Booking excursions

[snorkle lover]

We can select our excursions for our April cruise Barcelona to Lisbon

in just 13 days and so many hours!

I am sure I obsess a lot more than others when it comes to picking

out excursions. As the day grows closer to when we can select our

excursions I begin to get sweaty palms. Will we get our first choice

or do we need to be prepared to shoot for our second, third or fourth

choice?? There are so many to choose from and how to decide how

many walking men we might be able to do?? Do we reserve our 

excursions on the My Account page ? This will be our second cruise

( first was just last year) but i already forgot how I did it.

Any suggestions on how you very experienced Regent cruisers

pare do the choices would be helpful. The one thing we do want to

do is be on a bus for an hour or more one way so that definitely does

help to eliminate a few. Sorry to be so lengthy but time is drawing

near and I am obsessing 😰!!

[UUNetBill]

No need to obsess - what we usually do is have an A and a B choice - you'll often get your A but if you don't for whatever reason try giving Regent a call.  They can often either place you or waitlist you even if you can't online.  Also possible is you DO get waitlisted for one - just pick an alternative and then make a beeline to Destination Services when you get on board.  Most times you'll be able to get what you want.

 

And yes, you'll be able to set them up through My Account (well, Your Account, actually).  Did you request the email with all of the excursions listed?  We've found it's a lot easier to choose when you have the entire selection right in front of you.

 

If it helps, I can count on one hand the number of excursions I haven't been able to get in my 10 Regent cruises so far.  They really are very accommodating whenever possible.

[Travelcat2]

If you get online a soon as excursions open, you will likely get what you want.  Yes - you do go to My Account page (if you need help with that, let us know....... you now click on the the "Head" to the right of "Request Information" on the rssc.com home page).

 

It is possible that some excursions (or some ports) will not be on the page yet -- hopefully they will be.  I understand obsessing about booking excursions - many of us do the same thing).  If there is an excursion that is limited on the number of passengers that can go on the excursion, I would book that first - check out and then go back in and book the rest of the excursions.

 

Remember that there is usually someone around to help if you need it.

[snorkle lover]

Oops meant to say the one thing we do NOT want are long bus rides.

See What I mean about anxiety :(!

[snorkle lover]

Thanks Bill and TC. I feel better about it already.

It is so nice to have such helpful people on this 

site. 

[MadMarine]

Jackie, still the frustration factor for us retentive folks.  No pricing, missing Motril data, no excursions for Granada, etc.  Requesting email for excursions results in no excursions available.  😖  11 days from booking excursion time.  Is this normal?

[Travelcat2]

33 minutes ago, MadMarine said:

Jackie, still the frustration factor for us retentive folks.  No pricing, missing Motril data, no excursions for Granada, etc.  Requesting email for excursions results in no excursions available.  😖  11 days from booking excursion time.  Is this normal?

 

Unfortunately, in my opinion, whomever handles excursions in Miami has the worst department in the company.  they have unbelievable challenges, however, I do not think they should offer included excursions if they cannot do it right.  I understand that tour companies change - that they may want contracts with a cruise line that holds thousands of people rather than 490-750 since there is more money to be made with larger cruise Iines.  

 

Is this normal?  Yes!  Interestingly, today I cleared a waitlist that I did not know I was on.  When the waitlist cleared they had us booked on the same excursion twice (once in the morning and once in the afternoon).  I suppose that I should call them about this but the whole thing is too frustrating.  

 

As you know, I think that Regent is the best luxury cruise line and I do not think that anything is perfect but Regent comes close (except for excursions).  Not sure that anything can be done other than to keep writing our experiences on the Comment Card (which I now believe is done electronically).  

 

Obviously, this is a hot button for me.  The only thing worse than us having issues with excursions is reading about others that are having issues.  If Regent cancelled all of our excursions, we would be fine but many people cruise Regent because of included excursions.  It seems that the longer people sail the Regent the more frustrated they become with excursions.

 

Sorry - I likely should have simply said "yes - this is normal" rather than ranting.  Really hope that excursions appear for your cruise and that it works out well in the end.

[ronrick1943]

We've really never had a problem, just book as early as you can.  If an area isn't listed yet just check it everyday until it is, that happen to us once and sure effort it appeared a few days later and we booked it.  Never give up, once on the ship we decided about a tour we hadn't booked.  Gave are name to the desk, after lunch when back to the cabin and the tickets for the tour were on the desk.  But as everyone said book as soon as you can to be sure.

