Shore Excursions - A suggestion

[islandhalls]

My husband and I were on a recent cruise on the Navigator, and we had a wonderful time, except there has to be a better way to manage shore excursions.

 

In this day and age, there has to be a better way to disseminate information, such as delays in departure times due to unforeseen circumstances, instead of just loading everyone in the Sevens Seas Lounge to wait with no communication. We had an afternoon excursion and we showed up at the appointed time. The excursion ended up leaving almost an hour late and it was not until then that we found out that the morning excursions were more than an hour late leaving due to delays in clearing immigration. The staff had to know that was the case, but did not tell us any thing and just wanted us to sit there and wait. I would have preferred to know the afternoon tours were delayed so I could go have a coffee or just relax in our suite.

 

How about this for an idea - it should be managed electronically. A channel on the television should have the current departure times and also give other information, such as if disembarkation is being delayed by customs or when there is open tendering. They could also have screens in many of the public areas with the current status and any other relevant news for the day. Sometimes you just cannot hear the morning announcements in the restaurants.

 

And don’t get me started about tours being delayed since "there is a couple missing" - again. If they are not there on time, leave them! This happened repeatedly on this trip and sometimes they would hold up the rest of us, who showed up on time, to wait for the laggards, penalizing us and rewarding their bad behavior. Oh well, just had to add that.

 

Cheers, I hope someone from Regent is listening!

[purpleally]

We waited 30 minutes last year because the guy running the tour insisted there were 7 more coming while we equally insisted they were not coming. Since it was "free" it didn't matter to the people who signed up whether or not they showed up. Frustrating.

[Travelcat2]

Regent is always reading but is not necessarily "listening":) If people would pay attention to the televisions, it could work but they won't pay attention to that any more than they pay attention to which bus is loading.

 

IMO, it is not the fault of the Regent crew on board -- it is the person who came up with the idea of included excursions in the first place. As has been mentioned, people who think it's free don't care if they show up or not and many do not have the courtesy to cancel. If you think the Navigator is bad -- you should see the Mariner and Voyager where everyone is in the theater -- walking in the "OUT" doors and out the "IN" doors, etc. They don't listen to the fact that if you don't get your tickets at the same time as the people you want to be with, you will be on different buses. Then, some rude individuals raise a big fuss when they see their friends on another bus and insist on changing buses.

 

IMO, included excursions will never work. There are some passengers (some have left Regent) who do not want to pay for excursions that they not want -- after all, these "free" excursions are being paid for in the cruise fare.

 

If Regent lowered their fares (as Silversea is doing for 2014 when they remove the on board credits that are currently being given to passengers for excursions), and charged passengers Regent's cost for the excursion, passengers would have their money at stake and would show up or cancel in advance. Then they could do away with everyone piling into the theater like cattle (in the case of of the Navigator, the Horizon Lounge) nonsense and handle excursions in the manner that other luxury lines do. I seriously doubt if there would be 600+ passengers booked on excursions every day as is currently the case on the Mariner and Voyager. It is simply not management the way it is.

 

Okay -- you can call me opinionated now:confused:

[JMARINER]

Regent is always reading but is not necessarily "listening":) If people would pay attention to the televisions, it could work but they won't pay attention to that any more than they pay attention to which bus is loading.

 

IMO, it is not the fault of the Regent crew on board ..................... They don't listen to the fact that if you don't get your tickets at the same time as the people you want to be with, you will be on different buses. Then, some rude individuals raise a big fuss when they see their friends on another bus and insist on changing buses.

 

.............................. charged passengers Regent's cost for the excursion, passengers would have their money at stake and would show up or cancel in advance. Then they could do away with everyone piling into the theater like cattle (in the case of of the Navigator, the Horizon Lounge) nonsense and handle excursions in the manner that other luxury lines do.................

 

T/C2, It wasn't any better when they charged for Shore Ex either, and I think it was even worst in some respects. When someone paid for the ShoreEx and then is left at the dock because they were late, there is a sense of entitlement; "I PAID for the ticket, I was only a few minutes late. I WANT MY MONEY BACK........." I have seen passenger berating crew to the point of tears, and I have spoken with the GM in their defense many times.

 

IMO In the last year, the staff has gotten much better about leaving on time. But I think that is a function of who the ShoreEx manager is on a given cruise. Some of them are better than others.

