Do people still hand out business cards on cruise ships

[expectthebest]

Hi Cruisers- So please help me solve this age old question once and for all.. Do people still hand out business cards on cruise ships? I have a buddy.. we will call him Ron.. because that’s his name. Ron is late 50’s thrice divorced (no judgement) and decided to take up insurance sales as his sole source of income. He has been cold calling and leafing through the latest edition of the phone book looking for leads to sell life insurance to. 
He decided to book a cruise out of NY and believes he will “clean house” selling life insurance on the cruise ship. He said it’s a perfect atmosphere for the topic to be brought up during dinners with other table mates and also having drinks in the many lounges. He plans to bring business cards (500) to be exact to give to the prospects that he is unable to “close” on the ship.

i told him that if he plans on selling life insurance on the boat he had better plan on packing his nice suit and tie or at least his vest with matching pocket square.

I bet a lot of people buy life insurance while cruising but just wonder if he should leave the business cards back at home.

Any suggestions? And do you think the suit will be a little over the top? 

[GTO-Girl]

1 minute ago, expectthebest said:

Hi Cruisers- So please help me solve this age old question once and for all.. Do people still hand out business cards on cruise ships? I have a buddy.. we will call him Ron.. because that’s his name. Ron is late 50’s thrice divorced (no judgement) and decided to take up insurance sales as his sole source of income. He has been cold calling and leafing through the latest edition of the phone book looking for leads to sell life insurance to. 
He decided to book a cruise out of NY and believes he will “clean house” selling life insurance on the cruise ship. He said it’s a perfect atmosphere for the topic to be brought up during dinners with other table mates and also having drinks in the many lounges. He plans to bring business cards (500) to be exact to give to the prospects that he is unable to “close” on the ship.

i told him that if he plans on selling life insurance on the boat he had better plan on packing his nice suit and tie or at least his vest with matching pocket square.

I bet a lot of people buy life insurance while cruising but just wonder if he should leave the business cards back at home.

Any suggestions? And do you think the suit will be a little over the top? 

that would be a HUGE turn off for me and no I would never buy anything from some random stranger “selling” their product on a cruise!!!  EVER!!!

[expectthebest]

1 minute ago, GTO-Girl said:

that would be a HUGE turn off for me and no I would never buy anything from some random stranger “selling” their product on a cruise!!!  EVER!!!

Exactly!! That is why we were not going to do anytime dining..He wanted to do an early seating for the demographic of having 6 others to tell his “story” to while we are all enjoying a meal breaking bread together ( he figured it would be good use of having a captive audience for 90 mins) 

So you agree with me that the suit is a bit much? 

[Secretlyfi]

27 minutes ago, expectthebest said:

I bet a lot of people buy life insurance while cruising 

Huh??

 

19 minutes ago, expectthebest said:

He wanted to do an early seating for the demographic of having 6 others to tell his “story” to while we are all enjoying a meal breaking bread together ( he figured it would be good use of having a captive audience for 90 mins) 

OMG. If I were seated with him and he started this, I would get up and leave. My vacation is no time to be held captive.

[rncruiser]

If he were my tablemate I would be asking for a change of table before the waiter even took my order in the first night. 

[leaveitallbehind]

You're not being serious, are you? In 32 years and 50+ cruises I can honestly say I have never heard or been approached by anyone trying to sell me anything, let alone life insurance.  That would be the absolute last thing I would want to engage in on my cruise and anyone approaching me to do so would be the last person I would buy it from.  I also think it would be, at the least, quite rude to be approached for that reason by a stranger hoping to close me with an insurance sale on my vacation.

 

Nor do I want anyone's business card volunteered to me. If I'm interested in learning that information from someone whom I should casually meet on a cruise, I will ask for it. 

 

I think the whole idea, suit with vest and matching pocket square included, is way over the top and a very bad plan. JMO.  Assuming, of course, you are being serious.....

Edited Wednesday at 02:58 AM by leaveitallbehind

[ZoeyVictoria]

I hope he will be sailing on a ship with all of the bells and whistles for kids. The cost of life insurance for the average age of cruisers on many ships would be prohibitive. 

[neverbeenhere]

Selling on a cruise is a no-no.  That’s why business email cards attached to cruise ducks are not en vogue. 
 

this adds one more thing to my “don’t talk about” on cruises list. 
 

