rallydave

Nothing like here in the US where they post real times for checkpoints. No way I know of to get the specifics of how long to go thru the checkpoints and some airports you go thru immigration as you are heading towrd your gate. My suggestion is to google the minimal transit times for international flights to domestic flights.as at least in the EU as long as you are going EU to EU its' just like state to state in the US. Not sure with Brexit what it takes if going from UK to EU. And also google connections from incoming to outgoing and if in the same or different terminals as that can make a big difference And try to avoid Charles de Gaulle and Frankfort as long walks etc. Sorry best I can go with recommendations.

Yes, you need time but, not for customs; in Europe you simply walk thru the green lane if nothing to declare. It is immigration which you have to clear first that takes all the time as you have a one on one with the immigration agent.

Some clarifications. In reality SFO is your only choice as any of the other airports you listed are not gateway and will cost you about $500 extra for non-gateway airports. Regarding only checking United and Delta thoWse will guarantee a connection in a US Airport. IMHO much better to look at some of the non US airlines that fly non-stop from SFO to Europe with a connection to Barcelona and the same on the way home from Rome. You see, what airlines Regent had under contract in 2019 will likely be quite different 5 years later in 2024. Would much prefer one of the great foreign airlines for the long flight across the pole gettting you much closer to your destination. Most are much better than United or Delta. and if you miss your connection in Europe you are only a couple of hours to your destination with usually lots of connections. And another suggestion don't look for flights on the way home earlier than approx 1 PM from Rome. The airport is quite aways from your docking locaton and never know about traffic. Just because you dock at say 7 AM does not mean you will get off soon after that. Incoming delays, baggage issues and the like make booking an earlier flight risky. And since most flights bac to the US leave before noon, might be good to book the day after disembarkation and stay the night near the airport for a nice ending of your cruise without the stress of will I make my flight or not. Bon Novage.

Unfortunately no set of preferred air carriers. and no bias to use same carrier to and from cruise. Since Business Air is only guaranteed across the oceans/seas, should you need a connecting flight within the US, best to have that flight on the same airline as the over water or one of their code share partners so you have the possibility of First Class for the domestic flight(s)

Afree about it being a crap shoot. Unfortunately appears from the cryptic announcement the days of going back snd forth to get the best flights are over. cannot be sure but appears we now get one bite st the Apple and if we don’t want regents first offer and we decline we have to pay another non refundable $75 to try to get our choice of flights. Hope this interpretation is incorrect but the previous back and forth until agreement is missing from the notice.

I totally agree. Subcontracting something out does not relieve a company of responsibility for the subcontractor's performance. While this might be correct unless the Contract between Regent and the customer that was agreed to by the customer didn't state otherwise. And in this case the agreed to Contract between Regent and the customer clearly states that Regent takes no responsibility for third party issues. This does not mean that Regent cannot and does not at times take responsibility for third party issues however by the agreed to terms of the cruise contract prevail and Regent is not responsible for the actions of third parties. This is why it is extremely important to read the Contract before booking the cruise as the Contract is clear on these issues.

I am on Venture this summer and taking the charter from Reykjavik to Greenland and recently received an itinerary change to move me from the Radisson Blu which was described last year as horrible plus the following notice about the charter to Greenland 50lb/23kg Per Guest/2 Bag Per Guest Max Nothing about carryon and pretty sure the 50 lbs is per bag but, will be checking to make sure as 25 lbs per bag is ludicrous Glad nothing about carryon. Going to check on the suitcases and weight limits as Seabourn booked me Business that allows 70 lbs per suitcase. Appears Seabourn learned from last years problems and has us in a decent hotel and for a 29 day cruise a single carryon is absurd as when including a medical device which doesn't count on all airlines with a legal carryon plus a computer bag.

Not surprised. While there are 3 yes 3 sides to every story, yours mine and the actual appears from the comments the captain of the boat refused boarding and that is outside Regents control and responsibility. As to the attitude of the Regent destinations person if true has been historically typical of that department and Regent typically supports their employees and if not does not comment as is typical of most companies on internal issues. All that could be expected would be a refund if an extra cost tour.

