Israel Next week Voyager

[Texasrocks]

I wonder if dinner will be casual(shorts, jeans come as you are) the first night given they probably won't get all the luggage distributed until later.

[zak477]

After reading so many comments and opinions on this board, I finally called the Regent customer service number, today,  to ask specifically "When will you tell all of us paid guests for the Nov. 10th out of Istanbul that the 3 days in Israel are Cancelled"? 

Now I have been told by Cruise Critic, in the past that I cannot use names. So here was my experience with Regent Customer Service:

The woman that finally picked up (7 minutes wait), informed me that we "are at war" !!!!!

and my inquiry was not a priority for Regent. She then told me that they are 3 companies, not one. NCL, Oceania and Regent are the same, according to her. And they are very busy with the current cruises, all of them not just Regent still mentioning the Oct. 15th sailing as "in the works". I stated that I called Regent customer service not the conglomerate customer service.  Where does Regent get these untrained incompetent persons calling themselves Customer Service reps?

From her snarky comments I demanded, yes demanded a supervisor. Finally got one and he was a true Regent rep. He verbally stated that our sailing will Not be going to Israel but no itinerary changes have even been made yet. I asked about cancelling Egypt, is it on the table? He honestly stated that no talks were at his level yet. He asked me to be patient and give it another week to see if more details concerning my cruise will be finalized.  

I asked about offering FCC or refunds and he stated that he was told, at this time, to have the guests look at their contracts. Then he said, "sorry that is all I can say at this time". 

 

[Levett]

5 minutes ago, Texasrocks said:

I wonder if dinner will be casual(shorts, jeans come as you are) the first night given they probably won't get all the luggage distributed until later.

This could be an SNL skit.

[kathy49]

2 minutes ago, zak477 said:

After reading so many comments and opinions on this board, I finally called the Regent customer service number, today,  to ask specifically "When will you tell all of us paid guests for the Nov. 10th out of Istanbul that the 3 days in Israel are Cancelled"? 

Now I have been told by Cruise Critic, in the past that I cannot use names. So here was my experience with Regent Customer Service:

The woman that finally picked up (7 minutes wait), informed me that we "are at war" !!!!!

and my inquiry was not a priority for Regent. She then told me that they are 3 companies, not one. NCL, Oceania and Regent are the same, according to her. And they are very busy with the current cruises, all of them not just Regent still mentioning the Oct. 15th sailing as "in the works". I stated that I called Regent customer service not the conglomerate customer service.  Where does Regent get these untrained incompetent persons calling themselves Customer Service reps?

From her snarky comments I demanded, yes demanded a supervisor. Finally got one and he was a true Regent rep. He verbally stated that our sailing will Not be going to Israel but no itinerary changes have even been made yet. I asked about cancelling Egypt, is it on the table? He honestly stated that no talks were at his level yet. He asked me to be patient and give it another week to see if more details concerning my cruise will be finalized.  

I asked about offering FCC or refunds and he stated that he was told, at this time, to have the guests look at their contracts. Then he said, "sorry that is all I can say at this time". 

 

'have the "guests" look at their contract"!!! That says it all.

[zak477]

Sadly it sure does !!

[fizzy]

1 hour ago, pingpong1 said:

Oh, they're definitely monitoring!

The fact that this interesting and informative thread is even staying civil would not have been happening a couple of years ago.

[Pcardad]

38 minutes ago, zak477 said:

After reading so many comments and opinions on this board, I finally called the Regent customer service number, today,  to ask specifically "When will you tell all of us paid guests for the Nov. 10th out of Istanbul that the 3 days in Israel are Cancelled"? 

Now I have been told by Cruise Critic, in the past that I cannot use names. So here was my experience with Regent Customer Service:

The woman that finally picked up (7 minutes wait), informed me that we "are at war" !!!!!

and my inquiry was not a priority for Regent. She then told me that they are 3 companies, not one. NCL, Oceania and Regent are the same, according to her. And they are very busy with the current cruises, all of them not just Regent still mentioning the Oct. 15th sailing as "in the works". I stated that I called Regent customer service not the conglomerate customer service.  Where does Regent get these untrained incompetent persons calling themselves Customer Service reps?

