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Regent- Stranded! Last minute change 🙀


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Pcardad, Regent's response/lack of response has been a deal breaker for us.  If we cannot count on a cruise line to provide resolution to issues that they "choose" to create, and no Canadian insurance company will cover any additional costs, then we will not book with the cruise line. 

 

We have had multiple cruises and land trips since COVID.  Not once have we had an issue with a cruise line without the cruise line providing more than what we expected.  On some of the cruises we have taken, the cruise line provided us with credits as a result of a missed port that was missed because of weather issues (no credit was expected); provided us with an upgrade as there had been an error in their paperwork (no upgrade was expected); had a rep contact us to ensure that we knew that we had a referral credit that we had not applied to a cruise; and sent us e-mails to ensure we knew exactly where the ship was located for embarkation as there were multiple docking spots (Barcelona).  

 

IMO, you are defending Regent and, to me, it is Regent's "expectations that need to be adjusted".  Obviously, you disagree and that is why you continue to promote and sail on Regent.

 

We are and will continue to follow the "vote with your wallet" approach, and sail on those lines that are passenger centric.  From our experiences over the past few years, we have lots of choices that work for us.

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Voting with your wallet is an excellent choice. My point is that I see more of these things than most people do and, based on my experience, it is not specific to a particular line. I think everyone agrees this was an error. I certainly do (the definition of not defending them) and I am glad for the guests that the mistake is being corrected. 

 

 

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Good Morning All,

 

I have just received the following email from Ms. Scheer at RSSC:

 

Mr. Eisenstein ,

 

I do apologize as quite honestly; we did not consider guests would be staying in Seward as this is an anomality.   With that said, we do have a handful of guests needed transportation from Seward to Whittier , and Whittier to Seward therefore we have arranged transportation with our ground operator to either provide a motorcoach or sprinter van , depending on the demand.    

 

At this time, we do not have the transfer from Whittier to Seward build in our reservation system however, you can arrange onboard complimentary.  

 

I have asked also for the extension for transfer to be built so as soon as it is available, our operations team will adjust your reservation accordingly.

 

Truly sorry for the inconvenience.  Looking forward to having you onboard.  

 

Pat    

 

Patricia Scheer | Vice President Guest and Air Services

pscheer@rssc.com /Regent Seven Seas Cruises

Office Address: 1401 NW 136th Avenue, Suite #102 | Sunrise, FL 33323

Mailing Address: 7665 Corporate Center Drive | Miami FL 33126

 

AN UNRIVALED EXPERIENCE™

 

___________

 

This is my response to her email. It seems like things are moving in the right direction!

 

Good Morning Ms. Scheer,

 
As we have already adjusted our plans to get to Seward on the 12th of September via The Alaskan Railway plus cancelled and rebooked our hotel in Anchorage. At this time, I do not desire to change plans again. I request that RSSC just credit my Visa card for the cost of the bus transportation that I was told by RSSC Customer Service that I needed to purchase. 
 
Thank you for your quick response to my email. 
 
I will be posting your response on Cruise Critic for fellow posters to see.
 
Thanks again, 
 
Jeffrey Eisenstein (majcigar)
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16 minutes ago, Dolebludger said:

Still one unanswered question, to which I would like an answer. Why was the port changed on short notice? I will not second guess the answer. I’d just like to hear it.

 

Other than introducing it as "For your convenience," no reason was given.  Here is the full text of the August 22 email announcing the change:

 

Dear Valued Guest and Travel Partner,

 

For your convenience please be advised that embarkation for your upcoming Alaska sailing will now take place in the brand-new cruise terminal in Whittier, Alaska.

 

Whittier is approximately an hour closer to/from Ted Stevens Airport in Anchorage, Alaska than the originally scheduled embarkation port of Seward, Alaska.

 

Should your transfer arrangements be organized by Regent, our teams will adjust accordingly and there is no further action required.

 

We recommend that guests with independent transfers to the ship to contact their providers to reconfirm arrangements.

 

The full address of the new embarkation port is:

 

1313 Prince William Sound Drive

Whittier, AK 99693

USA

Please note that all guests will still be required to access Whittier via the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, allowing at least 45 minutes to get through the tunnel – find more information here.

