cruiseej

Yes, thanks for making that point. I am planning that we will keep hoping and waiting up until the tender for the excursion leaves the ship. I was just adding my story about an IT glitch with booking excursions to the one the original poster above shared, and like the OP, hoping someone at Regent might take enough interest to want to look into it.

I ran into a problem booking a shore excursion for our upcoming cruise. We're doing a Splendor cruise circumnavigating Iceland later this month with my parents, and to make sure we got the same excursions so I can help them, I used my laptop and my mother's iPad to book the excursions we selected simultaneously. My order and payment went through without a problem. I have a PDF of booking my parents' order for the same group of excursions. But we later discovered that one of their excursions wasn't in the system, even though it's clearly on the PDF confirmation. (All the others purchased at the same time were fine. Go figure.) By the time we realized this excursion wasn't on their itinerary, it was sold out, and rebooking it, they were waitlisted. We contacted our TA who talked with Regent; Regent said they had no record of the booking and there was nothing they would do — even though I have a PDF showing it was booked. That's an IT glitch, but Regent wasn't interested and wouldn't help. (They could have put them at the top of the waitlist, but they said no.) Unfortunately they have not cleared the waitlist months later, so we'll head for the cruise without them having the excursion. Unless we get lucky at the last minute, I will have them take the excursion using our spots — the cruise is for them — and my wife and I will remain onboard. I'm just disappointed that Regent wouldn't do anything despite me having black-and-white proof it was an IT problem on their end.

@GOARMY Weren't you just saying not to assume? 😂 Actually, our TA is a very experienced Regent TA; she was actually just a Signature Travel Network host on the Splendor a couple weeks ago. I know that because I emailed her a question about this, and one of her colleagues answered because she was on the Splendor cruise. I was told it is not a problem for us to leave the ship on our own and show up at the hotel later. I thought I'd ask the question here to see if any Regent cruisers here had done something similar, and how it unfolded for them. I haven't contacted the hotel because I don't know if they have the list of guest names for the room block Regent has reserved as far as three weeks in advance. @Bearsparents The private tour I've booked has a van large enough for our luggage, so I was figuring we'd take our luggage with us when we disembark. That avoids any complexity/potential problems with getting Regent to hand off our luggage to their ground services company to hand it off to the hotel. Thanks @flossie009 for pointing me to whom I should speak onboard; I didn't even know there was an Executive Concierge. 😀

Well, taxis cannot go to the pier area where cruise ships berth, which is exactly what the Regent representative said above in this thread: "no taxis or private cars are permitted to enter the berthing facility." There are other part of Fusina, including the ferry terminal, where taxis are allowed. (And in case anyone thinks perhaps you could taxi to the ferry terminal and then walk to the cruise ship; you can't. 😀) So there's no reason they need for Regent to change anything; you can't take a taxi to the area of the Fusina port where you board a cruise ship. So everyone goes to the Marittima Cruise Port in Venice for boarding, and ends up there when disembarking.

If it was, it was probably a marketing person, not the operations executive you would wish it was.

I hope so, but… maybe yes, maybe no. If a company was hired to test some marketing messages in a focus group, it's quite possible that the comments not relevant to their task will not make it into their report to their client.

@SLSD On our Sojourn cruise in late spring, we got a great rate on a Venture cruise from Greenland to Canada next fall. I was going to suggest that to you, but it's in September, and I understand you need to get out of the Texas heat earlier than that! But if you're looking for an additional late summer respite… We're looking forward to trying one of the new expedition ships. We've done a Silversea cruise from Iceland to Greenland previously and have looked for an opportunity to see more of Greenland. This itinerary is only offered once a year, so there's no choice of dates! And later this month, we're returning to Regent for the first time in a decade, for a circumnavigation of Iceland. Seabourn has been our favorite cruise line of late, but we're looking forward to trying one of the new Regent ships. And returning to Iceland, which we only visited for three days prior to our SS cruise. Our first Seabourn cruise was the coast of Norway, and we have some friends interested in that trip, so I see a return to Norway in our future in 2-3 years! And yes, we feel mighty fortunate to be able to explore with all these wonderful cruise lines!

Listen to a live version of Bruce Springsteen doing it. Even better than the original, IMO. 😀 (Or this one of Springsteen with Edwin Starr.) But you won't get back the deviation fee if you do that, right?

A different transfer question: on our upcoming Splendor cruise roundtrip Reykjavik, we have an included hotel on disembarkation day due to no available flights on that day. Instead of taking the included bus transfer from the ship to the hotel, we're going to get picked up at the port for a Tours By Locals tour for the day, and get dropped at the hotel late afternoon. Do we need to do anything to contact the hotel to explain we won't arrive on the bus with others, but that we're still coming later in the day? Or is it safe to assume Regent has reserved rooms for us which will simply be waiting whenever we show up? I don't want to mess up our hotel reservation or our transfer to the airport the following morning. I'm concerned that if a local ground representative is at the hotel when the bus arrives in the morning, they will be gone by the time we get to the hotel. Will they leave our instructions for the airport transfer (what time we depart, whether we need to leave luggage out the night before) with the hotel desk to give us when we check in?

I don't think they offer an explanation. I'd guess it's because they don't want customers tracking their own luggage and flooding their customer support with questions/concerns. You can imagine… "My luggage from Chicago to Athens is in San Francisco; what's going on?!" "My cruise in Copenhagen begins in just 6 days, and my luggage still hasn't left the US?!" "Your website shows my luggage in Paris but my AirTag shows it is in London!" 😂

@yvesvn There is a car park and a ferry terminal at Fusina — but that's not the dock where the cruise ships berth. Because there are no facilities at the dock for things like security, check-in desks, and luggage handling, cruise ship passengers go through the old cruise terminal in Venice. But if you want to disregard what a Regent staff member has shared, and what others cruising and and out of Venice have shared from their personal experiences, go ahead and believe what you want to believe. 😀

And I'm only saying that sometimes s--t happens that no one can do anything about other than to work through the problem as best possible. Now, it this were a recurring problem with every cruise, or many cruises, that's a different matter, and yes, that would be a real failure on Regent's part.

