Shore Excursions…so disappointed!

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

2 hours ago, sunswimsail said:

Does anyone have a cruise that would recommend for mobility limited traveler in Europe.  Gets around slowly, happy to use a wheelchair but wants to do excursions?? 

I am now looking for the right ship line. 
sheila

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

56 minutes ago, KenzSailing said:

 

Wow, that's some nice victim blaming right there.

Thanks for your thoughts.

sheila

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

6 hours ago, Got2Cruise said:

So sorry to hear this Sheila. It is sad that in this day and age, NCL the parent company, as well as Regent does not provide accommodations for those with disabilities. 

 

 

Thanks for your thoughts.

sheila

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

43 minutes ago, CruiserFromMaine said:

@Bellaggio Cruisers if Franck the GM is still on the Splendor, please have a visit with him to explain your situation. That was poor treatment on Regent’s part; I’m sorry to read about it. 

Franck is not onboard. He was here on our last sailing end of January.

I don’t know this new guy. And, I don’t want to spend the rest of this cruise tracking him down.  But thanks for the good advice. 
sheila

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

12 minutes ago, Trunkabella said:

Your treatment, both the discourtesy from Gerson as well as being denied boarding of the catamaran was outrageous.  Please make sure that either you or your husband make both Destination Services as well as the GM aware of this situation.

 

I do wish that Regent would increase the number of excursions for cruisers with mobility challenges.  I have cruised with my mother, who is on a walker, and we had to skip ship-provided excursions in several ports in the Mediterranean, as none were suitable.  This was pre-COVID.  I also traveled in January with my husband who was having walking issues, and it was difficult to find excursions in every port. We’re all aging.  Given Regent’s demographic, some gentler tour offerings would be appreciated.

Thanks for your kind thoughts. 
sheila

[ssdot]

Having to experience another cruise ship  state my mobility was ok to experience this excursion only to have them leave me UN noticed because I was slow was one of the most humiliating experience I have experienced. .As some one who has always been independent  this experience was over whelming.It has made me a angry and I hope no one has to experience this feeling.So sorry you had this experience I understand

[GeorgiaPeach51]

Sheila, this whole thread made my heart hurt.  I’m so sorry you experienced this.  There are multiple ways your experience could have been improved and resolved and I am glad you are not just letting it go.  I sympathize because I have recently discovered that my knee that was injured in a ski accident 30 years ago is now very unhappy when faced with sifting sand at the beach and deep snow.  It has caused me to evaluate what I now can do and I find that somewhat difficult.  A new reality.  But you seem to me to be very realistic about your own capabilities and very conscientious about affecting your fellow passengers.  I sincerely hope Regent reads this and finds ways to improve the passenger tour experience.  
 

Joanie

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

56 minutes ago, GeorgiaPeach51 said:

Sheila, this whole thread made my heart hurt.  I’m so sorry you experienced this.  There are multiple ways your experience could have been improved and resolved and I am glad you are not just letting it go.  I sympathize because I have recently discovered that my knee that was injured in a ski accident 30 years ago is now very unhappy when faced with sifting sand at the beach and deep snow.  It has caused me to evaluate what I now can do and I find that somewhat difficult.  A new reality.  But you seem to me to be very realistic about your own capabilities and very conscientious about affecting your fellow passengers.  I sincerely hope Regent reads this and finds ways to improve the passenger tour experience.  
 

Joanie

Thanks so much for understanding how awful I felt. 
sheila

[slidebite]

This just sounds awful. As someone that's not mobility impaired (yet, my sport of choice my yet change that for me!) it sounds like you could not have done much different. If you book the excursion with no limitation concerns given on mobility, you should have been able to go. Even if they should have and made a mistake, they need to man up and admit to it in a respectable, appropriate way.

 

I do think you should track down the CD and explain the situation. It shouldn't take you days to track them down. Leave a message that you need to speak to them about an important matter and leave it to them to track you down. They should know about this. If you can get it off your chest it might make a world of difference with how you feel. Just my .02

 

Good luck and hopefully this doesn't ruin your cruise.

[Pcardad]

8 minutes ago, slidebite said:

This just sounds awful. As someone that's not mobility impaired (yet, my sport of choice my yet change that for me!) it sounds like you could not have done much different. If you book the excursion with no limitation concerns given on mobility, you should have been able to go. Even if they should have and made a mistake, they need to man up and admit to it in a respectable, appropriate way.

 

I do think you should track down the CD and explain the situation. It shouldn't take you days to track them down. Leave a message that you need to speak to them about an important matter and leave it to them to track you down. They should know about this. If you can get it off your chest it might make a world of difference with how you feel. Just my .02

 

Good luck and hopefully this doesn't ruin your cruise.

Agree 100% but skip the CD and go to the GM. The CD has no authority as he is part of the entertainment staff and not management.

[slidebite]

Doh! I had CD on my mind - of course, I agree.

