Free airfare credit if you book own airfare?

[cruisetheworld67]

Say we want to book our own cruise directly with Regent, but we do not wish to take the free international business class airfare.

I usually like to book my own airfare from perhaps a gateway city which is more convenient for us.

 

Will Regent then credit the airfare off the cost of the cruise?  Seems appropriate.  Or are you stuck with taking their airfare  offer?

 

We usually like to  arrive at the embarkation port 2 -3 days before the cruise to relax   and arrive when we want.  And also  book the hotel  we want.

[Kwaj girl]

Yes, you will get an air credit.  Amount varies by flight destination/itinerary.  You will also forfeit airport transfers if you do your own air arrangements.

[taxare]

Before this latest round of new cruises added to the website, below the pricing it used to say "A savings of $X,XXX per person is available when arranging your own flights and transfers". This is no longer showing up. I know Portolan has sent an inquiry about several IT items with no response. I hope that someone from Regent can address this on our board. It's frustrating but you or your TA can call and ask how much the credit is, or start a "dummy" booking without airfare and you will see the cruise only fare. I believe they should fix this, it can't be that hard.

[Sharle]

If you can find your cruise in one of the e-brochures on their site you will see the credit listed

[kjbacon]

Another option you have is to book your air through Regent with an air deviation so that you can Chang the date and/or the airport. Runs approx $175 pp but you may find it is still a better buy than booking your own.

[SWFLAOK]

On 8/26/2019 at 1:56 PM, kjbacon said:

Another option you have is to book your air through Regent with an air deviation so that you can Chang the date and/or the airport. Runs approx $175 pp but you may find it is still a better buy than booking your own.

I had looked at one of the printed brochures that I receive weekly from Regent, and it still contained the savings for booking your own airfares and transfers. Unfortunately, I was looking at Caribbean cruises from Miami stopping in Bonaire, Curacao and Aruba, and the air credit was only 300 dollars per person. Since we would be driving just over 2 hours to get to Miami, and would need to either rent a car, or do "park and fly" or airport parking for our car, and pay for gas, tolls, and tips, the credit doesn't go far.  For cruises with business airfare included, you need to have a massive number of points, or be an airline employeed, retiree or relative, or prefer to sit in a cramped economy seat, to make taking the credit worthwhile.

[merlot101]

We fly out of Phoenix, Arizona and want First/Business air for the entire flight.  We have to use a lot of effort and TA time to get the flights to work for us.  On our next trip we are flying to central Europe for a few weeks before going to London for a Regent cruise ending in Barcelona.  After looking at a lot of alternatives we discovered a $1000 pp saving by flying home a day later from Barcelona.  This brought our total First/Business flight to a little less than the credit but we "have to stay" another night in Barcelona.  We used our Chase Sapphire points to pay for that lodging.  However, air deviation is our preferred choice.  It seems like the Regent air credits are being reduced while the comparable flight costs keep rising. 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

2 hours ago, SWFLAOK said:

For cruises with business airfare included, you need to have a massive number of points, or be an airline employeed, retiree or relative, or prefer to sit in a cramped economy seat, to make taking the credit worthwhile.

 

Well that may be true for a $300 credit for a Caribbean cruise, but not for a European or other longer flight.  It's worth looking into points or discounted Business class fares that you can sometimes find early enough.  I use a credit card to pay for my cruises that gets me points that I can use to book air, for example.  Sometimes we make do with Premium Economy.

[jillyf]

Any Australians with flight information?  We have just booked a 2021 Vancouver to Tokyo and B2B Tokyo to Tokyo. No airfares included. 

I was able to obtain a screen shot from a Canadian brochure and with Exchange rate it worked out pretty much the same but it advised that if arranging own air there was up $3000 pp available for return from Tokyo only.   This little added wording wasn’t on our brochure. 

We do get some discounts which brings the price down to the brochure advertised special fare the same as The Canadian special fare.

When we google Regent it only brings up the Australian website. 

Wondering what UK are offered. 

 

[Travelcat2]

22 minutes ago, jillyf said:

Any Australians with flight information?  We have just booked a 2021 Vancouver to Tokyo and B2B Tokyo to Tokyo. No airfares included. 

I was able to obtain a screen shot from a Canadian brochure and with Exchange rate it worked out pretty much the same but it advised that if arranging own air there was up $3000 pp available for return from Tokyo only.   This little added wording wasn’t on our brochure. 

We do get some discounts which brings the price down to the brochure advertised special fare the same as The Canadian special fare.

When we google Regent it only brings up the Australian website. 

Wondering what UK are offered. 

 

 

Hopefully someone from the U.K. will respond but, I am fairly certain that fares and air are not the same - depending upon where you live.  Canada and the U.S. tend to have the same rules and fares (which is why you were able to see the air credit of $3,000/person on the Canadian website.). I am not aware of included air or air credits for Australia.  Suggest that you call your local Regent agent (assuming that there is one in Australia) and check with them.  

 

I understand what you are saying about only being able to bring up the Australian website since we can only bring up the U.S./Canada website but not the U.K.or Australia.  

 

Hope that you can get this sorted out easily.  The itineraries that you have booked are wonderful!

[jillyf]

I had a friend in Canada send me the screenshot otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to compare the prices.  I am going to a Regent promotion in 2 weeks and will certainly ask. 

Its a long way off but I’m looking forward to the cruise. 

Edited August 28, 2019 by jillyf
Adding.

[kjbacon]

9 hours ago, SWFLAOK said:

I had looked at one of the printed brochures that I receive weekly from Regent, and it still contained the savings for booking your own airfares and transfers. Unfortunately, I was looking at Caribbean cruises from Miami stopping in Bonaire, Curacao and Aruba, and the air credit was only 300 dollars per person. Since we would be driving just over 2 hours to get to Miami, and would need to either rent a car, or do "park and fly" or airport parking for our car, and pay for gas, tolls, and tips, the credit doesn't go far.  For cruises with business airfare included, you need to have a massive number of points, or be an airline employeed, retiree or relative, or prefer to sit in a cramped economy seat, to make taking the credit worthwhile.

You are so right. I immediately thought international business air and their prices are very good, especially when going in and out of different cities. We are doing a Caribbean in January too and the credit is $300. We booked our own air for that one.