Regent customer service Drastically declining
In June 2024, we booked an Alaskan Cruise with Regent to be taken in August of this year, 2025. We have been sailing with Regent since 2009 – French Polynesian Islands, 2012 – Western Caribbean, and had always been extremely satisfied, UNTIL THIS BOOKING.
From the very beginning of booking our cruise for 2025 we have been finding customer service to have drastically declined. Our agent Keith Blazek was, at first, VERY responsive up to the point where we made our deposit (non-refundable). After that, he would not respond to MULTIPLE emails or phone calls where we were seeking clarification of some of the charges and discounts. I did not make notes at that time but the way the pricing was explained was not how it was provided on the invoice and we sought clarification. We have not received clarification even 1 year after booking. I finally insisted on contacting a different Regent travel representative for clarification and have since used this route in order to follow up on other issues. Since then, discounts and added benefits are now being offered on our cruise but they are not offered to us since we booked before they had a “pricing change”. How convenient that they are able to use this line to circumvent equitably providing these benefits to us.
Their contract is such that all the power lies with them and NONE with their client (us). They made a change to the port of embarkation as well as a change in one of the major ports where we were provided a selection of excursions that were comprehensive. We had selected an excursion that we felt was a great opportunity in Ketchikan. The port was then changed to Klawock, a VERY small town with maybe a dozen streets in the town. The number of excursions dropped DRAMATICALLY to about 8. Two of them required a flight to get from the port to the activity and the cost was extreme, over $1000 US. That, to me, indicates that the excursion is not in Klawock but somewhere else. Possibly Ketchikan? One other note regarding the excursions: Regent advertises free excursions included in the price of the cruise but the number of free excursions has declined drastically in the 16 years that we have booked with Regent. Where there used to be a reasonable selection at no cost, there are now 1 or 2 options and those are now more “self-guided” options.
With this change and the issues of our calls and emails receiving no response, I have tried to contact someone higher up in the Regent organization. NO ONE HAS RESPONDED!! I have since called in order to try to get some kind of resolution to our concerns and we have received no acceptable resolution from our side. Our reservation remains unchanged. And in some cases, our concerns have been invalidated or ignored.
With the threats that we are seeing in the news regarding issues at US customs, threats of cruises being diverted from Canadian ports, and slowly escalating monetary issues across the globe, we reached out to Regent to find out what our options are regarding possible future changes to the cruise, including the extreme possibility of cancelation. The person we spoke to wasn’t even aware of some of the issues but was sympathetic in words only. The stance with Regent is that they are not accountable for anything, even to the point that they were not accepting any accountability or responsibility to us, their patrons.Because of the instability of circumstances surrounding the cruise, and because we are no longer getting what we originally purchased when we booked the cruise, we have forfeited our deposit and have cancelled the cruise. Regent’s lack of willingness to help in these circumstances and their inability to see anything except the money that they would be getting from us, has forced us to decided that we are not willing to risk the balance owing of more than $20,000 to receive a cruise that could be changed further and is no longer anywhere close to what we originally bought. One thing I have learned in this time period is that when an airline changes a flight, even by a few minutes, I have the option to cancel the flight and bank the money for another time. I have also spoken with others who have cancelled their cruise with other cruise lines in the last few weeks. They were allowed to bank their deposit to be used at a later time. A minor handling fee was applicable but they did not lose anything more than the handling fee. Regent DID NOT EVEN OFFER THE OPTION. We lost our deposit of almost $3000. And no one was apologetic when we gave the reason for our cancelation.
Cruisers out of necessity
We are not cruisers by choice but by necessity due to my husbands increasing immobility.
Most of our holidays have been spent cycling round the world,climbing mountains and skiing.
This was only our 7th cruise.1holland America,2 Fred Olsen, 2 Azamara,1 P&O.all on small ships (which are getting less every year.)
We like peace and quiet ,relaxing.days,early nights,good food,sunshine,a jacussi,a home from home,which all our cruises have been but the Regent one in November 24 was the best so far.
Our cabin/suite was sumptuous, ,some would say a little dated by newer ships standards ,I would call it elegant and classic.The bathroom all marble and wood no melamine in site, not exactly my taste but beautiful The mattress was so deep and so comfortable as were the pillows.
I drank more champagne than water,you didn’t have to have the wine on offer,they have a wine list you can chose from at no extra cost, you only had to ask( they don’t broadly advertise the fact.)