From her snarky comments I demanded, yes demanded a supervisor. Finally got one and he was a true Regent rep. He verbally stated that our sailing will Not be going to Israel but no itinerary changes have even been made yet. I asked about cancelling Egypt, is it on the table? He honestly stated that no talks were at his level yet. He asked me to be patient and give it another week to see if more details concerning my cruise will be finalized.  

I asked about offering FCC or refunds and he stated that he was told, at this time, to have the guests look at their contracts. Then he said, "sorry that is all I can say at this time". 

 

NCLH has cancelled all stops in Israel for all 3 lines through the end of 2023.

[briar14]

3 hours ago, HotelSnob1 said:

By the way, has anyone gone to Antarctica with Silversea? 

Yes, January 2020, Silver Cloud, South Georgia Island and Antarctica. Excellent expedition cruise. The expedition staff was superb. In 2025, we reserved a Silversea expedition cruise from Chile to South Africa with several days at South Georgia.

[Sunprince]

1 hour ago, fizzy said:

The fact that this interesting and informative thread is even staying civil would not have been happening a couple of years ago.

Interesting and insightful comment…I’m pretty sure I know what (who) you are I talking about!

[carMOM]

I need to make this a long post. Please bear with me.

For the Navigator Nov 10 sailing from Istanbul which we are on, complete with pre cruise and post cruise tours booked as well as the overland packages in both Israel and Egypt, we cannot figure out how or where Regent can just substitute other ports and make it work.

The itinerary is 21 days finishing in Dubai.

Navigator has to get to Dubai on time because the next leg of the ship goes from Dubai to Singapore. 
Voyager's cruise on Oct 15 is different. It was supposed to repeat a set itinerary then do it again in reverse I think. Or something similar. It's not one leg of a longer itinerary.

For many passengers on Navigator, Istanbul to Dubai is just one leg of a grand voyage and they may have already been on board for weeks or months with more to go after Dubai.

Only this leg on Nov 10 puts the ship in danger. Once past Egypt or even Dubai ( if uprisings escalate), they're in the clear.

I don't know how many passengers join the cruise in Istanbul like us and how many are already onboard.
My point is Regent can't cancel the Nov 10 cruise. The ship has to get to Dubai. How do they minimize the risk and still provide a decent cruise while skipping the major and main stops on the itinerary? I don't think they can for the passengers embarking in Istanbul and disembarking in Dubai. Passengers already on the ship or staying on for the longer voyage might be ok with it.

Last year on a grand voyage on Explorer, the ship was turned around from New Zealand due to invasive barnacles on the hull and the whole New Zealand leg of that grand voyage was skipped while the ship added many sea days. I know passengers who were onboard  were offered cruise credits but I don't know how much. We joined that cruise after the debacle was over when it got to Bali. The passengers who had been on during the New Zealand experience and who were still on were generally ok with it because Regent stepped up with cruise credits. I don't know if any refunds were offered.

I'm not excited if Navigator ends up with almost 10 straight sea days with Israel and Egypt cancellations...possibly other ports cancelled if the Israeli conflict escalates.

If anyone has more experience dealing with these situations or if you're on Navigator on Nov 10. I would love to hear your thoughts.

 

[CrushIt]

4 hours ago, Techno123 said:

So you have visited all 6000? Or just the 227 that are inhabited? or just the ports you visited on cruises? Saying been there, done that, not impressed is an insult to a lovely part of the world. The Greek Islands are many, beautiful and diverse but can only really be appreciated properly by stopping at least a few days (preferably far away from cruise passengers - no insult to my fellow cruisers intended but we do tend to choke up the small ports 😜)

 

My view is that cruising is like a smorgasbord - it gives you a taste of an area - if you enjoy the taste you can go back for more and really immerse yourself. If a place is on your bucket list, a cruise is probably not the best way to visit it for the only time as it tends to be rather contrived.

