Carol From California
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Posts posted by Carol From California
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2 hours ago, loriva said:
We are booked on Voyager for a Med cruise in mid-September 2021. We also booked an optional land package with Regent prior to the cruise. The land package notes it has a minimum passenger count to run.
So--hoping that the cruise goes to make this question valid--what has been people's experience with Regent land packages meeting minimum numbers of guests to run? Has anyone had one cancelled due to not having enough signed up? If so, at what point were you notified of the cancellation? Sixty days prior?
We have made alternative plans in case the pre-cruise land package is cancelled, but wondering at what point we can feel certain--as certain as anything can be these days--the land tour will go and can let go of our other reservations. Of course, this question may be moot if Regent cancels the cruise (in July if current patterns hold, I believe.)
Many thanks,
We have done some pre-cruise land tours but in every case they were included with the cruise at no additional or very little cost. If this pre-cruise land tour is at a substantial additional cost my experience has been that you can usually do it on your own for much, much less.
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5 minutes ago, ORV said:
Didn't anyone get the email today? I'd think this would be a topic of conversation today. Of course it's 6 more days before we know what the announcement is. I still think they should worry about getting their existing ships back cruising before bring on the new ones.
Yes, I got the email. Finally some word on the new Allura class ship. I am so anxious to book this and happy to know there will be some news on Marh 16. The subject of the email is NEW SHIP ANNOUNCEMENT, and in the body of the email it states:
Great Adventures
Are Just Over the Horizon.
On March 16th,
We'll Change Your View
of the World. -
I think everyone's suspicions that the June cruises will be cancelled is probably correct based on past patterns of showing wait-list for all categories just prior to the cancellaton announcement. All Alaska cruises are wait-listed too, but not yet cancelled because I think Regent is hoping to work some way around the rules with Canada. It is possible that Regent is wait-listing all the cruises because once they start sailing the ships may not be able to sail at full capacity. I am hoping that is the reason they are doing this, but I am not overly optimistic.
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1 hour ago, Carol From California said:
Thinking about going business/first class and booking air on our own. We booked the Baltra to San Cristobal itinerary. At the end of our cruise we disembark and they include a day at a hotel in Guayaquil if you have a late flight (which most of them seem to be) when checking the distance from Guayaquil to the airport in Quito, it is a very long distance. Do you know how they transfer you? If you book your own air will you still get the transfers? Are you just booking the flight from Miami to Quito or are you booking RT? Do they give you $750 pp reduction on the package for one way or RT? I'll be checking all this out with my TA tomorrow but thought you may already know the answer. Thanks!
Did not realize there is an International airport in Guayquil. I also confirmed on the website that they give you $750 pp if you do your own air and transfers are not included when you do.
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On 3/6/2021 at 8:38 AM, Oldiesfan said:
Dipping our toe back into the cruise pool after getting our Capetown to Singapore trip cancelled in January - too risky to go to South Africa and SE Asia right now. We have been vaccinated and saw a feeler sent out by Silversea for the Origin. We think that because it is such small ship, new and with limited passengers and not visiting any ports except for the Islands we would give it a chance. We booked the San Cristobal to Balta itinerary because the Siverseas folks advised me that both itineraries are very similar one is just the turnaround from the other every other week. As they explained to me the one that starts in Baltra is closer to land and has more focus on hiking and birding while San Cristobal will allow for more time snorkeling and kayaking. They have suspended 2021 sailings through May and suggested that if they go in June it will be a shakedown for the crew and ship so suggested we push out to July and beyond. We opted for Mid August figuring if it gets pushed they will rebook us later in the fall. The young lady, Amanda, who reached out to me from their Miami office has been extremely helpful and accommodating. One tip - if you want to book your own air into Quito SS will give you a $750 reduction pp on the pkg. Flying out of Miami AA is selling Business class for $794 R/T versus flying economy with the package. A no brainer for us. Good luck!
Thinking about going business/first class and booking air on our own. We booked the Baltra to San Cristobal itinerary. At the end of our cruise we disembark and they include a day at a hotel in Guayaquil if you have a late flight (which most of them seem to be) when checking the distance from Guayaquil to the airport in Quito, it is a very long distance. Do you know how they transfer you? If you book your own air will you still get the transfers? Are you just booking the flight from Miami to Quito or are you booking RT? Do they give you $750 pp reduction on the package for one way or RT? I'll be checking all this out with my TA tomorrow but thought you may already know the answer. Thanks!
