Regent did cover 98% of our out of pocket expenses, caused by their pod break down.

But, wasn't there talk of Regent also offering an amount off (like $400 per person) towards future cruises, as an extra compensation.

Has anyone received additional information concerning the future cruise credit?

Yes, we received a letter from Mr. Conroy and a certificate for a $400 per person credit on a future cruise which we are applying to PANDA.

Mitch - did you get that letter directly from RSSC in FLL? I know about it and its electronically on mine and my two clients records, but we have not received anything from Mark Conroy and certainly not anything in writing.

Mitch - when did you receive the letter?

We received our letter signed by Mark Conroy but sent by B&K on Saturday. We're applying ours towards FJORDS.

Ah, perhaps it will be in the mail today. Thanks Marcie - and mine is definitely going toward FJORDS (it needs all the help it can get).

The agent who did the booking forwarded the letter from Mr. Conroy which included the notice about the future cruise credit. We received it end of last week. They also refunded the equivalent of 1 day of our Regent Denali extension which we obviously lost-very fair.

We have been compensated for 100% of OOPs and received the same credit from our TA. We are applying it towards TAPS.

Andi, what a funny and apt acronym! It sure was OOPS for Regent, and I for one think they handled it with class, as did the people I brought aboard with me! And at a $$$ cost to the line, especially since their contract with us really left all of us at their mercy, and they were obligated for nothing legally. To me, it was not about legal, but goodwill, and they did a great job!
I remember how upset you were the day we were sailing extra and you didn't know the outcome, just what you had paid out in post cruise plans and reservation deposits. I'm glad it worked out for you..

I love that acronym, Andi...OOPs. :) I am glad that you MUSH guests are receiving fair compensation now, and I love Olivia's words "it was not about legal, but goodwill" - you have handled this so well! I can only hope that if Greg and I are faced with something similar in the future, we will accept our situation with as much grace as you MUSHers have. This may sound like an odd time to post this, but I have learned SO much from all of you LCT travelers, through both your good experiences and the challenging ones.
:lct:

Same here - 100% compensation for out of pocket expenses for OOPS and the $400 credit in writing from my agent which will be applied to PANDA. Regent is truly a class act - certainly no legal obligation to provide us any of that. Certainly a way to ensure loyalty though. :D

Masaki

Yea....Regent!!!

I thought they handled it very well - I certainly am appreciative of their "goodwill"

I would agree Joanna - it was an unexpected bonus!

I don't know if this was communicated but I have to say that Alaska RR and the Denali hotels were spectacular. They quickly and sympathetically agreed to reimburse us all for our non-reimbursable hotel and RR costs and we received our credits immediately. This saved Regent over $10K in our OOPs for our group, which was great to be able to communicate to Regent. We only had to reimbursed for minor expenses.

I'm so glad to hear how well this turned out for everyone! Sounds like Regent went the distance to make things right. The Denali hotels etc. also sound very accomodating!

I am still waiting for insurance company to get back to me with their verdict before I approach Regent with OOPs; they are sure taking their time. The $400 is a nice windfall and will help with FJORDS.

Fjords, for me, needs all the help it can get - I am very happy with credit. Glad it has worked out so well for the majority - despite a set back or two it was a wonderful cruise - Joanna

Well I just put ours on CROSS for next year!!

I too thought it all worked out Joanna - it certainly wasn't the end of the world now was it???

All's right that ends right! No complaints here, whatsoever! Regent proved once again that they are the BEST! Thanks Ngaire for all your efforts in getting so much accomplished on our behalf. :3smile:

I am just happy for everyone that Regent stepped up and made it very right - JoAnn, I agree, I think we all had a great time and have wonderful memories - on the radar screen of life it was a little blip -

Is the $400 off credit Regent is offering,

per person or per cabin?

and any time limit, must use by?

I think it is $400 per person, and you need to take it before the end of 2007! Not a bad idea with all those cruises that are planned! I'm taking mine off FJORDS, or maybe TAP.

Regent certainly did the right thing by offering compensation. But sometimes corporations need to be guided into doing the right thing.

This is Ngaire, I edited this post slightly, nothing against the rules here by Tom. I just a little too complimentary to me and I thought it best to remove that one sentence.

Here, Here! Tom is correct.

Very good point, Tom!

Thanks again Ngaire. :)

Masaki

Thanks Ngaire - I never doubted she was the "driving force" that resulted in a happy ending -

agree - thanks Ngaire.

