HAL's rep with agents

[Janet524]

Oh dear....I am SOOO sorry. Bless your heart!!

 

Not to worry LindaM...We got it!

[kazu]

I thought I had a lot of holidays. Wow, that is a lot. I think that is pretty unusual for folks living in the USA.

.

 

DH had 31 days per year Lorene (that's Canada). I had 25. So with a bit of work, a bit of no pay for a week or a leave of absence , it can be done :D

[Typhoon1]

People that ask age questions and make comments about the HAL demographic need to experience a HAL cruise for themselves.

[Randyk47]

Not all TAs are created equally but on the other hand I think it would be difficult to be a TA and know, or be expected to know, every cruise line. It's almost not fair to compared the individual and collective knowledge here about HAL to the typical TA. I have a friend locally who is a TA for an agency here. She does all sorts of vacation booking, a lot of it cruises, and is considered one of her agency's more knowledgeable when it comes to cruises. Well, she is but it's actually a couple of mass market lines that she knows the best. I quite frankly wouldn't try to match wits or knowledge with her on those lines she knows and, to give her credit, she's not the least bit afraid to ask me the occasional question about HAL....though I can't always answer it. :o

[cruz chic]

.

 

DH had 31 days per year Lorene (that's Canada). I had 25. So with a bit of work, a bit of no pay for a week or a leave of absence , it can be done :D

 

I'd be happy to take a leave with no pay. There is no appetite for that where I work. As it is I'm falling farther and farther behind at work. I also find it tiresome when people tell me how "lucky" I am to take the amount of holidays I do. I'm pretty sure not many people would trade places with me if they saw how much stress I've had with my job.

[Sea42]

:rolleyes: Curious question. If someone is not over the age of, say 65 ... how would they be able to sail "longer" itineraries? I suspect that if someone retired due to their wealth by age "under 50" ... then HAL is not the line they are cruising anyway.

 

We retired well before our 50th birthdays. One of the reasons we were able to retire at a young age and travel for extended periods was because we are happy with a simple life. We have enjoyed our cruises on HAL and Princess and see no reason to spend more for a more luxurious line.

 

However, we are more likely to take an extended land trip than a cruise. Maybe when we're older that will change ;)

[startwin]

I'd be happy to take a leave with no pay. There is no appetite for that where I work. As it is I'm falling farther and farther behind at work. I also find it tiresome when people tell me how "lucky" I am to take the amount of holidays I do. I'm pretty sure not many people would trade places with me if they saw how much stress I've had with my job.

 

 

Please don't take this the wrong way, Lorene, but when the job gets so stressful it's time to retire or quit, before it kills you. I was one of the people left to handle the load when others were let go. I was like you in my job, the stress built more and more, the workload increased more and more. And in the end I decided I I didn't want kill myself lining someone else's pockets. I retired (not early, I was 63 then) and somehow, we have managed - and I still cruise:D Life is just way too short and precious.

[cruz chic]

Please don't take this the wrong way, Lorene, but when the job gets so stressful it's time to retire or quit, before it kills you. I was one of the people left to handle the load when others were let go. I was like you in my job, the stress built more and more, the workload increased more and more. And in the end I decided I I didn't want kill myself lining someone else's pockets. I retired (not early, I was 63 then) and somehow, we have managed - and I still cruise:D Life is just way too short and precious.

That's easier said then done. I do not have another income coming into my house. I have tried unsuccessfully to leave but jobs are not plentiful for senior accountants. Companies would rather hire intermediates that sit on Facebook all day:rolleyes:. At 52 I'm a bit to far from retirement.

[startwin]

That's easier said then done. I do not have another income coming into my house. I have tried unsuccessfully to leave but jobs are not plentiful for senior accountants. Companies would rather hire intermediates that sit on Facebook all day:rolleyes:. At 52 I'm a bit to far from retirement.

 

I hear you. You're stuck between a rock and a hard place. Not a good place to be, and no wonder you make the absolute most of your vacation time!

[Irish Eyes Are Sailing]

I was on a port intensive HAL cruise in Europe last month. Every day the 60, 70 and 80-somethings were up at 6 a.m., meeting up with tour groups and walking miles, seeing the sites, exploring,,,,,sometimes walking over rocky surfaces and climbing lots of stairs. They did this day after day in every port. It was exhausting, but lots of fun.

 

A few years back, I was on a RCI cruise in Mexico with a ship full of 30-somethings who managed enough energy to get drunk and sunburned every day.

 

I'll take the old-fogies on HAL.

 

Amen. My thoughts exactly.....:)

[Irish Eyes Are Sailing]

That's easier said then done. I do not have another income coming into my house. I have tried unsuccessfully to leave but jobs are not plentiful for senior accountants. Companies would rather hire intermediates that sit on Facebook all day:rolleyes:. At 52 I'm a bit to far from retirement.

