Can't post TA Recommendations, what about complaints?

[SUSANITA]

I have never really paid attention to the advertisers here on the site. I ignore them on EVERY site I visit

LOL, SEE??!! Now, imagine being one of those advertisers who are paying alot of money to support this site that we all love so much, but no one notices you! Not only do they not notice you, they are allowed to heavily promote your competition who is paying nothing to support this site!!! Or worse yet, the members are allowed to complain about you, and you aren't even allowed to respond, even if the member is posting inacurrate or false information.

 

We don't have to like or even agree with the new guideline, but until we start paying to use this site, we can't really complain about their business decisions.

[Randy & Carmen]

Well nice comments here......right on target.....Thanks Susanita which was the OP here too...:D

[CruiseFever]

I too was hesistant to use an online agency but against my good judgement did anyway for our second cruise. The first one I booked through the cruise line directly then I found this board and saw the light.

 

While we can't recommend a specific travel agent we can provide you with the knowledge to make an educated decision regarding what to look for in an online agency (or any agency for that matter) and what pricing should be.

 

First and number one rule is : NEVER PAY THE PRICE LISTED IN THE CRUISE BROCHURE

 

If you do you are a fool and/or have been taken to the cleaners.

 

But well before that there's a whole lot of other steps to take BEFORE contacting any Travel Agent (TA), online or in person.

 

Begin by deciding when you can go.

 

Establish a "travel window" which is convenient to your schedule, you can get time off work for and is the time of year you'd like to vacation. Say for example you have 10 days vacation coming, you could make your travel window sometime between June 1st and June 20th. That allows you to choose from a whole bunch more possible cruises than to say you are going on vaction on the 1st of June and you'll be back on the 10th as you might in a (boring) land vacation.

 

After that, decide where you'd like to go.

 

Pretend you want Alaska. Go to an easy to navigate online source like one advertised on television or in magazines and plug in your numbers. Ask for an Alaska cruise during your travel window for x number of days and see what comes up. You'll be able to easily compare itineraries, ships and cruise lines.

 

Find two you like then come here and ask questions. See who's been on those cruises and how it went. Search Cruise Critic's review section for more information on specific cruises and sailings.

 

Then go back and search again, this time making note of the pricing offered by several of the online giants.

 

Armed with the information you've gathered, contact a travel agent. For specific recommendations go to the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) web site who will list member agencies in your area, or get a personal recommendation from a trusted source; maybe a relative, co-worker or someone you "know" online.

 

With the information you've collected you'll be able to talk the talk and walk the walk in a manner necessary to get a good deal.

 

What's a good deal?

 

Look at the average price you find available from your trusted online sources as the maximum you'll pay and expect to pay less.

 

If you find a particular sailing on your online source for $1000, don't pay one penny more and expect to pay $950 or less.

 

We can't give the names of specific travel agents in this forum in order to keep the playing field level for all of them. Endorsement of a specific agent y members of this board could be perceived as nothing more than advertising and distract from the objective nature of the board.

 

The information you get here will be the very best and most current available and the people you'll "meet" will be some of the best traveled in the world of cruising. I know that I learn something new all the time and you can too.

[Randy & Carmen]

Very Good Chris!..you know I've always been that way on decisions myself.......just give me the info and I'll make the decision so I can only be upset with myself if I chose wrong.......very well put C!

[jcanino]

I, for one, am glad that no specific travel agents can be mentioned. As a travel agent myself, I use message boards such as this one to offer advise and educate people. I never have and never will solicit business through a message board. I feel that as a professional, I shouldn't be trolling for business.

 

I am a moderator for a YAHOO cruise group who takes the no advertising rule seriously. Members of the group are thankful when I delete advertising message and ban users as they use the group for information and do not want to see advertisements.

 

As far as complaints, be sure to tell your travel agent and agency owner when you have problems. We want to know when something is wrong as well as when you are thankful for something we did for you that was unexpected.

 

Remember, not all travel agents are alike just like all doctors and lawyers are not alike. There are good and bad in all fields.

 

Joe Canino CTC, MCC

Hebron (CT) Travel

[babs275]

Joe - you sound reasonable - however...

 

Aren't you being a bit disingenuous? After all, you were allowed by these new rules to identify yourself, your agency and even link to a website if you had one.

 

Of course - if any of us had dealt with you in that capacity we wouldn't be allowed to post either a positive or a negative comment about that experience -don't you think that now allows you an unfair advantage - not in keeping with the spirit of this new rule?

[jcanino]

I don't think I have an unfair advantage as I am not looking for your business and do not want it. Again, it isn't why I am here. I am glad that I can post my credentials as it lets people know that I am a travel professional and am making comments as one and not as a consumer.

