Included ‘luxury hotel,.

[Dolebludger]

Yes, I have thought the same about Barbados departures. In fact, I wondered if Regent cannot book hotels and transfers there, how could I book them? 

[mrstanley]

We are Platinum level on Regent. We don’t book Concierge or above suites.

We make our own hotel reservations and transfer to the ship or to an airport.

 

Taking a packed bus to the ship or an airport is not a luxury experience. Most of the hotels Regent uses in my opinion are not luxury hotels. 

[Dolebludger]

The only problem we have even been close to with Regent-booked hotels and transfers for embarkation was second hand info on our Explorer Alaska cruise last June. We booked our own, so this is second hand information from fellow guests. Regent used the Anchorage Hilton, and reportedly it is not a lux hotel. I believe that, as it wasn’t a lux hotel when we stayed there 21 years ago. Breakfast was included for these guests, but this hotel lacked space and servers, so many guests ate standing up. The busses to take the guests to the port in Seward were late, and very crowded. The distance is rather long from Anchorage to Seward. For us it was two to three hours on a vista dome train, so I suspect the bus ride was longer. And while the train ride was fun, no doubt the crowded bus ride was not. The entire process in Anchorage was understaffed and mismanaged, and I have seen pictures on the lines and crowds that resulted. So while a five mile ride on a crowded bus may be tolerable, it seems that the long ride here was not. 

[annmarz]

11 hours ago, Dolebludger said:

Yes, I have thought the same about Barbados departures. In fact, I wondered if Regent cannot book hotels and transfers there, how could I book them? 

Ask your TA!

[papaflamingo]

On 10/13/2023 at 9:54 AM, cruisevirgin24 said:

Papaflamingo, I am boarding in Miami in January, staying in the Regent provided Hotel Biltmore. After reading many stories of the nightmare bus transfers to the port, I intend to book private transfer to the ship.

Should we inform anyone of our intention? Do we take our luggage, or can we leave this with the bus luggage? Can we relax in the hotel and board a little later in the day, when the queues have decreased? Thank you!

Honestly we have never stayed in a Regent supplied hotel, always took the hotel credit and arranged our own transportation.  But from what I've read here, if you want you can actually send your luggage with Regent in the morning and go on your own to the ship.  I would certainly tell someone if I was planning on doing that, but sure seems possible if you want.  As for getting on the ship, you can board anytime really, as long as you're there before they shut boarding down.  Not sure about Regent, but we once arrived at 2:30 for a 5 pm sailing on Celebrity and we were the last to board.  I had heard that 3:30 was when they cutoff boarding to close out the manifest, 90 minutes before sailing,  but don't really know if that's true or not. However for us, we board early so we can get settled and start enjoying the cruise.   But if you want to do lunch at the hotel and head over at 1, shouldn't be a problem. 

[Flgreg]

The Regent rep told us we have to be onboard no later than 2 hours before departure.

[blondietoo]

Anyone know what hotel is used by Regent in Santiago Chile??

[Brownie54]

The W hotel. This is a fairly recent change. They used to use the Mandarin Oriental.

[Techno123]

On 10/13/2023 at 3:17 PM, tubeamps said:

I’ll be in Tokyo for a Regent 3 night pre cruise stay in a few weeks.

They have us booked in the Hilton Shinjuku.

 

Looks like a nice property in a good central location.

We will also be in Tokyo in a few weeks but as we are from the UK (and have 'only' booked a superior F1suite) we don't get the 'luxury' hotel, we get what Regent refers to as a 'forced' overnight. They have booked us into the 'GRAND PRINCE SHIN' which I believe is in Takanawa. We could be in a cupboard - who knows 😜