Shore excursions booking

[greenolaker]

April 10 is the date for us to book shore excursions for our December 6 cruise. The selections still haven’t been listed on the web site. How far in advance of the booking date does Regent update the web site?

[Zqueeze1]

Regent usually has them available for perusal months in advance. Recommend you call them ASAP and have them email you a listing of available excursions. 

Z and TB

[judi666]

My date is March 17 for shore excursions.  The only way I could find any is to go to the page for the particularlar cruise and there is a tab for excursions ( although they are evidently ones that were in the past). You have to select by each port.  It is really cumbersome. I did go

through each set and did a screen grab of the one I wanted in each port.   This is perhaps an exercise in futility, as they may not be the final ones offered. I asked for a pdf. A few weeks ago and so far nothing.  I will call Regent Monday if there isn’t something in my email by then. It seems there could be a better method so close to the date for booking them. My cruise is 25 days so several to go through.

 

[flossie009]

Try this:

1. Go to the website page for your cruise (The general website not within the My Account section)
2. Click on the Free Excursions tab
3. Select a Port (any one, but not the embarkation or disembarkation port)
4. Click on the link "email all available shore excursions" and put in your email address. A pdf of all excursions for your cruise will be emailed to you immediately

You will need to double check for any additions/alterations just before your excursion booking date but generally the info should be accurate.

[UUNetBill]

3 hours ago, flossie009 said:

Try this:

1. Go to the website page for your cruise (The general website not within the My Account section)
2. Click on the Free Excursions tab
3. Select a Port (any one, but not the embarkation or disembarkation port)
4. Click on the link "email all available shore excursions" and put in your email address. A pdf of all excursions for your cruise will be emailed to you immediately

You will need to double check for any additions/alterations just before your excursion booking date but generally the info should be accurate.

Beat me to it.  This is such a useful listing, I wish it was a bit more intuitive to find.

[SWFLAOK]

We're in the same situation as the OP with a cruise starting on Dec 6th, so it's April 10 as well for us. We can find a few excursions listed, but they're mostly private car or van, which are not included excursions. I hope some more open up soon. Yes, we already know how to get to the excursions online since we're looking to book our excursions on our 3rd Regent cruise.

[greenolaker]

Thanks all. I’ve done the suggestions to have a pdf with all excursions emailed to me but it is just a general information sheet with no excursions listed. I’ll call my travel agent Monday to see if she can contact Regent about what is going on

 

 

[greenolaker]

@SWFLAOK

are you on the Singapore to Singapore cruise?

[BBWC]

If you ask too early, all you will get in the email is the general information. On the excursions we booked last week, a list of all excursions by email was available about two weeks out ( better than in the past when it was only one or two days).

[SWFLAOK]

21 hours ago, greenolaker said:

@SWFLAOK

are you on the Singapore to Singapore cruise?

Yes, we're on the Singapore to Singapore, and then continue on the next cruise to Sydney. We've never been anywhere in that part of the world and are really excited to go.

It seems like stopping at the cruise port nearest to Bangkok, then taking an excursion to this could be disappointing: "Ancient City: One of the world’s largest outdoor museums features a 200-acre city with 109 scaled-down copies of Thailand’s most famous monuments and architectural attractions".  It does have good Trip Advisor reviews, but miniature versions of famous monuments doesn't sound good.

For our Alaska cruise last summer and our Med cruise in July, the excursions listed as "here are past excursions, they may not be the same" next to the itinerary were nearly spot on when it came to what was available for booking.  I hope something more shows up before April 10th. Signing up on board hasn't worked well for us since many ship's excursions have already been sold out.

[greenolaker]

2 hours ago, SWFLAOK said:

Yes, we're on the Singapore to Singapore, and then continue on the next cruise to Sydney. We've never been anywhere in that part of the world and are really excited to go.

It seems like stopping at the cruise port nearest to Bangkok, then taking an excursion to this could be disappointing: "Ancient City: One of the world’s largest outdoor museums features a 200-acre city with 109 scaled-down copies of Thailand’s most famous monuments and architectural attractions".  It does have good Trip Advisor reviews, but miniature versions of famous monuments doesn't sound good.

For our Alaska cruise last summer and our Med cruise in July, the excursions listed as "here are past excursions, they may not be the same" next to the itinerary were nearly spot on when it came to what was available for booking.  I hope something more shows up before April 10th. Signing up on board hasn't worked well for us since many ship's excursions have already been sold out.

We’re hoping they will offer the overnight Bangkok tours with hotel again so we can stay in Bangkok since it is such a long drive from the pier. If not I’m going to ask my travel agent about arranging it to do on our own. 

Edited March 4, 2019 by greenolaker

[John G]

Don't know if this is the overnight tour to Bangkok that you're thinking of, but they are offering one: https://www.rssc.com/cruises/VOY191206/land-hotel/ashore#tabs

 

Edited to add: You should book all Regent overland tours through your travel agent (pre- and post-cruise tours, too).

