Has Regent changed to all "paper" for luggage tags and boarding documentation in a paper envelope?

[pappy1022]

7 hours ago, flossie009 said:

Welcome to our world. As @cwn says, the Regent document packs in Europe disappeared early in 2022, with all documentation being issued by email.

After some early issues, Regent reinstated the sending of luggage tags only by mail.

 

When we asked Regent about the withdrawal of the full document pack early last year the U.K. MD told us in writing that it was nothing to do with cost:

“There are a many reasons why we see this as a positive step forward for Regent, cost cutting does not feature in the study”

 ………….. and of course we believed him 🙄 🤣 

 

And what are those many reasons.

[Pcardad]

38 minutes ago, pappy1022 said:

And what are those many reasons.

Made up?

[flossie009]

3 hours ago, pappy1022 said:

And what are those many reasons.

He didn't say ............... and he has since retired so we cannot ask him 😉

You will of course note that he said "...........we see this as a positive step forward for Regent"  not ".......... for Regent's customers"  🤨

 

Certainly in the UK we understand that one of the drivers for dispensing with hard-copy documentation by mail was the lack of staff members available in the Southampton office post-pandemic to handle & despatch complete document packs.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 19, 2023 by flossie009

[Pcardad]

28 minutes ago, flossie009 said:

He didn't say ............... and he has since retired so we cannot ask him 😉

You will of course note that he said "...........we see this as a positive step forward for Regent"  not ".......... for Regent's customers"  🤨

 

Certainly in the UK we understand that one of the drivers for dispensing with hard-copy documentation by mail was the lack of staff members available in the Southampton office post-pandemic to handle & despatch complete document packs.

 

 

 

 

I was told it was a cost-saving measure....who knows.

[Gcto]

12 hours ago, Pcardad said:

If it makes you feel any better, we have always had to fill out our own luggage tags. They always arrived blank and I am Titanium and a TA with 5 million in bookings. I am not trying to discount your feelings, just providing some factual perspective. Covid came THIS CLOSE to wiping out the cruise industry....

I agree with you in some things, but as you know as a TA dealing with clients on a daily basis... Perception matters.  And the new way does not meet that. I don't mind filling out my own tags...but the material needs to be something durable, surviving the porters at the port and the luggage cart. If your tag is gone... how will they find your room ? Paper tags are just...paper and easily ripped of. Do we need faux leather...no...but it provided some "class". Do we need leather luggage tags ? No.... but it distinguished from other lines. I'm sure there is a golden middle which still gives clients what they need and is cost saving ... Email is fine...and yes, I can print out things. But... perception matters and if we go too cheap... it sends the wrong message.  So add a buck to the cruise price... and go on with it 🙂

 

[welshfamily]

Well said.

 

[flossie009]

12 hours ago, Pcardad said:

I was told it was a cost-saving measure

I am sure that is correct

 

6 hours ago, Gcto said:

I don't mind filling out my own tags...but the material needs to be something durable, surviving the porters at the port and the luggage cart.

The luggage tags supplied by Regent are durable (similar to airline tags).

The type and number of tags supplied in the mail has not changed.
They just do not come in a pleather wallet, and all other documentation (cruise summary, boarding passes) are only sent by email.

 

Early in the 2022 “trial” of the new “eDocs” arrangements, Regent(UK) did experiment with only issuing luggage tags on arrival at the embarkation port.

This was not a success and they reverted to sending luggage tags by mail.

 

 

 

 

 

[papaflamingo]

8 hours ago, Gcto said:

  Paper tags are just...paper and easily ripped of.

As mentioned the Regent tags are as durable as airliner tags.  If you're talking about print your own tags, RCCL's system is one tag per piece of paper. You fold the paper as instructed on the tag and it is quite durable. To get around that, we bought plastic tag holders off Amazon that are sized per cruise line.   We still use those for our Regent tags.  We simply slide the tag into the plastic holder (isn't custom fit since they're RCCL sized holders but still fit quite well) and attach with a metal screw type ring and the tag is on securely and well protected.  Works great.  Highly recommended. 

