Dolebludger

6 hours ago, Guerncruising said:

Gold and above Seven Seas Society members can have newspapers of their choice. However I just download and try to save paper. 

We are SSS gold booked in a concierge suite. Who do I ask onboard or before to get the paper?

I seem to remember sometime ago, Regent (fka Radisson) guests could receive their selection of major newspaper delivered to their suite. As always I could remember incorrectly. But if this is true, is this still done?

Well, thanks GO ARMY! I agree with Yogi that places too over crowded to give Regent adequate service should be avoided. But as this problem has been reported on CC  for about six months, Regent should be warning its guests about it, at least. And modifying embarkation and disembarkation to eliminate Barbados at most. The first warning about this port was last fall, when Regent was unable to schedule hotel and transfers for concierge + booked guests. That was enough for us to avoid Barbados in booking a spring Regent cruise. I don’t know all of the reasons why Barbados is over-touristed, but it is. Maybe because it has allowed too many “mega ships” to dock without adequate port services. But in any event, it can’t give “Regent quality” port services. So, Regent cruisers should avoid this port.

Just heard on CNN: the embassies in Haiti are evacuating. Violence has spread beyond the capitol.

Although there may be several causes, it is clear that Barbados is “over-touristed”. We’ve been there in the past, and there is really nothing special about it. We avoid cruises that start and/or end there, until the problem is solved.

Travel1light, Silversea is an excellent cruise line. It requires more formal dress than Regent, both by code and actual onboard practice. It doesn’t include laundry for all guests — only some. And the air offered in its rates that include it is all economy. But, I have seen some attractive prices on  Silversea recently, so it clearly deserves consideration. 

Also, if a comparison is Celebrity vs Regent, only the price of at least a SS in the Retreat should be considered to get even close to Regents inclusions and quality. Otherwise, we have an “apples to oranges”comparison. 

Yes, the music cruise we took four times was the “Moody Blues Cruise”, which is now the “On the Blues Cruise” since the Moody Blues are no longer a band. For these, the entire ship is chartered, I believe. It is a fun experience. For some reason, it is now chartering the NCL Pearl, and we just don’t like that ship. The last Moody Blues Cruise was on the X Eclipse and that was also a good shipboard experience.

Let me comment on the butler situation. On Regent the room stewards have fewer rooms and more duties than on Celebrity. The stewards on Regent do everything a butler on Celebrity does. I’ve cruised the Retreat on Celebrity and Regent in non-butler suites. And every Regent suite has included use of the mini fridge contents of soft drinks and beer (replenished) and spirits and wine are provided to all suites. I believe only the Royal Suites and above on Celebrity have this inclusion. 

As I understand the music cruise business, a promoter charters the ship and makes most of the decisions, including ports visited. Chances are that the charter price would be less if the port is the cruise line’s private island because all the money guests spend there goes to the line.  While I am sad about the situations of the people of Haiti, I wouldn’t go there!  But, as I have said, most on a music cruise never leave the ship.

I don’t know what music cruises are out there now. We have been on four “Moody Blues cruises” and the best one was on the Eclipse, where our VIP status got us a CS, and all the perks included for that suite at that time — 2017. But music cruises are chartered by organizations other than the cruise line. The itinerary and inclusions are negotiated between the charter and the line, so you might get more perks on those charters, but usually less. On the Eclipse, we got the same. I know a guy who recently took a “smooth jazz” cruise on Celebrity. It went to the southern Caribbean (A,B,C islands) on Celebrity. I don’t know all the details, but he really liked it. So no, all music cruises do not go to Haiti. I don’t know what port stops our music cruise made, because the music was all day, and that’s what I wanted.

Labadee would be a “sea day” for me if it were ever on the itinerary of any cruise I booked (won’t happen). All for an additional reason other than safety. Last time I was there, there wasn’t anything I was interested in there. I understand Royal has built it up since then, but there wasn’t a lot of space to build much. And anything Royal built would just be another way for it to charge me for things. The natural beach there was rather sub-average for the Caribbean, and that probably hasn’t improved much. So even if it is safe now (?), there is really nothing for me there.

