What were you offered after cancellation?

I'm hoping someone here can help me.

We were scheduled on the 4-day cruise tomorrow out of Ft. Lauderdale. Our travel agent notified us of the cancellation on Monday. However, we're having a lot of trouble communicating with her about what we want to do. We did get a very good promotional rate, but so far we have lost $200 on airfare. RSSC has offered to let us re-book on another cruise, but our travel agent did not specify any particular cruise. We picked one late in 2007, and now she seems to be saying that this won't work.

The travel agent has offered us a full refund, but that would still leave us $200 in the hole, and she hasn't mentioned anything about an incentive to re-book later with RSSC. However, on this board I'm reading that other people are being offered an incentive.

I'm getting really frustrated with our travel agent, and have even offered to talk directly with RSSC myself. I guess I'm just wondering what everyone else is doing. For those of you who have re-booked on another cruise, what date did you re-book for? What guidelines were you given for re-booking? Was there a specific deadline for when you could complete the replacement cruise? Thanks for any and all help!

I'm sorry about the $200 loss. But did you have travel insurance? They would have covered that.

As I understand it, those on the 12/04 cruise were offered $700 to re-book and those on the 11/30 were offered $500. Obviously, one is a shorter cruise than the other.

We chose not to re-book in December because it just wasn't convenient for us. We had booked a cruise for March on the Mariner, several months ago, and the credit has been applied to final payment for that cruise.

Going back to my first paragraph, we had a cruise in Europe this past summer and chose to do our own air. Our TA just increased the price of the total cruise to include the air for the insurance. That way, had there been a valid reason for cancellation, either ours' or the ships', we would have been covered completely.

Esther

Something else just came to mind. I had read that if the cruise was booked through one of the "discount" agencies, no compensation was available other than the cruise refund.

Esther

Everyone on your cruise was offered a voucher for $500 for a future cruise. I would call or write RSSC about your lost compensation (if you didn't have trip insurance) and let them know your problem. i've found them to be extremely responsive. Otherwise your trip insurance should cover the loss of the $200.

I'd be curious to know why one late in 2007 wouldn't work? What is her reasoning?

I was booked on the 12/4 seven-day cruise. Regent initially offered a $700 per person refund plus rebooking on either the 12/11 seven-day cruise, one of the ten-day cruises that fell over Christmas and New Year's, or a seven-day cruise in March. The ten-day cruise would have been the deal to take, but Little Sister (my cruising companion) couldn't get the time off from work and we didn't want to wait until March, so we took the 12/11 cruise offer. However, Regent reneged on the $700 per person refund because I had booked our trip on a steeply discounted interline rate. As for our airfare to Ft. Lauderdale, the airfare had gone down since I initially booked our flights, so it only ended up costing me an additional $90 for both of us. I'll send a letter to Regent, asking them to reimburse me for the airfare, but I'm not optimistic that I'll get the money back.

I would pursue this. How can you be offered $700.00 and then have the offer withdrawn? That would make anyone furious. Something sounds strange. You sure your TA knows what they are doing? That does not sound like the Regent I know. They are known for looking after the pax and especially when a cruise has been cancelled. If your TA is no help then I would talk to Regent myself and ask for their help. Their customer service staff are always very helpful and can perhaps point you in the right direction.

Pat

I would pursue this. How can you be offered $700.00 and then have the offer withdrawn? That would make anyone furious. Something sounds strange. You sure your TA knows what they are doing? That does not sound like the Regent I know. They are known for looking after the pax and especially when a cruise has been cancelled. If your TA is no help then I would talk to Regent myself and ask for their help. Their customer service staff are always very helpful and can perhaps point you in the right direction.

Pat

Interline and TA rates are not subject to the same protections and considerations as full tariff passengers. No one should be furious at all and it sounds to me like Regent took the high road.

Not apples to apples, FYI.

What is an "interline rate?"

I beg to differ with your assessment of the situation. Who in this day and age pays full tariff ? Also, the point was, she was first offered $700.00. You can't offer someone something and then take it away. Not a smart move for building good will.

Pat

Yes, I got an interline rate for my December 4 (now December 11) cruise, so I wasn't heartbroken when Regent withdrew the $700 per person refund offer. Actually, given the price I paid, I was surprised when they initially offered it! My travel agent had a number of clients booked on the December 4 cruise at the interline rate, and almost all of them were given full refunds instead of the option of taking another cruise. Regent wanted to accommodate its higher-paying passengers on the December 11 cruise (as opposed to the interline rate passengers), and I can certainly understand that.

Interline rates are deeply-discounted rates, usually offered for specific cruises to members of the travel community -- airline personnel and the like.

I beg to differ with your assessment of the situation. Who in this day and age pays full tariff ? Also, the point was, she was first offered $700.00. You can't offer someone something and then take it away. Not a smart move for building good will.

Pat

We shall agree to disagree. The poster did not say that RSSC offered her specifically a 700pp refund just that RSSC offered it to those affected, which are the passengers paying established rates. Interline and TA rates are not subject to the same considerations nor should they be. This is not an opinion, it is a fact.

