Helena Nawar Celebrates Her 10th Anniversary with Regaldive

Congratulations to our colleague Helena who celebrates her 10th Anniversary with Regaldive in May 2016.

Our colleague Helena Nawar reviews her 10 year career with Regaldive:

I started with Regaldive in May 2006, initially as an administrator to the operations department. My role involved preparing itineraries and issuing tickets and I mainly focussed on the Red Sea and also provided cover for our worldwide destinations. I really enjoyed this role, but have always been a 'sales person' at heart!

As more of Regaldive’s administration moved from manual to electronic format, I transferred to the Reservations team  and now deal both with individual bookings, as well as with groups and dive centres.

As we are a small team at Regaldive, I get to speak to lots of our regular clients. This is ideal, as I can offer them advice as to the best options for their next diving adventure. Ten years ago, Regaldive offered a lot less destinations than we do now, but as the world has become ‘smaller’ and more accessible, we are now able to offer more and more destinations.

Two of the most popular destinations we offer are the Maldives and the Caribbean.  In years gone by, these were a very expensive option, but now with the introduction of more flights, they represent good value for money and Maldives liveaboards can often be found at Red Sea prices.

I like the improved technology with our phone system and the reservations system. In the old days, we had to ask clients for more details when they called in, but now we can quickly check everything online. When I first started, invoices were printed on a very old printer with carbon copies and invoices weren’t e-mailed, as they are now, so we have come a long way!

Liveaboards seem to be our best sellers now, rather than land based holidays, which were the more popular option when I started.  Ten years ago, liveaboards were very basic, but over the years they have changed to the height of luxury, with Jacuzzis on deck, king suite cabins and WIFI.  They really live up to the ‘floating hotel’ description. When I started, we had an allocation of seats for the Red Sea, now we tailor make everything, so we are able to be much more flexible when putting an itinerary together that takes into account exactly what our clients want to do.

I was full time for my first seven years with Regaldive and then I changed to part time hours (9:00am to 3:00pm) after I had my second child. My two boys are very interested in learning how to dive one day too!