Greece should pay you. Glad we went on a cruise out of Athens, which included four of the most popular islands, plus Ephesus, Turkey. Not saying the islands aren’t wonderful. But, it just seemed like once you saw a few, you’ve gotten that taste of the Greek Islands and if that’s your thing, then great. But, I wouldn’t book another cruise if a major portion of the cruise was to the Greek Islands. 

[CrushIt]

10 minutes ago, carMOM said:

I need to make this a long post. Please bear with me.

For the Navigator Nov 10 sailing from Istanbul which we are on, complete with pre cruise and post cruise tours booked as well as the overland packages in both Israel and Egypt, we cannot figure out how or where Regent can just substitute other ports and make it work.

The itinerary is 21 days finishing in Dubai.

Navigator has to get to Dubai on time because the next leg of the ship goes from Dubai to Singapore. 
Voyager's cruise on Oct 15 is different. It was supposed to repeat a set itinerary then do it again in reverse I think. Or something similar. It's not one leg of a longer itinerary.

For many passengers on Navigator, Istanbul to Dubai is just one leg of a grand voyage and they may have already been on board for weeks or months with more to go after Dubai.

Only this leg on Nov 10 puts the ship in danger. Once past Egypt or even Dubai ( if uprisings escalate), they're in the clear.

I don't know how many passengers join the cruise in Istanbul like us and how many are already onboard.
My point is Regent can't cancel the Nov 10 cruise. The ship has to get to Dubai. How do they minimize the risk and still provide a decent cruise while skipping the major and main stops on the itinerary? I don't think they can for the passengers embarking in Istanbul and disembarking in Dubai. Passengers already on the ship or staying on for the longer voyage might be ok with it.

Last year on a grand voyage on Explorer, the ship was turned around from New Zealand due to invasive barnacles on the hull and the whole New Zealand leg of that grand voyage was skipped while the ship added many sea days. I know passengers who were onboard  were offered cruise credits but I don't know how much. We joined that cruise after the debacle was over when it got to Bali. The passengers who had been on during the New Zealand experience and who were still on were generally ok with it because Regent stepped up with cruise credits. I don't know if any refunds were offered.

I'm not excited if Navigator ends up with almost 10 straight sea days with Israel and Egypt cancellations...possibly other ports cancelled if the Israeli conflict escalates.

If anyone has more experience dealing with these situations or if you're on Navigator on Nov 10. I would love to hear your thoughts.

 

You seem to have a good handle on what their challenges are. I’ve never advocated that Regent should cancel the entire trip and give everyone their money back. However, what I’m reading is that a very high percentage of the passengers made this cruise reservation for the express reason that it included Israel and Egypt. Some, like us, were also excited about doing the Pompey tours, as well. Plus, we had arranged for a very cool boutique hotel for three nights in Rome. The problem, from the start, has been the reluctance of RSS to do anything at all to compensate us for the loss of Israel and Egypt. We had a three-way phone call between us, our TA and Regent. We were made to feel like they didn’t really care about us at all. The attitude was: We have your money. We will do anything we want to do with the itinerary. There will be no refunds or credits. And, Oh BTW, we are going to charge your CC another $2k+ if you cancel. So, sucks to be you and have a nice day.

[Kwaj girl]

29 minutes ago, CrushIt said:

You seem to have a good handle on what their challenges are. I’ve never advocated that Regent should cancel the entire trip and give everyone their money back. However, what I’m reading is that a very high percentage of the passengers made this cruise reservation for the express reason that it included Israel and Egypt. Some, like us, were also excited about doing the Pompey tours, as well. Plus, we had arranged for a very cool boutique hotel for three nights in Rome. The problem, from the start, has been the reluctance of RSS to do anything at all to compensate us for the loss of Israel and Egypt. We had a three-way phone call between us, our TA and Regent. We were made to feel like they didn’t really care about us at all. The attitude was: We have your money. We will do anything we want to do with the itinerary. There will be no refunds or credits. And, Oh BTW, we are going to charge your CC another $2k+ if you cancel. So, sucks to be you and have a nice day.

