New to Regent - Excursion Booking Questions

[lesliew]

WE are new to Regent and will be on the Splendor - Aug 31 out of Iceland.

We have just booked, and downloaded the list of available Excursions.

Now that I am on the site, I see that many are sold out.  Some do have Wait Lists.

Just wondering if there is a possibility of getting onto some of our preferred choices once we are onboard?

Or is it 'what you see is what you get' and we are out of luck?

Thanks in advance.

LeslieW

[pappy1022]

There is a chance once onboard but don’t be surprised if there aren’t any of interest. Wait listing probably gives you a slightly higher chance but again don’t plan on it. Post COVID, excursions are harder to come by and we read a lot more posts where excursions are either cancelled or booked completely. The bottom line is plan for them not being available and be surprised if they do become available. Or, book a private tour. 

[cwn]

This happens and did happen precovid if you booked close to the sailing. We had luck in Dec with getting our wait listed tours. Do wait list those that you want that have an online wait list choice and also call Regent if there is one you want… they might  be able to add you to a wait list. Be sure to book a second choice for that day, you can always cancel it the day of if you get what you really want.

Also check the desk as soon as you board. Keep checking because things do change daily as people get tired of touring and cancel. If all else fails go to the lounge and check the day of the tour for no shows…. That happens a too. 

Check on line “What’s in a Port” for tours offered in that port. Many ports especially in Europe offer good walking tours by locals that are low cost or free. When I could still walk any distance we found these very good. 

[papaflamingo]

We've only had to waitlist for a couple of excursions and cleared every time before the cruise.  So definitely waitlist for what you want.  Then if there's another excursion available to book, book it.  If you clear the waitlist the waitlisted excursion takes priority and they automatically cancel your booked excursion and switch it to the waitlisted excursion. 

[mj_holiday]

Keep you tour documentation handy when you board.  You should have a tour envelope in your suite when you first get there and then you can compare the tickets with your list.

 

In the past when the tour we wanted was full I would call RSSC and ask to be put on the waitlist.  And all that I waitlisted for (not that many) did clear.  For our upcoming cruise I see that the online reservation system now has a place to wait list (with out calling RSSC).   There was one tour that was full and no wait list available.  I called RSSC and was told it was full/closed and I did not understand the difference between this one and those that had waitlist opportunities.

 

I was also told to check the reservation on line every so often to see if it has opened up???

 

So, glad to hear that now when a waitlist tour clears, the system will cancel your reservation for the back up tour.  Not sure of what is the difference for a tour that does not take any waitlists.  (As I was rereading the description of this tour that we are not getting waitlisted for, I noticed at the end it has a note that for the soaking baths you need to be naked!!)  I am not going to check on this one anymore.

[RELS]

3 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

 If you clear the waitlist the waitlisted excursion takes priority and they automatically cancel your booked excursion and switch it to the waitlisted excursion.

 

On our recent cruise (December '22, Splendor) we ended up booked for both the wait listed and cleared excursion and the booked backup excursion. We had tickets for both in our packet when we boarded. We had to turn in the tickets we didn't want. At one point we forgot to turn in one set, and destination services called us to ask for them.

 

Right now I am wait listed for three excursions in one port, and I have a backup booked. I won't be surprised to see multiple excursion tickets for that port when I get to my suite.

 

We have been successful getting a very last minute excursion by waiting in the theater the day of and taking advantage of no-shows for sold-out excursions.

[pappy1022]

I believe if an excursion doesn’t provide for the option to be wait listed then the waitlist sign up’s exceeded what Regent believes to be a reasonable number of people already on the waitlist for the tour capacity they expect. I believe in the post COVID era, there are fewer opportunities to expand capacity because the number of companies offering tours have shrunk and cruise ships are getting back to cruiser capacity on the ship. Supply and demand are out of balance. I do see plenty of private tours available online and if you team up with another couple or 2, you can get private tours at a reasonable cost. IMO, private tours are vastly superior to large and small group tours that Regent offers. Of course, it’s hard to justify not using Regent tours when you are paying for them in the base fare but if you have something in a port that is a must do and a Regent tour doesn’t fit the bill or is unavailable, then I would certainly consider a private tour. We have a couple of private tours schedule for an upcoming cruise where we see significant value over Regent options but have selected mostly Regent excursions for the rest. Crossing my fingers that Regent delivers what we have chosen because at this point, all Regent excursions are full and only a couple of them are accepting being put on the waitlist.

[labonnevie]

On our recent Explorer cruise around Japan, we had waitlisted tours that cleared. We also had waitlisted tours that never cleared. There were also tours that were full that did not have a waitlist. There were also tours that were canceled. Additionally, there was a port with no tours. And we skipped a port where we had booked our most anticipated tour. Not sure there are any other options for tours! 😎

[Dk-cruiser]

How long before the tour did they clear?

