Beware: 5 Star Cruise - 1 Star Flights

Having fully enjoyed my trip on Navigator last year, I certainlywould not have argued with anyone that said that sailing with Regent was atruly 5 star experience. Indeed, I enjoyed it so much, that I booked my next voyagewith them well over a year in advance. Of course booking it so far in advancemeant that there was no flight information available, but not to worry, after allit is regent whose motto is "every wish, every whim, every want" - atrue 5 (or is it 6) star experience.

Given this, you can imagine my surprise when I receiveddetails of the flights Regent were planning to book for me. Rather than thedirect Heathrow to Miami flight that I had expected, and have done a number oftimes before, they expect me to fly to Newark, wait nearly five hours and then flyonto Miami - turning a simple 9 hrflight into a 17 hr marathon. Hardly, thestart to the 5 star experience promised by Regents marketing.

But of course this is Regent, who pride itself on theirexcellent customer service. Surely one quick call from my TA and everythingwill be sorted. Well no. For while they may pride themselves on their customerservice, in practice, it appears that their profit margin far out weights theircustomers' travel/holiday experience. Indeed, there seems to be no understanding that acustomer's holiday experience starts with their flights and is not confined tothe cruise itself. Great having 6 star ships, but if getting to them is hell - what's the point?

So what's is the moral of this story? Book inadvance at your peril, for while the ship may be a 5 star experience, the tripto it and back home might not be. For me, well they have my deposit to helpboost their profits, but they have lost a customer for life.

This is the one thing I worry about happening on our trip to NYC next June. My wife hates flying to start with and if we don't get a direct flight She either will blow a fuse or refuse to go and I wouldn't blame her.

Are you able to "deviate" in the U.K.? In the U.S. many of us pay the $175/person deviation fee which allows us to select flights on "contracted carriers" 270 days in advance of the flight. By the time Regent books flights, many of the better routes are full. Frankly, I'm surprised that some people do not use deviation since they are paying thousands of dollars for a luxury cruise and then take whatever flights are left when Regent books them.

I also assume (perhaps incorrectly?) that you can take an air credit and book your own flights (you do lose transfers when you do this).

While the experiences off of the ship will never match the service on the ship, one can take matters into their own hands and insure that they get the best flights and routes possible.

Sorry to hear this Nigelc. We have been very lucky with all our Regent arranged flights.

A few of our cruises have been booked well in advance usually even a year ahead due to having to arrange our work commitments.

Our travel agent works with Regent directly and ensures our flight from Aberdeen to Heathrow and then a direct transatlantic flight with BA. I honestly don't know if we have had to pay any extra £ for this or not?

It's never been a problem, can your TA phone and explain your situation and let them know they will lose your valued custom?

I would certainly be letting your TA know of your dissatisfaction with the situation. Hope you can get this resolved. Jean.

Thank you for your replies. My TA has asked to "deviate" but Regent are not being very helpful. I am happy to pay extra for a direct flight (well, happy might not be truly accurate - maybe willing is better). Regent are not coming up with any options. They seem to only want to use United and fly via Newark.

Thank you for your replies. My TA has asked to "deviate" but Regent are not being very helpful. I am happy to pay extra for a direct flight (well, happy might not be truly accurate - maybe willing is better). Regent are not coming up with any options. They seem to only want to use United and fly via Newark.

I would do a bit of research if I was you and check availability of BA and Virgin Atlantic direct flights and give the info to your agent and could you suggest they contact Regent to change the route and flights to suit you? Jean.

My TA is not very good and, to be honest, after this, I could not recommend them. I think my last attempt will be to follow "Liptastic's" advice and see what BA or Virgin flights are available, but instead of using the TA, contact Regent directly.

Nigelc,

Let us know how you get on. As per CC rules we are not allowed to name any travel agents, but I would honestly advice you to get a cruise specialist TA for your next cruise. They work directly with Regent and are able to personalise your flights and any other extras you need. It will make a huge saving and less hassle for you. We only once booked onboard and the booking once again went directly to our local agent which is always reassuring. They will work on your behalf and the personal contact makes all the difference.

Good luck and hope you have a great cruise. Ps you which cruise are you on? Jean.

Thank you for your replies. My TA has asked to "deviate" but Regent are not being very helpful. I am happy to pay extra for a direct flight (well, happy might not be truly accurate - maybe willing is better). Regent are not coming up with any options. They seem to only want to use United and fly via Newark.

Hi, we are also in the UK and we have booked with both Regent direct and also a TA for our last 3 Regent cruises.

Regent only use "premium" air but they don't always go to the direct places you want to be so it can cause a time lapse in the flight plan. One of out flights last year would have meant a 10 hour journey to go to Rome so we booked our own flights and saved a lot of flight time but had to book our own transfers as they are included in the Regent fare but not if you do your own flights.

Our next Regent cruise will be in a few months and again the flights are problematic, we tried to book our own flights but it seems there are no direct flights either way so will just have to stick with the options we were given.

