New Regent website - Looks like Oceania's

[Sunprince]

As a Canadian, I like the fares now being quoted in Canadian dollars.

 

 

 

Regarding Canadian $ fares, just fair warning. Regent is charging a 6.4% premium over the current exchange rates. For example, a cruise in US$ is $10,599 for Cat H but Regent is pricing that same cruise/suite out at $14,149 Can $. At current exchange rates it should be $13,298 Can $. Regent is overcharging Canadian customers $851 on this cruise. I would call that price gouging and unethical. They must think we are stupid. Other luxury lines have priced under current exchange rates not a 6.4% premium! Glad we have a choice for luxury cruises. Regent has shot itself in the foot once again.

 

 

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[safcruiser]

Completely agree with you Sunprince. I was looking at a cruise in 2020 and the Canadian price is approx. $1,500.00 more in CAN than in US funds (using current exchange rate)

 

Since currencies fluctuate throughout any given day, how can Regent predict where CAN dollar will be in three years? Unless Regent can see that far into the future, I would prefer to view the prices in U.S. Currency.

 

Another problem - in three weeks I have to pick excursions for an upcoming trip, some of which have to be paid. When I go to check out, will the web site automatically charge in CAN currency or do I have the option of paying in US funds?

[iguy]

Regarding Canadian $ fares, just fair warning. Regent is charging a 6.4% premium over the current exchange rates. For example, a cruise in US$ is $10,599 for Cat H but Regent is pricing that same cruise/suite out at $14,149 Can $. At current exchange rates it should be $13,298 Can $. Regent is overcharging Canadian customers $851 on this cruise. I would call that price gouging and unethical. They must think we are stupid. Other luxury lines have priced under current exchange rates not a 6.4% premium! Glad we have a choice for luxury cruises. Regent has shot itself in the foot once again.

 

 

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Indeed, you have to be careful. Forex can cut both ways. When we booked our last cruise Regent offered $CDN pricing at 80 cents on the dollar at a time when the loonie was trading at 73 cents. We booked in CDN, and although the $CDN increased in value vs the $USD by the time we had to make final payment, we still saved a ton. Trying to guess what the exchange rate will be at the time you make your final payment is a risk for both sides. I assume that with this premium exchange rate Regent is betting that the #CDN will keep rising. In the short term this may make their fares uncompetitive.

[Travelcat2]

Regent is not alone. The Crystal site has been a mess for months as well.

 

Really good point. Not only is/was Crystal's website having issues but Cruise Critic had issues for a couple of months when they launched their new website. IMO, it is important to give specific information to the person/people that launched the website (not just complaints) in order for them to fix the issues. While it I unlikely that they will revert back to how the website was just because we preferred it that way, they can insure that the new website works properly.

 

P.S. I gave a lot of feedback to Cruise Critic when they launched their new website. While I am not 100% happy with it, at least I wasn't threatening to never visit the site again because I didn't like it (as too many CC member were doing ....... and likely did not follow through with their threats).

[IndiTravler]

Really good point. Not only is/was Crystal's website having issues but Cruise Critic had issues for a couple of months when they launched their new website. IMO, it is important to give specific information to the person/people that launched the website (not just complaints) in order for them to fix the issues. While it I unlikely that they will revert back to how the website was just because we preferred it that way, they can insure that the new website works properly.

 

P.S. I gave a lot of feedback to Cruise Critic when they launched their new website. While I am not 100% happy with it, at least I wasn't threatening to never visit the site again because I didn't like it (as too many CC member were doing ....... and likely did not follow through with their threats).

 

Going to disagree.

 

Just as the Crystal site is a non sequitur, so is the Cruise Critic's site and folks threats to leave and not come back.

 

 

Getting some feedback on bugs post release is acceptable. But when this many folk say provide this much feedback this fast, it's an indication that the site wasn't properly designed or tested. And again, all I can do is offer my own personal experience. If these were the results at the end of testing on one of my projects, it wouldn't be approved for production. IT development is simple but not easy and takes a heck of a team to do it well. And it shouldn't be assumed that your clients will do your testing for you.

