Included Shore Excusions

I just returned from 22 days on Explorer and a similar length on Navigator last fall. I wonder if any other Regent clients are unhappy with the Included Shore Excursions policy.

Because we've "pre-paid" for shore excursions, we feel we should partake to get our money's worth. Consequently, the tours are crowded (to accommodate all guests), often with attendees who talk during the guide's explanations ignoring those who care what the guide is saying. Perhaps they don't understand the guide, or English isn't their language. Once the tour is outside the bus, the guide leads off with 30 people, no microphone, no "Whisper" devices, nothing to enable each passenger to hear the commentary. City street noises contribute to this unsatisfactory experience.

I would rather have a reduced cruise fare and a SBC to choose excursions. Perhaps then, only those who really want to be on the tour, will be. The other option is a cruise fare reduction, and you pay for any shore excursions.

While I strongly agree with your last statement, I need to comment on the tour guides, etc. On our last cruise to Asia and the prior one (Amazon) we received written notices from Regent about language issues of the tour guides and the fact that some buses may not be up to the standards that we are used to and may not have air conditioning (and this is in extremely hot climates). There are really no alternatives for Regent.

In the Amazon, six of us signed up for a semi-private tour for a great price and the tour was better than anything offered on Regent. However, there was still the language issue.

I have been a proponent of having the ability to "opt out" of excursions for a credit. This likely won't happen but even if it did, the credit would be fairly low (or so I have been told). Even the reasonable semi-private excursion that we booked on our own it was $60/person. So, if one booked their own excursions for this price for 20 nights, it would be $1,200 which is more hotel opt out credits and many airline opt out credits.

So, we continue to dislike most included excursions - like most Regent Choice excursions and have learned to live with it. Not an idea situation but Regent is not budging on this one.

Although we enjoy most shore excursions on Regent, I agree that when you are on a tour and the guide is speaking to the group, Regent should equip them with microphone and us with ear pieces. Tours, other than Regent, all offer these devices. The equipment is not that expensive and certainly worth the investment.

It would enhance our tours so much!

Sheila

I have no problems with the included excursions, most are very good. However now in 2018 we must move with the technology and use whispers or other devices to enable full engagement and hearing by all. I am hard of hearing on one side, and a photographer, so whispers enable me to pick up a guide fully when not close by , or watching or taking photos. 10Years ago when travelling with Tauck in Venice they gave a superb audio to many noisy situations, Regent it's time to embrace this in city locations.

Hubby and I have had the opposite problem with some bus tour guides. The loudspeaker is so incredibly loud that we have to hold our ears..it really is painful. Most guides will try to turn the sound down, to no avail, and on more than one occasion we have simply left the bus.

The more Regent cruises we take, the less included excursions are interesting to us.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

What you may need to consider is that the technology may not be there in developing countries.

London? NYC?

Sent from my iPad using Forums

I've been on some Regent excursions that use the whisper equipment and some that don't. I don't know for sure, but I think it is up to the local contractor. After all, when they are provided, it is the guide that hands them out, not Regent.

I took a Scenic river cruise last year, where all excursions are included, and Scenic provided the equipment for all of our tours. However, that ship spent the whole season on those rivers, and repeats the same excursions every week or two for 8-9 months. So they have more control. Other than Alaska and maybe the Caribbean, Regent ships are in these ports only a few times a year and thus don't have the same level of control.

Nevertheless, it would be good if they pushed their contractors to acquire and use the equipment more.

We are on the world cruise, have been to fifty some ports so far and have done a Regent tour of some sort in most of the ports.

Regent uses the same tour bus companies that the other ships in the port use. For example, in Bali the Regent buses and the HAL buses were lined up side by side. The only difference was the ships name on the bus tour# sign...same bus company.

As to listening devices, we have had them on some tours not others. This is a function of what the company offers, not the ship. On this trip we had them in Sydney and one other time, can't remember. It has been our experience on this trip that the guides have the volume miserably high on the bus and don't do much talking once we are at the site. In some countries they have been very hard to understand but we were warned about that as TC says.

Our experience has been that many Regent-included excursions (in wide ranging parts of the world) have been managed by Akorn, who presumably contract the most appropriate facilities available in that particular destination. I'm sure cwn noticed that the same buses/guides were used in three different South African ports recently, which suggests that such facilities are not exactly ten a penny in that area. In other places, we understand that local transport has been withdrawn from service for that one day to accommodate a couple of hundred cruise passengers who are in port. I think a modicum of patience is needed in these circumstances - when travelling the world to learn about far flung places, it's hardly surprising to find that things are not quite the same as at home or on an exclusive tour in a tourist hot spot.

