Black Friday sale - free land programs

[exlandlubber]

Hello everyone!  We are looking at the option of a Rome-Barcelona cruise in November, 2023 and there are two free land programs being offered as part of Regent’s Black Friday promotion. There is one called “Umbria in Depth” which is 3-night pre-cruise and “Authentic Madrid and Beyond” a 4 night post-cruise beginning from Barcelona.  I would be enormously grateful to anyone who might be able to shed some light on these offers.  We are going to be on the Splendor on December 13 and I know that there are benefits to booking onboard, but this offer expires November 30 and I can’t imagine an offer better than this.  As mentioned, all opinions would be welcome.

[makai 7]

FYI you can take advantage of the “book on board” benefits if you contact regent to book if it is 30 days or less before you board the upcoming cruise.  Do a search of booking onboard to find the details.

 

https://www.rssc.com/onboard-savings-program

here’s the link

Edited November 18, 2022 by makai 7
Added a link

[Got2Cruise]

We were on a post land tour from Barcelona to Madrid and we loved it. Zaragoza is a beautiful small city. This is where we stopped as the halfway point between Barcelona and Madrid. 
 

 

 

[exlandlubber]

Hello everyone! Thank you to Makai 7 whose tip got us a great deal. We were able to book a great cruise and a land trip with very little extra above our previous cruise credit. Between the bonus for booking within the 30 day window of our cruise ($550) and the four free nights in Spain, I think we did very well. We will be on Splendor next month. Do you think the folks who are staying in our Penthouse Suite for next year’s trip would mind us checking out their room? 😉

[pappy1022]

We booked a cruise on Regent in late summer and now this same cruise has this “free” land program offered. I looked into the possibility of taking advantage of this newly offered “deal” but the base cruise fare has gone up considerably for the same cabin and same cruise and the shipboard credit was less for this “deal”. The value of the land deal wasn’t worth it to me to make the switch and pay thousands more for the same cruise. Regent told my TA that we would have to rebook the cruise at the higher rate in order to get the land package. I completely understand Regent’s point of view. The point is that “free” doesn’t exist in the cruise industry. Neither does 2 for 1 cruise fares. I wish they would use the word “included” instead.

 

Here’s my question in the event that a better deal arises for a booked cruise in the form of a reduced cabin rate or a package that I perceive as good value vs what I already have booked. How does that process work? Would we maintain the same cabin and just somehow adjust the total cost and extras or is it actually cancelling the existing booking and starting over, potentially losing the previously selected cabin? Do you lose all of your Regent pre cruise selected port excursions, specialty dining selections, etc.? Any other considerations? 

[exlandlubber]

Pappy, your point about “free” is well taken.  And you’re absolutely correct - the word should be “included.”  Having said that, I was still pleased by the fact that our cruise credit from a Covid cancelled trip was just about enough to pay for next year’s cruise as well as the pre-cruise hotel and post-cruise land program.  I wish I could answer your questions but I’m afraid I’m ignorant about that process.

[pappy1022]

I wasn’t challenging your deal with Regent. I would have done the same thing as you had I not booked earlier, and in my case, the land option was in London and I just spent 2 weeks in London this past summer and I took in all the major sites and then some. It was fantastic. For me, it just didn’t have the value for the extra dollars I would have to spend. Your post made me think about the details in changing a booking in the event that a better deal comes along and I see real value in it. Thank you for triggering the thought process. I probably should have started a separate post and I may do that if I don’t get any feedback because now I am curious.

[makai 7]

My TA told me that if you use the “book on board” savings there is a price guarantee, but I don’t know how it works.  I have only seen a price drop once in the past 6+ years.  I’m glad that exlandlubber was able to take advantage of the timing, I also did book another trip!

 

On other bookings where they later increased the OB credit offer or added extra pre/post cruise included tours, there were price increases and I was told thatI would have to cancel and rebook, so as pappy1022 stated, it would end up costing more than I had already negotiated.

[pingpong1]

I'm sure that not everyone's experience will be exactly the same...but in our own case/s, when we've rebooked a few of our cruises in the past (to take advantage of upgraded benefits, promotions, etc.), we've been able to keep the same original suite unless of course, the whole object of the rebooking was to obtain a higher-level suite, and then our previously booked suite number changed.  There's usually a "rebooking fee", and most probably the "price" of your same cruise/suite will have gone up since your first booking price, so you'll have to pay that price difference, as well.

 

It probably wouldn't make good "business sense" for Regent to give an already-booked customer increased benefits (larger suite, butler, OBC's, pre/post travel, upgraded air, etc.) for less money than they've already collected from them.  As the above posters have already said, you have to work with your TA to figure out if the cost increase will justify the increase in offered perks/benefits.  Sometimes it might and in other cases it doesn't.  Regards.

[Trunkabella]

9 hours ago, pappy1022 said:

Your post made me think about the details in changing a booking in the event that a better deal comes along and I see real value in it. 

Our only experience with this is pre-COVID.  We were able to keep the same room and get the better deal if our suite category still had availability.  If the suite category was sold out, no deal.  Our TA handled getting us the better deal with Regent.

[SusieQft]

It is my understanding that the on board booking "price guarantee" protects you in the event Regent were to lower the price, not for added extras.  I guess that works well for Regent's strategy of doing the latter instead of the former, LOL.

[papaflamingo]

10 hours ago, SusieQft said:

It is my understanding that the on board booking "price guarantee" protects you in the event Regent were to lower the price, not for added extras.  I guess that works well for Regent's strategy of doing the latter instead of the former, LOL.

You really have to look at the bottom line.  We also have a cruise booked on board.  If I was to rebook at the current rate to get the pre-cruise excursion, I would lose some OBC and it would cost more, about equal to me simply purchasing the excursion through Regent.  And you are correct, Regent hasn't lowered the prices so your price guarantee isn't in effect. 

[flossie009]

14 hours ago, SusieQft said:

It is my understanding that the on board booking "price guarantee" protects you in the event Regent were to lower the price, not for added extras. 

I seem to remember that pre-covid the "price guarantee" received for an on-board booking covered both price reductions and benefits added after booking.

Certainly worth requesting any "extras" that are added later to a cruise booked on board; it costs nothing to ask 😉

 

[mj_holiday]

I had two RSS cruises booked.  One of them my TA was able to get the discount of 2 suite class higher and the other one did not get it because it would have had a cost.  So it really depends on the situation and I would recommend having your TA work the changes.