Edited August 24, 2017 by IndiTravler
One More thought

[Carnevale]

Have you signed into your account on the Regent website? That is where you book excursions and dining reservations and where your flights can be found (assuming that Regent has assigned flights).

 

Turns out I was just too eager as waiting a little resulted in my flights appearing in My Account.

[swansong]

Another issue is that under Compass Rose example menus lunch and dinner are crossed.

 

 

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[flossie009]

Just because a competitor's website has problems, and CC's new site was launched prematurely, does not mean that Regent has to try to emulate them.

 

Luxury and attention to detail should extend to all Regent's operations not just the service on board their ships.

[Pies4u]

The site format, layout, graphics etc are all miles better. Overall it is clearer and & more intuitive. So, it looks great & seems to be OK, for the most part, on a pc.

 

However, the functionality is pretty poor on my iPad, as others have experienced. The drop down boxes for cruise searches are hopeless and it is all a bit clumsy tbh.

[Travelcat2]

Just because a competitor's website has problems, and CC's new site was launched prematurely, does not mean that Regent has to try to emulate them.

 

Luxury and attention to detail should extend to all Regent's operations not just the service on board their ships.

 

I have yet to see a new website anywhere that was perfect. No matter how much attention to detail a company puts into a new website, there will be issues with some devices and other things that need to be tweaked. IMO, the most efficient way to identify bugs is to go live and get feedback from users. From what I can see, the website was not lunched prematurely, however, there should be a people fact-checking on an ongoing basis.

[1982CruzStart]

Regarding Canadian $ fares, just fair warning. Regent is charging a 6.4% premium over the current exchange rates. For example, a cruise in US$ is $10,599 for Cat H but Regent is pricing that same cruise/suite out at $14,149 Can $. At current exchange rates it should be $13,298 Can $. Regent is overcharging Canadian customers $851 on this cruise. I would call that price gouging and unethical. They must think we are stupid. Other luxury lines have priced under current exchange rates not a 6.4% premium! Glad we have a choice for luxury cruises. Regent has shot itself in the foot once again.

 

 

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As with every other cruise line i have dealt with the exchange rate is usually set at specific intervals so the current exchange rate has been in place for a while before our $ recovered somewhat. When our dollar was even worse we could take advantage of the better exchange rate offered by Regent. Now that our $ has improved the exchange rate looks less attractive. Regent like every other cruise line i have every interacted with does not offer pricing on a day to day exchange rate. Sometimes you win the exchange rate game and sometimes you don't. You get to decide whether you pay in CAD or USD and take your chances as to whether you beat the game or not.

 

We have sometimes won the game when the cruise line hadn't moved their exchange rate when our $ crashed and sometimes we have lost when our $ went up but we bought in CAD when the exchange rate was more unfavorable.

 

Regent is no more unethical or price gouging then any other line in fact they kept their exchange rate at 1.25 when in reality our $ was at about 1.38 for quite a while. They were trying to lure Canadian cruisers back after our $ plunged and previously didn't offer in CAD at all. They finally adjusted their rate and after that our $ improved. It is just bad timing for those wanting to buy in CAD.

 

Buy in whichever currency you are most comfortable in playing the exchange game whether with Regent or any other cruise line.

[Travelcat2]

Mike - when I go into "Find a Cruise" -- look at the cruise and go back to "Find a Cruise" to see something else, I get stuck. The only way to check out another cruise is to go back to the Regent homepage and start again. Not a big deal - just something to go o the list.

[Jason OKeefe]

Greetings,

 

Thank you for all of the great feedback, please keep it coming. As with anything new there are likely to be a few things that will require updating. A lot of time was spent testing the site and we ultimately needed to bring it live to finish the final polishing. Your feedback has been helpful in finding many of the minor nuances that needed to be adjusted and we're actively monitoring your comments to quickly fix these promptly.

 

Many of the items suggested are additional wish list items for the future and I wish to clarify that this update was designed to bring our site to be mobile-responsive and to update the architecture for future enhancements, such as search functionality. This update is the first step in a multi-layered approach to further enhance the site with more information and with an interest in being easier to navigate. Please remain patient with us as many of the suggestions you've shared are in the plan to add, however, it will launch in phases over the course of the next year or so.

