Cruise Agencies

[basketsiam]

ok I'm confused, what is legal?

Post: Has anyone ever used XYZ.com?

 

How are we to find out about the agencies out there that we want to research? I recently decided not to use the agency we have booked four cruises with and did a bidding cruise site but don't plan to always use them, where do I get my info? Other boards? Search the internet? This sets research back years. Now each poster has to do all their own searching instead of getting suggestions from others.

 

 

I have to say that I agree. I feel that we are all losing our benefits because of the actions of a few people.....

[H2O babe]

I'm new to these boards, but have been posting on cruise addicts boards. I have learned so much from the posts there on the ins and outs of purchasing a cruise. Am sorry to see that I will not be getting those tips on this board. I did try going back to some older posts and find there are only about 5 pages worth and then they stop. Will continue to seek help from you veteran cruisers in other areas. Your wealth of knowledge has been so helpful.

 

Thanks

 

H2O babe

[Randy & Carmen]

I have to say that I agree. I feel that we are all losing our benefits because of the actions of a few people.....

Isn't it a shame.....but I bet we can all reflect upon our pasts and remember how this same thing has happend over and over....BUT....what don't kill us will make us stronger.;)

[kristikae]

How many CC members are there and what is the growth rate on this site....maybe a host can fill us in on this.

We have roughly 105,800 members. I think we hit 100,000 in January so that will give you an idea.

[hilltopfamily]

Guess I'll have to count myself lucky in finding this site before the rules had changed. I definately was able to save money on the original bookings, knew how to watch for drops in pricing & how to get them matched on my bookings, and learned about which places people had good experiences with as well as a few places that posters had less than good experiences with, all from reading & learning from this CC board. My 1st cruise I knew none of this & paid a premium for my ignorance, my next 2 benefitted from the info. Now I guess I'm back to my own devices. :mad: Seems like a real shame to me.

[soon2bcruising]

I am new too, haven't even gone on my first cruise yet, but these boards have really helped me. I booked my cruise before I ever found the boards. Now I have learned so much, thanks to all of you. It seems to me the veteran members were good about smelling a rat in some of those posts. They pointed out that the person recommending an agency was posting for the very first time. Now I know how to check that. I wouldn't run off to some agency just because someone on here said to, I would check it out and compare to other agencies. I think we are intelligent enough to deal with these posts without having all the names pulled. It seemed pretty obvious to me that while I may feel I got a good deal, someone else, on a different cruise, got a good deal with another agency.

[babs275]

Couldn't they just ban the IP address of the offending people and leave the rest of us alone? ;)

[hstrybuf]

Now that's a great idea!

[LauraS]

I'm new to these boards, but have been posting on cruise addicts boards. I have learned so much from the posts there on the ins and outs of purchasing a cruise. Am sorry to see that I will not be getting those tips on this board. I did try going back to some older posts and find there are only about 5 pages worth and then they stop. Will continue to seek help from you veteran cruisers in other areas. Your wealth of knowledge has been so helpful.

 

Thanks

 

H2O babe

You can certainly still learn and share about how to purchase a cruise -- whether it be online, through a TA or from the cruise line itself.

 

Our original intention in allowing the discussion of purchase options was to allow our members to learn all they can about HOW TO BUY -- especially with the new venue of CRUISE ONLY ONLINE AGENCIES, which obviously are relatively new. Trying to figure out wheather to buy from one of those large travel websites, or perhaps a cruise only agency, really does require a savvy buyer.

 

So, the general principles of buying a cruise may, of course, be discussed. Recommending a specific source is what isn't allowed.

