Safaga-Barcelona Voyager Nov 12 2011

[Responder]

Just found out that instead of starting this sailing with the included 3 day pre-cruise hotel in Cairo, they have switched the land venue to Luxor.

[symarb1]

Just found out that instead of starting this sailing with the included 3 day pre-cruise hotel in Cairo, they have switched the land venue to Luxor.

 

I just checked the Regent website and the tour is still posted unchanged. I did however finally get a new itinerary and I thought it odd that the land package said luxor.

 

Do you know what the new tour includes?

[Roland4]

Although you will miss the pyramids and the museum, having done an overnight in Luxor with "another luxuxry line" there is more than enough there to keep you busy and interested. The Temple of Karnak, Luxor Temple, Valley of the Kings and the one thing we could not do but really, really wished we could, an early morning hot air ballon ride! Luxor itself is nice, if a bit touristy.

[symarb1]

Although you will miss the pyramids and the museum, having done an overnight in Luxor with "another luxuxry line" there is more than enough there to keep you busy and interested. The Temple of Karnak, Luxor Temple, Valley of the Kings and the one thing we could not do but really, really wished we could, an early morning hot air ballon ride! Luxor itself is nice, if a bit touristy.

 

Oh believe me, I'm still going to see things I never thought I would. I would like to see a pyramid but its all good in my book.

[Responder]

Oh believe me, I'm still going to see things I never thought I would. I would like to see a pyramid but its all good in my book.

 

This is really strange...

 

I checked back and did find that we would fly to Luxor...bus 3 1/2 hours to Cairo...hotel for 2/3 nights?...bus back to luxor to board ship.

 

Now I see this....Now I'm really confused as I just called Regent and they say nothing has changed except for all the previous ports that were mentioned before.

Safaga.pdf

[symarb1]

This is really strange...

 

I checked back and did find that we would fly to Luxor...bus 3 1/2 hours to Cairo...hotel for 2/3 nights?...bus back to luxor to board ship.

 

Now I see this....Now I'm really confused as I just called Regent and they say nothing has changed except for all the previous ports that were mentioned before.

 

The attachment is for the Istanbul to Luxor cruise (check date on top of pdf), then get off and then WE get on!!

[jhp]

Responder, perhaps you are confused because you are talking of a pre-cruise, and this land excursion is for a post cuise. November 12 211 cruise is Barcelona to Safaga. The itinerary looks perfectly correct to me, as I have done a similar tour from Salfaga.

Day 1, disembark ship and take bus to Luxor (a 3 hr drive) and stay the night

Day 2, tour other sights in area of Luxor, go to Luxor airport and fly to Cairo after lunch

Day 3 Full day tour of Cairo

Day 4 Fly home from Cairo

[Responder]

Responder, perhaps you are confused because you are talking of a pre-cruise, and this land excursion is for a post cuise. November 12 211 cruise is Barcelona to Safaga. The itinerary looks perfectly correct to me, as I have done a similar tour from Salfaga.

Day 1, disembark ship and take bus to Luxor (a 3 hr drive) and stay the night

Day 2, tour other sights in area of Luxor, go to Luxor airport and fly to Cairo after lunch

Day 3 Full day tour of Cairo

Day 4 Fly home from Cairo

 

I may have sent the wrong page...ours is Safaga-Barcelona Nov 12 2011 beginning, I think with 3 days pre-cruise in Cairo...bus to Luxor to embark. At least this is what tour original docs say..

[jhp]

Well, I can't find the proper page on their website, and don't have a brochure handy, but I do believe you need to fly between Cairo and Luxor, and then the drive to Safaga to embark. I'm assuming the itinerary would work in the reverse, but can't see the page. It certainly is a lot of activity to pack into a pre-cruise, given the jet lag of many flying from the US.

[rallydave]

I may have sent the wrong page...ours is Safaga-Barcelona Nov 12 2011 beginning, I think with 3 days pre-cruise in Cairo...bus to Luxor to embark. At least this is what tour original docs say..

 

Responder,

 

You did post the correct pdf. It is 2 pages and the second page is for your cruise. Appears this is the same old lack of knowledge by the regent phone people and more importantly, from what you stated, your cruise documents are different than the pdf.

 

Just another strike against regents destinations dept and staff. In baseball, it's three strikes and you're out, in cruising with regent, evidently is takes hundreds of strikes to be out.

[jhp]

dave, it is not helpful to just keep blaming everything on Regent. I didn't notice there were 2 pages. Now the itinerary makes perfect sense to me for a pre-cruise. Responder wouldn't have cruise documents yet, as it is 5 months before the cruise.

[Responder]

Responder,

 

You did post the correct pdf. It is 2 pages and the second page is for your cruise. Appears this is the same old lack of knowledge by the regent phone people and more importantly, from what you stated, your cruise documents are different than the pdf.

 

Just another strike against regents destinations dept and staff. In baseball, it's three strikes and you're out, in cruising with regent, evidently is takes hundreds of strikes to be out.

 

Thank you for your affirmation. I did see that as well, but we had booked this trip last September and in the ensuing months as things got heated up in Egypt and environs, we had simultaenously booked the Nov 10 Mariner Venice-Rome and stayed on board with the Rome-Ft.Lauderdale as well. We live about 20 minutes from the port in Ft L.

