pappy1022

I am not sure of the severity of the unrest in Northern Ireland but I read this headline today: “A rise in nationalist militancy in Northern Ireland prompted the U.K. government to increase the threat of a terrorist attack to "severe" this week.” The British Isle cruising season is still a few months away. Although I am most interested in the unrest in Northern Ireland because we will be cruising there, the question is more general in nature. Does Regent have a formal policy when it comes to these types of threats? For example, if the government labels the threat as severe, will Regent automatically avoid that location?

I am not sure of the severity of the unrest in Northern Ireland but I read this headline today: “A rise in nationalist militancy in Northern Ireland prompted the U.K. government to increase the threat of a terrorist attack to "severe" this week.” The British Isle cruising season is still a few months away. I know how news reports can sensationalize for viewership so I am wondering what the truth on the ground is and whether this should be a concern for us cruisers who will be visiting Northern Ireland in the coming months.

One can dream. For my upcoming cruise, if I were to get 40% off the base fare for an airfare credit, it would make it more feasible to plan and pay for my own airfare. Not sure if this is a temporary credit due to increased short term issues with getting business class allocations for Regent or if this will be an ongoing “offer”. Time will tell. It would be interesting to know the real strategy behind this offer but we will never know.

Yes but the business air credits are fairly small. On my current reservation, Regent was offering a $2,500 air credit. When I looked online as to what it would cost me to do my own business class airfare, it was 3X the credit Regent was offering. I couldn’t even get the higher end coach class flight for the Regent credit, so it was a no brained to stay with Regent air. That credit was about 16% of the total cruise cost, so at 40% it makes it more interesting and viable. We shall see what it winds up being after all the dust settles and we get a better understanding of the specific credits. I am all for Regent giving us options as long as reasonable credits are involved. I think Regent should let us take credits for any non on ship services that they don’t directly provide, including shore excursions. I would gladly reduce the cruise fare to somewhere close to 50% and do all my own air, hotel, transportation to and from the ship, and plan and schedule my own shore excursions. But the credits need to reflect closer to the market value of the service. Airfare is the biggest one and it seems the biggest Regent complaints I read about on this forum are those non on board services like air, hotels, excursions, etc. There are mostly positive comments about the food, the cabins, the beauty of the ship, etc. It also feels like Regent doesn’t actively manage their 3rd party providers and often just give the standard answer, “we can’t do anything about that since these people don’t work for us”. Having said all that, I know that many people love the all inclusive approach that Regent offers, so Regent should still provide that option. They are almost there in allowing us to deselect some services that are not on ship services. So finish the job and let us decide what makes sense for each of us. The only caveat is that the credits need to be reasonable and not what they have been, especially for air credits.

Does that mean they now have to tell us what the cruise only fare portion is? Sounds like the Oceania model where they publicize the cruise only fare and then a fare for included perks.

Yes, “Up to” is always the catch. Since business class cost is the same for every person no matter what cabin level they have on the ship, maybe the 40% will be geared more toward lower cost cabins. Before booking my upcoming Regent cruise I did look at the airline prices and routes and yes indeed they are very expensive. Regent’s credit for not taking Regent included flights were nowhere near the price I would have to pay on my own for business class seats so I don’t know what their contract rates are with them.

40% off what? The cruise or just the airfare?

I side with Jack as far as Regent’s motivation.

If what you say is true about Regent’s motivation is true, and it does make sense, then why doesn’t Regent just say that and prevent much of this angst.

If booked on a second tour, do you have to go to the theater after the first excursion to pick up your tickets for the 2nd excursion or can you get both when you pick up the tickets for the first excursion?

Just to verify. If I call them for air travel for my wife and I, do I pay $75 or $150 just to talk to them? And if a family of 4 is that $300 just to talk to them?

As Pcardad said, research and be prepared to ask for multiple options because you get 1 shot at this before you have to pay the extra $’s. I found 3 best choices in priority order and my TA submitted them for me. 1st choice for outbound flight was accepted. Return flight was changed but it was direct and acceptable to me. It wasn’t even an option I had considered but very good. Now I have to hope the airlines don’t change schedules.

