Momo3bigD

There are former insurance professionals on the cruise and they have not seen a company do anything like this in years. The company is Farm Bureau and they are mostly folks from Mississippi, Texas, Louisiana and North Carolina. From what one agent told us this is the overflow from the 2 Regent cruises that they have completely charted. Apparently these are the top tier producers. Last year they chartered 2 Regent cruises to the Caribbean . I know if I was insured with this company I wouldn’t be too happy with they way they spend money.

It’s not necessarily “getting bent out of shape”. With regard to the clothing—our destinations have been bursting with shops selling darling, inexpensive dresses, shoes,etc. The larger issue is that the entire vibe of this cruise is not what most other passengers expected on a Regent cruise. This group is around 200 people who “won” this trip from their employer. The point is that Regent has sold out the brand by taking this group on a voyage with other “paying” customers who make the effort to adhere to the dress codes and know how to act when dining out. I feel sorry for the staff on the 2 cruises that they have chartered based on some the things they’ve had to deal with from this group.

Apparently they are not enforcing the evening dress code at all because there are 59 bags that have yet to be delivered to the ship 5 days into the cruise. That being said,we had dinner tonight with one of the couples who do not have luggage and they cancelled their first reservation at Prime 7 because they did not have proper attire. They have shopped at our destinations and have purchased clothing appropriate for evenings on the ship. Last night 8 members of the large insurance group were sitting next to us at dinner. They were very loud but nicely dressed. We saw them later in the Voyager Lounge— the women had changed into from dresses to jean cut offs or gym shorts and the men all had on shorts. Also the insurance company paying for this group gave money to the employees with missing luggage to purchase clothing. Unfortunately these folks were overheard saying that they were pocketing the money instead of buying suitable clothing. This is a very young crowd and not the normal Regent passengers.

I’ve heard that the leader of the group has been spoken to about the behavior of their employees. We were stunned last night when the young lady seated next to us at Chartruese was wearing a sweatshirt style top with shorts and flip flops. Surely the hostess could politely explained the dress code and give her a chance to change into something more appropriate. Another member of the group at another table in the restaurant was in a t-shirt and Capri jeans. While chatting with yet another member of this group she was shocked that we were not part of any group and that we’d actually booked and paid for this cruise ourselves. 🙄

We will ALWAYS check for large groups if we dare sail with Regent in the future. We have had to deal with broken glass in the pool, a passed out guy in the hot tub and the total lack of respect for evening dress codes (even with daily announcements). The icing on the cake was the “gentleman” who sat next to me at one of casino tables last night. He was dressed in a T-shirt and shorts and spitting chewing tobacco into a plastic water bottle which he sat on the table. 🤢 Apparently Regent wants the group business instead of individual travelers. 🤷‍♀️

Thankfully the 7 day cruise we are currently on did not get cancelled as this was the only time we could go. However we were offered lots of incentives to change dates. There is a large group with an insurance company onboard. From listening to their very loud conversations I think they would have been happier on a larger ship in the Caribbean. They are on a free cruise with a Mediterranean itinerary that they did not choose. Lots of complaining about the excursions, the local customs, etc. Two couples said that they are just going to hang out at the pool for the rest of the cruise. We had to move tables last night in Compass Rose due to the drunken table hopping next to us. And don’t even get me started about the cowboy hats worn during dinner. Definitely not the vibe we expected on this cruise.

Thanks for your updates Pack Leader! We will be boarding Voyager in Istanbul next week. We are also coming from Orlando but our travel agent advised doing our own flight to avoid more than one connection. We will have an AirTag in our checked bag—hopefully your shipmates have received their bags. What is the weather like temperature wise? I have been looking at weather.com and it seems like it will be a bit cooler than we are used to coming from Florida.