welshfamily

I started reading this thread for insight. My 30 year old son is coming with us on our first Regent cruise. Unlike my adult daughter I am being to think he is going to need some new clothes just for the cruise. Slacks or dress trousers he has in abundance. Short and long sleeve shirts, good quality polo shirts etc he could outfit most of our small town. Smart chinos … he could start a shop. He has a couple of suits and a dinner suit. However he doesn’t own a sport jacket. He simply has never needed one. I cannot remember the last time I saw anyone under 50( ish ) in one. Our golf club ( Sunday lunch ) , good restaurants , gastro pubs etc only seem to have shirts, slacks maybe a decent jumper. He has dress shoes but mostly wears good smart all stars/ trainers/ casual shoes. We cruise regularly. Very few men on Azamara, Oceania etc wear a sports jacket. My husband usually takes one and wears it once or twice if the air conditioning is a bit fierce. We cruise usually in July and August in the Mediterranean or winter in the Caribbean. He has some learning difficulties and I wouldn’t want him to feel to feel out of place. Please be honest. At how many meals will the majority of men ( after 6pm ) be in a jacket? Are they taken off in the restaurants and put on the back of the chairs or are they actually worn through the meal? As for the gentleman in the Speedo’s. Ours rules are …..you will be treated the same at my table if you were the King, in Speedo’s, PJ’s or Buck naked ( I would give you the largest napkin I could find😱) Manners makes the man ( or these days the person). On a lighter note anyone with the confidence to go into a good quality restaurant wearing a pair of Speedo’s might make a very interesting table companion.

I read your post with a sinking heart. I am so sorry for your experience. We are ( at the moment ) fit middle sixty’s year olds and our adult children in their early 30’s. One thing is certain however, we will all , god willing, get older and less mobile. When we cruise in the summer it will be our first Regent cruise. I had believed that Regent was the sort of cruise line who treated its guests with respect. You were not treated with respect. That was unacceptable. We have, I am sure, all been on excursions where people have misjudged their ability to cope and we have waited with patience and I hope a friendly word for those who were struggling. After all we are all on holiday and can surely spare time to wait for a few extra minutes. Please for the sake of everyone else who may find themselves in a similar situation complain. Find the GM and complain. After all if the GM does not know this has happened he cannot fix it. Certainly at the very least the Destination staff member needs some re training in the correct way to treat a guest. And if Regent does monitor these boards. Please put this right for Sheila.

Thank you for your thoughts. We have never stayed in Lisbon although we have visited as a cruise passenger therefore we have chosen a good boutique hotel as we have already sorted out Business flights with Regent. Our concerns were the issues Regent were having supplying what was advertised I.e flights and a pre nights stay before boarding. We do not sail for nearly 6 months. Regent could not supply flights, we had to travel 2 days before the cruise and book business class to get flights and then there is no hotel or transfers. Whilst we understand these things happen the credit from Regent is $223 per cabin. This very small amount worried us …not because we cannot afford to pay for a decent hotel room for ourselves more the message it gave us. Having waited nearly 6 months to get all our money back from cruise companies due to the Pandemic, then last year escaping the Crystal collapse by the skin of our teeth we were nervous about the financial position of Regent. When we booked we had flights and as yet to be named hotel. Within the space on a fortnight we lost our flights then the hotel room. Hence our concerns.

Thank you. will look into both suggestions.

Techno Easy jet does not get us into Lisbon in time to make the 4pm cut off time. Same reason for Regent wanting to shuttle us to Heathrow the night before. We are more than happy to pay extra for Business as son is 6 feet 6inches and needs space. We didn’t mind paying for an extra night in a hotel. Fortunately Lisbon isn’t particularly big and hopefully large taxis are readily available, there is 4 of us with luggage. Just researching that now as hotel we have chosen is a boutique known for its excellent service but does not advertise a car service.

PapaF No as far as I am aware we are a gateway airport. All major airlines flight out of Manchester. Most into their own hub eg Lufthansa… change at Frankfurt, AirFrance …..CDG etc to get to Lisbon. Azamara, Oceania and Seabourn no issues when flying out of Manchester even since Covid. Nice to know we won’t notice a drop in standards once on board.

