Shore Excursions…so disappointed!

[IrishKathy]

We have been on a number of Viking river cruises.  They have always had regular walking groups on shore excursions and a separate slow walking group.  Just had friends return from a river cruise that had a super slow group within the slow walking group.  Surely Regent should be able to set up at least regular and slow walking tours.

[Kwaj girl]

58 minutes ago, IrishKathy said:

We have been on a number of Viking river cruises.  They have always had regular walking groups on shore excursions and a separate slow walking group.  Just had friends return from a river cruise that had a super slow group within the slow walking group.  Surely Regent should be able to set up at least regular and slow walking tours.

 

I actually suggested this/asked about it and was told that Regent would not (could not?) tell guests what tours to select and all too often book tours inappropriate for their capabilities, thus slowing down most of the group.  This has happened to us too many times to count.  Yes, some day we may have physical limitations but would not book excursions beyond our abilities. And we do know of some that never get off for excursions - they know their limitations and know it would simply be too taxing for them.

Edited March 20, 2023 by Kwaj girl

[the_dylaness]

On 3/18/2023 at 8:28 AM, wcsdkqh said:

Yes, Destination Services has room for improvement. Don’t we all. Certainly Sheila’s treatment was abhorrent and should be corrected, but to condemn everyone in that organization is ridiculous. To think that an onboard staff of a couple people should be able to answer specific questions about specific excursions is absurd. Think about it, a single cruise with 8 or 10 ports with multiple excursions at each one. No one could possibly have detailed information about all of them. 

 

I respectfully disagree with you; if that is your actual job, the thing you do 40 or more hours weekly and pays your salary, then, yes having detailed information (within reason) on multiple shore excursions, in multiple ports, is actually a completely reasonable requirement.

[papaflamingo]

1 hour ago, the_dylaness said:

having detailed information (within reason) on multiple shore excursions, in multiple ports, is actually a completely reasonable requirement.

True, it is reasonable.   But keep in mind, the staff on board the ships generally hasn't been on the tours.  They aren't the ones who pick and book the tours.  And in many ports even Regent doesn't pre-take the tours.  Most tours are those that NCL or other companies use.  All that the staff on board has is the description supplied to them by Regent home office. In my experience they do the best they can.  But many Regent cruises visit a port once then on they go.  It's not like they're visiting every week all year long.  The staff only has what information it has.  

Edited March 22, 2023 by papaflamingo

[forgap]

I’ve suggested this before but I don’t think that it would be that difficult to load tours into a database and allow passengers to write reviews.  When I go on a site like Epicurious, I use the search engine to find recipes.  Then several recipes show up.  I pick a recipe that tweaks my interest, then I read reviews about how easy, hard, or delicious the results were.  The same can be done at Regent:  search location, choose excursion, read reviews.  

[papaflamingo]

1 hour ago, forgap said:

I’ve suggested this before but I don’t think that it would be that difficult to load tours into a database and allow passengers to write reviews.  When I go on a site like Epicurious, I use the search engine to find recipes.  Then several recipes show up.  I pick a recipe that tweaks my interest, then I read reviews about how easy, hard, or delicious the results were.  The same can be done at Regent:  search location, choose excursion, read reviews.  

A lot of excursion reviews can be read on sites like TripAdvisor or in the Ports of Call section of Cruise Critic.  In most ports the excursions used by Regent are the same or very similar to excursions used by other cruise lines.  So if you "google" the name of the excursion you often can find reviews of the exact one. 

[forgap]

In a perfect world, I wanted a database built by Regent, populated with Regent excursions, and reviewed by Regent customers.  The excursions are already digital so not a monumental task (but, then, I’m not an IT person).  This way, not only could Regent passengers make informed choices, the destination services staff could be better informed.  In addition, management could then periodically review the excursions that are not up to standards and get rid of them.  

[pappy1022]

I think it’s fair to review specific Regent excursions instead of going to a generic review of excursions on the Ports of Call board. If Regent isn’t monitoring the quality of both the itinerary and the tour provider for its own customers then how can they improve? It’s obvious through the Regent board on cruise critic that there are many people unsatisfied with Regent’s excursions. If Regent is just going along with the mass cruise lines and providing a less than 5 star experience then stop “including” these excursions in the rate or give us a refund for excursions we don’t want. I would much prefer to schedule my own excursions then have a cruise line do it for me and pack me on a bus. I know it’s an option but it doesn’t feel right to pay for something that I am not going to use. 

