Feedback sought from Alaska on the Explorer

[notabigcruiser]

18 hours ago, labonnevie said:

One of the most memorable excursions in 25 years of cruising has to be the helicopter ride onto Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, just beautiful. But the hike once on the glacier was even better. We had crampons and and poles and could go up and down very steep terrain. 
It was on Regent, but I am sure it was extra cost, I have no idea how much. Whatever it was, it was worth twice that. 

This sounds wonderful. Thanks for sharing your experience. 

[notabigcruiser]

2 hours ago, jeb_bud said:

There are several midnight or later flights out of Anchorage that could be decent connections from the train. 
 

The best boat excursion we had on our Alaska cruise was the Kenai Fjords cruise we booked ourselves in Seward. They guarantee that they will get you to the train on time. 

Ok, great. Hopefully we can make that work as we hadn’t originally planned on having to spend the night in Anchorage. 
We will definitely check out that boat excursion. Thank you. 

[janecambridge]

On 8/13/2023 at 2:12 AM, labonnevie said:

One of the most memorable excursions in 25 years of cruising has to be the helicopter ride onto Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, just beautiful. But the hike once on the glacier was even better. We had crampons and and poles and could go up and down very steep terrain. 
It was on Regent, but I am sure it was extra cost, I have no idea how much. Whatever it was, it was worth twice that. 

 

We are setting off on Friday to Calgary.We have booked this tour from the ship(at great cost) for our wedding anniversary.So looking forward to it.Thanks.

[janecambridge]

We took up the offer of doing the Rocky Mountaineer through Regent as well as 2 days in Banff and some time in Vancouver prior to the cruise.

We set sail on 23rd August 2023..

When we arrive in Seward we have booked accommodation for 4 nights and a daily private tour.

I will feed back as much as possible on return.Also answer any questions.

Now to pack clothes for kayaking, treks,hot days, wet days, ship attire and specialist restaurants clothes! 

 

Edited August 14, 2023 by janecambridge

[janecambridge]

pre booking specialist restaurants was difficult for us.We aren't in a top suite and the availability for booking is at 1am in the morning.The same with the tours! Why?/ 

[papaflamingo]

5 minutes ago, janecambridge said:

pre booking specialist restaurants was difficult for us.We aren't in a top suite and the availability for booking is at 1am in the morning.The same with the tours! Why?/ 

It opens at 8 pm Eastern Time.  That means, to paraphrase Jimmy Buffet, "It's 1 O'Clock somewhere." 😎

Edited August 14, 2023 by papaflamingo

[janecambridge]

13 minutes ago, papaflamingo said:

It opens at 8 pm Eastern Time.  That means, to paraphrase Jimmy Buffet, "It's 1 O'Clock somewhere." 😎

 

Yes England!

[notabigcruiser]

2 hours ago, janecambridge said:

We took up the offer of doing the Rocky Mountaineer through Regent as well as 2 days in Banff and some time in Vancouver prior to the cruise.

We set sail on 23rd August 2023..

When we arrive in Seward we have booked accommodation for 4 nights and a daily private tour.

I will feed back as much as possible on return.Also answer any questions.

Now to pack clothes for kayaking, treks,hot days, wet days, ship attire and specialist restaurants clothes! 

 

Looking forward to hearing your trip review upon your return. Have a wonderful time!

[papaflamingo]

On 8/14/2023 at 6:35 AM, janecambridge said:

 

Yes England!

I feel your pain.  I live in the Eastern time zone so for many years we had to book at midnight.  But consider this... even in England at 1 am grab a drink because  

[cruiseej]

On 8/12/2023 at 8:24 AM, RetiredandTravel said:

people say you can waitlist and Regent will try and accommodate you

 

You definitely can waitlist if the excursion you want shows as being full. I wanted to add one thing I don't think I saw mentioned in this thread: if your first choice excursion is full, you can waitlist it AND book your second choice excursion. It isn't either/or. If you later clear the waitlist for your first choice excursion, they will automatically shift you to that one and remove the second-choice excursion you originally booked. This is a good system; it doesn't require you to commit to a less-desirable option, or to gamble and just hope your first choice will come through.

