Another Regent Shore Excursion Question

[cwn]

38 minutes ago, rallydave said:

Ah but, they actually are.   "Free Unlimited Shore Excursions" which is plastered all over their advertising without any caveats.  .

There are free unlimited excursions at least on all cruises we have looked at or booked. It does not say there will be free unlimited excursions in each port of call on that cruise. That is something we are reading into the advertising. 

[rallydave]

9 minutes ago, cwn said:

That is something we are reading into the advertising. 

And we all know that the availability of excursions is limited in many cases in many ports so those are not unlimited as well.  So what exactly does unlimited mean in regards to excursions with no caveats listed?? 

 

Guessing what you are say in that in the case of unlimited shore excursions the word unlimited has no meaning since we all know there are limits in most ports and on most excursions..   

[jeb_bud]

Dave, I think maybe you don’t understand how Regent brochures are organized. At the back of the brochure is the contract, which is the legal document with the terms of the cruise. The front of the brochure is marketing hyperbole, not actually legally binding. 

[rallydave]

27 minutes ago, jeb_bud said:

Dave, I think maybe you don’t understand how Regent brochures are organized. At the back of the brochure is the contract, which is the legal document with the terms of the cruise. The front of the brochure is marketing hyperbole, not actually legally binding. 

Completely understand Contract vs marketing hyperbole.  Used to write and negotiate huge Contracts for a living.  And the true ticket Contract is not in the brochure but, can be found on the website and is the legal and binding contractual document.  As far as marketing hyperbole is concerned, it does have to be truthful although as you stated it is not legally binding.

[Timeflies]

1 hour ago, cwn said:

There are free unlimited excursions at least on all cruises we have looked at or booked. It does not say there will be free unlimited excursions in each port of call on that cruise. That is something we are reading into the advertising. 

Unlimited in terms of the number a guest can book on any cruise or unlimited capacity on every excursion in every port? I had never thought of it meaning unlimited capacity...

[cwn]

1 hour ago, Timeflies said:

Unlimited in terms of the number a guest can book on any cruise or unlimited capacity on every excursion in every port? I had never thought of it meaning unlimited capacity...

Neither have I. Even when cruising a-la-cart with other lines there have always been limits on the number of people a tour can handle and the number of tours that were available in each port and there were some ports with no tours.

 

There are several good cruise lines out there. So we all have choices if we don’t like the marketing approach of one line. We like Cunard’s Queens Grill for trans ocean cruises and Regent for long cruises with more ports. Regent is our favorite because of the small size of some of the ships, the general excellent service and food and the fact of a package deal if we want that.

 

Nothing in life is perfect regardless how much one pays. To expect perfection when dealing with the human factor and big business just sets you up for disappointment! But over the years Regent has proved to be pretty much perfection over all.

 

As far as Regent tours go both free or extra fee, they have been mostly good some excellent, a couple really bad. That is with -250 days on Regent with three cruises since Covid. We have had tours cancel at the last minute in the past. There was always one that had room last minute pre Covid. It happened once this past Dec, but all other tours were full. This is part of the problem recovering from Covid. Cruise tours are not the only thing in short supply right now. But many tours were offered on that cruise and we took a lot. Regent did what they said they would do….offer lots of tours included for the price. ( Yes the cost of that service is included in the price we pay) I do not expect an OBC or a bottle of wine for the canceled tour. Ship happens and we did other nice tours on the cruise all included in the price. 

[flossie009]

On all Regent cruises (pre & post pandemic) we have been able to book all the excursions we wanted. Sometimes we have had to waitlist for our preferred choice but those waitlists have cleared in over 90% of cases.

We have occasionally had the disappointment of a cancelled tour; sometimes too late to organise a replacement. Disappointing, but not to the extent that we have let it spoil our enjoyment of that day in port.

 

5 hours ago, rallydave said:

"Free Unlimited Shore Excursions" which is plastered all over their advertising without any caveats. 

