring gangway or tender traffic is as good as it gets. But then, since we almost always use the ships tours, we are possibly biased.:cool:

Just want to clarify. In order to do your own thing, it is necessary to get off of the ship. We were part of a large herd trying to get off of the Mariner last month (note: I have photo's and witnesses) This was not a tender port -- we simply wanted to walk off of the ship. Due to the tide, the were using one gangway for over 500 people that were scheduled to go on their tours at the same time. We thought the time we picked to disembark would have less people.

There were many discussions of excursions on our cruise (which, by the way, improved later as we left the Caribbean). We learned from officers that we dined with that Regent faces challenges in terms of finding the right tour companies in some areas of the world. Some of the best tour providers have contracts with cruiselines with 2000+ passenger ships. It is obviously more profitable for a tour company to provide tours for ships larger than Regent.

Must applaud you for doing over 100 days since free excursions began. We also have over 100 days, most of them prior to the addition of included excursions. We have done both Regent and non-Regent excursions. One of the best excursions we have ever been on was a Regent excursion in Alaska. There was a fee and it was worth it.

[neviboy]

I repeat what I stated several months ago. Regent should abolish
"free" excursions and lower prices accordingly, or allow a deduction as is done with "free" air.
In our 14 cruises with Regent, I planned our own excursions and used Regent when it was a necessity.In some instances we chose to remain on the ship or just saunter around the port. I am sure that there are many cruisers who would do this, but because of the 'free' aspect, they take advantage and sign up. If there was a charge, as in the past, people would think about it.
On our last 10 day cruise, Istanbul to Athens, we signed up for several excursions, not all, and the actual cost of the free ones amounted to about $1500/couple. Excursions are part of the pleasure of cruising and do cost whether using the ship or private. In the latter case only 2 or 3 couples are involved and may be even much less costwise than the ships' excursions.
To sum up. After 2 years of experimentation, it is my opinion that Regent should revert to freedom of choice and lower fares .

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Good grief Poss, do you mean that the Guinness tour in Dublin, and the Belfast pub crawl are in the morning? That's just plain silly. Have you spoken to anybody at Regent about this?

I too wish they would go back to paid excursions, although perhaps not until my Alaska trip next year! ;)

[RachelG]

Last year, when we were in Dublin on regent, we were only able to book one excursion. There were excursions offered in the morning and in the afternoon, but the time between them was too short to allow you to book both. We explored downtown on our own in the am and did the Powerscourt tour in the pm.
Yes, Wendy, the Guinness tour was in the am, but when I did it on my own a couple of years ago, I did it in the am.
Pub crawl is in Belfast, not Dublin, so not an issue. It was in the evening last year.

[Colonel(Ret.)Wes]

+1 (strongly agree) Neville

[Travel2Learn]

I was told by Regent that there must be 1.5 hours between excursions to book more than 1 tour for 1 day. I was able to book 2 tours in 1 day only when the first was a morning tour, and the second was secheduled for 5 PM. You can do 2 in a day, but they must be spaced out to allow sufficient time between tours. IMHO, it's so passengers and crew are not frustrated with the restaurant service between tours.

[TedC]

It's our experience that posted time of some excursions are far from accurate. One "4-hour" tour lasted close to 7 hours on a Rio to FLL segment on Navigator.

[mrlevin]

I was told by Regent that there must be 1.5 hours between excursions to book more than 1 tour for 1 day. I was able to book 2 tours in 1 day only when the first was a morning tour, and the second was secheduled for 5 PM. You can do 2 in a day, but they must be spaced out to allow sufficient time between tours. IMHO, it's so passengers and crew are not frustrated with the restaurant service between tours.

We were able to book three tours a day when in St Petersburg. ;)

I, too, have noticed some tours that were once free are no longer free. I had thought that any tour less than $200 would be free, that is definitely not the case. Still, since it is so easy to use shipboard credit once on board to "pay" for excursions paid for in advance, the excursions are still a great deal.

[Responder]

I suppose it's difficult for everyone to agree...

Money is not the issue. We are quite pleased with the excursions, and as I mentioned before, because they are included we feel compelled to go on more of them.

Every one is different...we have been cruising for about 45 years and our attitude is that we don't have to go everywhere and see everything...for us it's not a contest. Sometimes even when we have an event booked, if we are too tired we may not go...and we don't consider this any loss. On many other ships through the years, we went on many paid excursions and were herded like cattle...sent out on overcrowded busses with guides who spoke so poorly that the cruise lines actually refunded the payments. On top of that, some excursions never came off for a multitude of reasons, so just to recommend that Regent do away with the pre-paids may not be the answer.

For us, Regent is an out the door experience. Pay and go. Psychologically this suits us...and evidently many others.

[Anna B.]

I think a lot of you misunderstood what Poss was trying to say......the reason we can book only one shore ex a day is because all of them are at 8:30 a.m. There are NO afternoon excursions offered even when we are in port until 8 p.m. :(

[Travelcat2]

Hi "AnnaB";) I did understand the question. . . . and, really do not feel that Regent can handle it (at least not well). In the case of Dublin, the Guinness tour is free and is not that exciting. A really interesting tour in Dublin is the Jameson distillary (also free). It might be a good idea to check out tours that are easily done without going to the theater and waiting for the bus. . . . . embarking and disembarking from the bus (where you may or may not have a decent view out of the window). There are many things that are easily doable -- especially in Ireland. If you learn where the Regent shuttle drops you off, you may find that many things are right there for you to enjoy!

[Anna B.]

Guinness... then Jameson? Maybe that's why they don't do two tours in one day....I wouldn't be able to find the bus! (sorry, couldn't resist that :D)

[Travelcat2]

Guinness... then Jameson? Maybe that's why they don't do two tours in one day....I wouldn't be able to find the bus! (sorry, couldn't resist that :D)

We couldn't find the bus either

[jhp]

I'm getting what AnnaB said. You are in a port for many hours and all the tours leave at 8:30 am, already saw this on my next cruise on the Voyager, in Bali, also hers. EVERY excursion "leaves" at 8:30 a.m. Why don't they stagger, so we do not have to wait so long in the theater with everyone else onboard? Only so many you can get off per minute with even an anchor port. I will hate if all the busses are "full"! My recent experience with Regent is about 60% full. Reserving on this issue until I've had my cruise, which is not fully boooked.

[txladycruiser]

We are on the Voyager now. Most of our excursions were to depart at 8:30 but when we got on board, our tickets were just a little different. Some were 8:15, 8:00, 8:30, 8:45. So far, all the tours have been very efficient and have started at the appointed time on our ticket.



Karen

[leese]

Is it possible that the times have all been set at 8:30 because Regent had to stick in 'any old time' and will firm up times in the future? Perhaps then 2 excursions will be able to be booked in one day.

