It will definitely be a deal breaker if the new concierge class gets to book excursions earlier.

Having just sailed on Oceania, that whole early boarding perk is ridiculously elitist. I have more criticisms on my Marina cruise but can't put them on a public forum.

Ngaire, thanks. Any word on how suite upgrades will work?

Also, will all bookings have to be in E or higher at a table for 4, 6, or 8? Or, just the one making the reservation?

I'm with you here, Ngaire. I don't think I've ever NOT gotten an excursion for which I was waitlisted before the cruise, and often wait until onboard to pick some of them for a port or two.

Just for future reference for those on BK group cruises. If you wish to be on the same bus as others, have one person collect all the tickets and take all them to the front of the theater for bus assignments. Busses are often nearly full these days, and they will not give tickets for a particular bus after the allotment has been met.

With respect to priority reservations, I am very unhappy about this development. It means I may not get an excursion I have paid for in the price of my cruise among other things. But I am even more disturbed by the direction of these changes. For the first time, Regent is formally adding a "class" distinction to the cruise experience.

Yes, had a bit of issue with the Destination Services staff over this on FUN, which was not fun.

Marc,

If they use the Oceania model, non-priority reservation passengers will not be able to be included on a priority passenger's reservation made before 75 days from the embarkation date.

Dave

Dave, that does not make sense at all? Are they still going to require all the booking numbers for the other guests? Will all the E and higher have to sit together if they book 90 days in advance and the rest of us booking at 75 days can only invite others in our same boat as all the E+s will have booked already?

I knew Oceania was a screwed up cruise line but this really takes the cake.

Marc, when we were on Oceania in Oct., one couple in our group was in a suit. He was able to book for the 2 of them ONLY in the special dining rooms at 120 days.(we tried!) When reservations opened for the rest of us, we were able to add them to our table.

I know Regent tries to do its best to add more busses as more people sign up for excursions, so Ngaire is correct. I often am cleared from my waitlisted excursions. However, there are capacity controlled excursions and these are sometimes the best ones. These are the ones that we may be excluded from. My attitude is, if I am paying for excursions included and can't do what I want to do, and I have to pay a private guide to do it, I might as well not go on a line which costs so bloody much.


As far as the concierge business....I am afraid, from what I am reading, this is a model many lines are now moving towards. Some consulting firm must have gone in and sold this model to the lines as a more profitable model. I am afraid that it is the future and we can gripe all we want, but there is little we can do about it but deal with being a lower class, spend even more to get more services again or go to land trips.

And, if Regent's model isn't for you, you can do some price shopping after 2012..e.g., Crystal...
Your 2-for-1 fares will now include:

Fine wines, premium spirits and beers throughout the ship
Open bar service in all lounges
Pre-paid gratuities for bar, dining, and housekeeping staff as well as Butler service in our Penthouses Free air
Complimentary specialty restaurants; enjoy Nobu Matsuhisa’s Silk Road and Sushi Bar, and Piero Selvaggio’s Prego, for free
Complimentary non-alcoholic beverages including bottled water, soft drinks, specialty coffees and more! It will be fun to see where the luxury lines all end up.

"I am afraid that it is the future and we can gripe all we want, but there is little we can do about it but deal with being a lower class, spend even more to get more services again or go to land trips."

Andi - It may well be the future for most lines; but so far it isn't for Seabourn and Silversea. Therefore, one thing people "can do about it" is to take a better look at those two excellent lines. We certainly are.

Cheers, Fred

Right, Fred. We are going on AMA with Ngaire on the Russian River Cruise this August and trying out Silversea to Antarctica with Ngaire next January. We are scheduled for a Regent trip in 2012...dare I say...I think we are "Concierge Class." LOL.

Unfortunately Freddie, if you like a balcony, you already have to "upgrade" on Seabourn and Silversea. Nothing is perfect. I will wait and see. If I have problems getting my excursions on GRAND PRIX (along with the 30 or so other B&K clients in F, G, or H cabins), then I may look to change. Until then, I am staying put.

Dining room reservations
Marc I sent in an inquiry earlier today on the dining room reservations will let you know when I hear back.

Upgrades
I also believe that they will continue to offer paid upgrades. I would be surprised if there are many "space available" cabins to upgrade to but it sure sounds good from a marketing perspective.
I will probably get no more clarity on that question - it says "Eligible for suite upgrades at time of sailing, when available with preference by booking date" I think that is all we will get. I can imagine the poor reception desk on embarkation with all guests E and above wanting to know if they were upgraded!! This wont work too well in my opinion.