S…….n. Our closest airport is Manchester. Regent could shuttle us to Heathrow for a flight the next morning but we had to pay for airport hotel. Made more sense to stay in Lisbon and let Regent sort everything out. Upgraded to concierge. Lost shuttle to Heathrow . No flights. Then asked to upgrade to Business class to see if this released other flights. Must say the TA held on for nearly 4 hrs to Regent. Everytime a flight was offered and he told me ( I sat by the phone) the flights were gone. Eventually got flights by going the day before. Quite happy to spend an extra day in Lisbon rather than cancel cruise. No problem with return flights. To be fair to Regent they waived the deviation fee. Now no Hotel. Someone from the US has posted re no hotel before cruise so must be the whole cruise.

We are new to Regent but experienced cruises. Booked our first Regent cruise just over a fortnight ago. Firstly no flights available to get from the Uk to Lisbon without a night in Heathrow at our expense. We upgraded to Concierge. Now We are not getting a hotel room due to the Pope visiting Lisbon at the same time as we do. Regent have given us a credit of £93 a person. There is no way this £186 ($223) will pay for a decent hotel room never mind the hotels mentioned on another thread. Considering the difference in cost between a veranda and a concierge room and the fact we are now paying for taxi’s from airport to hotel and hotel to port my husband feels we have been taking somewhat for a ride. Granted we may well have taken a taxi to the port if it turned out to be more convenient but that would have been our choice. I think our main concern is cost cutting and it’s effect on board the ship. Our TA, an experienced Uk Regent specialist had expected the credit to be around $300 if we decided to book a different hotel from Regent when we were notified of the allocation. Now I know we are not talking about a huge difference here. Regent are not able or willing to provide Hotel rooms due to the hike in prices due to the Popes visit. We have certainly seen for ourselves rates are 50% more. Having had to go an extra day before the cruise to get business class flights ….Regent could not offer us any Business class flights on the 1st of August and now this we are being to wonder if Regent is mostly hype without substance or in Financial difficulties. Thoughts please

Our TA got in touch and confirmed no transfers or hotel. Very disappointed with Regent’s compensation. We have been credited £186 converts to $223 per cabin. That’s supposed to cover a transfer from the airport, one nights hotel stay, breakfast and a transfer to the airport. Now I don’t blame Regent for the rise in hotel costs due to the Popes visit, however the amount of credit we have been given would not even cover a 3* hotel room never mind two transfers. We are new to Regent and very much hope the on board experience is a luxury and not a cut price experience. After much research we have booked the Hotel de Baxia. Smaller than the Avenida ((which we prefer ) Well placed with good reviews. We have never stayed in Lisbon and hope this is a good choice.

Please can you tell us when you heard this? We are booked on this cruise and have been waiting to hear which hotel we have been allocated as we want to add an extra day due to the lack of business class flights on offer from the UK. We upgraded to concierge because of the flight issue and ended up having to add an extra day. Spoke with our TA a few days ago and he let us know Regent had still not allocated a hotel. thanks

The first offer was for an overnight at Heathrow at our expense. We then upgraded to concierge and were allocated flights gaining a night in Lisbon. We lost the shuttle from Manchester to Heathrow. No flights available. We then asked for business class to get flights. Regent ended up buying us good business class flights at a decent price, waving the deviation fee as the flight was two days before the cruise. TA was on with Regent for 4 hrs every time the lady found a flight and our TA spoke to us ( I stayed by thevphone ) the flights were gone. Still we feel Regent tried hard within the limits they seem to be working with. We are paying for the extra night. We were satisfied with the deal. However we are still waiting for the hotel to be allocated so there could be more to our journey.

This is interesting. We have had to add an extra night due to Regent not being able to find us flights from Manchester. We have booked concierge. Regent told our TA they would let him know Monday or Tuesday of this week which hotel it was. We booked last week, cruise is in August. How soon does Regent normally allocate hotel rooms ? We do not want to be stuck without a choice should the hotel offered not be to our taste.

I know Liverpool well. Please give me some ideas of the excursions on offer and I will try to help.

Thank you. Yes, set up account. No sign of hotel yet but less the 24 hrs into booking. We have two booking numbers, TA linked the bookings. I am assuming we will have to book Excursions on two computers at the same time to ensure we all get on the same excursions. We have been to most of these ports already therefore will not do too many excursions. We like to wander around places soaking up the sights and tastes of the different countries. Our summer hols tend to be about relaxation hence our decision to try Regent. Good food, a decent drink and some sun are really our only requirements. If we can add in meeting new people all the better.

