Regent cost for pre-cruise hotels

[Travelcat2]

Some phones have translators on them.  I just went to Google Translate and asked them to translate "Please take me to my hotel" and it came up with the Japanese words (in Arabic letters) and this  私のホテルに連れて行ってください。

 

Here is a link to that site:  https://translate.google.com/#view=home&op=translate&sl=auto&tl=ja&text=Please take me to my hotel.

[Anchorbuoy]

5 hours ago, alwaysonaship said:

We have one night included with our cruise, but will not stay at the hotel they are using. Will they give you a credit instead. Thank you. 

 

The short answer is Yes. 

[alwaysonaship]

Yes and they did. Thanks for answering. 

[wolverine-traveler]

In response to WRIPRO, I always book hotels myself, but as a first time cruiser I opted for the convenience of accepting the free hotel night Regent was offering.  Actually, I was originally told the hotel was full and they gave me a $300 credit against the cruise cost.  I ended up finding a room at Regent's hotel (Trump International) but the cost was higher than $300 and without breakfast.  I would have looked for other hotels (I like Fairmont, Four Seasons and Shangri La)  However, I was told that in order to deviate from the airline itinerary Regent offered,  I would have to pay $175 pp for Customized air.  That's $525 for our party of three to be able to arrive a day before the cruise leaves.  This doesn't sound right and I would have appealed that, but I booked late and I was right at the deadline for the final payment.  

 

At the last minute, I was told they found a room at the Trump and changed my airline itinerary to arrive a day early.  One suggestion above that I will consider is taking an Uber to the port instead of the free coach transfer.  Seems like a no-brainer to avoid the hordes of travelers leaving the Trump for the Mariner's port.

[wolverine-traveler]

On 7/31/2019 at 10:43 AM, alwaysonaship said:

We have one night included with our cruise, but will not stay at the hotel they are using. Will they give you a credit instead. Thank you. 

 

They will give you $150 pp if you don't use the hotel.  

[Travelcat2]

2 hours ago, wolverine-traveler said:

 

They will give you $150 pp if you don't use the hotel.  

 

The amount you receive varies by cruise.  The range is from $100/person to $350/person.  Just wanted to add this information.

[alwaysonaship]

They gave me $250 which is fine. I like to stay at the Fairmont Waterfront in Vancouver and can just walk across the street to the ship. Of all the lovely hotels in Vancouver not sure why they use THAT one. 

[UUNetBill]

On 7/31/2019 at 3:11 PM, Travelcat2 said:

Some phones have translators on them.  I just went to Google Translate and asked them to translate "Please take me to my hotel" and it came up with the Japanese words (in Arabic letters) and this  私のホテルに連れて行ってください。

 

 

Here is a link to that site:  https://translate.google.com/#view=home&op=translate&sl=auto&tl=ja&text=Please take me to my hotel.

You can take it a step beyond that, too - my wife bought a set of Bluetooth earphones that will interface with translation software to translate many languages on the fly.  They were kind of buggy but they actually did work.  This was a few years ago, they may have better solutions out there now...

[Travelcat2]

10 hours ago, alwaysonaship said:

They gave me $250 which is fine. I like to stay at the Fairmont Waterfront in Vancouver and can just walk across the street to the ship. Of all the lovely hotels in Vancouver not sure why they use THAT one. 

 

It is not necessarily easy for Regent to find hotels that can accommodate a few hundred people AND have a restaurant or other facilities to accommodate them for breakfast (that is always included with Regent).  

 

We live 50 miles from Vancouver and consider it such a zoo during the summer that we avoid it at all costs. Not sure what transportation you will take to the hotel but, as you will see, the traffic is an issue.

[alwaysonaship]

We always cruise out of Vancouver late in the season so it isn’t an issue with the crowds. This cruise is in Sep 2020 for 12 nights going into alaska and ending in LA. I like to stay at the Fairmont Waterfront so we can just walk across the street and get on the ship. 

 

Last year our flight connection out of seattle was cancelled  and we had to hurry to catch the late night train to Vancouver.  So hopefully that won’t happen again. 