 

I was forced to retire due to downsizing when I was just shy of 55 and had 25 years in at the company. I was horror stricken at the thought but now 5 years later, I have discovered it is not so bad after all. I worked part time for 4 years in a different industry (just for something different) after I retired until that job went away too and now I am OTL (on the loaf!:)). I know how bad that stress can be lorekauf, these large companies are stress pits with no relief in sight. Take heart, your day is coming and then it will all be in the rear view mirror, and you will have more time to enjoy yourself and relax. Personally, I feel there is a lot of age related discrimination out there, a lot of it unspoken. But if I were the hiring manager, I would rather have one 52 year old than two 26 year olds twittering and facebooking their day away........JMO.:)

[andilynnwright]

Hi Everyone,

 

It's funny, I work for the company responsible for accrediting travel agents in the US, everyone from Expedia to your Mom and Pop agency and have never used an agency. I suppose if I had I would have gotten an obc for my next cruise.

 

It's statistically proven that those who use agents, on average, pay more money for each hotel room and flight, not sure about cruises, than someone booking direct. That's not including the fees. They also spend more money at the destination once they arrive and are also more sophisticated and smart travelers. I'm sure the benefits you receive from your agent, credits, gifts and knowledge, work out to be a better value than booking directly. I would assume so and my company, owned by 8 major airlines, would agree.

 

Finding the right agent with the knowledge and expertise you need and that is an advocate for you, with your best interest at heart, is probably not an easy task. Luckily for me I'm practically an agent myself traveling more than 26 weeks a year.

 

My company initiated a "take as much as you need" vacation policy this year. They have also laid off people who have been there for a few months to as long as 20+ years. So although we can take as much vacation as we need and get paid, we are all too afraid to take time off. I rather get two weeks of guaranteed vacation, that I earned, than have a flimsy vacation policy. I've only taken off a couple days year to date because I'm to scared of losing my job. Luckily I travel 50 percent of the time for work so I'm lucky to see the world on their dime.

 

Andrea

[OHCruiser]

DH & I are fortunate and can take longer cruises. We're in our mid-50s and we've been cruising with HAL for about 10 years. Sometimes, we're the youngsters, but lately we've seen more late 20s/early 30s who seem to enjoy the LACK of drunken idiots.......

 

2 years ago, we had a great time on a Med cruise when we met a honeymoon couple in their twenties who were really enjoying themselves. The bride explained that they found their own age group's antics tiresome and that they liked learning from older, more experienced travelers.

 

We don't use a TA, but I'm pretty quick to "educate" people who make clueless offhand comments.............and then I take my business elsewhere. I don't want their mind set/prejudices to impact me somehow in the wallet.

[Sea42]

I was forced to retire due to downsizing when I was just shy of 55 and had 25 years in at the company. I was horror stricken at the thought but now 5 years later, I have discovered it is not so bad after all. I worked part time for 4 years in a different industry (just for something different) after I retired until that job went away too and now I am OTL (on the loaf!:)). I know how bad that stress can be lorekauf, these large companies are stress pits with no relief in sight. Take heart, your day is coming and then it will all be in the rear view mirror, and you will have more time to enjoy yourself and relax. Personally, I feel there is a lot of age related discrimination out there, a lot of it unspoken. But if I were the hiring manager, I would rather have one 52 year old than two 26 year olds twittering and facebooking their day away........JMO.:)

I guess stereotyping goes both ways!

[Irish Eyes Are Sailing]

I guess stereotyping goes both ways!

 

Unfortunately, yes it does.........

[cruz chic]

Unfortunately, yes it does.........

 

......and 95 percent of the time it's held true unless I work with an unusually high rate of people that really don't care. I could tell stories.

[Irish Eyes Are Sailing]

......and 95 percent of the time it's held true unless I work with an unusually high rate of people that really don't care. I could tell stories.

 

I'll bet you do have stories, I know I have a boatload of them as well.....I have been thru the wringer over the last 42 years, let me tell you.....;)

[cruz chic]

I'll bet you do have stories, I know I have a boatload of them as well.....I have been thru the wringer over the last 42 years, let me tell you.....;)

I think we need to meet on a cruise some day:).

[Irish Eyes Are Sailing]

I think we need to meet on a cruise some day:).

 

Sounds like a plan!! :D It would take a whole cruise to tell all our stories about the dreaded workplace!

Edited November 5, 2013 by Irish Eyes Are Sailing

[sapper1]

I think we need to meet on a cruise some day:).

 

I think we have enough of a group that would like to have a chance to sail together that we could get a charter rate!! Just kidding. Not a chance on the rate. :)

[Irish Eyes Are Sailing]

I think we have enough of a group that would like to have a chance to sail together that we could get a charter rate!! Just kidding. Not a chance on the rate. :)

 

We meet a lot of nice folks on this forum......it would be a real hoot to have a bunch of us on one ship at the same time! They would have their hands full, huh? :p:) For some reason I always make friends on tours and cruises with Canadians!! I still correspond with one of the ladies my DH and I met on a tour to Italy back in 2008. She lives in Alberta near Edmonton in St Albert. It is a small world after all and it is fun meeting people from other parts of the country and other parts of the world. It is one of the things that makes travelling fun!