[qldtraveller]

No I agree
RSSC do an amazing job of the tours.
In 2010 we did all their tours and no caoch had more than 20 people on it and it was very well organised.
The tours provided are also well put together and we speak from experience as we are also very independent travellers.

[qldtraveller]

Hi how incorrect your are
We did 2 tours in a day as well as some 12 - 13 hours tours in some ports of call in Mediterranean and also some independent tours. There were no supplements and no add on costs for food, drinks etc. All by Regent and had only 20 people per coach.
Can't get that with Oceania, Princess, HAL which we have sailed with also and when tours added in and the crowded coaches and the sales pitches at the nominated towns you visit thenadd in the cost.

[poss]

It's been interesting to read these varied views.
We're among the folks who've much enjoyed Regent's excursions. Unlike many of you, we have just 50 nights aboard, but we've been virtually 100% pleased. I'm not crazy about the masses of people in the theater waiting for tours to be called-- sometimes it gets a bit congested for sure. But the tours have never been overly crowded, they've been of high quality (ALMOST all), there's been a varied selection, they've been interesting and enjoyable. The main thing for us is that it's been so easy. My husband's at the age/stage where he's not much interested in traveling anymore, especially if there's any sort of complication. We were avid travelers/do-it-yourselfers for many happy and energetic decades: camping, back-backing, renting cars and taking off for wherever, sailing, etc. But them days are long-gone. Happily, we discovered that cruise-ship cruising-- something we were convinced we'd not like at all-- is a delightful way to enjoy vacations in our not-quite dotage. BUT, that works for us ONLY because sailing with Regent has made the excursion thing so easy. I totally understand the desire of many folks to do their own thing; I imagine that many of those independently-arranged tours are quite terrific, no doubt even more so than many of Regent's "free" (ha!) excursions. But for us, the ship's tours have been fine and dandy. I don't have strong feelings about whether to have them "included" or, as before, charge for each one. I'm pretty sure, however, that taking away the "free" aspect will NOT lower prices.

This new thing, as I said, is a MAJOR disappointment for us. (As was the fact that Voyager goes to Edinburgh--Rosyth-- in August and does NOT allow time to see the famous Tattoo-- that seems nutty. Most cruise lines leave plenty of time to fit such an excursion, as it's supposedly one of those not-to-be-missed events.)

If, for cost-cutting reasons, Regent has now decided that there'll be the opportunity for only one tour per day, the very least they can do is to be HONEST about it. I don't imagine that there are many people who can't figure out that "free excursions" are not "free." On the other hand, particularly for old-timers, when one sees that the ship is in port for 12 hours, one assumes that there'll be choices for both morning and afternoon (as there've been every other year that we've cruised with Regent). Putting all dozen or so choices at the same time (yes-- including pub crawls!) is just plain chintzy. I know that for many people, relaxing on ship for half a day is a treat. And I know that most people are fine with doing the hop-on kinds of things, or with arranging for private tours for part of the day/evening. For us that won't work, so we'll need to find another cruise line if that's the direction Regent is heading.

Bottom line: Regent will do whatever serves them best. I just want them to tell it like it is. (Which, come to think of it, will probably not serve them best.)

Happy Sails, All!

[Travelcat2]

Poss: I agree that taking away the "free" excursions will not lower prices. However, it would help with the chaos. It seems that some people randomly book tours in advance because they are free and sound good at the time. Once on board, they either politely cancel, or, just don't show up as there is nothing to lose. Then there is the waitlist that can be long and has to be dealt with after people are in the theater and before the excursion can leave.

I am not saying that Regent doesn't try to have buses that are not full (although three or four half-full buses show up at the same place at almost the same time which still causes back-ups). For those of you that have not had issues with Regent's "free" excursions, that's great! On our cruise last month, in addition to very long lines to get off of the ship, several tours were cancelled - leaving guests with no alternatives other than waitlisting. One CC'er went on a helmet dive excursion and walked off of it. Too many buses showed up at once. . . . she waited forever and decided to leave the chaos (Linda, feel free to chime in any time:-)

So, Poss, I'd suggest booking what you can as soon as you can and keep checking back to see if additional tours have been added. They do have a tendency to add tours or new tour times between the time you are able to book and the date you depart. Good luck!

[AWED23]

No I agree
RSSC do an amazing job of the tours.
In 2010 we did all their tours and no caoch had more than 20 people on it and it was very well organised.
The tours provided are also well put together and we speak from experience as we are also very independent travellers.
Another satisfied customer....We have enjoyed most of the tours that Regent has provided but not all of course. The tour operators are the same as used by HAL, Princess etc.. Sometimes you find yourself in a new port that does not see thousands of passengers and as a consequence the tour operators may not be first class. We had our first cruise in 1979 on the original "Love Boat".....Through the years we have learned to go with the flow.;)

[RachelG]

I think a lot of you misunderstood what Poss was trying to say......the reason we can book only one shore ex a day is because all of them are at 8:30 a.m. There are NO afternoon excursions offered even when we are in port until 8 p.m. :(

I am thinking that the tours won't really all be ata 8:30. I was looking at our Venice-Monte Carlo trip for later this year, and I noticed that every tour for the whole trip was listed as starting at the same time in the morning. I think they just haven't put in the actual times yet.
So I would just schedule one tour you really want to do, then you can always change or add another once onboard or later online if they put in different times. Most times it is not a problem adding or changing a tour onboard.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Rachel, I was thinking the same thing, that they almost certainly will have afternoon tours. But they should get their act together on this and publish a range of times--they did this back in the "paid" days.

This thread, guys, isn't about the quality of the tours, but about their scheduling. I really hope that you are right Rachel.

[smilingcruiser]

I just had to use the Regent site to rebook an excursion for our upcoming Panama Canal trip on the Navigator, due to an itinerary change. The instructions specifically said that there must be a minimum of 75 minutes between excursions for those passengers who wish to book more than one in a day.

[Lvtocruize2]

<<I am thinking that the tours won't really all be ata 8:30. I was looking at our Venice-Monte Carlo trip for later this year, and I noticed that every tour for the whole trip was listed as starting at the same time in the morning. I think they just haven't put in the actual times yet.
So I would just schedule one tour you really want to do, then you can always change or add another once onboard or later online if they put in different times. Most times it is not a problem adding or changing a tour onboard.>>

We are also taking the Venice-Monte Carlo cruise and had noticed that all our excursions start at 7:30 AM. Well, that's way too early for us!!! Hopefully the hours will change when we get on board so that we can take advantage of other tours since we will not be getting on the 7:30 tours.:(

Patty

[Longhorn1]

I agree, once again, with Nevi, Wes, TC and the rest who would like to have Regent just do away with the whole included Tour thing. Opt out, etc., just like the airfare. But, here we go again. It's the same old saw and, I'm afraid, it's best just to go with Silversea or Seabourn. I'm on two upcoming Regents--one long one in early 2012 even--but will move on after that. I'm willing to give up the perks and not have to deal with the Tour issue. Rather make my own arrangements, which I end up doing anyway.