Sorry to report no movement from Regent on flights. We have booked a different cruise, (the one before ) starting now in Lisbon and ending in Rome. We booked concierge ( listening to my fellow Welsh person). This gives us better flights and a night in Lisbon. Can anyone tell me when we will find out which hotel we have been allocated? When can we book excursions and dinning times? Any other tips advice etc gratefully received. Thanks

Thank you for all your help. We though we might give Regent a go. TA has given us an excellent price for cruise but the included flights are appalling. At the end of the cruise the ship docks overnight in Trieste. Transfer time to Marco Polo airport is estimated at between 2 and 3 hrs ( by car Apple Maps puts the journey at 1 hr 57 mins). The allocated flight leaves at 8.35 am. Allowing a two hour check in this means we would have to leave the ship around about 3am in the morning. We would not be willing to do this. Cruise starts from Civitavicchia ( approx 1hr from Rome airport) and ends in Trieste. Regent are giving an allowance of £350 for cruise only. Deviation cost $175 which is fine but we then lose all transfers. The quotes for private transfer are hefty mainly due to Trieste. TA is looking for a solution. Must admit we are disappointed.

We are a family of 2 parents, 2 adult children. We are somewhat experienced cruisers Celebrity, Azamara, a toe dipping experiment into Princess just after Covid.Choose the Owners suite for space in case of isolation but found food service etc lacking. We have enjoyed several cruises on Oceania. Although we are not heavy drinkers we always have a drinks package for convenience. We like good food with the ability to leave items off certain dishes if necessary ( do not like truffles particularly in sauce). We like walking tours but not panoramic coach tours however we are happy to wander about certain places ourselves. We are not bothered about large shows if fact we quite enjoy cabaret. We have to travel in high season as in education. Would Regent be a good fit for us ? Could someone explain the difference between balcony and concierge when deviating. To be honest We have been looking at Regent for a while however the Television series been shown here in the Uk is cringe worthy and quite put us off. Is Regent very Stateroom class conscious?

We were on the Rivera in August 2022. 2 cabins from the end B3 extended balcony deck 7. HOWEVER worse vibration of any cruise ship we have ever been on when Docking or setting sail. We were literally shaken awake every morning. Our adult children were 3 cabins up and they experienced the same issue. On the plus side we were always up early and had many leisurely breakfasts. I cannot say we were bothered by the shaking during sail away, instead it became a joke. We are quite easy going. The couple in the Penthouse next door were very unhappy. They were a lovely couple, they just felt they had not got a good cabin and wish they had been warned before hand. On the Vista the position of our cabin is a Penthouse. The Vista has not yet sailed so no one will be able to give you a definite answer.

Sorry should have been clearer. OP asked for experiences. We never fly in the day of the cruise therefore when using Oceania flights which were included in the cruise fare we had to pay the deviation fee. Oceania then provides details of flights. At this stage you can negotiate which flights you will take.Flights can then be ticketed straight away and you can pay airline to book seats upgrade etc. We did not have to wait until 75 days out. However when flights get cancelled …. this happened 3 times this summer … Oceania just provide other flights. No choice of carrier, times of departure, length of lay over, etc. Oceania would not let us pay the difference for better flights. TA informed us that once we had accepted Oceania flights we lost control. This does not happen with Tailor made packages……flights are controlled by TA. In 15 years of cruising we have always booked Tailor made cruises. TA worked really hard to rectify issues but got nowhere. We were on ship when we lost one of the legs of the flight home and Oceania would not move on allocated flight. We even offered to pay for hotel room and take flight next day paying for any differences in cost but Oceania would not engage. We ended up having to wait in Rome airport for just under 8 hours. Then we had under a hour in Amsterdam to catch connection. Amsterdam is a huge airport and this was extremely tight. There are no schedule direct flights between Europe and the UK. Hence my point about loss of control. Hope this clarifies the post

Another thing to consider is Control when things go wrong. Last summer we took Oceania flights for the first time. Happily paid $175 each ( 4 of us) as no credit offered for cruise only, We tried 4 different online TA’s but not Oceania as because of COVID thought package was the way to go. Previously ie before Covid no issue getting cruise only price and choosing own flights as Tailor made cruise ….these are treated as package holidays in the UK. Once things started to go wrong had to just take flights and times decided by Oceania. This resulted in long waits in airports , the longest being nearly 8 hrs in Rome. This was very last minute so no time to make other arrangements and certainly no help from Oceania. This was not down to TA as she was ringing us almost hourly. Yes, Oceania’s got us there and back and it was their responsibility to do so however we had no choice on flights,times etc. Original flights were ticketed therefore we could upgrade however last minute flights were not and only Economy without seats were provided. This was not ideal. However please remember European flights, airports etc were in turmoil last year.

