pappy1022

I have found that self arranged tours, especially private or small group tours, are far superior to anything the cruise line will offer. You have to do your homework but fortunately it is pretty easy to find the better guides by searching the internet. You can see and learn so much more from private tours. We love the onboard ship experiences but we also equally value the excursions. If you have another couple or 2 to join you on a private excursion it makes it very economically competitive vs a mass ship tour. There are quality guide services that will guarantee to get you back to the ship on time or arrange to get you to the next port if that’s what it takes. Fortunately, I haven’t had to test that clause and I always get back to the ship at least 2 hours before it is scheduled to leave. Recently I have gone with a company called Tours by Locals. They offer tours in many ports.

Thank you for your honest review. I am looking forward to our Regent cruise in September on Splendor. I honestly don’t understand why excursions are being cancelled at the last minute, in your case 3 excursions. Regent must know, or should know, that their providers won’t be able to provide their service. My biggest pre cruise concern has been with Regent shore excursions. Maybe it’s justified, maybe it’s not, we shall see. It seems things have changed quite a bit post COVID. I would be very interested to hear from recent Regent passengers that have been on a British Isle cruise as to their shore excursion experiences.

Thank you all for the information. We will be there in September so hopefully the crowds won’t be as bad. What route (sites) did the tour bus take on the way to the castle? How long do you get to stay in the castle ?

Gilly, you were correct in your initial response. Our cruise ends in London. We are flying from London to Austin. BA does have a direct flight as does Virgin Atlantic. Regent wouldn’t put me on the BA flight without a significant upcharge. They did give me a direct flight on Virgin Atlantic with no upcharge even though if you look at the online prices, Virgin was significantly more expensive than BA for a business class seat. Who knows why but I am good with a direct flight with Virgin Airlines. Given what I have been reading recently, some people are having to make 2 stops to get home so I can’t complain about my arrangements.

Now that some people have been to Edinburgh in 2023, does Regent have a shuttle to and from the New Haven port (tender)? If so, how often does it run? Has anyone taken the Regent tour “City of Edinburgh and Castle”? If so, does it go to the castle first and can you go on your own on the Royal mile and catch the Regent shuttle (assuming there is one) instead of taking the official tour bus back to the port?

I know, but we are flying BA from Austin to Copenhagen via London with no upcharge. They’re isn’t a direct flight to Copenhagen from Austin.

No. Wait let me think about it ……… No. I think it would be a waste of money. If you are set on taking them on a cruise pick one with a short duration and one that has something for them to do. Disney comes to mind.

You are right, I did price them each 1 way since they were on 2 different airlines. I priced the exact flights that Regent agreed to for my trip. The Virgin Atlantic flight was by far more expensive but it is a direct flight and Regent wouldn’t allow a direct BA flight without a significant upcharge.

Thank you. How do you do that and how do you transfer credits to the 1 account? Our TA said they would make the final credit a stateroom credit vs individual credits so that would take care of things (I think),

Shipboard credits are assigned to a person and not to a cabin. Can I use some of my shipboard credits to partially pay for my wife’s SPA treatments or whatever else she decides to use them on?

One data point, traveling from Austin to Copenhagen and returning direct to Austin from London. The credit that Regent offered wouldn’t have even paid for a coach class ticket, so it was a no brainer to go with Regent business class air. I went to the airline websites, outbound BA, and return Virgin Atantic, and the price was $19,000 for 2 business class seats. That represents 60% of the total cruise cost including air that I paid Regent. I assume that Regent gets a much better rate than I can get but that was an eye opener for me that business class air was that expensive.

I assume that I can use shipboard credits for dry cleaning, correct?

For those items that require dry cleaning, what does Regent Splendor have available and how much does it cost?

Nothing wrong with the professional style video but it felt a bit of a commercial to me. I much more enjoyed your reports knotheadusc

The sports deck has several things to do such as paddle ball, putting green, etc. Do you need to make reservations to do any of these activities? And if so, where do you do that?

The lack of information will again lead to speculation and rumors and people will draw their own conclusions. The video that I saw took tongue in cheek shots at Regent’s clientele saying things like the fight must have broken out because they were arguing over the last piece of caviar. It should be surprising that this type of thing happens but society these days is very intolerant of ideas and actions that don’t line up with their own beliefs. Sadly, we see it every day and it’s becoming more the norm than the exception.

Agree with you Pcardad. I wasn’t there so I don’t know all the background of what happened but you would think that Regent staff would have taken a much more active role in getting things calmed down instead of just being bystanders. I would be curious to hear from someone who saw the incident and could bring some clarity to how it evolved.

I guess I started something 😁

My bad. I did not see the period in the sentence: “No. Login is required regardless of where you are on the ship. “ 😁🤪😱. Old man syndrome. Glad I asked and you challenged me. I feel better now. My last job was worldwide cyber security responsibility for a major international corporation. I saw a lot of wild stuff going on and I am still paranoid about cyber security.

Just want to clarify something. Are you saying that you don’t need to login to the network to get internet access from anywhere on the ship? If so, that doesn’t sound secure.

That’s a fair point but I wonder why the Regent staff that tend to the room didn’t say anything to management. It was so obvious and surely didn’t just happen on this cruise. There is responsibility on both sides.

Thank you for the update. I hope that Regent isn’t using the excuse that they can’t control or influence the galley, servers, etc. because they are outsourced to a 3rd party. I’ve heard that reasoning when it comes to air, excursions, etc. If that’s their position then what do they have direct control of?

It’s amazing to me how some people just feel the need to berate people for pointing out some flaws in their cabin or their experience. I have directly encountered this from the same people but I am not going away. Quickly, the blame is put on the individual vs where it should be placed. Yes, we all should communicate any issues we encounter to Regent as quickly as possible. Yes, not everything is going to be perfect. I also think that something as obvious as this should be noticed by the Regent staff servicing the room. The personal attacks keep people from coming back and contributing to this discussion board. Could that be the goal?

Good to hear. We made it through the process but it was painful.

That’s certainly a possibility. Modern day databases manage those types of updates and the delay should at most be a second or 2, since this is a very small amount data being updated. Anyway, a lesson learned. In the end the Regent representative cancelled all of our reservations and redid them all with some minor changes to the schedule.