Regent's excursions

[Judyumcer@aol.com]

How are Regent's inclusive excursions?

[nana541]

Hi Judy, in most cases they are excellent and then sometimes they miss the mark... Kind of depends on the port and many factors.

 

What itinerary are you doing?

[Travelcat2]

Agree with laster poster. IMO, any cruise line that tries to manage up to 700 passengers on excursions on port days has quite a challenge. Our experience with paid Regent excursions has been positive for the most part. It has been our experience that different parts of the world make a big difference. For instance, the best inclusive excursions we have taken were in the MIddle East. The worst in South America. Europe was okay -- one excursion had 16 buses going to the same place -- five of which parked at the same place for a rsetroom stop. Paid excursions in Europe were quite good. Note: European excursions are based on our back to back cruises from April 23 - May 13, 1012.

 

Regent is doing what it has to do to gain new customers. If you are prepared to wait in line to turn in your excursion ticket for a bus ticket and wait again for your bus to be called......... then wait in line again to get off of the ship, you may have a good to very good excursion. If you expect a luxury experience on excursions you may be disappointed.

 

We enjoy the Regent experience -- the wonderful crew that provides excellent service, the food, the ships -- especially the beautiful suites....... but, IMO, you get what you pay for with "free" excursions.

[nana541]

Just one point to consider....while Regent is managing 700 guests at each port, many if not most of the other cruiselines are managing anywhere from 2000 to 4000 or more....I'll take Regent any time over those other cruiselines!

[Chloe's mom]

It has been our experience that different parts of the world make a big difference. For instance, the best inclusive excursions we have taken were in the MIddle East. The worst in South America.

quote]

 

I'm planning on doing the BA to Rio cruise, which excursions would you say were good, if any, and which were skippable?

[Travelcat2]

Just one point to consider....while Regent is managing 700 guests at each port, many if not most of the other cruiselines are managing anywhere from 2000 to 4000 or more....I'll take Regent any time over those other cruiselines!

 

Really do not want to disagree with you but have difficulty comparing Regent, a luxury product, to other cruise lines. We were on one excursion with a group from a mainstream cruiseline -- Regent ended up giving us a credit that was double the cost of the excursion (this was pre-included excursions).

 

nana54, I don't believe you sailed on Regent when they did not have "free" or "included' excursions. It was completely different then it is now. Small groups -- no waiting in the theater, well-managed. Passengers new to Regent since included excursions were added tend to like it. Some passengers have left Regent due to included excursions (amongst other things) and are now posting on other luxury boards. The bottom line for some of us isn't even the crowded excursions, long lines, etc. When you cruise a lot and are repeating ports, having excursions included in the fare makes no sense. You can opt out of air, you can opt out of the hotel and receive a modest credit....... however, we are stuck with included excursions.

 

There is no way that Regent will end included excursions in the foreseeable future. I'll just keep hoping that they will allow opt out at some point.:confused:

[nana541]

I am NOT comparing Regent to those Mega ships that is the point.....and yes our first Regent cruise did not include tours ..... We did Regent tours and private much as we do now....

 

Regent is only trying to get 700 guests (450 on Nagigator) off on tours each morning as opposed to the many 1,000's that can be in port...which is why we love Regent and will not cruise on those other ships....for me the included tours, well I can take them or leave them, we do enough Private tours that I frankly would rather not pay for what I don't use!

[Travelcat2]

I am NOT comparing Regent to those Mega ships that is the point.....and yes our first Regent cruise did not include tours ..... We did Regent tours and private much as we do now....

 

Regent is only trying to get 700 guests (450 on Nagigator) off on tours each morning as opposed to the many 1,000's that can be in port...which is why we love Regent and will not cruise on those other ships....for me the included tours, well I can take them or leave them, we do enough Private tours that I frankly would rather not pay for what I don't use!

 

Okay -- I get it now;)

[rarin2go]

In my review of our recent Mariner cruise (Istanbul to Venice) I wrote that while included excursions were 'no doubt an attraction to first time luxury cruisers' they did create 'a treadmill effect where every day brings a new port and an excursion to take if you want to get your money’s worth', and 'It was unfortunate that we were accompanied for much of the itinerary by two much larger ships. This resulted in real crowding in many of the sites visited – particularly Ephesus and Athens. Of course this is a popular itinerary but it was hardly high season – perhaps these sites are reaching their capacity and consideration might be given to the inclusion of more places ‘off the beaten track’ especially if Regent’s desire is to continue to attract repeat travellers.'

I am no expert on cruising - my experience is limited to Regent - but as TC2 rightly points out the included excursion experience is mass-market rather than luxury. But including less frequented ports and more exclusive excursons would probably push the bottom line price beyond what the market would bear?

[English Tim]

On our Barcelona to Monte Carlo voyage there will be several ships, including Carnival Breeze, in both Livorno (Florence, Pisa etc) and Civitavecchia (Rome), so these ports will be very busy. We are taking the special train excursion in Rome, so the crowds shouldn't affect us.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

...

I am no expert on cruising - my experience is limited to Regent - but as TC2 rightly points out the included excursion experience is mass-market rather than luxury. But including less frequented ports and more exclusive excursons would probably push the bottom line price beyond what the market would bear?

 

Well I can't see why using less-frequented ports would raise costs. Of course you have to persuade people that that's a good thing.