[mnocket]

4 hours ago, forgap said:

In a perfect world, I wanted a database built by Regent, populated with Regent excursions, and reviewed by Regent customers.  The excursions are already digital so not a monumental task (but, then, I’m not an IT person).  This way, not only could Regent passengers make informed choices, the destination services staff could be better informed.  In addition, management could then periodically review the excursions that are not up to standards and get rid of them.  

Looking at this suggestion from Regent's perspective I can kind of understand why they may not want to do it.

 

Gathering customer reviews of excursions would obviously be of value to Regent.  Customer feedback is always helpful to a business that wishes to improve their offerings.

 

However, publishing customer reviews could very well cause problems for Regent.  I would imagine that everyone would flock to the best reviewed excursions.  The result would likely be a bunch of disgruntled customers who aren't able to book these excursions because they are already full (I imagine snapped up by the upper tier suites).  The ability to increase availability of these top rated excursions is limited by the operator's capacity.  From Regent's perspective, I suspect they prefer customers relying solely on the excursion descriptions rather than customer ratings.

 

[Wuzzle10]

We were on Explorer, Sydney to Bali and had a few terrible excursions, on complaining on our return to our TA, she told Regent of our poor experience , they said excursions were through their third party suppliers and there was nothing they could do!! I think this is outrageous as they should have been on these and if they had they would realise that some were a disaster, this isn’t what you expect from 6 star cruising in my opinion

[mrstanley]

Perhaps Regent should give passengers a Shore Excursion questionnaire to fill out… not online. 
List all the excursions on their cruise and have them rate them on a scale.

Give space for comments.

 

Maybe Corporate could actually see how passengers feel about the excursions.

[pappy1022]

2 hours ago, Wuzzle10 said:

We were on Explorer, Sydney to Bali and had a few terrible excursions, on complaining on our return to our TA, she told Regent of our poor experience , they said excursions were through their third party suppliers and there was nothing they could do!! I think this is outrageous as they should have been on these and if they had they would realise that some were a disaster, this isn’t what you expect from 6 star cruising in my opinion

Many business rely on 3rd party suppliers and Regent is no different. The companies that excel take responsibility for the entire supply chain and work with their suppliers to improve the end product to the customer. Those who don’t excel, wash their hands of things they don’t directly control and just blame it on the suppliers if things don’t go well. That is a cop out. Regent talks up their excursions and we have no choice but to pay for them even if we don’t use them. I understand that Regent doesn’t have total control over the excursions but when you completely wash your hands of responsibility you get whatever the supplier wants to give you and you get unhappy customers with no recourse. I will form my own opinions on the quality and value of included (paid by me) on my upcoming trip but it is disheartening to see Regent wash their hands of any responsibility. 

[papaflamingo]

I think there's some important things to realize about shore excursions.  

First and foremost Regent included excursions have a cost limit.  I was told at one point $129 per excursion, but don't actually know if that's true.  But say it is.... then the options are pretty limited.  You won't get a Private Helicopter Glacier Tour for $129.  You will get a bus tour of the local sights.  

Second, there are a number of ports that Regent only visits once or twice a year.  Pretty hard to get the top tours from all the other cruise lines when you bring in 700 people twice a year and they bring in 1500-7000 people every week. 

Third, if Regent was to satisfy the specific wishes of every passenger, the cost would be prohibitive.  As it is most tours have some extra space so we aren't hauling 60 people on a 60 person bus, but 30 or so on a 60 person bus.  Anyone really want the cost to go up so we can all get private tours?  

I'm not defending anyone, but I'm a realist.  There's only so much that can be done.  But we've snorkeled with the sharks in the South Pacific, visited Hobbiton and seen the Albatross nests in New Zealand, watched them feed Tasmanian Devils and witnessed Glow Worms in Australia, visited castles, cathedrals, famous mansions, ancient settlements, boat rides to beautiful cliffs, waterfalls, museums, sheep farms, the Waterford Crystal Factory, wineries, the Book of Kells, swum in the Blue Lagoon in Iceland, etc.  I'm pretty happy with the offerings. 

Edited March 23, 2023 by papaflamingo

[cwn]

2 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

I think there's some important things to realize about shore excursions.  

