From: Rosalie B. on
Ari <AriSilverstein(a)yahoo.com> wrote:

>On Thu, 10 Jun 2010 22:46:19 -0500, Dillon Pyron wrote:
>
>> [Default] Thus spake Ohioguy <none(a)none.net>:
>>
>>>> I forgot to mention, you can get air from the cruise line. I'm not sure
>>>> if they have prices online but you can ask your travel agent to quote
>>>
>>> That's another thing I wanted to ask - I've never used a travel
>>>agent. Normally I've just taken a train, bus or car to wherever I was
>>>going, then camped, stayed in a hotel, or something along those lines.
>>>
>>> I always thought that the travel agents simply made money by adding
>>>on a couple of hundred dollars to the cheapest thing out there, and
>>>folks figured it was ok because of the convenience of them doing most
>>>all the work of getting scheduling and everything to work out. You're
>>>saying it is not like that?
>>>
>>> If so, I might have to check out a local travel agency before buying
>>>the tickets myself.
>>
>> I think /every/ agent here has pretty much the same view. I want to
>> find you the vacation (cruise in this case) that most satisfies your
>> needs and wants (two different things) at the best price.
>
>Not a chance since many of the big ticket TAgencies push their TAs to
>deliver the best commissioned deals.

But we aren't talking about big ticket agencies. We are talking about
real travel agents

And when I said they didn't care - I meant the phone person in Omaha
or Seattle or Miami who works for the cruise line. The people who
answer the phones don't really care whether you are satisfied or not.
From: peter on
On 6/13/10 12:00 AM, in article tn0816drfh55u4hsnlhjq7glimvlbqsoab(a)4ax.com,
"Rosalie B." <gmbeasley(a)mindspring.com> wrote:

> And when I said they didn't care - I meant the phone person in Omaha
> or Seattle or Miami who works for the cruise line. The people who
> answer the phones don't really care whether you are satisfied or not.

Oh really? You think only waiters and cabin stewards are concerned about how
their services are evaluated in the CS questionnaire and "the people who
answer the phones" don't care, even though passengers can rate them as well?
Which cruise line (other than NCL) that you called gave you that impression?

From: Ari on
On Sat, 12 Jun 2010 16:00:01 -0600, Rosalie B. wrote:

> Ari <AriSilverstein(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>>On Thu, 10 Jun 2010 22:46:19 -0500, Dillon Pyron wrote:
>>
>>> [Default] Thus spake Ohioguy <none(a)none.net>:
>>>
>>>>> I forgot to mention, you can get air from the cruise line. I'm not sure
>>>>> if they have prices online but you can ask your travel agent to quote
>>>>
>>>> That's another thing I wanted to ask - I've never used a travel
>>>>agent. Normally I've just taken a train, bus or car to wherever I was
>>>>going, then camped, stayed in a hotel, or something along those lines.
>>>>
>>>> I always thought that the travel agents simply made money by adding
>>>>on a couple of hundred dollars to the cheapest thing out there, and
>>>>folks figured it was ok because of the convenience of them doing most
>>>>all the work of getting scheduling and everything to work out. You're
>>>>saying it is not like that?
>>>>
>>>> If so, I might have to check out a local travel agency before buying
>>>>the tickets myself.
>>>
>>> I think /every/ agent here has pretty much the same view. I want to
>>> find you the vacation (cruise in this case) that most satisfies your
>>> needs and wants (two different things) at the best price.
>>
>>Not a chance since many of the big ticket TAgencies push their TAs to
>>deliver the best commissioned deals.
>
> But we aren't talking about big ticket agencies. We are talking about
> real travel agents

You posted "every agent".
--
Ari's Fun Times!
http://tr.im/hrFG
Motto: Run, rabbit, Run!
From: Rosalie B. on
peter <peters25(a)stockton.com> wrote:

>On 6/13/10 12:00 AM, in article tn0816drfh55u4hsnlhjq7glimvlbqsoab(a)4ax.com,
>"Rosalie B." <gmbeasley(a)mindspring.com> wrote:
>
>> And when I said they didn't care - I meant the phone person in Omaha
>> or Seattle or Miami who works for the cruise line. The people who
>> answer the phones don't really care whether you are satisfied or not.
>
>Oh really? You think only waiters and cabin stewards are concerned about how
>their services are evaluated in the CS questionnaire and "the people who
>answer the phones" don't care, even though passengers can rate them as well?
>Which cruise line (other than NCL) that you called gave you that impression?

HAL

When they made a mistake in an on-board booking (giving the wrong
agency that I had not used for several years the booking), it took me
three tries to get them to correct THEIR mistake. One lady just hung
up on me. I have tried for several years to get them to correct a
mistake in my name caused by the fact that I did two cruises before I
was married. Also they insist on sending stuff to my grandchild at my
address even though she is under age and doesn't live with me but with
her parents several states away.

I call and most of the time the person on the phone is very nice, but
they don't fix the problem, or they tell me to do things that I am
unwilling to do just to fix THEIR mistake. I was not using that
agency any more because of bad service. I certainly was not going to
call them and as them to transfer a booking that they should not have
had in the first place.

Also sometimes, they just don't have the information.

From: peter on
X-no-archive: yes On 6/13/10 3:46 PM, in article
81o916te4r04vg2u773k3cj43k59j16gst(a)4ax.com, "Rosalie B."
<gmbeasley(a)mindspring.com> wrote:

> peter <peters25(a)stockton.com> wrote:
>
>> On 6/13/10 12:00 AM, in article tn0816drfh55u4hsnlhjq7glimvlbqsoab(a)4ax.com,
>> "Rosalie B." <gmbeasley(a)mindspring.com> wrote:
>>
>>> And when I said they didn't care - I meant the phone person in Omaha
>>> or Seattle or Miami who works for the cruise line. The people who
>>> answer the phones don't really care whether you are satisfied or not.
>>
>> Oh really? You think only waiters and cabin stewards are concerned about how
>> their services are evaluated in the CS questionnaire and "the people who
>> answer the phones" don't care, even though passengers can rate them as well?
>> Which cruise line (other than NCL) that you called gave you that impression?
>
> HAL
>
> When they made a mistake in an on-board booking (giving the wrong
> agency that I had not used for several years the booking), it took me
> three tries to get them to correct THEIR mistake. One lady just hung
> up on me.

Let me see if I understand this correctly. You're booking while on-board,
probably because of some OBC benefit. You're telling them to give the
commission to agent B. They are erroneously crediting your former agent A.
Why are you wasting your time calling HAL yourself three times, instead of
letting agent B do the job and fight for her commission? Aren't they
supposed to save you time? Also, did you not get, while on board, written
confirmation of your booking showing agent B's name?




>

>