Gray Lady

Did you turn in an expense form with Hal for the per diem? If not, I would call them, ask for one, and submit it along with your supporting paperwork from the hotel.

There is no reason whatsoever that it should take that long for you to get reimbursement! Yes, we did get our per diem and hotel refund. I kept calling every other week because HAL still owed us refunds for our excursions and kept a log. I finally found one person who actually listened to me. I again used the phrase that I didn’t want to go to consumer affairs (under the umbrella of state attorney general) in WA and CA, but would if I needed to. I call it the Christmas miracle, because our money and refunds all arrived on December 23rd - 6 months after our quarantine. They refunded us all of our excursions and gave us all of our money for hotel and per diem. As to the question if we would ever sail with HAL again, we are booked on a future Mediterranean cruise with Regent Seven Seas. We definitely will buy cruise insurance, but things should be way better by the time we sail in 2024.

One more flight deviation question. Now that they impose a charge when you call, is it better for me to talk to them or my TA? Does it even make a difference? Thanks in advance.

I have one more newbie question. When we land in Europe before we transfer, and it is a Schengen country, do we have to get our bags to go through customs, or do we just do immigration?

Thank you. That really makes sense. We also get business class with Regent for international flights. We just have to hope they have seats and agreements with United and /or Lufthansa so we can get one of those flights without paying an additional arm, leg, or other body part! 🤞

We are flying next April to Barcelona from San Francisco. We plan on deviating our flights, and I have been looking at the flight matrix. We would like to have only one stop. We are taking a pre-cruise land tour, so know we arrive in plenty of time for our cruise. I would like opinions on where we should have our one stop. I will list them, and hopefully get some feedback on where with the advantages and disadvantages. A) Stop at JFK utilizing American Airlines 2) Stop in Toronto utilizing Air Canada 3) Stop in Lisbon using TAP Air Portugal 4) Stop in Munich using United Airlines, and then Lufthansa 5) Stop in Atlanta using Delta/Air France I know there are many other airports in Europe where we could change planes, but from what I have read we should avoid them. All of these flights allow for a minimum of 2.5 hours or more between flights.

Thank you, I definitely will. So many things to do for our first cruise!

Thanks so much! That saves me calling on the wrong day and having them charge me twice. 210 days out is a Sunday, so I guess that means calling on a Monday.

One question that I am sure my CC friends can answer about flight deviation times. I know I can deviate 210 days out. We have booked a 3 day pre-cruise package through Regent. Does our window open 210 days before our actual cruise or 210 days from when we start our trip on land with Regent?

BBWC, you have given me new things to think about. I must admit that I am one of those people who always stresses out about my flights during the transit to. If they say to arrive at the airport three hours early, I will be there at least four. I really don’t care too much about coming home because I already had my fun. I would be happier being on a flight to Europe first. In fact, new airlines and flights were just posted in the last hour (Iberia).I have noticed that if we fly Tap Portugal to Lisbon or United to Munich, that the flights out to Barcelona happen on a regular basis. That means that if we miss our first flight, there are at least two others to catch. Fingers crossed for a non-stop to pop up. Then again, a lot depends on who Regent has seats with and if there is an up-charge. So many moving pieces to get our ducks in a row! Curiosity question that I don’t recall seeing the answer to. If you have a domestic leg where you are placed in economy, will Regent upgrade that to business for a price? I have only ever flown in economy, but am happy to have the business class for overseas.

Thank you so far for all of the helpful advice! We did book a pre-cruise 3 day tour in Barcelona, so we have some leeway with arrival times. We will leave SFO on the 10th, arrive in Barcelona on the 11th, and start sightseeing on the 12th.

We are going on a cruise in April 2024, leaving from Barcelona. First time traveling to Europe. We are flying out from San Francisco. I have learned so much from the Regent CC family, and would really appreciate some help/opinions on flights and airports. I am only familiar with flying Southwest or having a direct flight to Mexico. I read through the thread on Regent flights with/without deviation and took notes, but have some questions. We are going to deviate our flights in mid-September, and I have started looking at the flight matrix. I know many of these flights WILL change, and new ones will be added. I am an unsure if the stop over times provide enough time to make the connecting flight. Blame the retired teacher in me, but I like to do my research and be prepared. Here is what I have gathered NOT to do: A) Don’t fly Air France or KLM B) Don’t fly into Amsterdam, Charles de Gaulle, or Frankfort C) Don’t change airlines at Heathrow To simplify things, I looked at flights with only one stopover. Many of the flights have both segments on the same airline. I have read I should ignore the prices on the matrix, as Regent has contracts. Also, I am sure prices will fluctuate over the next 4 months. Here are the questions I have that maybe some of you can answer from your experiences. 1) Did I read correctly, that if we fly from SFO to Toronto, and from there fly to Barcelona (all on Air Canada), that we don’t have to go through customs and immigration in Canada? 2) If we fly on British Airways to Heathrow, change planes to fly to Barcelona on British Airways, do we have to go through customs and immigration? 3) If we fly as said in #2, would a 4 hour stopover be enough time? 4) Is the Munich airport okay to fly into? 5) If we flew into Munich on United, would a 3 hour stop be enough time to change airlines to Lufthansa? From what I understand, we would not need to go through customs and immigration in Munich because Germany and Spain are both part of the EU. 6) Delta has flights from SFO to Atlanta, but you need to change terminals (I gather from domestic to international) to get the Delta flight to Barcelona. How much stop over time would we need for this? 7) I assume that stopping and changing planes, not airlines, at JFK and Newark is a good way to go. How much time should I allow between flights to ensure we make our connection? United has flights that would get us there anywhere from 2.5 hours to 4.5 hours before the connecting flight. 😎 Does anyone have any experience with Tap Air Portugal airlines? They fly from SFO to Lisbon, then to Barcelona. 9) If taking Tap Air, how much time is needed for a stop in Lisbon? I am assuming there is no immigration and customs because it is in EU. Anything else that you can share would be greatly appreciated. Also read some of the threads about flights on the main CC page (too many threads to try and find this info), but have found all of you to be very, very helpful. Appreciate any and all opinions!