[cruzndiz]

...and walked off of it. Too many buses showed up at once. . . . she waited forever and decided to leave the chaos (Linda, feel free to chime in any time:-)

You must know how badly I want to, LOL, but I won't! :rolleyes:

[Travelcat2]

You must know how badly I want to, LOL, but I won't! :rolleyes:

Okay -- I understand. You are soooooooo much more polite than I am;)

[cruzndiz]

Okay -- I understand. You are soooooooo much more polite than I am;)

not even close....you have me in diplomacy and you have me in trivia! But that's all I'm giving you :p

[nanook21]

Well, I'm willing to chime in! We had 3 of our most-anticipated tours cancelled on that cruise last month (FLL-Lima), so ended up just doing our own thing. And, guess what? Those were our most favorite port stops. We hated the first excursion so much in Curacao, and enjoyed our afternoon on our own walking around so much better, that we wish we'd just not taken the tour at all - it was a waste of time. Regent may be trying hard on this idea of 'included excursions' and for sure that's why we booked Regent in the first place, but for us the 'included excursions' were almost a total bust, with one exception. I've since been following CWN's blog, and they are still having major problems with some of the included excursions - not all the fault of Regent, to be sure, mostly local tour companies who are maybe not delivering what was promised. The idea of included excursions is wonderful, but IMHO Regent has to ride herd on the local operators a little better.

BTW, we discovered that the times specified on the tour bookings are not set in stone - we had 2 tours changed as to departure time, 'due to demand' or 'operator problems'. We were not happy about it. In one case, we were able to change it - the other one we had to cancel outright. :(

[qldtraveller]

Hi folks

On our cruise last year all tours indicated 8:00am and 8:30am start at each port. Guess what, they all left at different times once in port. One just waits till they board and the details are provided.
They are just making sure everyone is there to get their pass to go no tour.

[Observer]

I have gone on record before about my opposition to "free" excursions and launched a long thread suggesting an opt-out provision. Like most of my ideas, this one fell flat.

My most recent Regent cruise had several (full!) busses arriving at the tender dock at the same time. Standing in a line in the hot sun for ~20-30 minutes waiting for the next tender is not my idea of fun. Nor was standing in a very long line waiting for a rest room when all of the busses (there were either three or four, I cannot recall) arrived within 5 minutes of each other. Much of this, I believe, is a function of the "free" excursions. If it's "free", let's take it......

I was interested in another thread to see Regent management say that an advantage of the "free" excursions is that it folds the excursion costs into the fare, thus raises the fares, and gives travel agents higher commissions than they would receive if the excursions were booked separately.

I do not expect to travel Regent again until all of these "freebies" are removed and I am allowed to function like an adult who can book his own air, book his own hotel pre-departure, and choose whether he wants to explore independently or in a small group formed on the ship or on a ship-offered tour.

[tallship]

Observer-
I agree with much of what you have said. Never thought about the TA commission angle before but it makes sense. I was thinking of another reason as to how included excursions may be a problem for repeat cruisers. Like Nevi, we often choose to stay onboard, esp. in the Caribbean. So, we would love to be able to opt out in this location. If they offered us a $1000 cruise credit (the listed value of the excursions) we'd be booking far more often in the Caribbean. Another issue is in the Med. After several cruises in this region, I have now done most of the offered excursions at least once - you can only see Taormina and Mt. Etna so many tines...So the opting out option would allow me to still book this cruise as often as I would like but give me more options to stay onboard, walk around, arrange it on my own, etc.

I like the service on Regent very much and I really enjoy the company of my fellow cruisers and we continue to cruise Regent once a year - would do more if we could have the option to structure some things our way. Our first cruise in 2006 in the Med, all in with taxes, fees, Regent insurance was $3500 pp for an E on Voyager for a week. It's effectively double that now....nothing is free

[Hapytocruise]

Re Dublin...If anyone does decide to go off on their own and do the Hop On Hop Off (which I highly recommend) not only the Guinnes stop is very interesting with their 360 highest view point of Dublin observation bar, the Viking Museum is also very good. TIP you can pre-order your Guinnes ticket in advance on-line which gives you a code to go to an automated machine to get your ticket..(a big jump the line advantage if it is busy):)

[PaulaJK]

My understanding of Poss's disappointment was that all of the offered tours were in posted for morning. Regent, both when tours were individually priced and booked and when the included tours began, offered both morning & afternoon tours. In the more interesting ports,many a person booked one tour in each time zone.

All this talk along the lines of maybe the times will change or maybe it will be 8:45 instead of 8:30 does not impact the lack of afternoon tours, Indeed, it only suggests more time spent in the theater, more crowding,more confusion. Member qldtraveller seems content with this; we are not.

Included tours may make more money for many...but not for the pax. My thinking tends to be more in sync w. Observer's.

[poss]

Just to say that I finally got a call-back from a Regent rep. who says that destinations office is still doing a lot of juggling with this itinerary, and that there definitely will be afternoon excursions as well as mornings. We shall see. But it's certainly understandable that not everything is in place exactly on the day of sign-up, especially, come to think of it, when the itinerary is a less traveled one (by Regent). No problem at all with waiting a while-- it's just that I'd never before seen every single excursion in every single port listed for the exact same time: 12 hours in port, all tours in the A.M. Presumably things will shape up over the coming weeks-- supposedly by month's end.

[Anna B.]

Also, I think it's possible that the problems in Egypt and the necessary itinerary changes, or potential changes, have taken precedence over scheduling for August.

[poss]

For sure-- though those crazy schedules (all those 8:30's) showed months before there was any "situation" in Egypt.

[Anna B.]

Good point! I just booked last week and guess I didn't think through that answer. Glad you heard from Regent - that is good news!

[UKBayern]

They advertise "Excursions Included" not "one excursion per day included." I have said from the beginning it's a marketing scam which seems to be working in terms of selling cabins. But then half price and two for one scams work on many people too.

Interestingly enough, there is a banner advertisement from Regent on this page which says "Free unlimited shore excursions". Surely max one excursion per port cannot be considered as being "unlimited".

[cruiseluv]

Interestingly enough, there is a banner advertisement from Regent on this page which says "Free unlimited shore excursions". Surely max one excursion per port cannot be considered as being "unlimited".

By the same token, I don't think they ever said " two or three excursions a day". I do consider the "FREE air" a marketing scam since it most definitevely isn't free ( you pay less if you don't use it and the credit is not just a nominal amount). In the case of included excursions , they are "free" since the cruise price doesn't vary regardless if you use them or not.

