"SOLD OUT" 2 yrs in advance?

[Fogfog]

Looking at a sailing for April 2021 and it is showing SOLD OUT/WAIT LIST for all 

 

Is this typical?

A charter?Have sent RSSC an inquiry ...

 

We have 5 othr sailings to plan for--and were just starting to look into 2021. Just very surprised to find it booked

 

Thoughts?

[travelwell]

We and many others booked the first day it  was announced per our travel agent, this was in July 2018. It has been mostly full much of time. Final payment due summer 2020. If you are at all interested wait list. Things happen at our age that rearrange priorities.

Edited June 29, 2019 by travelwell

[travelwell]

The website says concierge suites available. Waitlist if interested in other suites. Friends got a Penthouse last fall waitlisting for 2020 WC.

[flossie009]

If it is the Explorer cruise around Japan then that has been waitlisted throughout for some time. A very popular itinerary.

 

As @travelwell says, ring Regent to waitlist. Place a refundable deposit - one deposit will cover waitlisting multiple suite grades.

[Fogfog]

TY @travelwell

Looking at various sailings and lines..more upscale/lux and comparing the "all in" vs a la carte

We sailed RSSC several years ago and had 3 suites-- opened the balcony doors and had a tremendous veranda. Great experience all around

 

 

TY @flossie009 

We r surfing the RSSC site and looking at various sailings. Clearly they book quickly. Interesting because we get A LOT of RSSC mail making last minute offiers for different routes so didn't expect  things to be booked 2-3 yrs out

 

Looking at other lines as well-- hope we find the right thing/fit and availability

 

 

Edited June 29, 2019 by Fogfog

[Travelcat2]

The areas that cruises seem to not be selling well are in Alaska and the Mediterranean.  

 

Our March Splendor cruise has been sold out forever....... however, as mentioned, if you go on the waitlist and place a deposit, there is a reasonably good chance that you will get on the ship (not necessarily Splendor in March but those later in 2020 and in 2021 that are waitlisted).

 

Regent ships are small and it does not take much to fill them.  

 

 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Is this for Mariner?  If so, it's a segment of the World Cruise.  Which means they're still, it appears, saving suites for full world cruisers.  But when the payment date passes, about a year from now, availability should change.

[Travelcat2]

3 hours ago, Fogfog said:

Looking at a sailing for April 2021 and it is showing SOLD OUT/WAIT LIST for all 

 

Is this typical?

A charter?Have sent RSSC an inquiry ...

 

We have 5 othr sailings to plan for--and were just starting to look into 2021. Just very surprised to find it booked

 

Thoughts?

 

I suspect that you are looking at the Explorer itineraries that go to and from Japan.  For whatever reason, Japan is a HOT destination for Regent cruisers.  Interestingly, what is "hot" and what is "not" changes.  One of the "full" itineraries (Vancouver to Tokyo) was dropped from Regent's schedule several years ago - likely due to the high seas and lack of interest.  Now it is difficult to get on a sailing going to or from Japan.  

 

As mentioned earlier, the odds of you clearing the waitlist for any of these full cruises is quite good.  There are always cancellations.

[Fogfog]

42 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

 

As mentioned earlier, the odds of you clearing the waitlist for any of these full cruises is quite good.  There are always cancellations.

If the legs we are looking at are in world cruises

How far in advance does Payment - and release of rooms come? Are we talking 90 days? 

Am looking at 2021... and I'd prefer to nail this down by the end of 2019

 

[AJCM]

If it’s Japan and booked out,  prepare to book for the following year. Cruise lines only get to do maximum 2 cruises in Spring. We just did the April cruise, at the end of cherry blossom season. We booked a long time ahead - It was a great itinerary and is very, very popular. We loved almost every excursion we did; the one exception being Shimizu; which includes seaside views of Fuji. Unfortunately, we had white out that day; which is the sole reason this particular excursion wasn’t also great (always its luck of the draw with weather)- the rest of this excursion was great.

