swansong

As a previous response indicated Saga guests are almost exclusively British whilst Regent are normally 80% US and maybe 10 to 15% British  on average. However as I mentioned comparing the Regent experience with Saga is apples and oranges. We have used Regent for 20 years and wouldn’t use anyone else (. and we have tried others over the years ) assuming all goes back to what is was eventually before the pandemic. Saga wouldn’t tick our boxes in any way. 

I have never been on a Saga cruise but know people who have. I don’t believe that you can compare the two. One is luxury ( Regent) and one (Saga) is very much lower mid market more like P&O. Just compare the pricing!

I have just received an unpleasant call from my TA demanding payment today ( over £24000) for a cruise departing in December even though Regent’s final payment date is not until October22nd. They threw “terms and conditions” at me. Funny that their terms and conditions were abandoned when they wouldn’t refund the cost of a cancelled cruise in June within the 14 days required by ABTA. They even kept the returned fare for 14 days after receiving it due to “terms and conditions”!

This cruise isn’t likely to happen apart from the fact that we, in the UK, cannot travel to the US, Miami in this case.

They also threatened me with having to pay additional cancellation charges if I didn’t pay up today of 50% of the full fare. ( see them in court over this one if they dare!)

I phoned Regent who wouldn’t discuss this with me as I had booked through an agent ( Legacy booking, sacked now see previous post). So I have no option to cancel and hopefully have my deposit transferred to a future booking, fortunately it was an on board booking so only £650.

Whilst writing this I insisted that the TA phoned Regent to clarify and they have now extended the final payment date until October 13th. All this has taken a whole morning including the 45 minutes waiting for the TA to answer the phone. I will wait to cancel the cruise in the hope that Regent cancel first as I would rather have my deposit returned.

Having seen recent posts I think some UK TAs need to wake up to reality and look to the longer term with their clients.

In spite of being asked for final payment I won’t be paying as no cruises are likely this year. I am hanging on cancelling hoping Regent will cancel before final payment date in order to recover 

my deposit.

Hi Flossie,

My payments are made by credit card to the TA, in the past about 7 days prior to the Regent final payment date.

Today I had an email demanding final payment from my TA (UK) when Regent’s final payment date is now end October. 

This is a legacy booking as I have changed agent for future bookings following previous incompetency from them.

Whether they are just trying it on or haven’t read their incoming mail is of no consequence to me.

What this crisis has done is to expose lazy TAs and highlight the good ones.

Thanks snh01, the date has changed in my account. At least it gives another month to see what happens.

Kitekat , I have emailed Regent Southampton as TA hadn’t a clue. Awaiting response.

We are in the UK and have a cruise booked departing Dec 21st from Miami ... payment due Sept 22nd... and have heard nothing. However as we currently can’t get into the US and if that is still in place on the payment date as I guess it will be looking at the current situation there, Regent surely cannot expect us to pay up ( over £23000 in our case).

Having said that,  it is doubtful that we would want to go anyway as the experience is not likely to be what we originally booked and expected.

Hopefully our deposit can be held as a FCC.

Liptastic, I was concerned to see that you haven’t received your refund for an April cruise. My 90 days since a refund request is up next week for a June cruise and no sign of a refund. I had already decided to take the credit card chargeback route if I haven’t received the refund by then. It not fair on the TA but it’s my money not theirs and they haven’t been proactively chasing it.

Travelcat 2, as usual you don’t read the posts properly. You may have missed the fact that I posted that if the vaccine was developed in the U.K. it was likely to be shared around the world and I also said I would wait my turn whatever.

To bring up the issue of your country helping us in WW 2 is bizarre.

And just so you know, my wife and I spent a very pleasant half hour with your husband at a CC meet and mingle some years ago, so we learnt quite a lot about him. 

I do wonder! The fact that a person who has dual citizenship one of which is the UK entitle them to special privileges when they haven’t

lived in the UK for decades and presumably paid no taxes here seems quite unfair to the rest of us. Their work life and private circumstances in this situation are irrelevant.
I think that all of us should wait our turn whenever and if a vaccine comes wherever we reside is fair to all.

I agree. Living in the UK and not having left my home for four weeks currently I would be extremely upset if people were flying in from abroad to receive a vaccine which I would not be getting due to scarce resources should the requirement to remain at home still be in place. ( which due to my age could be the case).
We have been given the impression that if a vaccine is produced in the UK it would not necessarily mean that residents would be the first in line due to international agreements.

