Help! Regent Air/Book Own? Newbie.

[jusjoan]

Hi friends,

 

You have been so helpful so far! But, I was planning on taking the $600/person credit for a trip to Alaska next summer and now am wondering if I am doing the right thing.

 

I need to plan my trips through multiple destinations (both ways...4 different airports) and plan to arrive 1 day prior to embarkation and then leaving out of a totally different city from deembarkation.

 

So, I am thinking I will book my own flights. If I purchase my own travel insurance do I need to worry about anything else?

 

I didn't think about transportation from airport to ship or from hotel to ship. Not sure what to expect.

 

This is a very ambiguos as I am not sure what to expect. Basically I want to alter my flight times/cities/arrival and departure dates. Take the credit, buy insurance on my own, our use Regent?

 

Thanks!!

 

You Rock!!!

[mimito4]

I'm a newbie too, so can't answer, but there is a thread just a few below that discusses your very question:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1211588

[jusjoan]

I'm a newbie too, so can't answer, but there is a thread just a few below that discusses your very question:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1211588

Thanks, but the previous post just confused me even more. I am having a problem navigating through all the suggestions. I planned to go with the $600 credit/person but am confused if I am doing the right thing. Is there more to the air fare than meets the eye? Do I need to consider transfers to the ship/air port? Plus, I want to fly in 1 day ahead and book my own flight 2 days later out of Seattle vs Vancouver. Can I do all this with the $100/person charge?

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I don't believe that Regent will fly you out of an airport different from the disembarkation port. That is, they want to fly you from Vancouver, not Seattle. (I guess it's possible since they are so close, you should ask Regent.)

 

If you book Regent air and go in a day early, that's called a "deviation". You pay $100 pp extra for this, but you lose your transfer to the ship. And you have to arrange your own hotel.

 

I think the thing to do is ask Regent if they will route you from Seattle.

 

And then price booking your own flights, and compare the pricing. You have time to decide.

 

I haven't done Alaska so I don't know the special problems involving transfers.

[Travelcat2]

The first thing you need to consider is what you would do if there is a problem with your flight. This is first and foremost in my mind because, as I write this, the cruise lines are going a bit crazy trying to reroute people due to a strike in Paris. A similiar thing occured when we were on our Alaska cruise in May -- there was a British Air strike and Regent had to reroute many passengers. If you do not have Regent Air, you are responsible for figuring out what to do.

 

Another consideration is transfers. If you decide to deviate (book your own air), you give up transfers to and from the ship.

 

While booking your own air has been quite popular in the past, this has changed since there have been so many problems (volcano's, strikes, etc.) As Wendy stated, you cannot fly out of an airport that is not the one that you disembark from. That is an automatic deviation.

 

What I think is very important here is that you have a TA that specializes in luxury cruises. Your TA should have all of the answers for you. Using the same TA you would use for land travel or mass market cruise travel unfortunately does not work.

 

Between having a knowledgeable TA and CruiseCritic, it should be easy to make your cruise/air/land decisions:)

[Plummy]

We are flying in from the UK next May and using Regent Air, so the situation may be different but here is my contribution to the discussion! We booked directly with Regent not through a TA. Regent booked us on flights into Vancouver on British Airways, and have booked us into the Sutton Place hotel (at their cost) as they wanted us to fly in the day before. For the return journey, they booked Continental from Anchorage to Seattle and then onward to London also with Continental. The timings meant we would have arrived home exhausted (which we didn't want after our fabulous cruise) and Continental is not my favourite airline. On speaking with Regent, it was very easy to mix and match. So what we have on the return journey is the Continental flight from Anchorage to Seattle with transfers etc included, then on arrival at Seattle we are on our own in terms of transfers, hotel, etc. The flight back to the UK is with British Airways, overnight the next day giving us a day in Seattle. We paid extra to upgrade for the overnight flight but were credited the original flight cost. All of the flights are booked/paid through Regent Air. The only additional cost in terms of flying was the bags on Continental - an international flight would have included the cost of checking bags, with our routing we have to pay but this seemed a small price to get what we wanted. We did discuss opting out of the inclusive flights and getting credit but it would have cost us a great deal more money.

