Paid Excursions, Biz Air Regent vs Viking

[Fogfog]

8 minutes ago, Focused1 said:

Back to the topic of price comparison between Regent and Viking. I sailed for the first time on Viking (Auckland to Sydney) in February not to compare with Regent, of which I have sailed  a number of times, but just curious. Although I don’t have the exact figures, the per diem was close to Regent’s for a similar trip. 

 

However, I can certainly attest to the fact that there are very few similarities to the Regent experience versus the Viking experience. Yes, you can upgrade to business class for a reasonable price but everything else is extra. Drinks are included during meals. (We purchased the premium drink package but that doesn’t stop them each and every time asking for your room number or refilling your premium wine glass with house wine without asking what you are drinking.) Included excursions are just bus tours, mostly without a tour guide so the bus driver does both. Accommodations are very basic. We had an aft Explorer Suite. It was so cramped and poorly furnished with bulky low quality furniture, we were so disappointed. I could go on. 

 

Bottom line is you wind up paying for Viking almost as much as you would for Regent but you receive a lower quality experience in so many ways. As TC2 stated earlier in this thread, Viking is a premium not luxury line... it is apples versus oranges. Viking is not worth the higher price they command for a premium cruise line. 

TY @Focused1

This is helpful. Seems like they are very different products. 

We appreciate your candor

[RachelG]

Agree Viking and Regent would be very different experiences.  As Viking only offers one included shore excursion k and it is generally a bus type tour, we would not be interested in that, unless the cruise were to somewhere that we just wanted to do our own thing all the tIme anyway.

 

are the Viking airfares even upgradable?  I have no idea.

  

 

Having sailed to Alaska multiple times on Regent, including 15 years ago, I am quite sure that the float plane excursion was never included.  We have done it, and paid extra, and that was 15 years ago.

 

[Focused1]

4 minutes ago, RachelG said:

Agree Viking and Regent would be very different experiences.  As Viking only offers one included shore excursion k and it is generally a bus type tour, we would not be interested in that, unless the cruise were to somewhere that we just wanted to do our own thing all the tIme anyway.

 

are the Viking airfares even upgradable?  I have no idea.

  

 

Having sailed to Alaska multiple times on Regent, including 15 years ago, I am quite sure that the float plane excursion was never included.  We have done it, and paid extra, and that was 15 years ago.

 

Yes, Viking’s airfares are upgradable. We paid $1500 each for round trip business class upgrade from the east coast to Auckland and Sydney back to the east coast. 

[Bigdogwon]

21 hours ago, Fogfog said:

Yes I read they have to "pack out" any poop etc...   OMG😱

I understand the reasons. 

Am thinking they should stop eating after lunch... 

Which line are you doing this sailing? There is a wide variety of lines/fares etc.

We are going with Chimu adventures, they have a great deal with a full charter of the new Hondius (Oceanwide) we have a twin porthole cabin for under $13K for 11 days, this November 22.

[UUNetBill]

On 7/1/2019 at 11:11 AM, Fogfog said:

 

We found booking confirmations that show the excursions Reserved and no Price in the next column...

Every excursion we took for the sailing is listed by who, Reserved and  no Price in the final column

I too was surprised like you.

Maybe it was prepaid

DH believes they were included. I thought they were for a fee for those

Interestingly the same excursions - same names etc are offered now that were on our sailing in 2010.

The cabins we had then were "deluxe" and now are Concierge deck 8, and of course the rates went up

The pre cruise Denali is almost identical in scope as was in 2010

We had $1000s in OBC that the last night our kids spent in the shops (watches/clothes etc) as we only had a couple of upcharges for drinks (like a grappa) and a Caviar event. So that is another reason why Dh thinks the excursions weren't for a fee

 

 

FWIW, when we book Regent Choice (additional cost) excursions online, the price is shown on the listing, but once we pay the fee the cost shows as $0.00 online, and also on the receipts.  That might be what happened there, I don't know.  I do know, however, that we've been sailing Regent for 10 years now and I have never seen any excursions with aircraft involved that didn't incur an additional fee.  I may have missed them, but being an aviation buff I kind of look for that stuff and most flying excursions are $500 and up from what I've seen.

