Regent communication and marketing issues

I am wondering why Regent’s corporate culture too often seems to communicate in a manner that doesn't fit with its "luxury" image.

There are numerous threads on CC over the past years that point out some of the poor communications. Examples include a recent thread on schedule changes due to tides in Yangon, the lengthy Ebola thread from some time ago, a thread about the inability of obtaining a list of available “free" wines on the ship, a recent report of phone calls with Regent’s office giving incorrect information, continuing promises for years about improved internet speed fixes that somehow seem to seldom improve the situation. More recently there were continuing complaints about the web site. Just as one example, clicking on “Our Ships” from the home page still shows the Explorer to be under construction though this was noted on CC many days ago, and I told Regent directly about the inaccuracy over a week ago. On CC we have a thread trying to tease out the differences in the suites on Explorer partially because the website information is still either insufficient or not trusted.

Then there is the sort of sleazy side to their marketing communications with “free” everything that obviously guests pay for, and there were numerous complaints about not being able to have marketing material stopped. Now some people are wondering why they haven’t yet received their copy of Regent’s new publication.

The ineffective communication often spills over to CC threads. A lack of information leads to speculation. Sometimes the speculation is not favorable toward Regent. Then come the predictable responses trying to defend Regent. This often leads to long contentious threads that attract more attention to the problem. And the underlying information deficit or misinformation is rarely addressed by Regent on CC.

Many of these threads could be stopped in their tracks if Regent simply posted a response about the questions raised by its communication or lack of communication. For example, on the thread about Yangon tides some Regent representative could amplify on what is really happening since the tide tables were presumably knowable when the itinerary was developed. That would put an end to prolonged CC guesses, explanations, and rebuttals that leave some to question Regent’s competence.

Though it isn’t Regent’s job to fix these sometimes tortuous threads, it should be Regent’s job to respond to obvious concerns related to its communication or lack thereof. Regent can respond with updated information or clarifications on CC or on its web site or through various media. I did note recently there have been some posts about the Explorer by Mr. Soy. That is a positive step. It is certainly a model that should be implemented regularly in my view.

I’s sure others have observations about Regent’s communication/marketing (maybe even differing from mine :)) and ideas for getting corporate headquarters to join the modern corporate culture that emphasizes the importance of effective communication. In this age of the availability of instant communication, letting problems fester is a terrible communication and marketing strategy, especially for a company that touts a label of “luxury.”

IMO, there is a "sleazy side" to all advertising.

In terms of communication, this is something that seems to be a complaint on most cruise line boards - not just Regent, Oceania or NCL.

With hundreds/thousands of ports visited every year, most cruise lines have computer site issues. Things can change on a daily basis for a variety of reasons. The worst cruise site we ever visited was Crystal (which reportedly is better now - but, when we visited their site, they only had two ships).

IMO, it is definitely not Regent's responsibility to respond to comments/complaints on Cruise Critic or any other board. I do not know of any cruise line that does what you suggest is their responsibility. Right now I'm trying to imagine someone at corporate responding to clocks that do not illuminate, one chair in some suites (when a simple request would get the passenger a dozen chairs if they wanted it), the wood being too dark, the chairs being too heavy or too tall, the coffee being not to one's liking, etc.

You mentioned the Ebola thread. Regent has security people that keep them up to date on security issues all over the world (some of this has been shared with passengers onboard the ships). They do not cancel a port months in advance for a reason. Looking back at the Ebola thread, there was one case of Ebola - from a man that crossed the border. He was in custody and anyone he was near was being watched. Regent passengers went ballistic. However, by the time these same passengers returned to the U.S., there were either 2 or 3 cases here. BTW, there was never another case in the port that was cancelled. IMO, an extreme over reaction by passengers.

On the other hand, I would like to see Regent update their mailing lists and have an easy way to opt out of mailings. Passengers would have to understand that they either opt out or out in ..... not something in between (although some websites give the option of weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc. communications).

I truly hope that Regent does not get involved in some of the contentious threads as there is no winning - regardless of which side you are on. Sometimes things are the way Regent wants it to be and it simply isn't going to change. Other times, Regent management reads something repeatedly and may change it in the future. The absolute best way to get things "done" or "fixed" is to fill out comment cards while you are still onboard the ship. These are read by officers on the ship as well as by Regent management in Miami.