We have only tried to go on one cruise. It was a 14-day Alaska land and sea trip. I bought the coverage through the cruise line. Hubby said I was crazy to buy it…too much money. Hubby caught Covid on the land portion (it was during the Omicron surge) and we never made it to the cruise portion. We were quarantined for five days. We booked our flights through the cruise line, so they changed our flight home for us. Our trip insurance made us whole for everything we missed. I made sure to save all paperwork and followed up with them a few times. Honey gets more results than vinegar. I also said that I didn’t want to take my claim to our state insurance commissioner. We had our money back with in two months of filing our claim. It took longer for the cruise line to pay back our excursions and quarantine expenses, but we received it. Very grateful we had the insurance. We are planning to try another cruise next year. I will look into the third party market also for a policy, but have no hesitation about using the insurance provided by the cruise line.

We had an Alaskan cruise and land tour booked last year with Holland. I bought the insurance through them, and my hubby said it was crazy to spend that money. Our trip was during the height of Omicron. Long story short, contracted COVID on land; never made it to the cruise. Submitted all paperwork (save every receipt and all communications). Had to prod a bit, but received everything back we were owed, plus expenses for quarantine and food. Air department rebooked our flight home at no additional cost to us. Would never take a future cruise without trip insurance from someone.

I love all the pictures of the food! It gets me excited for our cruise next year. I have two schools of thought about all of the calories and food choices. First, I could go on a strict diet for about 6 months before the cruise and deny myself most everything. The second is to go into training a few months before the cruise by eating everything I want. My stomach would then be in shape for 3 to 5 meals a day. I would just have to buy a line of muumuus to wear on the cruise. Lol! Oh, to be young and skinny again where I could eat a lot of anything and never gain an ounce. Sigh…..

Dear wonderful Regent cruise critic members, Our shore excursions finally went live, and we were able to get everything we wanted! I so appreciate all of your insights and help. It took less than 10 minutes, including putting in my credit card number. I had my list all ready and memorized. I am relaxing with a nice glass of wine. Now I can get a good night’s sleep. Thank you everybody, from the bottom of my heart!

Thank you for the information. That will make today less stressful!

I apologize to everyone for my frequent posting and ranting. I am sleep deprived and frustrated. This is my first cruise, and we choose this particular one for a once in a lifetime trip because of the itinerary. We then upgraded so we could choose our excursions early. I am hoping the third time is a charm for selecting them. I am frustrated because I know I have to check all day today to see when they are available, and may have to get up very, very early tomorrow because of the time difference to keep checking. I truly appreciate everyone’s advice. You all have helped me so much! I will let everyone know when we can finally book our excursions. Fingers crossed that we get them all! Thanks, everyone.

It is Barcelona to Rome on April 14, 2024. Is there some way they can tell us it has gone live?

I set an alarm and was up at 2:30 AM to get our shore excursions after the maintenance in the reservation system was done. Everything came back, and I was able to see the shore excursions. One HUGE problem. It shows that every excursion in every port is sold out and you can add nothing to your cart. Really!!?? Now the big question is when will they fix this and how will I know to go into our account and select our excursions? Will I miss out on selections we want because I don’t know when they will go live? Will it be Monday? How many hours do I spend looking and waiting? I am beginning to think this cruise is cursed!

Has anyone experienced an issue with reserving excursions where your account is there, but your cruise has disappeared and you can’t get it to appear, even when putting in your booking number? How am I supposed to book my excursions?? Everything was there earlier today, but it is now gone! And of course, Regent is closed. Is everyone else booking their excursions but our account crashed?? How frustrating when we upgraded just so we could book today!! Augh!! Finally had a blurb on the website saying they were doing maintenance and reservations may not work. Really? During the time when reservations for excursions open? Right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing. So frustrating!

Has anyone experienced an issue with reserving excursions where your account is there, but your cruise has disappeared and you can’t get it to appear, even when putting in your booking number? How am I supposed to book my excursions?? Everything was there earlier today, but it is now gone! And of course, Regent is closed. Is everyone else booking their excursions but our account crashed?? How frustrating when we upgraded just so we could book today!! Augh!!

Thank you for this helpful hint. Being a year out, there may be cancellations as it gets closer. I will watch and check.

Thank you! That is something I did not know. Does it take longer to process excursions you are paying for with on-board credit or credit cards?

I have a quick question. When choosing shore excursions, is it best to pick them in order of the ports or to pick your priority excursions first? Thank you for helping this first-timer.