Tour Excursion Questions (MERGED)

[bbncat]

Graham
Thank you for two excellent cruises so far, both to different parts of the Mediterranean Eastern and Western. The only annoyance we have are that more of your excursions seem to be aimed at very fit people than those who find a more leisurely pace or limited walking more appropriate to them examples include your Rome / Florence / Mykonos stops. In the examples the less strenuous excursions were filled first. I appreciate exciting excursions have glamour but balance is important looking at our fellow travellers on your beautiful ships.
Thanks graham

[Cruisergill37]

Hi Graham,
Nothing but praise for the two cruises in the Med on Mariner 2012 and 2013. Also for booking staff in the Uk and at Bolsover cruise club who seem to work in great partnership with you.
We have hooked Beiging to Bangkok fir March next year, having arranged our own flights with Emirates.
My questions are:
1. Why is it not possible to have paid-for tour options confirmed on disembarkation day. I am told we will know a few days before but that, "it will probably be a city tour." On the strength of "probably" we have booked a different trip on the first day in Bangkok. We would be v disappointed if we can't do a city tour. Also as the paid tours on disembarkation day include airport transfer the details must surely be known earlier. We are travelling Business class so have the option of chauffeur to airport but can't confirm times until we know about trips.

2. We have totalled 18days with Regent to date and I understand free internet is triggered after 21. I would like to think that we could access free wifi for the i pad part way through this cruise as we will have family and friends and, in particular, grandchildren who will be plotting our progress!

Look forward to your reply and thanks,
Gill

[fair weather golfer]

On a recent holiday we tried to book a tour before we left home and we were told we were waitlisted.
In the event there was no waitlist people where either on or not on the tour.

On the day of the tour it was first come first served.

Why can you not organise a proper waitlist with numbering so you know where you are in the queue and when the day arrives those who are waiting are allocated a place according there number the queue.

[gillianrose]

[quote name='bbncat']Graham
Thank you for two excellent cruises so far, both to different parts of the Mediterranean Eastern and Western. The only annoyance we have are that more of your excursions seem to be aimed at very fit people than those who find a more leisurely pace or limited walking more appropriate to them examples include your Rome / Florence / Mykonos stops. In the examples the less strenuous excursions were filled first. I appreciate exciting excursions have glamour but balance is important looking at our fellow travellers on your beautiful ships.
Thanks graham[/QUOTE]

I have noticed that as well. I want tours that are not strenuous, yet are not simply bus tours. Ideally, a tour would include a nice meal (not banquet style) and an activity such as a boat ride or garden stroll or wine tasting. Edited November 5, 2013 by gillianrose

[b&m@11]

Dear Mr Sadler, have sailed with a number of "Premium " lines but taking our first cruise with Regent on Mariner Buenos Aires to Rio 20/12/ - 4/01/2014 inc pre and post cruise.
Booking confirmed 28/07/13 nearly five months ahead of cruise sailing, sufficient time we thought to take advantage of "free excursions. Having reserved straight away the excursions we are still wait listed on four out of seventeen i.e. 23% unavailability.
We understand that Regent "frequent cruisers" get priority, but the fact that cabins have been on promotion and are still being sold indicates that there are possibly double / treble excursion bookings or...possibly insufficient excursion capacity has not been allowed for by Regent or another reason that we are not aware of. We have queried this with Regent but have been asked to be patient.

As I said first timers with Regent and not quite what we expected. We would welcome your views.
Thank You

[arc-de-ciel]

[quote name='b&m@11']Dear Mr Sadler, have sailed with a number of "Premium " lines but taking our first cruise with Regent on Mariner Buenos Aires to Rio 20/12/ - 4/01/2014 inc pre and post cruise.
Booking confirmed 28/07/13 nearly five months ahead of cruise sailing, sufficient time we thought to take advantage of "free excursions. Having reserved straight away the excursions we are still wait listed on four out of seventeen i.e. 23% unavailability.
We understand that Regent "frequent cruisers" get priority, but the fact that cabins have been on promotion and are still being sold indicates that there are possibly double / treble excursion bookings or...possibly insufficient excursion capacity has not been allowed for by Regent or another reason that we are not aware of. We have queried this with Regent but have been asked to be patient.

