CruisetheCs

I would agree that when I'm onboard Regent that my focus is not on Regent's advertising, and I usually just enjoy all the free things that I've paid for! But when thinking about Regent as a corporation or reading threads such as this, my image of the corporation is influenced by the sleazy advertising telling me things I know are not true. I don't like doing business with companies that engage in sleazy or deceptive practices. Unfortunately, there is a lot of deceptive pricing in the travel industry as a whole--just look at hotel chains' history of displaying room prices that don't readily disclose mandatory added on fees. So in my mind Regent provides excellent onboard service, but it is just another travel industry corporation that is not trustworthy when it comes to advertising. My guess is that sooner or later Regent will end up being sanctioned by some government entity. I'm not a lawyer, but I do wonder about the viability of a class action suit to try to claw back all the money paid for free items? Would love to hear Regent's official arguments for why they choose to advertise "free" items that are not free!

Regent's marketing of seemingly everything as "free" is really annoying. An internet search shows lots of guidelines in the advertising world about marketing "free" products. The Better Business Bureau has guidelines at: https://www.bbb.org/code-of-advertising/#Trade_In_Allowances (see item 14) The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also has guidelines, but it isn't clear to me whether the FTC has jurisdiction over cruise line advertising. Countries other than the USA also presumably have oversight agencies for advertising. Does anyone know what state or federal authority has oversight of cruise line advertising and where potentially deceptive cruise line advertising can be reported? Why a company that tries to project a luxury image would engage in advertising of pricing claims that its customers know are not true is a mystery to me. Though I must say that every time I see "free prepaid gratuities" I have to smile at the Orwellian wording. What is a free gratuity? What is a prepaid gratuity? If a gratuity is free how can it be paid for or prepaid for? When is a prepaid gratuity paid? Why is it only free gratuities that are prepaid? Aren't all the free drinks, excursions, etc., prepaid? Shouldn't those be listed as "free prepaid drinks" and "free prepaid excursions"? 🤔 Maybe Michael Moore or someone from Regent can answer some of these questions!

Oh no, I've read the brochures (several a week, it seems)--everything is free. Are you saying you believe the advertising is not true??? Though I admit, I have wondered what the charges I've paid to Regent of hundreds of dollars a day were for when everything is free! 😇

Everything is free on Regent--free excursions, free laundry, free drinks, free weights 😀

The problem is that most if not all policies available do not cover pre-existing conditions unless the policies are purchased within a short time after booking the cruise. Any insurance without pre-existing condition coverage may be of very limited value. Insurance companies may try to deny coverage for many things by saying that "new" conditions are related to the pre-existing conditions. Personally, I would seriously consider cancelling the cruise if I couldn't get coverage of incidents related to pre-existing conditions. Too easy for the insurance company to deny coverage and lead to an expensive time-consuming dispute.

I had a lot of unused credit on a cruise so used Regent's destination services to arrange a transfer Cittavecchia to Rome. I was shocked though by the price which was way more than what was shown to be the cost on websites at the time. Even the Regent staff seemed to agree that the pricing was out of line. They contacted "Miami" to try to adjust the price, but I was told that "Miami" wouldn't budge. So from a price standpoint, best to book this in advance by yourself or through your travel agent.

I can see that if all this complaining doesn't stop, the next thing you know, people will be complaining about the internet speed on Regent's ships! Or people hogging chairs around the pool! Or a dysfunctional web site! 😇 😉 There has been a lot of praise of Regent's service posted on CC during this pandemic, but when things don't go as expected I would like to know about that too. I don't see a change in Regent's marketing materials now as opposed to pre-Covid. So I wouldn't blame guests who pay high prices for having high expectations.

Did Regent say why they were closing some of the specialty restaurants? I've never been on a Regent cruise where that has happened for evening dining hours.

I don't believe and never suggested that wearing masks is 100% effective. If wearing masks was 100% effective the epidemic would not have spread in many areas where masks were required. But if 95% percent of the population don't wear masks and don't engage in social distancing, and are actively engaging with hundreds of people (versus a few family members), etc., the likelihood of spread of Covid (and some other viruses) is increased. There is no guarantee that if you follow every precaution as perfectly as you can that you will not become infected. But if you are surrounded by people who don't follow precautions the likelihood of spread increases. The same thing might be said of other common infections on ships such as norovirus or flu during flu season. As for masking, it is obvious that for various reasons mask wearers experience different levels of discomfort when wearing masks. For some it is not a big deal, for others it is much more troublesome. What is important is that guests be aware of their own tolerance for the many Covid-related variables that can occur on a cruise. If Regent and other lines are not open about what is actually occurring onboard, then potential guests are deprived of crucial information that would go into making an informed individual decision about whether to cruise or not. And when guests are onboard, then I think they have every right to know the status of any transmissible infection whether it is norovirus, Covid, flu or anything else.