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On 3/2/2021 at 11:37 AM, wwinfl91 said:
HI,
Well we have booked our first Regent cruise on the Voyager 12 days from Reykjavik to Copenhagen. It is a long time away but we are excited and will be asking lots of questions of Regent veterans. I have over 40 cruises on a variety of lines beginning in 1997 and my wife and I have over 20 since we got together in 2012. You can see all the cruise lines in my signature if interested but we have only done one high end cruise line, Seabourn twice. The last few years we have been sailing suite class on Celebrity which has a separate and much better dining room and Michael's club to relax in. But with the Pandemic we made a decision to begin only sailing on smaller ships and since all the main line cruise lines have gotten rid of those type of ships during the shutdown in meant looking into Seabourn, Regent Seven Seas, Azamara, Crystal, Silverseas, or Windstar which all are still sailing ships mainly carrying less than 1000 passengers. I'll throw my first question out to end this post. Does anyone know what hotels that Regent uses in Reykjavik, Iceland for the night before the cruise we are getting? We will probably extend our stay for more than 1 night but I want to start checking into hotels first. We will also be staying over in Copenhagen for a few days after the cruise and if anyone has a recommendation for a good hotel they have stayed in there please let me know about it. Well this is long enough for now. Talk at you all later and have a great next cruise whenever that is going to be. Get vaccinated when you can,
stay in if you can, wear a mask if you have to go out, stay well and stay safe.
We usually book our pre-cruise hotel on our own and take the credit from Regent. We have found we can book for much less, and we usually stay a day or two additional. Regent charges much more for adding days. I recommend the Canopy by Hilton in Reykjavik. Since you mentioned this is your first Regent cruise do you have someone who referred you? If you would like a referral please email me. My email address is at the bottom of my signature.
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2 hours ago, mrlevin said:
Regent just put all the Alaskan season on waitlist but didn't touch the New England season; maybe they don't realize Montreal is in Canada. 😃
We have an Alaska cruise scheduled for September and just verified what you posted....that our cruise is indeed now showing WAITLIST for every category. While they haven't officially cancelled the Alaska sailings it is looking more and more unlikely that there will be any Alaska cruises in 2021. I know they are trying to work something out with Canada but it is not looking too hopeful. I am so disappointed after carefully planning all the details of a pre-cruise trip to Denali (on our own), with all hotels, rental car, etc., as well as flights. This is really going to be devastating for Alaska tourism. Still hoping things might change and maybe they put waitlist for every category so they don't overbook the number of passengers....in the off chance that cruises are allowed to go ahead with less people.
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It does not look very promising for our Regent Alaska cruise (September 1, 2021). If it is canceled it will be the 7th vacation canceled...not all are cruises.
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We were supposed to sail on the new Silver Origin to the Galapagos last year, which of course was cancelled due to Covid. Thinking about booking again. The cruise that was cancelled started in San Cristobal and ended in Baltra. In looking at dates for the cruise we want to book, we are looking at one that starts in Baltra and ends in San Cristobal. I seem to recall that there were some differences in what you would see and which islands you would stop at. Does anyone know what the differences are?
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3 minutes ago, Pcardad said:
Because if you transfer to a new cruise, it becomes a FCC. If you take the refund, you retain the cash.
I don't understand why it becomes a FCC. Cash is cash, no? What difference does it make?
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On 1/19/2021 at 9:17 AM, johng75370 said:
This is the same wording as what I was offered for moving a cancelled cruise to a later date; be aware that this converts your cash payment into FCC.
Please explain how it converts your cash payment into FCC. My April, 2021 cruise was cancelled. I had paid the deposit on that cruise only (in 2018 when we booked it). Is there a reason why we would not want to roll it over to a similar cruise in April, 2023? How does it convert our cash payment to FCC?
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On 1/19/2021 at 7:34 AM, Pcardad said:
Yes and you SHOULD take the cash refund and then buy a new cruise.
Why?
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Knew it was inevitable that April 6, 2021 Tokyo cruise was going to be cancelled. Still, it's disappointing. We booked this cruise in 2018 when it first went on sale. After all the waiting, pre-cruise plans, preparation, choosing excursions, booking flights, and now having to do it all over again....but we want to do this cruise so are moving to an almost identical itineary in 2023. Luckily was able to redeposit the "miles" back in Frequent Flyer Accounts so miles will be there when we are ready to book air again. Next Regent cruise is in September, 2021. I hope that one is a go.
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14 minutes ago, rallydave said:
Typically excursions and especially pre and post trips are at least 50% to 100% more than the actual cost of the excursion. In this case even though Alaska is expensive, an educated guess would be close to 3 times more expensive than booking on your own. Just like pre and post hotel rooms that are charged per person although booked per room over a thousand dollars per niite is exorbitant even in Alaska.
Yes, I realize that. We rarely book the pre/post trips and usually do on our own. Sometimes the pre/post trips are free or low priced, like our upcoming cruise that starts in Tokyo has a couple options. And a couple of years ago we had an amazing pre cruise safari on our South Africa cruise. The cost was only $799 pp. Just have to figure out logistics with transfers, and booking the train. I think we'll definitely do Denali on our own.
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Our first Regent cruise was in 2009 with Regent. We always wanted to do it again so we booked it for 2021. Has anyone booked the pre-cruise land tour with Regent to Denali? It seems pretty expensive. The one I am interested in is $2,499 per person. It's 4 nights and includes the dome train to Denali.