Our experience has been that many Regent-included excursions (in wide ranging parts of the world) have been managed by Akorn, who presumably contract the most appropriate facilities available in that particular destination. I'm sure cwn noticed that the same buses/guides were used in three different South African ports recently, which suggests that such facilities are not exactly ten a penny in that area. In other places, we understand that local transport has been withdrawn from service for that one day to accommodate a couple of hundred cruise passengers who are in port. I think a modicum of patience is needed in these circumstances - when travelling the world to learn about far flung places, it's hardly surprising to find that things are not quite the same as at home or on an exclusive tour in a tourist hot spot.

Exactly. The same group of buses and drivers moving from place to place happened before Singapore and has continued since Cape Town.

Thanks for all your comments. Let me clarify a bit about the guide. I wasn't complaining about the guide's accent, just that passengers whose first language isn't English, might not understand anyone speaking English. And the countries I'd visited were France, Spain, Italy, and the UK, so hardly countries that are "developing".

Thanks for all your comments. Let me clarify a bit about the guide. I wasn't complaining about the guide's accent, just that passengers whose first language isn't English, might not understand anyone speaking English. And the countries I'd visited were France, Spain, Italy, and the UK, so hardly countries that are "developing".

Really interesting post. Since Regent is a U.S. company, English is the language spoken on their ships (although several crew members know at least one other language). So, if English is not the first language of some passengers and they want to understand the announcements, the shows and excursions, it may be better to look at cruise lines where they have multiple languages onboard (Hapag Lloyd for instance for German speaking passengers).

On our last cruise there were many German and Spanish speaking guests that, unfortunately, did not speak English well enough to understand what was going on. In my opinion, this was not the best cruise line for them. It would be like us going on Hapag Lloyd where, according to the H-L board, only 20 or so passengers speak only English.

Not trying to be harsh, but while much of the world speaks multiple languages, the majority of the people in the U.S. do not which is why some of us sail on U.S. based cruise lines.

Really interesting post. Since Regent is a U.S. company, English is the language spoken on their ships (although several crew members know at least one other language). So, if English is not the first language of some passengers and they want to understand the announcements, the shows and excursions, it may be better to look at cruise lines where they have multiple languages onboard (Hapag Lloyd for instance for German speaking passengers).

 

On our last cruise there were many German and Spanish speaking guests that, unfortunately, did not speak English well enough to understand what was going on. In my opinion, this was not the best cruise line for them. It would be like us going on Hapag Lloyd where, according to the H-L board, only 20 or so passengers speak only English.

 

Not trying to be harsh, but while much of the world speaks multiple languages, the majority of the people in the U.S. do not which is why some of us sail on U.S. based cruise lines.

Do people whose native language isn’t English really need advice as to how they may understand things better on another cruise line? I have confidence that guests going on Regent are intelligent enough to make a decision whether they wish to go on a cruise in which the sole language used in announcements onboard is English. I doubt that they need or appreciate advice about how this may not be the best cruise line for them.

And what if they only speak one of many languages from around the world that are not used for announcements on major cruise lines? Or what if they want to sail on “the most luxurious ship ever built" and they have difficulty understanding English announcements? Should they just stay home? Or maybe just eat cake?

This is a thread about included excursions. If people are exhibiting bad behavior on an excursion (such as annoyingly talking to each other during a guide's presentation), then call out the specific behavior rather than generalizing based on nationalities, language skills, or some other characteristic. I've seen US fluent English-speaking citizens talk way to loud and too much during a guide's presentation on several occasions. And, this behavior can occur on included excursions or individually purchased excursions so it isn’t specific to included excursions.

As for “not trying to be harsh,” what does that mean? I gather it means that there was some recognition of how the post might sound. So why post something that appears to generalize about international groupings of people?

CruisetheCs, don't think you read the post that I was responding to (or perhaps you misunderstood it). The issue was people whose native language is not English understanding tour guides:cool::cool:.

CruisetheCs, don't think you read the post that I was responding to (or perhaps you misunderstood it). The issue was people whose native language is not English understanding tour guides:cool::cool:.

I read the OP's post and your post several times before I responded.

The OP suggested people might ignore a guide because "Perhaps they don't understand the guide, or English isn't their language". I simply pointed out that fluent English-speakers also can be disruptive as I have observed. That well may be because the fluent English speakers also don't understand the guide, or the amplification system muddles the sound, or they have hearing loss, or they don't care about what the guide is saying (as was obviously the case on several occasions I witnessed, since the guide spoke excellent English), etc., etc.

The OP did not go on to suggest that travelers who don't speak English as their first language or those who can't understand English announcements should perhaps not travel on Regent or that they should perhaps go on other cruise lines or leave them no alternative if they speak a language not used by major cruise lines.

Point of clarification, Regent is actually a Panamanian Company with Headquarters in the United States. Even if Regent were a US Company, the US actually has no official language unlike most other countries. The reason English is the language on board is because Regent specifies that language and not because of where the company is registered or headquartered.

Agree with CruisetheCs that unfortunately people do not respect others no matter their native language by talking and otherwise disrupting when the tour guide is speaking. Unfortunately this disrespect is common on tours no matter the language, country, etc.

