Brochures by mail

[DaveFr]

We get tons of mail, etc from Regent. Sorry about all the wasted resources, but the ONE, SINGLE catalog, I'd REALLY like to have, I can't seem to get. I want what I would call "the BIBLE" for 2017.......a catalog that would have it ALL! We're looking for summer (not spring) 2017.....can't seem to get that, although we've got everything else! Why is that?

Summer 2017 schedules have not yet been released. They should be released sometime in April. I'm sure the catalog you are seeking, will follow the release of schedules shortly.

[Mjflowers]

Ok, five more brochures in ten days now I have fourteen for the month of March. I am sick of it!!!! I have not sailed Regent for six years and I never get brochures from Seabourn. We sail Crystal and may get six a year. I have called and e-mailed Regent to no avail. I am collecting them and sending all of them back at the end of April to show my protest and show of the ultimate stupidity. Just an indication to me of piss poor management.

 

Definetly a good reason not to sail Regent for 6 years. Piss poor management would probably not welcome you any ways. Especially if you send their brochures back. Find something else to do. Stupidity? Who?

[Suite Travels]

Definetly a good reason not to sail Regent for 6 years. Piss poor management would probably not welcome you any ways. Especially if you send their brochures back. Find something else to do. Stupidity? Who?

You apparently are not on the receiving end of these very frequent brochures so what would you do after many attempts to stop it? Our mail lady even asked me why we receive so much Rgent material. I have asked her not to put them in our mailbox but she cannot do that as it is a federal law and she could be fired for tampering with mail or even worse.

Edited April 1, 2016 by Suite Travels

[Mjflowers]

You apparently are not on the receiving end of these very frequent brochures so what would you do after many attempts to stop it? Our mail lady even asked me why we receive so much Rgent material. I have asked her not to put them in our mailbox but she cannot do that as it is a federal law and she could be fired for tampering with mail or even worse.

 

Acutely, I do receive brochures. From Regent, Oceania, Crystal, Vicking, etc, weekly. Even in my WSJ. Just saying, to much effort spent on something you seem to be able to do anything about. Do as I do. Recycle bin.

[Suite Travels]

Funny I can block calls on my phone and get off of mailing lists but I cannot get off of Regents. A simple request that's all. This seems to be handled quite well by other mailers. I am not the only poster who has complained on this thread.

 

Sure Regent will take my money if I care to cruise them....are you kidding? Not welcome...really?

[gnomie1]

We get tons of mail, etc from Regent. Sorry about all the wasted resources, but the ONE, SINGLE catalog, I'd REALLY like to have, I can't seem to get. I want what I would call "the BIBLE" for 2017.......a catalog that would have it ALL! We're looking for summer (not spring) 2017.....can't seem to get that, although we've got everything else! Why is that?

 

I couldn't agree with you more and FINALLY, in today's office mail, came the catalog that we wait for and save for reference - the "Voyages to Explore" for July 2016 - December 2017, with a sneak peak at January - May 2018 sailings. Not sure about others, but we save this catalog and refer to it often during trip planning. For the most part, the small brochures are really never looked at and go directly into recycling.

 

gnomie :)

[newlondon]

Gnomie, This catalog is the best. We also save it until something more definitive comes out. Got us to return to Regent from SB for a 2017 trip.

[Travelcat2]

Linda, go to the rssc.com website and look at the very top. You'll see "Offers via email" and "Order a Brochure". I filled out the information to order a brochure and received and received "the BIBLE" in two weeks - just as promised on the website.

 

Oh my -- just realized that your quoted post is from March. Leaving my post here in case others come back to read this thread. Sometimes a starting new thread works better than drudging up old ones - particularly threads that are not as kind or as helpful as one would like. I'm sure that many posters are interested in this booklet. All you need to do is ask Regent via the form on the website. Couldn't be much easier than that!

[gnomie1]

On the Oceania board, a question was posted to James Rodriquez, EVP of Marketing and Sales for Oceania inquiring as to why the constant onslaught on brochures and if they reduced the number of mailings, they could then in effect reduce the price of the cruises. This is his response:

 

"To be quite honest you never know where your future guests are in their buying decision. If you are not in front of them when they are ready to buy then the competition is. Each piece is carefully planned to make sure we are covering a variety of our itinerary offerings so not to make our collateral repetitive. Our past guests appreciate having collateral in hand when they are making their bookings. We will continue to do our best to reduce the number of mailings as we continue to fill our ships."

 

This is probably one of the most insulting corporate responses that I have read in a long time. It implies that if one does not see the name "Oceania" at least twice a week, the line would not be considered during holiday planning, as if our memories are so limited that we need constant reminders. We have and continue to travel with a large number of tour/cruise companies and we must be unusual, we are able to remember the names of the companies without our recycling bin overflowing with Regent/Oceania mailings. I met a couple this week who refuse to even try Regent and/or Oceania because they believe that too much of their expenditures will be utilized for future advertising and not their enjoyment. I would love to know the true and accurate annual budget for the entire process of sending the millions of brochures that go out each year.

