zak477

As I have stated in a prior comment, a Regent supervisor (Cruise Critic doesn't want names used) told me yesterday that the Israel ports of call have all been cancelled for the balance of 2023. Our November 10th sailing still shows Israel and he stated that Regent is currently working on the October sailing only. When those guests have all be rerouted, they will work on changing the itineraries for the November 10th sailing. He said by the end of the month all of us on the November sailing will be given the new itinerary. Sadly, we only booked this cruise because of the amazing ports of call, pre & post offerings and overland tours. Let us hope that the itinerary is not just sea days !!

Sadly it sure does !!

After reading so many comments and opinions on this board, I finally called the Regent customer service number, today, to ask specifically "When will you tell all of us paid guests for the Nov. 10th out of Istanbul that the 3 days in Israel are Cancelled"? Now I have been told by Cruise Critic, in the past that I cannot use names. So here was my experience with Regent Customer Service: The woman that finally picked up (7 minutes wait), informed me that we "are at war" !!!!! and my inquiry was not a priority for Regent. She then told me that they are 3 companies, not one. NCL, Oceania and Regent are the same, according to her. And they are very busy with the current cruises, all of them not just Regent still mentioning the Oct. 15th sailing as "in the works". I stated that I called Regent customer service not the conglomerate customer service. Where does Regent get these untrained incompetent persons calling themselves Customer Service reps? From her snarky comments I demanded, yes demanded a supervisor. Finally got one and he was a true Regent rep. He verbally stated that our sailing will Not be going to Israel but no itinerary changes have even been made yet. I asked about cancelling Egypt, is it on the table? He honestly stated that no talks were at his level yet. He asked me to be patient and give it another week to see if more details concerning my cruise will be finalized. I asked about offering FCC or refunds and he stated that he was told, at this time, to have the guests look at their contracts. Then he said, "sorry that is all I can say at this time".

We too will be on the Navigator for the November 10th sailing out of Istanbul. We booked this cruise only because of the itinerary with overlands in Egypt and Israel. And also overlands in Turkey and Dubai. No way will we want to travel to Israel now and even if Regent does not cancel this port of call, we will not leave the ship. And now Egypt is questionable. So is this cruise going to be just another Mediterranean cruise ending in Dubai? No way would we have spent so much money for the altered itinerary. Sadly, looking at our Allianz travel insurance, most, if not all of our expenses are Not covered due to the act of war being declared in Israel. I already called them in anticipation.

We have had 16 cruises with Regent and with those I booked my own air and got the air credit. Also we arrive at least 2 days (sometimes more) prior to enjoy some of the new countries we are arriving in. But our cruise next month, Istanbul to Dubai, I researched the business class direct flight pricing and the round trip for us was more than our cruise costs with the added pre & post & overland tours too. So this will be our first time using Regent air. So far, with the help of our TA, I found my preferred direct flight to and from, the TA requested our itinerary and Regent accepted it. We now have our eTickets for the flights we want. Oh and as Platinum members no deviation fee was charged. So far all is good. My TA is the best and with his years of experience he knows who to call and when and makes sure is clients get the best service from Regent and all the other cruise lines we have traveled.

No we did not pay for the visas, Regent paid for them as part of our package. I have the page right here that $99 per visa was paid via Regent.

We love the Navigator and have had both balconies and windows. Depending on the itinerary we have found that Deck 6 is wonderful for the window or the balcony side. Although not cabins 600/601 we ha enjoyed 3 sailing on deck 6 and enjoyed it completely.

I do hope that all those now going to Istanbul have been given their visas via Regent. The cost is $99 per visa. The process is done online.

We have stayed at the Arts Hotel Barcelona at the Marina 3 times and enjoy it very much. The homes are modern, clean and housekeeping are outstanding. Everything at the hotel including pricing are great.

We have taken many cruises over the years and always had Allianz travel insurance. Never needed to request a claim till this past April. Cruised with Regent Miami to Barcelona, then spent 4 days overland to Southampton to sail Cunard home to NYC. On the morning of the QM2 cruise, Cunard stated "mechanical issues" and cancelled the cruise. Wow! So I used points to get a flight home but had to stay another night in Southampton as all flights were gone. If I used cash, the cost for business class was $4800 each. Allianz does not reimburse for using points. But thankfully I used points as they would not pay for the flight either, if I had used cash. My final check from them was only for the hotel stay in Southampton. No trip cancellation and not trip interruption applied. Nothing else. They have a clause that states "mechanical issues" are not covered. Cunard and Ins. work together. I learned a lot from this experience and looked extra close at all the companies but they are all pretty much the same. We are on the Navigator for their November 10th sailing to this region. I hope they at least reimburse us for the overland Israel trip we have already paid for. Sadly, no way will consider that experience.