 

We're leaving for a cruise on Splendor next week. We booked this cruise "only" six months in advance, so people had been reserving excursions for six months before we booked. We were originally waitlisted for three excursions. Over time, we cleared all three and now have our first choices for each port. 😀

[DaveFr]

9 minutes ago, cruiseej said:

 

You definitely can waitlist if the excursion you want shows as being full. I wanted to add one thing I don't think I saw mentioned in this thread: if your first choice excursion is full, you can waitlist it AND book your second choice excursion. It isn't either/or. If you later clear the waitlist for your first choice excursion, they will automatically shift you to that one and remove the second-choice excursion you originally booked. This is a good system; it doesn't require you to commit to a less-desirable option, or to gamble and just hope your first choice will come through. 😀

The book/waitlist option is very useful but, unless it has been fixed recently, I ran into one gotcha. Booking one excursion and then attempting to waitlist a second excursion did not work because the system said there was a time conflict. However, waitlisting an excursion first and then booking another excursion was allowed.

 

Dave

 

 

[cruiseej]

Good point, @DaveFr. In our case, I tried booking the excursions we wanted first, and that meant waitlisting some of them. Then I booked some second-choice excursions. In one case, I think the second choice was also on waitlist. If you successfully book an excursion, it won't let you book another — including a waitlist — unless the timing allows doing both. So you do need to book the waitlisted excursion first, then book the second-choice excursion. 

 

I can see a potential problem if you booked an excursion very early, and later came back to see there was an excursion which hadn't originally been available and which is of more interest — and that newer one is waitlisted. If you cancel your originally-booked excursion in order to get on the waitlist for the newer one you prefer, and then try to re-book the original one as your backup, you might find yourself waitlisted for that as well. But at least until they update the website next year, you have to call Regent to cancel an excursion, and hopefully the representative you speak with could walk you through that scenario without ill effect. 

[RELS]

13 minutes ago, DaveFr said:

The book/waitlist option is very useful but, unless it has been fixed recently, I ran into one gotcha. Booking one excursion and then attempting to waitlist a second excursion did not work because the system said there was a time conflict. However, waitlisting an excursion first and then booking another excursion was allowed.

 

Dave

 

If this happens to you, call Regent. If there's room on the wait list, the agent will add you.

 

If you don't clear the wait list, it often works to show up at the meeting place (theater or pier) at the right time and request to get onto the excursion last minute. Often someone doesn't show, and their space becomes available. This has worked for me the two times I tried it.

[labonnevie]

3 hours ago, cruiseej said:

 

You definitely can waitlist if the excursion you want shows as being full. I wanted to add one thing I don't think I saw mentioned in this thread: if your first choice excursion is full, you can waitlist it AND book your second choice excursion. It isn't either/or. 

This is not always true. For our April Explorer cruise in Japan, a number of tours were not only fully booked, there was no waitlist available, even calling Regent. 
This may have been because of Japan just reopening in the fall, but it was the case, and to my memory, none of these tours opened up. YMMV

[cruiseej]

2 hours ago, labonnevie said:

This is not always true. For our April Explorer cruise in Japan, a number of tours were not only fully booked, there was no waitlist available

 

Another good point! A waitlist may not be unlimited in size. In some cases, an excursion operator may be able to add another bus and guide; other other cases, there may be one boat or one train, or 5 helicopters, and there would be no point in allowing half the ship to get on a waitlist when there would be no chance of clearing the waitlist. I think there's probably always a waitlist for each excursion, because some people will always change their mind or drop out, but the number of slots on the waitlist is finite and can fill up. 

 

My response above should have said that if you see a waitlist available for your preferred excursion choice, you can book another excursion and then add yourself to the waitlist for your preferred excursion; if your preferred excursion then becomes available, you'll be added to that one and removed from the second-choice one you booked.