Dave, in the UK Ts&Cs there are very clear, & IMO reasonable, caveats:

"The applicable details of all shore excursions (including departure times) are subject to change and excursions may on occasions be cancelled. Shore excursions are capacity controlled on a first come first served basis. Requested excursions may not be available at time of booking. Some shore excursions are subject to cancellation if a minimum number of participants is not achieved"

 

 

 

Edited April 9, 2023 by flossie009

[cwn]

Definitely agree with you about tours. Seems like there is a lot of whining post Covid, laundry not back in less than 12 hours, less than perfect tours, spirits offered not to my liking on and on….

 

I think that something kind in your T and CS is in the US T and C also. At least I recall reading that before.

5 minutes ago, flossie009 said:

On all Regent cruises we have been able to book all the excursions we wanted. Sometimes we have had to waitlist for our preferred choice but those waitlists have cleared in over 90% of cases.

We have occasionally had the disappointment of a cancelled tour; sometimes too late to organise a replacement. Disappointing, but not to the extent that we have let it spoil our enjoyment of that day in port.

 

Dave, in the UK Ts&Cs there are very clear, & IMO reasonable, caveats:

"The applicable details of all shore excursions (including departure times) are subject to change and excursions may on occasions be cancelled. Shore excursions are capacity controlled on a first come first served basis. Requested excursions may not be available at time of booking. Some shore excursions are subject to cancellation if a minimum number of participants is not achieved"

 

[rallydave]

17 minutes ago, flossie009 said:

On all Regent cruises (pre & post pandemic) we have been able to book all the excursions we wanted. Sometimes we have had to waitlist for our preferred choice but those waitlists have cleared in over 90% of cases.

We have occasionally had the disappointment of a cancelled tour; sometimes too late to organise a replacement. Disappointing, but not to the extent that we have let it spoil our enjoyment of that day in port.

 

Dave, in the UK Ts&Cs there are very clear, & IMO reasonable, caveats:

"The applicable details of all shore excursions (including departure times) are subject to change and excursions may on occasions be cancelled. Shore excursions are capacity controlled on a first come first served basis. Requested excursions may not be available at time of booking. Some shore excursions are subject to cancellation if a minimum number of participants is not achieved"

 

 

 

Thanks Flossie. Sure the same or similar is in the US Ts & Cs. And that is truly expected and contractual and reasonable. The problem is in the advertising. Can’t be sure if the following phrase is common in the UK but “truth in advertising” is an important phrase to remember and since the vast majority of people cruising rely on the advertising and never see or know about the ticket contract it is important the the advertising is accurate and  unambiguous such that there is no confusion. 
 

The above is the reason I am position on this subject. Contractually excursions are not unlimited. Just like they are included and not free but unfortunately free has been used as a reason to not refund unacceptable excursions.  All companies need to use the contract and not the advertising gg to determine how issues are handled. 

[papaflamingo]

15 hours ago, rallydave said:

Thanks Flossie. Sure the same or similar is in the US Ts & Cs. And that is truly expected and contractual and reasonable. The problem is in the advertising. Can’t be sure if the following phrase is common in the UK but “truth in advertising” is an important phrase to remember and since the vast majority of people cruising rely on the advertising and never see or know about the ticket contract it is important the the advertising is accurate and  unambiguous such that there is no confusion. 
 

The above is the reason I am position on this subject. Contractually excursions are not unlimited. Just like they are included and not free but unfortunately free has been used as a reason to not refund unacceptable excursions.  All companies need to use the contract and not the advertising gg to determine how issues are handled. 

There are no limits on excursions by Regent.  You can book as many as you want with no limitations other than a turnaround time.  You can't book 2 excursions that both leave at 9 am for example.  But you can book any number that you can make.  We have booked 3 in one port a few times, one in the morning, one in the afternoon and one in the evening.  No limits.  At least one of the other cruise lines that includes shore excursions has a LIMIT of ONE per port. Regent has NO limits per port. 