 

I am with you though. I do not like like the included excursion. I think overall the are much poorer quality than in the past when I paid for them. The buses are now packed and the tour operators seem to be second rate.

 

j

28/379

[RachelG]

Island halls, you all must have been on the same cruise with George and me where I sydney, the morning tour was over an hour late returning. We were also on an afternoon tour, to ft louisburg. I was really aggravated that we left so late, and that our tour ( which was excellent) was cut so short. Not fair to us, and ft louisburg is worth a whole day for sure.

 

Having been on regent before and after included tours, I clouding one of the first cruises with included tours ( total chaos), I must say they definitely manage logistics way better than when the included tours first started. But I agree, if they know every thing is running late, they should tell us. And people who don't show up on time should be on their own, no exception.

[KirkNC]

My husband and I were on a recent cruise on the Navigator, and we had a wonderful time, except there has to be a better way to manage shore excursions.

 

In this day and age, there has to be a better way to disseminate information, such as delays in departure times due to unforeseen circumstances, instead of just loading everyone in the Sevens Seas Lounge to wait with no communication. We had an afternoon excursion and we showed up at the appointed time. The excursion ended up leaving almost an hour late and it was not until then that we found out that the morning excursions were more than an hour late leaving due to delays in clearing immigration. The staff had to know that was the case, but did not tell us any thing and just wanted us to sit there and wait. I would have preferred to know the afternoon tours were delayed so I could go have a coffee or just relax in our suite.

 

How about this for an idea - it should be managed electronically. A channel on the television should have the current departure times and also give other information, such as if disembarkation is being delayed by customs or when there is open tendering. They could also have screens in many of the public areas with the current status and any other relevant news for the day. Sometimes you just cannot hear the morning announcements in the restaurants.

 

And don’t get me started about tours being delayed since "there is a couple missing" - again. If they are not there on time, leave them! This happened repeatedly on this trip and sometimes they would hold up the rest of us, who showed up on time, to wait for the laggards, penalizing us and rewarding their bad behavior. Oh well, just had to add that.

 

Cheers, I hope someone from Regent is listening!

 

I agree, this is most annoying!

[greta1]

Well, we did a 25 day Seabourn cruise to Asia in 2010, and we struggled trying to decide what to do in the many Asian ports we had never visited before. Seabourn was wonderful but we may have missed some of the 'basics' of the various cultures we visited. That's why we booked next week's Regent cruise to Egypt, Jordan, Arabia, and India. The excursions that are included assure that we will at least see some of the major city and National culture sites that seem so exotic to us. Yes there will be some lines and disorganization, but at least we'll get to tour some key places that we may have missed on our own.

[Travelcat2]

Well, we did a 25 day Seabourn cruise to Asia in 2010, and we struggled trying to decide what to do in the many Asian ports we had never visited before. Seabourn was wonderful but we may have missed some of the 'basics' of the various cultures we visited. That's why we booked next week's Regent cruise to Egypt, Jordan, Arabia, and India. The excursions that are included assure that we will at least see some of the major city and National culture sites that seem so exotic to us. Yes there will be some lines and disorganization, but at least we'll get to tour some key places that we may have missed on our own.

 

You have booked a great itinerary. The excursions in Egypt and Jordan were excellent (hope you will post your experience with India excursions as we will be there on the Voyager later this month). The excursions we have experienced in South America (Regent) were not worth the time we spent. We could have done better taking a bus around the city. We also sail on Silversea (without excursions included) and definitely prefer not paying for poor excursions (meaning...... paying for the excursions in our cruise fare). If you do your research before visiting a port, you can plan your own excursions and see much more than on some Regent cruises where all you see are the tourist markets. As I mentioned, an exception to this were our excursions in Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Oman.

[newlondon]

Jackie, We will be doing SYD-HKG in January. We, as you know, prefer SS and the excursions being extra. I must say, however the choices I was able to make are very exciting; I will be able to make an objective evaluation when we return. One of the keys to me will be how many Regent reps are on each tour. When we did VPO-BA on SS they even used dance hosts to help out. It was terrific.

Bill

[Patti22]

newlondon,

On our recent London to Monte Carlo Regent cruise, I saw at least one Regent rep on our tours. They used Destinations staff, entertainers and even the ladies from the boutique. I felt everything went pretty smoothly.

