Q – Although we cruise several times a year on some of the better lines appearing on the Top Ten List on LCR, I am fascinated by some of the deals we continually get in our mailbox and via e-mail. This latest one seems to be, what you like to call, “A Real Deal” but I’d like to know if that is the case. I am talking about the $495 per person price for Business Class Air in each direction on Regent in Europe this summer (2016). Real or hype?
A – That is actually a better question than you might imagine because you’ve identified one of the true “Real Deals” currently in the marketplace. Regent has not pulled back any of its existing offers and discounts. Instead, it allows you to pile on a new discount at truly significant savings, by offering free economy air and then allowing you to upgrade to Business Class round-trip for under $1,000. Yes, this has to be designated a “Real Deal.” Of course, it doesn’t apply to all sailings. If you read the fine print, this is what it says:
“You Americans seem to think that Europe is still too expensive even though the Euro is now worth about a quarter. Given your complete lack of geographic knowledge, you also seem to think that Aleppo is a suburb of Rome. As a result, we have ships that are not entirely booked so we’ve come up with an incentive designed to get you off your butts and into our cabins. We’ll actually pay you, well actually we’ll subsidize you, to fly business class assuming you live near an actual city with an international airport. Don’t expect this offer to apply to everything we’ve got – we’re not fools. It will only be offered on sailings where we would like a little bit of stimulus. So come take advantage of us. Watch CNN for five minutes – listen to our presidential candidates – can you think of a better time to leave the country.”