In addition to that had a really awful included tour so put in disputes a different charge. Of course it was declined but, I had the credit card company send me a copy of the denial. The reason for the decline was that the tour had been "free" so nothing could be refunded. Simply another way to use the "free" descriptions to avoid doing anything about the poor experience.

Not true. Often times tours are limited or full with edit lists. Many times everyone who want a particular tour get to thru the wait list but not slways whether able bodied or handicapped so tours are not always available to all passengers. realize the advertising states free unlimited shore excursions but that is simply advertising speak. in fact excursions are included and not unlimited as many are unlimited but some have limited availability for sure. also negating the all excursions are available to all passengers is the fact that some excursions are limited based on the passengers abilities for instance long hikes thru the woods or in the case in point the captain of the excursion boat has the right to deny boarding as ha or she chooses. No matter what there is no all tours must be available to all.

Believe the $129 per person is misleading. Remember several years before COVID the included, not free excursions were for those $150 and below and with inflation likely much higher now. And have to remember the $150 price and any with additional charges the excursion itself is not the $150 or less or the price you pay for the more expensive. The prices are marked up from what Regent actually pays the third party tour operator ust like using Regent hotels whee the prices are per person and not per nite for the room like the hotels actually charge. There are costs for Regent including but, not limited to the destinations staff plus like any other cruise line or business profit to be made. So difficult to compare private tours you pay directly to the tour operator to what you pay within your cruise fare and/or extra for more expensive tours. Also don't forget by including tours within the cruise fare many people don't take the included tours in every port to the money included in your cruise fare is not spent by Regent so could be considered profit.

Absolutely correct. My TA breaks out the commissionable vs commissionable and provides a rebate based on the commissionable amount. I have asked that question and got a prompt explanation that taxes port charges and third party items such as air, hotel, etc are not commissionable Therefore taking the air rebate will absolutely not affect a TA's commission. This is a fair question and have no idea why someone would state that this is not a question that could or should be answered.

While Regent does at time work on your behalf to get you to the ship on time, they are under absolutely NO OBLIGATION to do this. The T's and C's specifically state that Regent is NOT responsible for third parties which include the airlines. True they under no obligation if you book on your own and the same no obligation if booked thru Regent. They often times do help but not obligated.

Papa flamingo. Yes not reporting tips is illegal so is being paid in cash under the table that is not reported. Illegal aliens working is also illegal. Lots of illegal doings yet it continues year after year as to losing SS benefits of course that is true but many don’t care don’t know and want the money now and when they need it later they will set up go fund mes and collect from those of us paying all our taxes. You are 100% accurate in saying what people are supposed to do and what they lose after retirement but it does go on year after year and will continue until we go off the current tax structure and go to something like the fair tax that is a fair way to make this cheating as well as the rich using DLL the loop ho look es in the current structure. An easy solution that won’t happen because of lobbuests and the smaller government getting rid of the doubling size of the IRS.

You are correct Flossie. And it saves more than income taxes. Since social security taxes are paid equally by both the employer and employee. Both save by not paying that tax as well. There is a strong paying under the table culture in the US that also reduces taxes paid by millions if not billions.

I researched it as well and found a Gov requirement to ade 2.5% to the bill that is supposed to go to the cooks and kitchen staff. Also have to be careful to make sure the added "tip" is calculated from the before tax line on the bill. Plus since I always check,those restaurants that provide informational amounts to tip and while showing the percentage almost all figure the tip from the total including tax. This does make a difference in all cases and a big difference for locations with high tax rates.

Having travelled the world where bringing the wireless payment machine is the norm for over 10 years and luckily this is becoming more and more used in the US. In all cases have never seen the machine not have a way to add the tip to your credit card payment. You always have the option with the portable machines to add your tip to the bill such that you get the points many of crave for our credit card usage. Always a way to add tyour choice of tip to the bill.