NOTE: My "insight" is based on sailing with Regent for 12 years (and having long discussions with crew members as well as management) and reading CC for 11 years. I do not know everything but have gained an understanding of how some things work.

Well written post. On a personal level I have never had to communicate to Regent directly, but there are certainly areas where they could improve how they cascade accurate information.

As you say hopefully someone may take the recent concerns on board and address the issues. Jean.

CruisetheCs,

Thank you so much for starting this thread, as it is an issue very dear to our hearts

We love Regent, but so often their excellent on-board experience is not backed up with what should be exemplary customer service from their home offices. If they could improve in this area it would become a real differentiator in what is becoming an increasingly competitive market

The following is the timeline of our recent communications with Regent regarding a cruise later this year:

01 July - We learn of an itinerary change from CruiseCritic (http://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2373968)

05 July - We receive notification from Regent UK (via our TA) of the itinerary change i.e. 5 days after getting the info from Social Media

06 July - We raise some queries regarding the change, and affected excursions, with our TA and the Regent UK office

06 July - Our TA confirms that she has spoken to Regent and that Regent staff intend to reply to our queries direct

11 July - Automated acknowledgement from Regent UK.......5 days for an acknowledgement! :rolleyes:

13 July - We chase our TA and Regent UK for a response. Our TA apologises on behalf of Regent. Regent UK state in a curt email that it may take up to 28 days to give a response

14 July - We email Miami asking them to address the poor communications & customer service

18 July & 22 July - Chasing emails sent, pointing out the irony that they are unable to promptly reply to an email about poor communication

23 July - email received from an Exec VP in Miami saying that we are "quite important" to Regent and that he has chased ship operations and destination services for answers to our original queries

27 July - Having heard nothing more we sent a chasing email to our new 'best friend', the Exec VP in Miami, who replies that we should get a full response shortly

27 July(late) - We receive a phone call from a Director in Regent UK Guest Services. The phone call lasts just under an hour but doesn't particularly resolve the issues raised in our first email. However it did give us the chance to feed-back how their excellent on-board experience was so often let down by the home offices lack of care, communication and customer support.

So nearly a month of communication (or lack of it) and we are not much wiser at the end of it

In the past the Regent UK office has often been very good but earlier this year they set up a combined office dealing with all the NCLH brands for the whole of Europe. This probably pleased the accountants but has done nothing for the guest experience.

We do feel that Regent should take note of all their guests concerns (however trivial they may seem to some) and should take much more care with their communications - remembering that communication means listening as well as broadcasting

We see no reason why Regent and NCLH Execs should not respond on these Boards, as it does prove that they are listening and hopefully taking note. Randall Soy's Q&A plus his other posts have been refreshing

As a post-script to this saga just a small note about the Regent website

Well over a month after the itinerary change, our schedule for Yangon is still showing us going on an excursion at 9am on 16 December..................trouble is that the ship is not due to dock until 5pm........Now how is that going to work? :confused: ..........(We raised this glitch with Regent on 14 July and 27 July; both times they said they were working on it................:rolleyes:........)

On a somewhat similar note, has anyone noticed that the Regent (US) website, and I'm assuming the others as well, still shows the Explorer as 'Under Construction, coming Summer 2016'? Also, there's no mention of their new half-billion dollar baby in the Ship Location section of the homepage?

Seriously, it wouldn't have taken much to have those web pages built and ready to deploy as soon as they launched the new ship.

How about a new slogan? "Regent Seven Seas Cruises! Excellence on the high seas, anchored to mediocrity ashore!" :p

Bill, agree that the Regent website as it pertains to the Explorer needs some work. We had difficulty with an incorrect suite designation on the deck plan (which was quickly solved when our TA called Regent)

Flossie, I suspect that the problem was that you learned about the itinerary change from Cruise Critic posters rather than from Regent. Typically (in the U.S.), Regent sends notification to the TA who in turn informs their clients. Any questions go back to the TA as they have contacts at corporate that are only available to TA's.