[smilingcruiser]

I have a question - if we book air with Regent paying a deviation fee so we can stay extra days, I know we lose transfers, etc. What I want to know is is Regent still responsible in case of strikes, volcano, or whatever?

 

Just wondering.

[OrpingtonT]

We are flying in from the UK next May and using Regent Air, so the situation may be different but here is my contribution to the discussion! We booked directly with Regent not through a TA. Regent booked us on flights into Vancouver on British Airways, and have booked us into the Sutton Place hotel (at their cost) as they wanted us to fly in the day before. For the return journey, they booked Continental from Anchorage to Seattle and then onward to London also with Continental. The timings meant we would have arrived home exhausted (which we didn't want after our fabulous cruise) and Continental is not my favourite airline. On speaking with Regent, it was very easy to mix and match. So what we have on the return journey is the Continental flight from Anchorage to Seattle with transfers etc included, then on arrival at Seattle we are on our own in terms of transfers, hotel, etc. The flight back to the UK is with British Airways, overnight the next day giving us a day in Seattle. We paid extra to upgrade for the overnight flight but were credited the original flight cost. All of the flights are booked/paid through Regent Air. The only additional cost in terms of flying was the bags on Continental - an international flight would have included the cost of checking bags, with our routing we have to pay but this seemed a small price to get what we wanted. We did discuss opting out of the inclusive flights and getting credit but it would have cost us a great deal more money.

 

That sounds a good deal.En route to Alaska, 4 years ago we flew to Vancouver the day before sailing, were put up at Pan Pacific for the night and on disembarkation, flew Alaskan Airlines Anchorage to Seattle and same evening BA, Seattle to LHR. The return was hectic. Though we caught the BA flight after a dash through Seattle airport, our cases did not and we had the hassle of missing luggage. The cases did however turn up at our door a couple of days later.

 

I know many of our US friends disagree (they prefer to use TA's as middlemen), but I find the UK office staff most accommodating and helful.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I have a question - if we book air with Regent paying a deviation fee so we can stay extra days, I know we lose transfers, etc. What I want to know is is Regent still responsible in case of strikes, volcano, or whatever?

 

Just wondering.

 

Ultimately Regent is NOT responsible, no matter who books your air. Really.

 

But Regent, if they book your air, will try very hard to rectify the situation for you, and get you home. As they did this summer when the volcanic ash hit Europe. I believe this pertains even if you deviate. It's goodwill really, good PR.

[Travelcat2]

I know many of our US friends disagree (they prefer to use TA's as middlemen), but I find the UK office staff most accommodating and helful.

 

According to my British DH, TA's are not quite the same in the UK (unless this has changed). Most of us use TA's for some additional benefits (a percentage of the cruise fare refunded, on board credits, etc.) Our TA will also coordinate with Regent for us and is our advocate in case something goes wrong. Somehow booking directing with a cruise line sounds like the fox watching the chicken coop (American expression). As with any company, Regent wants to sell out all of their cruises. TA's on the other hand, want to ensure that their customers have the best experience possible. For instance, they will let you know which suites are not in the best position (noisy or vibration prone).

[jwas1]

We just completed a 2 week cruise on Voyager from Dover to Monte Carlo. We chose Regent's air and were glad we did. We were scheduled to fly from Nice 9/23/10 the day of a general transportation strike in France. Regent was extremely helpful in keeping us informed of the status of our flight. They had a representative on our bus to the airport who arranged to have all luggage transferred form the bus into the departure area. Even though she was not required to do anything else, she stayed around over an hour and helped us with the AirFrance people. Fortunately, ours was one of the handful of flights to leave Nice. We wondered if that was somehow related to Regent's clout with the airline. When we arrived in Paris, there was an AirFrance rep present to guide us through Charles DeGaulle in time for us to just make our flight to Dulles. The stewardess on our flight said we had the rep because of the size of our group booked by Regent. While such episodes are thankfully infrequent, we were very glad we booked our air through Regent. By the way, the cruise was great.