Dolebludger

If a hotel breached a commitment contract, Regent needs to sue them, and reimburse impacted guests at their actual cost, and recover any costs over contract from the hotel in the suit. And of most importance, Regent needs to inform impacted guests of exactly what happened. And even if Regent doesn’t want to sue a hotel for any reason, it should reimburse impacted guests for all of the costs incurred as a result of no hotel, no transfers. My calculations show that the reimbursement would be only $300 or less, over the $380 it has offered. Does regent think that compensating guests $300 more than offered (or less) to give them what they bought for over $10,000 is good business?  I’ve worked in business all my working life, before retirement. And this is the poorest business decision I’ve ever seen. Those guests impacted by this, and many others who read about this, may never book another Regent cruise. I’ve posted this before and I’ll do it again: once onboard a Regent cruise, all is great. But getting there (and getting home) can be hell.

I said I thought it true due to two decades of experience with Regent. Also due to my knowledge  of the sorry state of the hospitality industry everywhere (I live in a Colorado vacation destination). Thus, I made my statement. However, Regent made a serious mistake in assuming they could get the hotel and transfers so late in the game. It definitely should have worked it all out so, in case of a failure, they could notify the guests BEFORE final payment. Regent just didn’t account for labor shortages in the hotel industry which causes some to hold back rooms because they can’t service them all — and Regent should have. So, bottom line, I think Regent did the best they could to arrange things —- but they started too late! And Regent should have known to start this job early, because of the fiasco in Barbados. I further believe that Regent owes those affected the exact amount of money expended for hotel and transfers. 
 

As a side note, I just got a Regent ad in the mail today. It includes the statement: “FREE 1-NIGHT PRE-CRUISE HOTEL PACKAGE IN CONCIERGE SUITES AND HIGHER”. (Yes, all in caps.) this statement contained no * or statement of exceptions. If it’s T&Cs provide exceptions (which I don’t know), then Regent is guilty of false and misleading advertising under Federal law. Now it is probably accidental, as Regent did a good job at this (afaik) until about six months ago. But it’s still a violation.

With this explanation, I hope all will know that I am not one offering Regent any defense in this, unless it reimburses all involved actual resulting expenses.

This may be very obsolete information, but here goes, for what it’s worth. Twenty years ago, we cruised the Voyager. We were given a Horizon suite (as it was then called) on deck 7 right on the aft in the corner on the port side, though we had booked a smaller suite. The suite was beautiful, but when the ship cruised at 20 knots or over, the whole suite shook. Not really vibration — a shaking. Enough to make items fall off tables and shelves. And in that itinerary, it cruised at 20+ knots a lot. There was no problem in the public areas. I took a walk to see how far toward the bow I could feel the shaking. I found it disappeared in the area of the laundry rooms. I hope that problem has been resolved long ago. But I have never seen reports stating that it has been fixed. Thus, I report it now.

According to news reports, the violence in Haiti is getting much worse in the Capitol city. Roads in and out are blocked by gangs. Foreigners are finding it almost impossible to fly out. So I wonder, have there been mass cancelations od cruise stops there?

I suspect the bus from the airport to Reykjavik is more like the busses Regent contracts than municipal busses. Perhaps Picardad knows and can tell us. 
 

Also, Regent’s ads directly state that hotels and transfers are included, period. It needs to stop that, as it now knows that isn’t always possible, as a result of the Barbados and Reykjavik problems.

Honestly, I think Regent does its best to book quality hotels and transfers. But obviously, it can’t do so all the time these days, with much of the hospitality industry worldwide in bad shape. Where I fault it is in its representation that it WILL do so, when it knows by experience that it can’t always do so. Instead, it should represent that it will ATTEMPT to arrange these things, and if it can’t, credit the guest with $XXX. Otherwise, what we have now is misrepresentation and false advertising — two things that really hack me off — even if I’m not directly impacted.

6 minutes ago, cwn said:

Ask around on your next cruise. We have gone through three in the last 25 years since we left a local family brick and mortar. Newest one is post covid because the previous one cut some perks and became hard to get on the phone.

Exactly! We book our own hotels and airfare (though we have not flown since covid)and take the credit. We are only doing cruises that are round trip US now. We are too old for the long haul flights now. Some ports (in big cities) have really nice hotels and lots of rooms but some don’t (Alaska) I would rather pick my own and use a private car or taxi than have a bad surprise. Fortunately as long as Regent has its wonderful crew and comfortable accommodating ships we will cruise with them. 