We had the exact same issue with the Silverseas Dawn. The Marine terminal has either no staff or they don't speak English or they are non-existent. With the treatment we had due to the new rules and the ships in Trieste, we will never sail in or out of Venice again. Love the city but will only fly.

I am sorry but that is not correct. As we have booked our international flights already via a three-way conversation with my TA & Regent it is 210 day from the END date not the start date. If you don't believe me, call Regent themselves.

As we have already booked our flights, the 210 days window is the date when the cruise ENDS not begins. I don't know why folks are misleading you with the wrong info.

The Regent air department begins to have flights available beginning 210 days from the end date of your cruise. I know this as I booked my flights Istanbul to Dubai this past May for our November cruise. As platinum members there is no charge for deviation. We got the direct flights we wanted again no Regent fees charged. But the direct flights were limited and there is an additional charge for the actual flight. Our outbound Turkish Air was $600 ea. and the return on Emirates was $1100 ea. Still much cheaper than the starting prices of $4000+ posted. The stop over flights were listed with a minimum of 3 hrs. for connecting flights. So if you want a particular airline, business class doing direct Regent is very accommodating.

Will be doing a cruise Istanbul to Dubai this November. Working with my TA, we called the Regent air department 210 day out ( FYI: from the end date of the cruise). This is the first time we are using Regent air because we always used points for our long haul business class flights. The cheapest flights I saw started at $4000 one way. So we decided to try the Regent booking. Oh, for our flight to Istanbul we are doing the Regent pre-land program but want to enjoy Istanbul on our own. So we will be arriving 3 days sooner than the Regent program. No extra charge (except the added hotel charges) With Regent they will still pick us up at the airport and the transfer is included. I had already researched the flights from and to JFK. We wanted direct flights too. There were only a few direct flights available with the Regent system. As platinum members there was no deviation charges. I picked Turkish Air to Istanbul and Emirates coming home. Both direct flights and we even got the seats we wanted. For these direct flights we had to pay an additional fee. The Turkish Air flight was $600 ea. and the Emirates flights was $1100 each. Still much cheaper than the published price and the flights without an additional charge had at least one 3 hr. layover. We also saved our frequent airline points for next years long haul flights. As we love everything Regent, so far, adding their air program, for the first time has been seamless.

Got home last night from the cancelled Southampton to NYC cruise. Had no time to review Cruise Critic because we were busy trying to rebook, for an additional night, our overnight stay in Southampton, then get a flight. We could not fly home on 23 April because we only found out about the cancellation as we tried to check out of the hotel. NO communication from Cunard at all. At 11:00 a.m. no flights available. to book home. So we booked the next day, 24 April. Oh at an outrageous price too. Several people at the hotel were emailed of the cancellation so why not us? We then need to book at transfer to London. This transfer was in a small sedan, not the larger ones we requested. We had a piece of luggage between us in the back seat. Our driver stated that all companies were fully booked with several hundred transfers due to the cancellation. We had to cancel our transfer in NYC and rebook for 24 April at a much higher price. Of course we have travel insurance and will call them today. My only call on the 23red I was told to have all receipts and documents. But Cunard has not sent me any notification as of this writing. The insurance company will not accept news paper articles or facebook notes. We don't know yet if we are insured for all expenses. We find in irresponsible, unprofessional and totally unacceptable that Cunard did not notify us or our travel agent at all. They had no emergency plans in place for the Victoria guests, already in dock, that were to transfer to the QM2. They transferred their luggage over but then cancelled?? Or the world cruise guests with no final leg home? Or us who did transatlantic on Oceania to Barcelona, only to book Cunard because we didn't want to fly home. Oh and to offer 20% off next cruise is insulting at best. Who would book another cruise on Cunard that has no customer service available for emergencies. Their website phone numbers, no surprising, did not work on the morning of the 23rd. We got "call back during normal business hours"!!