IMO, knowing who to contact is the key. Just yesterday someone on another thread indicated that they had not heard back from Regent regarding the newsletter that was sent out. I posted the email address of who she should contact (an address given in the newsletter). This morning she posted that she received a response and the newsletter. Some people think that contacting the CEO or President or Regent is the best thing to do....... this is not usually the case as they would have to forward it to the person responsible.

I notice that another thread on CC has begun today relating to Regent’s advertising that was deemed misleading. That simply emphasizes my point that Regent needs to improve its marketing materials to be consistent with a “luxury” standard. A quality business does not engage in misleading advertising. Nor does it let its communication (or lack of communication) drag out as reported in the example from Flossie009.

It is quite predictable that when there is criticism of Regent that certain repetitive themes are used on CC threads to try to rebut the criticism, e.g..

(1) Alll cruise lines do the same thing, (also nicknamed the “mediocrity” argument)

(2) Regent is doing the best it can,

(3) Regent always does the right thing,

(4) Maybe you should try a different cruise line, etc.

These themes are so predictable that they could simply be assigned numbers and the numbers used instead as shorthand to keep the threads shorter. :)

So we are told in one post above that all cruise lines have web page issues (the mediocrity argument). A company with a competent marketing department would not make a huge deal out of launching a new product (including worldwide publicity efforts) and weeks later still leave up a primary webpage page that says the product is under construction. Regent only has four products (ships) three of which show updated locations (I assume every day) on that page. The misinformation on the webpage is a symptom of the disarray in Regent management’s communications and marketing strategy. If Regent had a corporate culture that emphasized communication that web page would be fixed in less than 24 hours.

Silence may sometimes be golden, but when it comes to marketing and communication silence is often just plain stupid.

Maybe we could start a contest to guess how many more days it will take before they update the “Our Ships” page. :)

I certainly do not believe that Regent is always right or that posters are always right. However, if posters had a TA that knew cruising (specifically luxury cruising), read the Regent website (including the small print), there would be far less complaints than we have been seeing for the past 11+ years (BTW, same complaints for all of these years).

How many questions are asked on CC that are spelled out on the Regent website and/or could be answered by a "proper" TA? Most regulars on the Regent board do sound repetitive because they have no problem answering the same questions over and over and over. By the same token, it seems that some posters complain over and over - many times about different things. Why do they continue sailing on Regent? How many posters have not sailed Regent in years but continue to complain?

Yes - I do compare Regent to their direct competitors (Crystal, Seabourn and Silversea). And, if/when management from any of these cruise lines decide to actively participate on their CC boards, I would certainly suggest that Regent do the same.

CruisetheCs, I challenge you (or anyone else) to attempt to answer questions on the Regent board for a few years. It might be enlightening and it may surprise you how many times you would give the same responses (and how often you would be bashed).

Posters that simply agree or disagree with a poster without contributing something substantive do much better on Cruise Critic than those of us that tell the truth (as we see it) or try to explain why their "take" on a particular situation may not be what it seems.

 

Maybe we could start a contest to guess how many more days it will take before they update the “Our Ships” page. :)

One can still enjoy art auctions on the Navigator, per the website.

You mentioned the Ebola thread. Regent has security people that keep them up to date on security issues all over the world (some of this has been shared with passengers onboard the ships). They do not cancel a port months in advance for a reason. Looking back at the Ebola thread, there was one case of Ebola - from a man that crossed the border. He was in custody and anyone he was near was being watched. Regent passengers went ballistic. However, by the time these same passengers returned to the U.S., there were either 2 or 3 cases here. BTW, there was never another case in the port that was cancelled. IMO, an extreme over reaction by passengers.

I am extremely surprised that you try to defend Regent over the TransAtlantic Cruise in October 2014. I well remember that cruise and the thread on CC that preceded it. The whole saga exemplified Regent's appalling communication with their customers

Many customers were extremely apprehensive at the Ebola threat but Regent did absolutely nothing to allay their fears until it finally cancelled the port stop in Dakar, Senegal less than 2 weeks before sailing

Whether customers' fears were unfounded is immaterial; many passengers were concerned, but Regent did nothing to communicate their risk assessments or contingency plans

In the event Regent changed the itinerary due to ".....worsening situation.......in the interests of health & safety.....". The missing of the port in Senegal had little to do with customers pestering Regent but rather because other ports had made it clear to Regent that they would not accept the ship if it did make landfall in Africa.

