Regent Air Deviation

[KiscoB]

I have read most of the discussions on this topic.

We are on Voyager 9/26 HolyLand to Vatican cruise.  We will be flying from LAX.  

I am wondering if I should do air deviation.  I would prefer to fly Lufthansa LA to Frankfurt then FRA to Athens.  This is our first cruise so I am wondering if Regent will accept this choice or will I h e to pay extra besides deviation fee.  I appreciate any thoughts on this.  Thanks!

[ronrick1943]

Just call your TA or Regent and ask----you really won't know until they say yes or no.  The longer you wait it may not be able to happen.  Don't forget it doesn't cost you a penny to ask the question.

 

[KiscoB]

Again thank you. I will call my TA and ask her.  It just seems iffy to wait until 75 days before departure to see what Regent has chosen for airlines.

[Travelcat2]

We deviate all of the time and, In my opinion, it is a good idea to deviate so that you can get booked on Lufthansa 270 days prior to your cruise.  The odds are great that Regent will accept this choice (they approved Lufthansa for our last cruise - no issues or extra $$$). Calling your TA should not be necessary but you may want to send them an email with your flight choices.  They can deal directly with Regent for you.

 

According my the date calculation website (https://www.timeanddate.com/date/dateadded.html?m1=09&d1=28&y1=2019&type=sub&ay=&am=&aw=&ad=270&rec=), you can deviate as of yesterday.  

 

I would not wait until 75 days as the choices would be fewer and the likelihood of you getting the airline or flight that you want diminishes.  Regent only contracts for a certain number of seats on each flight.  Once they are gone, they are gone.  Many people deviate the therefore the choices at the 75 day mark are those that others do not want.  

 

Note:  Frankfurt is a horrible airport (we call it a nightmare).  Make sure that you have lots of time in between flights.

[KiscoB]

Travelcat2, I was hoping you would reply about air deviation.  Yes I have flown thru Frankfurt many times and I guess Ihave been lucky with passport control and connections.  I will definitly leave plenty of time.  I think there is a connection thru Munich which might be a better choice.  Thanks again!

[papaflamingo]

I'll just add my experience as a first time Regent cruiser.  I called Regent 270 days out.  They are extremely nice and helpful.  But, I had to get my TA to authorize them talking to me directly.  This was no problem.  While I was explaining the flights I wanted, I was looking at my account on the Airline website (Delta).  She looked at the flights and said she could certainly approve the deviation as they had contract seats on those flights, and that she'd send a confirmation email and I had 48 hours to review it and accept the booking.  While she was telling me this, I noticed 2 seats disappear on the Seat chart for the flight I had chosen and a booking appeared on my record!  Regent booked the seats while I was talking to her!  So I will ALWAYS deviate so I can be sure to get both the airline I prefer and seats I want.  And I can't speak highly enough of the fantastic customer service I received by Regent.  Well worth the deviation fee. 

[UUNetBill]

Wow - that's awesome.  Funny how we take the digital age for granted sometimes.   

 

I've never had to call them directly for flight assignments (we usually leave that up to our TA) but the times I've had to call for excursion and/or dining reservations they've always been prompt, professional, and exceedingly helpful.

[1982CruzStart]

I usually get my TA to authorize me to deal with them directly. We have more challenges flying out of Canada with less options so it is easier for both our TA and me if i can go over the options with Regent directly rather than taking up my TA's time with back and forth emails. 

[Travelcat2]

1 hour ago, 1982CruzStart said:

I usually get my TA to authorize me to deal with them directly. We have more challenges flying out of Canada with less options so it is easier for both our TA and me if i can go over the options with Regent directly rather than taking up my TA's time with back and forth emails. 

 

Interesting post.  We choose to fly out of Vancouver because the flight choices are better than Seattle.  Agree that there are less flights out of YVR but most of the flights not have stops in the U.S. so we don't have to deal with having to fly coach within the U.S.*

 

Kind of agree about going direct to Regent unless you have a good idea about which airlines Regent contracts with.  Our emails to our TA include two or three flight choices and I believe that they were approved by Regent so there was no going back and forth.  Admittedly, I prefer to see things in writing rather than going back and forth on the telephone.  Different strokes.........

 

 

*IF you book early enough AND use the same U.S. carrier for your stop in the U.S. and continue on with the same airline, you can sometimes get First Class or Business Class within the U.S. and then Business Class internationally.  For us, it is easier to use international carriers like Lufthansa, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, etc.