[xplrcrzn]

I suspect the novelty of "free" excursions will soon wear off for most Regent regulars, especially as exclusions, limitations, and "extras" begin to appear.

[rallydave]

I suspect the novelty of "free" excursions will soon wear off for most Regent regulars, especially as exclusions, limitations, and "extras" CONTINUE to appear.

Fixed your comment for you

[cruiseluv]

I suspect the novelty of "free" excursions will soon wear off for most Regent regulars, especially as exclusions, limitations, and "extras" begin to appear.

Agree with that. The "extras" have already appeared (ie some excursions that were free now have a supplement). However, the only way Regent will change their model is if passengers vote with their feet and bookings go down significantly. If not, Regent will probably say "if its not broken , don't fix it!".

[xplrcrzn]

It'll be interesting to see if "record high bookings" sustain themselves over the next 18-24 months. Equally interesting to see if Apollo Management LP still owns Prestige Cruise Holdings in 18-24 months. Sounds to me like they're fattening up the cattle for auction.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

... The "extras" have already appeared (ie some excursions that were free now have a supplement).

Do you have examples of this? I have seen "concierge" excursions with cost, but not formerly free ones.

[cruiseluv]

Do you have examples of this? I have seen "concierge" excursions with cost, but not formerly free ones.

The one I came across recently was in Barcelona, an excursion that includes the Picasso museum . It's only 3 3/4 hrs, no lunch or anything provided. It now has a supplement of $89. It used to be free. I'll probably just go to the Museum on my own, it's very easy to get to, it's right by the Barrio Gótico.

[wripro]

Personally, I don't understand any excursion that includes a visit to a museum. A museum needs to be seen at one's own pace. Who wants to worry about 50 other people either hurrying through and wanting to move on or dawdling and keeping everyone else waiting. But then that's true of all ship's excursions imo.

[cruiseluv]

Personally, I don't understand any excursion that includes a visit to a museum. A museum needs to be seen at one's own pace. Who wants to worry about 50 other people either hurrying through and wanting to move on or dawdling and keeping everyone else waiting. But then that's true of all ship's excursions imo.

Agree with you. I was planning to use the excursion mainly for transportation from ship to museum , and then I was going to ditch the tour and stay on my own.

[RachelG]

We have used the ship's excursion to gain entrance to a museum which would otherwise be closed on the day we were in port, and also for the transportation--as stated above.

[nanook21]

If you all are still referring to Barcelona, please know that it is super easy to get around on your own from where the ship docks. Barcelona has one of those hop-on/hop-off bus routes that is wonderful for seeing the city, and it has a stop right near the dock. One of our favorite "hop-off" spots was the pedestrian street Las Ramblas with all the artists, restaurants, etc. That is one port where we wouldn't bother with a ship tour, it's much more fun to do it on your own, and completely safe.

We just got off the Mariner in January in Peru, and have to say that the "free" excursions weren't that great. Our best port memories were ports where we were on our own. Regent ended up cancelling three (2 at the last minute) of the "premium" excursions we had wanted to take, which we had paid extra for. That was a bummer.

[TedC]

I don't think any city is "completely safe"!

Barcelona is a lovely city but also the pick-pocket capital of Europe - and many other cities are in the running for the dubious "title."

Be aware, be careful at all times!

[wripro]

Good advice no matter where you are. I know someone who as pickpocketed in Cedar Rapids.

[Hambagahle]

Personally, I don't understand any excursion that includes a visit to a museum. A museum needs to be seen at one's own pace. Who wants to worry about 50 other people either hurrying through and wanting to move on or dawdling and keeping everyone else waiting. But then that's true of all ship's excursions imo.

Actually it was a guided tour (read excursion!) to the Picasso Museum in Barcelona that FINALLY made me understand what Picasso was all about and appreciate his paintings. In 2006 we were on the Voyager, and some of the "top brass" of Regent were aboard. All the SSS members were invited to a walking tour of the Gothic quarter followed by a tour of the museum, followed by dessert and champagne (well, Cava!). Anyway, our guide was fabulous. And he walked us through the museum, stopping to lecture at each important painting...or ones that would add information. It was wonderful. I will never forget it. A good guide in a museum makes the whole place come alive.

[cruiseluv]

If you all are still referring to Barcelona, please know that it is super easy to get around on your own from where the ship docks. Barcelona has one of those hop-on/hop-off bus routes that is wonderful for seeing the city, and it has a stop right near the dock. One of our favorite "hop-off" spots was the pedestrian street Las Ramblas with all the artists, restaurants, etc. That is one port where we wouldn't bother with a ship tour, it's much more fun to do it on your own, and completely safe.



Nanook,

I have been to Barcelona several times and you're right, it's an easy city to get around. However, I must take some exception to your phrase that it's "completely safe". Extreme caution must be taken in Barcelona, especially in Las Ramblas, to be on the lookout for pickpocketers and assorted criminals. Sometimes you will not even realize they have taken your wallet, your camera, etc. Other times, people do get physically hurt in the process. Unfortunately, Barcelona is in a class by itself in this regard.

[poss]

Here's what happened to us on Las Ramblas: Someone walked by and squirted shaving cream on my husband. Someone else ran up a second later saying, oh, sorry, sorry, let me help you brush this off. And ALMOST made off with his wallet. We love Barcelona-- but yes, BE CAREFUL. (And of course pick-pockets can be anywhere, but it's almost as if it's a prized team sport in Barcelona.)

[cruiseluv]

Oh, yes Poss, that's a very common trick in their book. They did it to a friend of mine, but with something that looked like mustard. Then a well dressed "gentleman" approached him and tried to take him into a shop to "clean him up". Yeah, sure, he wanted to clean him of his money! My friend realized what was going on and refused.

LOL, yes, it's like a sport. Not even the police seems concerned about it.

[nanook21]

My use of the term "completely safe" was really meant to convey that you aren't really in any personal danger if you are reasonably careful (pick-pockets aside!). Pick-pockets are everywhere, and they do have some interesting ploys you have to be on the look-out against. That kind of goes without saying, imo. DH and I had no encounters that alarmed us, but of course others may have had different experiences.

[Travel2Learn]

Something else to be aware of, especially in southern Europe, is a pair of young men on a moped. One drives, and the other grabs a lady's shoulder bag by the strap. I was lucky, the strap ripped. An elderly friend was not lucky. She was dragged and severely injured. Another note - this also happened to my mother in the US, but the thieves worked out of a car. One drove, and the other leaned out of a window and grabbed her bag. Thankfully, my mother was not physically harmed. The police were not interested in what happened because she was not injured. All of these incidents happened in areas that one would not think of as being dangerous.