[Gilly]

@janecambridge my advice is to be prepared with your wishlist, both dining and tours , when you board and go straight to the destinations desk and the restaurant reservations desk to register your wishes.  My guess is that you'll immediately have restaurant reservations  to put in your diary (and may well be able to add to them during your cruise by sunply showing up and seeing if there's a table).  

As for tours, we are here on Splendor right now and every morning there are no-shows as late as when we're sitting in the theatre waiting to go and suite numbers are called forward from the list.  Whilst it's far from ideal to have to wait till that last minute to have your plans confirmed, it's worth remembering that persistence pays off.   I wish you luck and a great cruise!

[notabigcruiser]

16 hours ago, cruiseej said:

 

You definitely can waitlist if the excursion you want shows as being full. I wanted to add one thing I don't think I saw mentioned in this thread: if your first choice excursion is full, you can waitlist it AND book your second choice excursion. It isn't either/or. If you later clear the waitlist for your first choice excursion, they will automatically shift you to that one and remove the second-choice excursion you originally booked. This is a good system; it doesn't require you to commit to a less-desirable option, or to gamble and just hope your first choice will come through.

 

We're leaving for a cruise on Splendor next week. We booked this cruise "only" six months in advance, so people had been reserving excursions for six months before we booked. We were originally waitlisted for three excursions. Over time, we cleared all three and now have our first choices for each port. 😀

We will definitely do this if our first choice is full. We’ve already selected our second and third choices for each port but didn’t think about wait listing our first choice. This forum is so helpful. Thank you!

[notabigcruiser]

15 hours ago, RELS said:

 

If this happens to you, call Regent. If there's room on the wait list, the agent will add you.

 

If you don't clear the wait list, it often works to show up at the meeting place (theater or pier) at the right time and request to get onto the excursion last minute. Often someone doesn't show, and their space becomes available. This has worked for me the two times I tried it.

More good information. Thank you!

[notabigcruiser]

4 hours ago, Gilly said:

 

As for tours, we are here on Splendor right now and every morning there are no-shows as late as when we're sitting in the theatre waiting to go and suite numbers are called forward from the list.  Whilst it's far from ideal to have to wait till that last minute to have your plans confirmed, it's worth remembering that persistence pays off.   I wish you luck and a great cruise!

Good plan. Thank you. 

[jmnapa]

This brings to mind another consideration, key word being "considerate."  If you have decided not to join the excursion that you have booked, kindly turn your tickets in to Destination Services at your earliest convenience rather than simply not showing up.  This allows others to take advantage of your opening.  Do unto others...

[cruiseluv]

On 8/12/2023 at 10:20 AM, 2012_Alaska_bound said:

It is 8 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time now! So you don't have to stay up late.

I've cruised Alaska with Regent pre-Covid twice (2012, 2017) and have a third booked in May.

My favorite excursion both times is the George Inlet crab feast in Ketchikan. Lovely cruise with crab fishing info, and then a yummy all you can eat crab meal. Noticed that this is now a Regent Choice excursion, so they are charging $119 per person.

 

Don't miss the White Pass railway.

Apparently it’s changing to 7am eastern time later this month

[notabigcruiser]

For all of you that provided helpful information, I wanted to let you know that we were able to book all of our first choice excursions for our Alaskan cruise. We got online as soon as it opened and easily got our selections in the first two ports. There was a glitch in the system for our selection in Icy Strait but we were able to get it through an online chat agent. We had another glitch with our reservation disappearing for the White Pass Railroad but I emailed Mike Moore the next day and he quickly fixed this for us. We’re very happy with our choices. Thanks again to all who provided advice to these first timers!

[pingpong1]

39 minutes ago, notabigcruiser said:

For all of you that provided helpful information, I wanted to let you know that we were able to book all of our first choice excursions for our Alaskan cruise. We got online as soon as it opened and easily got our selections in the first two ports. There was a glitch in the system for our selection in Icy Strait but we were able to get it through an online chat agent. We had another glitch with our reservation disappearing for the White Pass Railroad but I emailed Mike Moore the next day and he quickly fixed this for us. We’re very happy with our choices. Thanks again to all who provided advice to these first timers!

Mike is Great!!  He helped me out too!  😉