 

I suppose we are a bit older than most and we opted to cancel Egypt. There's always another day and if not, we won't notice.;)

 

Besides, Italy is one of our most favorite places to visit and we never have to think twice about going to a city we have visited before.

 

For those who are staying, I certainly wish you all the best of luck for a safe and enjoyable trip. It was one of the few places we haven't visited that we planned, but next time for us.

[turtlemichael]

Responder,

 

You did post the correct pdf. It is 2 pages and the second page is for your cruise. Appears this is the same old lack of knowledge by the regent phone people and more importantly, from what you stated, your cruise documents are different than the pdf.

 

Just another strike against regents destinations dept and staff. In baseball, it's three strikes and you're out, in cruising with regent, evidently is takes hundreds of strikes to be out.

 

Am I missing something here? Responder, mistakenly, believes that the pre-cruise tour has been altered because he/she misread a document. We can all do things like that. I am having more senior moments every day. ;) Regent confirms on the phone that nothing has changed but this is a reason for yet another ill-founded criticism of the Destinations Department. Yep, I'm definitely missing something. :rolleyes:

[jhp]

turtlemichael, no, I don't think you are missing a thing. Responder, you made the choice that was best for you, feeling as you do about this area and your intinerary is wonderful in the fall. It's not on my list for the fall, opted a long time ago for a Canada thing. As I remember, both of you were on this cruise at one time. Anyway, choices for everyone as events move on. And for sure like anything, nothing tomorrow may be as settled as it seems today and may change.

[Responder]

Am I missing something here? Responder, mistakenly, believes that the pre-cruise tour has been altered because he/she misread a document. We can all do things like that. I am having more senior moments every day. ;) Regent confirms on the phone that nothing has changed but this is a reason for yet another ill-founded criticism of the Destinations Department. Yep, I'm definitely missing something. :rolleyes:

 

Let's not have a Grand Jury investigation..

 

I didn't mis-read my documents...the PDF I sent had 2 pages and scrolling down would have revealed this. When I got a reply, I thought I screwed up.

My cry was to indicate that a large number of ports were eliminated or radically changed on this cruise since I booked it last September 2010.

 

I know what the original plan was back then because I had started researching alternative air in case the included air was not satisfactory.

 

Insofar as Regent giving mixed information, many times the answer given depends upon how the question was asked...and of course, the luck of the draw regarding the person answering.

I have experienced this problem with many major corporations larger than Regent with both on shore and off shore support.

 

It should be evident from my posts that we are quite pleased with Regent and would probably cruise even more than we do if they re-designed their itineraries somewhat. There are other ships that have some interesting routes, but we are not pleased with their ships.

 

Insofar as senior moments...I belong to that group.:D

[jhp]

Think this is one that needs to go to sleep:)

[SuperBookie]

We received the following details (see attached pdf) on the Free 3-Night Pre-Cruise Land Program from our TA yesterday. She also indicated that we have an option of flying to Luxor the evening of Nov 10 or the morning of Nov 11. This may account for some confussion over the number of nights in Cairo.

 

Peter

Regent Voyager 3 night pre-cruise program.pdf

[tiggergirl]

Hi All

 

We are thinking about booking this cruise and are new to Regent. Does any know if we will receive frequent flyer miles if we book our business class air with Regent and select the air deviation?

 

Would really appreciate hearing about any past experiences.

 

thanks.

 

Rosie

[DaveFr]

Rosie,

 

We got frequent flyer miles on our USAir accounts last December and January when we flew Lufthansa and USAir before and after our Regent Cape Town to Ft. Lauderdale cruise. We used an air deviation.

 

Of course, I'm sure we got the miles for the Lufthansa flights because Lufthansa is a Star Alliance partner of USAir. I doubt we would have received the miles if, for example, we had flown on Delta.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Dave

[tiggergirl]

Hi Dave,

 

thanks for the information. We are United Airline flyers and would select them with the air deviation.

 

I was just concerned because Regent states their 'class' of booking is a "contract rate' so no miles will be awarded.

 

Has anyone else had any experiences with receiving miles?

 

thanks again,

Rosie

[gdlamberth]

Have gotten FFM credit flying Regent and SS air on LH, UA, NZ and US. Got some on DL too but those are about the only miles I have on DL:rolleyes: My home airline is US so we do ask for air deviations using *A flights. What you can not do is get a Regent Economy ticket and use FFM to upgrade to Business Class. Or use FFM to upgrade your Business Class ticket to First Class (if available). Hope that helps.

 

Greg

[ChatKat in Ca.]

Sometimes they say we are not eligible for miles and other times they credit us. Star Alliance or not. American has treated us both ways Lufthansa too. We got miles on Delta every time.

[tiggergirl]

sorry to be so uninformed but what are "A flights" ?

 

thanks

[DaveFr]

sorry to be so uninformed but what are "A flights" ?

 

thanks

*A = Star Alliance. :D

 

Dave

[Michael@ssrp]

We were on Mariner last month into Rome on United and home on Lufthansa IST to SFO via MUC. Earned miles all the way...enjoy!!