Shore Excursion Availability

[sabrefan]

Going on our first Regent cruise in one year. Shore excursions open tonight and I would like to know if the free shore excursions sell out fast on the very first day of availability? I would hope that they wouldn’t since the cruise is a year away and final payment hasn’t been made yet. Looking forward to hearing from experienced Regent cruisers regarding free shore excursion availability.

[mrlevin]

I will be online at 8pm EDT and "hope" to get all my preferred tours.  That said, they have not posted any regent choice, small group, or any other specialty tours so, yes, the free ones might all be gone by tomorrow; especially on the Tokyo to Tokyo portion of the trip as that is waitlisted; of course, when the other tours become available many may switch which will open inventory.

Edited April 2, 2023 by mrlevin

[pappy1022]

Book early or risk not getting what you want. I always get on the website as soon as it opens for early booking (concierge level or above). If you haven’t already done so, look through the excursion options and have a number 1 and 2 priority identified so you aren’t wasting time looking for options during the open period. 

Edited April 2, 2023 by pappy1022
Removed extra words

[pappy1022]

And, GO SABRES & BILLS

[Gray Lady]

Sabrefan, please let us know how it goes. I am apprehensive about the excursions myself. First time ever cruising, and we picked Regent due to the all inclusiveness offered. We booked below concierge so will have a later choice of excursions. I just hope they still have some availability when our date opens. Our advantage is never having been to Europe, so any excursion would be something new for us. I just don’t want to pay for each excursion. If that happens, we could have went with another cruise line or paid a lot more to upgrade our room (which seemed frivolous on a paper intensive cruise).

[RELS]

Usually I get right on the website to book excursions as soon as possible (Silver level, so 1 yr out). However I just joined a cruise that's less than three months away (mid-June) and got all but two of my top desired excursions. I was able to wait list one of those, and I'll see whether I can get the other one (that has a closed wait list)  on board. If your top excursion is wait listed, select another excursion and call Regent directly to get added to the wait list for your top choice. 

 

[Gray Lady]

RELS, thank you for the great tip. It is difficult when one has no experience to know what to do, and I am not afraid to ask even the simplest things. Hope you get the excursions you want!

[Jlhalldc]

You are smart to be ready to go with all of your choices the minute excursions open for booking. When I have a lot to book and I'm having trouble with the site, I call Regent's 800 number. I booked all excursions for a 61-day cruise in 15 minutes. Would've taken hours online. 

[pappy1022]

1 hour ago, Jlhalldc said:

Would've taken hours online. 

When I did my online excursion selections in September, it took 10-15 minutes because I had all my excursions ready to choose. I got all of my first choices and I didn’t have to wait until the next day to talk to an agent. Either way works. I used to grill Regent for their website performance when selecting excursions but on my most recent experience, I was pleasantly surprised. 

[mrlevin]

Really easy to book 18 excursions online in 15 minutes.  Only hiccup was tour in Busan showed conflict when none existed so I will call tomorrow.  No tours for two days in Tokyo (online) but we are going to head out on our own anyway.

[gabelle]

1 hour ago, mrlevin said:

Really easy to book 18 excursions online in 15 minutes.  Only hiccup was tour in Busan showed conflict when none existed so I will call tomorrow.  No tours for two days in Tokyo (online) but we are going to head out on our own anyway.

I also thought the Tokyo excursions weren't there, but they are at the very beginning of the list.  The dates are correct and we have them booked!

[sabrefan]

I was able to get all the excursions that I wanted for the Tokyo to Tokyo cruise tonight that will sail on 4/1/24.

[sabrefan]

Thank you all for your advice in advance of the event tonight.

[pappy1022]

You are welcome. Glad it worked for you and we could be of help. I remember my first Regent booking and not knowing what to expect and appreciated all the help that I got from the fine folks on this board. Enjoy the cruise.

[Gray Lady]

Congrats, sabrefan! So good to hear!  I just have one more question for all of the previous cruisers out there. When we are finally able to choose our excursions (which I will have researched and be ready with a list) on June 19th, what time does selection start? I know Regent operates out of their offices in Eastern time, so I adjust accordingly. If it is midnight, then I can start choosing at 9 PM my time? Excursions open for concierge and above later this month, so I want to try and get our excursions as soon as possible. Thanks in advance. I have learned so much from everyone here. Can’t wait to join the “official” cruise family!

[1982CruzStart]

28 minutes ago, Gray Lady said:

what time does selection start?

i believe this has changed from midnight to an afternoon time. I think 5 pm est but i am not sure and i can't put my fingers on the email right now. There was a thread that discussed this so if you do a search on this forum you should be able to find it. I am sure someone out there will give you the exact time. 

It was great for those of us on the west coast cuz we were able to book at 9pm the day before. No staying up late at night.  I think Regent changed to make it more "fair", whatever that means. 

[RELS]

1 hour ago, Gray Lady said:

what time does selection start?

 

8pm Eastern. It should say so on you RSSC account.

 

I liked it a lot when it was 12:01am Eastern, because I could get it done at 9pm-ish Pacific when most others weren't going to get online until the next morning. But that advantage is no more 🙂 .

[flossie009]

On 4/3/2023 at 6:36 PM, RELS said:

I liked it a lot when it was 12:01am Eastern, because I could get it done at 9pm-ish Pacific when most others weren't going to get online until the next morning.

 

On 4/3/2023 at 5:07 PM, 1982CruzStart said:

I think Regent changed to make it more "fair", whatever that means. 

 

For us in the UK, the booking time is now 1am or 2am, so not very convenient 🤨