 

Most of the time when I read complaints about travel agents, it is all one sided and everyone jumps on the bandwagon with information that may or may not be accurate. The person that is being assailed may not be on the message board to hear the other side of the story.

 

If I am right, you have the option of sending someone a private email to relate good or bad stories about someone. Do I have a web site? Yes. Will I ever post it here? No. Two wrongs don't make a right. Personally, advertising in the messages should never have been allowed and telling someone who gave you the best deal is advertising. I guess everyone will hve to live with new rules about advertising their own business or someone elses.

 

Joe Canino CTC, MCC

Hebron (CT) Travel

[Randy & Carmen]

Joe - you sound reasonable - however...

 

Aren't you being a bit disingenuous? After all, you were allowed by these new rules to identify yourself, your agency and even link to a website if you had one.

 

Of course - if any of us had dealt with you in that capacity we wouldn't be allowed to post either a positive or a negative comment about that experience -don't you think that now allows you an unfair advantage - not in keeping with the spirit of this new rule?

No TA can have a link to their website and feel free to hit the notify button if you ever see that.

[nosnobunny]

I agree that he is not being quite honest. Otherwise, why would he have the name of his travel agency in his signature? Granted, it may be an oversight.

 

Beth

[babs275]

Hi Randy :D

 

Not to be too contentious ;) but I believe we all have the ability to have a homepage link in our profile. Unless that, like the email allowance, isn't an activated feature.

 

I suspect that this will become a bit of a can of worms for you guys - instead of things being fairly above board and easily caught, it will just be further under the radar and may do more harm than good for the average user of the boards when you take into account the loss of valuable comparitive pricing options.

[Randy & Carmen]

From Laura's post on the new rule:

Travel agents who participate on the boards are still encouraged to include their company name in their signature. We believe it is in our member's best interest to know which members are travel agents -- so you can best judge the content of their posts. (Travel Agents may not request members to e-mail them for information, or include contact information of any kind in their signatures or posts).

 

Hope that helps as it's encouraged.

[CCLNCLRCICRUISER]

This is the message above from Laura

 

 

 

Effective immediately (July 26, 2004), the third-party recommendation of travel agents and agencies will no longer be allowed on Cruise Critic's Message Board forums.

 

Posts recommending travel agents, travel agencies, cruise-only agencies, travel/cruise brokers, or any other source where consumer can purchase travel will be removed from the boards. This also includes any comments included in signatures requesting members to e-mail you for information about your travel agencies.

 

Additionally, posts by members requesting such information will be removed.

 

However, the general discussion of the merits of using a BRICK AND MORTAR AGENCY, an INTERNET CRUISE AGENCY or purchasing from the CRUISE LINE DIRECTLY will be allowed. No recommendations for any travel source will be allowed.

 

Travel agents who participate on the boards are still encouraged to include their company name in their signature. We believe it is in our member's best interest to know which members are travel agents -- so you can best judge the content of their posts. (Travel Agents may not request members to e-mail them for information, or include contact information of any kind in their signatures or posts).

However, Cruise Critic reserves the right to rescind the above in the event travel agents/agencies abuse this privilege.

 

It is unfortunate that we must make this change, but it has become clear to us that the majority of posts are created either by the travel agency themselves or by members who are driving traffic to certain travel agencies.

 

We anticipate your cooperation, and thank you for your participation.

 

Laura

[babs275]

I understand that it was not only allowed but encouraged by Laura for Joe to place his agency name in his signature and I have no problem with the fact that he did that.

 

I was only pointing out that he has now been given what I feel could be construed as an unfair advantage here on cc. He can go about posting to his hearts content in a "helpful" manner and winning trust, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the contact info - in fact I just did a search and it took maybe 30 seconds to find the contact info off of the Hebron,CT home page.

 

People are creative - they will find a way to stay within the guidelines and still get what they want.

[GoinCruisin]

Hey Babs! I guess I have a different take on that... they are still complying by the rules and by posting their name, they are simply showing that they are a professional and that may weigh a little different than hearing from someone who isn't... he is not blatantly advertising.. sure, his name is there, and if through his posts, someone wants to contact him on their own, I think it will be based on proven knowledge he has, experience, etc. I think the main problem was the TA's that were coming on and blatantly advertising for people to buy from them (through tricky tactics).... This is still a forum that many agencies use, to get information and interact with all of us... it does not mean that all of them are here to peddle their services and agency... sure, there are some that have other motives, but you can generally tell by their previous posts as to what their actual motive is.... Just mho :)

[babs275]

Point taken - and I was not trying to imply that Joe had any malicious motives. ;)

 

I was only trying to point out that the new rules could still be used to accomplish what they state they are trying to prevent - albeit this time in favor of the "little guy" vs the bigger internet agencies that were discussed before, since that is who actually has the time to read and post here. Time will tell whether those that identify themselves as ta's are posting out of helpfulness or as an excuse to post with their tag line.