 

I'll attempt to answer some of your specific questions in order to offer additional clarity on some of the things that are to come.

[Portolan]

As an earlier poster noted, the way big companies do a web roll-out is to put the new site up simultaneous to leaving the old, presumably working, site live at the former url. So most casual users land on the old site and, as I've experienced with other travel providers, frequent users are invited to try out the new site so that the bugs can be worked out before totally switching over. Regent could easily follow this pattern by giving Cruise Critic the new url and let us beat it to death before offering it to the general public.

 

Those of us posting in this thread know what things should look like and won't be confused by things like the double fare postings I mentioned earlier. Imagine if you know little or nothing about Regent and come across these issues. Confusing and off-putting, at a minimum. And, yes, there are frequently issues with new/updated web sites, but the things posters in this thread have found are top level, obvious issues, not found in some obscure corner of the site. Many definitely should have been caught in alpha testing.

[Jason OKeefe]

As with every other cruise line i have dealt with the exchange rate is usually set at specific intervals so the current exchange rate has been in place for a while before our $ recovered somewhat.

 

1982CruzStart,

 

We follow the same policy and adjust periodically throughout the year as we want to be able to market consistently.

[Jason OKeefe]

I miss the list of excursions under each port with the mouse-over descriptions. That was preferable to having to scroll pages. But the larger typeface on the descriptions is nice. And I can see where you can over one or the other' date=' but not both.

 

I do hope they'll roll out more functionality. Something I mentioned on the pop-up survey that appeared once when I used the site was the ability to see the excursion list and descriptions when looking at the itinerary in Booked Cruises, prior to the cruises becoming available for booking.

 

And a search box. Who has a website these days without a search function?[/quote']

 

wishiwerecruisin',

 

We agree and our team will see what we can do about allowing the option to condense and expand the content in our shore excursion listings. It's a great suggestion!

 

Yes, the survey feedback you mentioned and responded to is exactly what we're reviewing to be able to develop further enhancements. We obtained a lot of information from that pop-up and have been prioritizing those details over the course of the last several weeks. Several more good things to come!

 

Search functionality is also planned and to come in a future release.

[forevertravel]

So Jason, are they going to do something about the excursions? It was fine when you could see all the excursions listed, click on one and then see what it entailed. Now we have to scroll through every excursion to see what they are. Not user friendly at all. It seems every time a website is revised, they take away the good things with the bad.

[Jason OKeefe]

So Jason, are they going to do something about the excursions? It was fine when you could see all the excursions listed, click on one and then see what it entailed. Now we have to scroll through every excursion to see what they are. Not user friendly at all. It seems every time a website is revised, they take away the good things with the bad.

 

Yes, we're going to be condensing it down so you see only the first few sentences of each description along with the option to expand if you want to see more information. It will make the page shorter and so much easier to view the options.

[IndiTravler]

I have yet to see a new website anywhere that was perfect. No matter how much attention to detail a company puts into a new website, there will be issues with some devices and other things that need to be tweaked. IMO, the most efficient way to identify bugs is to go live and get feedback from users. From what I can see, the website was not lunched prematurely, however, there should be a people fact-checking on an ongoing basis.

 

 

This isn't a new site -- it's a redesign/replatform of an existing site. Per what we'll call "IT App Development 101," the minimum success criteria is: does it do what it did across a variety of operating systems and devices? And it is NOT efficient to ID/fix bugs post production -- it costs 10x as much to fix a bug after production as it does to prevent it during planning.

 

You just have to spend some dollars on the right people with the right scope and the right time frame to do it right the first time.

[IndiTravler]

 

....This update is the first step in a multi-layered approach to further enhance the site with more information and with an interest in being easier to navigate....

 

 

 

 

Jason / Mike - Speaking of navigation, hope you're making sure the new site is Section 508 Compliant while you're doing the replatforming.

[wishIweretravelling]

Thank you, Jason, for coming on here and addressing concerns and questions. It is very much appreciated. And I'm glad to hear that more functionality is coming on the website.