The fact that this cruise is still referred to as the 'Ebola Cruise' shows what a PR and advertising disaster this cruise was for Regent

Bill, agree that the Regent website as it pertains to the Explorer needs some work. We had difficulty with an incorrect suite designation on the deck plan (which was quickly solved when our TA called Regent)

 

Flossie, I suspect that the problem was that you learned about the itinerary change from Cruise Critic posters rather than from Regent. Typically (in the U.S.), Regent sends notification to the TA who in turn informs their clients. Any questions go back to the TA as they have contacts at corporate that are only available to TA's.

 

IMO, knowing who to contact is the key. Just yesterday someone on another thread indicated that they had not heard back from Regent regarding the newsletter that was sent out. I posted the email address of who she should contact (an address given in the newsletter). This morning she posted that she received a response and the newsletter. Some people think that contacting the CEO or President or Regent is the best thing to do....... this is not usually the case as they would have to forward it to the person responsible.

The Regent website has issues throughout not just on the Explorer page.

One example from earlier this year: When the SSS benefits were amended the US and UK websites were showing differing benefits for weeks; not because the UK website had not been updated but because someone tried to update it on two separate occasions and still missed some of the changes to be made.

If you read my post you will realise that learning about the itinerary change from Cruise Critic posters rather than from Regent was the least of our worries (although you would have thought that Regent would try to issue significant information worldwide on the same day)

Why should we or our TA have to keep a log of every individual in Regent that we have to contact for different issues? We expect to be able to ring, email or webmail the company and for them to re-direct our communication to the appropriate person or department promptly. We acknowledge that it might take a few days to ferret out the info required but expect to be kept informed of progress and certainly not be made to wait more than a week for a response

Yes - I do compare Regent to their direct competitors (Crystal, Seabourn and Silversea). And, if/when management from any of these cruise lines decide to actively participate on their CC boards, I would certainly suggest that Regent do the same.

It would be good to see Regent execs becoming 'leaders' in the field of communications & customer care rather than 'followers'

As most companies know, they ignore constructive criticism from customers at their peril

Maybe it's because of my age - but nowadays I tend to use Twitter if I have an issue with a company or want to find something out. Twitter feeds tend to get read from "on high" and most organisations have somebody managing their Twitter feed more or less all the time, as they are very aware of the damage negative tweets and how they can quickly escalate. Regent has a Twitter feed - in fact they appear to have several on a territory basis, so if you aren't getting what you need Tweet away - looking at the feed it does appear that they are responsive too!

Btw @regentcruises has 21.4k followers so whilst not up their with Taylor Swift and The First Lady - not insignificant ! @regentuknews is a lot lower and does appear to be more of an advertising feed.

Even Randall Soy @RSSCrandall has a Twitter feed - which will I am sure also be monitored!

CruisetheCs,

Thank you so much for starting this thread, as it is an issue very dear to our hearts

We love Regent, but so often their excellent on-board experience is not backed up with what should be exemplary customer service from their home offices. If they could improve in this area it would become a real differentiator in what is becoming an increasingly competitive market

 

 

The following is the timeline of our recent communications with Regent regarding a cruise later this year:

 

01 July - We learn of an itinerary change from CruiseCritic (http://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2373968)

05 July - We receive notification from Regent UK (via our TA) of the itinerary change i.e. 5 days after getting the info from Social Media

06 July - We raise some queries regarding the change, and affected excursions, with our TA and the Regent UK office

06 July - Our TA confirms that she has spoken to Regent and that Regent staff intend to reply to our queries direct

11 July - Automated acknowledgement from Regent UK.......5 days for an acknowledgement! :rolleyes:

13 July - We chase our TA and Regent UK for a response. Our TA apologises on behalf of Regent. Regent UK state in a curt email that it may take up to 28 days to give a response

14 July - We email Miami asking them to address the poor communications & customer service

18 July & 22 July - Chasing emails sent, pointing out the irony that they are unable to promptly reply to an email about poor communication

23 July - email received from an Exec VP in Miami saying that we are "quite important" to Regent and that he has chased ship operations and destination services for answers to our original queries

27 July - Having heard nothing more we sent a chasing email to our new 'best friend', the Exec VP in Miami, who replies that we should get a full response shortly

27 July(late) - We receive a phone call from a Director in Regent UK Guest Services. The phone call lasts just under an hour but doesn't particularly resolve the issues raised in our first email. However it did give us the chance to feed-back how their excellent on-board experience was so often let down by the home offices lack of care, communication and customer support.