[jcanino]

[quote name='nosnobunny']I agree that he is not being quite honest. Otherwise, why would he have the name of his travel agency in his signature? Granted, it may be an oversight.

Beth[/QUOTE]
My agency name is there as I am allowed to place it there. Here is a quote from the new guidelines.

"Travel agents who participate on the boards are still encouraged to include their company name in their signature."

You agreed that I wasn't being honest without even knowing me or the way I do business. This is what I was talking about bashing people. Fortunately, I am here to defend myself. I am just following the guidelines. If I am told to stop putting it there by those who are in charge, I will.

Joe Canino CTC, MCC
Hebron (CT) Travel

[jcanino]

[quote name='babs275']I understand that it was not only allowed but encouraged by Laura for Joe to place his agency name in his signature and I have no problem with the fact that he did that.

I was only pointing out that he has now been given what I feel could be construed as an unfair advantage here on cc. He can go about posting to his hearts content in a "helpful" manner and winning trust, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the contact info - in fact I just did a search and it took maybe 30 seconds to find the contact info off of the Hebron,CT home page.

People are creative - they [b]will[/b] find a way to stay within the guidelines and still get what they want.[/QUOTE]
Babs, I wish I could tell you the number of times that I have offered advise and even taken phone calls from people that I don't know and have never met and never once took or asked for their business. Why is it that people think one has to have an ulterior motive when doing something nice? If you don't want my advice, opinion or take on anything, I won't offer it. As for my agency name, I include the (CT) so as not to confuse anyone with an agency by the same name in two other states (last I knew). Even if it wasn't there you could find me in a Google search or a name search on CLIA's web site or the Travel Institute's web site because of my certifications. I don't wan't business from members here but I do feel that I can provide industry insight.

Joe Canino CTC, MCC
Hebron (CT) Travel

[nosnobunny]

[quote name='jcanino']My agency name is there as I am allowed to place it there. Here is a quote from the new guidelines.

"Travel agents who participate on the boards are still encouraged to include their company name in their signature."

You agreed that I wasn't being honest without even knowing me or the way I do business. This is what I was talking about bashing people. Fortunately, I am here to defend myself. I am just following the guidelines. If I am told to stop putting it there by those who are in charge, I will.

Joe Canino CTC, MCC
Hebron (CT) Travel[/QUOTE]
Yes I saw Randy's post and apologize for my previous post. I wasn't aware it was allowed.

Beth

[jcanino]

[quote name='nosnobunny']Yes I saw Randy's post and apologize for my previous post. I wasn't aware it was allowed.

Beth[/QUOTE]
Apology accepted! :)

[tutak]

What is the difference if you recommend a T/A or if you recommend a hotel, restaurant or cruiseline?

[Randy & Carmen]

[quote name='tutak']What is the difference if you recommend a T/A or if you recommend a hotel, restaurant or cruiseline?[/QUOTE]
I guess they are all "recommedations".......but........it looks like, with the new rule, we can still recommend hotels, restaurants and cruiselines......

[tutak]

This is just a "great" rule for all your members. Now it puts excellent and lousy T/As on a level playing field.

[halos]

One time, years ago, I called the BBB to check on a particular company. They couldn't give me all the detail I wanted, but they CAN let you know if a specific company has had many complaints against it AND if they handled the complaints efficiently.

So, for any new poster that asks what TA to use, I guess the best we can do is tell them to do a search, choose a few that have good prices and then call the Better Business Bureau to check up on these agencies.

Although I think there will be ways for sneakly people to get around these new guidelines, I do think they make a lot of sense...now that the reasons are clearly pointed out to me. Again, ever the osterich, it shocks me to hear people do such underhanded stuff. It makes things nasty for the honest people.

[jcanino]

[quote name='halos']One time, years ago, I called the BBB to check on a particular company. They couldn't give me all the detail I wanted, but they CAN let you know if a specific company has had many complaints against it AND if they handled the complaints efficiently.[/QUOTE]
In case you weren't aware, business have to pay to join the BBB. The BBB is a business organization in existence to make money. If someone is not a member, then your local BBB will have no info on them. Please do not use the BBB as your sole source of information. In my area, we do not have a local BBB.

[halos]

Yes, you are right...but if an agency is willing to pay the price to belong to the BBB, wouldn't that make it easier for someone who has NO clue to decide (if an agency was listed with them?) that they were possibly more reputible...if they are willing to 'air their dirty laundry' so to speak???
If an agency is not listed...OK...you just have no more information on them, it doesn't mean they aren't reputible... but if they are listed, you can get [I]some[/I] feedback, which would be at least a little beneficial....(did that make sense????)