pappy1022

Logic. Hmm that somehow isn’t a skill for some.

This obviously means a lot to you and that’s your choice. At first read, I wondered why someone would get so upset about things that to me were little things that were easily resolved through communication. But this is important to you and and a few others as well, so we should respect your opinion. I just can’t relate to this specific issue. I sincerely hope that you get things resolved so that you can further enjoy your Regent cruises. For me, I like things the way they are and rarely have any significant issues with my Regent cruises. Well, the website and internet will always be issues 😀

Sometimes complex problems (perceived or real) have easy solutions.

I think that when we are asked on these discussion boards if the passengers are easy going and fun to be around and invariably the responses are that 99% of them are great and just a very small percentage come across as privileged and entitled. Just sayin’

Oh my I don’t know what to say. I guess just tell them directly and politely how you want to be seated and served. I’ve never been turned off by the way Regent staff treated me in a restaurant. I guess different stokes for different folks.

As others have said, you will see beautiful scenery and ocean wild life from the cruise ship but the real wow experiences happen on shore. If you are cruising with Regent your port excursions are included so take advantage of those. You won’t get a rebate if you don’t take a Regent tour. When my family went to Alaska several years ago we did a variety of activities: small ship tour to the edge of a glacier, whale watching, helicopter flight that landed on a glacier, float plane that landed on a remote mountain lake, rented a car and drove into the Canadian Yukon, walked around the small towns. The list of activities are endless just find something that works best for you. All of our excursions were once in a lifetime adventures and we will remember them forever. If I had to do it again, I probably wouldn’t do the helicopter tour. I’ve never been on a helicopter before and I probably never will again. An Alaskan cruise is full of wonderful sites that are so unique but you need to set foot on land to get the full experience. Good luck.

Many use the deviation process to book their flights and you can tell Regent through your TA what you want. My experience is that they usually come up with something reasonable and if not on the first try, try and try again. It cost nothing to ask for a deviation. You are only charged if you decide to deviate. Not sure why transfers would be lost if you deviate flights. That’s never happened to us. Good luck.

All are sold out at this time but we could get waitlisted. Here are a couple of them: ST.PETER PORT & CASTLE CORNET DURATION: 3 HOURS TOUR CODE: GCI-008 Price: FREE HIGHLIGHTS Take a guided walk through the steep cobbled lanes of what was once a medieval mercenary’s haven. Learn how a history of legalized piracy – and legitimate wine trade – created great wealth here. Tour the imposing bastion known as Castle Cornet, where many entered and rather fewer returned. Spend time after the guided walk exploring the Castle’s museums or St. Peter Port harbor further. THE GERMAN MILITARY OCCUPATION OF GUERNS DURATION: 3 HOURS TOUR CODE: GCI-004 Price: FREE HIGHLIGHTS Visit places where the tumultuous World War II occupation of Guernsey by German troops comes alive. Visit La Vallette Military Museum. Photo stop at Martello Tower with a spectacular overlook at Vazon Bay. SEE

Thank you for your honest opinion. Our cruise line includes shore excursions and the options are limited for this port. We will have plenty of time to wander around on our own after this excursion and we intend to do so.