 Right. We can’t physically stand any flights in economy now (due to arthritic and orthopedic problems), we have to book our own business air and sometimes deviate to get direct air from one of our “gateway” airports.  When we cruised Explorer Alaska last June we saw that the Regent hotel was the Anchorage Hilton. Bad ratings, and bad when we stayed there in 2002!  We did our own pre cruise, including boutique hotels, and the observation train (instead of a crowded bus) from Anchorage to Seward. But when the cruise was over in Vancouver, we were met with a line from United to even get in.  So long a line that we feared missing our flight. Finally, we had to threaten the United staff to get us to our flights on time, or there was going to be a lawsuit with their names mentioned. We got home on time. But ,I’ll tell you, I’m hesitant to cruise again — ever. Not because of the Regent onboard experience, but because of the hell getting to and from the ship.

OK, but some of us experience that good TAs for luxury cruises are hard to find. We used to have one, but became difficult to deal with. We can’t ask for TA recommendations  here on CC, as it is against the rules — for good reason. We don’t want this forum to become an ad section for TAs. But how can a Regent cruiser find a good TA for this class of cruising? Please, somebody tell me right here on this thread. 
 

Now back to the subject of this thread. Now here, in SW CO, if I contract with someone to perform some  services for me, and they don’t perform part, I can sue them to force them to perform. And if that is not possible, the court will order a reduction in the contract payment I would otherwise owe.  Cruise lines have skated out of this situation, with their fine print passage agreement (which no guest ever reads all) stating any suit against the line must be brought in Florida courts. I honestly think my courts here would find that over reaching, but do I want to bother with that fight for maybe $200? Regent hopes not. But, if such a contract breach happens on either of our two booked Regent cruises, it just may find out. It would cost it more for an attorney here than it would to pay me what they owed.

But another part of this problem raises the question — do you want to stay in a hotel Regent booked? Hotels post pandemic have just been bad. In May 2022 one of our daughters gave my wife and I three mights in the Bellagio in Vegas for her 70th birthday. Daughter bought transfers from the airport, which never came. And of course the flight was late (aren’t they always?). And when we finally got to perhaps the most expensive hotel in the US, there was absolutely no service. Thank all for the service and ambience aboard a Regent ship. If that ever deteriorates, we will just stay home !

Well, I don’t care what jeans anybody wears to dinner on a cruise. And as far as I am concerned, any jeans would be fine. I’m just reporting what I saw on Celebrity that was allowed regarding jeans at dinner.

Yes, it often does. My adult daughter that lives in Dallas came to visit me in Durango CO, and she was wearing ripped jeans. I looked at them and said “my poor girl, wearing torn up jeans! Let’s go right now and I’ll buy you a new pair of Levi’s”. She said “dad, these jeans are new and cost $300! They were “designer jeans”. But I don’t think Celebrity knows what some designer jeans are. I think they mean jeans in one piece, not overly worn, and not the ones you just changed your car’s oil in! If you wear jeans that fit this definition anywhere, any time on Celebrity, you’ll be fine.

On a cruise a few years back in a RS, I wore jeans to the Luminae all the time. They weren’t “high dollar” jeans by any stretch. But the jeans were fairly new and in great condition. What I really think is that Celebrity didn’t want faded, dirty looking, or ripped up jeans, regardless of the maker or price. 

I think guests that were hit by this mess deserve a much better explanation of it, as a bare minimum. And they deserve some help and advice from Regent on available alternatives to set up on their own.

One difference that may be important so some is that I don’t think MSC has a YC on any ships with fewer than 4000 passengers. Some like smaller ships. But for access to and from ports, I recall that YC provides a butler escort on a different route than that used by the general population. Makes visiting ports easy. Also, as I recall, YC provides use of the mini fridge at no charge, and stocks the room with spirits. To us, this is a big deal, as the Retreat does this only for the higher suites, whereas most lines do provide this in their “lux level” accommodations.  

1 hour ago, Pcardad said:

$32 bus transfer to central location - Some hotels were walkable or Uber for a few bucks. I am not saying this is acceptable....just that it was possible.

Well, that makes things a bit better. How often does that bus run? And what would be the cost of a cab, Uber, or whatever to the port from a downtown hotel? I doubt that there are really “ritzy” hotels in Reykjavik. When we were there, we stayed in a boutique hotel that had an open bar room where beer, soft drinks, and mixers were right in the fridge, and spirits were on the shelves. It was sort of a “do it yourself” open bar. We loved the place and wish we could remember the name of the place.

