Dolebludger

Years ago, I practiced some in bankruptcy law. Back then, a consumer who had paid money to the debtor for undelivered goods and services had a high priority claim for up to $2500. The law could have changed since then, but the last I followed it the amount of the priority claim had been increased. At least, this bears looking into.

If I may, I’ll say it again. We need much more good information about the status of Delta with Regent. Seems to me it could be many things other a complete break in relationship.

\Oh, yes sir, we chose to go for deviation for our flight to our London/London Splendor cruise this August,— even before we knew what Regent would automatically give us. We paid a bit of a small fee to get direct Denver to London and London to Denver back in United — all business first and we have to book our own business flights to and from the Denver “gateway” airport to and from Durango. Again no problem if this works according to plan, all is fine. But if the airline involved decides to cancel the agreement with Regent, where are we? This would be my question. It appears there is a shortage of business/first seats on some flights. For our March E. Caribbean cruise on the Splendor also, we took the credit as Regent does not include business/first on the flights involved. We were able to get most legs booked business first, except the Miami — Denver flight post cruise. On that one we had to book premium economy (what is that?) and wait list for business. Wouldn’t have made final payment on that cruise had I known I’d have to ride in the cattle car for a major air leg. So, it appears that Regent is doing the best it can. I instead blame the airlines for failure to accommodate up scale passengers. For the last two decades, when I finally got to step on a Regent/Radisson ship, I have always said “Thank God:!

The problem here is that US law bans non U.S.noassenger vessles

True, sir. At our age, some airline arraignments are not doable. Like multiple connections, bookings meant to have most legs in North America and therefore basic economy, and bookings with more connections than necessary. Here in SW Colorado, we really have only two airlines (and their partners) from which to choose. United and American are all we have without claiming and rechecking our luggage. Now, we have disabilities and just cannot fly basic economy for a flight of any length. On our cruise in the Splendor this March in the E. Caribbean, we took the credit and booked our own flights, because Regent included only basic economy, and we can’t do that. Still, on one leg (return, Miami to Denver) all we could get was premium economy. If we weren’t in an extreme penalty phase to cancel our cruise, I would do so. We have a Regent cruise later this year London to London. We paid deviation for a direct Denver to London flight — reverse on return, in included business class. Without deviation, Regent might have routed us with extra connections around the US in basic economy before flying business overseas. So we are concerned about ability to get air we deem suitable for us so we can cruise Regent. I saw this thread after I read a CNN article reporting that domestic airlines wanted to get rid of business/first. I wonder if this thread and the article are connected.

It makes me wonder whether a booked Regent guest who has already been booked on Delta by Regent will have booked flight reservation honored by Delta. My guess would be yes. But if I were in this situation, I’d certainly contact Regent. This is one of many reasons why we need more information.

Does anybody know the backstory on Delta’s cancellation its deal with Regent? Just curious, as we can’t use Delta without otherwise unnecessary connections and luggage retrieval and rechecking. We are stuck with United or American for luggage straight to destination and the fewest connections.

Still, my wife and I have yet to receive this survey. And we are well into the Gold level with the SSS. (I doubt that our life expectancy will allow us to reach Platinum.) But yet, we have a substantial history over more than two decades with Regent/Radisson. And we have a recent Regent cruise with two more booked. Just wonder what the criteria is for selection for the survey.

On mainstream lines we have cruised (non-suite) we often found a card on a table in the room introducing the steward and giving contact information.

Silversea should be able to grab customers as you describe. If it is trying to get customers who are willing to pay those land resort prices, they should succeed as it offers more for less. Makes me wonder how those lux land resort customers got to the point of spending like that, while spending like that.

First, I have no idea where the post above came from. I didn’t do it. i disagree with the Silversea CEO. Its competition is not land based resorts. I feel that most cruisers agree with me (even lux line cruisers) in feeling that lux land resorts are rip-offs. We have never stayed at a land resort that wasn’t all inclusive. Wouldn’t touch one that is ala carte, especially if it is remote from other providers of food and drink. In that case you are paying to plant yourself in the middle of a monopoly. And even with good all inclusive resorts, we only stay a few days. When you have experienced the place, everything becomes a repeat after about three nights. And with the problems with flying these days, it is too much trouble for a stay that short. Silversea’s competition is other cruise lines — mostly other lux lines but also other lines with ships with separate lux or near lux areas. When we are looking at a Silversea cruise (or any cruise) we never have checked the deal against some lux ala carte land resort. Never. We check its deal against other lux lines. We’ve cruised Silversea before and loved it. If they would get rid of formal nights and include valet laundry for all guests, we’ cruise it more often. But never visit a lux Ala carte land resort.

While most of our cruises are on Regent, we have cruised other lines, including Silversea. The Silversea experience is very similar to Regent, but there are a couple of factors that causes us to prefer Regent. First, valet laundry service is included, regardless of suite level and regardless of how many nights on Regent you have cruised before — if any. The sole restriction is you can’t send out laundry the day before disembarkation, because it can’t be done and delivered before you leave. Second the dress code on Regent is more casual — both as to rule and practice. Cruises up to 16 days are all elegant casual. For men, that means slacks (no jeans) and a shirt with a collar. For longer cruises there are two “formal optional” nights, meaning you can dress as formal as you want, but can still go with elegant casual. Never need a tie. we are from SW Colorado in a small mountain city, and I don’t think I even own a tie! This thread brings up a Regent weak point — included shore excursions. This program was controversial when introduced years ago, and has become more so due to the world-wide post-Covid labor shortage which has reduced the number of tour operators at most ports. We are booked for a March 7 nighter in the Splendor and are wrestling with the same problem. We were able to sign up for some but had to waitlist one. Ironically, it is an extra cost excursion. I understand that Silver has also added included excursions, and I am curious how it handles the excursion situation. Another problem with Regent’s system is that people sign up for excursions as soon as they can without much thought. When they get onboard, they decide not to go. As a result, we have always been able to get a descent excursion once onboard in all ports where we wanted one. But I agree, the system needs some work.