Over the years we have sailed on many different ships, from inside cabins (when we were younger!) to Penthouse suites. Itineraries are my goto start points, then pricing. We found Regent in 2007 and comparing pricing with all-inclusive vs the nickel/dime companies, Regent is not too overpriced. Pricey yes, but look at what is included. With Regent we have been to 6 continents and did returns to Asia and Africa with Regent. We love the spring or fall repositioning cruises (they are a bit cheaper too). This year alone we did the Splendor in Jan & again in Apr. In October we did a short cruise on the Mariner. Coming up in Jan. 2023 we are doing 3 back to backs on the Navigator and in Nov. the Navigator takes up from Istanbul to Dubai. Although all the ships are wonderful and the Explorer and Splendor are a wow, we still love the small Navigator, as it was our first Regent ship and still is special to us. Even if you have a problem or issue while onboard, the total experience negated the problem. Oh and the crew are all amazing. We always state: how to they remember our names!?

We were on the Splendor this past January and crew members stood at the sinks at the entrance to the La Veranda and you had to actually wash your hands before going to the buffet. We were back on the Splendor in April and this practice was stopped. In October we were on the Mariner, 9 days LA to and back, Mexico and no washing at all. No hand sanitizer crew and you had to look for a sanitizer dispenser. I agree with the original writer that oh so many no longer wash their hands and sneeze without covering the faces. Not just on ships but everywhere. Forget covid, it is just lazy and thoughtless for others.

Enjoyed the pictures and comments. We are on the Navigator Jan. 5th doing 3 back to backs ending in Barbados. Can't wait to get away from the freezing winds & winds chills. This will be our 15th Anniversary sailing with Regent. We started with the Navigator and still love this ship. Although we love the Explorer and the Splendor is oh so nice, the Navigator is still our favorite. Happy sailing everyone.

We always stay extra pre/post days to enjoy the added land time. We will use the Regent included day but will book our own extras. Always pay so much less than the Regent pricing. And we always confirm that we stay in the same room. Never a problem. Also, we never take the Regent transfers. We do our own. And we leave when we want to and arrive hours before the busload of others.

Glad you are having fun. Is it the same couple that walked around the Splendor, in January, without masks? She demanded that as long as they a drink in their hands they can walk anywhere??!! Oh and the husband never said a word ! We are on the Mariner on Oct. 23rd. Please don't drink all the vodka. And also leave us some food too!!

We sail on the Mariner at the end of the month and received the latest Regent protocols concerning covid. They are simple and after two sailings on the Splendor earlier this year, the new rules are wonderful for us vaccinated folks. Now Regent realized that money talks, so although they state you don't need testing prior to arrival, here is what they require: Please note: Regent Seven Seas Cruises will only assist with compensation for trip interruption due to a positive COVID-19 test resulting in on-board quarantine, that is not covered by their travel insurance, if the guest provides proof of a negative COVID-19 PCR or Antigen test result from a registered test provider taken within 3 days of embarkation travel date. Proof of a negative COVID-19 PCR or Antigen test result taken within 3 days of embarkation date must show guest name, guest date of birth, name of test provider, test provider’s contact details, test result and date the test was taken in order to be eligible.

We have enjoyed 300+ days on the various Regent ships. We have also sailed on Cunard, Silverseas, Oceania, Azamara, HAL, Princess & Seabourn. We look at the itinerary first then see which is sailing to our chosen itinerary. We have come to the conclusion that Regent is the best of the best with its all inclusive pricing, ship decor, itineraries & crew. Oh the crew are over the top the best. This year we sailed on the Splendor in Jan. & for the crossing in April. We plan on doing the Mariner in Oct. and the Navigator for 3 back to back in Jan. 2023. And a wow trip next Nov. Istanbul to Dubai. We sailed Croatia to Rome in Apr/May this yr. on Silverseas Dawn, their new ship and advertised "luxury". But definitely not at all "luxury". Seabourn comes close to Luxury but for us, only Regent Seven Seas knows what luxury means and delivers a Wow every time. So no more attempts with other companies. We will only sail we Regent now. They are worth every penny.

We were on the QM2 for the 14 day, Caribbean cruise and the Boardwalk Cafe was never open. We were told, not enough staff. Tried room service only once. After a 1 hr. wait, I called to ask how much longer for our breakfast and we were told maybe another 1/2 hr but may be longer. We went to the dining room. We also found out that , If you have a balcony, the dripping rust is not conducive to eating, drinking and/or just sitting. The maintenance of the QM2 is deplorable. Masks are the least of your worries while onboard.