live from anchorage, pre-cruise to explorer, august 2, 2023

[Big Vin]

This is a one post review of the process to get a transfer ticket from the Anchorage Hilton to Seward.

 

I don't understand how Regent can be so bad at this. They have an Alaska season every year, formerly on Mariner, and now on Explorer. They turnaround from Anchorage every other week all summer long. How can they be so bad at this?

 

Last night we received a welcome letter when checking in. It was after 10:00 pm so there was no Regent hospitality desk to clear things up. (We arrived at the airport in plenty of time to get to the hotel by 10:00 pm, but were kept waiting 40 minutes for the bus transfer, so there is also that.)

 

Anyway, what was written in the welcome letter had no resemblance to what actually happened this morning.

 

I searched out the hospitality desk at 7am because that's when the letter said it would open. There was already a line, winding out the door and into an adjacent outdoor patio. And as the line snaked on the inside, it interfered with the serving of breakfast.

 

I know the experience on board the ship will be better, but come on Regent, you can do better than this!

 

I would be interested if anyone on a subsequent cruise staying with Regent pre-cruise from Anchorage can attest that they at least bothered to change the welcome letter to reflect the actual process.

 

 

[pappy1022]

That’s not the Regent I remember. They used to be so customer service conscious. It seems the non ship services have suffered the most from what I read on these boards. 

[MarEll1]

Can you elaborate on the process and what the line is for? We will be taking this exact transfer 2 weeks from today. We are new to Regent. I just assumed we when we check in we would be assigned to a bus and a departure time and it would be simple. Now I am quite concerned.

[mj_holiday]

Our RSSC cruise since COVID was December and there were several missteps during the pre and post cruise.  I am hoping by the time we head to our next RSSC vacation that things would have gotten back to what we had become use to, great service.  Now I am beginning to wonder.

[RetiredandTravel]

I thought Regent hired outside firms for pre & post cruise logistics at the hotels and that those people don't directly work for Regent.  Am I wrong ?

[pappy1022]

True but that shouldn’t relieve Regent from providing oversight and quality control. If they aren’t doing so and issues like this keep resurfacing, it will hurt their brand. I assume they realize this and are taking an active approach to resolving these types of issues but we never hear from them when these types of things occur.

[pappy1022]

Maybe Mike from Regent can give us some insight into how Regent manages their 3rd party providers, how they measure quality from these providers and how they resolve issues related to these 3rd party vendors.

[RetiredandTravel]

5 minutes ago, pappy1022 said:

True but that shouldn’t relieve Regent from providing oversight and quality control. If they aren’t doing so and issues like this keep resurfacing, it will hurt their brand. I assume they realize this and are taking an active approach to resolving these types of issues but we never hear from them when these types of things occur.

 

 

I'm not making excuses just pointing it out. 🙂

[mj_holiday]

Yes, these are outside firms that Regent hires.  But just like anyone else that is hired they need to do the job contracted for or not get rehired.  Many contracts have penalties for noncompliance and bonuses for exceeding the compliance.  Regent has the say on how their contractors work.

[cwn]

Strange though, since as the poster says they have been doing this transfer since June, two months now and I haven’t heard of any problems in this board or on fb. Lots of moving parts on the third party transfers in Alaska, maybe this is just a one off deal…would hope so

.

We have had enough problems when we have turned our transfers over to some one else over 40+ years of cruising. Now we make our own arrangements to get to and from the airport and two and from the ship be it Regent, SS, Seabourn or Cunard. No brand is immune to problems with third parties and particularly post Covid.

[boblerm]

6 hours ago, Big Vin said:

This is a one post review of the process to get a transfer ticket from the Anchorage Hilton to Seward.

 

I don't understand how Regent can be so bad at this. They have an Alaska season every year, formerly on Mariner, and now on Explorer. They turnaround from Anchorage every other week all summer long. How can they be so bad at this?

 

Last night we received a welcome letter when checking in. It was after 10:00 pm so there was no Regent hospitality desk to clear things up. (We arrived at the airport in plenty of time to get to the hotel by 10:00 pm, but were kept waiting 40 minutes for the bus transfer, so there is also that.)

 

Anyway, what was written in the welcome letter had no resemblance to what actually happened this morning.