 

Also, even though the prices went up (and the per diem as well) there are more inclusions, actually, such as more specialty restaurants (on most ships), BC air - well, that's all I can think of right off the bat, but since we always popped for BC air it's nice to have it included.

 

The challenge you have trying to make comparisons (as I'm sure you know all too well) is that none of the cruise lines give you a simple straightforward breakdown of total costs.  Regent's air credit sometimes covers airfare, sometimes not.  People always tell you to take the air credit and book your own air with miles - which is great if you have miles.  But then you lose your transfers, usually, so that's a bit of extra hassle depending on where you are.

 

I've also noticed that if a Regent choice excursion is a $200 upcharge, it's almost always more to book it on another line, usually $150-200 more, so even though there's an upcharge on Regent, you're still getting the benefit of a lower cost than if you booked with another line.  You can often find lower excursion costs by booking privately, but then you lose the convenience of the door-to-door service...there are just so many factors involved that it's difficult, if not impossible, to say which one is the better value.  And it also varies from person to person.  Me, personally, I'd pay a bit more to not have to sign or swipe every time I wanted a drink or something...but some people don't mind that.  It's those kinds of intangibles that are so hard to compare...

[UUNetBill]

On 7/1/2019 at 9:53 PM, Focused1 said:

Yes, Viking’s airfares are upgradable. We paid $1500 each for round trip business class upgrade from the east coast to Auckland and Sydney back to the east coast. 

Wow - that's a really reasonable upgrade fee - I'd expect Regent would have charged $1,500 per person each way back in the old days.  Did that also include the domestic portion of the flights or just the overwater sections?

[Focused1]

15 minutes ago, UUNetBill said:

Wow - that's a really reasonable upgrade fee - I'd expect Regent would have charged $1,500 per person each way back in the old days.  Did that also include the domestic portion of the flights or just the overwater sections?

 

Yes, it is very reasonable.  That is why we booked it. If I remember correctly, it was only a one week or so special through our TA. Coach fare was already baked into the base cruise cost. Flights were first class from Raleigh to SFO, then business class from SFO to Auckland. All on United.  Total cost of cruise was $18,268 per person. Even though was a great deal which enticed us to try Viking, I would not book with them again given our experience if a similar offer was available. 

[Fogfog]

We recently did a one-way-- biz air from Barcelona to Atl--then Atl to home/domestic via FC for about $1200 pp..

which was imho a bargain...

ymmv...as we have read of others who did better to pick up sailings out of Rome for example.

 

Our termination/home airport isn't a major hub for anyone

When I looked at Kayak it was about $5k pp one way

We got the flights we picked-- no issues so we were ok with what we paid. 

 

We are looking to book a couple of sailings with Regent--and both will include significant flight time...and RT tickets

 

Tomorrow  I have a call scheduled with a private TA...a referral from a friend who sails Regent worldwide often... so clearly the person knows their onions

Typically we have booked with lines directly and big box stores for other lines as I can do the research and save us the $

The last time we sailed with Regent the private TA did an exceptional job --- and we hope this is a new happy relationship

 

TY to everyone who has responded. You are most gracious and helpful. We will pay it forward.

 

Be blessed

 

 

 

 

[carld]

We have cruised on  Viking (Bangkok to Hong Kong) Oceania (5 different cruises) and Regent (Singapore to Cape Town) and we are going again on Oceania this December and again on Regent next April.  My wife actually prefers Oceania  because she is in love with Red Ginger while I much prefer Regent with the liberal alcoholic drinks and the business air benefits.  We both were disappointed in Viking and will not likely sail with them again.  They try to compare themselves with Oceania but the food was simply not as good and I was not impressed with their limited choice of free excursions.  When you factor in the business class air and the included drinks, Regent is the best deal for the money.  Just my opinion but based on experience with all 3 lines.  Another bonus with both Regent and Oceania is if you use an American Express Platinum card to pay for your trip you get onboard credit ($300 per cabin on my last trips) and you don't get any OBC on Viking.  Also if you own 100 shares of NCL stock you get more OBC for both Oceania and Regent.  

[Fogfog]

We cancelled the "priority" waitlist directly with Regent and are now using a TA 

They came well recommended by friends who sail Regent OFTEN and they have been pleased with the TAs serviceWe have time to be patient with the sailing that started our math/comparison. We are also looking fwd to the 2022 sailings list as we have our eye on something