I can see that the problem may well be on the hotel side. For whatever reason, even lux hotels have been operating on a shoe string since the pandemic. Example: We stayed in the Bellagio in Vegas in May, 2022 and service was just bad — even though it is one of the priciest hotels in the US. But these facts make it even more important for Regent to lock down its hotel arrangements for its guests BEFORE final payment — IN WRITING — with penalties if the hotel breaches. What we can take away from this mess is that Regent is waiting for final payment to pass, and then goes hotel shopping. Bad business to rely on hotels these days, and hope to meet the obligations to Regent’s guests. And the sad thing is this isn’t the first time Regent hasn’t been able to arrange hotel and transfers. It happened a few months ago regarding a Barbados embarkation port. 
 

Now, we weren’t booked on either the Barbados or Reykjavik cruise, so why am I concerned? I have been recommending Regent for over 22 years (it was Radisson back then). I don’t want to recommend it if it can’t meet its contractional obligations better than in the Barbados and Reykjavik cases, and may want to reconsider what cruise line (if any) I want to book in the future.

Just a request for clarification. If a Regent guest elects to stay at the Marriott Courtyard airport hotel, will the guest still receive a transfer to the ship, as per the original booking?

I’ve been trying to remember the name of the hotel where we stayed for two nights in Reykjavik a number of years ago — but I don’t and can find no record of it. If I could identify it, I’d recommend it here. It was of the small boutique type located downtown. The unique thing about it was it had a room for the guests with an included bar set up. It included soft drinks, beer, and mixers. And there were several bottles of different spirits. There were also snacks and items for breakfast set out in that room. And the guest rooms were spacious and clean. Maybe some of the guests impacted by Regent’s failure here have TAs who can identify that hotel, and book it if desired.

SellaVee, Regent sure didn’t pick a first class hotel when it picked the Anchorage Hilton for an Explorer Alaska cruise last June. We’d been there before, and it is far below that. I checked the more current reviews, and they were worse. So for that cruise, we took the credit for hotel and transfers and did our own thing. After the cruise I checked the comments on it on this forum, and the hotel and transfers were rated as pitiful by members here. 
 

One thing that is surfacing here is that, regarding land service, Regent overstates its advertising to the point of being just plain false! Now, the onboard experience is as good as advertised, to my experience. But it is failing to provide the land travel and stay benefits correctly, and is misrepresenting these in its advertising.

I am curious about one thing about this mess. To start with, if I book a Regent cruise that includes pre hotel, transfers, and air, I can opt out of any or all of these items for a credit. I know, as I did just that last summer, and got a credit. So why, when Regent cancels any or these benefits, why are they offering a smaller credit than if I had cancelled? 

Picardad, as an expert in the area of arranging travel services (presumingly including hotels and transfers, and other things), what is your opinion regarding the reason for Regent’s failure in this area? 

Having been on a number of music cruises, I know that guests on them rarely get off the ship. Ports and excursions are really irrelevant. We pay a premium for the music. We don’t want to miss any of it.

They do have A list acts on music cruises. Few such things on regular cruises. But I find some of those to be pretty good. But I don’r expect cruise ship entertainment to be top pros. Actually, we seldom attend it, regardless of the line.

I have heard (but can’t personally verify) that problems with ground services in Barbados are caused (in part) by initiation of direct air service from the UK to that island. This (the account goes) have flooded Barbados with tourists, which the island can’t  accommodate well. 

We have cruised in French Polynesia in our winter (their summer) on the Paul Gauguin. These were cruises were in the ”20 years ago”range. There was only a little rain and no rough weather — then. Now, it is undisputed that weather in FP during their summer is bad — big time. I guess climate change is real, at least in FP.

Thanks for the heads up. Don’t book a cruise with Barbados as a departure port either, According to recent posts here, Regent is unable to find hotel rooms and transfers there.

Sounds to me that Regent’s head office is under staffed. This is a problem with businesses of all kinds. There is a shortage of willing, qualified workers in all areas.

Yes, that is true.

I would like to hear how this matter resolves,  or if it doesn’t. We have two cruises booked on Regent this year. Done deals. But we will not book any additional,Regent cruises,until this matter is resolved favorably to  the guests.