I hope you can manage to find a way to make this work for you and not dismiss Regent for this. I'm sure a good TA will give you good advice. Good luck.

Pam.

That sounds lovely. Good luck on Monday re getting flights rearranged. Jean.

Are you able to "deviate" in the U.K.? In the U.S. many of us pay the $175/person deviation fee which allows us to select flights on "contracted carriers" 270 days in advance of the flight. By the time Regent books flights, many of the better routes are full. Frankly, I'm surprised that some people do not use deviation since they are paying thousands of dollars for a luxury cruise and then take whatever flights are left when Regent books them.

 

 

 

I also assume (perhaps incorrectly?) that you can take an air credit and book your own flights (you do lose transfers when you do this).

 

 

 

While the experiences off of the ship will never match the service on the ship, one can take matters into their own hands and insure that they get the best flights and routes possible.

Do you have a list of the contracted carriers?

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Sorry you had such a bad experience.

To me this is mostly your Agents fault for not knowing how Regent handles the flights and how to get you a better connection.

Finding a skilled and knowledgeable Agent is best done by asking a few questions. Number 1 question is how many Regent voyages has the agent personally been on. If the number is less than 10, move on. Most good Regent Agents know more about the Regent product than anyone at Regents Customer Service. And they have access to other Regent Staff the regular customers do not have. I have heard my Agent on the phone with Regent many times telling them how do do stuff and fix problems.

J

41/602

I understand your frustration. Your TA should be the one worried, not you. Hope you get a better flight.

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Having fully enjoyed my trip on Navigator last year, I certainlywould not have argued with anyone that said that sailing with Regent was atruly 5 star experience. Indeed, I enjoyed it so much, that I booked my next voyagewith them well over a year in advance. Of course booking it so far in advancemeant that there was no flight information available, but not to worry, after allit is regent whose motto is "every wish, every whim, every want" - atrue 5 (or is it 6) star experience.

Given this, you can imagine my surprise when I receiveddetails of the flights Regent were planning to book for me. Rather than thedirect Heathrow to Miami flight that I had expected, and have done a number oftimes before, they expect me to fly to Newark, wait nearly five hours and then flyonto Miami - turning a simple 9 hrflight into a 17 hr marathon. Hardly, thestart to the 5 star experience promised by Regents marketing.

But of course this is Regent, who pride itself on theirexcellent customer service. Surely one quick call from my TA and everythingwill be sorted. Well no. For while they may pride themselves on their customerservice, in practice, it appears that their profit margin far out weights theircustomers' travel/holiday experience. Indeed, there seems to be no understanding that acustomer's holiday experience starts with their flights and is not confined tothe cruise itself. Great having 6 star ships, but if getting to them is hell - what's the point?

So what's is the moral of this story? Book inadvance at your peril, for while the ship may be a 5 star experience, the tripto it and back home might not be. For me, well they have my deposit to helpboost their profits, but they have lost a customer for life.

Greetings, nigelc, from South Beach. We have a fabulous TA, but I am not adverse to doing research, also. My usual plan is to locate flights from as wide a spectrum as possible. After picking one or two that suit, I tell our TA about them. She checks with Regent, and also looks for anything better. We don't mind paying the deviation fee because we want the whole experience to be special. So far, all our flights have been nonstop to and from convenient airports with excellent clubs.

I hope you find a way to make your flights more enjoyable. Newark is my least favorite Northeast airport, and I would hate to have spend a layover there. It is also very difficult to find Business or First flights domestically. It would be really dreadful if you have fly economy from Newark to Miami. Having flown nonstop to the U.K. from New York on BA and Miami on Virgin Atlantic, I wonder why you are having a problem.

Mary

A question mainly to other UK passengers. Are non direct flights commonplace with Regent? I will be flying next year LHR to NYC. - Business Class.

Gary speaking for our own experience we have always had direct flights . Also we are able to chose the times that suit us best. Jean.

Gary speaking for our own experience we have always had direct flights . Also we are able to chose the times that suit us best. Jean.

Thanks for responding Jean. I am worried about this but hopefully needlessly. Should find out in a few weeks.

Do you have a list of the contracted carriers?

 

 

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The contracted carriers depend upon the route. For instance, some years we have been able to use BA flying out of Vancouver and other years only people in the U.S. have been able to use BA. Flights into and out of South America have very limited contracted airlines. In general, I have heard of people using BA, Lufthansa, Cathay Pacific, Air Canada (limited use), Emirates, United, American KLM, and probably more that I can't think of at the moment.

Not being from the U.K., I am puzzled as to why a TA would be blamed for poor routing. Many people in the U.S. book their flights directly on the telephone with Regent (the Air Department is quite good). We go through our TA but always do our own homework online. We find two or three flights that we are interested in and email the information to our TA who in turns runs them by Regent. We get our first choice most of the time -- always 270 days in advance.

I agree with JMARINER in terms of how important it is to have a good TA - one that regularly books Regent and has also sailed on Regent several times. OTOH, from what I read online, there are fewer TA's that are experienced with Regent in the U.K. so, even though you have booked through a TA, working directly with both your TA and Regent is a good idea.