Ship Riviera …. Utterly impossible, daughter very IT proficient, Wi-Fi just not good enough. Don’t know if TV’s have been replaced in refit so thus could be old news from last August. Some good advice for home from others however We have a brand new TV and IPad Air. Also fibre optic broadband ….. very quick. However Airplay breaks up and refreshes a lot when watching a movie.

We use Romeinlimos for tours around Rome and transfer to port. We have a son with a Blue badge. Not sure what the American equivalent is. We have parked by all the major sites with little walking. Even police cars moved/ welcomed us. The drivers take you to local cafes/restaurants and will let you decide pace etc. son needs a slower pace. Although we have been to all of Romes major tourist attractions the firm always surprise us with new gems. With their transfers you can call at a town on the way to the port to enjoy coffee / gelato/ lunch.

For us an actual balcony is a must. This is not just for fresh air. We like to be able to look at the view in our own space. From a balcony you get a fair better view than with a window. Some of our most memorable sailaways/ arrivals were on our balcony with a drink and a snack enjoying the view. We also like to watch the dock, the pilot ship etc if we are on that side of the ship. We spend quite a lot of time on our balcony. We love watching the sea.

Hi We have to travel in school holidays as in Education. The next cruise with Oceania will be a 5th. The trips priced are all in the Mediterranean. The Nautica, the Sojourn and the Encore and two Silverseas, one the Dawn and not sure of other cruise. All quotes from an on line Travel agent. Only Oceania had gratuities and a drinks package added. On an 11 day cruise this comes to over £1000 each. Thank you for the suggestion of the O class ships. Yes bathrooms are so much better however neither of the two O class ships are available as both are in the Norway area for all of the end of July and August,( 6 week period) which we do not want to do. We enjoyed the Riviera last year and know there are no longer bath tubs. The showers were ok. We had a B3. One of our party is 6 Feet 5inches and managed by standing to one side of the shower head. Larger showers in Penthouse are just so much better. It’s the add on’s that make the difference. I did not include the price of deviation into my calculations as we always fly in earlier and I wanted a fair comparison. No TA offer free gratuities ( here in the Uk) unless included in a special offer. Our first 3 Oceania cruises had gratuities paid in the Olife offer( I am sure they were rolled into the price ) this ended post pandemic. This was a real shame as we meet quite a few people from the Uk who removed their tips on the penultimate day of our last cruise .I am ashamed to say the UK has an extremely poor record when it comes to tipping and people boast about removing them giving many justifications which I find in extremely poor form. No only that, the included flights are almost impossible to upgrade and it is very difficult to get a cruise only price. That is no flight or Olife price ….unless anyone can tell me differently. We are disappointed as with Oceania we felt we had found a good match. This was the reason for the original post.

Just looking for a summer cruise. Unfortunately we are not in a position to book a year or so in advance for many reasons but have booked at this time give or take a few weeks, over the last 15 years. Oceania has become a favourite of ours and this is our starting point. However much to our surprise Seabourn and Silversea’s are cheaper over all for us. This has come as a surprise because as much as we enjoy Oceania the R class balcony cabins are small and the shower, whilst manageable, not ideal when well over 6 feet tall. Therefore we decided to look at Penthouse cabins for an end of July cruise. When adding gratuities, drinks package ( new price upgrade to premium ) the price exceeds both Seabourn and Silverseas for less days by over £2000. We are not heavy drinkers but do drink Cocktails and find the prestige package convenient whilst realising it is not necessarily good value for money. We have not included excursions in our pricing as we prefer private ones although if we have the Ultimate Olife we have been on some Oceania trips which have been hit and miss. Just wondering if prices are artificially high at the moment to make “Offers” seem exceptionally good. Thoughts