 

We look forward to welcoming you aboard Seven Seas Explorer.

 

Regent Seven Seas Cruises

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2 hours ago, Pcardad said:

Voting with your wallet is an excellent choice. My point is that I see more of these things than most people do and, based on my experience, it is not specific to a particular line. I think everyone agrees this was an error. I certainly do (the definition of not defending them) and I am glad for the guests that the mistake is being corrected. 

I don't understand the point of saying that these kinds of problems exist with all the cruise lines.  It implies that Regent is just like the rest of them.  Regent tries to sell itself as superior to the other cruise lines. 

 

This whole episode is one of the dumbest, most inept public relations effort that Regent could possibly do.  How could anyone at Regent not consider that guests might be staying in Seward?  Or arriving on their own itinerary?  This was all announced on very short notice in terms of travel planning with a vague explanation.  One would think that Ms. Scheer's response would at least have added detail to explain why this change was made. It certainly wasn't for the convenience of some guests. Doesn't make for a credible or empathetic explanation.  Unbelievable.

 

Also, this thread has been going on for some time and no one from Regent has bothered to respond here. This level of service from Regent deserves a formal apology and an explanation to extend to all guests on the affected cruises.  I hope some other media outlets pick up on this and publicize this public relations mess.

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12 minutes ago, CruisetheCs said:

Also, this thread has been going on for some time and no one from Regent has bothered to respond here.

I’m suppressed that no one seems assigned to monitor this and Facebook.  In the past, there was a dedicated person or two that would respond to issues.  Seems like they went with the cost cuts.  

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I am surprised that Regent has given nobody a reason for a last-minute embarkation port change at nearly the end of the Alaska cruise season. The only thing close to a reason is that the Whittier terminal (Regent says) is new. However, there was nothing wrong with the Seward terminal when we embarked there in June 2023. And like others, we booked our night before embarkation in Seward, the first night in Anchorage (at a hotel of our own choosing) and the train in between. A rather common common practice, we observed.

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I certainly hope this is not the case with my 7/25 Seward to Vancouver cruise! I’ve already booked train from Anchorage for my group of 7, along with 1 night hotel in Seward so we’re able to see the town & likely do a Kenai Fjords excursion before boarding. 
My 1st Regent cruise & feel for the people blindsided by this change.

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4 hours ago, Hoo27 said:

 

Other than introducing it as "For your convenience," no reason was given.  Here is the full text of the August 22 email announcing the change:

 

Dear Valued Guest and Travel Partner,

 

For your convenience please be advised that embarkation for your upcoming Alaska sailing will now take place in the brand-new cruise terminal in Whittier, Alaska.

 

Regent Seven Seas Cruises


Evidently “For your convenience” is contextual. In this case, guests being informed of the embarkation change a couple weeks beforehand is more convenient than the day of, or perhaps RSSC felt a “brand-new” terminal is more convenient. Very odd indeed. Off putting, too as I had begun to feel comfortable with the up charge compared to Oceania and Viking.

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IMPORTANT UPDATE!

 

After posting my note concerning the email I received this morning from Ms. Scheer, I'm extremely HAPPY to report that my Visa Credit Card has been credited for $238.00. The cost of my wife and my bus transportation from Whittier to Anchorage Airport (ANC). We will still have to pay for a taxi to get back to our hotel in Anchorage, but that is a minor inconvenience.

Thanks to Ms. Patricia Scheer for her understanding and getting RSSC to do the right thing!! 

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I am on the September 4-11 cruise and have managed to make travel arrangements from Whittier. So, I am sorted and I hope my fellow passengers are as well. No thanks to Regent, but that is how it is and I am not going to let it affect our trip negatively. I am going to do a mini rant below, however, just to put a pin in it and stop being grumpy 😉

 

I am glad someone posted the e-mail we received about the change. I found it pretty poorly done. Telling us that this last minute change was for our convenience was laughable and insulting. An e-mail explaining the reason for this change and apologizing for any inconvenience would have gone so much further to minimize any bad feelings, especially if it had contained any hint that help might be provided. It would have been nice to have been advised why this change happened. People tend to be more forgiving when they know why they are being inconvenienced. I don’t see why something like this was not done, it really would not have been hard to craft something not so obviously likely tick off your passengers.