Perhaps I am misunderstanding but I thought Regent’s reassurance programme allowed for cancelling up to December in exchange for FCCs.

Another issue is that if you had booked on board you are allowed one change of booking without penalty even after that date.

I stand to be corrected if I have got this wrong!

Thanks Janet for your reply. I agree TAs In the UK have a different approach to those in the US.

I think that you have answered my question and will almost certainly request a refund when our next cruise is cancelled and change TA for our next booking when ever that is likely to be.

Thanks for your reply Jean, we are retired so timing is not an issue and sometimes the ship is the destination. However, like you we receive a discount from the TA ( which has gradually reduced and is one reason for changing ) and this is a concern if we rebook using a FCC.

I am looking for some advice from those in the know.

I have four cruises booked over the next 12 months, one in June which I know will be cancelled, and one in September which I guess will be cancelled or which I may choose to cancel as I wouldn’t consider it safe seeing how things are going. Hopefully the others will be in better times.

I am considering my options, whether to take a refund or the FCC depending on whether Regent cancel the June cruise. The 125% FCC is a better option as I can’t get that sort of interest anywhere. I am minded to cancel the September cruise and take the 100% FCC.

I read somewhere that TAs will still keep their commission for cancelled or rebooked cruises. Does this mean that if I take FCC they will not receive commission on the replacement cruise? 

The reason I ask is that I wish to change TA as I am dissatisfied with my current. Obviously no TA is going to take a booking with no commission ( unless, of course they are thinking of future business) which means I have to stick with my current.

Any advice would be helpful in making my decisions.

GR Berkshire is correct, the proposal that over 70s self isolate for 4 months has been suggested by the UK government. We will all emerge looking like something from a horror movie, ( no haircuts, undernourished and probably a little insane , )

Just to follow this up, I see from another thread that the precautions being taken are fleet wide. It may not be code red but in practice it appears the same.

I agree with others that whilst these precautions are necessary I would not wish to spend the whole cruise like this as it’s not Regent as we know it. We have another booked in June which we may have to reconsider but in the UK we will lose the airfare component if we cancel which is significant. As it is mainly Italy we will hold off to see what happens as the itinerary may change.

I wasn’t going to post about this trip but I will give a brief summary. It’s many years since we sailed Navigator, it was our first Regent Cruise about 20 years ago and we haven’t looked back. Internally Navigator is up to scratch, no issues there, externally it needs attention. Compass Rose windows don’t seem to have been cleaned since we left Sydney. There are a lot of rust stains around those windows and our balcony doors externally are badly maintained. The hull needs re painting in places.

The crew are exceptional, wonderful service and friendliness without exception. We couldn’t ask for more. To us that has been the most important aspect.

The tours we have been on have been some of the best we have had on many years with Regent, particularly in New Zealand where the driver is the guide. Somehow that allows them to go off the script, so to say.

The food is comparable with other Regent ships, we don’t miss the absent speciality restaurants but three sea days were as long as we would wish on this ship due to its size.

Ray Solaire has been his usual self and added to the experience.

Tonight we went in to code red, hopefully it is a precaution but would be interested to know if this has happened across the fleet. There was a lot of coughing on our tour yesterday, it was a pity that many didn’t bother to cover their mouths. Two days to go, let’s hope that’s all it is!

TC2, thank you for your response. 

I would be grateful if any responder could also give some guidance as to what proportion of guests wear tuxedos on NYE.

I agree, it was mainly all about the Regent Suite and its occupants. It didn’t really show much of what the other 700 guests experienced other than a few showings of Christmas decorations.

We are booked on Splendor over next Christmas and had high expectations of getting a flavour but were disappointed. We were unsure whether the cruise shown actually covered Christmas as it didn’t show anything of Christmas Day, just a trial dish prepared in the galley of goose with prunes that didn’t appeal!

IMHO a very poor advertising gimmick that didn’t work and the constant mention of cost.

For those in the UK there is another programme about Explorer at Christmas with John Barron on Friday 27 th December Channel 5 @ 8:00 pm.

Certainly in the UK seats can’t be chosen on BA and some other airlines until the tickets are issued usually 70 days before the cruise. In my experience I have found that on occasions there aren’t any seats left to choose. I then have had to check daily and eventually a couple of seats turn up. I have also worked out that if I don’t choose seats ( and usually have to pay for that) due to overbooking I could end up being bumped from the flight. That’s happened twice.
Regent will issue tickets early but only if you pay for the cruise early.