Dolebludger

I don’t know about others, but we have always been friendly with the crew. We walk down the hall, they smile and greet me, and I smile and greet them. Maybe it is the environment we come from, but here in the Rocky Mountains, almost everybody deals with all others as equals. I go to our Elks Lodge and multi millionaires treat minimum wage people with respect — usually they were once one of them. And it goes both ways. Last month on the Splendor I accidentally sent some slacks to the laundry, with my wallet still in the back pocket! Got a call from our stewardess. She told me what happened and brought me the wallet — and all the contents were intact — even the $200 in cash. Enough said.

We were on the Splendor 8/12 to 8/20. Wasn’t Starlink then, I think. Internet service was about what we’ve come to expect on cruises — spotty and depending on out location. But we were usually able to read and send email in our suite, and that’s really our only use for ship’s internet.

The Navigator is not one of the former R class ships. The Navigator’s story is an interesting one. The hull and some structure was partially constructed for the Russian military. Some say as a spy ship. For some reason, Russia abandoned the project and sold the partially completed ship to Radisson (now Regent via name change). It was completed as a cruise ship with maiden voyage in 1999. It differs from the R ships in that it’s rooms (suites?) are much larger, by class than the R ships.

We have never cruised over the holidays, largely because airplanes and airports seem to become a real mess then. But I assume that guests on those cruises would tend to dress a bit higher level, though the dress code will remain the same..so to “go along with the crowd” I’d be sure to take a sports jacket to wear if I see many of them onboard. I doubt that I’d take a dark suite, tie, or tux. But anybody who wanted to wear those things has the right to do so. Dress codes set the minimum dress standards — not the maximum.

Yes, because others have repeatedly posted that formal optional nights are just that,— OPTIONAL. And these reports say that very few guests dress formally for these. Most continue to comply only with the smart casual code applicable to other nights past 6:00 PM.

We just returned last week from a cruise on the RSSC Splendor of England, France, and Belgium. I took (for men) slacks, collared polo shirts, a sports coat, and one pair of leather top shoes. My wife took the female equivalent. We never felt out of place and our attire was never questioned by staff. In fact, we really fit right in. I saw no tux or ball gown among the guests. As Regent gives included valet laundry service, we were able to carry on (or wear on) all we needed for an eight night cruise and a two night pre cruise in London. Anybody who expects tuxes and ball gowns on Regent hasn’t cruised it lately — like in the last 40 years.

Pcardad, we have a 22 year history with Regent, and just returned last week from the Splendor. Good experiences always. But things can change, and all I want is full direct info.

I want to know because I like to trade with companies I can trust and avoid those I can’t. Especially when spending as much as a Regent cruise costs. Like many, we like to have a pre-cruise land stay of more than one night. Setting those up often takes much effort, and changing them on two or three weeks notice takes more. In our 25 or so years of fairly regular cruising on several lines we have ever even heard of an embarkation port change — certainly not on short notice. I want FULL info on this to consider in choosing future cruises.

I sure hope that is the case. If so, the port authority is the “bad guy” here and not Regent. I have trouble believing that the Regent - Port Authority contract would allow this cancellation, but these days it seems that such entities will do anything. But in that case, Regent would be a victim. I just wish Regent would tell us their story directly.

Dave, did the Port Authority make the port change mandatory, or merely make a request?

Please let me clarify my concern. If Regent had been forced by some entity or event out of its control to change the embarkation port on short notice, I can forgive the mistakes it made As a result — and then corrected. That is something that doesn’t impact a cruise line very often — I suspect never. But if Regent changed this, or was a party to the change, I have to do some rethinking of future cruise plans. I don’t think the contents of the T&Cs were a factor in any of this. In fact the T&Cs here clearly REQUIRE transportation when the Embarkation (or final destination) port is changed — as happened here. It looks like Regent acted without reading its own T&Cs. But if the embarkation port was changed last minute due to forces totally beyond its control, that’s understandable. If the change was in any way within its control, it is not.

Still, I wonder why the embarkation port was changed three weeks before embarkation. Why do I wonder about this? Well, if it was something forced on Regent, it will not give me concern about booking with it in the future. If is was something in which Regent had a choice, it just might.

That may appear to be the case, but Regent hasn’t shared the reason for the port change with any of us. as I see it. If it was circumstances beyond any control by Regent, I think we would be more understanding about handling about pot handling of it. Now, all Regent has to do to gain this understanding is to tell us about those circumstances.

I know I sound like a broken record, but I still want to be told the reason for the last minute embarkation port change. Especially as many booked on this cruise have yet to receive current notification of what Regent will provide. Here is an example of how Regent should (and has) handled itinerary changes. On the Splendor Caribbean cruise last March, we were coming into St. Barts. The captain got on the PA and announced that he had sent a tender out to test sea conditions. He invited the guests to look out the starboard side and see the tender bobbing like a cork in a hurricane. For that reason, he said, he had cancelled that port visit. I’d already seen the tender from our balcony, and had decided that this old man wasn’t going. And I heard no complaints from the fellow guests! That’s how things should be handled on Regent. And guests who travel to Seward by train before embarkation is not an anomaly. Some have posted that the train ride doesn’t impress. But we live in the little city with the #1 rated scenic train in the US (Durango CO), and I was impressed by the train to Seward. So I still have concerns about this matter.

