Advice for Booking Thru Regent Air

[poss]

Dreps: Your view/intention was perfectly clear-- and it was very thoughtful of you to post.

[gone cruisen]

Help!! is anyone still reading this board? We've cruised about a dozen times but just booked our first Regent cruise with air. Embark in Cape Town Dec 3, ship leaves Cape Town Dec 4th. Regent's air has us arriving Dec. 3 at 11:05 p.m.!! We'll miss the whole first day on board. Is this normal??

Carol

[gone cruisen]

Help!! is anyone still reading this board? We've cruised about a dozen times but just booked our first Regent cruise with air. Embark in Cape Town Dec 3, ship leaves Cape Town Dec 4th. Regent's air has us arriving Dec. 3 at 11:05 p.m.!! We'll miss the whole first day on board. Is this normal??

Carol

[ChatKat in Ca.]

You actually don't miss the whole day. Only part of it. You can't board until later in the afternoon so you miss dinner and the evening's entertainment.

 

If you want to go in a day earlier - which I recommend on any cruise that is over seas to allow for missed connection, you have to deviate and pay a fee plus hotel and you lose the Regent transportation from the airport to the hotel and then to the ship. The extra day earlier allows you to feel fresih for boarding and from the travel.

 

But to pay all that money and maybe miss a connection and then miss the ship isn't fun. Your TA should have suggested that you go in early to avoid this. Regent, like it's sister line, Oceania, overnights in port to have a wider range of flight times available to bring passengers in without them having to pay for forced hotel stays.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I agree I would have done a deviation in this case. It really sounds like Regent is skimping on air arrangements, too bad; I had seen this in the past on the Paul Gauguin, with the ship being held in port until midnight so that late flights could be accommodated. But I agree you don't miss much, an afternoon to relax and dinner--unfortunately it will mean you will be pretty useless the second day, considering jetlag.

[gone cruisen]

TA said we can do a deviation ($100. each) to change leaving one day earlier, with a 12 hr delay in London, getting into Cape Town at 9 in the morning (assuming we just have to wait for first Regent pick up at airport) Boarding starts at 2. Trying to decide if all this is worth 9 extra hrs on the ship. I'm ready to cancel and look for something else. I'm very dissapointed with our first Regent experience so far. As I told the TA, had we known what the air option was before yesterday I would not have booked this cruise. As I see it Prorating the cost we loose about $580. (on the cruise price) for taking their air.

[Travelcat2]

TA said we can do a deviation ($100. each) to change leaving one day earlier, with a 12 hr delay in London, getting into Cape Town at 9 in the morning (assuming we just have to wait for first Regent pick up at airport) Boarding starts at 2. Trying to decide if all this is worth 9 extra hrs on the ship. I'm ready to cancel and look for something else. I'm very dissapointed with our first Regent experience so far. As I told the TA, had we known what the air option was before yesterday I would not have booked this cruise. As I see it Prorating the cost we loose about $580. (on the cruise price) for taking their air.

 

When you deviate, you lose your transfer. We deviated on our Cape Town to Rio cruise last year -- getting in the day before embarkation. We paid for the transfer to our hotel and to the ship the next day. I wouldn't cancel as this is one of the best itineraries we have done with Regent! A lot of the difficulties with air routing lately is due to the airlines. We cannot go directly from Vancouver or Seattle to New York -- something you could do easily only a couple of years ago:)

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Hmm. So leaving a day early does not get you a night in Capetown and gives you a 12 hour layover in London (and no doubt during the day when you're tired)? Wow. What route did they propose to fly you in the first place? Where are you starting from?

 

Note that you will not get a transfer to the ship included if you do a deviation. You will be on your own. You can usually board by noon, but you probably would be better off perhaps hiring a driver and having a bit of a tour before boarding.

 

I can understand your disappointment, but how did you expect Regent to handle the air for a difficult-to-reach destination?

[DaveFr]

Carol,

 

Did you ask your TA if you can get your original itinerary if you leave on Dec. 1st?

 

Thu Dec 02 Klm Royal Dutch KL 0662 Houston, Tx 4:15 PM T

Fri Dec 03 Klm Royal Dutch KL 0662 Amsterdam, Netherlands 8:25 AM T

Fri Dec 03 Klm Royal Dutch KL 0597 Amsterdam, Netherlands 10:30 AM T

Fri Dec 03 Klm Royal Dutch KL 0597 Cape Town, South Africa 11:05 PM T

 

That itinerary is the fastest to Cape Town from Houston and will get you into Cape Town on Dec 2nd at 11:05 pm. Getting in late at night and immediately going to sleep always helps me to adjust to the new time zone and minimize jet lag. I would just get a room at an airport hotel, get a good night's sleep and take a taxi to the ship the next day around noon.

 

Make sure your TA fully explores the deviation possibilities with the Regent Air Department.