[Pcardad]

10 hours ago, Gcto said:

I agree with you in some things, but as you know as a TA dealing with clients on a daily basis... Perception matters.  And the new way does not meet that. I don't mind filling out my own tags...but the material needs to be something durable, surviving the porters at the port and the luggage cart. If your tag is gone... how will they find your room ? Paper tags are just...paper and easily ripped of. Do we need faux leather...no...but it provided some "class". Do we need leather luggage tags ? No.... but it distinguished from other lines. I'm sure there is a golden middle which still gives clients what they need and is cost saving ... Email is fine...and yes, I can print out things. But... perception matters and if we go too cheap... it sends the wrong message.  So add a buck to the cruise price... and go on with it 🙂

 

Perception is subjective. I would rather have Regent on financial solid ground and skip the extraneous fluff. My solution was to have nice folders embossed for my clients and I have their docs sent to me and I pack their folders with appropriate material. 

[pingpong1]

I don't think Regent will ever be inclined to pass along any "cost savings" to their customers.  Rather...they'll continue to cut operating costs wherever they can (by eliminating all those little "extra touches" that drew us older customers to them to begin with), while at the same time increasing their fares, as well (and as high as the market will bear).

 

Do we really think that the fares would go up "even more", simply because they continued to provide the pleather wallets and pre-printed luggage tags?  They're probably assuming (probably correctly) that "the gold's and platinum's" are not going to stop booking future cruises simply because they no longer receive pre-cruise leather luggage tags.  And new customers can't "miss" something that they never received in the first place.

[pappy1022]

Agree with financial stability being the number 1 priority. I just wonder why they keep building the most expensive ships in the world and then market that brand. I would think they would want to improve and focus on customer facing items vs buying expensive paintings and decor. 

[pingpong1]

6 minutes ago, pappy1022 said:

Agree with financial stability being the number 1 priority. I just wonder why they keep building the most expensive ships in the world and then market that brand. I would think they would want to improve and focus on customer facing items vs buying expensive paintings and decor. 

Pappy, all I can think of is that Regent has determined (through their own market studies) that more of their target demographic is attracted by "the glitz"...than those who are "turned off" by the pricing?? 🤔

[Pcardad]

There will always be customers buying the "Top of the Market" even if whatever is in 2nd place costs half. Some people are driven by Form over Substance.

[rotoal]

We will be on our first Regent cruise next month and just received the tags.   My objection to the paper luggage tags is that they have so little pre-printed information, just the deck number, not the sailing date, nor the cabin number, just the deck number.   Why even bother to mail these out?

 

And our other objection, the envelope was only addressed to my husband, not to both of us.  

[forgap]

I always pre print sticky labels with our names, cabin, sail date, ship name, address, phone, email, and stick it on to the tag, then attach it to the luggage.  Works well!  

7 hours ago, rotoal said:

[rotoal]

36 minutes ago, forgap said:

I always pre print sticky labels with our names, cabin, sail date, ship name, address, phone, email, and stick it on to the tag, then attach it to the luggage.  Works well!  

Thank you, that will work.   I just found it surprising that the ship name and sail date aren't on the tags.  With our handwriting getting more and more unreadable due to lack of use, this is a great solution

  

[papaflamingo]

8 hours ago, rotoal said:

We will be on our first Regent cruise next month and just received the tags.   My objection to the paper luggage tags is that they have so little pre-printed information, just the deck number, not the sailing date, nor the cabin number, just the deck number.   Why even bother to mail these out?

 

And our other objection, the envelope was only addressed to my husband, not to both of us.  

The luggage tags (at least since we first sailed Regent) haven't changed.  The only thing that's changed is they don't come in a fake leather pouch (unless they've changed since last May).  

As for only addressing the envelope to one person... not sure that's changed either.  Honestly can't say for sure because I never looked.  When I get the luggage tags, etc. I'm just excited because the cruise is finally arriving so I have, quite honestly, never looked to see who the envelope is addressed to. 