First and foremost Regent included excursions have a cost limit.  I was told at one point $129 per excursion, but don't actually know if that's true.  But say it is.... then the options are pretty limited.  You won't get a Private Helicopter Glacier Tour for $129.  You will get a bus tour of the local sights.  

Second, there are a number of ports that Regent only visits once or twice a year.  Pretty hard to get the top tours from all the other cruise lines when you bring in 700 people twice a year and they bring in 1500-7000 people every week. 

Third, if Regent was to satisfy the specific wishes of every passenger, the cost would be prohibitive.  As it is most tours have some extra space so we aren't hauling 60 people on a 60 person bus, but 30 or so on a 60 person bus.  Anyone really want the cost to go up so we can all get private tours?  

I'm not defending anyone, but I'm a realist.  There's only so much that can be done.  But we've snorkeled with the sharks in the South Pacific, visited Hobbiton and seen the Albatross nests in New Zealand, watched them feed Tasmanian Devils and witnessed Glow Worms in Australia, visited castles, cathedrals, famous mansions, ancient settlements, boat rides to beautiful cliffs, waterfalls, museums, sheep farms, the Waterford Crystal Factory, wineries, the Book of Kells, swum in the Blue Lagoon in Iceland, etc.  I'm pretty happy with the offerings. 

You said it very well. The tour allowance is $100 to $-120.

Tours like the sub dives in Aruba and other places are Free on Regent but are $100 on Carnival where you have to get to the sub tender boat on your own. Regent transfers you and they are enjoyable tours.

 

We also have have mostly good to great tours with Regent. Very few of them have been long bus rides except by choice like the 11 bus ride on the Great Ocean Road in Australia, priceless! Though there are tour that you spend all your time on the bus…. But the write up tells you that. As I have said we have done probably 100 Regent tours. On Seabourn and SS, they have the same tours, but we have to pay for them.

 

In Dec we played with dolphins at a beautiful resort on Roatan, did photo tours on two Islands with well know professionals and finish both off at bar enjoying sone great Run Punch! Also did a great ATV island drive on another port and they were all free!

 

The way the DS handles giving out bus assignments is awful, but one on one when asking for help finding tours suitable to my needs, they are helpful to the point of calling the company to check for me.

 

Some ports Regent visits do not have tours period, sone offer tours but often they are not up to our standards, but that is what the country has. Its called adventure. Other more often highly visited counties have great buses and services, they also in high demand and Regent has to share. Regents choice of tours offered to us depends on what is out there for them to contract for. 

[pappy1022]

None of this precludes Regent from getting feedback from their customers and sharing that feedback with people poking at tours.

[AtA]

20 hours ago, Wuzzle10 said:

We were on Explorer, Sydney to Bali and had a few terrible excursions, on complaining on our return to our TA, she told Regent of our poor experience , they said excursions were through their third party suppliers and there was nothing they could do!! I think this is outrageous as they should have been on these and if they had they would realise that some were a disaster, this isn’t what you expect from 6 star cruising in my opinion

It's sad because before Regent went AI with tours, their tours were generally very good to excellent to outstanding. Once they went AI, it seems they dropped the ball choosing mass market tours, and not caring about the experience. Additionally before they went AI, there was a person from Regent on every single tour and every single tour bus, boat, etc. No more!

 

If I'm paying for a 6 star experience, I don't want to be doing NCL tours with filled busses, etc.

[GOARMY]

AtA:

 

Ah, the Days of Yore!  Before Radisson went Regent--

 

A member of the Entertainment Team (ET), or two, would go along for the (bus) ride.  They, as well as the Tour Guide, had the means to communicate with the Tour Company should there be a problem such as passenger illness, accident, or vehicle breakdown. If nothing else, the ET person held up the paddle with our group's bus number so the Guide could concentrate on the narration. 

 

Recall one instance--believe it was at Pompeii--when the Guide did a clever thing.  She asked a young lady guest, around 10 or 11, to be her "assistant".  She gave that paddle to the girl.  Who was very diligent in performing her task of keeping herd on us travel cats.  That paddle was held up high throughout the duration.  

 

GOARMY!