[rnn]

CWN and I are 47 days into the 71 day Circumnavigation of South America, FLL to FALL, that sailed on January 11. During the first segment we met Travelcat2, Cruzndiz and Nanook and enjoyed visiting with them. They were also smart enough to escape back home when we got to Lima.

We have taken 30 cruises, including multiple cruise segments, since 1984. We have sailed on nearly all the lines including Seabourn and Silver Seas. Quite frankly, I fail to understand the fascination with and loyalty to Regent. Virtually nothing has gone as advertised or planned on the trip. To be fair, Ray Solair, the CD, is great but beginning, I think, to show his frustration. Terry Breen has been a delight and a bright spot of the trip. Our waiter, Adnan, has done a superb job and our stewardess, Gwynalynn is doing fine and is very solicitous of our needs. That pretty well covers the positives.

The "free tours" by and large have not been up to my expectations. Early on there was no ship representative/escort on the busses and the tour guides did what they wanted to do and not what was on the itinerary. This up to and including skipping a lunch stop on the Santiago, Chile trip and taking us to some dirt floor dive on the side of the road where we could not get served, even if we wanted to order. Now, they have started putting ship representatives onto the busses and the ones on our bus have had to intervene several times to get the tour back on track.

I do not like the free tours and would much rather them reduce the price and let me pick and chose and pay for what I want to buy. Generally, in the past, we have planned our own thing and done it for less cost and with a better result than any ship's tour.

Some of you Regent fans look down your noses and laugh at Princess but I am here to tell you that Princess knows how to manage crowds and tender operations. The 500 people trying to get off at one time has improved somewhat but they are still trying to get too many people off in one time period.

We are now into tender ports and stopped at Parati, Brazil yesterday. We anchored way out in the bay and were warned it would be a 20 minute tender ride to the pier. We got down to the tender door at 12:30PM and waited and waited and waited! We got one excuse after another but during that hour, not one tender came or went. We finally boarded a tender at 1:30PM and the one way ride to the pier took 40 minutes. Surely those tenders will run at some speed greater than dead slow. Princess would have lowered all tenders, established a rhythm and only idled tenders as it became evident they were not needed. They would have always had a spare waiting in the water to prevent an hour's wait to board.

Oh, by the way, as the crowd that had assembled while waiting for the 1:30 tender boarded, an elderly lady fell and suffered a severe injury to her leg. According to her son-in-law, with whom I spoke later, it required 100 stitches to close the wound. She fell, because the crew were not firmly taking her arms to help her aboard, and her leg was caught between the tender and the landing platform.

On to Room Service which can't seem to get an order right or complete. The other day, after a long tour, we ordered a pizza, Caesar Salad and a bottle of wine. They showed up with the pizza and salad but had forgotten, salt, pepper and THE WINE! This was not a first time occurrence either.

I will quit here and hunker down for the barrage I am sure to get back since I am not a Regent worshiper. But let me close by saying that we paid a premium price to be on this cruise and we are not getting premium service or a premium experience. Something is wrong, either on this ship or with the line as a whole.

OK, fire away!

[rnn]

CWN reminds me to mention room service. We are not big users as we do not like to eat in the room. We have ordered in dinner maybe 4 times in 46 days. Several days ago we had been out all day and decided to order a pizza, salad and a bottle of wine.

The pizza and salad showed up but they had forgotten the wine! Thinking back to several breakfasts also, they never get it complete. This is just another example of the level of service or lack thereof.

[SnoBirdCruiser]

As Dickens wrote:"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" and so it was on the Mariner's Ft.Lauderdale to Buenos Aires segments of the South American Circle cruise.

Seeing the Antarctic was awesome...calm seas through the Drake Passage...clear skies lasting long enough to get great shots of Deception Island, Paradise Bay, Half Moon Island before the curtain of fog descended and the fog horn sending out its mournful cry.

Best of Times: The Captain, who was always cheerful and who spent the night on the bridge while going through icy seas.
Franco,the Dlning room Manager .
Anka, Prime 7 Maitre D'.
The servers, bar tenders, waiters, cleaning staff, stewardesses...always friendly, smiling, helpful!!!
The wonderful passengers we met, and hope will sail with again.
The Three Tenors were great as were the three Classical musicians brought aboard.The resident orchastra and the trio.
The Food was excellent and portion sizes perfect.
The Antarctic!!!

WORST OF TIMES: Not one senior staff being able to/ or caring enough to know/call you by name after 40 days on board, even though we are heading up to Platinum Level. Perhaps we should have whined or complained about something. Guess the greasy wheel gets known.
Entertainment...they get what they pay for

WORST OF ALL: Destination Services.
For the first time ever in all our 25 years of cruising we received letters apologising for poor shore trips.
A mimeographed smudged map of the Panama Canal (thank god I had an old one from Crystal)
No decent maps of the towns/cities we toured(almost always provided by other top crise lines.)
Cancellation of some tours due to whatever(not always the ship's fault .)
NO ship board staff on every bus to help us when needed, particulairly on one where an elderly woman fell face down on the street and only passengers were there to assist her.
Poorly written and not always correct description of the tours.
Of all the tours we booked in our 40 days, perhaps 6 were classed as very good...not an impressive record.

If I were in charge,I would FIRE the head of Shore Excursions at Head Office!!!

Sorry if I went a bit off path here, but I do agree with rnn wholeheartedly.
Perhaps we will be letting our feet to the talking or should I say walking.....sooo sad, we really used to enjoy the old Regent.
.

[rallydave]

As Dickens wrote:"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" and so it was on the Mariner's Ft.Lauderdale to Buenos Aires segments of the South American Circle cruise..

An apt description of our Discovery Circle Pacific Cruise on Navigator last year on our segment from Seward to Beijing.


WORST OF ALL: Destination Services.
For the first time ever in all our 25 years of cruising we received letters apologising for poor shore trips.
A mimeographed smudged map of the Panama Canal (thank god I had an old one from Crystal)
No decent maps of the towns/cities we toured(almost always provided by other top crise lines.)
Cancellation of some tours due to whatever(not always the ship's fault .)
NO ship board staff on every bus to help us when needed, particulairly on one where an elderly woman fell face down on the street and only passengers were there to assist her.
Poorly written and not always correct description of the tours.
Of all the tours we booked in our 40 days, perhaps 6 were classed as very good...not an impressive record.

If I were in charge,I would FIRE the head of Shore Excursions at Head Office!!!.