 

As for the more exclusive excursions, they already have these. But yes, they cost something, and it's a gamble whether people like us will pay the freight to do that (we did.)

[Palmetto Lady]

This is our first time on Regent since they have included excursions. In booking tours, I did not see anything in the special excursions that were especially interesting to me.

[Travelcat2]

We have been doing the exclusive tours and, for the most part, have been enjoying them. The groups are generally smaller and many times the excursion includes lunch. Both the "included" and exclusive tours suffer from getting to places at the wrong times. On an exclusive tour we were drinking wine and eating delicious prosciutto, cheese, salad and homemade bread at 9:00 a.m. We have also had to wait for lunch until 2:30 p.m. after leaving the ship at 8:00 a.m. -- everyone was quite hungry. Regent is doing this to avoid multiple buses getting to places at the same time. Perhaps when there are multiple buses going on a tour that includes lunch, they can select more than one restaurant to accommodate everyone.

 

Note: We have not taken the exclusive tours with a cost of $300 - $600 per person. If anyone has, I'd love to hear your review.

[WesW]

Hi Judy,

 

Regent's included excursions to exotic itineraries (e.g., Asia, Middle East) are a plus for us. Our excursions provided with the Hongkong to Bangkok cruise on the Voyager last April, and especially the included excursions provided again on the Voyager with Dubai to Athens less two months ago, were outstanding. Appropriately, one of the decisive reasons we selected again to cruise on the Voyager this December from Mumbai to Bali is the included excursions offered on this voyage to Asia.

[findacruise]

Hi Judy,

 

Regent's included excursions to exotic itineraries (e.g., Asia, Middle East) are a plus for us. Our excursions provided with the Hongkong to Bangkok cruise on the Voyager last April, and especially the included excursions provided again on the Voyager with Dubai to Athens less two months ago, were outstanding. Appropriately, one of the decisive reasons we selected again to cruise on the Voyager this December from Mumbai to Bali is the included excursions offered on this voyage to Asia.

 

We enjoyed our Middle East excursions too and that's one of the reasons we chose Regents Beijing to Bangkok cruise in March - along with the included Angor Wat post-cruise, the wonder cabin, the.....etc. glad to hear you had good excursions in Asia. Really looking forward to this cruise.

[WesW]

Hi JoAnna/findacruise, recall fondly your vivid posts of your Sanctuaries in the Sands/Middle East Voyager cruise last December. Two of your ports on you March Asia cruise we stopped at last year. Halong Bay was one of our fav ports ever (firstpix below) recommend getting up early, grabbing a cup of joe, heading to front of Observation deck to enjoy the Halong Bay sail in as the view the Iconic rock formations as the Voyager passes them by. We enjoyed the Kayaking in Halong Bay excursion. In Ho Chi Minn City (Saigon) we did Cu Chi Tunnels and the Mekong River in Depth excursions (second photo below)

 

 

[mythologist]

I think Regent does a fairly decent job overall with their excursions. We mostly enjoyed everything on our recent cruise from Venice to Rome in May (well, except for the grotto!) as well as our UK cruise in August. However, having just finished booking our excursions for our first Caribbean cruise, all I can say is, "You have got to be kidding!" I am not looking for a rain forest canopy tour in any of the islands we are going to, but I was bored looking at the list. We have been going to the islands for land vacations every winter for the last eighteen years and these islands have so much more to offer. No wonder people think that when you've seen one Caribbean island, you've seen them all.

[nana541]

IMHO excursions in the Caribbean no matter who the cruiseline is, are all the pits!! Touristy and cheesey and there is nothing Regent can do about it, that is just what is available! :)

[Travelcat2]

The Caribbean is a good example of a destination that many passengers would opt of out "included" excursions if there was an option to do so.

[commodore2010]

The Caribbean is a good example of a destination that many passengers would opt of out "included" excursions if there was an option to do so.

 

I don't even leave the ship in the Caribbean unless its San Juan.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I agree for the most part. What I want to do in the Caribbean, aside from San Juan which is lovely, is snorkel. I haven't run across many ship's excursions that do good snorkelling tours, which means that I would be better served finding my own. Options are good.

[mythologist]

I'm glad to hear it's not just me. Our Caribbean vacations have always offered us virtually everything we could possibly want from a vacation. From snorkeling to steel drum bands to history and more. During the winter season our climate is at it worst and we've got to get out of here. We're just burned out on the long flights and 8 hour layovers in Miami and thought it sounded so nice to try a cruise and only have to fly to Miami. Guess we'll make the best of it! :)

[Judyumcer@aol.com]

We are booked for April 1, 2013 from Thailand to India. It is such an expensive cruise; I think we will take advantage of their tours. We have been on Regent 4 or 5 times and mostly booked private tours. We have never been to this part of the world. I hope the busses are air conditioned; I've heard it will be very humid!

[xrvlcruiser]

Judy,

 

I was on another luxury line recently and paid for my tours. I thought those tours were on a par with the included tours on Regent. Very little difference.

 

I have found over the years that the the quality of the tours varies more with the port/part of the world than anything else.

 

Peggy

[highlandshores]

We are getting ready to book either the 7 or 10 day cruise Barcelona to Monte Carlo in September. Is there any way to look at the excursions that are still available. I cannot locate it anywhere on their site. Not sure the price difference for the 3 extra days are worth it, but gotta make a decisions FAST!

Thanks