pappy1022

I believe if an excursion doesn’t provide for the option to be wait listed then the waitlist sign up’s exceeded what Regent believes to be a reasonable number of people already on the waitlist for the tour capacity they expect. I believe in the post COVID era, there are fewer opportunities to expand capacity because the number of companies offering tours have shrunk and cruise ships are getting back to cruiser capacity on the ship. Supply and demand are out of balance. I do see plenty of private tours available online and if you team up with another couple or 2, you can get private tours at a reasonable cost. IMO, private tours are vastly superior to large and small group tours that Regent offers. Of course, it’s hard to justify not using Regent tours when you are paying for them in the base fare but if you have something in a port that is a must do and a Regent tour doesn’t fit the bill or is unavailable, then I would certainly consider a private tour. We have a couple of private tours schedule for an upcoming cruise where we see significant value over Regent options but have selected mostly Regent excursions for the rest. Crossing my fingers that Regent delivers what we have chosen because at this point, all Regent excursions are full and only a couple of them are accepting being put on the waitlist.

There is a chance once onboard but don’t be surprised if there aren’t any of interest. Wait listing probably gives you a slightly higher chance but again don’t plan on it. Post COVID, excursions are harder to come by and we read a lot more posts where excursions are either cancelled or booked completely. The bottom line is plan for them not being available and be surprised if they do become available. Or, book a private tour.

For trip cancellation it is certainly a good way to go and I leverage this via my Sapphire credit card. I will caution everyone that most credit cards, including the Sapphire card, provide minimal coverage for evacuation or medical care. Although less likely than having to cancel the cruise, evacuation and medical care, especially overseas, can be very expensive and if you depend solely on the credit card coverage, most of it will come out of your pocket. These costs can far outweigh the cost of the cruise. That’s why I separately insure a portion of the total cost via a private insurance provider. That way, I get very high coverage allowance for medical and evacuation costs and also coverage for trip cancellation. If you manage it well, the extra private insurance will cost a few hundred dollars, not thousands of dollars. At the end of the day it’s all about risk management, like any other insurance.

I concur with Wristband’s recommendation. I spoke with Steve at the insurance store and they actually answered the phone each time I called and also answered all of my questions and recommended a policy that fit my need the best. You can go on their website, enter some info about you and the trip and get a comparison of cost and benefits side by side for each policy.

? - Regent is no longer providing hotel or transfers. When did this start or was this the OP’s choice not to use those Regent services?

Credit card “coverage” is for the cost of the trip up to $10K/person depending on what card you have. The cost of emergency evacuation or a medical emergency where you have to go to a non US hospital is generally very low with credit card coverages. That’s why we insured the cruise cost excess above the $20K coverage and bought private insurance for the difference between the cost of the cruise $30K minus the credit card coverage $20K = $10K. That only covers the cost of the cruise itself, assuming you are using Regent and it’s all included. We bought the private policy for $10K coverage and got substantially higher coverage for emergency evacuation and medical costs. Those costs if ever needed are a lot more than the cruise itself.

I bought travel insurance for the first time for an upcoming trip because of the high cost of the cruise and it is in a foreign country. I looked at Regent’s offering and it was 2X what I could get elsewhere. Per the recommendations on this board, I used my Sapphire credit card that covers $20K of the travel cost and provides some nominal health and evacuation benefits at no cost to me. I used IMG through trip insurance store dot com to cover the rest of the cruise cost plus it gives me substantial health, evacuation, etc. benefits to fill in the gaps. Bottom line is that my out of pocket cost was 1/4 the cost of using Regent’s insurance. I haven’t had a claim since this is the first time I’ve purchased travel insurance and the trip is later this year but several people on this Regent board have had claims with the option I used and were satisfied with the claim process. Shop around. It will be well worth it.

What kind of special dinner request can you make? I will be turning 70 (a couple of weeks after our cruise) and a great friend just retired and this is our celebration cruise. I am out on the happy birthday or happy retirement singing by the staff and a cake (Regent normal desserts will be just fine) but what else can we request?

I understand that stuff happens and I accept the risk of things not going as planned, no matter if it’s a cruise or any land based vacation. I know if Regent decides to cancel an excursion, I can’t do anything about it. If they can’t offer an alternative excursion then I will pivot and make the best of it. If that keeps happening, then yes I will probably look elsewhere, especially if they can’t/won’t give me an explanation. I’m moving on with regards to this topic. There are obviously varying opinions on how Regent handles these situations and at this point, we can only agree to disagree.

CWN, the difference in excursions vs the other examples you gave, is that at least with recent posts, an excursion is cancelled and there are no other options available because they are all booked. This is true especially for last minute cancellations. It feels like this is happening a lot more often vs historical norms. If a restaurant onboard runs out of that steak you were wanting, or that specific vodka you were wanting, etc., you have options to choose something else. From what I am reading in these threads, excursions are being cancelled and there are no options available to them. That’s when it seems to be a bit different from the other examples you gave.