Evidently Regent didn't learn from all the Destinations issues we endured circling the Pacific. The only apology we received was from the home office months after the cruise and it wasn't much of an apology. Destinations on board didn't care to respond and one issue sticks in our craw and that was a phone call to Destinations asking for the status of our issue and the man who answered said that he would call back in 2 minutes (his exact words) with a status. After 30 minutes, I called back and was told that he and the Manager had gone to lunch. Still waiting for the return phone call. Now over 4 months after our cruise we are still waiting for an appropriate compensation. Regent did offer a $500/person future cruise credit however that is not an appropriate response to cover all the issues we endured. All it does is to entice us back onto Regent where obviously Destinations has not improved but, appears to have gotten worse? Sent a note to that effect 3 weeks ago and no response as yet.

Firing the head of Destinations at the home office should be a good start but, there are more in that Department who need to be gone. With all the unemployed people there must be people who can do a better job than those currently there. It appears to be a systemic issue with Destinations and what probably needs to occur is a wholesale cleaning out of the department both at the home office as well as on board the 3 ships and bring in a whole new team who care about doing a good job and satisfying the passengers.

Yes, there were many good points to our cruise but, as has been said at times "One awe s&*t ruins all the ataboys". And, the bad points are those that are remembered the longest.

[LOGHL]

[quote=rallydave;28120658]An apt description of our Discovery Circle Pacific Cruise on Navigator last year on our segment from Seward to Beijing.




Regent did offer a $500/person future cruise credit

[LOGHL]

[quote=rallydave;28120658]An apt description of our Discovery Circle Pacific Cruise on Navigator last year on our segment from Seward to Beijing.




Regent did offer a $500/person future cruise credit

To whom did you write????could you possibly give the name of the person??? we have as yet not had a return response & suffered the exact problems that you did on the same cruise...

[rallydave]

[quote=LOGHL;28121294]

To whom did you write????could you possibly give the name of the person??? we have as yet not had a return response & suffered the exact problems that you did on the same cruise...

Not surprised about Regent's lack of response.

I wrote to Mark Conroy, Frank del Rio, Gar O'Neil, Tim Rubacky and a couple of others I have had personal dealing with. Also copied and pasted my e-mail in the Regent on line general questions page. My initial response which took 3 months was from someone who works for Gar O'Neil. Latest letter was from Gar O'Neil from who I am awaiting a further response.

The e-mail addresses for Mark and Gar are their first initials and last name @rssc.com. For Frank, it is his full name at prestigecruiseholdings.com and for Tim it is the same as Regent but at prestige same as Frank.

Hope this helps and we both get what we are looking for as compensation.

[Island Cruiser]

Im usually a Regent fan, but rmn and SnoBird you do us all a great service by posting your impressions candidly. Thank you. I know for a fact that at least some of Regent's General Managers read CC religiously. Your reaction matters!

[SnoBirdCruiser]

Im usually a Regent fan, but rmn and SnoBird you do us all a great service by posting your impressions candidly. Thank you. I know for a fact that at least some of Regent's General Managers read CC religiously. Your reaction matters!

I forgot to add a very important occurance that occured the day berfore we disembarked.
We had a late lunce in LV and left the table just after 2pm. I left behind a very expensive designer sunglasses...but more important was that they were prescription lenses that I needed to see with in the sun.
I didnt realize I left them until 5pm, when my DH went up and looked around and found nothing. he then went to reception and aske behind the desk...not there!
By the time I was able to go up to LV there were staff there and I received the same anser...not there!
I then went down to reception and inquired there, same reply....not there!
I asked what should I do and the "helpful" reply was to try again later.
I asked to speak to the officer in charge and the General Manager Franco came out. I explained the situation and how upset I was. He explained that there wasnt much he could do unless I wanted to file a written complaint to the security officer and /or the assist captain.
I replied that yes I wished to file a complaint to secutity,as the value of the glasses was over$500.00, however, I would give him a few hours more to look into the matter.
I walked down to Prime 7 to say goodbye to Anka(2 MINUTES) and Behold...Franco showed up with my glasses!!!!
He told me a woman passenger turned them in as soon as I left the reception desk.
I then went back to the desk to ask who the woman was and to describe her.The reply was it was a staff member who returned them...no name or description!

Needless to say, I was so thankful to get them back, I gave a nice contribution to the Crew Party fund.

I am still amazed, but thankful, they showed up within moments of my official contact. However I missed the early Tango Show, which I heard was excellent.

An Add on: Two or so weeks before this I found a womans ring in the ladies washroom Observation Deck.
I turned it over to the Reception Desk who said "OH".
Didnt ask me anything, my name,where I found it,etc.
I inquired a week or so later and they didnt know...asked me if it was costume jewellery or real?...How would I know, I'm not a jeweller....

All I can say is I got my glasses back...but I bet the GM still doesnt know my name...LOL

[Travelcat2]

Greetings to my Trivia partners, rnn and SnoBirdCruiser. Really good to see that you both posted your experiences. I'm not surprised to hear about the excursions since this was going on when we were on board.

It might not be a bad idea to send a copy of your posts to Mark Conroy -- just to let him know what you have experienced on this long (and expensive) sailing. Apparently "free excursions" is not something Regent is able to handle well in some parts of the world.

I had a discussion with the Destinations Manager during our segment. She is a lovely person, but is up against rules that make her job difficult. One of the people we spoke with mentioned that competition with larger ships make it difficult to contract with tour companies (in some ports). For instance, if there are 2 large ships and the Mariner in port, the tour providers are more interested in being available for 2,000 - 4,000 passengers rather than 700. Some ports do not offer enough variety in tours (not Regent's fault). As a result, the majority of passengers book the same tour. This is when multiple buses show up at the same venue. My DH just said that Regent is going upstream and is not getting anywhere.

Strongly agree with the positive comments regarding service and food.

We really enjoyed cruising with cnn and SnobirdCruiser -- it was due to their wonderful brains that we won Trivia 5 times. And, we are definitely looking forward to being on board the Mariner again in November (with SnobirdCruiser!)

[neviboy]

Travelcat,
this backs up my many suggestions that "free" excursions be abandoned. We are mostly experienced travellers who can decide which excursions to pay for and which to do on our own and which to stay in port.
For example. Port Kusadasi is the gateway to Ephesus. It would be wise to use the ships' excursions here since they are very reasonable, usually. But if one has been there once or twice, staying on the ship or browsing Kusadasi is preferred. But we are wasting a "free" cruise.
Paying for something we don't need. Get my point, Mr.Conroy ?

[Longhorn1]

If Regent insists on continuing the free tours, which many people do not want, that is up to them, of course. People will make their own decisions regarding where to spend their dollars going forward--there are other quality luxury lines out there. For the record, I agree with Rally Dave. Enough of the excuses--there are glitches in a questionable system that do not seem to get addressed. The Team should be changed, or substantially revamped and most importantly, BUDGET dollars should be allocated to the program in order to ensure a acceptable level of success. If I were Regent, posts like these regarding the S. America experience would embarrass me and lead to tangible changes.