 

[Travelcat2]

9 minutes ago, ronrick1943 said:

We've really never had a problem, just book as early as you can.  If an area isn't listed yet just check it everyday until it is, that happen to us once and sure effort it appeared a few days later and we booked it.  Never give up, once on the ship we decided about a tour we hadn't booked.  Gave are name to the desk, after lunch when back to the cabin and the tickets for the tour were on the desk.  But as everyone said book as soon as you can to be sure.

 

 

My problem is that we should not have to look at the website every day.  Excursions opened for our March 2020 Splendor cruise a while ago but excursions did not appear until this week.  I learned about them on Roll Call.  I would had to look on the computer for way too many days waiting for something to show up.  We would rather stay on the ship or walk around the town than look on the website every day.  

[ronrick1943]

1 minute ago, Travelcat2 said:

 

My problem is that we should not have to look at the website every day.  Excursions opened for our March 2020 Splendor cruise a while ago but excursions did not appear until this week.  I learned about them on Roll Call.  I would had to look on the computer for way too many days waiting for something to show up.  We would rather stay on the ship or walk around the town than look on the website every day.  

I agree, but what is real is real.  Before we leave we book the tours we want---sometime we check daily until posted if nothing is showing for that day.  Kind of like the cooking classes--once they didn't post until very late.  I also agree we keep open days to just walk around town on our own----we aren't big tour people but do book some that we like---and we have cancelled some tours a few days before the tour(so if you want something always stay on the waitlist-people cancel).  We enjoy the ship and some of the best days are when most people are gone on tour--really for us the ship is the biggest part of our cruise---like we've said we like doing nothing most of the time-but that is us.

[MadMarine]

15 hours ago, Travelcat2 said:

 

My problem is that we should not have to look at the website every day.  Excursions opened for our March 2020 Splendor cruise a while ago but excursions did not appear until this week.  I learned about them on Roll Call.  I would had to look on the computer for way too many days waiting for something to show up.  We would rather stay on the ship or walk around the town than look on the website every day.  

Jackie, I’ve been reflecting on the Regent excursions approach and am trending towards your opinion.  Here’s why for me:  Silversea - not included - did my own or signed up on board - very happy.  Older Regent - not included - did my own or signed up on board - very happy.  Sea Cloud - included but no choice other than book your own - went with the flow - mostly happy.  Tauck River - same as Sea Cloud. 
In the above cases, I either spent time planning well in advance or just went with the flow.  No real angst.

Now, however, I find myself checking daily for the excursion details, delaying planning other excursions to see what Regent will finally offer to make that decision.  A drag!

Mad

[UUNetBill]

Maybe I'm the odd man out here, but when it comes to excursions, I look at it two ways - one, there's something I just KNOW I want to do in that port and I'm going to do it whether Regent offers something there or not.  Two, I don't know really what to do in a certain port so I look and see what's offered.  I can almost always find something that sounds fun.

 

I guess what I'm saying is that I don't obsess over excursions like some apparently do - if I really want to see something, I'll see it one way or another.  Often when we visit ports we've been to multiple times, we just go do our own thing.  I can count on one hand the number of ports we've sailed to where we looked at the excursions and said, "Meh, none of those look good to us at all."  And truth be told, sometimes you really can't tell much about the excursion from the description  - we've read some that sounded great on paper but were only mediocre in practice and some that we signed up for as time-fillers that turned out to be fabulous.

 

Maybe I haven't sailed enough to be that wound up about it...

[snorkle lover]

I hear you loud and clear Mad, it is very frustrating.However, maybe we need to be a bit more like Bill and adopt a “Hakuna Matata” philosophy. 🤗

[MadMarine]

I’m a planner, but mostly I’m pretty flexible with ships excursions.  Bill prompted me think about what I can’t miss on this trip and that is the Alhambra.  Gotta see it.  I know that Regent has offered this before from Motril, but nothing solid offered as of yet.  The only guided tours they have offered in the past were not included.  So, wait and see what they offer or book now with independent?  Tickets go quickly I understand!  Tictok, tictok!

[ronrick1943]

Tickets do go fast which surprises me.  I just booked a few days ago and when back to look and make sure everything was OK (which it was) but most tours were booked full with waitlist only.  

