When does Regent put poor cruises on sale?

[gnomie1]

First of all - please excuse the title of this thread - it should read "When does Regent put poor selling cruises on sale", for some reason my edit did not go through

 

I have recently learned that a number of Regent cruises scheduled to sail this summer are still "wide-open" and even with the various promotions, such as including business class air for all suites (but also raising the prices) and reducing the children's fare, there is still substantial availability. Does anyone have the inside scoop as to how and when these cruises might go on sale and to whom?

 

I have family in the UK and they belong to a "travel club" and at times receive unbelievable promotions for Regent sailings, however these are for sailings within Europe and never include airfare. We once tried to join them for one of these sale cruises and were told that the promotional fare was only available to UK residents.

 

I remember one Regent cruise we were on and there were a large number of Canadians, some of whom we became quite friendly with and they also told of receiving substantial last minute discounts.

 

I can understand Regent not wanting to have a "general sale" and upsetting those passengers who had paid top dollar, but looking at this from an economic standpoint, they need to sell many more cabins just to break even so I am assuming they will try to sell them somehow. The latest emails warn of price increases after March 31st, but if they are not selling now, they surely are not going to sell at an increased price. My feeling is that the reason they are still widely available is because they are priced too high for the current market and in comparison to the other luxury lines.

 

Any inside knowledge or prior experience would be appreciated.

 

gnomie :)

Edited March 2, 2015 by gnomie1

[Travelcat2]

As you probably know, the first thing Regent does is to offer to extend the cruise to passengers already booked on the sailing before and after the one they are trying to sell. The extended cruise if offered at an excellent discount.

 

It is always interesting to know what specials are offered to Canadians and the British but U.S. citizens generally cannot take advantage of them.

 

Keep in mind also that cruises that appear to have a lot of availability on the website do not necessarily have that much. If you go into the cruise and make a fake booking, you can get an idea of how many suites are available in each category.

[newlondon]

The 6/6 UK cruise is on a big sale. Our PH/B was reduced by almost $3kpp. Unfortunately we had already paid so Regent is only giving us obc or credit toward a future cruise.

[Travelcat2]

The 6/6 UK cruise is on a big sale. Our PH/B was reduced by almost $3kpp. Unfortunately we had already paid so Regent is only giving us obc or credit toward a future cruise.

 

Kindly describe the sale a bit more. It sounds like suites were reduced for new bookings - is that correct. And, was the reduction on all suites or just select ones? As you know, this is quite unusual -- we have only seen this happen once in all of years of Regent cruising. In our case, we were able to have our fare lowered - only because we had not paid for the cruise in full. Is your cruise paid in full.

 

This is possibly the first change in the status quo since being purchased by NCL which is why I'm asking so many questions.

Edited March 2, 2015 by Travelcat2

[newlondon]

We booked and paid in full over a year ago. As many may know this was supposed to be London to Copenhagen by way of Amsterdam and the Baltic. It was changed, I don't remember when, to a British Isles cruise once again ending in Copenhagen.

Our early booking fare was $17,299 from which we got several discounts including a generous air credit. BTW this was the second part of a B2B starting in Barcelona. The early booking fare is now $14,699 and I assume most of the credits would be similar. If, however, the bonus discount of $1500 is no longer included it still does not match the $2600 difference. I do not feel comfortable giving you the number for Regents offer, which we accepted, as that limits their flexibility but it did not equal the difference, no matter how you calculate it. As I said to my TA, once you have paid you lose all leverage.

[Travelcat2]

We booked and paid in full over a year ago. As many may know this was supposed to be London to Copenhagen by way of Amsterdam and the Baltic. It was changed, I don't remember when, to a British Isles cruise once again ending in Copenhagen.

Our early booking fare was $17,299 from which we got several discounts including a generous air credit. BTW this was the second part of a B2B starting in Barcelona. The early booking fare is now $14,699 and I assume most of the credits would be similar. If, however, the bonus discount of $1500 is no longer included it still does not match the $2600 difference. I do not feel comfortable giving you the number for Regents offer, which we accepted, as that limits their flexibility but it did not equal the difference, no matter how you calculate it. As I said to my TA, once you have paid you lose all leverage.

