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This is completely unacceptable - I thought that the one of the main reasons for using Regent Air was so that if there were any problems, they would stand by and assist you. Did you use a TA or book directly with Regent? I know that this is a very stressful time for you - but this is important. Right down the name (if they will provide it to you) and the date/time of anyone you have spoken to. Be sure to record the telephone number that you called and take notes of the conversation. This will all be very helpful when you need to start the process of getting a refund either directly from Regent or your credit card company. Take the notes immediately after the conversation because in situations such as this, it is easy to later confuse and forget things.

I would try to contest the charge with your credit card company and be sure to have the Regent brochures marketing this as a "Holy Land Tour" - you may or may not be successful. I would also file a complaint with the BBB of Florida. Although Regent was in their right to stick by the contract, they may not want negative press and it is known that consumer reporters follow BBB complaints to get stories. If so inclined, I would also contact your local news consumer reporter - there were many ways to handle this situation - Regent took the one that harmed the consumer the most, just because they can doesn't mean they should. I pick my cruises solely on the destination and I was actually looking at this cruise but the timing wasn't right - but I would have wanted to be in Israel to visit family. I would never book another Greek isles/Turkey cruise (except for Istanbul) because I have been there numerous times (yes, I know, first world problems) and I only get a limited amount of vacation time and do not have excess funds to throw away on a vacation that I have very little interest in. I have been on a number of cruises where ports have been missed, once we had eight straight sea days due to port cancellations. However, the overall theme never changed and booking a "Holy Land" (I do not like that phrase) cruise and ending up with a Greek Isle cruise is in my opinion a completely different vacation. I now know of two top producing Regent agents who are so disgusted with how Regent treated their customers that they are seriously considering not booking any additional cruises with them until things get better. Apparently there have been a number of issues that I am not privy to. I truly believe that if Jason was still running the ship (no pun intended) things would have been much different - the current management team seems to be completely tone deaf and only thinking of the immediate moment and not long term. Although I am Titanium, this entire scenario really has been thinking regarding future cruise purchases - maybe it is time to try Silver Seas, I have heard many positive things and they purchased the Crystal expedition ship. I am also curious how the Crystal operations are going - previous to the shut down, we had taken a few Crystal cruises and enjoyed them very much. BTW - I have family members in Israel, some of whom are involved in the tourism industry. One of them is a private guide who is usually booked up at least one year in advance. When she contacted those that are scheduled for the next few months, she did the right thing and offered full refunds, even though her contract specifically states no refunds and in the event tourism is halted, the funds can be used for future services either by the original purchaser or anyone else. Almost everyone (92%) told her that they do not want the money refunded, that she should keep the money and be safe. She told them that when they do come to Israel, they have a prepaid tour guide waiting for them and to her surprise and amazement, almost all said that was not necessary. There are many good and kind people!

I try to teach this to my clients everyday - I can attest that my clients who went above and beyond during Covid, even though they were not required and in the short term cost them financially, in the long term they have benefited greatly, many now expanding and going through the difficult task of hiring new employees. The amount of positive free advertising, via word of mouth and social media reviews cannot be underestimated. The same holds true for the opposite - I have two clients who are no longer in business because during Covid they refused to deviate from signed contracts or issue partial refunds, even though the services provided were greatly diminished. When the contracts came up for renewal, too many customers sought out other providers and the businesses were forced to close. There is a reason that trying to calculate the financial value of goodwill can be challenging but can make all the difference between a business being successful or failing. One problem that businesses seem to forget - they cannot control social media. I know that Regent wants everyone to use their corporate controlled Facebook so they can dictate the narrative. Now there are businesses that go to great lengths to either scrub negative coverage or make sure it does not appear on the first page of a google search but the ability for the consumer to become educated about a product or service is much easier today than it was twenty years ago.

While the new cruise itinerary may be suitable for some people, others who have traveled through the Med before may have visited them before, maybe more than once. While I found the initial itinerary interesting, I would find the current one quite boring and has been mentioned before, a cruise through the Greek isles is generally much cheaper than a cruise through Israel and Egypt. For one thing, the port charges and fees are much less expensive, as is almost everything else. Forget the OBC - they are hopefully issuing partial refunds but I doubt it. From a business point of view, I think Regent is in a serious financial situation and I would be interested to listen in on the next earnings call.