 

Where is this "$2k+" coming from?  You've already received your invoice showing 'paid in full' when you made your final payment.

[kathy49]

8 minutes ago, Kwaj girl said:

 

Where is this "$2k+" coming from?  You've already received your invoice showing 'paid in full' when you made your final payment.

this is second time this poster talks about an additional charge of $2000 to cancel. Please can the poster explain the $2000....was there a balance due on your booking?

[Pcardad]

38 minutes ago, kathy49 said:

this is second time this poster talks about an additional charge of $2000 to cancel. Please can the poster explain the $2000....was there a balance due on your booking?

I've not heard of this before either but I can call and ask...

[CrushIt]

9 hours ago, forgap said:

Curious about what is driving Regent’s rigid response.  Is it the parent company or the new president flexing or is it her inexperience?  

 

My guess? They promoted bean counters and attorneys to upper management instead of people who are seasoned customer service pros. They found themselves in a hole not of their making. They failed to resist the urge to continue digging and just kept digging and digging……. 

[Golf Mad Girl]

5 hours ago, HotelSnob1 said:

Hopefully we will have good news to report on the availability of shore excursions for the crowd … I am already taking my “sea” day in port when we are in Athens & Rhodes. 😀😀😀😀

WOW such great places...happy to visit again?????????????????

[CrushIt]

1 hour ago, Pcardad said:

I've not heard of this before either but I can call and ask...

No. I explained in the previous post that they added up all the additional costs and fees associated with re-booking to Istanbul and what it would cost to cancel. They added that onto what we had paid for the cruise/air package. We had no balance owing. In fact we had paid the $175 per person for custom air and an additional $973 for the Delta flights we wanted. 

[labonnevie]

2 hours ago, carMOM said:

If anyone has more experience dealing with these situations or if you're on Navigator on Nov 10. I would love to hear your thoughts.

 

We are on this November 10 cruise. Of course we can't go to Israel. We are watching the Voyager cruise closely to see what they do. If they successfully go to Egypt for two days as planned, I would like Regent to replace two of our three scheduled Israel days with two days in Port Said or Alexandria giving us an opportunity to have a really good visit to the Pyramids/Sphinx and the museums in that country.

At this point, I am not afraid of going to Egypt, I was expecting armed guards to visit Luxor anyway. We also are on the overland to Luxor/Cairo, but they could cancel that and give us two days in Luxor instead and I would be fine with that (refunding the difference of the overland costs for the two trips). That would just leave one day to fill and a stop at Crete or another island in the Med would be ok with me. I understand YMMV.

[Golf Mad Girl]

2 hours ago, carMOM said:

I need to make this a long post. Please bear with me.

For the Navigator Nov 10 sailing from Istanbul which we are on, complete with pre cruise and post cruise tours booked as well as the overland packages in both Israel and Egypt, we cannot figure out how or where Regent can just substitute other ports and make it work.

The itinerary is 21 days finishing in Dubai.

Navigator has to get to Dubai on time because the next leg of the ship goes from Dubai to Singapore. 
Voyager's cruise on Oct 15 is different. It was supposed to repeat a set itinerary then do it again in reverse I think. Or something similar. It's not one leg of a longer itinerary.

For many passengers on Navigator, Istanbul to Dubai is just one leg of a grand voyage and they may have already been on board for weeks or months with more to go after Dubai.

Only this leg on Nov 10 puts the ship in danger. Once past Egypt or even Dubai ( if uprisings escalate), they're in the clear.

