sctraveler04

We are booked on Patrick Watts tour and been very pleased with his handling of communications. And past reviews have been good.. 

we are touring the Falklands early December, and had researched options.  Decided to go with Patrick Watts after reading reviews here on CC. He has been very responsive and is much less that the cruise line option. Will update after our cruise

his email pwatts@horizon.co.fk

Is it possible to do private tours for flights to see Nazca lines other than cruise excursion ?

Recommendations for seeing penquins and Falkland Island?  With our cruise can go to Bluff cove for penguins, or Port Louis Farms at Seal Bay  or can book with Patrick Watts o Volunteer Point who everyone raves about.

On 4/17/2019 at 11:45 AM, briar14 said:

sctraveler04, we live in Greenville, usually travel from CLT for long trips, such as cruises. We often lease a car at GSP the day before leaving, drop it in CLT and do the same in reverse when returning. Costs vary by season and demand but have done this for as little as $30 each way. We prefer this to leaving a car at CLT for long periods of time.

that is an interesting-good idea.. we have a cruise in 2020 for over 3 weeks so will look into that. Was surprised that flying out of GSP was cheaper than CLT on American this fall .. altho have to have another leg but with coming home on overnight flight from SA, be glad to be closer to home this trip. Thanks for idea!

1 hour ago, rallydave said:

A little confused by your post.  Isn't Littleton a suburb of Denver which is a Regent flight location?  As far as flight insurance separate from cruise insurance, unless you are buying the cruise line insurance which many including me strongly recommend against, you buy insurance based on the total dollars covered and air is included plus any pre or post hotels.

 

Not sure about your $875 custom air costs.  Deviation is $175 per person and pretty much a fixed cost.  Any other costs for different flights are variable and otten zero.  You may be including a non-flight charge and thought that was about $199 pp.  The credit for not taking Regent air is most of the time nowhere near enough to purchase you own flights.

 

Thanks for the clarifications.

1 hour ago, rallydave said:

A little confused by your post.  Isn't Littleton a suburb of Denver which is a Regent flight location?  As far as flight insurance separate from cruise insurance, unless you are buying the cruise line insurance which many including me strongly recommend against, you buy insurance based on the total dollars covered and air is included plus any pre or post hotels.

 

Not sure about your $875 custom air costs.  Deviation is $175 per person and pretty much a fixed cost.  Any other costs for different flights are variable and otten zero.  You may be including a non-flight charge and thought that was about $199 pp.  The credit for not taking Regent air is most of the time nowhere near enough to purchase you own flights.

 

Thanks for the clarifications.

Unfortunately do not live in CO anymore.. but  SC,  so flight from Greenville is $250 pp since not one of their cities..then add on the custom air of $175 pp. Have driven before to Charlotte with cruises with Regent but is 2 hours and hate leaving car for over 21 days..( is really $850 not $875--typo) . Today the rates for flight booked personally was $3099 and we get credit of 3000$ for cruise and get first class on connections domestically..risk of delays/cancellations/missing cruise is factor to consider.. 

On 4/3/2019 at 8:34 PM, ronrick1943 said:

Most people book their cruise early, like a year or more out.  I find that if you also book your domestic flights as soon as they come out (within a week or two) you'll find large discounted first class flights.  Same when you book international.  AA offers nice discounted mileage awards early on also.  That's why we book our own flights both when we pay and when we use miles and take the $$$ credit from Regent.

Found cheaper to do my own since not one of their cities so end up paying with custom air $875 for 2 of us , and teh credit is $100 more per ticket plus get first class for domestic connections.. My TA saying I have such risk if flights cancelled and getting other insurance.. I book my own flights on personal travel so think the risk while there ,is not worth the extra money to fly with them. Do you do flight insurance separate form cruise insurance?

On 2/10/2019 at 11:12 PM, JC in CA said:

We were very glad we read about the shower/tub vs shower only combinations here on CC before we booked our upcoming cruise on the Mariner!  Hubby is just over 6' 3" which would mean he would have to shower bent over if we had booked the tub/shower combo!

Definitely took the type of shower into account in booking our room!