 

 

gnomie :)

[Travelcat2]

Agree with James Rodriquez 100%. If you do not like what he/they send, recycle it. Not a big deal!

[fizzy]

Agree with James Rodriquez 100%. If you do not like what he/they send, recycle it. Not a big deal!

 

I pay for a standard P.O. box that gets overwhelmed with this stuff. This requires me to go for pickup more often because otherwise, they hold the overflow behind the counter requiring me to go when the main part is open vs. just running in to grab the mail. Perhaps you and james can come up with a better plan. Sometimes we get 3 of the same thing. Mr., Mrs., and Mr. and Mrs.

[flossie009]

Fortunately we do not receive excessive mail from Regent or Oceania; maybe because we are in the UK?

 

However, the autocratic response from Mr Rodriquez on the Oceania board totally ignores customer preference and environmental considerations

 

From the reaction to his statement it appears that many Oceania guests do not agree with his assertion that "Our past guests appreciate having collateral in hand when they are making their bookings"

(PS We have never heard the word collateral being used in the context of a marketing brochure, but maybe that is a transatlantic translation problem :rolleyes:)

 

For us, when planning a cruise, all we need is the cruiselines' yearly comprehensive brochures, their websites for up-to-date info & pricing and some calls to our TA (and their competitors) to see what additional discounts/perks are available

 

IMO it would be better for Regent to invest in improving their website and keeping it up-to-date rather than bombarding customers with brochures they do not want

[rallydave]

Problem is Mr Rodriquez is looking at this issue from only his point of view. It is the passengers who are paying for these unwanted and unnecessary mailings in increased cruise fares.

 

And, it is a double edged sword for those to say simply throw away the unwanted and not asked for glossies in their recycle bin. It seems that the recycle people no longer have a need for all of the recycling that is coming to them so instead of them paying for the recycling, people will now be charged for sending in recycled materials. Our city contract for picking up recycling recently ended and the price our city has to pay for picking up our recycling has more than doubled. Sure this will be reflected in the taxes we pay.

 

So, not only do the passengers pay for the brochures that many people don't want, soon everyone will be paying to recycle them. Makes an earlier comment that this is no big deal false as it is a big deal to have to pay for unwanted materials and then pay again to recycle them.

[diebroke]

It is a big deal to me & maybe to others. Full disclosure: I am not an environmental extremist, but I may be somewhat more passionate about environmental issues than the average person. I try to live in an environmentally friendly way & speak out against practices that I think have a negative impact on the environment. If you don't care about my rant, don't read it. I get that some people don't care about receiving unwanted mail and many even want the material.

 

I get a lot of spam email. I find it really annoying even though all I have to do is hit delete, and there is little to no environmental impact.

Responsible companies make it easy to unsubscribe to their emails.

It still requires time & effort that I would prefer to use on other activities.

 

I also get a lot of spam snail mail. The amount of the unwanted mail I used to receive from Regent/Oceania was on a scale so massive that it could not be compared to any other organization. I’m not talking an annual catalog. I’m talking materials received several days each week.

I don’t think for-profit companies should have the right to invade my private mailbox & force me to carry large quantities of material to recycling. I don’t like it when telemarketers invade my home by making my phone ring. I have learned not to answer the phone, but the ring is annoying & I have to delete some recorded messages.

There is a website https://www.catalogchoice.org/ that is supposed to stop unwanted catalogs. When I went to that site, I got a message that said “We currently have no way to contact Regent Seven Seas Cruises.”

Emails to Regent & an executive who offered to help also failed to fix my problem. Finally, as noted in Post # 17, Mike Moore came to the rescue & they stopped. Apparently, at least one other poster also had success with this method. I wonder if anyone has tried this method & failed? I did not find the unsubscribe form on the website, so I don't know if that works.

 

So, there is the inconvenience of unwanted mail & there is the environmental impact of printing, distributing, & managing the disposal of all the catalogs & brochures. For those who do not wish to receive them, certainly throwing them in recycling (if available) is more environmental than throwing them in the garbage. However, it is far more harmful to the environment than not printing them at all.

This from NCL’s website: “We love the environment. Environmental protection is among Norwegian Cruise Line's highest priorities.”

It seems to me to be a worthy effort for NCL to make it easier to opt out of unwanted catalogs & brochures. It would make those of us who don’t want them happier & make a small, but important contribution to the environment. This doesn’t seem unreasonable or mean to me.