 

Dave

[gone cruisen]

Wendy, Here is our reservation as it stands now

 

Thu Dec 02 Klm Royal Dutch KL 0662 Houston, Tx 4:15 PM T

Fri Dec 03 Klm Royal Dutch KL 0662 Amsterdam, Netherlands 8:25 AM T

Fri Dec 03 Klm Royal Dutch KL 0597 Amsterdam, Netherlands 10:30 AM T

Fri Dec 03 Klm Royal Dutch KL 0597 Cape Town, South Africa 11:05 PM T

Whenever we've done cruise/air before we've always gotten in the morning of the cruise. I shouldn't have assumed that since we were now traveling with a top tier cruise line that it wouldn't be without complications. I was naievely thinking that the extra that we were paying for a Regent cruise/air would eliminate some of the headaches I usually have to attend to when planning a cruise.

 

Dave, I like your idea of seeing if we can do the deviation same itinerary but one day early with the night at the airport. Can we still keep Regent's return and transfers? Or does the deviation change everything?

Carol

[Travelcat2]

If you can get the flight the previous day, and arrive in the middle of the night -- as scheduled, there is a hotel across the street from the airport for $66/night (looks clean although small). You could rest, have their included breakfast and take a cab to the ship at noon (it really boards at noon - not 2:00 as someone stated). People in South Africa are so friendly and helpful and fortunately speak English. Here is a link to the hotel https://www.citylodge.co.za/tl.htm

 

In terms of your return transfer and flights, they remain intact.

[gone cruisen]

Thanks Travelcat, this sounds like the best idea so far. TA is checking with Regent. Going with their original air there is also a problem if there are any delays. Getting in the middle of the night-we'd loose almost 2 days of our 14 day cruise since one does need a bit of sleep!

[cruiseluv]

You actually don't miss the whole day. Only part of it. You can't board until later in the afternoon so you miss dinner and the evening's entertainment.

 

 

Maybe technically this is correct, but by the time gone cruising gets to the ship it'll be past midnight. She/He will be lucky to be in bed by 1 am. So , indeed, she/he is missing that first day. Frankly, I find those arrangements pretty appalling.

[gone cruisen]

I Agree Cruiseluv! Not having good fuzzy feelings about our first Luxury Cruise or Regent and we aren't even on the ship yet. Now we are looking at $100 each deviation, plus hotel and transfer on our "all inclusive cruise" which was over 10K. to begin with. It's not even all about the $ . It's about doing what is right. If they won't tell me their air info until now then I shouldn't have to pay a penalty to cancel the whole trip now or to change something.

Carol

[mariners]

gone cruisen, What air would you like Regent to book? We usually choose our flights and then give our TA the best three options that we have found. She then checks with Regent and we decide whether we want to pay the air deviation fee or stick with whatever air that Regent has provided. We flew KLM from Toronto to Amsterdam and Amsterdam to Cape Town on a schedule similar to your schedule but went two days early. Friends flew from the USA through London and paid for a day room. No matter what route you fly, getting there is gruelling. In my opinion, it is well worth the deviation fee and the additional cost of staying an extra night.

We loved this cruise so much that when we were given the opportunity to take the itinerary a second time as a replacement cruise, we jumped on it; I would go back again.

Good luck with your air arrangements.

[cruiseluv]

Thanks Travelcat, this sounds like the best idea so far. TA is checking with Regent. Going with their original air there is also a problem if there are any delays. Getting in the middle of the night-we'd loose almost 2 days of our 14 day cruise since one does need a bit of sleep!

 

Carol,

 

Are you happy with the return flights Regent have you on? If you decide to pay the deviation you could also change thsoe if you don't like them or if there are better ones.

[gone cruisen]

Mariners, the fact that you loved this itinerary is very encouraging. I would have prefered to find out what air travel plans Regent had up front at the time of booking. Then I would have realized that going with their air we'd miss the first day and I could have made a decision accordingly-either go with it, pay the deviation, or not book at all and look at other options for cruising. It never occured to me that if embarkation was Dec. 2, we wouldn't get onboard until Dec.3rd. using their air! I feel misled about a 14 night all inclusive Regent cruise and at this point we don't have too many options.

Carol

[Travelcat2]

Mariners, the fact that you loved this itinerary is very encouraging. I would have prefered to find out what air travel plans Regent had up front at the time of booking. Then I would have realized that going with their air we'd miss the first day and I could have made a decision accordingly-either go with it, pay the deviation, or not book at all and look at other options for cruising. It never occured to me that if embarkation was Dec. 2, we wouldn't get onboard until Dec.3rd. using their air! I feel misled about a 14 night all inclusive Regent cruise and at this point we don't have too many options.

Carol

 

You actually could have found out the routing quite some time ago. Does your TA regularly book with Regent? The reason that I ask is because having a TA with a background in luxury cruising would have let you know a few months ago that this information was available. Have you found out whether you can arrive 24 hours earlier?

[gone cruisen]

Sorry if this is done twice-didn't see first post

Travelcat2-We just booked this cruise Aug.27 with final payment Sept. 4. We were told that we wouldn't see the air info until Sept. 19.

Sounds like Regent can do the same itinerary but 24 hrs earlier if we pay the deviation. Evidently this decision must also be made soon or it will be too late to change from Regent's original deal.