 

Laura

[RonNJ829]

CLICK HERE for "Valor Vampires" Cruise Info on Valor 10/30/05

CLICK HERE for "Partae Pirates" Cruise Info on Miracle 2/13/05

 

I'm confused Randy, The cruises your sponsoring mention contacting Terri or Debbie from CruCon, for your Valor and Miracle cruises

Do the same rules apply to the hosts on these boards :confused:

[kristikae]

CLICK HERE for "Valor Vampires" Cruise Info on Valor 10/30/05

CLICK HERE for "Partae Pirates" Cruise Info on Miracle 2/13/05

 

I'm confused Randy, The cruises your sponsoring mention contacting Terri or Debbie from CruCon, for your Valor and Miracle cruises

Do the same rules apply to the hosts on these boards :confused:

Those are official Cruise Critic group cruises. Randy couldn't say in a thread, "hey...call Beuhla at XYZ agency..she's great." He can have a link to his OFFICIAL Cruise Critic group cruise page.

Make sense now?

[LauraS]

I looked and Randy's posts above do not contain that information....

 

He (and all our other group leaders) are instructed to provide a link to information about their group cruise -- which contains the travel agent contact. It is not posted on the board, nor are prices.

 

Yes, all group leaders who book through the Cruise Critic group program will be allowed to link to their group cruise information. That is a major perk of doing so. This is, after all, Cruise Critic's website and we have to do something to keep these boards up and running for our 105,000 members....and to keep them free at that.

 

I'm amused when folks look for a double-standard on these boards. Of course there is....we are the owners and operators and we set the guidelines...how could it be anything else? (she said jokingly.....)

 

Laura

[GoinCruisin]

Hey Kristi, I have used Buehla at XYC Agency and would never use her again! :D Again CC, I personally feel this was a good decision... You guys provide such an excellent service to us, for FREE! I would have gladly paid for much of the information I have received from this board in the last year... and thanks to you guys and the sponsors, I did not have to...

[dromMOM]

So can I tell people to keep checking with Carnival? I just called and got a SECOND reduction in the price of my Cruise.. My TA...is tearing her hair out..

 

Plus Carnival is now offering on board credits for my Cruise date.. which wasn't available when I first booked..Yippee..

 

NO TA Plug here!! I have done all the discount research myself!

 

I will be calling Carnival every few weeks to keep on checking!

 

My insurance rate even went down too..

[Randy & Carmen]

I'm amused when folks look for a double-standard on these boards. Of course there is....we are the owners and operators and we set the guidelines...how could it be anything else? (she said jokingly.....)

 

Laura

Oh me too, Laura,.......I just laugh it off....:rolleyes: ....Also, I have a friend married to a cop that told her if she's ever stopped for speeding to tell the officer that she's married to a cop and they are above the law....:eek:

[RonNJ829]

Originally posted by Laura S
I'm amused when folks look for a double-standard on these boards. Of course there is....we are the owners and operators and we set the guidelines...how could it be anything else? (she said jokingly.....)


[size=3][b]I'm NOT amused when I find the double standards on these boards, which [u]DO [/u]exist, whether you, Randy or Kristi want to acknowledge their existance or choose to ignore them[/b][/size]
[size=3][b](he said NOT jokingly....)[/b][/size]

[GoinCruisin]

Ron, I have been here over a year and have not seen any double standards... but if I did, and I was so unhappy... I probably would find somewhere else to post... Just MHO...

[RonNJ829]

I've been here over 3 years...February 2001 to be exact
Never mentioned anything about being unhappy..I'll take your advice into consideration if I even become unhappy with these baords

Thanks :)

[SUSANITA]

But there is no double standard, there is ONE standard - THEIRS!!!!! OF COURSE they are allowed to post the TA name of an official CC cruise, how else are people supposed to book it?!!

I'm sure if any of the TA's that post on this site want to have their name be seen here, they are more than welcome to PAY TO ADVERTISE like everyone else. If they want to be the TA for a CC group and get known by hundreds, possibly thousands of members, then advertise here and offer the lowest rate for the cruise. Obviously, it pays to be a CC TA.

TA's are posting bogus posts in an effort to boost their business. This does not benefit the members of this board AT ALL. There was one way to stop it, and they did. I don't see a double standard there at all. I see a good business move.

