Sunward

Excellent advice! I wouldn’t think to ask that question until now! I love these sites because I always learn something! I certainly wouldn’t want to be caught with a large group like that onboard.

Thank you! I’ll take a look! victoria

That was very kind of you to send that itinerary and suggestion. I took a quick look and it’s not quite what I wanted. Instead of a cruise, we may just go back to Istanbul. We met a lovely couple last summer on a Safari from there. We stay in touch and have offered they stay with us in Arizona when they get back to the USA. Again, thank you for your kindness and suggestion.

Totally agree. That’s why I was shocked and not happy. We choose itineraries for specific reasons. I don’t just ”spin a wheel” and pick one! And I have found some, even 7 day cruise itineraries, are not repeated with the exact same ports of call. We chose that particular cruise because it was going to St. Barts and Nevis. Plus another island or two I have not been to. I think some big insurance company chartered the entire ship out. They obviously chose the itinerary for probably the same reason I did! It was good!

I didn’t know it was common practice either. And I agree, it takes time to find the “right” cruise for you. I was particularly upset as it was the itinerary that I loved. I’ve been to the Caribbean many times, as I started cruising as a kid in 1968, but this particular cruise had many stops/islands I had not been to. Thus, the following week’s cruise, which we are taking, does not repeat the itinerary that I had wanted. The reason we did not take a future cruise credit was due to the fact we have adult children with us who want to start a family. They postponed starting until after this cruise as there are restrictions for sailing when pregnant. There was a great itinerary on Regent that we supposed to take to the Middle East in April 2020. Dubai to Rome. 21 days. Of course, it was cancelled. And that same itinerary has never been repeated. It ended with some of our favorite places, Capri and Taormina. Thus, to your point, it can take a lot of time to plan a trip. Everyone takes a particular cruise for certain reasons. And the prices keep going up. Not sure the FCC monies allocated from the cruise lines per person covers the cost of the raising prices for the suites that you had booked? I will say that in all the years I’ve been cruising, this is the first time I ve been “kicked” off a cruise because they charted out the entire ship. I hate to think this will become a common practice. As for people who have been on ships that have been partially chartered out to private groups, you have my sympathy. I have never heard good things from passengers who have been on those cruises. It appears that those large groups tend to be loud, boisterous and take over the ship. As much as I enjoy having a good time, I don’t want to be around a bunch of cliques, as part of the enjoyment of cruising for us is meeting new people. As far as cruise lines cancelling cruises before all the air deviations have been paid, etc., once I have a deposit down, I stop looking for another cruise in that same part of the world. It also comes down to cost. The 7 day cruises allow us to take our adult children. We have 2 more planned with them. My husband and I could obviously take more 14 plus day cruises, as we just got off the 14 day Tokyo to Tokyo cruise, but we love traveling with the “kids” (ages 32-40 now) and have always loved exposing them to the world. Epcot was not for me. And we are trying to get as many of them in with them before the little pitter-pat of feet join the family. I’m not a fan anymore of the mega ships (Regent spoiled me on that), so Disney may be out for us. Thanks everyone for your thoughts and for joining the discussion. victoria

Unfortunately, we can’t afford to take our entire family on 2 week cruises. We have taken them on five 7 day cruises. Mediterranean, Alaska, Greek Islands, Caribbean. Since 2010, this is the first time they have chartered our cruise out. But, we didn’t receive the above monies mentioned. This happened to us early this Spring.

I don’t think it’s $750 of late. It was a recent post elsewhere and they were complaining how little the $250 was, which matched our amount. (We had 3 penthouses booked for one week) I believe they were on a 2 week cruise, but I could be wrong on that part. Nevertheless, $250 towards a future cruise is pretty measly considering how much the cruises are!

I’d o believe some of the people were in the cruises for 2 weeks. And then when Regent chartered one of the weeks, their cruise was canceled. No debate that the cruise lines are in financial disarray after Covid. And chartering cruises gives them a big windfall of money immediately in the deposit. However, to offer something so measly as $250 towards another cruise seems very cheap of them. And any other cruise line that does the same or worse. Especially when there are so many incentives going on to fill the ships. At least give a really nice SBC towards another cruise or more than $250! Especially when you booked in good faith and the prices of cruises have gone up. Thirteen year loyal RSSC customer here….can only imagine how many people would try Regent again if this was their first cruise booked with them? I guess some people handle it better than others. Just good business to do more than less to your customers, imo.

Regent cancelled our March 2024 Caribbean Cruise after having a deposit for over a year. They chartered the entire ship out. Gave us a choice of the following week’s cruise with a different itinerary. No good will gesture of any kind. Or, you could get a refund or they would give us $250 towards another cruise. I heard recently they charted out another 2 week cruise with the offering of $250 towards another cruise. Can anyone make sense of why they would offer so little to customers who already have deposits down; yet, are now offering discounts off cruises plus $1000 shipboard credit? Some people had Anniversary cruises planned, we had 3 rooms booked to take our adult children and much later cruises didn’t work for us, so we took the following week’s cruise with zero, “ I’m story for your inconvenience, here’s some shipboard credit,”etc. I read Windstar did this as well with no apology, no good gesture. Is this becoming a “monkey see, monkey do” with cruise lines if they decide to charter the ship out and you’re just victims to the “power mentality”? Thanks in advance for your thoughts.