[1982CruzStart]

44 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

 

Interesting post.  We choose to fly out of Vancouver because the flight choices are better than Seattle.  Agree that there are less flights out of YVR but most of the flights not have stops in the U.S. so we don't have to deal with having to fly coach within the U.S.*

 

Kind of agree about going direct to Regent unless you have a good idea about which airlines Regent contracts with.  Our emails to our TA include two or three flight choices and I believe that they were approved by Regent so there was no going back and forth.  Admittedly, I prefer to see things in writing rather than going back and forth on the telephone.  Different strokes.........

 

 

*IF you book early enough AND use the same U.S. carrier for your stop in the U.S. and continue on with the same airline, you can sometimes get First Class or Business Class within the U.S. and then Business Class internationally.  For us, it is easier to use international carriers like Lufthansa, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, etc.

I always get everything by email once I have discussed our options with Regent Air.  On the cruise I just got back from there were only 2 choices out of YVR. 1 returned through the USA & 1 was through Europe & then onto YVR. That is why I say we have fewer options. I was not flying through the US particularly by way of DFW from LHR to YVR.  

I understand why you chose to fly out of YVR, gives you the chance to avoid flying domestic within the US.  Makes perfect sense. 

[forevertravel]

We always deviate because I like to choose my flights. I've never had any issues with Regent denying the flights I want. I've read horror stories about people getting flights with more stops than they wanted. To me, is worth the money. Next year we'll be platinum so we'll get one free air deviation a year. I tell my TA what flights I want and she contacts Regent.

[Anchorbuoy]

14 hours ago, forevertravel said:

 Next year we'll be platinum so we'll get one free air deviation a year.

 

You will get one free custom air on every sailing, not one per year.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

On 1/2/2019 at 7:53 PM, KiscoB said:

I have read most of the discussions on this topic.

We are on Voyager 9/26 HolyLand to Vatican cruise.  We will be flying from LAX.  

I am wondering if I should do air deviation.  I would prefer to fly Lufthansa LA to Frankfurt then FRA to Athens.  This is our first cruise so I am wondering if Regent will accept this choice or will I h e to pay extra besides deviation fee.  I appreciate any thoughts on this.  Thanks!

 

The best reason to deviate, in my opinion, is so that you can extend your trip.  It's always a good idea to fly in at least one day early, and we usually have flown in a few days prior so that we can enjoy our initial destination and recover from jetlag.  But that one day is key--you don't want to spoil your cruise by missing the boat!

 

And yes, apparently Frankfurt is still the zoo that I remember it as, so some connection time is important!

[1982CruzStart]

1 hour ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

 

The best reason to deviate, in my opinion, is so that you can extend your trip.  It's always a good idea to fly in at least one day early, and we usually have flown in a few days prior so that we can enjoy our initial destination and recover from jetlag.  But that one day is key--you don't want to spoil your cruise by missing the boat!

 

And yes, apparently Frankfurt is still the zoo that I remember it as, so some connection time is important!

We just flew through FRA in November on our way to our cruise and it was a zoo.  Had we kept with our original flight schedule we would have missed our flight to LIS.  Lufthansa changed our flight times giving us shorter and shorter time between flights ao we requested Regent change our flight to a later one. 

 

While lined up to go through security there were many people that were likely going to miss their flights and this is through fasttrack security. We had an hour and 20 minutes between flights and were standing in security when our flight was boarding.

 

If you fly through FRA give yourself lots of time between connections. By the time you go through passport control and security you need a lot of time. 

[KiscoB]

Thank you everyone for all your replies. I am looking at a flight with a 3 hour layover in FRA before flying to Athens.  Of course, trip is not until 9/26 so Lufthansa could change flights! There is another option to fly thru Munich.  Thoughts on that?

Also we disembark in Rome (6am). I am looking at a 11:45 am flight home at FCO.

do you think that is ok? Regent rep said anything after 11am.

thanks again for all of your help.

Denise

[rcandkc]

14 minutes ago, KiscoB said:

Thank you everyone for all your replies. I am looking at a flight with a 3 hour layover in FRA before flying to Athens.  Of course, trip is not until 9/26 so Lufthansa could change flights! There is another option to fly thru Munich.  Thoughts on that?

Also we disembark in Rome (6am). I am looking at a 11:45 am flight home at FCO.

do you think that is ok? Regent rep said anything after 11am.

thanks again for all of your help.

Denise

Unless you deviate or decide to book on your on, all the looking does you no good.  I would and now do....deviate. 

[KiscoB]

I am definitly going to deviate!  Sorry I should have said that.  I am just doing my own research before talking to my TA.

 

[UUNetBill]

I lived in Frankfurt in the 80s and 90s and the airport was a mess back then - and it was usually my final destination!  My recent connections through FRA have not been fun.  On the surface I'd recommend Munich over Frankfurt - but I've only connected once in Munich in the last few years so I'm not really super current on it - but our last time through MUC wasn't bad at all...