I don't know how many passengers join the cruise in Istanbul like us and how many are already onboard.
My point is Regent can't cancel the Nov 10 cruise. The ship has to get to Dubai. How do they minimize the risk and still provide a decent cruise while skipping the major and main stops on the itinerary? I don't think they can for the passengers embarking in Istanbul and disembarking in Dubai. Passengers already on the ship or staying on for the longer voyage might be ok with it.

Last year on a grand voyage on Explorer, the ship was turned around from New Zealand due to invasive barnacles on the hull and the whole New Zealand leg of that grand voyage was skipped while the ship added many sea days. I know passengers who were onboard  were offered cruise credits but I don't know how much. We joined that cruise after the debacle was over when it got to Bali. The passengers who had been on during the New Zealand experience and who were still on were generally ok with it because Regent stepped up with cruise credits. I don't know if any refunds were offered.

I'm not excited if Navigator ends up with almost 10 straight sea days with Israel and Egypt cancellations...possibly other ports cancelled if the Israeli conflict escalates.

If anyone has more experience dealing with these situations or if you're on Navigator on Nov 10. I would love to hear your thoughts.

 

We are also on the Nov 10th Istanbul to Dubai cruise.  Wish they would give some indication as to what we can expect??? Maybe more of the med? Just dont want a lot of sea days please!!!

[Pcardad]

4 minutes ago, CrushIt said:

No. I explained in the previous post that they added up all the additional costs and fees associated with re-booking to Istanbul and what it would cost to cancel. They added that onto what we had paid for the cruise/air package. We had no balance owing. In fact we had paid the $175 per person for custom air and an additional $973 for the Delta flights we wanted. 

If you paid for flights that you didn't get you can charge that back.

[CrushIt]

5 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

If you paid for flights that you didn't get you can charge that back.

I would love to know how to do that. We paid one price for the cruise and air. I couldn’t even tell you how much the air cost was. They claim that they are loosing more than what we paid. Go figure. Our TA doubts they will go through with the threat. We blocked our cards on file none the less. 

[Pcardad]

6 minutes ago, CrushIt said:

I would love to know how to do that. We paid one price for the cruise and air. I couldn’t even tell you how much the air cost was. They claim that they are loosing more than what we paid. Go figure. Our TA doubts they will go through with the threat. We blocked our cards on file none the less. 

You paid $175pp and $973 to upgrade - that should be recoverable. They can't charge you for something unless they have your permission or the contract allows them to. No one has heard of these costs before. If it were me, I would ask your TA to have their BDM at Regent look into this. The BDM can pull the audio recording the phone call and see exactly what the Rep said and if it is legit or not. 

[Kwaj girl]

4 minutes ago, Golf Mad Girl said:

WOW such great places...happy to visit again?????????????????

 

27 minutes ago, Golf Mad Girl said:

We are also on the Nov 10th Istanbul to Dubai cruise.  Wish they would give some indication as to what we can expect??? Maybe more of the med? Just dont want a lot of sea days please!!!

 

Regent, like all other cruise lines in the same predicament,  needs to work each voyage in the order of departure.  So it may be just a little while longer to wait...

Patience is a virtue?  🙏

[CrushIt]

10 hours ago, kathy49 said:

Regent is legally within its rights to refuse refund and frankly not sure how successful an insurance claim would be as the cruise is going and ports changed but within the legal limits of the contract. Unless you have cancel for any reason or come down with a fast case of covid or other illness not sure insurance helps here.  That is why so many are in such a bad position...perceived danger is very different than a country at war ie Israel.

Our TA says some policies cover war but not terrorism, some terrorism but not war, etc. etc. by Wednesday late afternoon, the Regent rep was still saying “At this time we are still going to Egypt even though one or more lines had already canceled Egypt. I believe they knew well before most people boarded their flights that the first four or more days of the cruise were going to be changed. But their bottom line is “We are going on a cruise on the Voyager. We can do whatever we see fit and if you don’t like it, tough luck. Sucks to be you!”