Our very first cruise ever was to Alaska with our 2 college aged boys. That was years ago and I chose Regent because of the itinerary and it was competitively priced vs the other higher end choices at that time. They didn’t include airfare, excursions or any hotel accommodations but when on the ship it was all inclusive. Years later, we did a Mediterranean cruise with the 2 boys and the wife of 1 of the boys on Oceania. We chose Oceania because of the itinerary and the price point at the time. We immensely enjoyed both cruises but Regent food and accommodations were a notch or 2 up from Oceania. Both cruise were port intensive and we did all private tours that were very active, for example a helicopter flight to a glacier in Alaska, and the entire family thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience. Basically most days were eating breakfast going on an excursion, eating dinner maybe taking in a show and going to bed. We did full day excursions in each of the ports and as much fun and as amazing each day was we were tired and we went to bed fairly early. There have been other cruises that just my wife and I were on that probably wouldn’t be as entertaining to adult children. I say all this to emphasize that picking the right itinerary, something that your adult kids would enjoy, is key to your experience. IMO, Regent will provide the best service, food and upscale experience but for me, the destination is the primary factor when choosing a specific cruise. If Regent has a great itinerary, they would be my first choice. Today’s Regent includes airfare and excursions in each port and on the surface, the price can feel crazy. I’ve done the math and when you add it up it is competitive in the luxury cruise choices. I haven’t experienced the quality of these included tours yet but at least for the British Isles, it seems like there is a lot of bus time looking at things as you drive by. I like more active tours so we have scheduled a couple of private tours where we can decide what the itinerary will be. You don’t have to take the Regent tours but you don’t get any money back if you don’t. That would be my biggest concern with selecting Regent for your situation. I would look at the Regent tours for the itinerary you were interested in and see if there is enough to keep everyone excited. Friends of ours did a Regent tour to Alaska a few years ago and the shore excursions seemed pretty good. I think Alaska would be a great cruise for a family if you haven’t been there before. Bottom line for me, choose the region, the itinerary and schedule that is most interesting to your family and then look at what cruise line best fits that criteria. Regent is a fine choice for families with adult children. You will not be disappointed and although there are probably a few passengers that act privileged and are stuffy they are easy to avoid and 99% of the passengers are wonderful.

I don’t know all the rules for every airline but I got my seats changed on BA through my TA and I don’t cruise until September. I couldn’t do it online on my own but my TA got it changed and without any cost for seat assignment. BA usually charges to select seats even in business class. And I don’t have any status’s on any airline except Southwest. My friends in Dallas also got their preferred seat assignments for their FinAir and AA flights. I’m just sayin’ what our experiences have been, but it did take going through our TA.

You can try having your TA call Regent for you. I was able to change my seats on BA and my cruise is in September by asking my TA to do so. On the return trip with Virgin airlines I am able to change my seats directly on the VA website.

Thank you for the update. I will stay with the scheduled excursion

In reading the destination specific boards on cruise critic, I stumbled upon the fact that the stairway identified in Regent’s description of this shore excursion, have been closed since 2020 because of a landslide caused by heavy rains. There is hope that the remediation work might be done by the end of 2023 but our cruise is in September 2023. Has anyone taken this excursion in 2021 or 2022 and if so, how was it adjusted? The route listed in Regent’s description of this shore excursion is impossible to do because of the closed section of stairs.

Excursion is included in the price of the cruise and no credit if we don’t take one, so we thought it would be more informative with someone who knew the area.

September 2023

I am doing a ship excursion called Pepper Port Ramble. Any thoughts on this excursion? Here is the description: Walk a coastal trail that will introduce you to some of Guernsey’s most spectacular vistas and a bit of military history as well. The trail begins at the landmark Pepper Pot watch tower that overlooks Fermain Bay, and before long you will be walking amid the bluebells and white garlic that blanket the woodlands. After passing a German military cemetery from World War II and a former barracks near the site of Fort George, you will descend to Clarence Battery, one of the few remaining parts of the original fort. The military importance of this elevated vantage point will be obvious as you gaze out over the islands of Sark and Brecqhou to the east and St. Peter Port below. A maze of sea-level tunnels at La Vallette is another reminder of the German’s wartime occupation of Guernsey. After pausing for a refreshing beverage at a nearby café, you will continue along the beach to the harbor.

Papaflamingo, that’s fair, I understand your point. With a good sum of OBC’s, I plan to do mostly small group tours to hopefully enhance my experiences. I have booked private tours in a couple of ports where I thought the Regent options were very limited in how short they were and what you could see, given that the ship was in port for a long time. I don’t cruise often and I never go back to the same area so my goal is to absorb and learn as much as I can and a good guide is critical to getting that experience.