[KiscoB]

Thanks for your thoughts.  I have connected thru FRA many times but don’t remember problems.  My connection time there is 3 hours.

if I choose Munich my time is 1 hour 45 min..

so not sure.  Hopefully my TA will give me some advice.

[rallydave]

21 hours ago, KiscoB said:

Thank you everyone for all your replies. I am looking at a flight with a 3 hour layover in FRA before flying to Athens.  Of course, trip is not until 9/26 so Lufthansa could change flights! There is another option to fly thru Munich.  Thoughts on that?

Also we disembark in Rome (6am). I am looking at a 11:45 am flight home at FCO.

do you think that is ok? Regent rep said anything after 11am.

thanks again for all of your help.

Denise

If you are looking at the cruise itinerary and it says Rome (Civitavecchia) that is arrival time at the port and not disembarkation time.  Stuff happens including late arrivals and delays at the port.  Also your port is about 80K from Rome and depending on the day of the week delays can occur.  Normally at least an hour or more from docking to disembarkation and then there is waiting for luggage to be moved from ship to shore unless you carry your own  off.  For international flights 3 hours early arrival at airport so 8:45 at airport.

 

Suggest you take another look and possibly take an earlier flight home.  More than likely the Regent rep is thinking Miami for the after 11 with the airport only about 20 minutes from the port.  Better to wait at the airport than worry if your ship is late or delays before getting off or traffic delays.  Good luck

[Portolan]

21 hours ago, KiscoB said:

Thanks for your thoughts.  I have connected thru FRA many times but don’t remember problems.  My connection time there is 3 hours.

if I choose Munich my time is 1 hour 45 min..

so not sure.  Hopefully my TA will give me some advice.

 

Either should be fine.  Yes, Frankfurt was a mess up until a few years ago when they finished a decade or so of continual remodeling (even then, it worked if you trusted the signs and not your sense of direction).  But, it's a lot larger than Munich or nearly everything else in Europe and you will typically walk a long way.  If the connection is adequate, we actually like to stretch our legs after an overnight flight.

 

Munich is smaller and nicer overall.

 

My choice would be driven by the options if the connection fails or the onward flight is cancelled.  I'd go with the airport with the most contingency options.  Typically not a big discriminator between Frankfurt and Munich, but I'd avoid smaller European airports (Copenhagen, for example) where your connecting flight might be the only one of the day.

[Travelcat2]

My two cents........ I think you'll be fine with the 11:45 a.m. flight out of FCO.  You depart on a Tuesday so there will be traffic but even if it took 2 hours (which is way longer than a 45 mile trip should take - generally it is an hour or so - all freeway), you could easily make your flight.  

 

To insure that you get off of the ship early, speak to Destination Services (in addition to filling out the disembarkation paperwork indicting your flight and flight time).  If you are using Regent transportation, they will put you on an early bus.

 

 

[Anna201213]

On 1/2/2019 at 8:37 PM, Travelcat2 said:

We deviate all of the time and, In my opinion, it is a good idea to deviate so that you can get booked on Lufthansa 270 days prior to your cruise.  The odds are great that Regent will accept this choice (they approved Lufthansa for our last cruise - no issues or extra $$$). Calling your TA should not be necessary but you may want to send them an email with your flight choices.  They can deal directly with Regent for you.

 

According my the date calculation website (https://www.timeanddate.com/date/dateadded.html?m1=09&d1=28&y1=2019&type=sub&ay=&am=&aw=&ad=270&rec=), you can deviate as of yesterday.  

 

I would not wait until 75 days as the choices would be fewer and the likelihood of you getting the airline or flight that you want diminishes.  Regent only contracts for a certain number of seats on each flight.  Once they are gone, they are gone.  Many people deviate the therefore the choices at the 75 day mark are those that others do not want.  

 

Note:  Frankfurt is a horrible airport (we call it a nightmare).  Make sure that you have lots of time in between flights.

 

[Anna201213]

If we deviate one way only do we have to pay 175$ or less? I wish to deviate from  Montreal to Lisbon but not from Miami to Montreal for the return. I will accept the Regent air choice for Miami Montreal

[Travelcat2]

36 minutes ago, Anna201213 said:

If we deviate one way only do we have to pay 175$ or less? I wish to deviate from  Montreal to Lisbon but not from Miami to Montreal for the return. I will accept the Regent air choice for Miami Montreal

 

It is $175/person to deviate - even if you only do it one way.  However, you will also receive a 50% air credit which is usually more than $175/person so it works out.  We do this frequently when we fly home from Miami.