Vibrant Tokyo - Precruise Review

[mrstanley]

We passed twice on the 3 day pre and post 3 day Regent package in Tokyo.

Took the credit. Booked our own hotel and our own private guide and transport to and from the port. We had a first class experience while in Tokyo on our own planning. We don’t like experience that Regent provides. 

[flossie009]

2 hours ago, Dwtlion said:

Interested if anyone has comments/review on Regent's other pre/post cruise tour "Tokyo and Hakone"

that is also offered on Japan cruises. Would welcome your comments.

See review from earlier this year:

We enjoyed “Tokyo & Hakone” and am surprised that more guests do not opt for the alternative.
Extra cost but, IMO, well worth it.

 

 

 

[labonnevie]

23 minutes ago, flossie009 said:

See review from earlier this year:

We enjoyed “Tokyo & Hakone” and am surprised that more guests do not opt for the alternative.
Extra cost but, IMO, well worth it.

 

 

 

In retrospect, I think we should have chosen the Tokyo and Hakone tour versus the Vibrant Tokyo tour that we took in April. 

[jps1030]

19 hours ago, mrstanley said:

We passed twice on the 3 day pre and post 3 day Regent package in Tokyo.

Took the credit. Booked our own hotel and our own private guide and transport to and from the port. We had a first class experience while in Tokyo on our own planning. We don’t like experience that Regent provides. 

Thank YOU for YOUR comment. Could YOU please give more informations about YOUR private guide and transport ? Thank YOU in advance.

[mrstanley]

The guide we used in Tokyo has retired. I would suggest ToursbyLocals. They have guides in most major cities. We took a cab from our hotel to Yokohama. 

[jjs217]

This is great information.  To be clear:  I can cancel a "free included" pre-tour and receive a credit?  Or, I can book the more expensive NOT "free included" and just pay the difference between the two?  The Hakone tour sounded so much nicer.

[Turn 8A]

We used https://www.tokyofreeguide.org/ many years ago. Our guide was a retired postal employee who guided to improve his english, which was already excellent. All we had to do was cover his expenses and ours. We used the subway for transport. We asked where he would like to go for lunch,  and he took us to a fabulous eel restaurant, which seemed to be very popular due to its long line. We were the only non-japanese guests. 

[Gilly]

1 hour ago, Turn 8A said:

We used https://www.tokyofreeguide.org/ many years ago.

There was a widely available scheme using these volunteer guides, accessed through tourist information centres and we found a student, Tetsu, to be charming and an invaluable ambassador for his country on our first visit to Japan, some 25 or so years ago.  I am not sure if the scheme still operates but would certainly feel it worth investigating.

[czardas]

Hi, we are booked for the Vibrant Tokyo tour in March 24. Are you able to take the 3 nights accommodation and not do the arranged tours, so we can organise our own tours/guides instead? Then be able to use the bus to get to the port?

[DeepFreeze63]

Yes, but let the local tour organizer know when you aren't going on the Regent tours.

We are doing Vibrant Tokyo post-cruise on 04/01/2024 and plan to go out out on Regent bus and stay in both Ueono Park ( National Museum) and Ginza and come back to hotel on metro/train. Can get a lot of good tips on UTube!

We plan to do Shinjuku area by night probably with local guide - did this 5 years ago and had a fantastic night adventure.

[taxare]

czardas, In April it was an independent contractor in charge of the tours. So, a Regent representative will be looking for you at the airport, and you will check-in to the hotel with your bus. As DeepFreeze says, it can't hurt to let the contractor know you are not going on a tour and make sure he/she keeps you in the loop for luggage pickup and time of your bus on the third day. As noted earlier, the last half day tour (which I thought was worthless) was the same bus that took you to the ship.

[labonnevie]

4 hours ago, czardas said:

Hi, we are booked for the Vibrant Tokyo tour in March 24. Are you able to take the 3 nights accommodation and not do the arranged tours, so we can organise our own tours/guides instead? Then be able to use the bus to get to the port?