As I said first timers with Regent and not quite what we expected. We would welcome your views.
Thank You[/quote]


This has been my experience also. I have recently booked my second cruise on Regent (over 5 months in advance of sailing date) and found that several excursions I would have chosen are already fully booked. I have reserverd alternatives rather than being wait lisited as I am worried that I will miss out altogether knowing that many more guests, including ALL with cabins below concierge level, are yet to book.

Also, as a related topic I would like to question the term "Free Unlimited Excursions." ALL the free excusions offered depart at approx the same time. On a cruise with six port days you can only book a maximum of six excursions even if they only last for 2 hours each. There is NO possibility of booking one AM and a second PM.

The advertising (I quote from a brochure sitting in front of me) states:
Western Caribbean - 7 night cruise - up to 30 free excursions
This particular cruise only has four days in port so I expect guests can only participate in FOUR free excursions. Surely this is misleading advertising?

[Graham Sadler]

[FONT=Times New Roman][FONT=Verdana]Dear Gill,[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][FONT=Verdana]We generally do a offer a city tour option but we often wait until closer in to glean a better idea as to how many guests will be participating. If it is over 100 guests then generally (pending availability) we will secure hospitality in a hotel. However, if there are only 30 guests with late flights then we will offer a tour. In most instances the final determination is always reached just prior to the cruise. I always suggest to check with Destination Services on Embarkation and if there is not tour offered then you can easily make changes to their choice of pre booked tours. Arrangements on disembarkation day are always on a case by case basis as it is always uncertain of the number of late flights and varies from city to city.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][FONT=Verdana]Kind regards[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][FONT=Verdana]Graham[/FONT][/FONT]

[Graham Sadler]

Dear Fair Weather Golfer,

[FONT=Times New Roman][FONT=Verdana]Thank you for your post. We have arranged proper waitlists in the past but our prior experience has illustrated that the vast majority of the waitlists were no-shows on the day as they had re-booked on other tours. [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][FONT=Verdana][/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][FONT=Verdana]Graham[/FONT][/FONT]

[Graham Sadler]

Dear Gill,

With regards to your second point, your new benefits will become active on your next voyage as this is the voyage where you reach and surpass the 21 day mark!

Kind regards

Graham

[Graham Sadler]

Dear Graham,

Many thanks for your kind comment. You raise an interesting point. We do try to balance our excursions in a number of ways including: duration, historic, cultural, sights, shopping, adventure and of course variable walking requirements. Our goal is to make our offering as interesting and as varied as possible.

Graham

[Senior Citizen]

We will be taking our first Regent cruise in a few weeks.

Since we booked late, most of the excursions we want are waitlisted. So, we put our names on the waitlist and booked alternate excursions rather than spend the port days on the ship. I went online today and when I look at the excursions we are waitlisted on, the message is that we cannot book this tour because it conflicts with another tour we have booked. Does this mean that the secondary 2+ hour tour we booked now precludes us from getting the 8 hour tours we really want? We are confused.

If I read the comments on this board correctly, we can board the ship and sign up for any open spaces on tours regardless of where we are on the waitlist? Is this correct? I just want to know how to proceed because we really do want some waitlisted tours.

I would think that Regent would figure a way to reduce the cost of the cruise for people who book late since most excursions are already full. Otherwise, why would people book late? In our case, we saw an email regarding an itinerary that we really liked, not realizing that we would have to book 4 full days of private tours because the ship's tours are full. We are hoping that 3 additional tours we are waitlisted on will clear or I'll have to go back to the drawing board and book more private tours. Perhaps from this experience, I will know better to not book late cruises on Regent. We don't drink so for us the value in the all inclusive is in the tours.

[Travelcat2]

[quote name='Senior Citizen']We will be taking our first Regent cruise in a few weeks.

Since we booked late, most of the excursions we want are waitlisted. So, we put our names on the waitlist and booked alternate excursions rather than spend the port days on the ship. I went online today and when I look at the excursions we are waitlisted on, the message is that we cannot book this tour because it conflicts with another tour we have booked. Does this mean that the secondary 2+ hour tour we booked now precludes us from getting the 8 hour tours we really want? We are confused.