 

Thank you for the information. Agree that you should not give the number for Regents offer as, IMO, it is better kept private. This is certainly an unusual turn of events for an ever stranger cruise. Guess we'll never know why all of the changes were made.

[gnomie1]

Reducing fares is nothing new - this has been discussed many times before on CC before NCL took over. Generally, Regent waits until after final payment date so that people who booked early cannot back out and rebook at the new fare.

 

The cruises that I am looking at are wide open - I verified that with my TA, in fact when we mentioned what category we were interested in, it seems there are more available than actually booked, and these are for cruises for the summer of 2015.

 

I know that some of the winter Tahiti cruises were reduced significantly after final payment was due and even then sailed at about 75% capacity.

 

gnomie :)

[Travelcat2]

Guess you answered your own question...... they will reduce rates after the final payment!

 

P.S. It has been my experience that Silversea reduces prices after the final payment. While it may happen on Regent, it is not typical.

Edited March 2, 2015 by Travelcat2

[Eager2Travel]

If sale prices occur are they offered only to specific travel agents?

[OctoberKat]

Thanks, gnomie, this interests me. I'd be interested in some non-Navigator Regent cruises if prices were less grasping. The disadvantage of late booking for us is the reduced inventory of larger suites. But certainly this would be something to monitor.

[newlondon]

These prices are listed on the website. That's how I found out our price had been reduced. You do not need a TA to research them . They are readily available.

[gnomie1]

If sale prices occur are they offered only to specific travel agents?

 

From the research that I have been doing, I think this might be the case. I have a client who is a TA (although not my TA) and she has told me lots of "secrets of the trade". It seems that when any travel entity has a large inventory left that they need to sell, it is done through a very discreet channels so as not to "upset the apple cart" and the passengers who had paid full price. Now the secret seems to be to find where Regent unloads "hard to sell" cruises in the USA, if they do so at all. According to this agent, they all have sale outlets in the USA because they need to fill as many cabins as possible because two of the largest expenses, fuel and payroll remain the same no matter how many passengers are on the ship.

 

gnomie :)

[Eager2Travel]

My belief ( based on non quantitative data) is that they are sold to the European and British market for two reasons. It broadens the market and there is no last minute air to arrange.

[Travelcat2]

My belief ( based on non quantitative data) is that they are sold to the European and British market for two reasons. It broadens the market and there is no last minute air to arrange.

 

Ann, you are correct. There are many specials sold to the European and British markets -- even more with Oceania than Regent. They actually offer included alcohol to that market (something never seen on Oceania).

 

There are hundreds of thousands of TA's in the world. The number of luxury cruise TA's is quite small in the U.S. IMO, the opinions of non-luxury TA's simply do not translate into to luxury cruising. So, unless the previous poster has specific information on a secret 'discreet' channels used by Regent or Oceania, I would question the source.

 

Regent and Oceania are very transparent in terms of their inventory. Their methods used in terms of filling their ships is also transparent and has been discussed in length on Cruise Critic. In my discussions with Regent/Oceania management, there has not been a hint of "secret" channels. While there is information out there about what TA's in the world do, they do not necessarily have anything to do with luxury cruising. They are a very specialized area.

 

Obviously, if you wait to book a cruise on Regent you risk having the least desirable suites (like the aft suites on the Navigator). We booked our Cape Town to Cape Town cruise more than 18 months in advance. The cruise has been full on and off since that time. A few people have recently had the opportunity to book a suite because the person cancelled. However, they had absolutely no choice in what suite they had.

Edited March 3, 2015 by Travelcat2

[tallship]

Jackie-

I know of at least two discrete channel...one in the UK and one in Canada...they exist

[Travelcat2]

Jackie-

I know of at least two discrete channel...one in the UK and one in Canada...they exist

 

Thanks Tina -- appreciate your input. Have to admit that is a bit frustrating to see some of the specials offered to passengers outside of the U.S. On the other hand, Regent would be putting themselves out on a limb if they only marketed to people in the U.S. With the changes in the value of the Canadian Dollar, have you seen any special offers for Canadians?

[Caroldoll]

Also, I know anything in the Baltic is not selling. This year.