-Jerie

I agree.. TA just sent us options and looked close.Had been on voyager which had both so was confused and glad to hear need ot specilfy shower only..not tub opion..Thanks for post..

love your pictures .. we are thinking of goign Jan 2020 and was so disappointed when saw the single included excursions which were basically bus trips for most ports.. Excited now seeing what you did..thanks

On 3/7/2019 at 4:21 PM, Marguerite-a-Ville said:

CCWineLover, my absolute favorite private tour in South America was in Stanley, Falklands. We went through Estancia Excursions to Volunteer Point.  A long, bumpy ride in a 4-wheel drive vehicle was totally worth it when we arrived and were able to walk among thousands of King and Gentoo penguins and view them in their natural habitat.   

they say only 1 person can be online in room at a time.. is it possible to buy another wifi signon? or need to go to library if both of us want to be doing emails at same time

Just remember - if you need to change excursions or dining reservations, just call Regent or your TA. I've had good luck just calling directly to change or add excursions. And as others have said, most times if you're waitlisted, the waitlist will clear. The only time we've been waitlisted and didn't clear was for limited capacity Regent Choice excursions. And most of those aren't due to Regent restrictions, but rather restrictions by the tour itself, i.e. private Vatican tours, certain wine tastings, culinary classes, etc.

 

I also noticed your screen name and location don't seem to match - it's funny because we're currently living in SC but I met my wife in Littleton. We both lived in CO for between 15-20 years but loving life in the south now. And one more bit of totally irrelevant trivia, even though we're not allowed to mention or recommend particular TAs on the site here, I think it's legal to say that we still use our local TA that we had back in the Denver area. Good dude. :D

 

Welcome to the boards and Regent - happy sailing!

Small world... the Littleton, Co to SC.. Miss the mountains but like the weather in SC.

Was so surprised as every excursion we wanted was available and was online and done in less than 10 minutes . Even checked in morning and excursions still open.. We did several Regent Choice options also and no waitlist.

Thanks.. think we are set up.. appreciate prompt response ..

sctraveler04, welcome to the Regent board !

 

 

First it is important to further define "12:01 a.m.". It is 12:01 a.m. eastern time. So, if you lived on the west coast, it would be 9:01 p.m. and in Colorado it would be 10:01 p.m. the night before. I would set up your account on the Regent website now so that you're ready to go when reservations open up. When you set the account up, you will need to add your cruise. This requires you to input your booking number, the date you embark and the check which ship you will be on. Once the account is set up, you will be able to see the dates when you can book excursions and dining reservations.

Once you begin selecting excursions, if an excursion is full, you cannot waitlist online and will need to call Regent. I would recommend booking available excursions online as other passengers will also be online booking reservations and an excursion that is available at midnight may not be available the next morning when you call Regent (note: most full excursions do eventually accommodate the passengers on the waitlist - they simply add ore buses).

Hope that this helps!

Thanks, have account set up and it shows date to sign up ( tomorrow at 12:01 am est) . So guess will get on and see what is available at each port and then call TA or Regent in morning..Just wasn't sure whether my account sign on would let me do 2 of us.. but it is tied to booking number which has both our names. Isn't the easiest web site to see everything quickly. There are 4 of us traveling so could always do private tours if waitlisted altho defeats the marketing pitch of free tours..

And yes, you need to go into each port to book the excursion. Unfortunately, you need to click on each excursion in each port to see if it is still available. There is no nice grid like graphic that gives a complete picture for your cruise. Have fun.

Great.. better have some coffee to stay awake to do this.. we have 8 ports to sign up for..

You can book on line - for both you and your Husband - there are boxes to check for each of you - or call Regent and speak to an agent who will be glad to help you.

One advantage of calling and speaking to a person is that if a tour is full, you can ask what is open

Peggy

Thanks.. just assuming it will let me do both of us, as on our booking it has both of our names under my sign in.

Wanting to do it at 12;01 eastern time as would think Regent agents won't be working until morning...

I am new to Regent and have never done the booking of excursions. ( been on silversea and seabourne and did private tours) . We booked late so limited now to 180 days out for booking and wondering how many still available. Sounds like you go to your account at 12:01 am of day opens to us and then what? Do you have to go to each port and book excursion? and if first choice full ( as can not figure out how to see status of any excursions.) does it let you waitlist online , then can you book 2nd choice? Also can I book for both my husband and I since we are on same booking number? and from postings guess worst case have your travel agent call Regent when they open in morning? Thanks.... just don't want to be panicking at midnight trying to figure this out.