[Travelcat2]

Jackie, We will be doing SYD-HKG in January. We, as you know, prefer SS and the excursions being extra. I must say, however the choices I was able to make are very exciting; I will be able to make an objective evaluation when we return. One of the keys to me will be how many Regent reps are on each tour. When we did VPO-BA on SS they even used dance hosts to help out. It was terrific.

Bill

 

I look forward to reading your comments -- hope the excursions exceed your expectations!

[newlondon]

Thanks Patti22, I am happy to hear that. To me the key was how SS took care of a passenger who had a heart attack in Torres del Paine, Chile. I assume Regent would do the same: but; one always wants to know.

[pingpong1]

Hello TC (and others) - I understand your point about suggesting that Regent eliminate the "free excursions" (which we pay for anyway) and letting people choose (and separately pay for them). The premise however, is based upon the assumption that Regent would actually "reduce" the cost of future cruises by however much they were previously charging to have those excursions included. I don't have any faith that this would actually happen. And this would be just one more "premium" that would be eliminated, for no particular financial benfit to the customer. I'm not willing to believe that Regent actually would credit their total/full (or even partial) savings back to a new/lower fare structure.

 

A trip to the grocery store shows us all that the packages/quantities of almost every product on the shelf has subtley shrunk, while the cost has remained the same (if we're lucky), or has actually gone up during the same time period. Just try to find a half-gallon container of ice cream anymore :(

 

We have seen recent examples of Regent "cutting back" on some of the premiums previously offered (value of hotel credits, "free" internet minutes, etc.) that used to be offered, while fares have increased during the same timeframe. Would it not also be tempting for Regent to take your suggestion, eliminate the (free) excursions, while NOT reducing the cost of the fares by the same or any amount - or perhaps just claiming that they were "going to hold the cost of fares steady instead of increase them a previously planned" (a claim that we customers could not verify) without ever actually reducing them at all, or only reducing fares by a small amount on some of the more expensive itineraries?

 

If Regent were to take your suggestion and eliminate "free excursions", the skeptic in me says that customers would not see this elimination manifested in dramatic (or even minimal) reductions in future fares. There just wouldn't be included excursions anymore. For now at least, I would guess that Regent's market research department is telling them that offering "free excursions" is one of the things that brings in new customers and seperates their brand from the rest of the market.

 

Just wondering?

[rallydave]

Hello TC (and others) - I understand your point about suggesting that Regent eliminate the "free excursions" (which we pay for anyway) and letting people choose (and separately pay for them). The premise however, is based upon the assumption that Regent would actually "reduce" the cost of future cruises by however much they were previously charging to have those excursions included. I don't have any faith that this would actually happen. And this would be just one more "premium" that would be eliminated, for no particular financial benfit to the customer. I'm not willing to believe that Regent actually would credit their total/full (or even partial) savings back to a new/lower fare structure.

 

A trip to the grocery store shows us all that the packages/quantities of almost every product on the shelf has subtley shrunk, while the cost has remained the same (if we're lucky), or has actually gone up during the same time period. Just try to find a half-gallon container of ice cream anymore :(

 

We have seen recent examples of Regent "cutting back" on some of the premiums previously offered (value of hotel credits, "free" internet minutes, etc.) that used to be offered, while fares have increased during the same timeframe. Would it not also be tempting for Regent to take your suggestion, eliminate the (free) excursions, while NOT reducing the cost of the fares by the same or any amount - or perhaps just claiming that they were "going to hold the cost of fares steady instead of increase them a previously planned" (a claim that we customers could not verify) without ever actually reducing them at all, or only reducing fares by a small amount on some of the more expensive itineraries?

 

If Regent were to take your suggestion and eliminate "free excursions", the skeptic in me says that customers would not see this elimination manifested in dramatic (or even minimal) reductions in future fares. There just wouldn't be included excursions anymore. For now at least, I would guess that Regent's market research department is telling them that offering "free excursions" is one of the things that brings in new customers and seperates their brand from the rest of the market.

 

Just wondering?

 

No need to wonder Pingpong 1. You are spot on with your observation. Include me as one who would like included excursions eliminated. Am 150% sure that any fare reduction, if there even is such from removing included excursions would be not forthcoming. After all, the value of the included excursions varies depending on who you ask at Regent. I have been told $150, others have been told $120 or $130 and even with the supposed reduction in costs of extra cost excursions Regent is still charging an additional amount that would usually cover the true cost of buying the excursion privately. Destinations is surly a large source of profits for Regent so don't look for Regent to turn their back on proven profits vs. unproven profits if all excursions are extra costs.

