Dag Has Resigned

[Travelcat2]

You're right that in most places there are standard excursions offered. But these are offered by a variety of guides and operators. I have perceived, at least in the past, that Regent (Radisson) took care to choose among those to present the best quality available to its guests.

 

In most cases I believe this is still true, although as I said, the number of pax on a bus has definitely gone up since Apollo took over.

 

There is also the matter of how the excursions are managed by the Destinations staff. Shuttles into town, well-organized loading and departure, ship staff accompanying excursions, these are things that Radisson/Regent did well. Regent continues to do most of these things pretty well, although as I said there has been some loss of consistency--I sincerely hope that Regent regulars will continue to complain when this happens.

 

Wendy, I think that you agree with me that Regent including many excursions in their fare wasn't such a great idea. Actually, unless my memory is incorrect (entirely possible), the included excursions began under Prestige Cruise Lines management. Under Carlson ownership, they were not trying to accommodate as many passengers as they currently are. It does seem like they are trying -- just not sure how you can easily disembark two or three bus loads of passengers without causing a traffic jam on the ship (which we saw several times in Alaska). I have seen prices increasing on excursions. . . if this continues to happen (hopefully they will end up charging their cost on alll excursions), the number of passengers may become manageable once again. I didn't realize how much I dislike the included excursions until I booked our own excursion for ourcoming Silversea cruise. We much prefer booking excursions on our own (BTW -- the excursion we booked was less money than it would have been if we booked through SS).

 

hondorner: In our experience, a cruise line may use the same company and still have differences in their excursions. On our Alaska cruise, we opted to pay for the Crab Feast in Ketchikan because transportation one way was by float plane (this was booked through Regent). The "free" excursion took a boat to the same location (it was packed like sardines). Our tour was 12 passengers -- the room we were assigned would fit approximately 24 people. Being in a small group made the excursion intimate and a lot of fun. I have no idea how many passengers were on the included excursion, but, they must have needed quite a large room to accommodate everyone. The food was probably the same - just a different experience with the same company.

Edited July 9, 2010 by Travelcat2

[Mark_T]

I didn't realize how much I dislike the included excursions until I booked our own excursion for ourcoming Silversea cruise. We much prefer booking excursions on our own

 

You may need to consider that you are not representative of the majority of those choosing to sail with Regent however as not everyone has the time the inclination or the ability to research select and book private tours.

 

For those customers the current solution is a significant enhancement of the service and the success of this seems to be reflected in the occupancy rates.

 

I can understand your personal dislike for this, but I can't see it changing any time soon.

[hondorner]

...hondorner: In our experience, a cruise line may use the same company and still have differences in their excursions. On our Alaska cruise, we opted to pay for the Crab Feast in Ketchikan because transportation one way was by float plane (this was booked through Regent). The "free" excursion took a boat to the same location (it was packed like sardines). Our tour was 12 passengers -- the room we were assigned would fit approximately 24 people. Being in a small group made the excursion intimate and a lot of fun. I have no idea how many passengers were on the included excursion, but, they must have needed quite a large room to accommodate everyone. The food was probably the same - just a different experience with the same company.

I think you've made my point for me -- Wendy's original question was about ships' tours on Oceania. My contention is that ships' tours are mostly alike, no matter the cruise line. In order to get the better experience, you had to take what is essentially a different tour, using a float plane instead of a boat, at a different cost. If they were both available to be booked through Regent, one included and one at a surcharge, they had to have different tour codes. Presumably those same tours are available to other ships, at a different price point when they are ala carte.

 

The point I have been trying to make is that the tours that are available in any port are not created, controlled or operated by the cruise line. Granted, cruise lines may pick and choose among the tours, but there would be little advantage to choosing the worst tours available from local vendors, especially on every cruise line except Regent where the passengers are paying extra for all their tours, and even more especially when it is a mega ship, which needs every tour it can find to provide enough capacity.

 

In other words, when considering any specific port, the tours available are the tours available and have nothing to do with the ship.

 

On Oceania, one hears a greater proportion of complaints abut tours because the guests are comparing them to privately arranged tour with a private guide, which is generally better and often cheaper.