Quite by a freak accident, this morning I was at the diner (can you tell I am from Jersey!) and overhead the couple sitting at the table next to us - turns out there were also scheduled to be on this cruise. However, they decided to cancel for a number of reasons, the most important being that they felt Regent completely dropped the ball and has not handled the situation well and they were worried what would happen in a more serious situation. They also booked the trip specifically to visit Israel and Egypt and have little interest in the other ports. The new air arrangements were completely unacceptable and although there are so many flights available, Regent insisted there was only one option which would require a very long layover. They had initially paid to deviate their flight but that made no difference now. The TA believed that Regent was being more helpful to passengers in the upper tier of the SS society and new passengers were are the bottom. The nail in the coffin - the interaction b/w Regent, the TA and the passengers was no where near a luxury experience and completely turned off the passengers. They were telling me that they TA, who I happen to know and is one of Regent's top agents is beyond frustrated and annoyed because she is the one who recommended Regent to her clients. I called her when I got home and she is very upset with Regent, claiming that things have changed considerably and she may consider no longer recommending Regent to her clients - she told me that in the past few months the feedback has led her to believe that the cost cutting is affecting the overall experience and no one wants to start a holiday with the level of aggravation that Regent has caused. I don't live in a bubble, but I am not on social media either and only follow a few travel sites when I have the time, yet I have heard about this cruise from at least five different sources including a relative who never follows any travel sites but read about it on Facebook. Regent seems to have forgotten that good will goes a long way, while negative interactions last forever. True, this is a very unusual circumstance, but a company the size of Regent who sell themselves on luxury and prestige could have done so much better - instead they are just making things worse and when you have one of their top producing TA's questioning whether she will recommend Regent to clients, Regent better start listening. This reminds me of the World Cruise townhall meeting when the passengers had very legitimate concerns and instead of dealing with the issues at hand, corporate wanted to talk about the new ship and was completely tone deaf to issues raised by the passengers.

Another data point - as of 8:00am today at least three (that I know of) Fortune 100 companies have notified their most senior management C suite officers that they are not to travel to the Middle East right now (the reason for this is because any sudden and unexpected change in corporate management could affect the stock price)

I think at the end of the day, Regent may regret some of their decisions. I am now reading on other travel sights not even dealing with cruising that while other companies have been more understanding and forgiving, Regent seems to have forgotten that they are trying to portray an image of outstanding service, in which in this instance, they have failed miserably. I have friends scheduled to sail on this cruise and if Regent had just taken the time to keep them informed, it would have at least seemed they cared. I also recommended Regent to them so now I also have egg on my face. The number one rule when dealing with a bad situation - communication communication communication! Any decent PR person will tell you that. The new flights they received are totally unacceptable, especially since there were quite a few available options that did not require excessive layovers. Regent eliminated quite a few of the back office staff in order to save money and when needed, did not have the manpower necessary to address the situation at hand. Regent is not a stand alone entity, it is a subsidiary of a much larger corporation and should have the knowledge and ability to deal with a crisis situation. Sometimes companies need to think outside the box. A number of years ago, there was a snafu with the British Airways website and I was able to purchase tickets to Europe and Asia for less than $20 round trip. Now, British Airways could have simply canceled all of the tickets claiming computer error. Instead, they honored the tickets and the amount of goodwill and positive press they received was priceless - there is even a Harvard Business school case study about the incident. So while in the short term it cost BA, in the long run it turned out to be a very wise corporate decision. It seems that Regent has not learned this and they may eventually regret that they are late learners.