[Jason OKeefe]

Jason / Mike - Speaking of navigation, hope you're making sure the new site is Section 508 Compliant while you're doing the replatforming.

 

IndiTraveler,

 

Yes and for everyone's benefit, Section 508 ensures the site is compliant with assistive technologies (software or hardware used by people with physical impairments). We have an external vendor that is facilitating those requirements for us and will take a few more weeks to complete.

 

[Sunprince]

As with every other cruise line i have dealt with the exchange rate is usually set at specific intervals so the current exchange rate has been in place for a while before our $ recovered somewhat. When our dollar was even worse we could take advantage of the better exchange rate offered by Regent. Now that our $ has improved the exchange rate looks less attractive. Regent like every other cruise line i have every interacted with does not offer pricing on a day to day exchange rate. Sometimes you win the exchange rate game and sometimes you don't. You get to decide whether you pay in CAD or USD and take your chances as to whether you beat the game or not.

 

 

 

We have sometimes won the game when the cruise line hadn't moved their exchange rate when our $ crashed and sometimes we have lost when our $ went up but we bought in CAD when the exchange rate was more unfavorable.

 

 

 

Regent is no more unethical or price gouging then any other line in fact they kept their exchange rate at 1.25 when in reality our $ was at about 1.38 for quite a while. They were trying to lure Canadian cruisers back after our $ plunged and previously didn't offer in CAD at all. They finally adjusted their rate and after that our $ improved. It is just bad timing for those wanting to buy in CAD.

 

 

 

Buy in whichever currency you are most comfortable in playing the exchange game whether with Regent or any other cruise line.

 

 

Fair enough, I agree that most cruise lines are not technically equipped to offer dynamic currency pricing (although many internet commerce companies easily do so and the technology is readily available). And one does take some risk when deciding to pay in local vs US currency.

 

But my point is quite simple. Regent just refreshed its website to offer CAD pricing to Canadian residents. I would have expected that at minimum, the exchange rates would have been updated at the same time to reflect current exchange rates. If that was not possible, then launch of the new website to Canadian residents should have been delayed until the rates were updated. To do anything other than this actually deters Canadian resident from booking a Regent cruise, which I am sure cannot be part of the Regent business model?

 

 

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[CruisetheCs]

With a new website up and running with some obvious problems (according to posts here), why not have a notice about the new site on the home page and a direct link for submitting feedback? This would let users know that there might be some problems and reduce frustration when problems show up. At least it would show that Regent is trying to do things right and it would be in the spirit of keeping users informed. As it is presumably the only users who have an idea of what is going on are CC readers.

 

IMO, one of the problems that shows up with Regent’s communication strategy is a lack of information for customers. For example, it hasn’t been unusual to see posts on CC about website problems such as confirming dining reservations. If we are lucky someone may eventually pop in from Regent and acknowledge that Regent is aware of the problem and “working on it.” But there appears to be no consistent approach to addressing problems that are discussed on CC. In situation where there are known website problems there should be alerts for users.

I notice that Regent still has misinformation up about its onboard internet. The RSSC website says:

ENHANCED PERFORMANCE Connect from the privacy of your suite or from the comfort of your lounge chair on the Pool Deck for as long as you like and visit the sites you frequent the most. We have quadrupled our bandwidth to enhance your browsing experience with high-speed WiFi. With our expanded bandwidth, you can now consume content, post photos to social media and seamlessly stay connected with friends and family.

 

I checked the Oceania website and it says:

. . . . Please be advised that bandwidth-heavy applications such as Skype, YouTube, and MagicJack are not available. . . . .Service and speed will vary depending on the location of the ship and time of day.

Regent should change its wording to something similar. Regent blocks access to certain sites (at least it did on the Explorer last fall and I presume still does), the WiFi rarely approaches anything near "high speed", and guests certainly cannot seamlessly stay connected according to many posts on CC. The Oceania wording is at least honest in what is says. Can we get the language on Regent's website to reflect reality?

[gjkov]

As a relatively new user I am finding it clean and easy to navigate. And no problems on my IPad.