How do you find the F&B Manager and/or Dining Room Manager?

How difficult is it to get a table for 6 in Compass Rose and in the specialty restaurants? Any suggestions for a better chance of getting an early sitting? I do know the process for making group reservations in the specialty restaurants. We will be on Splendor.

Did you get a refund of the OBC from the cancelled excursions?

I don’t like the use of the term free for 2 reasons: 1. We all know that nothing that Any cruise line provides is free. It’s always baked into the rate. 2. And this is more important for this discussion, a few people have indirectly or directly used the excuse that a specific service, in this discussion shore excursions, that we shouldn’t care if cancelled and/or if no other alternatives are available because they are free and we aren’t out anything. Really? What’s the difference? A lot for the people who value the destination as much as the ship itself.

Free? Far from it. We pay for everything that Regent includes in the base fare. They aren’t giving away anything. I accept that people value the all inclusive proposition of Regent but everything is baked in the fare. If it wasn’t, it would be hard to justify the premium price. I chose Regent because of the value proposition of everything being included because I compared their prices to other premium cruise lines. Now if those inclusions don’t happen or aren’t available, it changes the value proposition. That is the crux of the discussion when it comes to unavailable or last minute excursion cancellations.

Well for some, the destination is a big part of the cruising journey and isn’t just icing on the cake, it’s part of the cake. To some, they aren’t worried if there isn’t a lounge chair at the pool. For others this is a big deal. For some, they are irritated that their meal took a little longer to arrive. For others, it just doesn’t matter. The point is that different things matter to different people and we should all respect those differences. If shore excursions are indeed the icing on the cake, I would suggest that the icing is often the best part of a cake.

I didn’t use the word dishonest but I can see how you could interpret it that way. Saying nothing isn’t being dishonest. All I am saying is that Regent should tell the people on board the truth about the reason for cancellation or change in itinerary. I think that’s better than not saying anything.

Of course other cruise lines cancel excursions or miss ports for a variety of reasons. No one is saying that. Regent is one of only a handful (small hand) of cruise lines that includes excursions in their product offering and the cost is baked into the fare we pay. We understand that stuff happens beyond a cruise line’s control. We pay for Regent excursions despite the advertisements that they are free. It is part of their value proposition when comparing the total cost to other cruise line offerings. If an excursion is cancelled by cruise line X,Y or Z, I am sure the customer gets their money back, Regent customers don’t. Since there is no hope that Regent will ever refund money for a missed excursion, at least they should be honest with their passengers on board as to the reason for the cancellation. Imagine if another included service, say specialty dining, was not available onboard for some reason. My goodness, some people on this chat board are going crazy because Alaskan king crab isn’t readily available. Regent has set a standard of excellence and earned the high expectations we put on them. They aren’t any cruise line and we shouldn’t lower our expectations and make comparisons to cruise line X,Y or Z.

That doesn’t explain the last minute cancellations. Also, You would think that Regent would know well in advance if a tour company couldn’t provide tours because of staffing issues.

I don’t doubt that this is an issue for all cruise lines and especially the case for busy ports and small out of the way ports. We are definitely seeing more and more people reporting excursion availability issues. Maybe Regent needs to look at their “free” (included in the cost) excursion offerings if they can’t deliver on their marketing offer and come up with one thing different. And yes I know, unlimited excursions and access to every excursion isn’t the promise legally, but if excursions are included, something should be available to passengers. The other argument is that if you don’t like it go cruise somewhere else. I think people like Regent and see the value in the high end onboard experience and the value of the all inclusive promise. I also think that many people justify the cost of Regent based on all of the included services, including airfare, excursions, specialty restaurants, etc. to justify the base fare.

I think the passengers deserve an explanation. I don’t think that it is too much to ask. Regent tells you if it is weather related and if it’s not safe to dock/tender. Why can’t they tell you the truth if there is a different reason? Just sayin’. I know it won’t change things but if a port or an excursion is cancelled, especially at the last moment, I think it shows honesty by Regent and respect for the customer.

Just one per restaurant. You can always try getting another reservation once on board.

Or, if Yankeeclipper is correct with her speculation, then maybe Regent doesn’t want to tell their customers the truth because they are more afraid of that blowback than not saying anything at all.

Will do. Thanks.

Is there a way to ask for specific things, such as a king bed, when you use the Regent included hotel package? If so, how do you go about informing the hotel or Regent of your request? One more thing not related to hotels, how does one inform Regent of a special occasion such as an anniversary or milestone birthday and what do they normally do to help celebrate that occasion?