My understanding, when I called Regent for us and my clients, is that the FCC is $400 per person, and is good until December 31 2008, and that date was on the email that one of the agents sent me, as we have never gotten anything in writing. It must be used or applied by that date, meaning according to the agent I spoke with that it could be used for a 2009 cruise as long as it was applied before the above date. Also, if you transfer a booking to something else, it will go with you, and if you cancel and don't immediately rebook, it will just go back into the system until you rebook.

I have applied ours and one of our friends to CROSS, and the invoice did show $400 per person.

Ngaire, is my information correct?

JoAnn, my letter says December 31, 2007. Tom.

Too LZ to check but think mine said same thing hope I am wrong doubt it

Oh my!! Just looked back at the email that I got from Jennifer, the agent I spoke to, and it definitely says "valid until 12/31/2008, the cruise must be booked by this date or it will expire". And actually, when I did the application for us and the Croxall's, that agent also said it was good till 2008. Very interesting.

Will double check back with her again tomorrow, as one of the couples probably will not be able to cruise in 2007 due to building a house, so need to know for sure myself.

Not meaning to create an issue here, just going with what I was told, but have never gotten in writing from FLL, just from an agent in Omaha. :ohmy: :ohmy: :ohmy:

JoAnn, Ours says valid through Dec 31, 2007.

I don't have mine yet, but sure hope JoAnn is right about 2008!

I can check the letters tomorrow but they usually are dated to the end of the following year, in this case 12/31/07.

You can make the booking up to 12/31/07 BUT it can be for a 2008 cruise. By the end of 2007 you can book up to the end of 2008. In fact if a 2009 cruise is available before the end of 12/31/07 the certificate could indeed be used for 2009. Now that is a dream world that Regent would have its cruises out nice and early!!

It is very rare for a future cruise credit to be dated two years out. No matter what Omaha told you the official date on the letters is what is accurate and they will all be the same.

My instinct is 12/31/07 as the date the cruise must be booked by and whether that be a 2008 or 2009 cruise does not matter.

Thanks Ngaire. I am calling them again this morning to clarify and ask for something official to be sent - I have no idea why we have never received anything, but my office says nothing has come from RSSC for any of us, and we certainly have not received anything directly. I did talk to Dawn a week or so ago, she is apparently involved with this, and I'm certain she also told me 2008, but I don't want to be giving out incorrect info, especially since I don't have anything official.

I agree it sounded like a long way out, and I was surprised when they told me 2008.

I did look at the letter that came as notification and it is 12/31/07. The cruise must be booked by that date.

Well.....I talked to Randall James today, who works for Gair O'Neil, he again assured me that it was good until Dec 31 2008, it must be applied by then, and could actually be used for a 2009 cruise if booked and applied by then. I asked for a letter in writing from him or Mr. O'Neil, which he said he would send. Haven't received it yet, so.....until then I am not holding my breath.

Again, not creating a controversey (that doesn't look right sp?) here, just stating what facts I have at this point.

JoAnn : you are "NOT a contro gal" thanks for your info :hug: :hug:

JoAnn, It is good until December 2008 as long as it is booked by 12/31/07. Perhaps this is where everyone is getting mixed up. Who knows, let us know if you get anything different all the Future Cruise credits would be identical.

Ngaire - thats a point I hadn't thought of, although, I thought I had gone over that with Randall. Lets see what the letter says and I will keep you updated.

I decided to find out what was going on. I contacted the person who would know for sure in Fort Lauderdale this morning and the official and correct answer is .....12.31.08.

All the certificates are supposed to be good until the date that Joann is being told. So the letters received had the WRONG date.

Actually this surprises me as normally it is good the end of the following year. Not sure why they extended it out an extra year?

So that applies to everyone who has a letter dated 12/31/07 this is now good until 12/31/08.

I am sure everyone will apply these on their first available cruise which is most likely going to be in 2007. Nice to know that you have that much time if you need it.

Go Joann - you had this one right!!!!

Thanks Ngaire.

I too was surprised when they kept saying good until 2008, which is why I kept going back and asking again and again, as I agree with you, usually something like that is only good until the end of the next year.

How lucky for all of us, that if we don't or can't make plans just yet, that we have that option to apply it way into the future.

Thanks again for all that you did for your group, but it also filtered down to my couples and actually everyone on the ship.