The following just arrived from Mark Conroy. Note the changes in booking dates and the fact that there is no preferential preboarding.


I am delighted to announce that Regent Seven Seas Cruises will offer added amenities to guests in higher-level suites. Beginning with the 2012 summer season, guests in categories E and above on Seven Seas Mariner (beginning April 2, 2012) and Seven Seas Voyager (beginning April 16, 2012) and category D and above on Seven Seas Navigator (beginning May 30, 2012) will enjoy Concierge-level amenities and services including:

Upgraded pre-cruise Luxury Hotel Package with higher room category or upgraded hotel property
Priority online reservations on Shore Excursions for both FREE and Regent Choice tours, beginning 240 days before the cruise starts
Priority online reservations in the specialty restaurants Prime 7 and Signatures, beginning 90 days before the cruise starts
15 minutes of FREE phone calls and 60 minutes of FREE Internet access per suite
25% off premium wine and liquor purchases
10% off pre- or post-cruise Hotel or Land Programs
10% off Regent Choice shore excursions
Eligible for suite upgrades at time of sailing, when available, with preference by booking date
In-suite binoculars, coffee brewer and cashmere blanket
Regent Seven Seas Cruises special gift

Additionally, every voyage continues to include a FREE Luxury Hotel Package - complete with overnight, pre-cruise accommodations at a deluxe hotel including breakfast, airport-hotel and hotel-ship transfers - as well as roundtrip air; all-suite accommodations; gourmet cuisine served in open-seating restaurants; open bars; free and unlimited shore excursions; gratuities and taxes.

There's a reason why, once again, Regent Seven Seas Cruises was voted number one cruise line in the world by the readers of Condé Nast Traveler. It's our uncompromising dedication to exceeding expectations and delivering unprecedented value - all to ensure your utmost comfort as you experience the world's seven seas.

As I see it, free upgrades will be rare.
Since the goal is to maximize revenue, offers will be made for paid upgrades at wonderful deals!
Then the cheaper cabins will be sold (since they are always easier to sell than the more expensive suites.)
Bingo! a more full ship & more revenue

Regent has done a wonderful job filling the ships! Since many of us believe that the line is being beefed up for sale, this makes a lot of sense.

For those who get closed out of "free" shore trips and speciality restaurants, perhaps they will reconsider.
I know that I was upset on both of these issues. I could not dine in Prime 7 once, while many others did multiple times.

No system is perfect.

And so it goes...... Doug

Marc, you upgrade to get a balcony on Regent's Navigator. But until this new policy goes into effect, you get the same chance at booking P7 reservations and tours whether you book the most expensive suite or the cheapest. That's the change.

Pat, yes, but once on board, cruisers in bigger suites already get priority for additional dinner reservations.

To me, only real issue is with excursions; the concierge choice ones with limited space. If this impacts me, I might be following you out the door.

Marc, I'm not coming at this from a what's in it for me perspective. On shorter cruises, there is high demand for the most favorable restaurant reservation times. This will put some passengers at a significant disadvantage. I hate to see this. And everyone pays the same amount for shore excursions. On some cruises, people who book the less expensive standard cabins will have to take seconds or thirds with respect to shore tour options. I really hate to see this too. On some cruises it might not apply to me but it WILL apply to my friends. I am really really sorry to see Regent go in this direction.

I already was not happy with included excursions and now the pre cruise Hotels too. I don't want to pay for tours I don't want to take. But since I am paying for them, I especially don't want to pay for and feel forced to take the lowest priority tour either. I don't want the included hotels. I like to choose my own hotel. Sometimes I have miles to burn or I want to earn miles at my preferred hotel or get my upgrade perks.
This isn't luxury but the prices are.

The thing is this....by bundling all of the stuff, you don't know what you are really paying for anything and the more purchase power Regent has the lower price THEY pay and the net profit for them is higher. Win win for investors but not so much for cruisers.

"Having just sailed on Oceania, that whole early boarding perk is ridiculously elitist. I have more criticisms on my Marina cruise but can't put them on a public forum."

Andrea - How did that boarding process work? Fortunately,it appears that we will be spared it this go-round of Regent policy changes.

As for your other criticisms on the Marina cruise, why can't they be stated in a public forum? Are they slanderous, libelous, or licentious? Inquiring minds (who might want to try Oceania someday but are now rather put off by the class system) want to know. Hmm, do you think that there is a market for an online "National Inquirer of Cruising"?

In any event, if your experiences are too scandalous, outrageous, or excruciating to be posted here on the genteel forum of LCT, maybe you could post them on CC, where, God knows, the standards are pretty "flexible". How about a review of your Marina cruise on the Member Review section on CC?? Please let us all know if you do such a review.