 

We have just booked for the June 30 sailing from Copenhagen, and are quite disappointed to realise that many of the complimentary tours are full. Many of then don't even offer waitlist options. 

 

 

[papaflamingo]

15 minutes ago, sgadk87 said:

How long before the tour did they clear?

All depends, We are sailing on the Jan. 8, 2024 Grandeur cruise with another couple. We got an excursion a year out but when they booked it was waitlisted. They got notice that they cleared the waitlist a couple of weeks ago, so that's 9 months out. .  So clearing could be anytime from waitlisting yourself until actual excursion day.   

I would make the assumption that excursions come open at final payment date as there may be people who choose to cancel.  Also depends where you are on the waitlist.  

Edited May 21, 2023 by papaflamingo

[flossie009]

12 minutes ago, sgadk87 said:

We have just booked for the June 30 sailing from Copenhagen, and are quite disappointed to realise that many of the complimentary tours are full. Many of then don't even offer waitlist options.

 

Not surprising given the short time until the cruise.

Only suggestion is to waitlist what you can, then visit the Destinations Desk when you are on board. Finally, if there is a specific excursion you would really like to do, go to the theatre  before tour departure as some guests may be no-shows, and the excursion staff may be able to allow you to join the tour.

Best of luck 🤞

 

How have you got on with advance bookings for the speciality restaurants? 

[Dk-cruiser]

3 hours ago, flossie009 said:

Not surprising given the short time until the cruise.

 

 

It's not mentioned on their website, where you can read about all the beautiful excursions before you decide to book. The first stop warnermunde is all excursions full beside a 12 1/2 hours trip to Berlin. I think they should make that clear on their website, so people know what they are going to book.

 

However it's not going to ruin our trip, we are going to make the best out it, and thanks for the tip about going to the theatre. 

 

Restaurant booking was not an issue. 

[flossie009]

11 minutes ago, sgadk87 said:

It's not mentioned on their website, where you can read about all the beautiful excursions before you decide to book.

"Shore excursions are capacity controlled on a first come first served basis. Requested excursions may not be available at time of booking"

Did you enquire about excursion availability before booking?

 

12 minutes ago, sgadk87 said:

However it's not going to ruin our trip, we are going to make the best out it

Hope you have a fabulous cruise, and are successful in clearing the excursion waitlists; .......... although a day on board during a port intensive cruise can be very enjoyable

[pappy1022]

4 hours ago, sgadk87 said:

 

It's not mentioned on their website, where you can read about all the beautiful excursions before you decide to book. The first stop warnermunde is all excursions full beside a 12 1/2 hours trip to Berlin. I think they should make that clear on their website, so people know what they are going to book.

 

However it's not going to ruin our trip, we are going to make the best out it, and thanks for the tip about going to the theatre. 

 

Restaurant booking was not an issue. 

I hear you on the excursion limitations. We were on a cruise that stopped in Warnermunde and decided not to take the long trip to Berlin. That night when the bus came back to the ship everyone that went were raving about the excursion. Full disclosure, I was sailing on Crystal for that trip so as they say, your mileage may vary. We regretted not going on that excursion.

[labonnevie]

16 minutes ago, pappy1022 said:

I hear you on the excursion limitations. We were on a cruise that stopped in Warnermunde and decided not to take the long trip to Berlin. That night when the bus came back to the ship everyone that went were raving about the excursion. Full disclosure, I was sailing on Crystal for that trip so as they say, your mileage may vary. We regretted not going on that excursion.

We took the long Warnermunde to Berlin tour with Regent many years ago. So glad we did. Doubt we would have ever seen Berlin otherwise. It was very well done. 

[labonnevie]

8 hours ago, sgadk87 said:

How long before the tour did they clear?

 

 

Several weeks, in one case several months. 

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

We did the Berlin tour. Although it was a long drive each way, it was so worth it. Found Berlin fascinating. We never would have gone there so we were glad we had this opportunity. 
sheila

[Gilly]

But if you can't get to Berlin - or if you know the city already - then the Regent tour to Schwerin was excellent and fascinating too.  Few people get to see Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Angela Merkel's home state) and the castle, lakes and cathedral are all well worth a visit and were part of the tour we took (and very much enjoyed).

[Dk-cruiser]

Yes, have been to Berlin many times, and it's just a 30 min flight from where i live, so no need to use the most of a day in a coach driving to Berlin. 🙂

 

But i would definitely also recommend it to everyone that have not been there before 🙂

[AJCM]

At least Warnemunde is a delightful small place which is easy to do yourself (albeit that I think you are certainly entitled to expect an included excursion shorter than 12 hours). We loved W but as an alternative there’s a larger place (can’t remember the name) which is a short train trip away.