This getting too off point for me and I am certainly not going to argue the issue. We all perceive what a poster says in a different way and respond accordingly. Putting me (or anyone else) down for their perception or trying to argue every point makes no sense to me. If I perceived what Mahogany wrote incorrectly, they would chime in and say so (as they did previously on this thread).

CruisetheCs, don't think you read the post that I was responding to (or perhaps you misunderstood it). The issue was people whose native language is not English understanding tour guides:cool::cool:.

Maybe a good solution would be to allow non English speaking passengers to opt out of the excursions and get a credit for not taking them. Then they would be free to book private tours in their own language. And MAYBE, just maybe, it would start a movement to allowing that for all passengers.

Maybe a good solution would be to allow non English speaking passengers to opt out of the excursions and get a credit for not taking them. Then they would be free to book private tours in their own language. And MAYBE, just maybe, it would start a movement to allowing that for all passengers.

Great idea - thanks!

Just returned from Explorer through Mediterranean: the tour in Valencia started with a 90 minute tour of the city which was a lot of standing around. Walk...bathroom...walk...stand...market...walk...stand. Then we were dropped off at the Aquarium and told to meet the bus at 1:45. We were sitting on the bench at 1:30. 10 more people showed up. Bus pulls up but it's another group...we ask that tour guide...she said our bus had already left! Thank goodness there was room on her bus for all of us.

We did not take the guided tour in Carcassone, just used the bus for transportation there. One couple was 20 minutes late getting back but we did not leave them.

A number of the tours had their descriptions changed and we received a handout the first day about that. Wound up canceling several. One of my comments on the end-of-cruise card was to more closely match the actual tour to the description on line.

Loved the ship and the meals but not the tours.

MHF - really appreciated your post as this has been our experience too many times. We have received description changes on our last several cruises. While occasional changes are understandable, having multiple descriptions change on every cruise makes you wonder if they know what they are doing.

Since there are not enough Destination Services people to go on all excursions, nor can a person be dedicated from Corporate to go around the world checking out excursions, I just had an out of the box idea. Perhaps Regent could select passengers that have booked excursions to answer a Regent provided questionnaire that details their experience (number of buses - number of passengers on each bus - was there a Regent representative with you -- etc. etc. etc.). These selected passengers could receive perhaps 50% off of a Regent Choice excursion for their effort. Just a thought!

These selected passengers could receive perhaps 50% off of a Regent Choice excursion for their effort. Just a thought!

I want that job! I am also superbly qualified since I can compare the excursions on about a dozen other cruise lines including those marketed to speakers of other languages than English! ;)

Seriously, we are looking at a Regent itinerary we like both and excursions are very important to us. So far, we have had barely acceptable to excellent experiences with ship and private excursions around the world. We have had to shush passengers who spoke above the guide only once. It is truly annoying.

It sounds like the 'included' may lead to undesirable behavior among some passengers and to issues with the providers due to the large number of trip participants? HAL ships also meander around the world and must have the same provider issues, but passengers pay for the excursions separately.

MHF - really appreciated your post as this has been our experience too many times. We have received description changes on our last several cruises. While occasional changes are understandable, having multiple descriptions change on every cruise makes you wonder if they know what they are doing.

 

Since there are not enough Destination Services people to go on all excursions, nor can a person be dedicated from Corporate to go around the world checking out excursions, I just had an out of the box idea. Perhaps Regent could select passengers that have booked excursions to answer a Regent provided questionnaire that details their experience (number of buses - number of passengers on each bus - was there a Regent representative with you -- etc. etc. etc.). These selected passengers could receive perhaps 50% off of a Regent Choice excursion for their effort. Just a thought!

Good idea! What I found interesting was that Regent claims to have one of the best ratios of staff to passengers yet isn't doing much to have staff monitor their excursions (unlike some other mid-range lines that do much more of this monitoring). Regent needs to do a lot more monitoring as our experience was that the included excursions we did on Regent were the worst we have experienced on any line (we have cruised on about 8 seagoing lines and 1 river cruise line). In fact, they were so bad that for the last tour we cancelled the included one and paid for one of Regent's optional excursions which was good - it was at about the same level of quality we experience on other, mid-range cruise lines (like HAL, Cunard, Azamara, etc.). We wondered where the motivation is for Regent and its suppliers to monitor and improve the quality of excursions when they are included.

So, we agree with TC2 that Regent's excursions should be not be included. Our preference is that the price of the cruise should be reduced with guests purchasing the excursions they want to do.

One of the things we were looking forward to were the included excursions on our recent sailing which was our first on Regent. As long as the tours continue to be included we will not all that inclined to return to Regent....not saying we won't, but our overall experience didn't match up with our luxury line expectations or the price of the sailing.

Carnevale,

AMEN!!!!!