The food was excellent in all the restaurants . Not being big fans of meat the buffet with all the salads, fruit,cheese, more than sufficed,We nearly always had a window table and the staff nearly always took the food to the table for us.
We had room service twice, and what an experience!!!
We had 2 nights in each port which made the excursions more doable.Rome,Florence ,Pisa, cinque terre,Marseille for the Provence alps,Lisbon. All the excursions were excellent.
We choose excursions to visit places for their sites/ history, not to shop in overpriced upmarket shopping centres and drink overpriced coffee,which is what the moaners seem to do.Why would you want to go to St Tropez when you can venture into the Provence Alps,or visit a vineyard for wine tasting when you can see the cinque Terre. Each to their own but the most interesting people we met were the ones not moaning, who like us seem well travelled.
Most of the staff went out of their way to be helpful, nothing too much trouble.
Perhaps the moaners should look closer to home as to why they don’t get the best out of people.
It only take a please/ thankyou,Hello and a smile. Speak to people how you would like to be spoken to,not in a condescending manner,(as I frequently observed).
We will be cruising more frequently now, and I hope we can afford to cruise RSS again.One thing for sure we will stick with the smaller ships, even though they’re not all singing all dancing glitz and glamour,but then again, neither am I.
Regent Seven Seas Cruise
Regent Seven Seas Cruise: A Disappointing Experience in Customer Care
I want to share my deeply disappointing experience with Regent Seven Seas Cruises in the hopes that they will reconsider how they treat loyal guests facing unforeseen medical emergencies.
As a senior woman, I was thrilled to book my first two-week cruise with Regent, traveling to Argentina and Brazil on March 3rd with friends. Unfortunately, in December, I suffered a serious and unexpected injury—I fell and broke my neck. My doctor advised me to cancel the trip, and I had not purchased travel insurance. Regent’s policy allowed me only a 50% credit, despite the extreme circumstances.
The good news? I recovered faster than expected! By early February, my doctor cleared me for travel, and I was eager to rejoin my friends. But when my travel representative contacted Regent, I was shocked to learn that rebooking the same trip would cost an additional $39,000—an outrageous and completely unreasonable charge. To make matters worse, Regent was unwilling to accommodate me on this voyage, even though I was fully cleared to travel.
Regent Seven Seas promotes itself as a premier luxury cruise line, yet when faced with a situation that required flexibility and compassion, they refused to make any exception. I am calling on Regent to reconsider its rigid policies and provide full credit for situations involving unavoidable medical emergencies.
My friends will be setting sail next week while I watch from the dock—an incredibly disheartening experience that could have been avoided with a fair and reasonable resolution. I hope Regent rethinks how it values its guests and takes action to ensure others don’t endure the same treatment.
Has anyone else experienced something similar with Regent or another cruise line? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
#RegentSevenSeas #CruiseTravel #CustomerService #LuxuryCruise #DisappointedTraveler
Regent Customer Service is a misnomer!!!
Regent needs to re-name it’s Customer Service group to “my way or the highway”! We were recently “offered” what seemed like a fabulous opportunity to cancel our 7 day cruise to the Caribbean that they had oversold and take one of two 14 day cruises at a later date. In return we would get the 14 night cruise at no additional cost, receive a 50% cash rebate on the overbooked cruise AND a penthouse upgrade with all the extras associated with the penthouse. The email directed you to click on a link for specifics of the offer. In addition to the cash rebate and the penthouse upgrade, the link said penthouses would receive one night land accommodation on the front end. We received the rebate to our credit card promptly as promised. We have a penthouse suite assigned to us only to learn that it is EXACTLY the same sf and configuration as the cheapest balcony room on the cruise? We do get the services of a “butler”-who cares? And I may get a fancy shaving kit. No other discernible value. Penthouse has a different definition for Regent!!! Oh, the one night pre-cruise hotel? Well, the fine print says it “may not” be applicable for new bookings/changes to bookings within 60 days of sailing!! This, despite the link we were directed to containing no such information. Customer service help???? Non-existent. Two representatives were cordial and professional but said we should be happy with the bargain we got!!! As they say, “This ain’t Burger King”!!! You don’t get anything with Regent your way-you get it their way!!! The only “help”??? They will advise marketing that the language in their offer had contradictory/misleading information.
