Mariner category H deluxe veranda

[audobon_tx]

Couldn't find on suiteguru.  Any issues with noise from lounge below?

Edited June 1, 2022 by audobon_tx

[mrlevin]

None that I have ever noticed.  Cat H on Mariner is what sold me on Radisson (Regent) 20 years ago.

[flossie009]

.............. but only two grade H suites now available for booking on Mariner, unless things change in the future

 

 

Edited June 2, 2022 by flossie009

[audobon_tx]

2 hours ago, flossie009 said:

.............. but only two grade H suites now available for booking on Mariner, unless things change in the future

 

 

 

Only need one.  But I can't figure out which two?

[flossie009]

2 hours ago, audobon_tx said:

 

Only need one.  But I can't figure out which two?

770 & 771

Regent Mariner Deck Plans

[Dolebludger]

I read from another post that all but two category H suites in Mariner and Navigator have been reclassified as crew cabins. Does anybody know the reason for this? Is it because of Covid, or another reason?

[Sunprince]

4 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

I read from another post that all but two category H suites in Mariner and Navigator have been reclassified as crew cabins. Does anybody know the reason for this? Is it because of Covid, or another reason?

I wouldn’t exactly call them “crew cabins”. They are being used for guest entertainers, guest sales staff (I.e. guest jewelry designer, guest boutique clothing designer), guest lecturers etc.  I do not know if this is an actual change (where we’re they housed before?), or whether this has always been the case and now Regent has chosen not to have those cabins in inventory for purchase. 

[Dolebludger]

Well, if there are only two category H suites available to booking guests on the Mariner and Navigator, Regent’s advertised lowest price to book a cruise is rather misleading, given the fact that about four times that number of Category H suites were available for booking in the pre-pandemic past. So apparently Regent’s advertised lowest “deluxe suite” price for cruises on those ships is really an “upscale” tactic?

And I never encountered a “guest jeweler or boutique clothing designer” on Regent pre-pandemic. They would be onboard only to try to sell me something. One of the reasons we have liked Regent is no sales pitches.

Edited June 3, 2022 by Dolebludger

[cwn]

There have been special guest sales people on parts of the longer cruises (Grand and World) pre Covid. There were no bothersome sales pitches just interesting shopping if you were interested. The people socialized with the passengers at times. Some were very friendly and informative about their area of the world.

 

[Dolebludger]

OK, now we are discussing cruises of shorter length than grand or world cruises, I think. It is good that you experienced no sales pitches, but I can’t see the motivation of Regent in blocking out those H suites — unless paid for. I must admit that I don’t understand Regent blocking out almost all of it’s more affordable accommodations unless somebody is paying for them. I am just trying to learn what is going on with Regent (and other lines we like).

[flossie009]

8 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

I never encountered a “guest jeweler or boutique clothing designer” on Regent pre-pandemic.

On many of our past Regent cruises we have encountered a designer on board with their wares on sale in the shops - usually jewellery and handbags; but no hard sell. Presumably the arrangement between the designer, shop & Regent is financially advantageous to all.

 

In the past, prior to this change, it was often the case that the H grade suites were "waitlisted" immediately the cruise went on sale; probably because those suites were being reserved for the use of entertainers, lecturers & the like. IMO, this new arrangement is a more honest way of displaying what is actually available.

However to be even more transparent it might be better for Regent to either change some of the G category to H or simply start the pricing at G; especially on Mariner (& Navigator & Voyager) where there is really no difference between G & H grades 

 

[Sunprince]

11 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

They would be onboard only to try to sell me something. One of the reasons we have liked Regent is no sales pitches.

Only if you walked into the boutique and showed an interest in their product, then they would assist you in picking out something special for you, but with no pressure or sales pitch. 
 

I will say we felt more of a sales pitch to sign up for a special gourmet wine dinner priced at $189pp then anything else onboard.  We were asked repeatedly, with multiple flyers in suite and a presumption from our butler to sign up.  

[mrstanley]

There are cabins blocked off for possibly quarantine. This was the case on the Explorer back in December. They use the lowest price cabins for quarantine.

[UUNetBill]

16 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

Well, if there are only two category H suites available to booking guests on the Mariner and Navigator, Regent’s advertised lowest price to book a cruise is rather misleading, given the fact that about four times that number of Category H suites were available for booking in the pre-pandemic past. So apparently Regent’s advertised lowest “deluxe suite” price for cruises on those ships is really an “upscale” tactic?

The fare difference is like $150 from an H to a G on a 7-night cruise, and $250 or so on a 12-night cruise.  Based on the total cruise fare, that's a really small price difference, IMO.  You can easily make that up (or more) by finding a TA or travel group offering OBC, or barring that, just skipping a premium wine tasting or paid shore excursion.  Personally, I feel that when you're looking at vacations in this price range, a few hundred bucks is more of a rounding error...

 

That said, you guys are correct that Regent could foster some goodwill by shifting a few G cabins to H to avoid this kind of grumbling.  

[cwn]

True the lowest grade suites have always been waitlist when we have looked for cruises. And I can only speak for longer cruises, but according to others special sales people have been on the short cruises also. That make sense as these sales people were only in for short segments during our cruises also.

 

We always book the lowest suite grade possible for the cruises we take. The price difference is really a drop in the bucket  between H and G compared to total cost of any Regent cruise. This is fretting over the reason for reduced number of H’s is kind of nit picking.  In this post Covid time lots of things don’t make sense but are what they are.

[daetchief]

7 hours ago, Sunprince said:

... I will say we felt more of a sales pitch to sign up for a special gourmet wine dinner priced at $189pp then anything else onboard.  We were asked repeatedly, with multiple flyers in suite and a presumption from our butler to sign up.  

I agree that the 'subtle' pressure is often felt to sign up for Wine Tasting Lunches or Special Dinners. 

 

The wine steward or butler who gets credit for the 'sale' earns some form of recognition - either monetary or honorary.  Our problem [first world] was that we often had multiple 'worthy promoters' to consider supporting and worried about slighting others.   

 

Truly, if that's as bad as it gets.  I'm ready to face that problem constantly...

[CJANDH]

5 hours ago, mrstanley said:

There are cabins blocked off for possibly quarantine. This was the case on the Explorer back in December. They use the lowest price cabins for quarantine.

I think mrstanley has nailed it. The low priced cabins are reserved for quarantining new crew and infected passengers.

[Dolebludger]

I hope possible quarantine is the reason for the reduction in the category H availability. I certainly have no problem with that. I understand some larger ships have blocked off entire decks for this reason.

[BBWC]

When Jason Montague discussed this in the Town Hall on the WC, he stated that this was a permanent change and not related to Covid quarantine.

[Dolebludger]

If a guest wanted to book a cat H suite and none were available, wouldn’t Regent’s advertised three category free upgrade solve the matter?

[flossie009]

Intrigued.

For which cruises are Regent advertising a 3 category upgrade?

 

[Dolebludger]

I don’t know specifically what cruises (if not all of them), but I get about four Regent ads in the mail per week and saw this promotion recently. I didn’t read the fine print. But I know there was (is) a thread here concerning the promotion’s lack of much worth on the Mariner because it would take more than three category upgrades from category H to get a larger suite.