[pappy1022]

No limit on the number of excursions but on our upcoming cruise, there is only 1 out of 10 ports that there is actually a possibility to do more than 1 excursion in a day because of the necessary time needed between excursions. So, I agree that theoretically it’s possible (marketing) but isn’t practically possible (reality) in most ports.

[Timeflies]

17 hours ago, rallydave said:

Thanks Flossie. Sure the same or similar is in the US Ts & Cs. And that is truly expected and contractual and reasonable. The problem is in the advertising. Can’t be sure if the following phrase is common in the UK but “truth in advertising” is an important phrase to remember and since the vast majority of people cruising rely on the advertising and never see or know about the ticket contract it is important the the advertising is accurate and  unambiguous such that there is no confusion. 
 

The above is the reason I am position on this subject. Contractually excursions are not unlimited. Just like they are included and not free but unfortunately free has been used as a reason to not refund unacceptable excursions.  All companies need to use the contract and not the advertising gg to determine how issues are handled. 

That being the case, I hope unsuspecting guests don't think unlimited Wifi means high speed internet connection available all day every day for every device, and unlimited drinks means Regent will carry every brand and never run out of their favorite tipple!!!

[bitob]

On 4/9/2023 at 7:12 AM, rallydave said:

Ah but, they actually are.   "Free Unlimited Shore Excursions" which is plastered all over their advertising without any caveats.  .

Agree 

[Techno123]

In the UK we get nothing for 'free' as it is all included 😂- I am sure another UK poster will correct me if I am wrong but I believe it was because the free word went against our advertising standards (which are very strict over here). I suppose the unlimited word could be debatable - I take the drinks one to mean as many of the available drinks as I would like to imbibe, not that every alcoholic drink in the world is available onboard for me to drink.

Perhaps the easiest thing would be just to remove the word 'unlimited'?

 

• Included Flights and Transfers*
• Included Pre- or Post-Cruise Land Programme in All Suite Categories*
• Included & Unlimited Shore Excursions
• Included & Unlimited Beverages, Including Fine Wines and Spirits
• Included Open Bars and Lounges Plus In-Suite Mini-Bar Replenished Daily
• Included Pre-Paid Gratuities
• Included Speciality Restaurants
• Included Transfers Between Airport and Ship*
• Included & Unlimited WiFi* 
• Included Valet Laundry Service*
• CONCIERGE SUITES AND HIGHER INCLUDE: Included 1-Night Pre-Cruise Hotel Package* and more
• PENTHOUSE SUITES AND HIGHER INCLUDE: Included Personal Butler and more

 

[cruiseej]

As others have mentioned above, "free unlimited shore excursions" simply means there is no limit on the number of free/included excursions you may book. For no cost, you are allowed to book an excursion every day, or multiple excursions on any day when time conflicts allow. It does not say "guaranteed seat on every shore excursion offered." It does not say "guaranteed free excursion in every port."  

 

Similarly, "unlimited WiFi" means you are not limited by time or how much data you consume; it does not promise it will be fast. And "unlimited beverages" means you can order as many drinks as you want every day; it does not guarantee that the type or brand of liquor or wine you would like will be available at all times. 

[pappy1022]

On 4/9/2023 at 10:14 AM, rallydave said:

 

Guessing what you are say in that in the case of unlimited shore excursions the word unlimited has no meaning since we all know there are limits in most ports and on most excursions..   

The realistic definition is that all excursions are available to some (with status) because the best one’s get filled quickly when early selections are available to them, I take advantage of early excursion selection by getting a concierge cabin, so I am not complaining about early access, just stating facts. As far as unlimited excursions per day, it’s rare that the excursion schedule will allow for more than 1 excursion per day. On my next cruise, only 1 of 10 ports have schedules that will allow multiple excursion selections. This is especially true on port intensive cruises. So, the Regent definition of unlimited is much different than the Webster definition of unlimited. 

[seaknots]

2 hours ago, pappy1022 said:

So, the Regent definition of unlimited is much different than the Webster definition of unlimited. 

is your argument that regent should add many more excursions in every port visited or that the ships should not visit ports where the infrastructure cannot support many tours or that regent should choose another word instead of unlimited or do you simply like complaining

[pappy1022]

Seanots, nope that isn’t my argument. Just stating what reality is when it comes to booking shore excursions. I don’t appreciate the personal shot. 