We have family that lives in Israel, including Haifa. Right now the north is worried about an attack from Hezbollah which is located in Lebanon. The IAA (Israel Airports Authority) has warned commercial airlines and as a result, all American airlines have ceased flights to Israel. In fact, a United flight was from SFO was on its way to Israel when the attack happened and turned around and went back to California. This is a very fluid situation and will be changing often. We are watching Israeli media - they are not taking this casually and most citizens believe they are at war. Like the Yom Kippur War, this invasion was done on a major religious holiday (Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah) All reserve troops have been called into service. It is quite interesting to watch the differences between US media reporting and the Israeli media reporting. Israel is a very small country, only the size of New Jersey which means during normal times one can drive from the north to the south in about three hours. Hamas terrorists have are in the country and have taken Israeli citizens and military personal as hostages. My bet is that no cruise ships will be sailing in the region for at least the next week.

The next earnings call is scheduled for November 14th and after the last one, NCL is under a great deal of pressure. I follow a number of websites where "last minute" cruises are highly discounted and it appears that NCL is doing whatever necessary to fill empty cabins with fire sale prices, and unlike Regent where most everything is prepaid, hoping that once the passengers get on board and got such a good deal on their cruise, will spend lots of money while on board.

If the assigned adjustor is becoming unreasonable, do not hesitate calling the company and asking for another adjuster to be assigned to your case and to revew the documentation already submitted. In our business this is standard practice. We have found if an adjustor has been warned that he is approving too many claims without any questioning, they may then start being very difficult and you as the customer should not tolerate it.

Another vote for Steve at the TripInsurancestore - he and his crew are the absolute best. Within the past few years I have had to cancel two trips - and Steve was wonderful and I was fully reimbursed both times in less than six weeks. One of my travel companions has also purchased their insurance from Steve and were promptly reimbursed. On the other hand, our other travel companions purchased their insurance elsewhere - one was reimbursed within four months after submitting reams of documentation, one thought they were covered by their credit card insurance (and were not because they failed to read the fine print) and the remaining two are still "working with the company", more than two years after the fact. The cost of my insurance was about 5% more than the policies my friends obtained. Steve always directs me to the best policy for my specific trips and I would never consider purchasing trip insurance from anyone else.

I am curious why they will not allow the use of air tags?

It is the age on date of sailing - we were able to just get under the deadline because the 18th birthday occurred during the sailing - we actually changed the dates of our cruise because our original plan would have been after the child turned 18, even though we were booking almost two years in advance. This was a number of years ago, things may have changed.

I was on the same cruise as Deepfreeze63 with her granddaughter and can attest that she is a lovely young woman who seemed to enjoy every moment of the cruise and is proof that young people can and do enjoy the Regent experience. In my over 400 nights on Regent, I have only witnessed one instance of negative behavior by anyone under the age of 18. When the parents learned of the situation, they had their children personally apologize to everyone affected. The crime - playing catch in the hallway at 6:30am. Unfortunately cannot say the same thing for those in my age demographics, where I have witnessed numerous instances of people behaving badly and no apology was ever issued. Another Paper Mill playhouse fan here - I grew up in an adjacent town and a big deal was having your birthday party at a Saturday matinee - I was fortunate to be able to have both my 9th and 10th birthday party celebrating at Paper Mill with nine of my friends. After the fire in 1980 which totally destroyed the entire complex, a family friend was in charge of the lighting restoration and he hired me to help with research. I still live within ten minutes of the theatre and it remains a local gem.

I have received some last minute (not two weeks out, but six weeks out) from my TA - it appears that Regent (as well as other cruise lines) do not want these deals "advertised" for fear of alienating the regular paying passengers, but they do provide some of their high producing agents "special deals" that are never advertised - rather the TA sends a rather generic email stating that there are some deals for last minute cruises and to call for details. I have utilized this a few times, but be aware your suite may not be in your first choice location, or your first choice flight selection and all of the better excursions may be sold out, but may be available once you board ship. I have also taken advantage of these special offer from Crystal - that was booked three weeks before departure. Also, some deals may be country specific - offers available to UK residents may not be available to US residents and visa versa. My understanding is that any TA can book these deals but that there are first offered to the top producing agents. I have been cruising with Regent for many years and the only time I became aware of these deals is when I changed to one of Regent's highest producing agents - my other agents claim they never received such offers but I do not know exactly how the program works and who is offered what. These are not fire sale prices, but do represent a significant savings.

