Question about partial charters

I am platinum on NCL and always stay in the Haven. So far things have been fine. However I am seeing a trend on NCL of having lots of charters. Full charters of course are not a problem but I see the trend of partial charters and very large groups happening more than in the past. Some friends have shown up to see groups of 500 to over 1000 on their ship. They said it really impacted their experience especially if the group is very rowdy around the pool deck or many closed down venues for their needs.I am thinking of switching to Regent as it seems to be a more upscale experience but was wondering if partial charters happen on their ships too. I don't mind partial charters of a group of accountants (that happened to us) but partial charter of groups that are loud and rowdy would be upsetting. Anyone that has sailed on Regent have any experience with this? Thanks.

I haven't seen a large charter, but sometimes, if the cruise is well undersold, Regent will open those up to discount agencies. This can result in a number of guests who are not in the usual Regent demographic. This can be good or bad, but doesn't fit your worry, since they are usually not connected with each other. We've been on five Regent cruises; hopefully some of the more experienced posters will weigh in with a more comprehensive answer.

Our first Regent cruise back in 2009 had a large corporate group on board, maybe 100-150 people? We had no basis of comparison so really didn’t notice being “blocked out” of any specific venues. I’ve had more issues with SSS and other agency functions, truth be told.

We did have a few evenings where there were late parties on the pool deck, which we were directly below (first cruise, didn’t know any better) and that was an issue, but we’re still in touch with one of the wives from that group - she felt a bit left out, too...she introduced us to a few of the corporate gang and we hung out with her when her group got too cliquey for her. It was a win-win, I guess.

But there are a lot of variables with groups like that, I’ve heard. Some can be snobbish, some can be welcoming, some appear to take over the ship, some are pretty unobtrusive. I think it’s a crap shoot, really.

That first cruise was the only time so far we’ve had a problem with a group, and a few calls to the desk took care of most of it.

We have 30 cruises on Regent and have only been bothered by a group once. Regent ships are dramatically smaller than NCL ships so, in general, either the entire ship is chartered or the group(s) are small. This really isn't a big issue with Regent.

We were on the Voyager with a group of financial people a few years ago I would guess 150 and they were attending meetings off and on but other than that we noticed nothing different and all were social. NCL is a whole different ball game. I would not worry about it and just enjoy.

I have only been on a couple of Regent cruises that were partial charters, and of those, only one was really bothersome. It was a group of very high performing sales people for a certain company, and they were obnoxious only because of their way excessive drinking and loudness in the dining room and on the pool deck.

Very unlikely to happen though since it has happened to me only once in over 200 nights on board.

Thanks so much to everyone for their answers. Very helpful!

We just learned that our cruise in Feb 2019 (31 nights) Bangkok to Shanghai has been cancelled due to Regent chartering the ship! This has really screwed up our plans. Regent has yet to contact us, they let our travel agent know by phone and did not want to send an actual email or anything in writing. Not much offered as compensation either. Very disappointed, thinking of cancelling our remaining 2 booked cruises...(we have taken 4 cruises with them in the last 2 years!)

How very disappointing and annoying for those guests booked on this cruise.

Looking at the Regent website, it appears to be the second segment, Hong Kong to Shanghai, that has been affected. The first segment, Bangkok to Hong Kong is still on sale.

Hope you manage to find a suitable alternative.

We just learned that our cruise in Feb 2019 (31 nights) Bangkok to Shanghai has been cancelled due to Regent chartering the ship! This has really screwed up our plans. Regent has yet to contact us, they let our travel agent know by phone and did not want to send an actual email or anything in writing. Not much offered as compensation either. Very disappointed, thinking of cancelling our remaining 2 booked cruises...(we have taken 4 cruises with them in the last 2 years!)

Definitely frustrating. unfortunately I read about this happening too frequently with luxury cruise lines... probably because the ships are small enough to charter. We have been fortunate not to have this occur in our 30 Regent cruises.

Give yourself some time to think about it before canceling your two booked cruises. as upsetting as this is now, the chances of this happening again is very slim.

While you may not want to think about another cruise with a similar itinerary right now, have you looked at 2020?

Interestingly Regent UK has today emailed marketing blurb advertising the Bangkok to Hong Kong segment as their "Pick of the Week".

Presumably they are now having to push this shorter segment because they have cancelled a number of bookings for the previously offered full 31 night cruise.