We were booked on this Voyager cruise -Istanbul to Barcelona 27th October. After a less than satisfactory cruise on Splendor in 2022 we saw this cruise, found the itinerary very interesting with a mix of familiar ports and a few couple of new ports, and decided to give Regent another chance.
We booked the cruise at the end on September 2023 and, because of our level and cabin category, we were able to book our excursions at the end of October.
A post on another thread alerted us to something going on but I checked My Account on the Regent website, saw that the map was still showing the correct ports and assumed all was still OK. Two weeks ago, I checked again and the map was still correct, but when I went further this new itinerary was there - completely different and not an itinerary that we are at all interested in.
To date, I have heard absolutely nothing from Regent - they have changed the cruise without any forewarning and if it were not for Cruise Critic I would still be assuming all was OK.
As I hadn't heard anything I contacted our cruise agent yesterday. They were unaware of any change but contacted Regent UK on our behalf. They were then able to confirm to me that the cruise had changed to the new itinerary and that Regent are giving us three options - take the new itinerary, transfer our deposit to a new cruise or cancel and have our deposit returned. I should add that, being in the UK, our deposit is not $100, not £100 but approximately 25% of the total cruise fare.
I believe that, apart from being negligent in not informing us of the change, Regent have been very devious and, I suspect, mis-selling the cruise. It takes time to make so many changes and I am of the opinion that at the time we booked (late September) they must have been at the very least considering making the change. By late October, when we were able to book excursions, they must surely have been working on the changes. Clearly, I do not have the facts but those are my strong suspicions.
Needless to say, we are cancelling and taking the return of the deposit. We will not consider ever booking again with Regent as how can we ever trust them again. I am angry and very disappointed.