As a TA, if I am travelling on a special rate, I can be bumped up until the day of sailing and no extra consideration is offered or expected if sailings are cancelled or my cabin is needed. Special discounts come with risks and that is the way it is.

Caviargal and Older Sister, thanks for the clarification on the TA rates and interline rates. When I read your first explanation about TA rates not being subject to the same refund policies I read that to mean anyone who booked with a TA. Sorry, my mistake and I do see now after reading both of your explanations why it would not be included. I still don't think it's right to offer something and then tell the person afterwards that they don't qualify. Wouldn't it be better to just find out first who qualifies and then offer it just to them? But then, it's not a perfect world!

Pat

I'm not surprised that Regent would not offer a credit to interline passengers. As someone who once worked in the travel industry, I can vouch for the fact that interline rates are deeply discounted and much lower that any rate "regular" passengers pay. Thus, I have no problem with Regent choosing not to extend the credit to those interline passengers. For example, I remember (although it was a decade, or so, ago) that I paid outrageously low interline rates for some foreign airline travel (like 15% of the published rate). I wouldn't have expected to received any "credits" or the like (except for my money back) if something like this happened. It's just a fact in the travel industry, that if you go "standby" or interline, you're taking your chances and don't expect anything!

Getting back to the OP's situation. She is still out of pocket on the airfare and frustrated with her TA. Assuming that she did not book an interline rate or TA rate then I still think she should contact Regent herself to get the correct answers and help that she needs.

Pat

Certainly, she should receive whatever credit others are receiving for her cruise (given no interline, etc) and her airfare should be covered by insurance, if she purchased it. Sounds as if her TA needs to get on the ball - otherwise, I would contact RSSC myself and work it out.

However, it still amazes me how many people I know do not purchase any insurance. Can't see it myself, but....:confused:

Esther

Yes, I got an interline rate for my December 4 (now December 11) cruise, so I wasn't heartbroken when Regent withdrew the $700 per person refund offer.

Older Sister,

Did they honor the interline rate for your rebooked cruise of 12/11?

Yes, Regent did honor my interline rate for the 12/11 cruise. They would have honored that same rate for the ten-day cruises that were also offered over the Christmas and New Year's holidays. I've got the same room that I was assigned for my 12/4 cruise, so I am very content.

I agree that it was bad form that they initially offered the $700 per person refund and then withdrew it. But stuff happens -- overzealous, inexperienced reservation clerks make offers that they shouldn't on occasion, and I'm willing to overlook it as long as there's no harm done. However, if I had received the $700 per person refund, I can assure you I would have blown at least that much on the ship's spa and bar. Now, I probably won't spend as much. Que sera sera . . .

Thanks to all for responding! After reading your posts, I think I am much clearer on what's going on.

I think I may also have an interline rate? My husband works for a travel company, and we booked this through his company, but were assigned a TA to work with and she seems to feel like everything has to go through her. So I understand that there might be special conditions on that rate. We were never offered the option of travel insurance...we will ALWAYS buy insurance, so we would have done it in this case, but no one asked. :( I wouldn't mind re-booking on another cruise, but, as I mentioned before, she said "pick a cruise in 2007," I picked one and she said "I don't know if that will work." I have repeatedly asked her if there are specific dates we need to go and have received no definite answer.

Oh, well. I guess at this point we might be out the $200. I will know next time a "great deal" comes along to make sure to ask more questions and make sure to get insurance, even if it's not offered up front. Thanks to everyone for your help!

We'd love to see you on the March 13th cruise if it's convenient for you.:)

Esther

Thanks, but unfortunately we can't make that one...I won't be able to take time off of work at that time. :( Otherwise it would be great!

It does look like we've got this worked out...RSSC will let us do a 7-day cruise for the price of the 4-day cruise, with the understanding that we can only be booked if the cruise is not full of full-fare paying passengers. So, we won't know until about a month before the cruise if we can go, but it looks like even the December 11th cruise this year isn't full yet, so I'm hopeful. And, if we can't go, we'll get all of our money back, and RSSC is covering the $200 for airfare. So, I'm pretty happy with the situation! :)

Thanks again to everyone!

Sorry for the double post!

That's wonderful!!!!:)

Esther

That's great! I'm happy for you that things worked out well with Regent. Sounds like you got a very good deal so fret no more and start dreaming about your cruise.

Pat

We're very pleased with what Regent provided in terms of a replacement cruise. I explained, very nicely, the issues the canceled cruise caused us and suggested an equitable resolution. Their representative put me on hold for only a minute or so while she consulted with higher ups and came back saying that they would provide what I had asked for. And they seemed genuinely pleased to do so.

Kudos to Regent for being so gracious.

The new cruise is going to be a blast, it's longer and has a much better intinerary than the canceled one.

I'll refrain from giving the details of the resolution, because everyones' circumstances are different, and so an apples-to-apples comparison would be difficult. Suffice it to say that I am actually glad the 12/4 sailing was cancelled (but not glad so many peoples' plans were disrupted:().

Another plus, the cancellation happens to put us at the Kennedy Space Center the very day of the space shuttle launch (with tickets to see the launch from the Center):D

Ragnar "Space Cadet" D.