As mentioned, there is less flexibility the closer you get to the date of the cruise and people in the U.S. and Canada usually have to pay the deviation fee in order to choose their flights (the deviation fee is to pay for the time it takes Regent to go through requests and see if the particularly "leg" requested still have "contracted seats" available.

When people from the U.S. and Canada fly to Europe, we rarely get non-stop flights (exceptions are generally the big cities like NYC, Miami, LA, Chicago, etc.). We live in the U.S. and fly out of Vancouver, B.C. and cannot get non-stop flights most of the time (exceptions are when we fly to LHR or HKG). The few times we have flown out of Seattle, the flight are worse than those we find out of Vancouver.

Again, the rules may be different in the U.K. but I would try contacting Regent directly.

garyb(uk), it is likely that you will get a non-stop flight to NYC but, again, by waiting for Regent to assign you flights, anything can happen. It may be helpful that there seems to be fewer people from North American flying to the U.K. so there is likely more availability. Even my London born husband does not want to fly to London at the moment which is quite unusual for him.

nigelc: When you say that Regent is not cooperating, is this coming from your TA or are you speaking to Regent directly? This is not a response that I have heard from Regent in the past. They are happy to allow their passengers to deviate. Again, suggest that you pick a couple of flights that you like and run them by Regent's Air department (not through your TA).

I might also suggest you beware the complimentary pre-cruise one night hotel experience. Full disclosure: we've only sailed on Regent once, Haifa to Rome last November, and we had a spectacular time. We'll sail with them again soon. But the hotel in Haifa, which was nowhere near the only choice available to them, was one of the worst places I've ever stayed.

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Regent do seem to be changing things. We were originally booked on a direct BA flight in December from Miami to Heathrow but this has now been changed to Lufthansa via Frankfurt. Presumably this is cheaper for Regent but with BAs performance lately maybe this change is no bad thing

It's understandable to be apprehensive until you get all your flights confirmed. I am sure your travel agent will have it all in hand with Regent as soon as the flights are released. It will let you relax and look forward even more to your first Regent cruise, which like ours was the Navigator, and we still feel it's a very special ship. Jean.

It's understandable to be apprehensive until you get all your flights confirmed. I am sure your travel agent will have it all in hand with Regent as soon as the flights are released. It will let you relax and look forward even more to your first Regent cruise, which like ours was the Navigator, and we still feel it's a very special ship. Jean.

You would not have any apprehensive if you deviate and choose your own itinerary (within Regent guidelines). Spending approximately 134/person GBP is quite low compared to having to wait months to know what Regent decides will be your itinerary!

You would not have any apprehensive if you deviate and choose your own itinerary (within Regent guidelines). Spending approximately 134/person GBP is quite low compared to having to wait months to know what Regent decides will be your itinerary!

When you pay a premium price for this cruise a direct flight especially to the US should be a minimum requirement.

The worry and hassle of changing planes and the time you have to wait around is unacceptable

When you pay a premium price for this cruise a direct flight especially to the US should be a minimum requirement.

The worry and hassle of changing planes and the time you have to wait around is unacceptable

those are my thoughts exactly but as of right now I don't know that they aren't direct. I should find out in a few weeks. I hope they tell me before I fly home to Philly in August though in case I need to phone Regent Southampton.

When you pay a premium price for this cruise a direct flight especially to the US should be a minimum requirement.

The worry and hassle of changing planes and the time you have to wait around is unacceptable

I cannot agree more. The whole point that I was trying to make in my original post is that when you book a trip with such luxury companies as Regent, you expect the whole package (including flights) to be of the same quality. I am happy to pay the premium for the Regent product so that I am not "nickel and dimed" at every turn on the ship, but equally so that the arrangements that they make for my travel are of the same quality. Why would a person travelling from such a major city as London to an equally major city as Miami have to spend hours being routed around the world to save Regent a few $'s. In my humble view, I am paying for a premium package, but getting very poor flights.

I do not blame my TA, it is 100% Regent - as I booked so far in advance, as promoted by most cruise lines including Regent, there were no flight details available. As such, you have to rely on the reputation of the brand. In this case, my trust was very misplaced and it is likely to cost me my deposit and Regent a customer.

In relation to undertaking research for flights etc, it never crossed my mind that I needed to do such a thing. But why would it? After all, I am booking a PH on a luxury cruise line through a very large and experienced TA. In simple terms, I concentrate on earning the £'s to pay for the holiday and expect them to take care of the holiday details. This may sound naïve, but we are only talking about the simple need for them to book a direct flight from and to two major cities - something that has been done many time before for me by other cruise lines.

As I said in one of my previous posts, I will speak directly with Regent tomorrow and see what happens. However, the more I think about it, why should I have to pay for deviation etc when all I am looking for is something that should be a minimum standard from any luxury cruise line. After all, how many of us would book with them if their advertising stated "luxury cruise, but the flights that we use to get you there are so poor that they will make you want to cancel your holiday.