Hey, we almost went on MUSH! Can we get compensation for a cruise that we almost went on, and almost had to spend and extra day onboard, and almost had to rearrange post-cruise plans, and almost had to rearrange airfare? Well, I guess that I will have to settle on the future cruise credits from our TUSH non-cruise! I wonder if can use that $10 off at Elmer's Bait and Tackle towards a pair of formal waders? LOL

We had two issues on Mush - we had 5 rooms reserved at the Westmark Hotel in Anchorage and 2 vans from Harley's Vans - we called both places once we heard the news (well AFTER dinner) and Westmark could not have been nicer - I have been going back and forth with Harley's since September and they refused to refund my deposit. I submitted the claim and receipts to Regent about 3 weeks ago - check just arrived -

Joanna, congratulations! We are still "discussing" this with insurance company. I sometimes think that they just try to tire you out. Hopefully, we will reach settlement soon and not have to forward to Regent.

Well Harley's about wore me out - the girl I spoke to, when we made first call, said she doubted there would be a problem - that statement was later denied - we were to rent the vans on the 6th and return them on the 7th - they did offer to extend my rental to the 7th but I had no clear idea of exactly when we'd get in so preferred to use Regent's transportation (which, of course, we paid for)and explained that info - no dice - it all had happy ending though - I was not expecting such quick reimbursement from Regent - good luck, Marc, I am sure it will all work out to your satisfaction - Joanna

We're quite satisfied with the service from The Berkeley Group (RSSC's trip insurance carrier). We received full reimbursement a few days ago for our Air Canada change fees (which amounted to more than 100% of the original fare!!). We only sent in the claim forms about six weeks ago. That seems to be a reasonably prompt response for such a claim. So now we can close out our MUSH file and focus fully on PENGUINS-POP.

Another happy Musher!! :ch: :ch: :ch:

And, if I'm right Freddie - you can then also focus on CROSS!!

Joanna, I'm surprised you had such and issue with Harley's, isn't that the same company Karen used for the 6 of us post cruise? As I recall, she had no problem with them at all. Karen????? Of course she was so efficient, we just left it all up to her.

Yes same company - Karen told me about them ages ago ...just my circumstance - had I been willing to go with rental on the 7th - no problem - as I said, not sure when we would get in on 7th - he held me to cancellation policy - you were on schedule right????

I guess - Karen took care of it - it all seemed to work out.

Sorry you had such a bad experience. :(

It was blessing in disguise - MY group would never have handled the vans with grace - too much luggage and cranky people - Regent to Anchorage was way to go for us

I can't remember, I thought we got in one day late? However it worked out, they only charged us for 1 days rental, instead of a day and a half, which they did not have to do.

I'm another happy MUSH'er. Just got check this week that covered the night I had prepaid hotel in Anchorage, and reimbursement for extra airfare paid to change the flights. Regent did WELL by us in spite of unforseeable delays!

Yes, they did well by us. We recovered all of our out of pocket expenses and we have a credit to use for fare on our next cruise. Now that some time has passed, I am not as upset as having missed Denali, but, I doubt that I will cruise Alaska again. I might do a land trip up there as a photo excursion.

They did the right thing. My only issue was that the communication wasn't as clear as it should have been and those of us on independent excursions did not have a feeling of comfort. This did affect the overall experience and I am saying this so that they learn from this comment as I know that they want to make all cruisers feel like valued guests whether we took their excursion or not.

I, too, have learned...For TAP, I am using their air and hotel!! It also makes sense for us economically.

Any dissatisfaction we felt initially did not make us want to not cruise Regent again. Being a type A, I could have done without the angst...that's what my vacations are for.

Nicely said, Andi. Had there been some real communication and assurance from the beginning, it would have been better. I am sure we all learned from that experience. I did use Regent Air on a deviation and I would do it again. But not without some guarantees from my hotels etc about cancellation penalties. We did not factor in that the ship would be delayed in returning to port.