 

A few days in Tokyo is very worthwhile. We did Regents land inclusion before the cruise and a few days independently afterwards. We thoroughly enjoyed Regent’s land add on overall. They took us to places that were spread out around Tokyo, so there was a convenience factor and we got to meet and interact with fellow cruisers. The only downside is large bus groups and the inevitable slowness of everything. However, we also did things independently, using the fabulous train system from Shinjuku and, after the first time, this was quite straightforward. If we did it again, we would probably use local tours or do our own thing and cover similar territory as Regent but in much smaller groups (or just the 2 of us) and experience more; with the side benefit of lesser overall cost.

 

However you do Tokyo, this was a great cruise and Japan was a great experience.

 

Tony

[travelwell]

Which ship and itinerary are you looking at? If it is the Mariner than that would be a world cruise segment. As full payment for us is not due for a year I think you would have a good chance waitlisting with a deposit. We would love to have you join us for a segment.

[alidor]

Don’t know about your cruise but we are on the November, 2020 African cruise on the Voyager and, it, too, is sold out - a year and half before sailing!   Booked it about a year ago.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Which cruise and ship are you looking at?

[Carol From California]

We are booked on the April, 2021 Tokyo to Tokyo cruise on the Explorer.  We booked it when it first went on sale (August, 2018) and it sold out immediately.  It has been showing "wait-list" for every category for months. The cruise that follows this one (Tokyo to Vancouver) is also wait-listed.  When we booked it a pre-cruise land package called "Sunrise Over Tokyo" was included for no additional cost.  The website now says the cost is $1,499 per person.  So glad we booked this early!

https://www.rssc.com/cruises/EXP210420/land-hotel/pre#tabs

[Fogfog]

OK We put down a deposit on the 2021 waitlisted sailing. 

Will look towards 2022 for that sailing if we can't get on in '21

 

Also looking at a different part of the world for 2021 fall that has yet to be posted

Realizing now we have to jump on it if we want to be on it

 

TY for your thoughts and advice

 

Cheers

[JMARINER]

The 2021 Explorer Asian itinerary was offered for advanced booking to those on a cruise in July, 2018. It sold out almost entirely before it ever got to the public. My T/A says that if you are not at the top of the wait list your chances are "slim - none". 

 

I booked the 3 segments before the Tokyo-Vancouver Trans Pacific and thought that this last segment might be unpopular and go on further sale. I was wrong.

 

J

[Carol From California]

59 minutes ago, Fogfog said:

OK We put down a deposit on the 2021 waitlisted sailing. 

Will look towards 2022 for that sailing if we can't get on in '21

 

Also looking at a different part of the world for 2021 fall that has yet to be posted

Realizing now we have to jump on it if we want to be on it

 

TY for your thoughts and advice

 

Cheers

Which cruise did you put a deposit on as a wait list?  There is more than one in 2021 that is wait listed.

[kjbacon]

We also had planned to book the 2021 Tokyo to Vancouver cruise along with 2 sets of friends and learned that the waitlist was too long to consider. We are probably going to go with another line since the one group adamantly doesn’t want to wait until 2022 and the other also doesn’t want to wait. Plus, who knows what will be offered in 2022.

 

In the end, it looks to depend on the individual sailing. We booked our second Regent cruise less than a year away without needing a waitlist.

[Fogfog]

9 minutes ago, kjbacon said:

We also had planned to book the 2021 Tokyo to Vancouver cruise along with 2 sets of friends and learned that the waitlist was too long to consider. We are probably going to go with another line since the one group adamantly doesn’t want to wait until 2022 and the other also doesn’t want to wait. Plus, who knows what will be offered in 2022.

 

In the end, it looks to depend on the individual sailing. We booked our second Regent cruise less than a year away without needing a waitlist.

Well if the 2021 sailing we were surprised to find wait listed doesn't open-- We are ok with that

It has given us a chance to look at a completely different part of the globe to travel-- one that was further down the list may be in store in 2021. Certainly First World Problem and nothing to gripe about

We are in our 50s and mobile so we'll go with the flow

While no one is guaranteed tomorrow... if we have to wait til 2022 we r ok with that too..

 

[Gcto]

yes, some are selling out early because they are unique (like the one from Tokyo to Vancouver)...but that doesn't mean that there is no chance...booking early and then canceling is not that expensive and I assume that's why some do it. We are on this cruise because it's something we wanted to do for a long time...

 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

This itinerary is included in the 2020 WC, so perhaps you can look when segments come out for these later.