I am in my 60's (although I do look much younger) and have been asked if I am pregnant all the time (I am also quite thin so that is not the problem). What I find really amusing - my Mom is in her 90's and in the last six months she has been asked that question at least three times - her response is always, yes, just to see the reaction of the person asking the stupid question.

Just a word of warning - if one takes any type of medication that causes a "metallic" taste, the Vero bottles are not for you. On my last cruise, I noticed very few people actually using the water bottle or taking them on an excursion and when I started to talk to people, they general reply was that the water tastes "metallic" when drunk out of the Vero bottles. I drink LOTS of water and it is pretty much the only thing I do drink and no matter how hard I tried, I could not get the metallic taste to disappear. Fortunately I had some water that I had brought on board with me and eventually ended up buying water and bringing it on board. I found that the Vero water had an "off" taste and did not enjoy it. My suite was in the same area as the entertainers and all of them where drinking bottled water and not the Vero water. Almost every time one of the entertainers left their suite, they had a bottle of water in their hand.

You can also provide your airline frequent flyer number if you have one - if flying on a foreign carrier, check to see what alliance they are associated with

Most cruise lines have daily revenue targets with income from the casino accounting for a significant portion, which is why casino activities are actively promoted. On Regent and Oceania, casino income is not a major revenue source, therefore there are fewer perks and rewards.

If you tend to worry to much and want some reassurance, a few days before turn around day ask reception to connect you with the chief housekeeper - let her know your concerns, ask for suggestions to make the process easier and explain that you would like to have the move completed as soon as possible so that you can enjoy your day in port. As others have mentioned, housekeeping is very efficient and makes the entire procedure very easy.

Just make sure to use batteries that DO NOT have the bitter coating added (Duracell) - it interferes with the transmission

Regent is very efficient in handling room changes, but as DeepFreeze mentioned, it may require some intervention from you if you want to get off the ship early. Once we had a "turnaround day" excursion and the second time I had made private arrangements, both required an early departure. The two times we needed to change suites, I made contact with the people in the suite we would be moving to and asked if they would be so kind to text me when they had vacated the room (both graciously agreed) so the process could start as soon as possible. Housekeeping will transfer everything from the closet, swap out drawers, move the suitcases and anything else you want them to move. I took care of all of the items from the safe, meds and toiletries, electronics and work items. Housekeeping provided bags to make the process easy. It was handled very efficiently and quickly and although I try to get the same suite for the entire cruise, if it is not possible, I would have no hesitation of booking a future cruise that would require a room change.

I have taken a number of B2B and B2B2B cruises and the only time I can remember going through customs while remaining on ship was at the port in Los Angeles - since Regent had scheduled a full day tour for those remaining on board, we were the first to go through immigration. On every other cruise, the only difference is that the rooms expecting new guests were serviced first, other than that, as others have mentioned, it is a normal cruise day. If available, I also strongly suggest eating breakfast in Compass Rose or ordering room service if planning to leave the ship early for an excursion or other plans you may have in port. Suite cards remain the same unless you are changing rooms.

A few years ago I had an important piece of luggage go missing - it went on an adventure that I could only dream of, eventually landing in four continents and 14 countries before finally being returned to me (and my employer) three weeks later. It was a complete exercise in frustration with the amount of time I spent trying to locate the missing luggage. In one of of many emails to the airline I mentioned that I want to receive the miles that my luggage traveled and sure enough, my account was credited with a very sizable amount of miles. Never hurts to ask - the worst that can happen is they will say no. Now I never travel without air tags in every piece of luggage, including carry on. BTW - the name of the designer on QVC is Susan Graver - I am watching her right now.

I use something similar to this on cruise ships/hotels - I have an older model which I have been using for at least the past eight years without any problems - just got off the Navigator where there are no USB ports so this was a lifesaver. https://www.amazon.com/NTONPOWER-Extension-Travel-Mountable-Compact/dp/B0C1NM9Z6M/ref=sr_1_16?crid=ZIOXONHZYZCT&keywords=NTONPOWER&qid=1687987985&sprefix=mini+power+%2Caps%2C4572&sr=8-16