It probably will still be possible to book a suitable hotel for $300. But can transport from the airport and to the ship be arranged for $80? 

Oh, I never thought the captain authorized the refund on his own. In fact, I think he said he was going to recommend it to management. I guess it made the decision. 
 

I fully understand that the inability of Regent to secure the hotel and transfers that it wanted is most likely the fault of the hotel end. Hotels have too often been a sorry bunch since the pandemic. But where did Regent get the idea that a couple could get transfers from the airport and a nice hotel for $380 $USD? I don’t think so. Regent could put an end to this public relations disaster by having guests submit receipts for these expenses and refunding that amount. I doubt that Regent’s cost would be over a couple of $hundreds or so (off a cruise fare probably $10,000 or more). Regent is being “penny wise and pound foolish”. It is going to loose more money in lost fares in the future than the cost of doing the right thing.

Back in 2004, I was on a cruise on the Radisson Diamond. For those who don’t know, Radisson was the name of Regent before the name change. It was only a name change, not an ownership change. It was its first open bar cruise. I was talking to the captain one evening on the pool deck. He asked me how I thought the cruise was going. I said pretty good, but a little crowded, and service was a bit slow, but overall fine. The captain said he wasn’t satisfied with it at all. We’d been late to a port due to engine problems, bar service wasn’t up to the demand, and he was going to get all guests a $500 refund. I said nothing, as I didn’t see it needed. A couple of weeks after the cruise, my wife and I received a $500 refund each. That is the Regent I’ve known for over 20 years. Not the one discussed in this thread.

1 hour ago, DaveA said:

It is outrageous that you should be out of pocket because Regent are choosing to opt out of part of their contract obligations.

 

I am still not accepting any offer and am exploring other options. I will post an update as and when matters are concluded.

I am not impacted personally by this mess, but I am sympathetic with those that are. Unfortunately, I think that cruise lines have protected themselves in the “fine print” of  their passage contracts by confining civil suits to Florida. I have thought that, were I so impacted, that my state’s Attorney General’s office might be interested in a report of this as a violation of my state’s false advertising laws. Just my thoughts. I know that the hotel situation might not allow housing all guests in a single hotel, so they all could be transferred from it in busses. But Regent has represented that your paid fare included hotel and transfers. That should be honored.

Yes, and thank you for the response. I was looking mainly looking at river cruises in Europe and didn’t see the chauffeured transfer mentioned, but did see that for ocean cruises. Didn’t expect it for us! But, for the river cruises, there was included flights to and from the cruise from and to London Heathrow. Now that would be important to us, because United has direct flights from LHR to Denver, leaving us with a short commuter flight to our home in Durango, Colorado. So, to us, the saga river cruises looked attractive compared to those of other lines advertised in the US, even after I converted UK Pounds to $US dollars.

And I found Saga’s web site rather limited on information. One thing missing (to me) was an email link. If I had that, I would ask Saga my questions. Thanks again.

In my cruise research, I went to Saga’s web site and researched some cruises — both ocean and river. Following the online booking, I came upon the requirement that guests be UK  residents with a UK passport. We are not. We are US residents with US passports. So I ask, would we be allowed to cruise Saga?

Do you have any control over flight routes booked through Celebrity? With some cruise lines you do, and with some you don’t. And with lines that include air in the cruise fare, selecting your airline and route often involves an additional fee. In this time of lack of airline reliability, we want as few connections as possible. Each time there is a connection, the chance of a missed flight increases. And on the connections we can’t avoid, we want adequate layover time to avoid missed flights, but not too much time. 

Of course, no port terminal has service and conditions that I would classify as pleasant. But, as reported, the conditions at the Barbados terminal are ridiculous. 

After reading post #10 above, I’m sorry that I posted this inquiry. After reading that post, I remembered that the newspapers Regent supplied were more trouble than they were worth. I had forgotten that I had received them in the past,  but I had. And I am familiar with the unreliability of cruise ship internet service (Starlink or not). I’m afraid the technology just isn’t here yet.

I was thinking about requesting the Denver Post, but I now recall a time fairly long ago when I received a newspaper onboard, and it was indeed a big bunch of paper. Really a mess that I had forgotten. I have an online subscription to this paper. So if the internet is decent, I’ll just use that. 

Thanks, all, for the information.