 

I searched out the hospitality desk at 7am because that's when the letter said it would open. There was already a line, winding out the door and into an adjacent outdoor patio. And as the line snaked on the inside, it interfered with the serving of breakfast.

 

I know the experience on board the ship will be better, but come on Regent, you can do better than this!

 

I would be interested if anyone on a subsequent cruise staying with Regent pre-cruise from Anchorage can attest that they at least bothered to change the welcome letter to reflect the actual process.

 

 

Big Vin

So sorry that your cruise has gotten off to such a rocky start.  Here's hoping that things take a considerable turn for the better once you board.

If time allows, please pop in here from time to time and let us know how things are going.

Cheers!🥂

[cruiseej]

The ground services firm they hire has a few people tasked with being at the hotel desk, loading the busses, etc.  All it takes throw things off is one employee who is sick, or has a sick child, or has a car problem/accident, so they are understaffed and unable to keep up. If this issue a recurring complaint, then Regent needs to hear it so they can address it with the local company or hire a different one (if there are companies to choose from); if this was a one-off snafu, it's unfortunate for the passengers who had a poor experience, but not a systemic problem Regent needs to address.  

[Everything Bagel]

16 hours ago, cruiseej said:

The ground services firm they hire has a few people tasked with being at the hotel desk, loading the busses, etc.  All it takes throw things off is one employee who is sick, or has a sick child, or has a car problem/accident, so they are understaffed and unable to keep up. If this issue a recurring complaint, then Regent needs to hear it so they can address it with the local company or hire a different one (if there are companies to choose from); if this was a one-off snafu, it's unfortunate for the passengers who had a poor experience, but not a systemic problem Regent needs to address.  

 

I think Regent is responsible for everything they do AND everything others do in their name. I accept no excuses for bad planning or execution when it's my vacation that is impacted. And I mean everything, including the bagel.  🙂

[cruiseej]

9 minutes ago, Everything Bagel said:

I think Regent is responsible for everything they do AND everything others do in their name. I accept no excuses for bad planning or execution

 

And I'm only saying that sometimes s--t happens that no one can do anything about other than to work through the problem as best possible. Now, it this were a recurring problem with every cruise, or many cruises, that's a different matter, and yes, that would be a real failure on Regent's part. 

[Everything Bagel]

18 minutes ago, cruiseej said:

 

And I'm only saying that sometimes s--t happens that no one can do anything about other than to work through the problem as best possible. Now, it this were a recurring problem with every cruise, or many cruises, that's a different matter, and yes, that would be a real failure on Regent's part. 

 

Of course neither of us know how often this happens, but I would wager that no one proofread the welcome letter mentioned in the original post.

[Dolebludger]

In mid-June my wife, daughter, and grand daughter cruised Seward to Vancouver on the Explorer for a “girls only” cruise. They took credits and booked their own air, hotel, and ground transfers. They took the train from Anchorage to Seward, and spent an extra pre cruise night in Seward. As for the Cruise itself, the wife and I have been on more Regent cruises (and a few other lux cruises) than I can count. My wife reports that this recent cruise was the best on-board experience of them all. Otherwise, all went well until they arrived at the Vancouver airport, and were greeted by a very long line to check in for the United flight home. A long wait later, the wife raised some cane because the shortcomings of United Staff almost made  the party miss their flight. Of course, Regent had nothing to do with that flight. 
 

The story here is that once onboard a Regent ship, the service and experience is great. Getting to and from the ship may be a different matter. It seems that Regent’s contractor in Anchorage has a severe problem. I hope the OP contacts Regent with this information. I’m confident that Regent will do all possible to correct this. That may not be easy. All land hospitality providers seem to be short staffed these days.

[Big Vin]

4 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

In mid-June my wife, daughter, and grand daughter cruised Seward to Vancouver on the Explorer for a “girls only” cruise. They took credits and booked their own air, hotel, and ground transfers. They took the train from Anchorage to Seward, and spent an extra pre cruise night in Seward. As for the Cruise itself, the wife and I have been on more Regent cruises (and a few other lux cruises) than I can count. My wife reports that this recent cruise was the best on-board experience of them all. Otherwise, all went well until they arrived at the Vancouver airport, and were greeted by a very long line to check in for the United flight home. A long wait later, the wife raised some cane because the shortcomings of United Staff almost made  the party miss their flight. Of course, Regent had nothing to do with that flight. 
 