[ChatKat in Ca.]

As I said before, give people the option of buying tours included in a package or let the well traveled and experienced choose what they want ala carte.

[SnoBirdCruiser]

I think we are forgetting something....Regent is now attempting and I think succeeding in attracting cruisers from the mass marketing cruise lines where you are nickled and dimed to death. Does anyone remember hearing when one of these ships are berthed alongside us: "get your bucket of beer...only $20.00 dollars"
"get your t-shirt and cap...only $20.00 dollars"
water only $2.99...soda packages...wine packages

No wonder they are cruising with Regent.....the price is right for them. They werent onboard when it was at its greatest.

Remember....it's allways about the bottom line and profit margin....Keep those cabins full!!

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Perhaps someone needs to start a new "stop the free excursions!" thread.

I agree a la carte would be good. I must admit I'm looking forward to the included excursions next year in Alaska, since excursions in this part of the world tend to be very pricey. But, then again, I have not researched private, small group excursions in Alaska. And perhaps if I did, my opinion would be different (we're going with another pair of people.) In Europe, in this situation, we'd normally want to do private, since we can share the cost, but agree with Neville, that as it is now, we would be "wasting" all those "free" excursions.

[Travelcat2]

Perhaps someone needs to start a new "stop the free excursions!" thread.

I agree a la carte would be good. I must admit I'm looking forward to the included excursions next year in Alaska, since excursions in this part of the world tend to be very pricey. But, then again, I have not researched private, small group excursions in Alaska. And perhaps if I did, my opinion would be different (we're going with another pair of people.) In Europe, in this situation, we'd normally want to do private, since we can share the cost, but agree with Neville, that as it is now, we would be "wasting" all those "free" excursions.

I do feel that this page should have been a new thread rather than the tail end of an old one. If someone started "stop the free excursions!" thread. . . they would get flamed pretty badly:rolleyes:

Just want to mention that Alaska is one place where the excursions work. The Navigator only holds 490 (when not stuffed with children) and there are many excursions offered. The excursions we went on last summer were not crowded -- with the exception of one port which is not being visited this year.

I believe that you are going on the SFO to Vancouver sailing in May. IMO, this is the best one of the season (which is why we have done it twice). Alaska is one place where, given the option, we would opt in.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Jackie, that's why I secretly hope they'll keep the free excursions for a while!

[Travelcat2]

Jackie, that's why I secretly hope they'll keep the free excursions for a while!

I doubt if anything will happen between now and May. It is my hope that someone at Regent will take the reports on the previous page seriously. When both a new customer to Regent on a 71 night cruise and one who is approaching Platinum status have similiar issues, attention should be paid to the problem.

Still, if Regent went for the "opt out" system, you could just make sure you don't opt out:)

[JMARINER]

WORST OF ALL: Destination Services.
For the first time ever in all our 25 years of cruising we received letters apologising for poor shore trips......

If I were in charge,I would FIRE the head of Shore Excursions at Head Office!!!
.

Who is the person running the ShoreEx on the ship?

j

[xplrcrzn]

As I alluded to earlier, I think Regent is working hard to pump up their sales numbers for a reason. I don't think they are looking at things long term but, as others have mentioned, are working to lure "first timers" with many of their "free" offers. Repeat cruisers have, and will, tire of this "free" stuff very quickly. I doubt that we'll be having this same discussion in two years.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

As I alluded to earlier, I think Regent is working hard to pump up their sales numbers for a reason. I don't think they are looking at things long term but, as others have mentioned, are working to lure "first timers" with many of their "free" offers. Repeat cruisers have, and will, tire of this "free" stuff very quickly. I doubt that we'll be having this same discussion in two years.

Nothing wrong with enlisting newcomers, surely. As long as standards are maintained (so that's the real issue--are they? Everything was brilliant when I was on Voyager in December.)

What part of the discussion do you think we won't be having in two years?

[xplrcrzn]

The "free" excursions. I think they'll be gone by then. And, as a personal opinion not meant to start a discussion (please), I think Regent may be too--either sold, re-branded, merged, etc. And I agree there is nothing wrong with "newbies"--all lines need them. My point was simply that all the "enhancements" would be more appealing to them rather than experienced cruisers, who may already have taken many of the offered excursions. Bringing all these new pax on quickly allows Regent to tout "full" ships, all-time high profits, sold out ships, etc.--which would make the line very attractive to possible buyers.

[AWED23]

The "free" excursions. I think they'll be gone by then. And, as a personal opinion not meant to start a discussion (please), I think Regent may be too--either sold, re-branded, merged, etc. And I agree there is nothing wrong with "newbies"--all lines need them. My point was simply that all the "enhancements" would be more appealing to them rather than experienced cruisers, who may already have taken many of the offered excursions. Bringing all these new pax on quickly allows Regent to tout "full" ships, all-time high profits, sold out ships, etc.--which would make the line very attractive to possible buyers...:D Sounds to me that Marc Conroy knows pretty well what he is doing...If there is an IPO I have already alerted my broker to get me in!.....I do use the shore excursions and am pretty much satisfied with them...And yes, I have cruised with Crystal, SilverSeas and Seabourn....After 55+ cruises I believe I qualify as an experienced cruiser...:)

[OrpingtonT]

The "free" excursions. I think they'll be gone by then. And, as a personal opinion not meant to start a discussion (please), ................................which would make the line very attractive to possible buyers.

You may plead that you do not wish to start a discussion, then go on to say they (Regent) are touting for buyers.

I heartily disagree with the presumption.

[Travelcat2]

What do you (anyone) think of Regent comparing their pricing to HAL, Celebrity and Princess (in their new brochure)?

In terms of what direction this thread is going, the two disappointing experiences posted on the previous page fits in with the subject of the thread (disappointment with Regent) which, in part is excursions. JMHO.

[cruiseluv]

The "free" excursions. I think they'll be gone by then. And, as a personal opinion not meant to start a discussion (please), I think Regent may be too--either sold, re-branded, merged, etc. And I agree there is nothing wrong with "newbies"--all lines need them. My point was simply that all the "enhancements" would be more appealing to them rather than experienced cruisers, who may already have taken many of the offered excursions. Bringing all these new pax on quickly allows Regent to tout "full" ships, all-time high profits, sold out ships, etc.--which would make the line very attractive to possible buyers.

I would venture to say that Regent's management couldn't care less if pax are "newbies" or "oldies". What they want is those ships sailing as close to 100% capacity as possible. Yes, the bottom line is what they're after, nothing wrong with that. As long as the formula works for them they'll keep using it. When it doesn't anymore, they'll change the formula.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

What do you (anyone) think of Regent comparing their pricing to HAL, Celebrity and Princess (in their new brochure)?