 

Mini rant over; thanks to all who have offered advice and support in this thread.

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7 minutes ago, EagleRocker said:

I am on the September 4-11 cruise and have managed to make travel arrangements from Whittier. So, I am sorted and I hope my fellow passengers are as well. No thanks to Regent, but that is how it is and I am not going to let it affect our trip negatively. I am going to do a mini rant below, however, just to put a pin in it and stop being grumpy 😉

 

I am glad someone posted the e-mail we received about the change. I found it pretty poorly done. Telling us that this last minute change was for our convenience was laughable and insulting. An e-mail explaining the reason for this change and apologizing for any inconvenience would have gone so much further to minimize any bad feelings, especially if it had contained any hint that help might be provided. It would have been nice to have been advised why this change happened. People tend to be more forgiving when they know why they are being inconvenienced. I don’t see why something like this was not done, it really would not have been hard to craft something not so obviously likely tick off your passengers.

 

Mini rant over; thanks to all who have offered advice and support in this thread.

Agree! Communication and response was not great. I believe it is their  intent to resolve passenger issues but having a plan in place before sending that email would have been much better customer service. 

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12 hours ago, Hoo27 said:

For your convenience please be advised that embarkation for your upcoming Alaska sailing will now take place in the brand-new cruise terminal in Whittier, Alaska.

 

Whittier is approximately an hour closer to/from Ted Stevens Airport in Anchorage, Alaska than the originally scheduled embarkation port of Seward, Alaska.

 

Perhaps Regent obtained more favorable economic terms at the new Whittier terminal?  Just speculating.  And as stated, it’s about an hour closer to ANC. 

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I am sure the issues caused by the change in port were very annoying and frustrating for those adversely affected; not sure how many guests suffered significant problems as a result of the change ?

 

Yes, Regent should have thought through the possible guest scenarios before sending out the initial email; but at least they have resolved the issues within 2 working days of being made aware ……… and still 2 weeks before the cruise.

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21 hours ago, mj_holiday said:

While I don't have a dog in this battle, I am concerned about some future travel I am planning.

The bean counters should put someone in communications for this issue, the email needs to ask for an immediate reply that they received the communication and then someone needs to be checking off every passenger.

 

The issue that a passenger may be stranded in Seward and then realize they need to get to Whittier is serious enough that Regent needs to make sure that every passenger received the communication about the transfers.

 

The second issue is how many will be on the transfers and having enough busses for the transfers.  (and personally, I think there should be some sparkling wine on these transfers)

ITA with all of this.  Years ago, during Hurricane Sandy, DH and I were supposed to fly from Frankfurt back home to NYC, where we lived at the time, on Singapore Airlines.  When we arrived at the Singapore Airlines counter, we discovered that, due to the hurricane, JFK was indefinitely closed and our flight was canceled.

 

This is where it got . . . interesting.  The woman at the counter told us she could give us a voucher for the airport hotel for one night, and then we were on our own for the duration. She gave us dinner vouchers for one evening.  That was it.  So, the next morning, DH was checking us out of the airport hotel and seeing if he could get us another room, under our credit card.  I was with our luggage, when I saw a table set up with a Singapore Airlines sign on it.  I asked if they were representatives.  It turned out, SQ was paying for our stay at the hotel until the emergency was over.  This included an extremely generous breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day.  The reps apologized and the CR manager found my DH and made sure that our room was charged to SQ, not to our credit card.  He apologized for the way we had been treated at the counter the day before.  The woman behind the counter had screwed up.  Mistakes happen.  It's how they are handled that keeps or loses the customers.  And we remained loyal to SQ's business class for many years after that.