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Looking at the new release of cruises for 2022 I like the October 11, 2022 Barcelona to Barcelona itinerary which is mainly Spain and the Canary Islands. It will give us a chance to try the Splendor (we love the Explorer) and all of the ports are new for us except Barcelona...we have been to Barceloa a few times. Has anyone been on a similar itinerary and if so, can you let me know what you think? The ports are Valencia, Alicante, Almeria, Granada, Gibraltar, Tangier, Arrecife, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. I think October will be a good time to go there as well. Thoughts?
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I got two emails from my TA regarding this new perk for the two Regent cruises we have booked in 2021. This is great news!
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We cancelled our December 5 Galapagos cruise a few days ago before the penalty would be imposed. We will get a full refund less $200. There appears to be a high rate of Covid in Quito and there is also a 14 day quarantine. While things may get better in December we did not want to take the risk. We'll rebook later when things become more normalized. Look forward to sailing on the new Origin ship at another time.
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We are booked on the Origin Galapagos December 5, 2020 cruise. The cruise is paid in full. We can cancel by August 6 without penalty other than the $100 pp fee. Ecuador currently has a 14 day quarantine requirement and the news says there is a recent surge in Covid cases. Was really looking forward to this trip but it looks like we will cancel.
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1 hour ago, TRIPACIAN said:
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I accepted the FCC of 110% and booked a river cruise in September 2021. This was a cruise we were looking to book so in our situation we think it worked out ok.
- I really am sorry that we will not get to experience the Eclipse but I didn’t feel like fighting to get back my refund would prove successful. Scenic could and would drag this out to the point that I not only wouldn’t get the refund but I might miss out on the FCC
- I hope those of you that fight the fight for your deserved refund are successful!! I just hope Scenic and the other cruise lines survive and we can all get back to cruising.
My TA is working with Scenic to move my cruise to the identical cruise in 2022. We booked two years ago (Arctic in Depth) and this will be the second time the cruise is cancelled. First time was due to unfortunate ship construction delay and second time is due to Covid-19. Since we already have two cruises booked in 2021 on another cruise line we decided to move it to 2022. So now another over 2+ year wait to sail on the Eclipse. Hopefully things will return to some normalcy for cruising soon. Glad to hear your situation was worked out. We went on a Scenic river cruise in Southeast Asia earlier this year and it was beyond amazing!
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I accepted the FCC of 110% and booked a river cruise in September 2021. This was a cruise we were looking to book so in our situation we think it worked out ok.
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3 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:
Bankruptcy and "Going Out of Business" are vastly different things.
No private equity firm(s) would invest $400 million in a company that has no chance of emerging from a restructuring (either on its own or as a result of bankruptcy).
I hope you are correct. I have two cruises booked on Regent (2021) and one on Oceania (2020). The headlines in the articles seem to indicate they may not be able to continue operating. I love these cruise lines and hope it does not happen.
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3 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:
What's with the "fake news" title? Read the articles!
No one is "going out of business" (particularly with the first of many NCLH restructuring investments by private equity weighing in at $400 million).
Will there be changes? Of course. Will Oceania disappear? No - Of all the NCLH lines, it has the most flexible size, repeat passenger base and industry positioning to absorb ship jumpers from NCL and Regent.
The headlines in these four articles:
Norwegian Cruise Lines says there's 'substantial doubt' about its ability to continue operating
Norwegian Cruise Line sees ‘substantial doubt’ about its future, warns of possible bankruptcy
Norwegian Cruise Line may go out of business
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings raises flag it could face bankruptcy
I hope that you are correct. Headlines are pretty scary.
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It's all over the news. A few links below. What will happen to those of us who have deposits with Oceania and with those who are waiting for refunds? Will the credit card company refund if Oceania doesn't?
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/05/business/norwegian-cruise-line/index.html
Galapagos
in Silversea
Posted
I did end up booking our own air and will be getting a refund from Silversea for $1,500 ($750 pp). On the way there we are flying in one day early, just in case something happens. I booked with miles. From Los Angeles we fly to Houston and then from Houston to Quito. These flights are not a true business/first class in the sense that the seats are not layflat. Now for the return flights out of Guayaquil the flights are to Miami. It seems way out of the way to fly to Miami when we are on the west coast but I snagged business class seats for both flights with layflat seats, from Guayaquil to Miami, and then Miami to LAX. I had enough miles but the flights were not that expensive so paid for those tickets and will save the miles for something more expensive. Got them for around $1,552 for two. We'll have to pay for one night at the JW Marriott pre-cruise (or use Marriott points). By the way Silversea wanted $2,780 ADDITIONAL PER PERSON for the upgrade to business class. How insane is that? If we did the upgrade through Silversea the total cost would have been $4,280. We paid $1,552 for one flight plus uses miles for the other flight. These are more or less the identical flights they would have put us on by the way. We only lose the transfer from the airport to the JW Marriott which is no big deal and will give us an extra day there. All the other transfers are included and so is the pre-cruise and post cruise hotel stays.