[Mudhen]

Going out on a limb, here....

Years ago, very "pre covid", we cruised "grill class" on the QM2. After following all of the rig a ma roll, online, I was somewhat horrified to have to actually print our own boarding passes, AND luggage tags.

"Hey, we're grill class, here...." I was absolutely miffed, disgruntled, and not happy about any of that.

Geez, we paid a fortune and I actually have to do all this?

Well, I did....wasnt  happy about it,, but ya know, it now seems like small potatoes. We had a wonderful time and the "ordeal" of printing almost all of our docs, boarding passes AND luggage tags, is now forgotten. Seems kinda first world now....

I honestly think it's the wave of the future....expect more "do it yourself" chores, like it or not....

[papaflamingo]

2 minutes ago, Mudhen said:

Going out on a limb, here....

Years ago, very "pre covid", we cruised "grill class" on the QM2. After following all of the rig a ma roll, online, I was somewhat horrified to have to actually print our own boarding passes, AND luggage tags.

"Hey, we're grill class, here...." I was absolutely miffed, disgruntled, and not happy about any of that.

Geez, we paid a fortune and I actually have to do all this?

Well, I did....wasnt  happy about it,, but ya know, it now seems like small potatoes. We had a wonderful time and the "ordeal" of printing almost all of our docs, boarding passes AND luggage tags, is now forgotten. Seems kinda first world now....

I honestly think it's the wave of the future....expect more "do it yourself" chores, like it or not....

It's very likely the "wave of the future."  But on Regent you don't have to print anything. The Boarding Pass is downloadable into your phone and the luggage tags are still sent.  Seems all that's changed is the fake leather pouch is gone.  

[frantic36]

A quick question that hopefully won't offend anyone. When I board Regent I will have my sent out luggage tags with suite # attached but will also have my old Seabourn leatherette tags that I just leave on my luggage with name, phone # etc for years now, will that cause an issue? Just for the record Seabourn no longer sends out the fake leather pouches either. 

[Pcardad]

38 minutes ago, frantic36 said:

A quick question that hopefully won't offend anyone. When I board Regent I will have my sent out luggage tags with suite # attached but will also have my old Seabourn leatherette tags that I just leave on my luggage with name, phone # etc for years now, will that cause an issue? Just for the record Seabourn no longer sends out the fake leather pouches either. 

Not at all.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

8 hours ago, frantic36 said:

A quick question that hopefully won't offend anyone. When I board Regent I will have my sent out luggage tags with suite # attached but will also have my old Seabourn leatherette tags that I just leave on my luggage with name, phone # etc for years now, will that cause an issue? Just for the record Seabourn no longer sends out the fake leather pouches either. 

No.  In fact your luggage should always have those tags on wherever you travel.  These paper things are just like the ones you get on your luggage when you fly. 

[Scout16]

I tend to wait until I am at the hotel or the airport where we board the ship to attach the ship tags since there only purpose is to get your luggage to your room on the ship.  In most cases I believe that the ship name and sailing date are overkill on the tags.  I will admit that some of the on line check in is bothersome, such as having to send a picture since I know that they will take their own when I board.

[carolina cruisin]

IMHO you should definitely wait until putting the tags on after arriving at destination and prior to boarding.

 

[RELS]

1 hour ago, Scout16 said:

I will admit that some of the on line check in is bothersome, such as having to send a picture since I know that they will take their own when I board.

 

On my last two cruises (December/Splendor, June/Voyager) they were happy with the picture I uploaded and didn't take a new one. Check-in went very quickly, with the entertainment team doing a lot of the work.

 

1 hour ago, Scout16 said:

I tend to wait until I am at the hotel or the airport where we board the ship to attach the ship tags since there only purpose is to get your luggage to your room on the ship

 

I didn't even get a chance to attach these in June. I unloaded them from the taxi, and someone was right there to check that I was a legit passenger and fill out new ones right there. I'm sure they're very used to people not completing the bag-tag step.