[Gray Lady]

We are sailing for the first time ever (as in first cruise ever) on Regent next year. We picked a port intensive itinerary because our goal is to see places more than to have sea days. The all-inclusiveness of Regent was a draw for us. We did not spend the extra money to get a concierge and above cabin. When weighing the price difference we opted to not invest it in the cabin, as the cruise is very pricey for us already. That being said, we are fine to wait to choose our excursions. We have never been to Europe, so there will be something available that we will like. If worse comes to worse, we will spend some of that savings on a smaller “paid” tour with Regent or else we will book something with an independent tour operator. When the excursions are posted, I will look through and rate them accordingly so I am ready to go when I am able to book. I have learned a lot from reading these posts and do not have unrealistic expectations. Everything will be an adventure to us. Thanks for all of the good info!

[Ladys Mom]

One reason why it is difficult to book more than one shore excursion a day is that many of the excursions run 5-7 hours.  Even if they start at 9 am it will be 1 pm before you are back at the ship.  Then you will want to grab lunch.  By this time it is 2 pm and if the ship is leaving around 6 pm there is not time for another even four hour excursion.  Would you rather have a bunch of 2-4 hour bus tours of a city, or an interesting walking tour inside of a number of sights?

[mrstanley]

Gray Lady:

 

You must realize that most of the passengers on your cruise will be selecting shore excursions 365 days out.

By the time you are able to select the excursions will more than likely be sold out.

Especially if the ship is full.

 

 

[red1head]

Gray Lady,

 

As mrstanley points out, one benefit of booking concierge or above is the ability to book shore excursions 365 days before boarding so you are very likely to get your choices if you book them as soon as you are allowed to. Otherwise, there may be spaces left on some excursions or perhaps you can waitlist them (and waitlists do clear). There are other benefits like a free pre-cruise night, multiple log-ins on devices, and early access to booking reservations at the specialty restaurants (and butler and other benefits for PH and higher). It sounds like the ports and excursions are a priority for you, so you may want to work with your TA to see if a concierge would work for you.  
 

My two cents,

Sharon

Edited April 12, 2023 by red1head

[Gray Lady]

Red1head, I appreciate the input. We have already booked the pre-cruise tour, so the extra night doesn’t matter to us. We do plan to deviate our flights, as that appears to be a big plus. It would cost us a minimum of an additional $3000 to book concierge, and we definitely do not want to have to be in a forward cabin. The dinner reservations are not a priority nor is a butler. Hubby says we should be able to find an excursion in most ports. Now I will think long and hard about this, as the 365 day limit starts in 2 more days. I am really torn……

[Parapara]

23 minutes ago, Gray Lady said:

Red1head, I appreciate the input. We have already booked the pre-cruise tour, so the extra night doesn’t matter to us. We do plan to deviate our flights, as that appears to be a big plus. It would cost us a minimum of an additional $3000 to book concierge, and we definitely do not want to have to be in a forward cabin. The dinner reservations are not a priority nor is a butler. Hubby says we should be able to find an excursion in most ports. Now I will think long and hard about this, as the 365 day limit starts in 2 more days. I am really torn……

We are sailing in June for the first time on Regent. We booked an ordinary cabin and so couldn’t book excursions early. We were able to book most of the excursions we wanted straight away. Some we waitlisted and booked others. Except for two still waitlisted the others have all cleared. We have excursions we are happy with in both those ports if they don’t clear our first choices. Hope this is helpful.

[bookbabe]

We booked a November cruise a week or so ago.  Granted, it is a Caribbean/Mexico one where the ports all have lots of infrastructure for tourists, but we were able to get our first choice of excursion in every port, and since then I’ve even been able to swap to a different one in one port after changing my mind about what we wanted to do.  So I guess it really depends on the itinerary as well as on your cabin choice.