Why? Because answering that question wasn't the goal of the focus group. They were probably trying to test whether marketing 'A' or 'B' resonated better with longtime customers. Or, would it be positive, neutral or negative to existing customers if they do 'X'.

The ground services firm they hire has a few people tasked with being at the hotel desk, loading the busses, etc. All it takes throw things off is one employee who is sick, or has a sick child, or has a car problem/accident, so they are understaffed and unable to keep up. If this issue a recurring complaint, then Regent needs to hear it so they can address it with the local company or hire a different one (if there are companies to choose from); if this was a one-off snafu, it's unfortunate for the passengers who had a poor experience, but not a systemic problem Regent needs to address.

It's been a while since we did a holiday cruise on Regent, but I think you can expect a 'yes' for all your requirements — minus the fireside sign-along, as fires are not highly regarded on cruise ships! 😂

Wow, that's got to be a pretty rare experience nowadays. Congratulations!

Six is a good number if you want to have a chance to ask a number of questions and hear from everyone. A larger group makes it hard to have any semblance of a conversation, and quieter participants may not get heard from often. What you don't know is how many focus groups they had. It's unlikely it was just this one. Probably 3 or 4. It seems clear this was a marketing focus group. They wanted to probe what resonated with members of the group, and where there was confusion or negatives in messaging. As you and others have said above, this was not a guided listening session by Seabourn executives to hear from customers about what they don't like, or how they think Seabourn could make things better. This was a marketing focus group to help them fine-tune their marketing messages, or to decide whether to offer or promote certain services. They likely required your camera to be on because someone wanted to watch facial reactions and attitudes as questions were asked and other users replied. In a non-Zoom setting, a focus group can allow for a bit more interaction and discussion, but that can be hard on Zoom where people can talk over each other. Good focus groups are based on some key things the moderator wants to probe, but allow some wiggle room for interesting discussion which can be illuminating for the company; bad focus groups have a moderator stick to a rigid set of questions and clamp down on much group interaction or distance from the topics. It sounds like yours was somewhere in between.

The answer is "yes". 😂 Yes, they will try to go to an alternate port if they can find one with availability. But it might become a sea day if the weather and/or nearby ports aren't cooperative. As noted above, there are certainly other ports near both Portovenere and St Tropez — but there are also dozens of other cruise ships in the same areas of the Mediterranean at the same time, and all the docking berths may be booked, or may not have ground staff available to accommodate an additional ship on a few hours' notice. Since most Med cruises are pretty port-intensive, and unscheduled sea day can be pretty nice if the weather is okay to be outside (although of course you miss whatever shore activities you had planned).

We see many posts here about customers who are loyal to their TAs for both their knowledge and services and for the rebates/rewards/kickbacks of commission they get from their TA. I do wonder how many would stick with their TA if, instead of getting 5-10% off the cruise fare, they paid the cruise line's price plus 10% for their TA's services. In the short term, some people would pay, but over time, I think a lot of TAs would be out of the cruise business.

Thanks, Julie. I imagine the entry of new ships — like Pursuit currently, and Venture a year ago — has to shake up the staffing, up and down the ranks, somewhat. As will the departure of Odyssey next year. (But after that, it seems like Seabourn is in for a pretty looonnnngg period of stability, with no new ships on order. 😉)

If you have some high level of Hilton status, you might try calling the hotel a day or two before you arrive back in Anchorage. By that time, they should have the guest list from the cruise line. You don't qualify for a higher-level room with the group booking, but you can say you want to add your HHonors number and, if a better-than-standard room is available, you'd appreciate it. It might not work any magic — but it can't hurt to try. 😀

We stayed at Le Meridien for three nights in May before a Seabourn cruise. We thought the price was reasonable for a good hotel in the city (and if you have Marriott points, you can really cut the cost!). The hotel works out great. We loved the location, with easy walking to many sites and restaurants in this area of the city. While it's desirable to stay in the same hotel for your whole stay, for a savings of $1,000 (minus $20 for a cab to move hotels), I'd absolutely do that. 😀

I developed a cold on a (non cruise) trip last year. I didn't think it was Covid, and I tested negative. Of course I covered my mouth when I coughed, but I knew other people on our tour van were probably wary of the guy with the cough. I really wanted to wear a sign around my neck: "It's a cold, not Covid!" My wife developed a cold on our recent Seabourn cruise; also not Covid (per testing) — but again, we knew it could put other people on edge. Maybe I should get "It's not Covid!" T-shirts made before our next trip! But that would probably jinx things, and one of us would actually contract Covid! 🤣

Another tangential question: I'm always interested why people recommend a specific ship in the fleet. Sojourn and Quest (leaving out Odyssey, which will be leaving the fleet next year) are virtual twins, as are Ovation and Encore. I've been under the impression that crew members move around a fair amount among the ships. So if the ships are nearly identical, and the crew members you've met are likely to be scattered among the ships, what leads to one recommending a specific ship? Do a lot of crew, and particularly senior managers, actually mostly return to the same ship on contract after contract? Or is there something else? Just curious.

The cruise line reserves a block of rooms. It's quite possible they haven't even provided a list of names to the hotel yet.