Staffing back up in Miami?

[wishIweretravelling]

As we all know, RSSC cut staff and hours at its Miami HQ during the pandemic. Pre-pandemic, if I saved a cruise in my account, I'd inevitably get a phone call from an in-house agent at rssc (even though I have had the same TA for the past 18 years--one who does a lot of work with rssc).  During the past several months, that stopped.

 

Well, I'm currently helping someone find a cruise to celebrate a milestone birthday in 2022. She's been saving cruises to her account, and got a call from an agent at rssc (while she hasn't cruised Regent before, she did have one booked for 2020 that didn't happen, using the same TA I used, so that TA's name is on her account). I saved the same cruises and, sure enough, got a phone call from an rssc agent--a different person from the one who called her.

 

This makes me think that Regent is staffing back up, if they have the personnel to make phone calls to people who have long-time TAs.  Hopeful sign that they think they'll be back asail soon? Or delusion?

[Pcardad]

They work out of call centers in different parts of the USA and have been working at home with their hours cut to 4 days a week the last I heard. They may have gone back to 5 days but I would not imagine they are back in their offices. I will find out.

[wishIweretravelling]

52 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

They work out of call centers in different parts of the USA and have been working at home with their hours cut to 4 days a week the last I heard. They may have gone back to 5 days but I would not imagine they are back in their offices. I will find out.

The fact that they are now working enough hours to have time to make these kinds of calls is the part I find telling. 
The question of whether they are actually sitting in Miami could be interesting, but the fact that they have the hours to duplicate what TAs are doing is what gets my attention.

[ronrick1943]

Sounds like a good sign, let's hope so--would like to be on a ship sooner than later.

 

[flossie009]

8 hours ago, wishIweretravelling said:

Pre-pandemic, if I saved a cruise in my account, I'd inevitably get a phone call from an in-house agent at rssc (even though I have had the same TA for the past 18 years--one who does a lot of work with rssc).  During the past several months, that stopped.

With us it has been the opposite experience.

Pre 2020, we never received unsolicited calls from Regent. During 2020, throughout our various lockdowns, we received numerous calls & emails from our "Regent Personal Consultant" 

[wishIweretravelling]

On 1/8/2021 at 4:09 PM, flossie009 said:

With us it has been the opposite experience.

Pre 2020, we never received unsolicited calls from Regent. During 2020, throughout our various lockdowns, we received numerous calls & emails from our "Regent Personal Consultant" 

Interesting. I wonder if it's due to a difference in allocations of duties in the two countries, or just a random "thing."

[lprp]

Here in the UK it was the norm to get a weekly “Pick of the Week” email every Saturday morning from Graham Sadler, MD RSSC UK. It always allowed for a few (several) minutes of perusing and dreaming of where and when we would go next.

However last Saturday (2 January) his email said:

“After quite a few years of sharing your breakfast on a Saturday morning with my cruise recommendations, this is my very last Pick of the Week. Don't worry, I'm sure I'll still pop up in your inbox every now and again, but for now it's time to leave you to your cornflakes.”

There was no explanation, I assumed (wrongly as it turned out) that someone else would pick up the role. Yesterday (Sat 9 Jan) it seemed very strange not to get the weekly email.

[Pcardad]

Regent has their call center people back up to 40 hours a week - confirmed. They are still working from home but they are finally getting a full paycheck again!

[xrvlcruiser]

Pcardad,

As always, thanks for the good information.

Peggy

[ChucktownSteve]

When I was researching my first Regent cruise last month, I received a call from a rep working out of the Miami office who was very helpful answering my questions.  He got my info when I registered on the site and saved the cruise info. He works Monday-Friday.  He followed up even though I use my regular TA which I hadn't disclosed to him at the time. 

 

My TA said she didn't mind if I booked the cruise through the Regent Rep because he gets credit for the booking as long he takes the deposit.  Then we transferred the booking to her.  The Regent rep, before I booked, confirmed that he does get the credit for taking my deposit and didn't mind that I would be transferring it to the TA.  So we proceeded. 

 

It felt good rewarding him for his help. And of course it felt good getting my TA's generous cash rebate. Was a win, win, win for us all.  😊

Edited January 10, 2021 by ChucktownSteve

[Dwtlion]

Regent reps are back up to 40 hours because Jan & Feb are the busiest booking months of the year. The "cruise wave".