I am surprised that Regent has given nobody a reason for a last-minute embarkation port change at nearly the end of the Alaska cruise season. The only thing close to a reason is that the Whittier terminal (Regent says) is new. However, there was nothing wrong with the Seward terminal when we embarked there in June 2023. And like others, we booked our night before embarkation in Seward, the first night in Anchorage (at a hotel of our own choosing) and the train in between. A rather common common practice, we observed.

Still one unanswered question, to which I would like an answer. Why was the port changed on short notice? I will not second guess the answer. I’d just like to hear it.

We are not directly impacted by this mess with the Alaska ports, but it is important to us for our planning for future travel — or not! It appears unanswered whether Regent will provide solutions for all impacted guests. And it remains unclear regarding the reason for the last minute port change. All I know about this is that the Seward port has become very crowded with ships recently, but this may not be the cause. We won’t know until Regent tells us. Also, those of us who read travel related sites know that the entire travel industry has become a git of a dumpster fire. I had hoped that Regent could be immune from this, but it seems that it is not.

Thanks for the update! However, I will delay reversal of my attitude of “never again” concerning Regent pending reports of how the transfers worked out.

I think NCL was the first (or one of) to have a specialty restaurant. In the early 90s we were on the NCL Dream (a dismal ship) and I kept passing by a restaurant area with nobody ever inside. I inquired and was told it was a specialty restaurant where I could dine for an additional charge (don’t remember the amount). But it appeared that nobody ever visited it. Flash forward to today and RCCL’s Icon of the Seas. Never cruised that ship and never will (including similar ships) But a professional review of it could find only one of the many restaurants that wasn’t at extra charge. And no real MDR.

GOARMY, yours is a good suggestion. Have all the TAs who book cruises on Regent to band together and put some pressure on Regent. If I were a TA (I’m not) I would not book any client on Regent. Moreover, if I had clients who were booked prior to final payment, I’d contact them and tell them “run”! To do otherwise could result in a loss of MY clients. This situation is not a matter of changes or omissions for which Regent has protected itself in its T&Cs. This is a matter of Regent violating its own T&Cs. And Pcardad is right about this mess being a symptom of trouble in the entire travel industry — not confined to Regent. That’s why nobody is saying that they will leave Regent for another cruise line.

For those who haven’t cruised Regent in Alaska recently, Regent - provided hotel and land transfers are far from great. Even before the embarkation port change, Regent’s hotel (Anchorage Hilton) is to be avoided. And the transportation to Seward (when that was the port) is by crowded and cramped bus which may or may not run on time. Most people who would cruise Regent would prefer to book at a small boutique hotel and arrange transport by train, which is a comfortable and scenic ride. So most people just take the credit for the hotel and transport, and I’m sure it knows that. It also knows that changing the embarkation port three weeks before sailing would cost its guests money and inconvenience. Very sad.

We are only well into the gold SSS level, but even that means we have cruised Regent a lot. I am glad that you brought fare increases into the discussion, as well as service unreliability post pandemic. Surely, at current RSSC fares, it should be able to provide pre-pandemic service and reliability. But the case in this thread is a bit more severe than the Iceland and Barbados messes that preceded it. In those earlier cases, Regent was (arguably) protected by its self serving TC. But in this case, Regent is in blatant violation of its own TC (see post#8 above). Now, Regent is protected only by the part of the TC that limits suits against it to Florida courts — and most of us don’t live there! But this case remains the most unforgivable of all similar situations. So unless Regent does some corrections, we’ve had our last Regent cruise.

Actually, problems (contract breaches?) by cruise lines (and all in the hospitality industry) are not confined to Regent. We live in a tourist town (Durango Colorado) and services for these tourists have not recovered from the pandemic. It is hard to find a restaurant open regular hours. Hotel services are still limited. I doubt that we will have the tourist influx next summer (good in a way, because we are not dependent on tourist revenue). So Regent’s shortcomings are merely a part of an industry wide problem. Thus, my travel will be confined to a one day driving range from where I live until the whole tourist industry “shapes up”. Fortunately for us, that includes many great areas.

I don’t think anybody posting here wants to lose confidence in Regent. But, at some point, it becomes impossible to ignore the events others post here. Do I believe the posts? Yes, because several people post about the same problem, and many posters have posted here for a long time. And, you just can’t make this stuff up!

I did a bit of research, and learned that HAL uses Whittier, AK as an embarkation and final destination port on some of their AK cruises. I don’t know how it handles the logistics. But it even offers shore excursions there. I can’t fully describe how disappointed I am when I read stories like this about Regent. I have recommended it to so many, and wish it were possible to contact them all and retract. We just returned from the Splendor’s London to London. No major problem, but not quite the experience it once was. When we booked it, there was an extra cost bus tour to and from Paris, which was cancelled last minute. Many were very disappointed, understandably. The cost was refunded and the reason was given. I checked it out and the reason was valid, but it did indicate poor planning by Regent. We are not upset, for the sole reason that in reviewing that excursion’s details more completely than when we booked it, we realized that it involved too many hours on a crowded bus, and we shouldn’t have booked it in the first place. Paris was not a prime reason we booked the cruise, but it was for others. But now, Regent is changing embarkation port with no given reason, and neglecting to live up to its contractural duty to provide transport to the new port. If there is no report of its handling of this situation properly, it will be a cold day in you-know-where when we cruise it again.