Booking your Own cruise and then switiching to TA before final payment??

[marci22]

Here is the flip side of making company rules more stringent: in the past, I often had at least 2 or 3 cruises booked. After having these reservations for awhile, I kind of got used to the fact that I was going, my kids would hear about it, I'm committed.

 

Currently, I have one booked cruise. I cancelled the others that I had for various reasons: 60 day transfer period & no discounts after final were two big ones. So now, instead of being committed to a booked vacation on Royal, I'm open to whatever is the best idea at the time. No booked airfare, no nonrefundable deposits, etc. In a sense, they have lost my commitment.

 

Maybe they're too big to care about 1 cruiser, but I take with me tens of thousands of dollars worth of business, and I'm really not any worse off than before.

[Richiebaseball]

It is up to the consumer to look out for themselves (...and when there is a law or statute on the books that supports the consumer, that's icing on the cake! It's party time!). If they don't, they are stupid.

 

You are allowed to add your agency name as long as you don't list your location or business address or website. You can give as much advice as you want!

 

Guidelines: "You are welcome to sign your name and note your professional business as long as you comply with the following:

 

- You may not use your business name as your Cruise Critic user name.

- You may sign your posts with your first name only.

- You may include your company name in your signature.

- You may not list your phone number, business location (city or state), web site address, contact info or e-mail address.

- You may not include your location and/or website address in your Cruise Critic profile.

- Responding to member's inquiries on the boards with an ad for your services is not allowed.

- Only items of a general nature may be discussed on the forums by any travel agent."

 

Thanks and I am aware of the guidelines. This is the one I am referring to:

 

- Only items of a general nature may be discussed on the forums by any travel agent."

 

Now if you actually look at all of my posts instead of just the ones that were cherry picked it's pretty plain to see that basically my advice is, "Lots of agencies offer onboard credit, there's nothing wrong with that, do your due diligence when selecting an agency, and search for one". If I offered that advice and had the name of my agency in my signature I would get business from that. There's no doubt. A simple google search is all it wouild take. I'm not a national company with multiple locations, there's only one of me. But that's advertising. It's subtle and likely in a grey area with regards to the guidelines. But to me it's advertising and I just choose not to violate those guidelines. Plus if that post gets reported it's very likely it would get removed and then that basic message of "Search for an agency that will give you the best deal that you feel comfortable with" would be deleted as well.

[Salsa Dancer]

That company no longer exists as it was merged with another.

 

The transfer issue actually is only a hot topic to a few handful of people. And I haven't downplayed anything. I have explained the likely reasons behind the change. I have offered my opinion that it's not going to change. I have suggested that people now either book direct for the control or book with an agency for perks. And since it's a policy that's not likely to change and since there is an option available I have suggested that people move on.

 

You're the one trying to stoke some kind of fire by quoting posts that aren't even on this thread and then only quoting one side in an attempt to make you look like some kind of modern day Robin Hood looking to take from the evil business people and give to the masses.

 

Now that's rich, Richie.

 

What actually happened was that I read the whole thread and kept noticing that 2 or 3 participants had an obvious "bent". My gut told me that they weren't ordinary cruise travellers but had something to do with the industry and were biased toward the side of the industry. My hunch told me that one of you was a travel agent and the other had an even larger stake because of a more middle-of-the-road position between the agency interests and the cruise ship interests. I first noticed that neither of you had a cruise calendar posted. After looking at your posts, I also noticed that neither of you asked many questions about cruises, ports, etc., but rather spent more of your time ANSWERING the particulars of booking or defending the positions taken by the commercial end of the travel industry. I continued to follow that hunch and found that you both revealed your occupations, proving my hunch right. It makes all the difference to me to know where you are coming from, when reading your opinions.

 

I don't mind the thoughts of travel agents if they are informative, as it gives me, as a consumer, insight into the other side of an issue. Above all things, I rate myself as a fair person.

 

I think I stayed pretty civil but your continued snippy remarks fall somewhere between irritating and funny. You imply all sorts of things with them, and its obvious. You could choose to play nice or take your toys and go home. We'd all love you to stay and play nice. I'm sure that you possess a wealth of good educational information.

[marci22]

Now if you actually look at all of my posts instead of just the ones that were cherry picked it's pretty plain to see that basically my advice is, "Lots of agencies offer onboard credit, there's nothing wrong with that, do your due diligence when selecting an agency, and search for one". If I offered that advice and had the name of my agency in my signature I would get business from that. There's no doubt. A simple google search is all it wouild take. I'm not a national company with multiple locations, there's only one of me. But that's advertising. It's subtle and likely in a grey area with regards to the guidelines. But to me it's advertising and I just choose not to violate those guidelines. Plus if that post gets reported it's very likely it would get removed and then that basic message of "Search for an agency that will give you the best deal that you feel comfortable with" would be deleted as well.

 

If I were you then, I would list my agency and not say that as plenty of other people will chime in and say it for you.

 

'search for an agency that will give you the best deal...' is kind of vague, you just need common sense, and if someone doesn't have that (and I'm painfully aware that many don't...), all your suggestions are not going to work anyway.

[Richiebaseball]

Now that's rich, Richie.

 

What actually happened was that I read the whole thread and kept noticing that 2 or 3 participants had an obvious "bent". My gut told me that they weren't ordinary cruise travellers but had something to do with the industry and were biased toward the side of the industry. My hunch told me that one of you was a travel agent and the other had an even larger stake because of a more middle-of-the-road position between the agency interests and the cruise ship interests. I first noticed that neither of you had a cruise calendar posted. After looking at your posts, I also noticed that neither of you asked many questions about cruises, ports, etc., but rather spent more of your time ANSWERING the particulars of booking or defending the positions taken by the commercial end of the travel industry. I continued to follow that hunch and found that you both revealed your occupations, proving my hunch right. It makes all the difference to me to know where you are coming from, when reading your opinions.

 

I don't mind the thoughts of travel agents if they are informative, as it gives me, as a consumer, insight into the other side of an issue. Above all things, I rate myself as a fair person.

 

I think I stayed pretty civil but your continued snippy remarks fall somewhere between irritating and funny. You imply all sorts of things with them, and its obvious. You could choose to play nice or take your toys and go home. We'd all love you to stay and play nice. I'm sure that you possess a wealth of good educational information.

 

Actually you're now trying to be civil and conveniently your very first post to me where you called me a jerk appears to have been deleted. So you can continue to try to sell your role as some kind of unwilling participant that with great detective work has foiled a plot to take everyone's money.

And thanks for the invitation to stick around but I've been around for 9 plus years now and while I'm aware of "Hell hath no fury", it's going to take more than a couple of vindictive verbal lobs from you to run me off.