Happy trails.

Cheers, Fred

Fred, my boarding time was 3:00 pm according to my final documents. I had no idea of this policy until after I spoke to Susan, who told me I probably shouldn't try to board until 1:30 or so at the earliest.

I arrived at the port around 2:15 and there were no lines at all. I was onboard in less than 10 minutes - but they still actually had not announced that the cabins were ready to be occupied. I think it was around 3:30 when they were finally ready. Not sure if it's always like that or if this was just a special circumstance.

There is no doubt that the Marina is a beautiful ship, the food and service were outstanding; however, it is exactly the "class" system that toward the end of the cruise began to make me feel less than equal to some of my fellow cruisers. I can tell you more privately - I'm just uncomfortable discussing my feelings in an open forum as I'm now working in the travel industry and wouldn't want my comments to be misconstrued.

I hope Marc is right and they revamp the Society benefits. Seems to me that loyal Regent cruisers who have reached the higher tiers should get the same chance at booking restaurents and excursions as someone who is a first time Regent cruiser and is only paying $400 more (E vs F).

I think this will really effect a lot of high level Society members. On our South America cruise, almost the entire 7th and 8th floors (we were on 8) were occupied by World Cruisers and others who have been with Regent for a long time. Seems that many of us who like to take back-to-backs to create a longer cruise tend to book on those lower floors to save a few bucks.

The restaurant issue does not affect us, as we prefer Compass Rose anyway. But if I start getting the dregs on shore excursions, I will not be a happy camper!

We're booked in 2012 after this takes effect, and like Marc, we will FINALLY be at Platinum! We'll see how it shakes out by then and how the shore excursion availability goes, then we'll decide what our next step will be. May have to only cruise with Regent when there are mostly sea days and not many excursions anyway, and go over to Seabourn or Silversea for everthing else!

We have a lot of days on Radisson/Regent too. We've got ours! I don't like the policy one bit anyway!!!!!

ChatKat -
If you don't want the included pre-cruise hotel then you can deduct $300 per person from your cruise bill so you are not paying for something you are not using.

Personally I think that, at $600/night with breakfast I can do better myself than an Embassy Suites Hotel!

It will interesting how all this plays out. It took us many nights and lots of $$$ to be at Titanium level. We prefer cabins that are lower decks and mid ship for the location, not only because they're less expensive. We will be very unhappy if a first time Regent cruiser gets priority just because they're in a category E. !!

The previous perk for Plat & Tit of priority restaurant reservations is no longer in the program. However, on this fully booked cruise we were able to get 2 evenings in Prime 7 after we got onboard. Also, several people havwe gotten into P7 and Signatures by checking around 7:00pm and picking up a cancellation.

I agree Marcie. Location is just as important to us as the money.

We were in 824 on South America, and we loved the location - right by the stairs and close to the elevator. In fact, we booked the same room for our cruise in 2012.

On Voyager, we always stay in the Horizon View suites, which are category C. We don't care about the butler, but we love the location of the suites, even though they are more expensive.

It certainly wouldn't break the bank for us to upgrade to an E on the upcoming Mariner cruise ( only $800 or so for both of us), but we like the location of 824, so I don't want to change!

I also hate it when Del Rio decides to change the rules once again!! I'm still steaming over some of the previous changes and this just puts us more on edge wondering what's next. In this case, though, I can actually see a reason for the changes--they're trying to add an incentive to book the higher suites and attract new customers. In reality, regarding both excursions and specialty restaurant reservations I don't think those new changes will impact any of us at all. We've never had a problem getting the excursions or dinner reservations we wanted --even when we've waited until we get onboard to book. Think about it: if everyone (regardless of cabin category) has had the opportunity to book however many days in advance and there's still been no problem getting excursions or dinner reservations after we actually get onboard, I'm not sure there's going to be any problem now even with these concierge program changes. So for now I'm staying calm--if there's an actual problem in the future, I'll complain about it then.

We have had problems with excursions and getting reservations at specialty restaurants. Even though we were in a C cabin, we couldn't get Prime 7 during FUN and we couldn't get an excursion we really wanted on our Australia trip. So, it can happen. Perhaps, we were just unlucky.

On shorter port intensive itineraries with the ship full restaurant reservations and some tours will be highly competitive. It is inevitable. Since we don't like the included excursions anyway, we plan to move on to Seabourn and Silversea. We won't rule out an exceptional offer from Regent. But Regent has moved from first place to last place on our luxury cruise menu.