Pre-/Post-Cruise Land Options

[Bolshoi]

What has been people's experience with pre- or post-cruise land options with Regent? Is the pricing reasonable or can one do better on one's own? I'm looking at a pre-cruise land option in Hong Kong at the Pen, but am finding a little difficult to compare building the Regent package from scratch.

 

the big guy

[Travelcat2]

It has been our experience that we can book our own hotel for less money than Regent. For airfare, if you are departing from one city and returning home from another, you are looking at two one-way fares which tend to be much higher than Regent can purchase them for.

 

Having said all of that. . . . unless we are flying within the U.S., we book through Regent. Booking through them is the only way to insure that you will get to the ship on time (unless you arrive two days early). Also, Regent will include a stay at a hotel if they are not able to get you to the ship on the day of embarkation (or if they cannot get you home on the day you disembark).

 

In our opinion, booking through Regent is worth the extra money.

[RachelG]

We do our own pre and/or post arrangements. But if cruising in Europe, we always plan to arrive to days ahead of time. That assures we will make the cruise, but it also gives us time to relax and recover from jet lag prior to starting the cruise. If we feel energetic, we sightsee, but if not, we just rest.

Also, last year, our luggage got lost on the way to Copenhagen. It arrived the next day, but if we had started the cruise immediately on arrival, we would have had no luggage.

You can pretty much always do better price wise on your own rather than doing one of Regent's pre or post cruise deals.

As far as the airfare, if it is expensive, that is when we use frequent flyer miles. If we didn't have those, we would do Regent air in that situation.

[Paint Horse]

Booking through Regent is much less stressful if there is a problem such as we encountered. The ship was about six hours late in boarding. Regent had staff at the hotel who keep us fully informed, plus we stayed in our room until time to board. In that case it was well worth the added cost, if any.

[DebbieH103]

Air on open-jaw or multi-city can easily be done w/o getting one way fares w/o using Regent, but if you want to seamlessly have issues handled when there are delays, go with Regent. There are several examples members here have reported when Regent's arrangements really helped them out in some unusual situations.

[Hambagahle]

When it comes to hotels/Sightseing etc pre- or post-cruise I do my own. I have always been cheaper than Regent, sometimes by over $1000 or more USD. I have noticed that I can consistently get direct rates per room which are similar to those RSSC charges per person. That is a big difference!

However Regent doesn't offer air from here (Switzerland) but my cruise agent in Zurich is able to put together packages that save a great deal and I am able to choose the dates of travel, and the airline. Here is an example: I was going to fly on BA to Miami to pick up a cruise this spring. We fly Business, and I would have paid around $5500 per person for the flight, as I recall. (One way flights are premium prices!!) My TA put together a package with Swiss via NY (we needed to go there to see family) and using AA to get to MIA. Total cost - 6500CHF which at present rates is about $5400 - and that is for the two of us!

 

So my advice is to do your own hotel and sightseeing reservations, plus limos etc etc but to check on the Regent-offered airfares OR ask your TA to make up a package for you!

[Bolshoi]

Thank-you for your replies. As we are resident in Indonesia, Regent can't do airfare for us. I was really asking about the pre-cruise hotel packages and it sounds like I'd be better off doing it on my own. I have to also say that the TA I'm working with (as a result of requesting a quote from the Regent website) seems a bit flighty.

 

the big guy

[wripro]

Bolshoi,

 

Never ever book a hotel through a cruise line unless you are also willing to open the window and toss out several hundred dollars.

[cruiseluv]

Makes no sense to buy hotel through the cruise line. It is a very easy analysis: Go to the hotel website and check rates for your days. Then compare the per night rate on the hotel website to the per night rate per Regent. The latter will be close to double in $$$!

[Travelcat2]

I think it depends upon the itinerary. If Regent has booked your airfare (whether it is included in your cruise or you have decided to go with Regent for airfare). . . you start by paying a $200 deviation fee because you are either arriving at the embarkation port earlier or departing later. Then you pay for your hotel and transportation to and from the ship.

 

For ports that are a distance from a major airport (an example would be Southampton from Heathrow Airport) the cost is approximately $200 for transportation. The particular cruise we are looking at disembarks in Monte Carlo -- another $100+ for transportation to the airport in Nice. So, you have over $500 to pay in addition to the hotel cost (that may be half of what Regent charges).

 

When we pay thousands of dollars for a cruise, it doesn't make sense to quibble over one or two nights at a hotel (when transportation to and from the airport(s) as well as to and from ship is included).

 

My point is just to look at all the costs involved with booking your own hotel. . . not just the cost of a night's stay.

[cruiseluv]

If your premise is that you are buying the air through Regent , plus paying deviations, yes it all has to be taken into account. I have never found neither air or hotel a good deal through Regent or any other cruise line. Many people just buy everything through the cruise lines for purposes of ease.

[Travelcat2]

If your premise is that you are buying the air through Regent , plus paying deviations, yes it all has to be taken into account. I have never found neither air or hotel a good deal through Regent or any other cruise line. Many people just buy everything through the cruise lines for purposes of ease.

 

You're right - we typically buy everything through the cruise line for ease. However, there has been more than one occasion when Regent's air could not get us to the ship on time and/or could not get us home the day of debarkation. Regent then puts us up in a hotel at their expense. Two months ago this happened -- we were put up at the Athens Intercontinental.

 

When we fly to Ft. Lauderdale (not possible to get from the Pacific Northwest to Ft. Lauderdale before the ship sails, so Regent would have to put us in a hotel), we book air and hotel on our own. Our cost for this domestic flight and hotel (Embassy Suites) is 1/2 of what Regent charges. So, sometimes it works. The rest of the time, it isn't worth the hassle (or the gamble of cancelled flights, etc.) JMO