Late flight home after disembarking cruise

Regent generally does not contract with British Airways for South American itineraries. It may be different for the U.K.

As the OP is from the UK it is probably best to let the OP report on which airline Regent have booked them with.

Regent (UK) do contract with BA for flights to/from South America and have flown us back from Rio to LHR in the past with BA. I believe that is the only direct non-stop flight.

All the talk about “BA going downhill” is often exaggerated.

IMO, BA have stood still with their quality leaving other airlines, notably Middle East airlines, to overtake them in customer service.

BA management have made some bizarre cost cutting decisions but this has enabled their profitability to improve, ensuring the airlines survival within the IAG company to which it now belongs.

As for Lima (I am not sure of the relevance to the OP’s question) I think that the only BA flight is to/from London Gatwick

As a still to cruise [but it is happening as we have just paid in full] Regent first timer, from the UK, I have found the lack of information on the start and finish of our cruise, lacking.

We have a forced overnight hotel when we fly in. No details as of yet, despite needing to do our ESTA's which ask for your first nights address. Regent's answer, 'You will find out nearer the departure date'

We have a valid ESTA. but the advice is to obtain your ESTA before paying any significant monies out, as if you are declined an ESTA it can take up to 9 months to get an answer on a VISA.

We have also been told that we will find out what arrangements have been made for our disembarkation onboard as we get nearer to the port, but as our flight is 23.45, I'm already researching alternative arrangements.

Here is what Regent did on our February 2017 cruise that disembarked in Rio ;since the majority of flights from Rio leave at night,the majority of passengers had this situation. Regent provided a large meeting/ ballroom at the Sheraton and some water and limited coffee tea( ran out quickly) .The room was very cold so everyone left and found seats throughout lobby etc.

We ate lunch and just read our books. Other people took taxis etc.One couple tried to use Sheraton pool and were told "no ,guests only".This was a very poor choice of hotel mainly because of its isolated and dangerous(at base of a large favella) location. Lots of unhappy people and bad end to a nice cruise.(ps our lunch was at the Sheraton and purchased on our own)

Regent also "parked" us at the Sheraton (on Leblon Beach) in 2012, so it sounds like this is the normal location that they use for guests with late flights from Rio.

The hotel gets good write-ups on TripAdvisor - it just needs all hotel facilities to made available to Regent guests while they are waiting.

Here are some views from the Sheraton Rio from 2012 (weather was warm but very wet!)

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

.................... and the nearby Favela:

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

And for anyone not familiar with the word "favela", it is "a Brazilian shack or shanty town; a slum."

Wow. I thought favela was an ice cream flavor.

Thank you Flossie009 for the great pictures. As you can see Rio and Copocabana/Ipanema beach and their accompanied hotels are far in the distance. Their is no place to walk to from this Sheraton except the favella( not recommended)! The beach is lovely but is also a public beach and favorite for the favella residents(again not recommended) . No showers or lockers/safes were made available. There are many hotels located in the Copacabana and Ipanema area that would have been more desirable and much safer.

Thank you Flossie009 for the great pictures. As you can see Rio and Copocabana/Ipanema beach and their accompanied hotels are far in the distance. Their is no place to walk to from this Sheraton except the favella( not recommended)! The beach is lovely but is also a public beach and favorite for the favella residents(again not recommended) . No showers or lockers/safes were made available. There are many hotels located in the Copacabana and Ipanema area that would have been more desirable and much safer.

flossie's post reference a cruise 6 years ago. It is possible that Regent no longer uses this hotel. The hotel in Rio where Regent had our luggage, etc. was next door to a restaurant and a shopping mall (cannot recall the name of the hotel). Even though there were places to walk, we weren't comfortable walking too far - especially since we had disembarked the ship - had our passport on us and valuables in our carry-on (which was likely safe in the hotel). Rio is the only city in the world where we are not comfortable walking around on our own and should have booked a day room so that we could be in a safe, air conditioned room where we could order room service, relax and wait for our transfer to the airport. OTOH, the caipirinha and lunch that we had next door were over the top wonderful!

As I posted earlier in this thread, this was the same Sheraton that Regent used for our disembarkation day stay in February of 2017. We did follow up in emails and through our TA.

I sincerely hope that Regent uses a different hotel this year.

As I posted earlier in this thread, this was the same Sheraton that Regent used for our disembarkation day stay in February of 2017. We did follow up in emails and through our TA.

I sincerely hope that Regent uses a different hotel this year.

