papaflamingo

Have you cruised to Japan on other lines?

When you go into the booking process there's a prompt for "share our table" and an option to select "yes" or "no." If you select "yes" then you'll be assigned a table for 4. But the bias is "no." So if you booked your dining without knowingly selecting "yes" to the "share our table" prompt, then you booked tables for.2. So not to worry. But if you want to check to verify, go back into the dining reservations booking area under "customize" and you can see. If the prompt is selected "No," then select the nights you have your reservations and make sure your name shows as "reserved".

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.

Nice!! Wish we were staying on board. But we have Explorer from Hong Kong to Tokyo on Feb. 21 so probably best we get home and change out our clothes. 🤣 See you on board.... drinks in hand! 🍹😎

Here is my experience. If you deviate and go early to the cruise (or come home a few days later) you do NOT get Airport to Hotel transfers. If you use the Regent supplied hotel room whether or not you use Regent Air then you WILL get the transfer from the hotel to the ship. You can get transfer to the airport after the cruise if you use Regent Air, go directly, even if you deviated to pick your own flight. As long as you go directly to the airport. Just ask your TA to set it up (that's what we did and there was no extra charge for it). Not sure it you can use Regent Transfer to a hotel if you deviate but arrive the same day as everyone else. I imagine they will let you use their transfer in that case. Have yourTA find out about that too. But, if you do NOT use Regent Air of Regent Hotel, you lose all transfers. As for the air credit, I compared our upcoming cruise with a similar cruise on Royal Caribbean. You can go on their website and actually access their Air Department and "run the numbers" for air to a cruise you might be interested in. So I did. We're going to Hong Kong and returning from Tokyo. Royal Caribbean had a cruise that went Singapore to Tokyo so I used that. The cost of the round trip Business Class air on Royal Caribbean was actually pretty close to the credit that Regent was offering on their cruise. So yeah...they get deeply discounted rates.

We bought tag holders on Amazon years ago for Royal Caribbean and also bought a set of Carnival tag holders. The Carnival one's will easily hold the Regent tags so we simply. slide them in and attach to our bags. Not really necessary though as the tags are a lot sturdier than they look. Anyway, here's a photo with our Regent bag tag in a holder that (I believe) is a Carnival holder (wider than Royal Caribbean). As you can see it fits very easily.

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.

"All inclusive" includes air fare. "Inclusive" does not. But both include hotel stay for Concierge and higher, shore excursions, gratuities, specialty dining, alcohol, etc.

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. 😎

Jan. 8 Los Angeles to Miami.... Panama Canal for us! Can't wait!!! 😎

If you were able to book excursions for both segments then you'll be able to book dining for both segments, but just for you, not your friends. We are gold status so we get early booking of dining and just booked with friends who are new cruisers, so they had later booking. You won't be able to add them until booking is open for them. So you can book the first segment for yourself, then wait to book the second segment when it opens for them or book for yourselves then go in and change the reservation by adding them and selecting a new time. When you are able to book for them, all you need to do is click the "add guest" prompt and fill out their information. You'll need the name they booked under and their booking number.

If I were you I'd see about using Deviation and pick your own flights. What airport are you leaving from? Also the thread about the missed cruise is missing lots of important information. The poster stated that they were unsatisfied with the first routing so called and had it changed to a different routing. Then the plane "turned back from the tarmac" so obviously there was a major enough problem that the original flight was significantly delayed or canceled. What they don't say is what the original turn time was or why the flight "turned back on the tarmac." It would be easier to understand if they came through with ALL the information. I wouldn't worry too much, that was an airplane problem that caused the misconnect. You could have a 5 hour turn time and end up missing the connection (I'm a retired airline pilot, I could tell you TONS of stories). But to alleviate the worry, we ALWAYS deviate, even if going the same day. And that doesn't guarantee anything. I booked our flight through Regent Air a couple months ago from Atlanta to Hong Kong with a 4 hour turn in San Francisco. Then United changed the SFO-HKG flight and now our turn time is 1:49. Fine if we're on time, but not much "wiggle room." However there isn't anything else any better. So we'll just see how it goes. Fortunately we are going a day early AND have a 3 day pre-cruise excursion, so should be NO problem making the cruise, but might miss a day or so of our excursion. Guess we'll see.

What is your connection time and what airport? But you can deviate and still arrive the same day as your concierge suite will get you there. Have you considered that?

Any particular reason why you didn't choose to deviate and go a day or two early? Is Deviation still a possibility?

If Regent gave FCC then that amount would be deducted from the Insurance payout. I just canceled a cruise for Covid. I had to turn in all the paperwork, including what Regent refunded me (yes, there was a refund of port charges and taxes). That amount will be deducted from the insurance payout. So what would have happened is that if Regent gave say $1000 FCC then the insurance company would have deducted $1000 from their settlement. You might find that as a "good deal," I'd rather have the cash so I can decide when I choose to sail rather than being obligated to use it in the "next 24 months." As for their flight, they say that they booked too late to change itineraries, and were denied the opportunity to book themselves with an up charge. Could they have simply turned down Regent Air and bought their own tickets? Don't know, because they don't say. But clearly they booked too late to deviate (I actually don't know the time frame as they don't say when the booked), or chose not to deviate until it was too late, but they denied the first itinerary and accepted the second one from Detroit. What they don't say is how close the connections were. Their flight "returned from the tarmac" but don't say why or for how long. Was there a mechanical (probably)? Weather? Some other reason that the flight was delayed? They said there was "there were no alternative flight arrangements" after the return. So it would seem a pretty major delay. How was Regent supposed to anticipate THAT situation? Sorry, I think there is a lot to the story that we don't know.

