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Let's Talk About Regent Customer Service in Miami


Travelcat2
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After reading about misinformation given by Customer Service in Miami, I thought that sharing experiences on CC might give whomever is reading this at Corporate an idea of how poor their Customer Service can be.

 

The latest I've read (this did not happen to me but to someone on our upcoming cruise) is that when asked who the Social Hostess was on our cruise, they had no idea what a Social Hostess was and claimed that it wasn't on their list of positions on the ship.

 

I don't feel that the employees are completely to blame - they need to have accurate information at their fingertips in order to answer customer questions. And, if they do not have the answer, either a supervisor should be contacted during the phone call or the Representative should call the customer back within 24 hours (unless that would be a holiday or a weekend).

 

My hope is that Regent Customer Service Representatives will be given the tools to help rather than confuse customers.

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After reading about misinformation given by Customer Service in Miami, I thought that sharing experiences on CC might give whomever is reading this at Corporate an idea of how poor their Customer Service can be.

 

The latest I've read (this did not happen to me but to someone on our upcoming cruise) is that when asked who the Social Hostess was on our cruise, they had no idea what a Social Hostess was and claimed that it wasn't on their list of positions on the ship.

 

I don't feel that the employees are completely to blame - they need to have accurate information at their fingertips in order to answer customer questions. And, if they do not have the answer, either a supervisor should be contacted during the phone call or the Representative should call the customer back within 24 hours (unless that would be a holiday or a weekend).

 

My hope is that Regent Customer Service Representatives will be given the tools to help rather than confuse customers.

I'm sure an experienced travel agent who knows Regent well could resolve this serious issue.

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How would a TA handle a Regent Corporate issue? Our TA is one of the top Regent TA's. They have their own contact people and do not go through the same Customer Service people that customers go through.

 

Do you mean that by contacting our TA rather than Regent, we could get accurate information. If this is what you mean, I agree but too many people have TA's that are not familiar with Regent and give them worse information than Regent's Customer Service agents.

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How would a TA handle a Regent Corporate issue? Our TA is one of the top Regent TA's. They have their own contact people and do not go through the same Customer Service people that customers go through.

As you always say, get the right travel agent.

Do you mean that by contacting our TA rather than Regent, we could get accurate information. If this is what you mean, I agree but too many people have TA's that are not familiar with Regent and give them worse information than Regent's Customer Service agents.

I always hear from someone on this board that you should only deal with a travel agent who knows Regent well.

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With all due respect, why is it important that a passenger is informed of the name of the social hostess ahead of the trip?

 

It isn't specifically about them not knowing who the social hostess is - it is about them not knowing that the position existed. On another current thread, the rssc.com website wasn't working. Take a look at posts #8 and #10 https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2679957. In one case Customer Service told the customer that they could not help. In another, the customer was assisted.

 

This thread wasn't started to have arguments but rather was started for posters to share their experiences with Regent Customer Service (both positive and negative). If you have no experience with calling Regent, this thread may not be for you.

 

CBWIR - what you post is true however so many people either do not read CC or think that their long term TA that has assisted them for years would be fine with booking Regent. Unless their TA has booked several cruises and/or sailed on Regent, they may not know much about the ships, the culture, food, excursion and dining bookings, etc. Rather than helping their customers, sometimes they only confuse them. For this reason I always recommend TA's with experience booking Regent.

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I have plenty of experience dealing with Regent customer service as our first two cruises were booked directly without the aid of a travel agent. We only added a travel agent to our subsequent bookings so that we could avail ourselves of a rebate and increased on board credits. My experiences with Regent customer service both by phone and email were entirely satisfying, although I was really only concerned with booking the cabin and excursions. it never would have occurred to me to investigate who the ships officers or social hostess was. In addition, I have had extremely positive experiences with the Regent Air department and deal with them directly despite having transferred our recent bookings to a travel agent.

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Their website is seriously in need of massive revamp. For a luxury line, you’d think they could afford a top-of-the-line web designer or web design company.

 

I don’t know how many times I’ve requested the 2020-2021 brochure by the request brochure form, by phone, and by email. No, I don’t want to browse the cruises online because the site navigation is so cumbersome.

 

Other phone calls to customer service has been good, although I’m sure I’m asking basic questions you all already know the answers to.

 

I do consider the website as the first line of customer service. If information cannot be delivered efficiently and well to the point I feel like I don’t have to do the dreaded call (it should have plenty of information, not just be a teaser), then the website is not functioning the way it should be which is bad customer service.

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It isn't specifically about them not knowing who the social hostess is - it is about them not knowing that the position existed......

If they were looking at a list for the personnel for the Navigator, they would be correct. There is no Social Hostess. That role if filled by the ACD.

 

J

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If they were looking at a list for the personnel for the Navigator, they would be correct. There is no Social Hostess. That role if filled by the ACD.

 

J

 

I learn something new every day on CC, however the question was about Voyager. Thank you for the information regarding the Navigator ...... Really good to know.

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I have no direct experience in dealing with Miami, but just wanted to make the point that all our dealings with Regent in the UK in their Southampton office have been positive. We book through a TA (for the discount) but have had one or two "issues" when we have needed to contact Regent direct and the Southampton staff have always been knowledgeable and efficient. Just this week we booked an Explorer cruise for next April using the new (to us) facility to get on board booking savings 30 days before our next cruise starts and effectively I did this direct with Regent UK and they simply transferred the booking to the TA. We have however experienced problems and delays when they have had to "check back" with Miami.

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Brownie54,

One of the reasons Jamie and Dana are the CD/ACD on the WC - beside their vast experience and the terrific job that they do - is that they are a couple and share a cabin on the ship which frees up the usual ACD cabin for the Social Hostess.

I think that all the other cruises on the Navigator do not have a Social Hostess.

Jamie and Dana are on the Navigator now, by the way but I'm reasonably sure that is the case - no Social Hostess.

 

Peggy

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I must confess I've never understood the fixation of knowing ahead of time who the "Social Hostess" or Cruise Director gonna be. I always wonder, will they not book if its not their favorite person? Sorry Travelcat, I know you said that's not the point of the post, but wanted to chime in with that. Just curious, why would that information be so crucial to anybody to warrant making a phone call?

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I must confess I've never understood the fixation of knowing ahead of time who the "Social Hostess" or Cruise Director gonna be. I always wonder, will they not book if its not their favorite person? Sorry Travelcat, I know you said that's not the point of the post, but wanted to chime in with that. Just curious, why would that information be so crucial to anybody to warrant making a phone call?

 

 

Have to agree with you. I cannot imagine calling Regent regarding officers onboard even though I am interested (I learn about the crew from Facebook:halo:) It just seems that over the years posters have mentioned receiving inaccurate information when they call. IMO, having one person call three times and receiving three different answers should not happen nor should one Customer Service Rep. help one caller with excursions when the system is down and another Rep. said to call back.

 

Unlike website issues, with proper communication, the issues would not exist.

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