 

One of the most ironic things is the number of people who complain about the Destination Department, especially on Oceania. I experienced a fantastic Destinations Dept Chief on Regent last year, and gave her a shout here, on the comment card and a special note to Prestige. Several others have mentioned her, also. What's ironic is that she was trained on Oceania and transplanted to Regent by Prestige (The captain on that voyage was also an Oceania captain, after having been with Silverseas for many years).

[rallydave]

You may need to consider that you are not representative of the majority of those choosing to sail with Regent however as not everyone has the time the inclination or the ability to research select and book private tours.

 

For those customers the current solution is a significant enhancement of the service and the success of this seems to be reflected in the occupancy rates.

 

I can understand your personal dislike for this, but I can't see it changing any time soon.

 

I too understand tc's dislike for the status quo and that is her right but, having issues with 2 or 3 busses worth of people jamming up the gangway seems a bit over the top. That's about 100 or so passengers. Think about the mega ships or even the average size 2000 passenger ships where people come off the ship by the thousands.

 

We've got things really good with Regent. Only an approx max of 700 people on Voyager and Mariner and 490 on Navigator. May be that some Regent travelers have become spoiled over the quick Regent trip off the ship. Yes, it is sometimes a pain to que up and have to slowly walk off the ship but, consider the alternative of a 3000 passenger ship where it might take an hour in line to get off or on.

 

Think we who travel Regent have it pretty good and should thank our lucky stars we can afford Regent. There will always be minor difficulties on any trip and nothing will ever be perfect. In fact, my DW says "perfection is a form of imperfection"

 

We've got it great!!!

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Yes, we've got it great, I agree.

 

I'm with Dave that I wish they would go back to paid excursions, or at least tiered excursions. Our experience has been that the "concierge" choices were similar to what you could find with private operators. I myself prefer private arrangements as well, but frankly only when I'm travelling with friends or previous acquaintances. We have made some great friends on cruises, but I don't really want to be stuck with 2 or 4 strangers for the day, I'd rather be with 10 or perhaps 15 strangers. :rolleyes:

 

My best case scenario would be that Regent would: keep its excursion sizes small; have a staff member accompany all or most excursions; continue to pick the best operators and weed out unfortunate or unsuitable guides; and *stagger* excursion departures so that pax don't feel like they are being herded to the gangway.

 

(I'm just remembering our despicable catamaran captain in Barbados--inexcusable. In fact that whole excursion was despicable and I told Regent so--I'm sure there are plenty of catamaran/snorkel trip operators who do a much better job of this kind of excursion. I know, we've been on them, with Regent!)

[Travelcat2]

You may need to consider that you are not representative of the majority of those choosing to sail with Regent however as not everyone has the time the inclination or the ability to research select and book private tours.

 

For those customers the current solution is a significant enhancement of the service and the success of this seems to be reflected in the occupancy rates.

 

I can understand your personal dislike for this, but I can't see it changing any time soon.

 

Mark: I know that I am not necessarily representative of the majority. On the other hand, the majority of passengers on Regent are repeat customers, many of whom were not happy when "free excursions" were added. For me it isn't as much about the excursions as the fact that, by including excursions as well as airfare, etc., Regent priced some of their Alaska cruises less than some Disney cruises (according to passengers). This is a whole other subject -- definitely not going there on this thread even though it has a direct impact on occupancy rates.

 

CC is a great place for all opinions. It is also nice to know that our opinions are being read by Regent and Prestige Cruise Holdings management:)

 

Rallydave: As Wendy mentioned, things would run much smoother if the departure times of the excursions were staggered instead of having 200 people (out of a ship of 490) disembark at the same time. While I understand and agree with your point about larger ships, Regent passengers are paying a premium to avoid the type of experience that one gets on the big ships. When we were in Nimibia last year there was a dinner for all passengers (this is done on the Discovery Collection every year). All but approx. 150 passengers from the Voyager attended this magnificent dinner. The transportation was handled perfectly. We each had a card with the time we needed to get on to the bus. There were no lines -- no one having to sit in the theater waiting for their numbers to be called. So, the bottom line for me is . . . . it can be done without it feeling like a herd of elephants.