Edited March 4, 2019 by John G

[Paul Bradley]

For our Alaska cruise in June, I requested the shore excursions pdf on a weekly basis for about 2 months before the booking date, but kept getting the blank documents. The actual list of bookable excursions didn't arrive until 3-4 days in advance of that date. I was getting a little worried, however when they did turn up they were very much in line with what was listed on the website for each destination. 

[Toofarfromthesea]

This is very curious, as I am able to see, online, and get the PDF of the excursions for our Jan 2020 upcoming cruise.  Perhaps part of it is that my itinerary is much more prosaic - the Caribbean - compared to some of the more exotic (to me) itineraries?

[SWFLAOK]

18 hours ago, John G said:

Don't know if this is the overnight tour to Bangkok that you're thinking of, but they are offering one: https://www.rssc.com/cruises/VOY191206/land-hotel/ashore#tabs

 

Edited to add: You should book all Regent overland tours through your travel agent (pre- and post-cruise tours, too).

Thanks for that link. We have a post-cruise tour booked through our TA, but didn't think to look there for an overnight during the cruise. We'll have to check that out.

[jeb_bud]

On 3/2/2019 at 7:14 PM, greenolaker said:

Thanks all. I’ve done the suggestions to have a pdf with all excursions emailed to me but it is just a general information sheet with no excursions listed. I’ll call my travel agent Monday to see if she can contact Regent about what is going on

 

 

 

If there are cruises with the same stops but closer to embarkation you could request those pdf’s. The excursions might not be exactly the same but should give you a pretty accurate preview of what will be offered on your cruise. 

[greenolaker]

I spoke to my travel agent yesterday. She called Regent and was told the pdf is not available yet. Probably won't be available until 2 days before April 10. 

[judi666]

Mine is not available either and it’s just 12 days before the date for reserving. I did download the ones I wanted from the port by port excursion section.  Hopefully they will be the same. There is one port with no excursions... I would assume they would have something by Mar. 17.

[Paulchili]

Can one use OBC when booking paid excursions online? If so, will the booking system automatically deduct the cost from the OBC?

TIA.

[eden]

2 hours ago, Paulchili said:

Can one use OBC when booking paid excursions online? If so, will the booking system automatically deduct the cost from the OBC?

TIA.

Yes it will automatically deduct. Just booked mine last week and worked well.

[Paulchili]

17 minutes ago, eden said:

Yes it will automatically deduct. Just booked mine last week and worked well.

Good to know - thank you.

[Travelcat2]

10 hours ago, Paulchili said:

Can one use OBC when booking paid excursions online? If so, will the booking system automatically deduct the cost from the OBC?

TIA.

 

Hi Paul - recognize your name from the Oceania board.  Are you taking your first Regent cruise or have you sailed on Regent previously?  And, would you mind sharing what ship you will be on? 

 

Using OBC's for paid excursions online is new - it was not available for the cruise that we are currently on.  Very happy that this is being done for future cruises.

 

Jackie

[Paulchili]

TC2,

We have cruised on Regent previously but we are looking forward to sailing on the Explorer this Sept around the British Isles. From everything I have read she is a beautiful ship and I have high expectation from the food onboard.

Oceania also recently allowed using OBC for online booking of excursions - perhaps it’s not a coincidence considering their close relationship.

[Paulchili]

Disappointed with shorex booking experience.

Excursions for our category opened at midnight EDT so I logged on at 9 PM PDT.

Despite the early log in (for my category) 4 of my wanted shorexs were waitlisted (3 free and 1 paid).

Is this common?  if so, that's not very good. What are the chances of the waitlist clearing?

Have never experienced this on Oceania with any excursions when booking as early as possible - whether they were included excursions or extra fee.

TIA

[UUNetBill]

It's been my experience that most waitlists will clear.  The only exceptions for us have been on capacity-limited tours, i.e. Private Tour of the Vatican, some culinary excursions, etc. where there's a 'hard limit' to the number of people who may attend.  Generally we've been able to get what we wanted (but we always have a Plan B, just in case).

 

Edit:  I don't think it's a good idea to book a cruise based on one must-see port or one must-do excursion.  Too many things can happen between booking and sailing that could prevent hitting that one thing you want to do and that will usually end up leaving you disappointed with the entire cruise.  Case in point:  On one cruise, a passenger booked this specific cruise because it had a stop in Trieste and he wanted to visit family there.  Trieste was to be our first port on a 12-night cruise, but our stop there was cancelled because of weather.  This poor guy was absolutely heartbroken and moped and complained about it for the rest of the cruise.  I felt sorry for the guy, as this was the one thing he really wanted to do on the cruise and missing that one stop effectively ruined the cruise for him (and I assume anyone he was traveling with as well).  We always try to look at the overall itinerary and/or options for shore excursions to try and limit any potential disappointments...

Edited March 15, 2019 by UUNetBill