Expecting people to be kind and act like adults is naive. It’s like asking people to agree on politics. It ain’t gonna happen. The people who feel privileged will do what they want because that’s who they are. The rules are for others, not for them. I am glad to see that Regent is taking a stand on this issue but it doesn’t end at the pool deck.

Sure you take your chances with a private guide but at least you can do research and look at comments left by other tourists. You don’t get a chance to research the guide that Regent subcontracted. You waste so much time with large group tours because it takes time for that many people to get on and off the bus, plus some people are notoriously late and you lose time and it can impact the time spent at the next stop. We pay for these tours in the base fare if we use them or not. It’s a money maker for Regent. Most folks say they are hit or miss. I wish Regent would offer a credit if you don’t take a tour. We are traveling with 6 people and we can get private tours for slightly more than the extra you pay for a small group tour on Regent. I will guarantee that a private tour, if you do your research, will be much more informative and customizable than any Regent tour. Sure, some private tours are better than others but I have never been disappointed in a private tour that I have thoroughly researched. Can’t say that about some Regent tours.

Ports get cancelled for a variety of reasons outside of Regent control such as weather. In this case, Regent knew the rules and failed to comply with them. I think they need to refund the entire cost of the trip because in a way they duped their customers.

Regent really dropped the ball on this one and although I know that “stuff” happens, it seems to me that they knew the rules and for whatever reason they couldn’t/wouldn’t comply with them. Regent should have refunded every Regent penny spent by their customers for not delivering the product that was advertised. It’s easy for a company to advertise great customer service and take money for their product or service and make customers happy when things go well. When things don’t go well, and in this case they went incredibly bad, you get to see their true colors and get to see what their true feelings are about customer service. Some companies still do excel at taking care of their customers when things go bad and unfortunately many more talk the talk but don’t walk the walk. Good luck with your efforts to get Regent to do what they should do.

We have an “included” pre cruise and post cruise hotel package as part of selecting a concierge cabin and a Regent “special”. My questions are specific to all of the logistics related to getting us to and from the airport and to and from the ship. What are the expectations we should have as far as being picked up at the airport (Copenhagen) and taken to the hotel, and then taken the next day from the hotel to the ship? What is the process and what time expectations should we have for our wait time at the airport, checking in at the hotel, checking out of the hotel? We get to the airport around 3:30 PM. Ditto for the post cruise transportation and hotel check in and check out process. How much time does Regent get you to the airport for your return flight? I was considering private transportation post cruise to the airport. I guess the thrifty side of me says to use all the Regent services I paid for but I like getting to the airport very early before my flight home.

Sorry to hear that. I would be very upset because for me, this would be a once in a lifetime cruise and to think that Regent wasn’t aware of the new laws or didn’t clean their ship to the new standards is unacceptable. I think Regent is being fair with their compensation as long as it is total compensation including airfare, included hotels, paid for excursions, etc.

We are looking forward to our rescheduled British Isle cruise in September and I am working through the details. Next on the list is to determine what currencies and how much of each currency we will need for this cruise. Here are our ports Edinburgh, Invergordon, Kirkwall, Ullapool, Killybegs, Belfast, Glasgow, Liverpool, Waterford and St Peter Port. What currencies are required so that we have some cash on hand in each port and how much do you think we might need? I would hope that we could use our credit card for most restaurants, pubs and shopping. We are mostly doing Regent tours but for the one’s where we arranged a private guide, we will be prepaying those online and we can leave a tip online. I would assume that we need to tip the Regent arranged guides with cash directly to them. What is the best (cheapest) method to convert US dollars to X,Y & Z currencies? Can we just get local currencies from ATM’s in those towns? Thank you in advance for your responses. This discussion forum has been so valuable to our planing and ultimately to our experiences and enjoyment on Regent cruises.