The story here is that once onboard a Regent ship, the service and experience is great. Getting to and from the ship may be a different matter. It seems that Regent’s contractor in Anchorage has a severe problem. I hope the OP contacts Regent with this information. I’m confident that Regent will do all possible to correct this. That may not be easy. All land hospitality providers seem to be short staffed these days.

 

Although this is only the third day of the cruise, my experience is opposite of what you described; this is my worst (so far) pre cruise AND on board experience on Radisson/Regent.

 

Notwithstanding boblerms's nice post, above, I don't think that he, or anyone else, really wants to read my very negative (so far) review.

 

I am blogging the cruise live on, as they say, another network. I can easily post some of that content here. It is not suitable for work, so I would have to redact some content for the more family friendly Cruise Critic. And it is not your typical review, so many here will just dismiss it as me being weird. (So true!) Anyway, I could do that, but you know a lot of Regent loyalists won't like it.

 

I can, however, summarize it as follows:  In the middle of the third inning, it's the Nitpickers 7 and the Explorers 4.

 

Alternatively, I can wait until the end of the game in case there is a comeback.

 

 

[Nachosdelux]

I would like to hear the bad as well as the good, so please post your review here

[wcsdkqh]

Just post the link to your blog if you don’t wish to post here.

[pappy1022]

Me too. It is after all an opinion and we all have them. Just provide facts & details to back up your comments and please nothing vulgar. Also, if you aren’t happy with something, say something immediately to Regent management on the ship. They are good at fixing issues especially while on the ship. And lastly, buckle up because the Regent “can do nothing wrong” folks will surely fire back at you. It’s OK, just take all comments and opinions with a grain of salt, even the one’s that agree with you. I hope things change for you in the better for the rest of your cruise.

[MarEll1]

@Big Vinplease post here or post your link! I’m very interested in hearing your thoughts as this we will be aboard in 2 weeks. I’m sorry you are having issues - hopefully things turn around!

[boblerm]

46 minutes ago, Big Vin said:

Notwithstanding boblerms's nice post, above, I don't think that he, or anyone else, really wants to read my very negative (so far) review.

Big Vin, while we appreciate your concern for our sensitivities, perhaps we are not quite as fragile as you may think. 

 

We can handle the truth! 

 

If it's not too much trouble, mayb you can provide a few bullet points (if possible in language that is not too too weird?) as to what your concerns are. And also if there is any positives? 

 

TIA. 

 

[Dolebludger]

While my wife, daughter and grand daughter had a great onboard experience six weeks ago, this does not mean negate the fact that there could be problems right now. I’m sure we would all like to hear about any current problems, specifically. I have not cruised since the pandemic, and I asked my wife to note and tell me of any problems she observed. The ones she observed were very minor — not worth mentioning.  (Smoke from the cigar bar getting into the observation lounge, one incident of understaffing at the pool bar, and one show that she didn’t like) Very minor. But we can all recall the first post-pandemic cruise of the Voyager when on-board restaurant service was reported by many as — bad.  Reports of on-board problems are important to most here, I think. I am considering whether I want to cruise again, given the known problems of getting to the cruise and home from it. 

[Big Vin]

11 minutes ago, Dolebludger said:

While my wife, daughter and grand daughter had a great onboard experience six weeks ago, this does not mean negate the fact that there could be problems right now. I’m sure we would all like to hear about any current problems, specifically. I have not cruised since the pandemic, and I asked my wife to note and tell me of any problems she observed. The ones she observed were very minor — not worth mentioning.  (Smoke from the cigar bar getting into the observation lounge, one incident of understaffing at the pool bar, and one show that she didn’t like) Very minor. But we can all recall the first post-pandemic cruise of the Voyager when on-board restaurant service was reported by many as — bad.  Reports of on-board problems are important to most here, I think. I am considering whether I want to cruise again, given the known problems of getting to the cruise and home from it. 

 

One big factor, which I'm sure you will agree, is that the best cruises are the ones that you take with your family!

 

I'm not deliberately trying to be a tease, but I still have a cruise to experience and I intend to do that. Also, it is Mrs Vin's and my 56th anniversary (and our 56th cruise) so we really do need to spend more time off of all our electronic devices. (The Internet connection has been pretty decent, by the way.)

 

Post again next at sea day, maybe - August 8!

[boblerm]