[ronrick1943]

I agree about not staying at a Regent base hotel.  We booked are own hotel twice on are own which just happen to be the Regent hotel--what a mess, people all around the lobby, luggage all over the place.  Even with a private car it was hard leaving the hotel.  Never again, we make sure we are at a different hotel than Regent is at---calm is worth the price, arriving at the dock without bus loads of others arriving is worth even more.

[eliana]

Changing the topic slightly. We would like recommendations for a pre-cruise hotel in Miami for two nights. Next January.

Edited August 4, 2019 by eliana

[wolverine-traveler]

If you prefer to book your own pre-cruise hotel and you want to use Regent's air travel, how do you arrange for early travel without paying the $175 pp Custom Air Fee.  I was told that I had to accept Regent's itinerary as is, which meant traveling on the day of the cruise.  I didn't want to do that and I didn't want to pay $525 to have them book me a day early.  That's why I accepted Regent's hotel package.  I'm sure there's a way around this, but I was booking late and basically had to decide all of this with less than 24 hours to Final Payment.  

[Travelcat2]

58 minutes ago, wolverine-traveler said:

If you prefer to book your own pre-cruise hotel and you want to use Regent's air travel, how do you arrange for early travel without paying the $175 pp Custom Air Fee.  I was told that I had to accept Regent's itinerary as is, which meant traveling on the day of the cruise.  I didn't want to do that and I didn't want to pay $525 to have them book me a day early.  That's why I accepted Regent's hotel package.  I'm sure there's a way around this, but I was booking late and basically had to decide all of this with less than 24 hours to Final Payment.  

 

If you need to pay a deviation fee to arrive a day early, I am assuming that you are not in a concierge or above suite.  If you were, you would not only not have to pay the "Custom Air Fee" to arrive a day early but the hotel would either be included, or, if you wanted to do your own hotel,  you would receive a hotel credit of between $100-$350/person.

 

Having said all of that, I always recommend paying for the Custom Air Fee.  This way you can choose your flights (on contracted airlines) 270 days in advance of the cruise (obviously, if you selected your own flights now, there would be less availability than if you booked earlier).   Otherwise, you are given whatever is left in Regent's inventory of flights around 75 days prior to the cruise.  

 

There is really no way around having to pay for Custom Air unless you take an air credit and book your own flights (that could cost more than the Custom Air Fee).  Wish that the news was better.

 

Hope that you have booked excursions already as they tend to waitlist as the cruise gets closer.  If there is an excursion that you really want and it's waitlisted, suggest calling Regent and get on the waitlist.  Most of the time, the waitlist will clear - either before or after you embark on the ship.

 

Have a great cruise.  Where are you going and on what ship? 

[wolverine-traveler]

11 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

 

If you need to pay a deviation fee to arrive a day early, I am assuming that you are not in a concierge or above suite.  If you were, you would not only not have to pay the "Custom Air Fee" to arrive a day early but the hotel would either be included, or, if you wanted to do your own hotel,  you would receive a hotel credit of between $100-$350/person.

 

Having said all of that, I always recommend paying for the Custom Air Fee.  This way you can choose your flights (on contracted airlines) 270 days in advance of the cruise (obviously, if you selected your own flights now, there would be less availability than if you booked earlier).   Otherwise, you are given whatever is left in Regent's inventory of flights around 75 days prior to the cruise.  

 

There is really no way around having to pay for Custom Air unless you take an air credit and book your own flights (that could cost more than the Custom Air Fee).  Wish that the news was better.

 

Hope that you have booked excursions already as they tend to waitlist as the cruise gets closer.  If there is an excursion that you really want and it's waitlisted, suggest calling Regent and get on the waitlist.  Most of the time, the waitlist will clear - either before or after you embark on the ship.

 

Have a great cruise.  Where are you going and on what ship? 

 

[wolverine-traveler]

I'm going to Alaska on Mariner.  I'm booked in the PH class, so the pre-cruise night was included, but when I booked 35 days in advance, the hotel was sold out, so I was automatically given a $150 pp credit and booked on flights the day of departure.  I was going to book my own hotel, but to change the flight to the prior day i had to pay $175 pp for Custom Air.  I was actually considering cancelling the cruise at that point, then I got notice a room opened up and we got it.  The $150 pp credit was removed and I got a new air itinerary for the prior day.  I'm going to try to cancel my room, but keep the air itinerary and book my own hotel.  If I can't do that, I will handle my own transportation to the ship rather than transfer via the Regent coaches.