[mnocket]

On 3/15/2023 at 1:02 PM, Jim Avery said:

I also don't get around as well as I once did so can understand your frustration.  I learned a lot on our last world cruise and one very important thing was from a fellow passenger.  He told me the key to enjoying such a trip is " accurate self evaluation".   He is very right.  Comes a time when you have to accept you cannot do what you did 10 or so years ago.  Ships don't have to accommodate every single problem a passenger might have and the others on an excursion don't deserve to have their outing slowed by someone trying to do more than they are now capable of.  I know that might not be a politically correct thought but there comes a time for all of us.

Clint Eastwood would approve of this post. "A man's got to know his limitations"🙂

[Pcardad]

7 minutes ago, mnocket said:

Clint Eastwood would approve of this post. "A man's got to know his limitations"🙂

Clint Eastwood would also knock out a person hogging a deck chair....but that might be the most entertaining thing on board.

[fizzy]

Meanwhile, the "other" group is raving about how fantastic the destination people are because they retrieved a lost phone. I agree that the GM should be informed of this debacle.

[ysolde]

27 minutes ago, mnocket said:

Clint Eastwood would approve of this post. "A man's got to know his limitations"🙂

I think those of us with mobility issues are well aware of our limitations.  Perhaps others around us who don't know us, don't live with us, and don't interact with us, are happy to take a quick glance at us and just know that they know exactly how limited we are.  That is an assessment I leave to my orthopedist, to my friends, and to my DH (who to this day laughs at the things I have done, like ski and ride horses, that he has not).

[Camillus112]

Not all tour descriptions and ability ratings are accurate.  Also tour guides often change at the last minute and seem not to avail themselves of the ability ratings.  We had such an experience in Malta a few years ago.  The tour description and rating (only one walking image) did not prepare several couples without mobility impairments, but not speed walkers, what they were in for.  It was a guide change and she seemed to be running a marathon.  My DH and I, and we are brisk walkers, could hardly keep pace.  We asked her to slow down...which she reluctantly did, but after losing some couples who went on their own.  Of course we gave feedback!!

[welshfamily]

I read your post with a sinking heart. I am so sorry for your experience.

We are ( at the moment ) fit middle  sixty’s year olds and our adult children in their early 30’s. One thing is certain however,  we will all , god willing, get older and less mobile. When we cruise in the summer it will be our first Regent cruise. I had believed  that Regent was the sort of cruise line who treated its guests with respect.
You were not treated with respect. That was unacceptable.

We have, I am sure, all been on excursions where people have misjudged their ability to cope and we have waited with patience and I hope a friendly word for those who were struggling. After all we are all on holiday and can surely spare time to wait for a few extra minutes.

Please for the sake of everyone else who may  find themselves in a similar situation complain. Find the GM and complain. After all if the GM does not know this has happened he cannot fix it. Certainly at the very least the Destination staff member needs some re training in the correct way to treat a guest.

 

And if Regent does monitor these boards. Please put this right for Sheila.

 

[AtA]

All you have to do is go to reception and ask to speak to the GM. They will find you. When we were on Splendor back in Feb. I had some issues with food and beverage. I went to reception and asked the F and B manager to get in touch with me. Less than 24 hours later, we sat down with him and described what had happened. In fact, in one or two instances, he was not aware of issues in one of his dining rooms and thanked us.

 

As for Gerson, if it's the same gentleman, he seemed to be a bit gruff and like he didn't enjoy his job.

 

 

[kjbacon]

We were just on the Splendor in February and had a wonderful time. If you go back and find my live from blog, you will see that I made reference to the one lacking department but did not specify.

 

This Destination Services team was terrible. We had issues with two teams and made note on our mid cruise comment card. The other department called us immediately and turned the negs into

positives. Not destination services. They couldn’t have cared less and made no effort to improve.

 

We had a health related issue for this particular cruise and had essentially the same experience as Sheila. Destination services wasn’t the least bit interested to help us make adjustments to our tours to accommodate my husbands health problem. For the most part, they knew nothing about the tours and made no apology for that. It’s the only Regent Destination Services team that we have ever had a problem with. Their overall setup and execution was unbelievably poor. Gersson, in particular, was clearly annoyed to be asked anything. He was quite rude to us on more than one occasion.

 

I am chiming in about it now to support Sheila because I believe that Regent does monitor these boards and it’s important for them to know that this is not an isolated issue.

[pappy1022]

Regent management, it’s time to step up, understand the facts and do what’s right for the customer(s). As importantly, make the necessary changes to fix the issues with Destination Services, because from a customer’s point of view, this seems to be a very weak link in the Regent experience. Over and over again, Destination Services pops up on these boards as a group that doesn’t care and doesn’t help. As they say, you are only as good as your weakest link and this group appears to be the weakest link and is tarnishing the overall impression of Regent as a luxury cruise line. It is rare on these Regent boards that the vast majority of people agree with a weakness or a concern about anything related to Regent. There are always some supporters that will counter any negative comments about Regent. This isn’t the case on this issue, so please take this serious and fix a problem that is obvious to most of your customers.