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I still have some concerns about the way RSS handled this change (I don't really care about the why it was necessary)

Someone is missing the entire impact of this situation.  The above letter from Pat Scheer shows some naivety in this situation.       "I do apologize as quite honestly; we did not consider guests would be staying in Seward as this is an anomality. "                     

 

RSS has the info (hopefully in a database) that shows the passengers who have transfers arranged by RSS and then those who deviated air and when they arrive in Anchorage, and then others who are totally on their own for travel.  The travel experience of, shall I say, a majority of RSS customers should show that they can come up with many ways to add something new to their trip.  The initial email and then a followup correction email still do not seem like RSS is handling all the likely situations. 

What concerns me is when will I end up in some kind of similar situation and not know I am impacted until it is too late.

 

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18 minutes ago, mj_holiday said:

The initial email and then a followup correction email still do not seem like RSS is handling all the likely situations. 

 

 

Just wanted to clarify that there has been no correction email.  I have received no communication at all from Regent on this issue other than the initial August 22 email that I posted.  Others who reached out to Ms. Scheer may have received individual follow up communications, but nothing more has been said to all passengers who received the August 22 email.  If I was not following this thread, I would not know anything about this other than what Regent originally stated in the August 22 email.

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12 minutes ago, Hoo27 said:

 

Just wanted to clarify that there has been no correction email.  I have received no communication at all from Regent on this issue other than the initial August 22 email that I posted.  Others who reached out to Ms. Scheer may have received individual follow up communications, but nothing more has been said to all passengers who received the August 22 email.  If I was not following this thread, I would not know anything about this other than what Regent originally stated in the August 22 email.

Yes, I was told something would be forthcoming but only got resolution from contacting Patricia Scheer directly. 

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4 hours ago, ysolde said:

ITA with all of this.  Years ago, during Hurricane Sandy, DH and I were supposed to fly from Frankfurt back home to NYC, where we lived at the time, on Singapore Airlines.  When we arrived at the Singapore Airlines counter, we discovered that, due to the hurricane, JFK was indefinitely closed and our flight was canceled.

 

This is where it got . . . interesting.  The woman at the counter told us she could give us a voucher for the airport hotel for one night, and then we were on our own for the duration. She gave us dinner vouchers for one evening.  That was it.  So, the next morning, DH was checking us out of the airport hotel and seeing if he could get us another room, under our credit card.  I was with our luggage, when I saw a table set up with a Singapore Airlines sign on it.  I asked if they were representatives.  It turned out, SQ was paying for our stay at the hotel until the emergency was over.  This included an extremely generous breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day.  The reps apologized and the CR manager found my DH and made sure that our room was charged to SQ, not to our credit card.  He apologized for the way we had been treated at the counter the day before.  The woman behind the counter had screwed up.  Mistakes happen.  It's how they are handled that keeps or loses the customers.  And we remained loyal to SQ's business class for many years after that.

Having worked for an airline for 14 years, you need to know this service you received from Singapore Airlines is HIGHLY unusual in the industry. When weather causes the cancellation, the airline is not responsible to provide any rooms or meals. Glad to hear it worked out for you.

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1 hour ago, mj_holiday said:

What concerns me is when will I end up in some kind of similar situation and not know I am impacted until it is too late.

If Regent have your correct contact details, why should you ?

No one has been “stranded” on the cruise in question.

 

1 hour ago, Hoo27 said:

If I was not following this thread, I would not know anything about this other than what Regent originally stated in the August 22 email.

What more do you need to know from Regent regarding your specific travel arrangements ?

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I know I sound like a broken record, but I still want to be told the reason for the last minute embarkation port change. Especially as many booked on this cruise have yet to receive current notification of what Regent will provide. Here is an example of how Regent should (and has) handled itinerary changes. On the Splendor Caribbean cruise last March, we were coming into St. Barts. The captain got on the PA and announced that he had sent a tender out to test sea conditions. He invited the guests to look out the starboard side and see the tender bobbing like a cork in a hurricane. For that reason, he said, he had cancelled that port visit. I’d already seen the tender from our balcony, and had decided that this old man wasn’t going. And I heard no complaints from the fellow guests! That’s how things should be handled on Regent. And guests who travel to Seward by train before embarkation is not an anomaly. Some have posted that the train ride doesn’t impress. But we live in the little city with the #1 rated scenic train in the US (Durango CO), and I was impressed by the train to Seward. So I still have concerns about this matter.

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