 

The only redeeming thing that may be holding them back is the humanitarian impact. As we learned on this thread, trees “kill many people each year” in Washington State. So, maybe Regent is doing this to save lives. If that is their motivation, I retract my complaint.

[Gilly]

<So, maybe Regent is doing this to save lives. If that is their motivation, I retract my complaint.>

diebroke, it sounds about as reasonable a motivation as the one given to me when I made an observation that, wherever we happened to be in some historic and beautiful place, there was always a plastic bag blowing about somewhere. "It makes work for someone to collect it".

[newlondon]

Sorry all, and I know this won't be popular, I think Mr. Rodriquez response was right on. Corporate marketing is no longer anything but ruthless. As he said if you are not in front of someone when they are ready to make a decision your competitor will be. If an industry is not competitive, and not reliant on some spur of the moment decisions we would not be inundated. On the other hand almost all consumer industries fit the profile that requires constant prodding.

An example is the auto industry. We do not get brochures from local dealers; but, we do get back to back to back TV ads. An insult to our eyeballs and ears.

Fortunately we can change the chanel or mute the sound with the slight movement of our finger on the remote. This is not possible with mail ads so we get frustrated.

[UUNetBill]

Well, although Regent may be the worst offender, they're not the only one. I requested one catalog from another cruise line and I've been getting hit with mailings and emails on a fairly heavy basis.

 

But I do agree - there needs to be a mechanism for us to be able to opt out of the hard copy mailings - it IS quite annoying.

 

You listening, Regent???

[Mike Moore]

Hello everyone -

 

I noticed someone mentioned my name early on in this thread, so honestly hadn't checked it in some time, assuming that anyone who wanted to be removed would contact me. For all of you that would like to be removed from our mailing list, you can do so using the Change of Address form, which has a link at the bottom of every page on our website, copied below for your convenience:

 

https://www.rssc.com/change-address/

 

You can use the same form to unsubscribe from our emails, or simply click the unsubscribe link that appears at the bottom of every email we send. Opting out using the link should stop emails within a few days. Using the form at the link above for email or mail could take up to 6-8 weeks, as lists are pulled weeks in advance, and the mail often takes another few weeks to arrive in homes.

[Travelcat2]

Thank you for putting this over the top (IMHO) thread to bed. Hope that those that have signed up for different addresses and/or names will remember to do this for every name and/or address used lest Regent get bashed for something else.

 

P.S. It would really help if more people actually read the rssc.com website. While I have no need to stop mailings, I did have a question and used the link on the website and received an answer within hours. Also used the website to order the "book" and received it exactly when the website said that I would receive it.

[gnomie1]

Hello everyone -

 

I noticed someone mentioned my name early on in this thread, so honestly hadn't checked it in some time, assuming that anyone who wanted to be removed would contact me. For all of you that would like to be removed from our mailing list, you can do so using the Change of Address form, which has a link at the bottom of every page on our website, copied below for your convenience:

 

https://www.rssc.com/change-address/

 

You can use the same form to unsubscribe from our emails, or simply click the unsubscribe link that appears at the bottom of every email we send. Opting out using the link should stop emails within a few days. Using the form at the link above for email or mail could take up to 6-8 weeks, as lists are pulled weeks in advance, and the mail often takes another few weeks to arrive in homes.

 

While I appreciate you bringing this to our attention, Regent really needs to update their website to allow for more options. We do not want to stop all mailings, we anxiously look forward to the Voyages to Explore and save it for future reference - if I were to stop all mailings, I would not be receiving this. Your website should be updated to allow individuals to select what they are interested in and what they want to receive instead of an all or nothing approach.

 

Some people on this board have made light of this issue as if it is nothing more than a slight nuisance - as the treasurer of my adult community condo association, I can tell you that the large number of mailings has a real financial impact. Porters need to pick up the recyclables and we have to pay for our own sanitation/recycling services which is an expensive proposition. We try very hard to be a "green" community - we offer all of our boxes/packing material that our residents get from internet sales to the local community who utilize them for either their own businesses or selling on Ebay. Moving boxes are offered on freecycle.org. Magazines and reading materials are donated to various organizations. Catalogs on the other hand are our problem and when I work on the annual budget, I need to take into consideration the cost of storing and disposing of all recyclable items that cannot be donated - many would be shocked at the cost.

 

gnomie :)

[Travelcat2]

A solution could be to stop mail from Regent but sign up for emails. That is what we have. When I wanted a brochure/book, I ordered it online.

 

IMO, with the number of specials, promotions, etc. that Regent comes out with (daily or several times per week), it could be difficult to specify exactly which ones are wanted.

[Grothj]

If using the link to stop brochures, there is an option on the Regent phone system. I had reason to call today , and there was an option to stop mailings. Sorry, I don't remember the number.

[fizzy]

today plus 3 other brochures. No O today. Senseless.