Price increase from 1 October

[jessandarnie]

We have been considering the repositioning cruise ex Japan via Alaska to Vancouver next April. Regent did have a great incentive to book this cruise with pricing on a 2 category upgrade. We were coordinating travel from home here in Aus and also in BC to visit family & friends. Then all of a sudden the cost of this cruise nearly doubled.  The cruise is wide open in cabin availability so I am very curious as to why they would increase the cruise fare when so many cabins empty.

reservations in Sydney could not explain either.

 

Seaborne and SilverSeas do a very similar depart date and itinerary. Seaborne especially have great cruise deals on their cruise.

 

But we prefer Regent, so are in a quandary as to what Regent may do to fill up all their empty cabins, do we wait and see?

 

Appreciate opinions on this as we are new to Regent. We have a cruise booked with them in February and we weren’t really in a hurry to book this due to a good offer in the timeframe before this cruise or on board offer. But not at nearly double the cruise cost now!

 

 

[cwn]

Regent regularly does price increases. Usually the best price is when the cruise first becomes available. Sometimes they have special deals but they do not last long. 

[jessandarnie]

3 hours ago, cwn said:

Regent regularly does price increases. Usually the best price is when the cruise first becomes available. Sometimes they have special deals but they do not last long. 

Yes I am sure they do when they first release cruises. But, we have just started looking at this one.

 

There are probably about 60 + cabins available, plus 70 places on their TYO 3 night inclusive stay.

it seems a shame they have the cost of this cruise increase by another $20K AUD plus from 1 October.

 

those of you that have long term experience with Regent are they likely to release a cruise fare back to where it was to sell the cabins? Or so they do a sail like this half empty?

 

 

Edited October 23, 2023 by jessandarnie

[frantic36]

4 hours ago, jessandarnie said:

Yes I am sure they do when they first release cruises. But, we have just started looking at this one.

 

There are probably about 60 + cabins available, plus 70 places on their TYO 3 night inclusive stay.

it seems a shame they have the cost of this cruise increase by another $20K AUD plus from 1 October.

 

those of you that have long term experience with Regent are they likely to release a cruise fare back to where it was to sell the cabins? Or so they do a sail like this half empty?

 

 

 

I will say I have never sailed Regent so I don't know their standard sales but we can only contribute our experience, regulars may differ.

 

We booked a Japan cruise for 2023 which was on a special 2 suite upgrade. Due to scheduling conflicts we asked our TA about changing to 2024 but the change price was many thousands so we waited. A few months later they had another special 2 upgrade offer and there was still decent availability in the cruise we wanted. So we changed at that point even though there was a slight upcharge.

 

As we are also in Australia we don't get air flights but we were Concierge & above so we got the included hotel & transfers.I am thinking to take hotel credit as we want to stay a few days earlier and likely will do private transfers.

[mj_holiday]

Jessandarnie - which cruise is this?

[jessandarnie]

1 hour ago, mj_holiday said:

Jessandarnie - which cruise is this?

April - Tokyo to Vancouver via Alaska.

[cwn]

This is a great cruise, we did it a number of years ago. Japan is very popular right now in the US, but this is a little longer cruise so may not book up as fast. Regent usually does a price adjustment upper ward on some but not all cruises every 3 months or so. They will also run promotions on some cruises that are not selling well. That doesn’t mean they reduce the price but do add some things like the cabin upgrade or OBC to sweeten the pot…. In the US anyway.

All I can say is just watch the cruise and see if there is a change in pricing and cabins availables. The promotions in the US usually have a good until date so you know you have to book by then. I know each country has a different way of doing though.

[pingpong1]

Even though fare price increases happen every so often (perhaps quarterly or semi-annually), I don't ever recall seeing a fare price "nearly doubling" (over the original price) in "one sudden whack", like the OP described?

[cwn]

I don’t follow price increases that closely, we either book when cruises come out or nearly at final payment time. Pre Covid they were having price increases on some cruises every 3/4 months. The ones we book early, the price nearer cruise time has at times been much higher.

But with the suite up grade depending whether currently pricing the lower suite or the suite that they would have gotten for the two suite up grade and whether total price is for two or the per person price it is possible.? 
And each country’s price structure is different. I am going by US experience.

2 hours ago, pingpong1 said:

Even though fare price increases happen every so often (perhaps quarterly or semi-annually), I don't ever recall seeing a fare price "nearly doubling" (over the original price) in "one sudden whack", like the OP described?

 If they had contacted a T agent about the cruise and just hadn’t made the deposit they could  ask the agent to talk to Regent a deal.

[1sttimerrt]

@jessandarnie How did you know that over 60 rooms were available?

[jessandarnie]

39 minutes ago, 1sttimerrt said:

@jessandarnie How did you know that over 60 rooms were available?

I checked all the cabins, did a count. Odd the pricing here in Australia , got quote from a US Agent, much cheaper than currently here. Concerted from USD to AUD as well.

Seaborne and Silver Seas work out to be approx $7-9 K cheaper in US also.

Aus TA not the same deals as US

I think we will wait  loose till when full payment is due. All 3 cruises are not nearly full.

[RD64]

Not full now - but anything can happen within six months - for example all the people that really want to go - all waiting for a lower price - realizing price may not actually be reduced - finally biting the bullet and booking it.

[Sunprince]

Jessandarnie, My Canadian TA (sorry we are not allowed to name them here), sent me a series of Regent offers as recently as last Friday. Your exact cruise is one of those offers, listed at a significant discount to Regents own pricing. The cruise is definitely not heavily booked, otherwise they would not have sold off a block of suites to my TA at a big discount. Suggest that you find a North American based TA, that does a high volume of business with Regent and ask for significantly reduced pricing. BTW, when I switch my vpn to Australia, I am getting a “standard fare” of approx 37,000 AU$ or about $23,000 US$, which is approx the price on Regents US website. The Canadian dollar price is $31799. 

[jessandarnie]

Interesting isn’t it. Our exchange rate AUD to USD Is extremely low ATM…0.62 for us for 1 USD.

this makes it an costly exercise for us to visit the US. But our purpose for this trip by cruise is to visit family and grandchildren, eliminating those long haul flights, which even in business class are strenuous.

I am not concerned whom we book with. CAD is better for us as you probably realise.

can you email me? Budbrian…at…iiNet.net.au your ta info?