[Travelcat2]

As always, you bring up good points. Regent would probably not lower fares if they ended the "free excursion" programs. On the other hand, I truly doubt if they would even consider ending a program that has enticed HAL, Princess and Celebrity customers to Regent. It seems that luxury cruise lines believe they can keep raising fares indefinitely.

 

With the astonishing 2014 fares that Silversea has just published, it will be interesting to see how luxury cruisers react. Do not feel it would be correct to link the new prices here...... but suggest you take a peek at the Silversea website. Note: It is not fully functional at the moment but you can see itineraries and fares without detail. I bring this up because Regent has implemented several changes that will cost passengers more money (in addition to higher fares). Silversea has removed some inclusions and dropped the fares. While I am sounding more and more as if I prefer Silversea, this is not the case. If included excursions were removed and prices were held to where they were in 2013 for a year, I'd be quite pleased.

[JMARINER]

No need to wonder Pingpong 1. You are spot on with your observation........................................................... . Destinations is surly a large source of profits for Regent so don't look for Regent to turn their back on proven profits vs. unproven profits if all excursions are extra costs.

 

I too agree with Pingpong 1. Regent has worked out this marketing model and it makes money for them. They are not going to change anytime soon no matter what is written here. Regent is targeting Princess, Celebrity, Hal, etc cruiser to upscale their experience and their is a huge market.

 

As far as being a big profit maker, it is now. But in the old Radisson days the ShoreEx worked on a very slim mark-up, maybe 15%. Now they are expected to make that huge profit. As you know, a little research shows the listed ShoreEx prices are usually very inflated. For example, Atlantis Sub in Barbados; Regent site list at US$149.00 but at the Vendors website the prices is $91.50. A 50% markup for handling and s short bus ride seems a little much.

 

J

28/379

[jhp]

This has been a very successful program for Regent, attracting many new guests, so I have no reason why they would ever end it. I didn't like it either, but they did this in 2009, I think, when the recession hit the bottom low for bookings. Didn't raise their prices, just threw it in to attract more business, a good way for people to know exactly what they would get, with no more charges. The next year, the prices went up to reflect the extra amenity.

 

Before that for many years, I would get together with friends I knew would be on board, and we would arrange private tours that per person, were less expensive than what Regent was charging. It was a great way to go, in a van with 6-8 people. Or a private taxi for two or more, just tell them where to take you from the port. Those days are long gone. Regent must do what it can to make a profit. So if I want to circumvent them from time to time and do my own thing, I do. Particularly in Asia.

[room010]

Bali - Melbourne, Dec 2012

Only 4 ports of call, Exmouth, Geraldton, Perth and Kangaroo Island. Apart from Perth there are only two tours listed for the other ports and, needless to say, they are all oversubscribed and we are waitlisted. Regent still hasn't explained how they plan to accommodate too many passengers on too few tours. I have a horrible feeling it will be a case of "bad luck". But we've paid for these tours, so will we get some kind of credit? No, didn't think so.

[wripro]

If Regent eliminated the "free" excursions and did not lower prices they would soon see huge defections to other lines. Silversea has just introduced Privilege fares which are cruise only, eliminating the OBCs which were meant to compete with Regents included excursions. Fares are not only lower than Regent's but guaranteed so that if they are lowered after booking they will be matched.

[Travelcat2]

If Regent eliminated the "free" excursions and did not lower prices they would soon see huge defections to other lines. Silversea has just introduced Privilege fares which are cruise only, eliminating the OBCs which were meant to compete with Regents included excursions. Fares are not only lower than Regent's but guaranteed so that if they are lowered after booking they will be matched.

 

Not sure what the luxury cruise industry is thinking right now. As you mentioned, Silversea is dropping OBCs (and airfare from the looks of website) while Seabourn is adding airfare. Regent just keeps making small adjustments that end up costing the passenger more money.

 

Our upcoming cruise will be most interesting as Regent will take (pre-cruise) what I'm guessing to be a minimum of 400 passengers to the Taj Mahal for 3 days -- 3 different hotels -- meals -- tours........ This will more than likely be great or the worst decision they have ever made. If it works, it will be yet another enticement to sail on Regent.