 

[ysolde]

Getting back to he topic of excursions and passengers with disabilities, DH and I are heading off to a cruise on Voyager at the beginning of April.  Ages ago, when excursions first became available, it also became obvious that the excursions available to passengers using wheelchairs on this cruise would be limited at best.  There was one excursion available to passengers using wheelchairs at one port, so we signed up for that one.  There was one excursion at another port, but the system was not letting us sign up for it.  It was not showing up as fully booked, but . . .  A call to Regent was needed, because the system was wonky, and with only one excursion available, we needed to make sure we got in.  Fortunately, the issue was resolved with the phone call.  At the third port (Azores), there are no excursions available to passengers using wheelchairs.  Not one.  So DH and I will be spending our day on board the ship, I suppose.  Or going on a HOHO bus.  Those are always accessible.  Frustrating as heck.

[labonnevie]

We, too, remember when Regent/Radisson had someone from the ship on every tour. It gave us a sense of being taken care of, if something untoward happened they could communicate directly with the right people onboard. 
Fortunately, we never had anything happen to us, but have been on tours where others needed this assistance (falls, etc.)

We wish Regent would reinstate this practice. 

[pappy1022]

It would be great but I doubt they will do that. They have adopted the mass market cruise excursion model of large groups, hands off on assessing quality, ignoring feedback etc. So now you can get the same choices on Carnival and other mass market cruise companies. I would prefer that Regent lower their base rates and let customers pay for Regent contracted excursions if they choose and/or refund those of us who would prefer not to use this “service” from Regent. I have never had a bad tour that I researched and scheduled myself. When cruising with 2 other couples, it is actually very cost effective to schedule private tours, Often averaging $100-$150 per person. You get a lot more for your money then what Regent provides for either large group or small group tours.

[papaflamingo]

I get why people want a credit for not using Regent excursions.  I imagine those who don't drink alcohol would like a credit also.  And those who don't use the internet (if there is anyone).  Or how about those who don't eat in Prime 7?  Or maybe those in upper suites could get a refund if they prefer not having a butler?  While we're at it, should we just pay our own tips so we can decide to whom and how much we tip? 

The point of "All inclusive" is to actually BE "All inclusive."  The excursions are based on a maximum cost (I heard $129 per person per cruise but don't really know).  That isn't all that much if you compare to the cost of the same tour on any other cruise line.  To expect a tour tailored to each individuals desires in each port for $129 is absurd.  Many of these ports are small and limited in availability.  Others have multiple ships in each day.  HOW does Regent offer unique excursions when they are in a small port like Nuka Hiva or a crowded port like St. Martin?  

In all honesty, in most ports, if you want a unique tailored experience Regent offers an Executive Car or Executive Van that can be purchased for the day, at a flat rate, where you pick your own itinerary.  Just book one of those. 

I like the All Inclusive aspect of "all inclusive."  It allows for excursions to go with fewer people as the cost is likely a guaranteed rate and not per person since it's spread among all passengers.  

 

[pappy1022]

I don’t think that anyone expects a tour from Regent that is tailored to each individual. My point in comparing what I can get with a private tour if I get 2 other couples to go with us, is that it is a less per person cost vs what Regent is allocating with it’s excursion options, especially if you consider the small group tours. For example, I have a private 8 hour tour booked for our Belfast visit. It is fully customizable, and cost $700 total for 6 people. That is $116/person which is below the $129/person that Regent allocates for basic bus tours and it’s only a 4 hour tour from Regent. If you “upgrade” to the Regent small group tour, that is an additional $65/person or a total of $194/person. If you look at the price of Regent’s executive car or executive van, its cost is way more expensive than what I can get for a private tour for just myself. For example, in Belfast the cost of a Regent private car or van ranges from $1,000 - $1,300 per person. Looking at bus tours in Belfast on the internet, they range from $40-$75/person for full day tours. So say what you want, Regent is making money on these tours and we are paying for it with our base cruise fare. We should expect the same 5 star service from these excursions as we do (and get) from the other included (not free) services.  I would certainly take the $129/person credit from Regent for shore excursions and plan and arrange my own tours. Other cruise lines, some within the same family as Regent, offer options to have all inclusive but don’t force you to pay for services that you don’t want or don’t see the value on them.

[Kwaj girl]

@pappy1022 agree with many of your points.... except it's the cost PER VEHICLE not per person for a private car/van.

Edited March 24, 2023 by Kwaj girl

[pappy1022]

Thank you for that clarification.

[pappy1022]

Went back and looked at Regent 1/2 day and full day private vans in Belfast and the cost are $1,000 and $1,300. For the 8 hour tour almost 2X vs what I can get from a 5 star private guide.