Edited July 9, 2010 by Travelcat2

[ChatKat in Ca.]

We gambled with a group of strangers booking private tours in 10 ports on a 14 day Oceania Cruise. We interviewed one another and ended up having a very memorable time with all of them. They have taken 4 subsequent trips as a group together on Oceania and Riverboating (at times we couldn't travel). I'd do it again in a heartbeat but you have to screen the co-travelers. I think that a blanket statement of ship's tours are all good or bad also depend upon the ports and the number of tours that can be taken in the port. Some are just better ports with more to do and more access to variety to please all the masses.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Kathy, that's a good idea. Was it a bit awkward? I presume you spoke on the phone--did you talk about your background to see if you were a good fit?

 

TC, I wonder what the actual stats are on repeat passengers on cruises. I know that the SSS parties are huge now, but I can't remember going to one where the majority of passengers attended. (Of course, we didn't bother going to our last party, so attendance at this event is not definitive.)

[Travelcat2]

I thought that the number of repeat cruisers on our Alaska cruise would be low. While I do not remember the exact percentage, it was definitely over 60% -- there were even over 100 Gold SSS members, and many Platinum. There were two ladies on board who were Titanium. Most cruises we have been on have had around 75% repeat customers. We find the numbers interesting and also attend the meetings to take advantage of the opportunity to have caviar:)

[Wendy The Wanderer]

How did you get those numbers? From staff?

[Travelcat2]

How did you get those numbers? From staff?

 

They announce it at the SSS meetings.

[RJB]

The Captain on the Crystal World Cruises (forget his name) was famous for parking the ship under a waterfall in Milford Sound and giving some of the the crew a bath on the bow. So Dag isn't the only one that does that.

 

Although you do wonder about what that does for the insurance?

Just found this thread, a few years late but still would like to know if anyone is aware of where Capt. Dag is now. Sailed with him back then and he was wonderful, A fun cruise. :):):)

[WesW]

Don't have first hand knowledge of Dag with Seabourn, but this was posted on Facebook recently:

 

[Travelcat2]

Just found this thread, a few years late but still would like to know if anyone is aware of where Capt. Dag is now. Sailed with him back then and he was wonderful, A fun cruise. :):):)

 

Think that you deserve an award for bringing up the oldest thread ever:D. I cannot find evidence that Captain Dag is anywhere other than at Seabourn. His departure from Regent was a sad and difficult time for Dag. Although I did not know him well, he was likely Regent's favorite captain at the time.

[RachelG]

I think he is now with Holland America. I seem to have read that somewhere but can’t remember exactly.

[briar14]

I think he is now with Holland America. I seem to have read that somewhere but can’t remember exactly.

Just googled him. He is with Holland America

Prinsendam through December 2018. He was our first Regent captain on Voyager in 2003.

[RJB]

Just googled him. He is with Holland America

Prinsendam through December 2018. He was our first Regent captain on Voyager in 2003.

Glad he is still around. One of our favorite Captains of all time. Just made our cruise more fun and not as formal and stuffy. :):):)

[Travelcat2]

I think he is now with Holland America. I seem to have read that somewhere but can’t remember exactly.

 

That makes sense -all part off the Carnival family.

[tripperva]

I think Prinsendam is the former Royal Viking Sun, one of the best ships ever. But it was rebuilt by HA to lesser

design. We sailed all over the world with Dag, mostly on Voyager. Great fun and an excellent captain. All best wishes to Dag.

[Isklaar]

I think Prinsendam is the former Royal Viking Sun, one of the best ships ever. But it was rebuilt by HA to lesser

design. We sailed all over the world with Dag, mostly on Voyager. Great fun and an excellent captain. All best wishes to Dag.

 

Yes, you're right, it was the Royal Viking Sun. Then the Seabourn Sun, but passed to HA about 3 years (?) after that.

 

I sailed just once with Dag, on Seabourn Quest almost 2 years ago. I know he was due to stay onboard for a few weeks after I disembarked but hadn't heard anything of him since then. Someone did ask his whereabouts on the Seabourn board some time ago. Thanks for the update that he's moved to HA.