Sorry to hear that they are using the same hotel as years ago. There have been so many negative comments about that hotel. In any case, be careful - wherever you go!

Hi again all...some very interesting experiences.....I knew I could count on CC folks to be helpful.

We are travelling Manchester....LHR....Cape Town and on return Rio....LHR...Manchester. There are very few direct flights to CT from U.K. and the same back from Rio. We came back with Air France last time and I wouldn’t go down that road again.

All flights arranged through Regent are with BA and we are travelling Premium Economy both ways.

I booked through a very reputable TA, a six star one!!!! that I have used before and she did say about the late flight home......but on questioning she assured me that Regent would look after us very well..

Had I known various bits of info that I have gleaned from this thread I would have gone down GOARMY’s route of the night before !!

With regards to the Favellas, our private guide took us around one of them on our last visit and I have to say that because we were with her we felt safe....but Rio is the only place in the world so far that I had serious safety concerns about before we went!

It all went well and we loved it so off we go again....

The info I got about departure day was from TA whonrang Regent but I think maybe my next course of action will be to contact Regent directly and push a bit harder!!

Joyce

jollyjoyce - first I want to mention that we've done the Cape Town to Rio itinerary twice and loved it (except the part of waiting for the flight at or near the hotel). We had an added problem the first time we flew out of Rio. We had a 9:30 p.m. flight and the bus was leaving the hotel at 5:00 p.m. for what should have been an hour's drive. However, it was a holiday and we did not get to the airport util after 9:00 p.m. They raced us through x-ray (meaning they did not x-ray our bags) and held the plane.

In terms of LHR to CPT flights, our BA flight was wonderful but arrived a bit early. We found a private guide (very reasonable) that picked us at at the airport - took us on a lovely tour (down to where the penguins are) and delivery us to the hotel around 1:00 p.m. (but we still had to wait to check in). So, as bad as BA's reputation has become, I would rather fly them to CPT than some other airlines.

We disembarked in Rio at the end of our cruise on Mariner from Buenos Aires in February this year. Regent offered the choice of transfer to a hotel on Copacabana Beach for the day or a coach trip out to Niteroi and around Rio. We chose the trip and were pleased we did, even though we had seen some of the sights before and it included a few hours in a shopping centre for lunch and to kill time. The people who went to the hotel were happy enough with the choice they made, I think they went as a group for lunch. It still left plenty of time to kill at the airport! Regent always makes it clear that these things are dependent on numbers and are only finalised at the end of the cruise. We have been in this position with late returning flights in Vancouver, San Francisco, Barcelona and probably other places and whereas you are definitely killing time and the tours are geared to the pace of the slowest we have always felt that Regent does its best.

Just to say that Rio was fine, we were there just after Carnival when there had been issues but we took reasonable precautions, never felt threatened in any way and did not hear of any Regent pax having any problems.

We disembarked in Rio at the end of our cruise on Mariner from Buenos Aires in February this year. Regent offered the choice of transfer to a hotel on Copacabana Beach for the day or a coach trip out to Niteroi and around Rio. We chose the trip and were pleased we did, even though we had seen some of the sights before and it included a few hours in a shopping centre for lunch and to kill time. The people who went to the hotel were happy enough with the choice they made, I think they went as a group for lunch. It still left plenty of time to kill at the airport! Regent always makes it clear that these things are dependent on numbers and are only finalised at the end of the cruise. We have been in this position with late returning flights in Vancouver, San Francisco, Barcelona and probably other places and whereas you are definitely killing time and the tours are geared to the pace of the slowest we have always felt that Regent does its best.

Just to say that Rio was fine, we were there just after Carnival when there had been issues but we took reasonable precautions, never felt threatened in any way and did not hear of any Regent pax having any problems.

Thank you very much for the info as recently as Feb 2018.

Can you tell me what time your flight was please and if after the tour they took you to the hotel or just straight to the airport ?

Our flight home is 11pm out of Rio so not just a few hours to kill.

So,glad to hear that you had a choice though and even better that Regent did look after you.

Thank you very much for the info as recently as Feb 2018.

Can you tell me what time your flight was please and if after the tour they took you to the hotel or just straight to the airport ?

Our flight home is 11pm out of Rio so not just a few hours to kill.

So,glad to hear that you had a choice though and even better that Regent did look after you.

BA 0248 from Rio to LHR departed 10pm on 25th Feb. From memory we got to the airport about 5pm so still had a couple of hours before the check in opened. Just a warning, be careful not to drop any litter, including old luggage tags, when you are in the airport as the anti-littering laws are rigorously policed!