Saw this in Victor's report today:

Is this true? Is it temporary or permanent change? What, in fact, will happen when everyone makes Platinum and then Titanium?

Can we just bring back goldpoints or some other "cash" benefit that rewards frequency of cruising instead of just lifetime accumulation?

Marc,
What we heard was that the double days was for "on-board" bookings in December. At least that was my understanding of what Mike Coleman (Cruise Consultant) said. As a result there was a flurry of bookings while on board two weeks ago.
Greg

Greg, thanks for the clarification; makes sense.

As for level creap, it does matter to the extent it affects Regent bottom line. If laundry expenses not only increase but revenue is also decreased; money has to be made up somewhere. As Regent is now charging me $199 more per person for Regent air than for those flying out of PHX or ATL or DFW, I am on the short end of one of those "revenue enhancements." ;)

Mark, I do recall your hassles getting to Montreal; now they want you to pay more for fewer choices?

To get good flights without excessive connections/stops and to avoid long layovers, we rent a car and willingly drive to any airport in south Florida that gets us good flights. Sarasota/Bradenton isn't one of Regent's gateways, so we have to get a ride or drive to Tampa or Ft. Myers anyway; each is a little over an hour from home. To get good flights, we're willing to drive further, to Orlando (MCO +1½ hrs.), Ft. Lauderdale (+2 hrs.) or Miami (+2½ hrs.) The rental car costs the same - $40-$65 for a one day, one way rental - so the only extra is the gas cost and the added time to get there. Don't know how far you are from Atlanta or Dallas/Ft. Worth, but you can certainly get a lot more flexibility in flights and connections originating from either of them, and save yourselves a big part of the $398 up-charge per trip to boot. Check it out.

Editing to add: I bought the same super-zoom camera you did, the Canon SX230. I was up in the air between the Nikon S9100 and the Canon, but on Black Friday Amazon made me an offer ($50 off) the already-on-sale $199 price I couldn't refuse, so I got it for a buck and a half. No tax and even got free shipping. A bit small for my paws, but it really takes great pictures. Now I have to learn how to use it before our Voyager cruise in March-April (where we fly to and from MCO going on Air France via Paris to Dubai and back from Istanbul on Delta to MCO via JFK - just one stop and short layover each way).

I think Marc lives in Alabama -

Joanna, you're right, Mark lives in Huntsville, AL which (per MapQuest) is 180-190 miles (depending on the route chosen) and less than 4 hours by car from the Atlanta airport. We do roughly the same to Ft. Lauderdale (195 miles) and Miami (205 miles) regularly, to avoid the hassles with 'regional' (too small) jets, too many stopovers and plane changes, potential missed connections, etc. Now they have started charging an extra $199 per person, it makes even better sense to drive.

I didn't realize how far DFW was - over 1000 miles - way too far! But Atlanta seems very doable, as it has nonstop flights to most cities in North America, with two US and six foreign airlines offering non-stop flights to Tokyo, Seoul and Dubai in Asia, Johannesburg and two other cities in Africa, and to more than a dozen cities each in Europe and South America, and one-or two-stop flights most anywhere in the world anyone would want to go.

Count, Have you tried Orlando? It's closer and is a Regent gateway. If you want to go to Europe Oct thru May, try Orlando Sanford. Icelandair goes bus class for around $1000.00 each way.

We certainly have considered Orlando (MCO), that's where we're flying from and returning to on our March-April Voyager cruise – on Air France via Paris outbound to Dubai and on Delta returning via JFK from Istanbul. It’s our nearest real international airport, although Tampa has a seasonal BA flight to London’s Heathrow.

I don't think we'll try Icelandic’s business class again, after our not-so-hot experience coming back from Reykjavik in May 2010. I do remember them as THE way to get to Europe back in the 1960s – early 1970s, but we were younger, spryer and hungrier then, more willing to put up with a few discomforts to save money. Regent has a pretty good deal on business class upgrades; we'll happily take it and let them worry about stumbles, mis-steps and plan changes!

Marc,
there will never be a satisfactory rewards program on any cruise line. there are too many variables, not only total days, frequency of travel but also level of cabin; ie, those who pay for H category getting same rewards as those in A. singles getting same number of days while paying for 2 people, etc.
Regent still has the nicest program I have seen, but certainly not perfect. None ever will be.
Lynn

Mark, this has been going on forever, hasn't it? I canceled Regent air for my next cruise for my kid's air, was going to cost me $800 more for the 4 of them out of Baltimore. I booked independent air, and they fly out of the same airport for about same price as the credit for not taking air. Maybe you can't get similar fares from Huntsville.

i just got mailer today advertisng double days

on 4 different trips on the navigator so iguess they are now pushing this

i still wwant to know what happens when we hit 500 days this year

asking for double days just for kicks from auckland to rome

will let you know

Victor, there are quite a few LCTers with more than 500 days and I don't remember them saying that anything special happens?

Our friends got a room full of balloons and a cake for their 500th night. They recently passed 600 nights and had dinner with both the Captain and GM in Prime 7 (she didn't say if they got more balloons or not ;) )

FUNNY Peggy - I'd care less about cake, balloons and dinner with head honchos - seems like a future cruise reward would be nice????

I didn't get anything at 500 or 600 nights. Will I get anything at 700 nights on Grand Prix???
Even when there are only 10 of fewer TITS on a cruise they don't do anything extra. Friends with over 1000 nights haven't had any special treatment either.

Guess that tells it all - NADA

Count Florida - and anyone else interested!

Aer Lingus offers flights from Orlando to Dublin at very competitive cost, with inclined flat beds in Business Class. AND they allow one way fares at a one way price, which is great. We are booked on them GVA/DUB/MCO next month which gets us to Florida for our 18th March TA cruise. Total cost of the tickets for two was around 3000frs - maybe $3300! A very good deal. BA or Swiss would have been twice that for a one way fare.