 

So nearly a month of communication (or lack of it) and we are not much wiser at the end of it

In the past the Regent UK office has often been very good but earlier this year they set up a combined office dealing with all the NCLH brands for the whole of Europe. This probably pleased the accountants but has done nothing for the guest experience.

 

 

We do feel that Regent should take note of all their guests concerns (however trivial they may seem to some) and should take much more care with their communications - remembering that communication means listening as well as broadcasting

We see no reason why Regent and NCLH Execs should not respond on these Boards, as it does prove that they are listening and hopefully taking note. Randall Soy's Q&A plus his other posts have been refreshing

 

 

 

As a post-script to this saga just a small note about the Regent website

Well over a month after the itinerary change, our schedule for Yangon is still showing us going on an excursion at 9am on 16 December..................trouble is that the ship is not due to dock until 5pm........Now how is that going to work? :confused: ..........(We raised this glitch with Regent on 14 July and 27 July; both times they said they were working on it................:rolleyes:........)

The problem is who you talked to..my motto is go to the top to get things done in a timely matter..!!

Jancruz1

The problem is who you talked to..my motto is go to the top to get things done in a timely matter..!!

Jancruz1

Thanks for the advice. Who, specifically, would you have approached?

Maybe it's because of my age - but nowadays I tend to use Twitter if I have an issue with a company or want to find something out. Twitter feeds tend to get read from "on high" and most organisations have somebody managing their Twitter feed more or less all the time, as they are very aware of the damage negative tweets and how they can quickly escalate. Regent has a Twitter feed - in fact they appear to have several on a territory basis, so if you aren't getting what you need Tweet away - looking at the feed it does appear that they are responsive too!

 

Btw @regentcruises has 21.4k followers so whilst not up their with Taylor Swift and The First Lady - not insignificant ! @regentuknews is a lot lower and does appear to be more of an advertising feed.

 

Even Randall Soy @RSSCrandall has a Twitter feed - which will I am sure also be monitored!

Really good idea. As most of us realize, Regent is never going to be a leader in the area of communication nor do they need to be. IMO, being the best luxury cruise out there ITOM (in the opinion of many) is enough for me. They need to be a leader in ship, crew and passenger safety, crew well-being, crew opportunities, passenger well-being and a list of other items too long to list but that are so important.

Regent's communication and website is not why we sail on their ships. Having a superior TA insures that we receive all of the communication that we need and in a timely manner (and, they are receiving the information from Regent). Regent pays TA's a lot of $$$ to be their representative to the public. They are our intermediary. I can count the times that I've called Regent on one hand. I have emailed Regent a few times. However, I email my TA whenever we have a question. In addition to having great Regent contacts, they know Regent ships inside and out and can answer questions about suite locations (information that Regent may not want to share..... such as aft suites on the Navigator).

Perhaps the reason I'm so upbeat and happy with Regent (in addition to the great onboard experience) is that I do not encounter some of the issues that some posters have when they do not have a knowledgeable TA. There are many great TA's out there -- it is worth the time to seek them out.

I certainly do not believe that Regent is always right or that posters are always right. However, if posters had a TA that knew cruising (specifically luxury cruising), read the Regent website (including the small print), there would be far less complaints than we have been seeing for the past 11+ years (BTW, same complaints for all of these years).

 

How many questions are asked on CC that are spelled out on the Regent website and/or could be answered by a "proper" TA? Most regulars on the Regent board do sound repetitive because they have no problem answering the same questions over and over and over. By the same token, it seems that some posters complain over and over - many times about different things. Why do they continue sailing on Regent? How many posters have not sailed Regent in years but continue to complain?