You’re not forced to go on the tours. You could easily stop in for breakfast and go your own way afterwards, or even skip the breakfast entirely. You would get transport from the airport to the hotel and transport to the ship which would include some touring. 

[postnobills]

8 hours ago, jjs217 said:

This is great information.  To be clear:  I can cancel a "free included" pre-tour and receive a credit?  Or, I can book the more expensive NOT "free included" and just pay the difference between the two?  The Hakone tour sounded so much nicer.

 

I just tried to cancel a "free included" post-cruise tour in Iceland next year.  My TA contacted Regent and was told no credit would be issued if we cancelled.  Totally opposite to their policy of giving you a credit if you don't use their "free included" airfare.  

[rcandkc]

1 hour ago, postnobills said:

 

I just tried to cancel a "free included" post-cruise tour in Iceland next year.  My TA contacted Regent and was told no credit would be issued if we cancelled.  Totally opposite to their policy of giving you a credit if you don't use their "free included" airfare.  

I think FREE precruise or post cruise tours are limited to a set number and once filled not offered anymore free. As I said…I think..not I know.  I think it’s an early enticement.

[minotaur]

4 hours ago, rcandkc said:

I think FREE precruise or post cruise tours are limited to a set number and once filled not offered anymore free. As I said…I think..not I know.  I think it’s an early enticement.

I believe that is correct. We're booked on the Voyager next March from Rio to Lisbon. When we booked there was a free included 4 night pre-cruise program 'Rio and Iguazu Falls'. 

 

That is no longer offered, and the cruise price has stayed the same. So if we cancelled the pre-cruise and got a credit, it would make our cruise very (well relatively!) cheap. So I can understand Regent not allowing this. If they did it could lead to people 'playing the system'.

[papaflamingo]

10 hours ago, postnobills said:

 

I just tried to cancel a "free included" post-cruise tour in Iceland next year.  My TA contacted Regent and was told no credit would be issued if we cancelled.  Totally opposite to their policy of giving you a credit if you don't use their "free included" airfare.  

That's interesting...we opted out of one a few years ago and got a credit.  However you can't really compare a pre-cruise to air fare.  It's really comparable to shore excursions (after all that's actually what it is), and there is no credit if you choose to not use shore excursions.  And if there is no credit for not going, you can remove the " from "free" since it actually IS free.  😎

[1982CruzStart]

In the past if you booked a cruise that included the 'free' pre- or post cruise tour and you cancelled it right when you booked you could get a credit. If you tried to cancel later when they were no longer offereing the 'free' tour then you didn't get a credit. 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

So, as an outsider looking in at this situation, is it the case that the "free", included pre-cruise packages that are offered from time to time are of lesser quality than than paid pre- or post-cruise packages?  Or are some paying for this Vibrant Tokyo tour?  (We've never taken a pre-cruise trip, but almost did once, and it seemed to be chocked full of sights and activities.) I certainly would never pay those prices for what the OP described.

[DeepFreeze63]

1 hour ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

So, as an outsider looking in at this situation, is it the case that the "free", included pre-cruise packages that are offered from time to time are of lesser quality than than paid pre- or post-cruise packages?  Or are some paying for this Vibrant Tokyo tour?  (We've never taken a pre-cruise trip, but almost did once, and it seemed to be chocked full of sights and activities.) I certainly would never pay those prices for what the OP described.

Yes and No!

On our 25 Regent cruises we have: declined an "included" pre-/post- tour and taken a credit upon booking (almost always S750 p.p.); taken "included" tour upon booking because I found them to be cost effective at $750 pp and convenient/enjoyable (Lisbon, Athens and Cape Town) come to mind; and few, if any, pre-/post- cruise added cost Regent tours - although they look nice there are plenty of other options that were better for us.