Well, Viking is the #1 rated ocean cruising line in some categories. One reason may be their $14 pppd ‘all inclusive package. Without it, only wine and beer is included with only lunch and dinner. But this is the least expensive “upgrade” I’ve seen. Their ships carry only about 1K guests. Though I have never cruised on Viking Ocean, it does all sound pretty good. But I certainly would not pay more for Viking Ocean than on SS or RSSC. Those two lines are the best I’ve seen in lux cruising.

Actually, when we took two Retreat cruises in the very, very late 2010s, we thought we had found our new cruise line and accommodations. We received ALMOST all the personal service we had on lux lines, but for a much lesser price that made us forget what we didn’t get compared to the lux lines. Plus, we got a much larger suite for less price. So flash forward to 2022 - 2023. The pandemic is over — so we are told — so we start shopping for cruises. I look at the Retreat. And, by magic, the prices have doubled. And I look at what is included, and the list is shrinking. Every time I look. I think “what the heck” and look at my familiar lux lines, and find them still with more perks and inclusions, and at less cost. So what do I do? I take a lux cruise to Alaska in summer, 2023. And guess what? I find the service and inclusions to be better than they were pre-pandemic! Less cost than in the Retreat. So we wanted to do a Caribbean cruise (hadn’t done one for 16 years) and did price comparison again. Once again, the Retreat looses against a traditional lux line. Then, we wanted to book a cruise from London to visit the WWII sites of Normandy, Dunkirk, etc. Once again, we priced the Retreat against a traditional lux line — and the latter won price-wise by a large margin. Now, when I post that X is pricing it’s near - lux Retreat above the price of a true lux cruise, and is cutting inclusions and perks seemingly everyday, some don’t believe me. I have no grudge against X. It supplied us with two great cruises (great deals) immediately before the pandemic. We just wish it would do it again. But when X got into the Retreat business, it was competing with the lux lines — whether intended or not. I guess it still is, but now it is loosing.

Large main stream and premium ships can get a little hectic in “non suite” areas, but having a”suite” area on one of these gives the benefit of peace and quiet when you want and more onboard activities when you want. The Princess deal sounds good for those options. Just a correction about Regent. The newer ships (Explorer, Splendor, and Grandeur) are about 55 tons, and have max double occupancy capacity of 756 guests. They have numerous restaurants and lounges. I don’t know what in the current Regent fleet is as small as 25tons — maybe the Navigator that holds 490 guests. I agree that its facilities are a bit limited to suit many cruisers.

billc23: As to cruise price comparison, our next is a 7 night in E. Caribbean on the Regent Splendor. It could be had in the $3500 pp range also. I looked at Silversea (cruised there in the past) as it is excellent. But their itinerary there included Barbados as a start and/or stop port. That port seems to have problems with hotel and transport availability (check out this port here on CC). Regent is much like Silversea, only with included specialty restaurants, included laundry, and a bit less formality. No butler except at the highest suite levels. But the stewards have more duties, so no problem that I’ve noticed. So Silversea isn’t the only lux line priced below the Retreat

Let us not forget the huge fare increases that accompanied all these cuts. Even with the cuts, the cruises are still worth something to some people. But not a much higher cost than before the cuts.

A return of dedicated butlers would be good news, as the room stewards on X are assigned too few duties, and assigned too many suites to do more. But there are other deficiencies for the price on X that keep its cruises from being a decent deal for the prices now. The rise in drink prices has made the premium package less than inclusion. Included tips in the retreat are gone. Drinks from the mini fridge are at additional charge. Such inclusions are really necessary if lux prices are charged. And more issues exit that didn’t in the last part of the last decade. I want to see actual improvement in all these areas before considering booking another X retreat cruise.

I have said it before, but again, care not a hoot about the title of “butler”. All I care about are the services rendered. We have cruised on other lines where the stewards are assigned room cleaning plus the same duties of a butler on X, and were assigned fewer suites to accommodate this. It worked out fine. It appears that X is more interested in talking about job titles than job duties. When we cruised in X suites, we were in CS and RS. We did have a butler then. Our steward only made up our room 2X per day. Other than that, we never met him/her. So we must assume the low level of service the steward delivered would be all we would have without the butler. Thus we say no go.

This is info from a Voyager cruise many years ago, so it (hopefully ) is not relevant today. On a cruise though the Panama Canal, we were upgraded to horizon suite, which on his ship was right on the stern. These are very large one room suites with a huge balcony. When the ship cruised at about 20 knots he room shook..It was rather a serious problem. Forward of is stern location, there were declining degrees of shaking, which disappeared at the location of the laundry room. So unless I hear firm info that this problem has been fixed, we will book only a suite forward of the laundry room on our deck. As I recall, all public areas were not affected y this problem.

I don’t put all that much stock in subjective comments — negative or positive. I concentrate on objective information in reviews. Here the objective facts include huge charges for specialtiy restaurant's, limited included drinks, and poor coordination of disembarkation. Enough for me.

I also was curious about Explora. But not anymore.

Yes, I think the ducks were and are sort of a children's game. Regent doesn’t attract many children, though children are welcome onboard. And to my observation, the kind of children who do cruise on Regent are interested in things other than rubber ducks

What source or site to you use to learn about these deals?.