[PaulMCO]

Three cruises in the last 9 months on three different lines

 

Regent Splendor - Nov/Dec -- destination team was indifferent did not care about complaints.

 

Oceania Marina Dec/Jan - arrogant to the point of being NASTY.  Cruise descriptions  were wrong and places visited did not match descriptions/promises.  Refused credits or refunds.  Amex fixed that.

 

Is there a common thread here - same parent, same destination department.

 

Finally third cruise was Seabourn Odyssey in July.   Best destination staff, out in the open, hands on, knowledgeable and provided lots of advise what to do in the port on your own.

 

 

Edited March 17, 2023 by PaulMCO

[mj_holiday]

OK, my turn - Sheila, you shouldn't have been treated the way your were. In addition to talking to the GM, make sure you have your words composed to put on the final cruise survey; that seems to go to the corporate office. 

Probably it is the tour boat captain's right to refuse boarding of someone, but Destination Services should have an understanding of the requirements of the tour boat captain.  And the tour boat captain should have been able to trust Destination Services to know they wouldn't bring someone for the tour that wasn't capable.  And probably, boarding Sheila first would have been the best thing. Putting these things all together involves more than just calling tour numbers in the theater.

More facts for Regent Management

Our only cruise so far post covid on Regent also showed many shortcomings of Destination Services.

First it seems they changed the activity levels on most tours on our cruise, even when the descriptions seemed to talk about bus ride length etc.  It was like they were making sure to be able to point to the activity level if someone had an issue with the tour.

One tour clearly stated in the description that the stops may be reversed so that two buses don't end up at locations at the same time.  Well this time both buses (full capacity) showed up at the very same time and the museum couldn't accommodate the crowd.

Another tour had the bus stopping on the way out of town for directions and the tour guide giving different times (incorrect times) to people to be back on the bus. So some of us who were back at the first time mentioned had to wait an hour for all to be back and we were very late for the tender back to the ship.

Another put us on a mini bus where the back seats (that we got) had no window to look out.

The above I included in end of cruise survey.

Our disembarkation for a post cruise tour had our large suitcases being left on the side of a very uneven street on top of railroad tracks and we had to get them the short distance to our bus.  I was just waiting for someone to stumble and fall. I had our tip ready for luggage handling but no porters to be seen.

[AtA]

What's sad is before they started including tours in the price, none of this ever happened. They used to have truly excellent tours, with half filled busses, etc.

 

This reminds me of what happened on one tour we wanted to take. It was a boat ride to see whales and dolphins. We were waitlisted but told to come to the dock as most likely we'd be able to get on. Well everyone who had tickets did get on except there weren't enough seats. People were literally standing so we passed on doing the tour. How is that safe and who checked out that tour operator?

[mrstanley]

I’ve found the staff working in the Destination Department to be clueless .

They have no idea on what these excursions really involve… they read the same literature that I do. They are there to just process paperwork.

Ive even called Regent directly and basically it’s the same. They just book your excursion or change them for you.

 

No reason for any crew to be rude or indifferent.

[forgap]

I’ve posted before on destination services.  Even in the face of undeniable hardship, DS kept a poker face as to making it right.  An example: our recent Regent pre-cruise to Iguazu Falls had 80 plus passengers spending the night in the rinky dink airport with molded plastic seats due to a problem with the aircraft.  Our tour guides said this was the first time a low cost carrier was used by Regent.  Our tour guides pivoted to make it as pleasant an unpleasant situation can be, but we ended up missing a night in Buenos Aires in a nice bed in a nice hotel with a nice breakfast and a tour of Buenos Aires.  I asked at DS if we would be compensated and they said no but I could make a formal complaint, which I did.  I presume enough people did the exact same thing and we were compensated with a nice OBC.  One of our fellow Igauzu refugees called Regent Air, and, as expected, no answer for the 24 hour number.  
 

And another pre-Covid example:  We booked a pricey overnight on a junk boat in Ha Long Bay.  Sounds romantic, right?  Wrong!  We were late boarding, then they served lunch rather than cruising around the bay.  Then a transfer to a small boat to see a floating village, then back to the junk boat for a fruit carving demonstration, then dinner.  Did we see Ha Long Bay?  No.  The free tour saw more iconic formations than we did.  To make matters worse, the cabins were at the water line, the loud generator was on all night producing a diesel smell.  The smell, the noise, and the worry about Asphyxiation resulted in a sleepless night.  The next morning at 7am we docked in order to endure the long bus ride to Hanoi.  But first, we had to rendez vous with our guide’s relative as he forgot his official guide card.  Then we had an hour stop at a nearby Pearl factory.  That was our longest stop during our very rushed tour of Hanoi.  Again, I filled out a complaint form and we got some of the cost refunded because everyone else complained loudly. 
 

Finally, we are adults, can’t we just find our busses on the pier, turn in our tickets and GO?