[mj_holiday]

The first included post tour we took had no extra charge that I heard of. What I was told by the cruise consultant was something like the tour was limited in number. It was very nice and we enjoyed it. 
As I look at cruises now, some pre and post tours have a cost associated with them and some do not. 
We have enjoyed the added tours we have taken. 

[papaflamingo]

7 hours ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

So, as an outsider looking in at this situation, is it the case that the "free", included pre-cruise packages that are offered from time to time are of lesser quality than than paid pre- or post-cruise packages?  Or are some paying for this Vibrant Tokyo tour?  (We've never taken a pre-cruise trip, but almost did once, and it seemed to be chocked full of sights and activities.) I certainly would never pay those prices for what the OP described.

No.  They just offer one of the pre cruise packages, (usually the cheapest one) as a booking incentive.  If you book and there is no pre cruise offered, you can always opt to pay for the very same package.  We are doing "Jewels of Hong Kong" in Feb. as a "free" pre cruise.  If you look at it on line it would cost $1799 per person.  If I was to decline it I'd be credited with $750 per person.  Don't ask why, just the way they do it.  For comparison, the other 2 pre-cruises offered in Hong Kong are considerably more expensive, so it seems it's the least expensive pre cruise tour that is included. 

[minotaur]

5 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

No.  They just offer one of the pre cruise packages, (usually the cheapest one) as a booking incentive.  If you book and there is no pre cruise offered, you can always opt to pay for the very same package.  We are doing "Jewels of Hong Kong" in Feb. as a "free" pre cruise.  If you look at it on line it would cost $1799 per person.  If I was to decline it I'd be credited with $750 per person.  Don't ask why, just the way they do it.  For comparison, the other 2 pre-cruises offered in Hong Kong are considerably more expensive, so it seems it's the least expensive pre cruise tour that is included. 

It's not always the case that the cheapest pre cruise tour is the one that is included. On our Rio to Lisbon cruise next March, our included pre cruise tour - 'Rio and Iguazu Falls'  is listed at £3308 per person. The other available tour, 'a Passion for Rio' is listed at £984 per person. I guess it depends on a number of factors - how the cruise is selling, even what country you're booking from.

[1982CruzStart]

When offered we have taken advantage of any pre or post cruise tours that are included.  On one cruise from Bejing to Bangkok they were offering both a pre and post cruise tour. You could have 1 of them included.  We wanted to take advantage of both so we included the more expensive of the 2 and paid for the other. One was a tour of Beijing and the other a trip to Angkor Wat. Both fabulous.  

 

On our 2024 cruise Barcelona to NYC, they didn't offer anything when we booked. However subsequently they did offer an included pre cruise tour. However the price of the cruise had gone up so it wasn't worth it for us to re-book at the new price to have it included. 

 

We have had very good luck with our included pre and post cruise tours. 

 

We had booked the Vancouver to Toyko cruise a couple of years ago that was canceled. It included the Vibrant Toyko pre cruise tour. We were going to take it but not really take any of the tours. We had been to Toyko before and many of the tours included places we had already been. We stayed at the Hilton Toyko the previous time and thought the cost of the transfers, hotel stay and whatever else included was probably a reasonable deal for the credit we might get. We were going to spend time visiting with a nephew that lives there and see sites we hadn't seen before either using a private guide or just getting around on the subway. 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

16 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

If you look at it on line it would cost $1799 per person.  If I was to decline it I'd be credited with $750 per person.  Don't ask why, just the way they do it.

Well, I'm betting that $750 is close to the actual wholesale value of the tour?  That would be my guess. These things tend to be hugely expensive (overpriced?), if you're paying for them.

Edited October 28, 2023 by Wendy The Wanderer

[papaflamingo]

8 hours ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

Well, I'm betting that $750 is close to the actual wholesale value of the tour?  That would be my guess. These things tend to be hugely expensive (overpriced?), if you're paying for them.

Yeah... I've looked a tours but figure I can book hotels and tours myself much cheaper.  But the one that is pre-cruise, at $750 per person... that's a different story.  So...we're giving it a try.