Considering A Med. Cruise in OCT. 2010

[monp]

My husband and I are considering a cruise on the Mariner for 12 days from Athens to Barcelona in Oct. 2010. The cruise line is offering great promotions including free air, 2 for 1 pricing, free unlimited shore excursions and an additional 2,000 off the fare if you book early. It seems like a great deal. We will be celebrating our 20th anniversary. My concern is that we are very laid back people, not overly wealthy, and I am afraid that we might feel out of place. I am 42 and my husband is 43. It will be our first cruise. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Also, does anyone have any experience with the included shore excursions? I have read they are first come first served. Are there adequate slots for all passengers? I would appreciate any thoughts. Thanks.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

You should not feel out of place. I had those same concerns when I first cruised on Regent almost 10 years ago. Yes, there are passengers who are very wealthy, but most don't show it, they have too much class. Most people I have met have been friendly and down to earth. Your excitement at this special occasion will be infectious, I'm sure, and shared by others.

In general the atmosphere *is* very laid back. You may have to cope with a formal night or two, but my advice is to just enjoy dressing up.

Nobody really has experience with the free excursions yet. Just be aware that you should be able to book them online 120 days before the cruise, but you can go online with your booking number and check that. By the end of this summer, people will have some experience with the new system, so stay tuned to this forum for discussions of this subject.

[DavidJ]

You will have a wonderful cruise. You probably will even meet cruisers younger than you and your husband. We rarely ever ran into anyone who tried to impress us with their wealth.

I have an issue with Regent's claim to "free unlimited shore excursions". Regent puffs the claim on that issue. The shore excusions offered at each port are not all free and so far, customers have been limited to only booking one excursion per port in advance online. Perhaps that may change by the time you take your cruise. The claim is that once onboard, you can book additional excursions "if available."

One other caution. The two thousand dollars additional discount, if that is in the form of shipboard credit, you may find it very difficult to spend and for many, any balance that is left over, there is no cash refund.

My partner and I were in our forties when we took our first cruise with Regent. It was a total delight and we had no trouble finding others that we had shared interests. Enjoy your cruise! Pierce

[LOVE@CRUISE]

The $2000 promotion is cash off the pricing....not shipboard credit. You will love this cruise....go for it!

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I think they are now allowing more than one excursion per day booked online. I could be wrong, but that's what I've heard.

[Colonel(Ret.)Wes]

Monp..u can also get air credit (if you have ff miles to use) instead of free
air (believe it is $1000 pp) We have been on the Navigator, Voyager and PG
are are near your age...you will fit right in..no worries...recommend you find your
best deal and book by 31 May to get the promotional deal

Pierce, listed below taken straight from Regent's website is the new promotional discount. Last week (primarily as a result of this promotion, and many other discounts
we qualified for (on board, SSS, FCC, air credit, cruise credits)) We booked the Fall 2010 TA on the Voyager and rcvd the $1000 pp discount off the suite price (not a ship board credit).


Save up to an additional $2,000 on 2010 Voyages

In addition to all 2010 voyages featuring 2-for-1 Savings, FREE Air and FREE Unlimited Shore Excursions, you can now save up to an additional $2,000 per suite!

Simply book by May 31, 2009 and for any cruise 10 nights or longer, save $2,000 per suite ($1,000 per person). For cruises seven to nine nights, save $1,000 per suite ($500 per person).

[DavidJ]

Monp..u can also get air credit (if you have ff miles to use) instead of free
air (believe it is $1000 pp) We have been on the Navigator, Voyager and PG
are are near your age...you will fit right in..no worries...recommend you find your
best deal and book by 31 May to get the promotional deal

Pierce, listed below taken straight from Regent's website is the new promotional discount. Last week (primarily as a result of this promotion, and many other discounts
we qualified for (on board, SSS, FCC, air credit, cruise credits)) We booked the Fall 2010 TA on the Voyager and rcvd the $1000 pp discount off the suite price (not a ship board credit).


Save up to an additional $2,000 on 2010 Voyages

In addition to all 2010 voyages featuring 2-for-1 Savings, FREE Air and FREE Unlimited Shore Excursions, you can now save up to an additional $2,000 per suite!

Simply book by May 31, 2009 and for any cruise 10 nights or longer, save $2,000 per suite ($1,000 per person). For cruises seven to nine nights, save $1,000 per suite ($500 per person).

We may look into that promotion further. When I check online, the fares are not clear and do not reflect the additional discount. I am glad to hear it is a discount rather than a credit. That is a big issue for many on our upcoming cruise. Many of us may not be able to spend our SBC.

As for the excursions. When Regent started the promotion with Free Unlimited Shore Excursions, we thought about changing our booking to another date to qualify for that promotion. When we looked into that, we found out online that there were only a few excursions per port that "qualified" as free. The rest had premiums added to the cost. For that reason, we did not book one of those trips. We should come out better with the trip we have booked for 2009.

Thanks for the clarifications on the other matters. Pierce

[mrlevin]

I think they are now allowing more than one excursion per day booked online. I could be wrong, but that's what I've heard.

Yes, we can book more than one excursion per day; only restriction is that there needs to be one hour between anticipated return time and next excursion. In St Petersburg, we are booked on three excursions on a single day (six total over three days).

Over two weeks of cruising, I believe our free excursions total over $3,000 between the two of us.

[DebbieH103]

The 2009 free excursions are a WIP. This was the trial run in anticipation of all cruises having this in 2010. Mark Conroy said on a call I was on last week that the ones that are not free are at a large price reduction, FWTW, and he gave some examples. He also said that in some cases, it is possible to get more than one per port. He did not go into it other than to act like it was a time/availability type of issue.

I am in my 40s and love Regent. My first cruise, I went alone and met people of all ages. When my husband and I went together, we did the same. Interesting people are just that.

I agree w/ Wendy, there is no price on class. On a luxury ship, if someone talks about something or other that would lead you to know their worth, it is some vague reference to some life experience that is usually in the form of some anecdote or something. Nobody I have met was stuffy. People are friendly and festive and usually intelligent, too. Don't worry at all. The average age on Regent is early 50s, and there will be many ages from child (not many) to 90s.