If I don't need the 'free' air

[silvercruiser]

Living in Florida I could do a rt. from FLL without needing to fly. How does Regent adjust the cruise price when their ads offer 'air included'?

[jhp]

You work this out with your TA when booking. The air credit will appear on your invoice. I do it often since I use FF points for flights.

[alexandra cruiser]

knock off air fare,,,think it was $500 ea...plus,,,$200 or so for Free hotel,,,we drive down ,,park in nearby garage on site,,and off we go..no problems...leaving in 2 wks..yeah...PS..if you get there around 2,,,not much of wait to board,,have late lunch,,then room ready.:)

[DaveFr]

For 2012 Caribbean cruises, the air credit is $400 per person. The hotel credit is either $200 or $300 per person. Your TA or Regent can give you the exact amount of the credits for the cruise you want to book.

[clydesdalecharlotte]

Have your travel agent call to knock off air/hotel. We got a $1300 credit for air & $600 credit for hotel for our trip to Alaska. We got air/hotel for a quarter of that price so we were quite happy :)

[Hambagahle]

For European cruises if you are in a butler suite the air credit is $2000 pp. This is very handy to those of us who live in Europe and cannot use Regent's air programme anyway!

[rogerstone]

If you book in the UK for a cruise departing from the UK and don't need a flight, do you get a credit please? Not sure what happens in the UK as I can't see anything in the booking conditions.

[nanook21]

IMHO, you should never take Regent Air! They use consolidators for the flights, and you have no say over the airline, routing, etc.,unless you pay a deviation fee. Take the credit off your cruise price instead - your TA can do this, as others have posted. Much better to book your own air with your TA. As for the pre-night hotel, you can book your own for less than half the cost of the Regent add-on, and you'll get that credit, too.

[Responder]

IMHO, you should never take Regent Air! They use consolidators for the flights, and you have no say over the airline, routing, etc.,unless you pay a deviation fee. Take the credit off your cruise price instead - your TA can do this, as others have posted. Much better to book your own air with your TA. As for the pre-night hotel, you can book your own for less than half the cost of the Regent add-on, and you'll get that credit, too.

 

However, should anything go wrong during the trip, if you use Regent, they will take care of you. Sure, there are exceptions, but in the big picture with travel being as hectic as it has become, we feel comfortable using them.

 

I don't see anything wrong with consolidators....we have been travelling for many years and have had some excellent results with them on many occasions, and if Regent actually uses them and I'm not sure they do so, they certainly have more clout than I.

[OrpingtonT]

However, should anything go wrong during the trip, if you use Regent, they will take care of you. Sure, there are exceptions, but in the big picture with travel being as hectic as it has become, we feel comfortable using them.

 

 

Asolutely right. We were put up for 5 nights in a good class hotel free of charge on one occasion when the return air space was shut down and had our flights re-arranged for us. Others who had made their own air arrangements had to fend for themselves. Recently, a relative was flown to Athens early and accommodated in a top class resort hotel because of a strike in Greece.

 

You can save money by not using Regent if all goes well. you pays your money and takes your choice.

[alidor]

I AM a travel agent and a very long time one as well. I normally am not a fan of cruise line air but I find Regent's to be very good. By paying the deviation fee, you can tell them which flights YOU want and that is a great bonus. I assume they don't have agreements with every carrier out there but they seem to have enough. I also specialize in doing a lot of air as I do a lot of corporate travel and can come up with some great fares (and, no, you won't find them on any websites) but in some cases, I could not undercut Regent's air prices, especially if business class is involved.

 

Cruise line air is definitely not the answer all the time, but in this case, with Regent, it's worth a look and comparison.

[nanook21]

For some destinations, like Europe, I absolutely agree with all of you that Regent air might be useful. We even used Regent air with a deviation back in January for our S.America/Panama with a flight back from Lima. But next year we're doing Regent's NZ/Australia, and they want $8000 extra for Business Class upgrades - on top of the regular Air already "included" in the cruise fare. I don't think so, I can do better on my own. Yes, we take our chances that nothing will go wrong, but I'm not paying that kind of money when I can do my own air on points - and we've got enough points piled up to do many flights B-class to wherever, so just not interested in paying Regent that much for it. (But that's just me.) If their B-class upgrade was more reasonable, I'd be jumping on it.

[alidor]

That $8000 is excessive - is that correct? I've never seen a figure that high before. In your case, I would definitely do my own air and take their air credit.

[rallydave]

That $8000 is excessive - is that correct? I've never seen a figure that high before. In your case, I would definitely do my own air and take their air credit.

 

Really confused by that $8K figure as well. Know the business add-on for Europe is $999 pp each way making a couple pay $3996 additional for business air which is a good deal.

 

From Regent's site, thought the business air add-on for Asia was $1,499 pp each way but, looked at the Regent site today and sure enough in 2012 Sydney to Auckland and reverse is $1,999 pp each way and increases to $2,499 in 2013. Highest prices for Business for these 2 ports. Something about air fares must be increasing for that part of the world.

 

The following is a link to the Regent Business Air add-ons:

 

http://www.rssc.com/specials/details.aspx?SpecialId=1d9e519e-41f0-4b39-bf30-0ae16d72546f

[alidor]

About that air - airlines don't put out schedules until 11 months out. Are you within that time frame? If not, you might not be getting accurate air fare (make that probably not). If outside this time frame, Regent may not have all their contracts in place.

[rallydave]

About that air - airlines don't put out schedules until 11 months out. Are you within that time frame? If not, you might not be getting accurate air fare (make that probably not). If outside this time frame, Regent may not have all their contracts in place.

 

alidor,

 

While you are absolutely correct about schedules and pricing not being released by airlines until 330 days out, Regent is not under those constraints and since they provide schedules a year and a half out or so and also provide their prices based upon their best guesses as to the market out there even without air contracts in place. For sure Regent is going to provide prices that protect their bottom line and they do include business air add-ons in the link I provided out thru mid year 2013.

 

Seem obvious based on a comparison of pricing on the link that Auckland-Sydney is significantly higher than other destinations in SE Asia/Oceania both in 2012 where pricing should be known and then in 2013 where it appears Regent is expecting an air price increase. Sure these prices are also factored into the cruise fares since coach air is included in those rates as well.

 

Doubt Regent will be reducing Business Air add-ons so the prices are what you will pay if you want them and usually Regent air is less than purchasing yourself. It remains to be seen if that will be true for this route in 2012 and especially 2013.

[nanook21]

On my Regent invoice for the 2013 sailing out of Auckland on Jan 9/13, the "included" air that we are being credited for is $1700 pp ($3400) and if we had kept the air and added the business class add-on, it was an extra $1999 per person, each way (a total of $7996 extra). That is totally outrageous, and we will be doing our own air, for sure.

[Linda_and_Bob]

Hi Nanook,

We traveled into Auckland January '11 and out of Sydney February '11 non-stop to/from San Francisco. Those economy plus tickets cost less than $1700/person but business class would have been more $4000 each, especially for non-stop flights. Maybe your TA can get better prices; I made my own arrangements...

Linda