If there was an outbreak of Covid on the Mariner, I am not surprised. I was on the first Mariner Alaskan cruise in early May. Very few guests wore masks and there was almost no attention paid to social distancing. Even on buses very few people wore masks. The crew was good about wearing masks though. (But, I have no idea what the situation is in the crew quarters.) If there was an outbreak, I think Regent should inform guests so that those who are not yet sick can decide how they wish to deal with the outbreak to avoid getting sick. IMO, public health authorities ought to require that ships issue timely warnings about transmissible disease outbreaks during a cruise.

Regent does many things well, but the internet isn't one of them. Recent cruise to Alaska had the same kind of problems that have plagued Regent's ships for years. Extremely slow speeds, intermittent connections at times. Remember the days when Regent advertised for a long time that they had fiber-optic speeds? I would love to sit in on management's discussions of the internet and hear how the ongoing deficiencies fit in with their "luxury" image and why they refuse to fix it (and why they advertised fiber optic speeds for such a long time). Interesting, also, that there are no questions on the cruise surveys about the internet quality, so it just appears that top management has a blind spot about the value of the internet to guests.

I think Regent also needs to be clear what the consequences of a positive test will be. I was on the Mariner last month, and it was never clear to me what would happen if someone came up with a positive test either during the cruise or on the last day of the cruise before disembarking. From past posts on CC, guests have been quarantined either in their cabin or moved to a cabin in a different location on the ship. The length of the quarantine presumably has changed over time.

Thanks for the update. Sounds about the same as on the Mariner last month. I think it is important for people to know what the circumstances are onboard so they can decide if they are comfortable with the situation. Since there is no testing requirement after boarding, probably only severe Covid cases would be identified during the cruise. On the next to last day lots of people were tested because of travel requirements, but nothing was revealed about the overall results or whether anyone tested positive at that time.

Rachel, I'm curious about your take on Covid related precautions onboard, e.g., are some wearing mask or no masks, distancing, crowded venues, tours, etc. I assume the staff are all wearing masks as they were recently on Mariner. But I was uncomfortable with the crowding, lack of almost any attempt at distancing, very little masking in crowded situations, etc. So wondering how you feel about the trip so far from a Covid precaution perspective?

I think it is best to contact Regent and to get something in writing if Regent verbally says Rapid NAAT results are okay. The potential problem is that check-in can be chaotic and staff may not actually know about anything other than PCR or Antigen testing if those are the only tests mentioned in Regent's guidelines.

I was on the Mariner cruise also. There were about 530 guests onboard according to a staff person I spoke with. The food and service overall was excellent as is usually the case with Regent. The weather was cooperative and we lucked out with sunny days in our port stops. The excursions that I took were as described and worthwhile. There was little attention to Covid precautions by guests. Very few people wore masks, social distancing was rarely practiced. Most tours met outside the ship, but one day we had to first assemble in the theater. The theater was packed and few guests had on a mask as people stood right next to each other and milled about. There were still signs in elevators to limit occupancy to 4 people, but those weren't followed. For example, when tours returned I noticed elevators literally packed with people. On buses very few people wore masks. Staff always wore masks and wore them properly. Only once did I see a staff member doing the loose-mask routine of pulling the mask up over the nose and then letting it fall back down a few seconds or a minute or two later. But with over 500 people from various cities and countries all merging onto a crowded ship with few noticeably following Covid distancing and masking protocols, it seems like a ripe situation for Covid spread. The internet was up to its usual tricks. Most of the time it worked (very slowly) and sometimes it didn't. One port day it didn't work all day and, as usual, there was no effort to publicize the problem with even a notice or sign at the internet desk. It still appears that Regent corporate doesn't care much about the quality of internet service or they would fix the problems. There are no questions on the guest survey about the internet functionality. If anyone needs reliable internet, I would not recommend a Regent cruise. I was pleased to be back on the Mariner and feel it offers some things that I prefer over the Explorer. For example, the tables around the pool deck are much more accessible and spread out rather than being packed together as on Explorer. The Compass Rose layout felt more intimate and pleasant than the layout on the Explorer. The forward and aft lounges are great for viewing, and the theater doesn't have pillars restricting views. The music sound level in the observation lounge was good, unlike the Explorer where I always found the levels uncomfortably loud. The penthouse suite arrangement was very comfortable for sleeping and for relaxing on the sofa. The small bathrooms in the suites are not nearly as functional as those on the Explorer, however. All in all the cruise was excellent. But for those who have concerns about sailing during Covid times, I would say that you should consider your tolerance for the situations I described on the ship.