Carol

[Travelcat2]

Sorry if this is done twice-didn't see first post

Travelcat2-We just booked this cruise Aug.27 with final payment Sept. 4. We were told that we wouldn't see the air info until Sept. 19.

Sounds like Regent can do the same itinerary but 24 hrs earlier if we pay the deviation. Evidently this decision must also be made soon or it will be too late to change from Regent's original deal.

Carol

 

We are deviating on our January 11, 2011 cruise and were told through our TA how they were going to book us 3 or so months ago. The information is available -- wish you had been told about this a while back. I think you will be much happier if you fly out 24 hours earlier and are able to board the ship at noon the next day. Also, the shopping area near the ship is very interesting to see. You could board the ship, have lunch upstairs and go back outside and walk around since your suite won't be ready until 2:30 p.m. As I've said, this will be an amazing cruise. Let us know what you decide.

[gone cruisen]

Thanks for the good advice Travelcat2! Do you think we can book the hotel just using a credit card? Do we need to exchange currency for Cape Town? If so, where? What about Walvis Bay - same currency? We've never been to South Africa and no further south than Columbia. For Europe we just used the ATM on the ship most of the time and the exchange rate wasn't too bad. Can we use your TA for our next cruise??

Carol

[Travelcat2]

Thanks for the good advice Travelcat2! Do you think we can book the hotel just using a credit card? Do we need to exchange currency for Cape Town? If so, where? What about Walvis Bay - same currency? We've never been to South Africa and no further south than Columbia. For Europe we just used the ATM on the ship most of the time and the exchange rate wasn't too bad. Can we use your TA for our next cruise??

Carol

 

There should no problem booking the hotel using a credit card. Also, you could stay at a hotel closer to the ship if you prefer -- the prices are quite a bit higher there. Just thought that after the long flight that you'd appreciate a hotel close by so you could get some rest.

 

According to gocurrency.com, the South African Rand is accepted in Namibia. They also have their own currenty (the Nimibian dollar). Unfortunately, when we were there there was not enough time to purchase anything. I found it difficult to find little tourist items in either Namibia or South Africa. Our tour only stopped at one shop -- it was at the beginning and I incorrectly assumed that there would be plenty of other places.

 

Wish you could use our TA for your next cruise. . . however, CruiseCritic does not allow us to post that information. If you do some research on the web on luxury cruising, you'll find TA's that specialize in that area. It makes a huge difference to have someone help guide you through the booking process. With the help of CruiseCritic, I think you're doing quite well.:)

[mariners]

TC2, If I remember correctly, you took a township tour in Walvis Bay which sounded like an excellent tour but did not include the shopping.

I took a different tour to Swakopmund and this tour provided an opportunity for shopping, in fact, it revolved around shopping. All of the larger shops accepted credit cards and everything was set price. The locals had a market where they sold wood carvings, jewellry, paintings, etc. down by the waterfront and a park area where the Regent bus was parked. At this market, American dollars were accepted and bartering was expected. If you spent cash in the stores, either South African Rand or Namibian dollars were necessary.

All of the stores and restaurants we went to in the waterfront area in Cape Town accepted credit cards. If you don't use credit cards, South African Rand will be needed. We ordered a bit of currency before we left home. We used an ATM in the tourist information area in the clock tower building at the waterfront. I believe we also used a currency exchange in the shopping mall.

Carol, unless things have changed, Regent does not have ATM's onboard the ship so you won't be able to access cash that way onboard.

[PaulaJK]

Re: Cape Town ...There were several currency exchange bureaus in the area of the dock/wharf/mall in addition to ATM machines. You will need

local currency for taxis and any location where you can't use your credit card.

[Travelcat2]

TC2, If I remember correctly, you took a township tour in Walvis Bay which sounded like an excellent tour but did not include the shopping.

I took a different tour to Swakopmund and this tour provided an opportunity for shopping, in fact, it revolved around shopping. All of the larger shops accepted credit cards and everything was set price. The locals had a market where they sold wood carvings, jewellry, paintings, etc. down by the waterfront and a park area where the Regent bus was parked. At this market, American dollars were accepted and bartering was expected. If you spent cash in the stores, either South African Rand or Namibian dollars were necessary.

All of the stores and restaurants we went to in the waterfront area in Cape Town accepted credit cards. If you don't use credit cards, South African Rand will be needed. We ordered a bit of currency before we left home. We used an ATM in the tourist information area in the clock tower building at the waterfront. I believe we also used a currency exchange in the shopping mall.

Carol, unless things have changed, Regent does not have ATM's onboard the ship so you won't be able to access cash that way onboard.

 

Wow -- what a memory. You are correct == we loved the Township tour in Walvis Bay! We also spent a day in Cape Town before boarding the ship and took a private excursion. At the beginning, it stopped in one store where I found some lovely jewelry that would have made nice gifts. However, I didn't have a lot of Rands and thought that we certainly would find things to purchase after we obtained more local currency. Unfortunately, this did not occur. When we got home I tried to find a way to locate that little shop. . . but, was not successful!