Again, that's how it works. Insurance always pays out first for something like this. That's the point of insurance. You were made "whole" so why are you upset that your travel insurance paid rather than Regent? It sounds like you want to punish Regent for a problem that was really the airline's fault. You have to understand that Regent contract flights are deeply discounted so they are not always the most desirable itineraries. The airlines publish a close connection and it's legal, so Regent accepts it. Happens all the time. It's not up to a Regent agent to decide if a connection is doable or not. If your insurance hadn't paid out, or you didn't have insurance, and since Regent arranged the flight, then they would have paid out. Either way you would have been reimbursed for the lost cruise.

Not sure it really matters. If you are entering fjords, etc. you'll usually go out the same way so you'll see both sides from your cabin. As for the route, looks like land is mostly on the port side, but not sure you'll be close enough during transit to see the land. I usually select a starboard cabin as the ships seem to mostly dock starboard side to the pier and I like sitting on the balcony watching the activity. BUT, that is port dependent so you really never know. One thing to keep in mind, once you book, if you decide you'd rather switch cabins and any in your category are open you can always change.

If you have "wifi calling" enabled on your phone you won't need WhatsApp. As mentioned, simply put your phone in "Airplane" mode and connect to the internet. Your phone will show you in Wifi calling, i.e. if ATT it'll say "ATT wifi" where it shows the carrier. Now you can use your phone just like you're at your own home. WhatsApp is good if you're calling internationally to avoid international rates but you'll still need to be on the internet, and whomever you call will need WhatsApp to receive the call. But if your phone is in wifi calling then it doesn't care where in the world you call from, the rates are exactly like you would pay at your house.

What difference does it make who pays for the missed cruise? That's exactly why someone buys Travel Insurance. If you go up on any airline's website you'll see ridiculous connections as "legal" connections. Regent has contract rates with most airlines, that's how they offer the flights so cheaply. But they aren't getting the non stop, they get the 54 minute connection in Atlanta flights. If you buy on a "cheap airline tickets" website, you'll find the same connection times. I would also imagine that if you didn't have Travel Insurance, and you used Regent Air without deviation then Regent would accept responsibility for the missed cruise. But you had Travel Insurance, so THEY accept responsibility. Honestly.... who really cares as long as you get reimbursed for the missed cruise? A question though.... how late did you book the cruise? I thought you could deviate pretty much any time. Did you try to change the flights to a better connection once assigned? Asking seriously so that I know if I get in that situation.

Isn't that what I said when I said that "any money's, be it refund or FCC, would be deducted from the Travel Insurance?" The poster didn't get a refund from Regent but did get full refund from their Travel Insurance. So what difference would it be if they got FCC from Regent or not? In fact, isn't it better to get 100% refund from the insurance company rather than a FCC that needs to be used within a year?

Thanks...not sure my wife would agree though. 🤣

To add to what wcsdkqh said, in this particular case JetBlue has no first class. Had Japan Airlines code shared with Delta or United, then it would have been a first class seat. As mentioned, as long as it's a "Business Class" ticket all the way through. One thing... when you talk to Regent Air and are setting up a deviation, they'll not only tell you that it's First Class or not, but on U.S. airlines, at least, you can select your seats while on the phone with them so you'll seats assigned as much as 210 days out.

Ok...we can go around and around but if you read the contract that YOU agreed to, you'll find that the cruise line has every right to change the itinerary. If you're not happy, and you believe that "other cruise lines stepped up" then by all means you should cruise other cruise lines. That only makes sense. No one should book a cruise on a line they don't trust or like. By the way... as to my analogies, if your flight to a hub is delayed for weather and you miss your flight to your final destination then you sleep in the airport or get a hotel at your expense. The airlines won't pay for it. Also, hotels "walk" people frequently to other hotels with no refund, you get a room at the new hotel for the same price. And if a Disney ride breaks, you don't get a discount just because it's the only ride you wanted to go on... similar to a port cancelling. You get use of the other rides, just like you visit the other ports. Anyway, probably beat this dead horse enough. Guess we'll have to agree to disagree. I wish you luck in your future cruise endeavors.

Correct...IF you select a flight itinerary that Regent has contract seats on. If they don't have contract seats on the flight they will offer it to you with an up charge. You can take it or leave it at your choice. You are only charged the $175 per person if you accept the deviation. The $75 call charge will still stand. To give you an idea, we booked our desired flight Atlanta to Hong Kong with NO up charge. The return from Tokyo to Atlanta had an up charge for the non stop or we could connect on Japan Airlines to the East Coast then JetBlue in coach to Atlanta. I chose the up charge as it was worth it to me. But I didn't have to. When you look at flights, look for flights that have two Business Class fares, one refundable, one non refundable. It is more likely that Regent will have contract seats on flights that offer two Business Class fares. Also have at least 3 choices when you call, and don't hesitate to ask what they can book you in for no additional. They are very easy to work with.

As one whom I'm sure you consider a "Regent cheerleader," I will say that all I'm doing is expressing my opinion and my personal experience. Sorry if I haven't experienced the "drop in service" that you have, but the simple fact is I haven't. Has nothing to do with "cheerleading" or not. I have cruised a number of different cruise lines and so far I have found Regent to be the line I like best. That, and I understand that cruising is very dynamic and nothing ever goes perfectly. I'm just willing to not let little stuff ruing my cruise.