[jagoffee]

For my upcoming January 28 Regent cruise I was offered $150 pp credit if I did not take the included pre cruise hotel.  Since this is Super Bowl week in Miami, I did not take the offer/credit.  A few of my favorite hotels are not available or are significantly more expensive.

 

When  will I found out the name of the Regent hotel?  Once, I find out can I decline the hotel and still get the credit?  Do I have to make my final decision before I know the hotel choice?

 

Thanks

[Pam]

Since there will be six of us, I'm pretty sure we will just take the "free" hotel room in Anchorage and the supplied transport to Seward.  I booked our air already,  using a combination of cash and mileage points, so that's done.  Now I just have to figure out where we will stay in Vancouver.

[jashah]

If you book Custom Air (deviation) to arrive a few days early and decline the pre-cruise hotel offered for a Concierge room, what happens with the ground transfers which are supposed to be included?  

[Sharle]

7 hours ago, jashah said:

If you book Custom Air (deviation) to arrive a few days early and decline the pre-cruise hotel offered for a Concierge room, what happens with the ground transfers which are supposed to be included?  

In my experience when you don't use their hotel or arrive early you lose the transfers as well.

[papaflamingo]

1 hour ago, Sharle said:

In my experience when you don't use their hotel or arrive early you lose the transfers as well.

I also believe that is correct.  Part of the hotel allowance that you get is the cost of the transfer from the hotel to the port. If you take the allowance you are giving up the transfer.   I also believe you also lose the transfer from the airport to the hotel when you use custom air and arrive a few days early.   

Regent transfers are by busses not individual cabs.  It would be a mammoth undertaking and expense to have cabs randomly meet  people on various days at airports and random hotels.  

I've only done one cruise, and I did not used Regent hotels or transfers and deviated my air.  I  set up my own ground transportation.  

[orvil]

On 8/4/2019 at 11:39 AM, eliana said:

Changing the topic slightly. We would like recommendations for a pre-cruise hotel in Miami for two nights. Next January.

We did this itinerary last year and are repeating it this year.  My priorities in Miami are safety and convenience.  I've worked out of there and Miami has little charm for me.  I prefer a businessman's hotel in Miami. We take an Uber to the hotel from the airport. 

 

We stay at the Marriott Courtyard in Miami Downtown/Brickell area.  There is a Whole Foods around the corner.  There is a touristy area within walking or tram distance where you can get pretty good Cuban food.  It's a nice place to wander around the night before boarding the ship.  The Marriott has a shuttle bus that goes to the Port of Miami.  I seem to remember the cost being $10.00 per person.  It was really easy.  I suggest you make a reservation with the desk the night before for the shuttle bus.  We were the only passengers on it for our run to the Port.  It only holds about a dozen and is not exclusive to Regents.

 

We will be on the Western Caribbean trip starting on the 18th.   

 

[jagoffee]

4 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

I also believe that is correct.  Part of the hotel allowance that you get is the cost of the transfer from the hotel to the port. If you take the allowance you are giving up the transfer.   I also believe you also lose the transfer from the airport to the hotel when you use custom air and arrive a few days early.   

Regent transfers are by busses not individual cabs.  It would be a mammoth undertaking and expense to have cabs randomly meet  people on various days at airports and random hotels.  

I've only done one cruise, and I did not used Regent hotels or transfers and deviated my air.  I  set up my own ground transportation.  

Just to clarify.  I am using the Regent one night included hotel, but I am doing my own flight.  So the transfer to the Regent hotel is included in this situation?

Thanks.

[DaveFr]

12 minutes ago, jagoffee said:

Just to clarify.  I am using the Regent one night included hotel, but I am doing my own flight.  So the transfer to the Regent hotel is included in this situation?

Thanks.

I don’t believe you get the transfer to the hotel unless you use a Regent arranged flight.  Sorry.

 

Dave

[jagoffee]

30 minutes ago, DaveFr said:

I don’t believe you get the transfer to the hotel unless you use a Regent arranged flight.  Sorry.

 

Dave

That does make sense, which is why I was asking for confirmation.

Thanks.