Personally, the destination is as important to me as the onboard ship experiences, so I would take 2 tours per day if Regent offered them. But, on our upcoming British Isle cruise there is only 1 port where the time between excursions meets the Regent criteria. When I plan private excursions I always make them full day trips (better value in my opinion). As they say, “different strokes for different folks”. I don’t go back to the same place twice and there are still so many places I want to visit, so I take in as much as I can as long as my body and mind will let me. So far, so good.

So how do we know what carriers Regent has their contract rates with and what those rates are? I’m sure they aren’t going to share this information with us.

My latest air deviation process resulted in Regent suggesting a direct flight home from a carrier that wasn’t anywhere near the cheapest when you look at online published rates. I assume that Regent has contracted rates with some carriers that aren’t available for us to see online.

I am more than willing to pay the $175 to select the flights I want. I find that I can get reasonable flights through this process. I don’t have a lot of airline points so getting business class fare through Regent is best for me because the refund you get for not using their “included” air is nowhere near the cost of a business class seat. I just don’t understand Regent’s motivation to charge an extra $75 to talk to an agent.

Good luck trying to find 2 excursions in a single day. Of the 10 ports we are visiting in the British Isles, only 1 qualified as having enough time between excursions. When you do select your excursions on the website, it will prevent you from selecting a second one if it doesn’t have the minimum in between time.

Many people have lost their livelihood because of the ban on harvesting Alaskan King crab. The ban is in place because of the massive reduction in the numbers of crabs available to harvest. The goal of the ban is to try and get the crab population to a sustainable level. Sure, many of us will miss Alaskan King crab on Regent but we have other marvelous options for dinner. If you find yourself disappointed or angry about not getting Alaskan King crab for dinner, think about the people who depended on these crabs to live. It puts things in perspective.

I’m not sure why Regent is implementing this change. Is it to save money by reducing staff, to discourage customers who take advantage of the system by going back time and time again to arrange flights, or those people who take up a lot of their time looking for options only to take the credit and do their own thing? Or is it something else? Regent has contracted rates with the airlines. I don’t know what time period those rates are for but if they don’t coincide with the timing they publish their cruise rates for, it could be a problem for them. I’m sure we will never know the underlying reason for this change but it seems like a petty move on Regent’s part that is sure to get some customers riled up. Why would they do that for $100 when the cost of the cruise is tens of thousands of dollars? Are they starting to move away from an all inclusive model? Doesn’t seem like a smart customer relations move over a trivial amount of money.

I think we are starting to see some cost cutting from the new management team. I suspect that people cost are a big part of their expenses and maybe they are trying to cut down on the number of calls because they intend to have fewer people manning the phones. I don’t know that for a fact but it sure feels like there is something going on with trying to make the NCL family more profitable. After all they are in business to make money. They as well as all other cruise lines that stayed in business have taken on a very large debt load and it’s time to start paying that back. It’s like a gigantic credit card and the interest keeps piling up. It’s worth keeping an eye out for other signs of reducing cost. I’ve been active on the Regent discussion boards for many years and it feels like recently there have been a lot more complaints about service and excursions than ever before. Maybe it’s a fallout from COVID times but it’s time to put that reason/excuse behind us.

Gently? This looks more like a kick in the ………

My goodness, this is ludicrous. Charging us to just talk to someone in customer service at Regent. The incentive on their part is to give us crappy flights so we have to call again and again and keep the $75 meter going. Surely they could have come up with a different process. Regent must be desperate to generate revenue to pay for all that debt they incurred during the height of COVID. They are rapidly losing their shine. Maybe this is the beginning of the end for luxury cruising. If people are abusing this process just limit the number of air deviations to 2 or 3 rounds and then charge for any additional customer service contacts.

Thank you for making me smile, especially that first sentence. 😀

If you could provide just 1 piece of advice to new or relatively novice Regent cruisers, what would it be? Please just 1 even if you have a lot of advice. I will start: use an experienced travel agent familiar with Regent and their connections and processes.

One recent cruiser was told by Destination Services that Regent doesn’t have control over the tour providers so they couldn’t do anything about the poor experience. I guess that would classify as they don’t care as a recent contributor to this board claimed.