Dolebludger

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.

Yes, Regent did drop the ball, whatever. And it needs to reimburse everyone fully for their mistake.  The fact that Regent has dealt with hotel and transfers there before makes it even more at fault. One shouldn’t sell something that isn’t owned or controlled.

Here is the problem, as I see it. Reykjavik is a small city.,Regent needs maybe 200 hotel rooms, but these rooms may not be available in that city. And Reykjavik,is a long distance from the airport. The only major airport in Iceland. I suspect that Regent didn’t “survey the territory” well before selling hotel rooms and transport there. And because if this, Regent can’t deliver on what it sold. Now, this doesn’t relieve Regent of liability for selling what it couldn’t deliver. It is merely a take on this mess.

I agree that nobody should sell what they can’t deliver, which is the case here. And people from the UK have a regulatory procedure to obtain justice. Unfortunately, those in the US have no such thing. The only thing we can do is to sue the cruise line. But here, the lines T&C specify that any such action must be brought in the state of Florida. In the US, some of us live up to 3,000 miles from Florida. This is a regulatory gap that needs to be bridged here in the US. In my opinion, Regent has advertised beyond what it can deliver in this case, and in the case of  shortages of shore excursions, and in the case of no land accommodations in Barbados.

Let me say that we love to cruise Regent — once we are on the ship. But getting to the ship and getting back home is another matter. On the Regent ship, it is pure luxury. Getting to the ship, and home after the cruise puts us at the mercy of mass market transportation which, as we all know, is bad.

This story of a butler running after disembarking guests on Regent is disgusting. There is a problem with guests from the US who feel that they must tip for everything creating an expectation on Regent.  I hope it doesn’t happen. Tipping in the US has gotten out of control, and has spread into ordinary, mainly self service transactions. When we check out almost anywhere, we are hit with a tip prompt if we use a credit card.  We have needed  to train ourselves to check “0” on those when no personal service was given. We have been on more Regent (fka Radisson) cruises than we can remember. We have never tipped anybody. But we have donated to the crew fund. Beyond that, Regent fares are sufficient to pay the staff sufficient amount. 

Well, does any X ship offer an extra cost laundry package?

Well, if things important to you are available on X for the best price, go for it!  But BTW, we don’t pay the prices  you quote for Regent. But I will say that its prices  are  too high also. Everything in the hospitality  industry has become priced too high. I am preparing to just stay home here in the SW Rocky Mountains, because of the cost of going elsewhere costs too much. That is what it may be for us, after our two booked Regent cruise.

38 minutes ago, markeb said:

 

So many of these have turned into Celebrity, the current Celebrity, not some idolized history of Celebrity, versus a luxury cruise line. With little or no context. Didn't realize until the last few posts that you were 80. That's not a negative, but it provides context. I'm 61, but have potentially life shortening health issues and we're trying to enjoy life while we can. Our views on some of these things are a generation apart.

 

I do still enjoy some late night activity, although I fade a lot earlier than I did in my 20's or 30's. I'd rather hear the Foo Fighters than Sinatra on most nights (not all; Frank is still great). We're game to the notion of small ships, but not sure. The minibar is irrelevant to me. It's about 45 minutes for me to get to Union Station in DC and 3 hours from there to Midtown Manhattan on the train. Nothing in a cruise ship restaurant is going to compare to what I can get in Manhattan. And at some of the per person per night rates quoted in this thread my wife and I can stay in a very nice hotel in Manhattan and actually, believe it or not, eat multiple nights at Michelin 3-Star restaurants. Those aren't the rates I normally spend on a cruise, but that's what I'm comparing in my mind. And most days of the week I'd rather be in Manhattan than on a cruise ship if it's the same money. Or London, Munich, Naples, etc. And I do enjoy cruising!

 

I suspect we'll explore other lines more thoroughly in the future. We have a comfort level with the Celebrity and Royal Caribbean products. We're probably more likely to move laterally, maybe back to HAL, although there's also a memory of a cruise line that's almost certainly significantly different than when we last cruised them. The jump to the luxury lines requires a mental leap and normalizing $15-20K or more for a week long vacation, and we're not yet there.

 

If I'm lucky enough to make it to 80, I suspect my perspective will be more like yours. Who knows, the minibar may even become important! 😃

 

Fair winds and following seas...

No, sir, I did not study at Harvard. My grand son there is in his third semester sophomore year. He is on their football team as offensive lineman. And I think he will end up in fine shape. But I didn’t attend any “fancy colleges”. I did get a law degree, however. My grand daughter is in middle school here in Durango, she is interested in jazz drumming, dance, and art. She will get any education she needs to launch. I guarantee! 
 

‘So, I am interested in choosing a cruise for me and wife that will be a real “service” cruise. In 2019, it was a Royal Suite cruise on the  Equinox. Then, the ship was a little shoddy, but the cruise (for the price) was great. Now, the price for such a cruise is out of the ball park. So what do we do? We book a cruise on Regent/Splendor for less, and  we get more. Sorry, guys.

No, cool man, you can answer. You are me 40 years ago. But 40 years from then, we (and you) may want different cruise experiences. At 80 years old, I go to bed early, and drink much in the afternoon., we don’t stay up at night . And we don’t care much about late night activities on a cruise. Ship. 