[tallship]

Thanks Tina -- appreciate your input. Have to admit that is a bit frustrating to see some of the specials offered to passengers outside of the U.S. On the other hand, Regent would be putting themselves out on a limb if they only marketed to people in the U.S. With the changes in the value of the Canadian Dollar, have you seen any special offers for Canadians?

 

Yes, I have seen offers at par

[Eager2Travel]

Is there any chance that a U.S. person can book a Canadian or British special through the "discrete channel"?

 

We just booked a June cruise and I am thinking we should have waited until final pay was collected and a better deal might have appeared.

[gnomie1]

Is there any chance that a U.S. person can book a Canadian or British special through the "discrete channel"?

 

We just booked a June cruise and I am thinking we should have waited until final pay was collected and a better deal might have appeared.

 

We tried doing that and were told no go - we have both USA and UK passports and were told that since we had booked previously with our USA passport, we could not use our UK passports unless we were permanently changing our "home residency"

 

There seems to have been some major price reductions in the past 48 hours.

 

gnomie :)

[Travelcat2]

Still having a hard time getting past the subject (even though I acknowledge that it is an error). There are simply no "poor" Regent cruises (IMO of course).

 

Anyway, while it can disheartening to know that people in the U.K. are receiving discounts that we are not receiving, this has been going on for quite some time and people in the U.S. have also received benefits that they are not eligible for. There has been quite a marketing push in the U.K. in an attempt to increase Regent's market share in that part of the world.

 

Apparently, some of those benefits that I mentioned are being offered again. Just received an email with included Business Class air (all suite categories) on many Baltic itineraries and discounted Business Class air other others. The value of some of these flights could be greater than any monetary discounts that are being offered.

Edited March 4, 2015 by Travelcat2

[Travelcat2]

We tried doing that and were told no go - we have both USA and UK passports and were told that since we had booked previously with our USA passport, we could not use our UK passports unless we were permanently changing our "home residency"

 

There seems to have been some major price reductions in the past 48 hours.

 

gnomie :)

 

You may want to check with Regent again as my DH has changed his passport from U.S. to U.K. previously. In fact, we changed it to U.K. again just last month as we are going to Rio again in April and by changing passports, he avoids the visa requirement. We have not changed our "home residency". I suspect that Regent means that you cannot take advantage of U.K. offers unless you have residency in one of the countries where the offer is valid.

[Sunprince]

I have watched pricing for SS, Seabourn and Regent over the past several years and they are all different. For example, I recently picked up a Seabourn 2015 Med cruise at a great price, THOUSANDS less than a similar Regent itinerary (even after factoring out included air and excursions on Regent). There are many factors at play, one of them being foreign currency fluctuations. Being Canadian, I have received many offers " for Canadian Residents" fromOceania, Regent. not necessary for Seabourn since we can pay in CAD at a much lower premium that current exchange rates. This bring up another matter...why do most cruise lines prince in US $???? Not very customer friendly

 

I suspect my "new" TA is one of the Canadian agencies offering special deals with Regent and Oceania. I have been told by them that they "buy" certain Regent and Oceania cruises in bulk from Regent/Oceania and if they don't sell well then they significantly discount them. Not sure whether this is after final payment is due, but the discounts have been substantial (30 to 40%) Most people could not take advantage of these given the relatively short notice. But if your are flexible, there have been some great deals.

 

Overall, I find Regents pricing excessive, as an example, 2014 10 night Med cruises on the Mariner were priced at US$ 8499, 2015 is $8999, and I belive 2016 prices are now $9299. This is for the lowest category suite. I will likely be getting a refund on my Future Cruise Certificate, and for once making some money back, it's probably worth $2500 CAD now with the reduction of the CAD!

[Travelcat2]

Sunprince: That you for the interesting information. I must note that, being a Canadian resident/citizen, you may be eligible for discounts not available to residents of the U.S.

[OctoberKat]

You may want to check with Regent again as my DH has changed his passport from U.S. to U.K. previously. In fact, we changed it to U.K. again just last month as we are going to Rio again in April and by changing passports, he avoids the visa requirement. We have not changed our "home residency". I suspect that Regent means that you cannot take advantage of U.K. offers unless you have residency in one of the countries where the offer is valid.

 

Gnomie1 was clear about not being able to book the discount deals available because, passport aside, her/their primary residency is U.S. Uncertain and skeptical as to what you could not understand.