I believe they are after the people who pay high fares for the larger suites. Those people want a special experience, and they can get a better one on Regent (IMHO).

[TahoeTraveler]

Just want to mention that Alaska is one place where the excursions work. The Navigator only holds 490 (when not stuffed with children) and there are many excursions offered.
Wow, I'm sure glad my 78 year old father has decided to spend his money on a different cruise line this summer to Alaska, to treat my family (with two teens) and my sister's family (with two kids) to a family vacation (where none of us will be in a 3rd berth, by the way). We'd sure hate to add to any stuffiness.

[xplrcrzn]

..:D Sounds to me that Marc Conroy knows pretty well what he is doing...If there is an IPO I have already alerted my broker to get me in!.....I do use the shore excursions and am pretty much satisfied with them...And yes, I have cruised with Crystal, SilverSeas and Seabourn....After 55+ cruises I believe I qualify as an experienced cruiser...:)

I assume you are aware that FDR did mention spinning off PCH as an IPO at one time. But I haven't heard anything more about that for quite awhile. Maybe when the economy picks up. Hope your broker gets you in--good luck!

[mrlevin]

Wow, I'm sure glad my 78 year old father has decided to spend his money on a different cruise line this summer to Alaska, to treat my family (with two teens) and my sister's family (with two kids) to a family vacation (where none of us will be in a 3rd berth, by the way). We'd sure hate to add to any stuffiness.

Tami, don't let Travelcat scare you away from Regent. As you know, most of us are fun loving travellers who do try to get along with everyone.

BTW, excursions on Voyager going off without a hitch; even the free ones.

[TahoeTraveler]

Tami, don't let Travelcat scare you away from Regent. As you know, most of us are fun loving travellers who do try to get along with everyone.

BTW, excursions on Voyager going off without a hitch; even the free ones.
Hi Marc, I was wondering if you'd chime in!! No, we loved our Regent cruise with you and everyone else in January (we've booked another one for next year). And our two teens are exceptionally well behaved and would do fine on any cruise line. But I think they'd have more fun on a cruise with a more robust teen program...and since my dad is paying for it, he has the final say.

I am so glad to hear your excursions are going well. I've been secretly stalking, along with everyone else...and am horribly, horribly jealous!! Give my best to Mrs. Marc!!

Tami

[Travelcat2]

Tami, don't let Travelcat scare you away from Regent. As you know, most of us are fun loving travellers who do try to get along with everyone.

BTW, excursions on Voyager going off without a hitch; even the free ones.

Don't think I scared anyone away from Regent. The facts are the facts. The Alaska itineraries are known for having 100 children per week. I personally do not have a problem with this since we do not travel during school breaks or the summer. No matter which cruiseline a person selects for an Alaska itinerary, there will be children.

Marc, be nice, please do not try to create a problem where none exists.:o

In terms of excursions, I encourage people to read the posts on the previous page. While we only experienced this for 14 days, these posters have gone through it for 40+ days. The quality of excursions is dependent upon the area of the world you are in. In Alaska they are fine. . . . in South America they are not.

It puzzles me why the experiences of posters are taken with a grain of salt, or not believed at all. Why would anyone make up a story that is not true? And, in this case, it is verified by several other CC members. No one is bashing Regent. . . . we all agree that food and service are wonderful. The problem on SOME itineraries is the excursions.

[TahoeTraveler]

Don't think I scared anyone away from Regent. The facts are the facts. The Alaska itineraries are known for having 100 children per week. I personally do not have a problem with this since we do not travel during school breaks or the summer. No matter which cruiseline a person selects for an Alaska itinerary, there will be children.

Marc, be nice, please do not try to create a problem where none exists.:o

In terms of excursions, I encourage people to read the posts on the previous page. While we only experienced this for 14 days, these posters have gone through it for 40+ days. The quality of excursions is dependent upon the area of the world you are in. In Alaska they are fine. . . . in South America they are not.

It puzzles me why the experiences of posters are taken with a grain of salt, or not believed at all. Why would anyone make up a story that is not true? And, in this case, it is verified by several other CC members. No one is bashing Regent. . . . we all agree that food and service are wonderful. The problem on SOME itineraries is the excursions.
No worries, TC, about scaring me away from Regent...it would take a lot more than posts here to do that, after all the fun we had on our first cruise with them. I really didn't get that Marc wasn't being nice though...he and his wife were so wonderful to me on that cruise, and helped keep me out of "newbie" trouble, so to speak. I think he was just making sure that I maintain that postive attitude about Regent.

As for the excursions, we're part of that dreaded "previous mass marketing cruise line cruiser" group, and I think it's a bit unfair to say that we came to Regent because of all the things included...we switched because we wanted a nicer, more elegant experience (although I am sure there are many who are trying Regent now because of the all-inclusiveness...perhaps the two women at the table next to us in Compass Rose who felt it necessary to grab the microphone from Nature's Rhythm Trio and attempt to serenade the entire dining room...badly???). And we don't plan on doing any of the included excursions on our next cruise. We just had too many issues with the Destinations personnel and the tours themselves, to bother with it again. But the other passengers (well, except for those two caterwaulers!), the ship, the service, the whole ambiance...I could go on and on, but basically, it is those kinds of things that bring us back to Regent, and make the price "right" for us...regardless of the actual bottom line.

[Travelcat2]

No worries, TC, about scaring me away from Regent...it would take a lot more than posts here to do that, after all the fun we had on our first cruise with them. I really didn't get that Marc wasn't being nice though...he and his wife were so wonderful to me on that cruise, and helped keep me out of "newbie" trouble, so to speak. I think he was just making sure that I maintain that postive attitude about Regent.

As for the excursions, we're part of that dreaded "previous mass marketing cruise line cruiser" group, and I think it's a bit unfair to say that we came to Regent because of all the things included...we switched because we wanted a nicer, more elegant experience (although I am sure there are many who are trying Regent now because of the all-inclusiveness...perhaps the two women at the table next to us in Compass Rose who felt it necessary to grab the microphone from Nature's Rhythm Trio and attempt to serenade the entire dining room...badly???). And we don't plan on doing any of the included excursions on our next cruise. We just had too many issues with the Destinations personnel and the tours themselves, to bother with it again. But the other passengers (well, except for those two caterwaulers!), the ship, the service, the whole ambiance...I could go on and on, but basically, it is those kinds of things that bring us back to Regent, and make the price "right" for us...regardless of the actual bottom line.

Thank you so much for your explanation. It was definitely interesting. We would not have been too happy with the people that thought passengers would appreciate their serande:confused: Many of us on this thread completely understand the issues of the Destination Services personnel. We have met wonderful people on our Regent cruises which is why we return.

Hope you and your family have a great cruise!