Tips are NEVER compulsory unless there is a notice in the menu or on the table that tips will be included. Otherwise and in MOST cases they are completely optional. And, another thing that bugs me is that the tip percentage keeps going up and up especially as prices have increased due to inflation. The excuse for the increased tip percentage is the inflation so they are double dipping you w8ty increased costs for the item along with increased percentage. So watch what you tip as extremely likely you will never see that person again and also remember tip means to improve performance so moderate the percentage of tip as to hop the person performed so poor performance lowers or eliminates the tip

330 days is correct fo US carriers. Have found many foreign carriers post schedules approx 360 days out. that said assuming you are looking for round trips while your departure flight may be listed the return will not be posted until 330 or 360 days prior to your return. And if uo have domestic connections no matter if the foreign airline flight is posted will have to wait until the domestic flight is posted. Safe travels.

First am glad you are going to look at deviating as you said earlier. Here are IMHO the 4 worst European Airports to transfer in and I have put them in my order of worst to least worst as you maynot be able to avoid all of them. Worst Charles de Gaulle Frankfort Amsterdam Heathrow Only bad if changing airlines.as terminals are quite distant.

Gray Lady, Will try to answer your questions. Likely others who respond may have different answers but, not exactly as you described. By the way in the future with many questions please to try and make multiple sentences for easier reading and responding. Take a look at what you are paying for pre cruise and post cruise packages. Most cruise lines including Regent charge per person which makes your costs much higher. Usually easy to save hundreds of dollars by booking your hotels yourself or thru your TA. As to doable this includes all airports. There are "leagal connection times that the airlines and Regent use. There are times and airports where the "legal connection time is unmakeable because of delays long walks to next gate, having to go thru immigration and then back thru security This can be part of the problems and now even after COVOD many flight changes which at times make making the new flights impossible to mae. If an airline makes you connect they use the "legal" connection times and if your incoming flight is delayed, might not make your connection. Getting to your cruise on time. Simply read the ticket contract and you will see that flights are considered third pary and Regent and other cruise lines are NOT responsible for getting you to your cruise before the ship leaves. That said, Regent has been known to help th passenger however if you miss a connection in the middle of the night in the US, getting help can be problematic so your first choice should always get in touch with your airline and Regent has to do that as well. If you miss the savings technically you are responsible for the costs to get your ship and the next "legal port There are cases such as in the Caribbean and Alaska where if you don't get on the ship at embarkation, yo can't get on later, Regent may be a help or may not depending. Flying from the west coast may mean connections on the each cost of the US or in Europe or depending on the port may be non stop. Yes, they like to satisfy thir customers but, they are also a business that has to make money to stay in business some sometimes the itinerary you get won't be the most direct or shortest time. This is why people deviate to choose their flights and not take whatever Regent gives them approx 75 days before your cruise. Hope this helps.

Of course just like air and concierge and above pre cruise hotel. Proper term is included.

Thanks for the clarification. Guess we can agree to disagree. IMHO tour costs are generally on a per person basis and using your logic tour operators and regent too much or too little depending on passenger load and just like cancelled ports for port fees and taxes which are included gin the fare and not refunded neither are the dollars paid for the nit held tours believe you would agree in those cases pure profit for missed ports for tours port fees and taxes. have a nice day.

While what yo wrote might be accurate for what is paid to the tour operator it is likely applicable to what is included in the cruise fare. While my $150+ may not be accurate for what is included per person for. Sure an amount is included in the fares charged so for those who don’t take the included yours they are paying higher prices than they otherwise would Sane for drinks where propjj look e sho don’t drink are paying more. As to your theory regarding paying on a bus rate vs per person that likely depends on the tour operator snd at best a a mixed bag. comparing Regent fares per day to seabourn also a luxury line even removing air from Regent as seabourn doesn’t include sure the regrnt fares are much higher on a per day basis. YMMV.

Believe you are confused and need to read the Regent Terms and Conditions. Airlines are a third party in legal talk and while Regent does solve airline issues, the T's and C's clearly state that Regent is NOT responsible for issues with third parties booked thru Regent. Have never had issues with making changes to airlines booed by any cruise line once the flights are actually ticketed. While the average traveler has their flights ticketed immediately upon booking and paying, while cruise lines have different relationships and can book but, not ticket or pay for flights until closer to the flights. The possibility that your flights are not ticketed could be why you have to deal thru Regent but, for sure once ticketed and paid you have the same "control" that you woul d have if you bought them yourself.