Just like Bill we don't fuss, we look ahead of booking time find what we want, some ports we tour, some ports we just walk around town.  It's really not a big deal, the last thing we want is to worry about it.

The most important thing is to enjoy your cruise and go with the flow, getting upset, worrying - you'll have lot's to do even if you don't get off the ship.

[Travelcat2]

Not sure what a “Hakuna Matata” philosophy is, however, it sounds good!  As some people know, we have been fortunate enough to visit the world by land and now by sea so there are not many places that would make us ride a bus for hours to see something.  We have been against the "included excursions" since its' inception.  After years of asking Regent to give those of us that do not want included excursions to receive a credit, we decided to accept that which we cannot change.  We still cancel most excursions but enjoy Regent Choice excursions and some included excursions (generally those that include local food/wine).  

 

We have learned a lot when we decided to forgo excursions and go out to see how locals live and what they eat.  We even go into food markets and household goods stores to see what they have.  We find this much more interesting than museums, cathedrals, ruins, etc. (note:  We have seen more ruins, museums, cathedrals than we could list).  We want to know how they live now rather than what was going on many years ago.  Others may disagree but that is fine.

[ronrick1943]

2 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

Not sure what a “Hakuna Matata” philosophy is, however, it sounds good!  As some people know, we have been fortunate enough to visit the world by land and now by sea so there are not many places that would make us ride a bus for hours to see something.  We have been against the "included excursions" since its' inception.  After years of asking Regent to give those of us that do not want included excursions to receive a credit, we decided to accept that which we cannot change.  We still cancel most excursions but enjoy Regent Choice excursions and some included excursions (generally those that include local food/wine).  

 

We have learned a lot when we decided to forgo excursions and go out to see how locals live and what they eat.  We even go into food markets and household goods stores to see what they have.  We find this much more interesting than museums, cathedrals, ruins, etc. (note:  We have seen more ruins, museums, cathedrals than we could list).  We want to know how they live now rather than what was going on many years ago.  Others may disagree but that is fine.

 

Oh no don't do that (go to a household goods store), we purchased a rice cooker doing that---like we couldn't buy one in the US.  But every time we use it we think of the trip and laugh about it😁.  And yes we paid extra for the wiring.

[Travelcat2]

9 minutes ago, ronrick1943 said:

 

Oh no don't do that (go to a household goods store), we purchased a rice cooker doing that---like we couldn't buy one in the US.  But every time we use it we think of the trip and laugh about it😁.  And yes we paid extra for the wiring.

 

Enjoyed that story!  Since my DH is British, he warns me about wiring.  I just buy kitchen gadgets (actually, I buy too many kitchen gadgets - both at home and while traveling ........ a big deal since I rarely cook).

[Brownie54]

Hakuna Matata is a Swahili phrase which appears in The Lion King.

Sort of a " Don't worry. Be happy!" philosophy.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I agree that the fact that the excursion lists are not available until a few days or less before they are bookable is just not up to par, and very frustrating.

 

If Motril doesn't turn up with an Alhambra excursion (I'm betting it will), then you will have time to book private, including booking a Regent car and driver for the day to take you there.  If the latter, just be aware of the driver's limitations and ticket booking requirements.  When we did this with a driver, he was not licensed to drive into Granada, and just dropped us off at the Alhambra and picked us up later.  Which was great, we had a wonderful day with a nice lunch, but would have preferred to be able to go into the city too.

Edited August 22, 2019 by Wendy The Wanderer

[Sharle]

It's funny. I used to just look at each port and what there was to do and the morning when I could book excursions I'd just go port by port and pick something. Then I realized I could see the excursions that would be available so became a little more picky choosing in advance what I wanted.

 

Now I'm booked on Hong Kong to Tokyo March 2020. This cruise originally had a different itinerary and we booked it when it changed to mostly Japan. Apparently the change in itinerary messed up Regent's posting of excursions. I had to ask my TA to get a PDF of the excursions from Regent, it wasn't available on the web site.Then you couldn't book anything when the opening day came. When it finally opened one port was all wait listed and Taiwan had no excursions available. Eventually the wait list cleared, and multiple times for each excursion became available. Still,the only thing listed for Taiwan is the cars and vans. However, I had a list of what was available so my TA was able to book an excursion directly with Regent. I have a list from Regent of all excursions, including this one, but on the website it still doesn't show as booked, but my OBC was reduced for the payment. 