Oh, I hate to disinter a dead horse, but here is my memory of communication, as I do not think Regent was remiss on reporting to passengers about an unforseeable circumstance, and how it would affect our arrival time. The staff reported as they got information. (Stuff happens on a ship). Andi, I know you and others with post-cruise plans had a LOT of stress. But if you or anyone expects Regent to "learn" from your comments, I think they need to hear more specifics about what they did wrong. Here's my memory of what happened: at dinner night before we were to disembark, announcement on loudspeaker in the dining rooms that we had a BIG problem, and would not be arriving next morning Sept. 6, early a.m., but rather 8 p.m. (too late to get through the tunnel) Next announcement was that we would arrive early the following morning on the 7th. We were in port by the time they said we would be. I was able to e-mail my private transportation for the 6th and he changed his plans to meet me the next day, having already been alerted, I think by Fred and Pat. I had paid for a room in Anchorage that was non-refundable through Orbitz, had to spend several miserable hours on the phone the next day with USAir, but it had nothing to do with Regent. I have been fairly compensated both for my expenses and my trouble.

We wrote Marc Conroy a detailed letter stating our issues. We were fairly compensated as well--just OOPs remaining and the $400pp. We were able to recoup over $10K of expenses from our hotels and transportation ourselves without putting in a claim to Regent. As you can see, there were substantial costs at risk. Alls well that ends well.

May I interrupt to ask a short question?

I have been reading about your MUSH trip with great interest, since my family and I are considering an Alaskan cruise. We had thought about going to Denali after we got off the ship, but with $10k being mentioned, I am afraid would be far too expensive on top of the cruise price. Is there a less expensive way to experience Denali?

Thank you.

I don't know what "communication" people are talking but Olivia is correct - the news was loud and clear concerning our late arrival.. bottom line Regent was very fair to many, it seems, and there is just no pleasing everyone -

Don't know all details about private Denali trip, but believe the $10K is for the group. We(2) did RSSC Denali post cruise in '05 and all worked well. Bert and Mitch did same through RSSC on MUSH cruise and evidently were satisfied with arrangements; you might ask them?

Kathy, you are right. There were 11 of us. I think the Denali trip was in the $1800 per couple range with Train, transportation and tours.

If you follow my posts, I put together a package using a private transportaion company, a stay at the Grande Denali Lodge, Tours in Denali, a dinner and the Gold Star Train back and hotel in Anchorage. I put out bids to companies who did the complete package, including working with Ngaire to see if she wanted to add it to MUSH for those who wanted to go to Denali. I then priced each component to save money for those who wanted to go. I spent many hours sourcing out trasnportation and coordinating for a group of 12 people - The same trip through Regent last year was $1800 per person. I got it down to $900 not including the additional night in Anchorage.

Cherise-We really enjoyed our post-cruise Denali trip even though it was shortened by one day due to "pod issues". If I had a choice, I would probably prefer to do the land portion prior to the cruise as it is a rude awakening to get off the Mariner after a week of being spoiled. The hotels that Regent uses are not true luxury properties (not sure that any really exist in Alaska), but Denali was beautiful and we got to see all the fall colors and a good deal of wildlife. You also get to interact with some of the locals which was most interesting-I still can't figure out what attracts someone to move to such a harsh environment.

Thank you all for the reassurance on the price. ChatKat, I have tried to read as much as possible, but my time on the internet seems to be more limited than some. You have nearly 6,000 posts so it is taking me a while to read through all of them, along with all the others in this section.

I know I will be back with more questions that might look dumb, but I do want to make sure that if my family is able to go to Alaska, they enjoy it as much as possible.

I agree with Mitch, do Denali first so you will appreciate the ship's luxury. Stay first night at Captain Cook in Anchorage; Book the Alaska Gold Star Train to Denali; Call Kenny Timberwolf at Alaska Timberwolf Tours to get your ride to Seward or Whittier - he's terrific and you will know the real Alaska when he's taken you back! Plus he will take you on some side trips while you are going back. Stay at the Grande Denali Lodge; Go to Jeff King's Husky Homestead, The Tundra Wilderness Tour, Cabin Night Dinner Theater. Have fun. That's the tour in a nutshell.

Just got our check from CSA. We had asked not only for our out of pocket expenses (changed air), but asked for our increased expenses (Regent transfers and taxi in LA). CSA, although slow, came through by reimbursing us for all that we asked for.

The check, along with news that that Hotel Director is no longer on the Mariner, makes for a very happy ending to a very wonderful eight night cruise.

Marc,

Where did the HD go? Another ship or elsewhere?

Doug

PS: congrats on the apartment!

Doug, I have no idea. However, if he had just boarded just before we did, a normal length contract would still have had him onboard for Grand Pacific.

Well it sounds like the HD is joining the massive group of NCAA coaches that are now out of a job!!! :D :D