1) religion

2) politics

3) how many cruises have we been on

4) how much we paid for the cruise

5) Life insurance 

[neverbeenhere]

BTW: if I could sell on a cruise, I’d be selling my “Neverbeenhere” t-shirts. Only $22.99

[sprint180]

Oh grief no, please.  I DO NOT want people trying to sell me stuff on a cruise.

[LeeW]

Royal gets upset if someone in a Roll Call group collects money for shared excursions.  Can't imagine they would permit this.

 

We have sometimes gotten business cards from our room attendants, but haven't in around the last year.

[Ashland]

8 minutes ago, LeeW said:

Royal gets upset if someone in a Roll Call group collects money for shared excursions.  Can't imagine they would permit this.

 

We have sometimes gotten business cards from our room attendants, but haven't in around the last year.

Huh? We have often gotten an RCI business card with our cabin stewards name on it and a number to call him for cabin service.

[ARandomTraveler]

This sounds insurance salesman-y. Desperate like a used car salesman and an entry level realtor.

[BirdTravels]

2 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

In 32 years and 50+ cruises I can honestly say I have never heard or been approached by anyone trying to sell me anything, let alone life insurance.  That would be the absolute last thing I would want to engage in on my cruise and anyone approaching me to do so would be the last person I would buy it from. 

That's funny. We just got off a cruise on Monday. We were dining in Coastal Kitchen and a solo lady was sitting at the table next to us. We chatted about cruising, duh... and she broke out a card and said that she was a travel agent and could top any "deals' we were currently getting. And then started the hard sale on the perks she could include in our cruise because her company was so large and buys blocks of rooms on every ship, every week. Blah... Blah.. Blah... "Look at the time, we need to get to a show... bye".

[TheBandit]

Ron? Let's call him "Ned Ryerson"!

[Scottdalfonso]

THIS is why I don't share tables. We were on another line last month and they asked if we would be willing to sit with others, we said no. They sat us NEXT to a shared table, and they all talked politics the whole time. I wouldn't even have gotten to order my food before I left that table if that's where they seated me. 

[sfaaa]

Ron is wasting his time. I only buy from LiMu Emu and Doug, 

[jerseyjjs]

To the OP, back to the drawing board......Ron.

[expectthebest]

6 hours ago, rncruiser said:

If he were my tablemate I would be asking for a change of table before the waiter even took my order in the first night. 

That is exactly why I told him maybe leave the suit at home. I said people will feel severely under dressed sitting at the table and want to get up and leave. So yes.. this exactly!! Now he did mention going to the dining room earlier and placing his business cards on a few tables as they are being set maybe position them around the butter dish? I suggested that may work because it’s more low key and if someone sees the business cards while reaching for butter it may spark a conversation

[expectthebest]

He also mentioned maybe hanging out by where you would pick up your cruise pictures. He said that may be a nice spot that other vendors may not have thought about setting up shop. I told home the lighting in that area may not be the best for eye contact and making a lasting impression.

 

i could tell he was getting upset when I laughed at his idea of dropping his business cards on the tables in the morning in the buffet. I told him that would prob be frowned upon and maybe stand slightly outside the buffet by the staff that remind guests to wash their hands. That way you hand your card to passengers in the morning so you are the first one.

 

i do like that he is thinking outside the box on this and he realizes he could make a great living selling something to people they didn’t even know they needed. Or wanted for that matter

[Scottdalfonso]

8 minutes ago, expectthebest said:

That is exactly why I told him maybe leave the suit at home. I said people will feel severely under dressed sitting at the table and want to get up and leave. So yes.. this exactly!! Now he did mention going to the dining room earlier and placing his business cards on a few tables as they are being set maybe position them around the butter dish? I suggested that may work because it’s more low key and if someone sees the business cards while reaching for butter it may spark a conversation

That Ron... a real hustler, a go-getter, even. 

[Southern Dan]

I think Ron should come up with a catchy saying like “washy washy”, hit a tambourine while chanting it and he might clean house!

[Toddcan]

A few of you caught onto the trollness of the OP. Looking forward to more comments. 

 

[d9704011]

Is Ron licensed to sell insurance in any Canadian provinces?

[#55worktoplay]

Ron should use the time on the cruise to figure out how he will drum up business on land instead of hustling on the ship. Nobody wants to think about real life on cruises.

 

A for effort but very bad idea.