Booking directly with Regent

Do any of you ever book directly with Regent? If not, what do you think the advantages are of booking through a travel agent? Thanks.

Do any of you ever book directly with Regent? If not, what do you think the advantages are of booking through a travel agent? Thanks.

Tons of reasons to book with a TA that regularly books Regent Cruises. Here are a few:

- percentage back on your cruise fare

- on board credits on many cruises

- they have your best interests in terms of which suites to book, etc. Regent needs to sell all suites and it is not in Regents best interest to advise you not to book a suite.

We also strongly recommend booking with a TA vs direct with Regent.

A good TA no only gets you the best suite at the best price with generous cash back and a nice ship board credit (pre cruise). The better TA also serves your interest during your cruise (surprises you with your favorite red wine or your spouses fav flower arrangement when u enter your suite) if you encounter challenges on board (missing Ship board credit, missing American Express SBC, missing credit for reaching a new seven seas society tier, etc) and the best TA will also take care of you post cruise. Assists with an on board booking u may have made and lets you know of new cruise offerings that may be of interest to you based on your known cruise travel likes.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Wes, agree with much if what you have said. However if best pricing is important, nothing is free so I found. These “good” TAs’ pricing can often be $1500-$2000 higher pp.

Keep in mind that you may always book directly with Regent and your travel agent has ample time to claim the reservation and provide the requisite rebates and onboard credits. We love handling our reservations this way and our TA is fine with it, too.

Keep in mind that you may always book directly with Regent and your travel agent has ample time to claim the reservation and provide the requisite rebates and onboard credits. We love handling our reservations this way and our TA is fine with it, too.

It has been our experience that our TA automatically gets the booking that we make onboard.

It has been our experience that our TA automatically gets the booking that we make onboard.

If you are onboard a cruise that you booked with a TA if you book another one onboard the booking will automatically be assigned to that same TA, unless you tell them you don't want it to. You have 30 days to have your TA take over the booking. I have someone at Regent/Oceania who I usually call to book and then have my TA take over the booking. I like getting the rebate from my TA and having someone to go to bat for me if there are any issues that come up. If the TA has a "group" on the cruise they can sometimes offer OBC or other perks on top of the rebate.

Does everyone get a rebate from their travel agent? We cruised on Regent Explorer last year booked through a local travel agent and did not get a rebate or onboard credit.

Does everyone get a rebate from their travel agent? We cruised on Regent Explorer last year booked through a local travel agent and did not get a rebate or onboard credit.

I think most of us here do get a rebate. Many local travel agencies that dont specialize in cruises and are not very big dont offer any rebates or perks. Unfortunately, we cannot outright tell you which travel agents we use. I suggest you Google and when you talk to prospective travel agents ask outright what's their rebate policy. I wouldnt book with one that doesnt offer anything, you might as well just book direct with Regent.

Wes, agree with much if what you have said. However if best pricing is important, nothing is free so I found. These “good” TAs’ pricing can often be $1500-$2000 higher pp.

Our TA is excellent and their pricing is exactly the same as Regent's. Plus they give us a percentage back, and often OBC. One needs to shop around.

Our TA is excellent and their pricing is exactly the same as Regent's. Plus they give us a percentage back, and often OBC. One needs to shop around.

Sorry I should have been clearer in my post -

1. Regent pricing is typically the highest

2. TAs often "discretely" pushed by some folks on this board as experts in luxury cruising still tend to be fairly high in terms of pricing and while it may seem they are giving you things, it is all included somehow in the price

3. Some consolidators/last minute companies have the best prices but sailings are limited and offers disappear quickly plus you will not get much service

4. I priced one recently via a TA I had used a year or so back versus a "last minute company" and the fare difference per person on a 10 day Baltics cruise was over $2,000 for the same cruise, same benefits - one offer had a $300 onboard credit, the other a $300 rebate. The "last minute offer" was a superb deal.

Wes, agree with much if what you have said. However if best pricing is important, nothing is free so I found. These “good” TAs’ pricing can often be $1500-$2000 higher pp.

We have never found that to be the case. The prices are clearly shown on the Regent website. We get the same price as though we booked with the cruise line directly, plus we get the rebate from our TA. There sometimes are "last minute" deals offered but we never book last minute. We have noticed that as the cruise date approaches the fares increase, and usually sell out long before the cruise. That's why we book early.

Does everyone get a rebate from their travel agent? We cruised on Regent Explorer last year booked through a local travel agent and did not get a rebate or onboard credit.

You need to find another TA.

We literally just went through this. We have booked through regent directly in the past and was > < close to doing it again with my past Regent contact. We had a priced cruise from them, the best deal they could give me, and then at then checked with a recommended TA.

No comparison, the TA blew booking Regent direct out of the water. More cabin credit $$ and near $2K less once you include the rebate on what Regent was best able to offer.

We literally just went through this. We have booked through regent directly in the past and was > < close to doing it again with my past Regent contact. We had a priced cruise from them, the best deal they could give me, and then at then checked with a recommended TA.

 

No comparison, the TA blew booking Regent direct out of the water. More cabin credit $$ and near $2K less once you include the rebate on what Regent was best able to offer.

You can still book direct with Regent, then have the booking transferred to your TA of choice for the incentives they may offer. We did this and it worked fine.

You can still book direct with Regent, then have the booking transferred to your TA of choice for the incentives they may offer. We did this and it worked fine.

That’s exactly what we do.

As mentioned previously onboard booking are automatically transferred to your TA (unless you ask them not to).

In terms of consolidators, we did see "covert pricing" on a website which Regent honored (through our TA) however, there were some benefits lost in the transaction (for instance, the special on board credits Regents was offering was not available because we were paying less money). In the end, I did not think that it was worth it. If I want a luxury experience, that includes our TA.

Cutting to the chase on this one, to include the back and forth chaff. The following is based on an extensive history whether on Regent or the four other 5+ "all inclusive" Lines--or any others on which we have experienced over the past 25 years--

1. Bottom line is use a TA. That, of course, is no guarantee of getting your money's worth. Because--

2. Any TA you utilize should have "credentials" obtained by actually experiencing onboard time on a Regent ship. Hopefully, that vessel will be the one your are considering boarding.

3. So, when interviewing a prospective TA, probably via telephone, vet that person as to the above. If he or she has not actually been there or done that (onboard) experience--

4. Continue your search.

Will stop, as the above comments and those provided earlier by other CC's have covered the territory.

Hope to see some of you on our next Regent adventure, which will be aboard Navigator on June 3rd from LA to NYC.

GOARMY!

This depends on where in the World you are booking. The deals available in the US as opposed to the UK are very different. The base price varies and in terms of flights is a different offering. As a result OBC's are less from Britain and no Amex OBC's either. The US dollar/pound exchange rate is often a more important consideration.

This depends on where in the World you are booking. The deals available in the US as opposed to the UK are very different. The base price varies and in terms of flights is a different offering. As a result OBC's are less from Britain and no Amex OBC's either. The US dollar/pound exchange rate is often a more important consideration.

Despite the different booking arrangements/discounts/perks between the US and UK, we have still always found it preferable, and significantly cheaper, to book through a specialist Travel Agent.

Wherever possible we book on board, to gain the on board booking discount and lower deposit, with the booking then being transferred to our TA in the UK who then applies their normal % discount thus further reducing the price :)