 

Yes - I do compare Regent to their direct competitors (Crystal, Seabourn and Silversea). And, if/when management from any of these cruise lines decide to actively participate on their CC boards, I would certainly suggest that Regent do the same.

 

CruisetheCs, I challenge you (or anyone else) to attempt to answer questions on the Regent board for a few years. It might be enlightening and it may surprise you how many times you would give the same responses (and how often you would be bashed).

 

Posters that simply agree or disagree with a poster without contributing something substantive do much better on Cruise Critic than those of us that tell the truth (as we see it) or try to explain why their "take" on a particular situation may not be what it seems.

Since you have pointed out on numerous occasions that you have never sailed on Crystal or Seabourne, why would you feel you are in a position to compare those lines to Regent?

Since you have pointed out on numerous occasions that you have never sailed on Crystal or Seabourne, why would you feel you are in a position to compare those lines to Regent?

Think you may have missed my point...... when you have a good TA you don't need to call the cruise line.

I have read the Crystal, Seabourn and Silversea boards for years -- many of the issues you see on the Regent board have been posted on the other boards. I often recommend trying the other lines if Regent is not "doing it" for you. Many of us have tried other lines and most eventually return to Regent after learning that the grass isn't necessarily greener on the other side (different but not better). Although some issues brought up on the Regent board are important to discuss, some posters complain for years. It makes some of us wonder why they still cruise on Regent when there are other, sometimes less expensive choices.

I did actually get the point you were making, and i do have an excellent agent who is very familiar with booking with all the luxury lines.

Think you may have missed my point...... when you have a good TA you don't need to call the cruise line.

 

I have read the Crystal, Seabourn and Silversea boards for years -- many of the issues you see on the Regent board have been posted on the other boards. I often recommend trying the other lines if Regent is not "doing it" for you. Many of us have tried other lines and most eventually return to Regent after learning that the grass isn't necessarily greener on the other side (different but not better). Although some issues brought up on the Regent board are important to discuss, some posters complain for years. It makes some of us wonder why they still cruise on Regent when there are other, sometimes less expensive choices.

I think that TC2 is on to the right way to communicate with Regent.

Regent knows that many of us adore the on Regent ship experience and are unlikely to "jump ship" (and stop sending them 50-100K per year) no matter how insulting/inept Regent's onshore operations are. But Regent has TAs that they rely on and those TAs know that its customers can use another of the great TAs that specialize with Regent. So pass our complaints on through our TA ; it works! I called my TA last week and complained about getting SSS pages from another TA; within a day I had an "apology' from Regent. A while ago, I told my TA that Regent's website had the corporate owner of Regent name spelt wrong; next day it was fixed. Too bad that my TA has to waste its time getting Regent front office to do things right. But such is life!

As most of us realize, Regent is never going to be a leader in the area of communication nor do they need to be. IMO, being the best luxury cruise out there ITOM (in the opinion of many) is enough for me. They need to be a leader in ship, crew and passenger safety, crew well-being, crew opportunities, passenger well-being and a list of other items too long to list but that are so important.

TC, you and I agree on a lot of issues (most issues, actually) but I'll have to disagree with you on this point. Regardless of how good the product is, if you piss off your loyal customers often enough, they can and will 'jump ship'. The luxury experience they're trying to build and maintain is an all-encompassing thing, not just the cruise. It doesn't matter how special they make you feel on board if you're treated like a can of Spam ashore.

I, too, have had issues with Regent's home office, and I've almost always gotten them resolved to my satisfaction and I've received several letters of apology from senior executives in the hierarchy. I've thanked them for their assistance, but I've also pointed out that I'd be a lot happier if these issues hadn't cropped up in the first place. I believe it's more financially sound to train and empower your front-line employees rather than taking management's time to fix issues that shouldn't have ever gotten that far up the chain.

To me, it's like buying any luxury item, whether it's a car or a boat or a home...I don't care how good the product is if the sales and support are sub-par. So far, Regent's on-board experience still makes up for the land-based shortfalls, but it wouldn't take too awful much to tip that cart over...

If anyone from Regent is reading this, please, PLEASE increase your training budget, and hire a few more website QA testers. It doesn't matter how personable your phone reps are if they're giving incorrect or inconsistent information to your customers.