Well, yes. Regent advertises many things as “free” when it should be labeled as “included”. It is the usual cruise line marketing  language, which is just wrong. The real answer to this crap is to see what is included in the cruise you are looking at to book. Whether it is called “free” or called “included” you will get it. If not, you will not. If not it will be at extra cost, which will be high, as you are in a floating monopolopy!

No, nobody should move anyone out. Basically, if you book and pay for a Regent cruise, you have paid your tips. You needn’t pay any more. That is what lux lines provide in their fare. If a cruise line doesn’t, it is not a lux line. But Regent is a lux line. Now, if there is an emergency, and a staff member renders service beyond job description, you might offer a tip. We were in that situation about delayed luggage, and our steward took care of getting our laundry quickly. I offered a tip, and it was declined. I am not sure that Regent service staff will always reject a tip, but they do not expect one — even for service beyond their job description.

Well, I don’t have one. I’m sorry. Perhaps it is walking up a 30 degree slope for 1/2 mile on gravel? I really don’t know. I live in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, so I sort of know what I can do, and what I can’t. I just can’t describe it. Sorry. But, whatever your physical abilities, I think you can find excursions on any cruise line to suit you. But I don’’t think shore excursions are the issue here. Rather, I think it is about late night activities. If that is important, I would not recommend Regent to you. There essentially aren’t any. And that is all I know. And yes, we didn’t  find much in the way if late night activities on our two X Retreat cruises either.

Celebrity is no more active than Regent — unless you count walking over the halls in a large ship. At age 80, I define myself as “active” because I can walk, drive, swim, dress and feed myself, and am not dead! I no longer go to the gym, lift weights, or take excursion cruises. I don’t book  excursions that require over “moderate” physical effort. But I’m a bit over the average age on Regent or Oceania (which is in the 60s), so I take it a bit easy. But not all guests do. In younger years, I’ve taken some vigorous excursions on Regent.  

Yes, I doubt anybody chooses Regent and the like over Celebrity for the entertainment. Smaller ship entertainment is smaller in scale. But some of us don’t care much about the theater entertainment, regardless of the scale. I can’t comment on Celebrity’s entertainment because on our two X cruises we never went. But I read that it includes some larger scale production numbers and is great overall. I think entertainment is great on Regent, on a small scale. Of more importance to us, Regent includes use of the fridge for soda and beer, bottle of liquor and bottle of wine for the suite (all replenished as needed), easy embarkation and disembarkation and same at ports, unlimited laundry for all guests, shore excursions, no room service fees, and never a crowd or line. And on some itineraries, Regent is cheaper. (Never thought I’d use the word “cheaper” in the same sentence with “Regent”!). But to get all this, one does give up production shows. 

In any event, it is good to know that Windstar is not out of the game in French Polynesia.

True that! And you don’t have to wait in line with a crowd to get into the theater on Regent. 

They have small scale acts and performances. Anybody for whom “Vegas style” shows is a high priority needs to look for another cruise line. For us, the entertainment isn’t a priority. We are more than satisfied with low key. So we either cruise Regent or the Retreat, or something like it. Indeed, on the two cruises we’ve had in the Retreat, we never attended any of the ship’s shows. You just aren’t going to find “large scale” entertainment on a 750 guest ship. But the positive factor of this is that there are plenty of vacant seats in the theater, and no lines or crowds getting in.

Well, we were there —- about 30 years ago, on a RC cruise. What I was wondering is what is there? When we were there, it was just an undeveloped beach. So whatever is there now must have been added since then. And unless whatever is now there is fantastic, we’d treat it as a sea day. We are going on a cruise this month on another line that has a stop in Nassau, Bahamas. Travel warnings are out for that place also. Unless we take a ship’s excursion, we’ll treat that as a sea day.

No, it means that X is a large ship line that has a luxury area or areas. When we cruised in the Retreat around 2018 and 2019, it offered us a lux experience at a price much less than lines like Regent. Maybe not quite as good as lines like Regent, but a great value. Now, the retreat is priced at the lux line level, or more. 

No rumors from me — just a theory. It may be that, since those months are summer in FP, Windstar decided to have the Star Breeze cruise elsewhere in those months. Those months are reported to be very rainy there.

I checked Windstar’s Tahiti cruise on the Breeze for scheduled sailings. There were some in 2024 but none Jan. Feb, and March 2025.But a good sign; there are scheduled cruises in April 2025 and beyond. -So apparently this 3 month period of no cruises is not the start of a pull out. Still hope somebody is able to post a fuller explanation.

In the USA, collecting an overcharge is muck more difficult. No board regulates them. As ot court action. Their T&Cs provide tha sole jusisdiction is in Florida for such suits making bringing a legal action cumbersome for the complainant, if you don’t live in Florida.

Jim_iain, I can only answer concerning the market placement of Oceania. It is a sister line of Regent. It is a slightly stripped down (as to perks) version of Regent. it is considered a low level lux line or a high level premium. It misses on full lux due to absence of some perks, but it is rated higher than premium due to its smaller size and high space to guest ratio.,