 

Just posting this as to everything that can go wrong booking excursions but it has/will all work out in the end. 

 

This is the first time we were wait listed.  

 

By the way, I see people obsess about going on line to book at exactly 12 midnight eastern time. I always do it the next morning and have not had a problem.

Edited August 22, 2019 by Sharle

[SWFLAOK]

I am obsessed with planning all of our vacations. For our cruises, I check the past excursions that were offered and write down our preference and a backup, and get online at midnight eastern time when our cruise opens for excursions. But, we found 2 that were not offered on our upcoming cruise (Cultural Awakenings). I still check once in a while, but those 2 excursions have never become available. I had already booked alternatives.

On our July Med cruise, there was a Pompeii excursion that was already wait listed by the time I reserved the previous 5 days of excursion (about 20 minutes). I had really wanted to see Pompeii. As it turned out, the day of that excursion was sunny and 95 degrees. It would have been very uncomfortable in Pompeii. We took a small group excursion from our anchorage in Amalfi that included a boat ride to Positano, where I had found that there was an excavated Roman villa under the site of the Positano Catherdral. It was buried with ash at the same time as Pompeii. It's being excavated, and the entry fee goes toward continuing that effort. There were 4 of us on the tour, and it was air-conditioned, and fulfilled my expectations. I think it was 20 dollars each, and all 4 of us thought it was well worth it. Our Regent SMG excursion was 18 dollars each, and included a free ice cream in Positano, and a group tour of St Andrew's Cathedral in Amalfi with 14 people, which we also thought was reasonably priced.

[snorkle lover]

SWFLAOK,

So happy to see that somebody else is obsessed when it

comes to planning a vacation. To me it is a nail biting

experience sitting in front of my computer at midnight trying

to get our first choice excursions. SO, I need to remind myself 

to stay calm and everything will work out. As my daughter 

will tell me “ Mom, that is really not a third world problem” 😉

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

I, too, am one of those who at the stroke of midnight, am on my computer waiting to book our excursions. 

It is still an exciting time, even after all our cruises.

I do the same routine for our specialty dinner reservations. 

Its all very silly, as we have discovered, since each time we are onboard. I usually change an excursion or two and get the new ones. Usually, we are able to arrange a second night at  one or more of the specialty restaurants. 

But I hope to continue the excitement and the feeling of satisfaction whenever these bookings are completed. 

Sheila

[kjbacon]

On 8/19/2019 at 4:01 PM, snorkle lover said:

We can select our excursions for our April cruise Barcelona to Lisbon

in just 13 days and so many hours!

I am sure I obsess a lot more than others when it comes to picking

out excursions. As the day grows closer to when we can select our

excursions I begin to get sweaty palms. Will we get our first choice

or do we need to be prepared to shoot for our second, third or fourth

choice?? There are so many to choose from and how to decide how

many walking men we might be able to do?? Do we reserve our 

excursions on the My Account page ? This will be our second cruise

( first was just last year) but i already forgot how I did it.

Any suggestions on how you very experienced Regent cruisers

pare do the choices would be helpful. The one thing we do want to

do is be on a bus for an hour or more one way so that definitely does

help to eliminate a few. Sorry to be so lengthy but time is drawing

near and I am obsessing 😰!!

 

Try to have more fun with this! I get it though, I’m also a planner and a list maker; we all have our personalities so I am a kindred spirit. Having completed this drill twice, I feel the same as many others on this thread (most more experienced than I) that you should have every expectation of getting your first choice easily if you are doing it as soon as the window opens. It can only help you though, to have a second choice at the ready. Do NOT hesitate to use the wait list because I darn near guarantee you that (if you are high on that list) that you will get it. Do be prepared that your actual excursion list will not be identical to the list that you are looking at now. There will be some adjustments but as Bill said, the Destination Services team is great and the excursions really are quite good whether you get your first or second choice. Our first Regent cruise was riddled with weather related port changes and even though one of our most anticipated ports with one of our most anticipated excursions was cancelled (lunch and live music at the winery estate where The Godfather was filmed), we still had a terrific time in the new ports that we were barely familiar with. My best piece of advice to you, from one obsessive planner to another, is keep your attitude in a grateful vacation mode. Don’t put planning over fun! There were people on our trip that were so upset with the circumstances, that they were unable to enjoy themselves at all. Please report back how you do with getting your excursions... best to you!