Okay, off my soapbox now...

Perfectly put, Bill

Bill, I do agree with you on that one point but am not as upset by the website issues as some people are. We really are able to get correct answers from the website most of the time. We also get frustrated when trying to make excursion reservations and find they either are not up on the day reservations are suppose to be open or they put up a new excursion without telling anyone and we miss out (this actually happened on our last cruise -- with dining reservations - not excursions and we were not happy). So, yes, I would like to see a few more people working on the website to get it up to date and then perhaps it could be maintained by the current staff (hiring people when major changes or updates are happening).

In terms of losing customers due to communication issues, I suppose it has happened. But it sounds from recent threads that Regent could lose customers over tea, coffee, chairs, dark wood, black granite and clocks:rolleyes: No amount of communication is going to make some people happy (in my opinion). It more or less reminds me of when people complain about the poverty in a port they are visiting (thankfully have not seen this complaint on the Regent board in a long time). If people wants ports and ships to be like what they have at home, perhaps they should not be traveling.

When it comes to issues about safety and/or site blockage in the Explorer theater, accessibility to the outside of the Observation Lounge, etc. input from customers is valuable. But the other "stuff"......... well, perhaps I've said enough about that.

In terms of passengers possibly feeling "spam" when they are not onboard the ship, perhaps Regent could print email addresses of people to contact for different issues (love the spam comment:-). In other words, instead of just calling Customer Service to handle all problems (many of which the representative may not be familiar with), maybe some of the representatives can be better trained in different areas of customer service. Interrupting myself to say that I thought my idea was good but may not be practical. Perhaps if the supervisor was asked to come to the phone immediately if the customer service agent was not 100% sure they were giving the correct answer or if they did not know the answer. For many of us, our TA's are the "go to" people but there are occasions when someone needs to call

Regent in Miami.

P.S. The last paragraph sounds a bit convoluted but hope that you got the essence of what I was trying to say. Now it is almost time for my weekly dinner (and wine) with my husband - he cooks every Saturday and I always look forward to that).

I agree with Bill's well stated observations.

Attention to communications and marketing is essential to any business model. That Regent management permits these problems to go on and on will sooner or later cause problems. Other cruise lines know well what are the weak spots of their competition and will make strides to be the leader in areas where another company is mediocre or poor.

When you have some customer service areas that are too often mediocre to poor (as in the web site or direct communications with Miami) the image of the company erodes. You can’t for long be a first class company when your storefront has dirty windows and mediocre or poor up-front counter service even if the actual product your selling is an excellent one. Some customers will move on especially if another company has an excellent product along with clean windows and excellent up-front counter service.

The website still shows today that the Explorer is under construction. That no one has assumed responsibility to fix this after several weeks is a major flag of a larger management problem.

Perhaps I read Bill's post differently. I agree that there is an issue with the website but do not agree that all of corporate has a problem (and do not believe that is what Bill indicated). Whatever questions or issues we have are solved by speaking with our TA. From I have learned over the years, the job of cruise line executives not to interact with customers on a daily basis. They have people that are paid to do that (and I also agree that Customer Service Representatives need more training, however, if you have a good TA, there is no reason to even call them).

To paint all of corporate with one broad negative stroke is not fair to anyone.

What you stated ("When you have some customer service areas that are too often mediocre to poor (as in the web site or direct communications with Miami) the image of the company erodes") does not hold true. In the years that we have sailed on Regent, corporate is no better or worse than it was when PCH purchased Regent. The only thing that is the same is that some passengers (a small percentage based on the number of Regent passengers that are also CC members) continue to complain. If any readers have the time, look back 5 or 6 years at the posts on the Regent board. It is no different than it is today.

IMO, the solution is more training for Customer Service, adding staff to update the website and customers that find so much fault with Regent that they feel they must continually complain on the Regent website (which, IMO, causes more harm that good) to try another cruise line and see if the grass is greener on the other side.

P.S. Coincidentally, there are a handful of people that left Regent a few years ago and now are on the Regent board discussing their upcoming cruises. Not faulting them at all. We tried Silversea and Oceania and the result was that we enjoy Regent more than we ever did.