If I read the comments on this board correctly, we can board the ship and sign up for any open spaces on tours regardless of where we are on the waitlist? Is this correct? I just want to know how to proceed because we really do want some waitlisted tours.

I would think that Regent would figure a way to reduce the cost of the cruise for people who book late since most excursions are already full. Otherwise, why would people book late? In our case, we saw an email regarding an itinerary that we really liked, not realizing that we would have to book 4 full days of private tours because the ship's tours are full. We are hoping that 3 additional tours we are waitlisted on will clear or I'll have to go back to the drawing board and book more private tours. Perhaps from this experience, I will know better to not book late cruises on Regent. We don't drink so for us the value in the all inclusive is in the tours.[/QUOTE]

Strongly suggest you call Regent and speak to their excursion people. They can explain why you cannot book a tour that you want because of possible time conflicts. We have had the difficulty you have had online -- it was fixed once we called.

In terms of booking late....... agree that it causes difficulty. Fortunately for you (unfortunately for me), Regent will continue to add buses for the same excursion if the place they are going can accommodate it. The unfortunate part is that you have multiple busloads of people arriving at the same place -- sometimes at the same time.

Side note: If drinking isn't important to you, I would book Oceania. The money you save by booking Oceania can be put into their more expensive tours. They offer wonderful excursions but they are pricey. If excursions were important to me, I would definitely sail on Oceania again.

[Senior Citizen]

[quote name='Travelcat2']Strongly suggest you call Regent and speak to their excursion people. They can explain why you cannot book a tour that you want because of possible time conflicts. We have had the difficulty you have had online -- it was fixed once we called.

In terms of booking late....... agree that it causes difficulty. Fortunately for you (unfortunately for me), Regent will continue to add buses for the same excursion if the place they are going can accommodate it. The unfortunate part is that you have multiple busloads of people arriving at the same place -- sometimes at the same time.

Side note: If drinking isn't important to you, I would book Oceania. The money you save by booking Oceania can be put into their more expensive tours. They offer wonderful excursions but they are pricey. If excursions were important to me, I would definitely sail on Oceania again.[/QUOTE]

Good idea about calling Regent directly. I've been doing everything through my TA.

We have cruised with Oceania 14 times but we were really interested in Regent's itinerary and guest lecturers on this cruise.

We don't usually book the cruise's excursions. However, the ones that we have booked (especially the ones in Alaska last July) were terrific. I would say that 90 percent of our touring has been in small groups---tours that I have organized or ones that we have joined. We're really not fans of the huge bus load concept.

Since we booked this cruise so late, I was hoping to take Regent's excursions rather than spending time researching and organizing small tours. I did organize four days of private tours but I can't do much more since I also have a responsibility to our service club's Thanksgiving food drive.

I'm sure that we will enjoy Regent just as you enjoyed Oceania.

[hondorner]

[quote name='Graham Sadler']Dear Gill,

With regards to your second point, your new benefits will become active on your next voyage as this is the voyage where you reach and surpass the 21 day mark!

Kind regards

Graham[/quote]
That's a very definite change in policy since I achieved 17 days in 2010. At that time, and in the year ort two following when I was actively checking, my Silver status would have been granted at the [I]beginning[/I] of my next cruise, as I would be passing 21 days during that cruise. It was always a uniue Regent perk. I'm disappointed to see it has been changed...if it has.

[rallydave]

[quote name='hondorner']That's a very definite change in policy since I achieved 17 days in 2010. At that time, and in the year ort two following when I was actively checking, my Silver status would have been granted at the [I]beginning[/I] of my next cruise, as I would be passing 21 days during that cruise. It was always a uniue Regent perk. I'm disappointed to see it has been changed...if it has.[/quote]

Don,

The change did occur in September 2010. I was lucky and my cruise from Seward to Beijing began the day the new policy went into effect and I in fact crossed the 20 nite threshold during that cruise and I was considered SS Silver for the entire cruise and had free internet from day one. Not sure why you didn't get the upgrade to silver but, I assure you that the perk to move up did go into effect in mid September 2010. Don't remember the exact date but, am positive about that change.