[mohavemommy]

[font=Comic Sans MS][size=3][color=red]I can see and approve of where this rule came from. I was one of those people who fell into the "e-mail me for my TA's name, they got me a great deal" last year and in return started receiving numerous spam e-mails from a Travel Agency. :eek: What jerks! Of course I will never book from that agency for just the reason of the deception. They could be the best TA in the world and I still wouldn't because of the way initial contact was made. Too bad I can't tell you what the name of that agency is...:( ......... and I still get junk mail from this jerk from time to time......:mad: [/color][/size][/font]

[LauraS]

[quote name='RonNJ829']Originally posted by Laura S
I'm amused when folks look for a double-standard on these boards. Of course there is....we are the owners and operators and we set the guidelines...how could it be anything else? (she said jokingly.....)


[size=3][b]I'm NOT amused when I find the double standards on these boards, which [u]DO [/u]exist, whether you, Randy or Kristi want to acknowledge their existance or choose to ignore them[/b][/size]
[size=3][b](he said NOT jokingly....)[/b][/size][/QUOTE]
Here's the beauty in this great country, Ron, you can go ahead and start up your own cruise community, and run it the way that you see fit. I'm not trying to be snide at all...just truthful. We have a mission here, and a focus, and we stick to it. Truth be told, it's been a long hard ten years and we still don't let up. You can see that by our brand new boards, which took months of planning. Up next, we're hoping to have our own Internet chat room up and running so that we can resume our "guest shows" we used to have on AOL. And this is only on the community side of our website.

Our editorial staff is constantly working hard to bring the newest of the new to our readers, in our newsletter and online -- PLUS there's the new PRINT version of the newsletter.

We've always taken pride in providing the LEAST INVASIVE type of advertising possible. You'll note there are no popups on the boards, no spyware downloaded from Cruise Critic, we don't sell our listing of registered users nor our newsletter listing -- all very valuable. We stick to our guns regarding people bombarding you with ads on the boards....with over 140,000 new posts per month that is a job in and of itself.

We think we've provided exactly what we promise....a fun, interactive online community where cruisers can meet & greet, share information about cruising without advertising and harassment.

Laura

[Randy & Carmen]

[size=4]Bravo.....Spoken like the QUEEN you are!:D .BTW......I LOVE this new board!!!!......I'm not leaving.;) [/size]

[L2J]

[quote name='RonNJ829']Originally posted by Laura S
I'm amused when folks look for a double-standard on these boards. Of course there is....we are the owners and operators and we set the guidelines...how could it be anything else? (she said jokingly.....)


[size=3][b]I'm NOT amused when I find the double standards on these boards, which [u]DO [/u]exist, whether you, Randy or Kristi want to acknowledge their existance or choose to ignore them[/b][/size]
[size=3][b](he said NOT jokingly....)[/b][/size][/QUOTE]
Ron,

What's the big deal? This isn't your sandbox and if you don't like it, well then, you can play elsewhere. I think LS the Hosts and Susanita summed it up in a nutshell. Don't bite the hand that feed you mon;) Jello time:D

[GoinCruisin]

[quote name='RonNJ829']I've been here over 3 years...February 2001 to be exact
Never mentioned anything about being unhappy..I'll take your advice into consideration if I even become unhappy with these baords

Thanks :)[/QUOTE]
Sorry Ron, my mistake... I just took it from the disgruntled tone posted in bold type that you were a bit miffed... but now I see you are not. Again, sorry...

[RonNJ829]

[quote name='livtojump']Ron,

What's the big deal? This isn't your sandbox and if you don't like it, well then, you can play elsewhere. I think LS the Hosts and Susanita summed it up in a nutshell. Don't bite the hand that feed you mon;) Jello time:D[/QUOTE]
The hand that 'Feeds' me :confused: You may have me confused with Randy :rolleyes:
This board does nothing for me, except provide amusement. If I need claffication for a new policy that went into effect, I really cant figure what all the fuss is about