Two Wrongs...are Still Wrong

When I started this blog, I never intended to do an 'opinion' piece.  But I saw something on Friday that's been turning over in my head since, so here goes.

On the train in to work on Friday, a lady was sat across from me, chatting with a husband and wife.  This lady revealed herself to be a travel agent (and a good one by her own admission).  The couple revealed they liked to travel, and most of the conversation went back and forth in this manner, with the couple stating what they had done, and the travel agent chiming in with her own experiences.

When we passed Celebrity Millennium tied up at Ballantyne Pier, the couple were obviously taken in by this large, white, glistening floating palace that lay so tantalizingly near.  I was admiring it too (frankly, it's hard not to), when the travel agent piped up, saying that the Millennium was Celebrity's newest ship, and had just sailed from Southampton.  As I was digesting that, the couple said they'd cruised on Princess, to which the agent said: "Princess owns Celebrity, so you can get a past passenger discount."

The couple was very excited.  The agent gave them her card, and the couple said they'd call.

I didn't say anything to correct the agent, but I thought about this all weekend:  this lady gave the couple completely wrong information about the ship, and the cruise line.  In fact, the only thing she got right was the ship's name, and heck, she could physically see that.  For a layperson, that's fine - but this is supposed to be this woman's business. 

Let's assume that couple books with this travel agent.  The first problem they're going to run into is on the discount front - Princess has never owned Celebrity.  Royal Caribbean (which owns Celebrity) came very close to purchasing what was P&O Princess in 2003, but the line was subsequently snapped up in a last-minute counter offer from Carnival Corp.

So no discount.  OK.  Let's say our couple is still not discouraged, and is simply excited about sailing on Celebrity's newest ship, and they book anyway.  At some point - and it will happen - they will find out that they're not sailing on the newest ship at all, but on a vessel built almost ten years ago.  It's still a nice ship, but it's not what they were expecting.

Will they get mad at the agent?  Possibly.  But if some of the recent CruiseCritic posts I've read are any indication, they'll find the CC boards and blame the cruise line as quickly as possible, stating "We'll never sail with them AGAIN!"

So why is this one incident a big deal?  Because it's indicative of a larger issue.  The average consumer really doesn't do their homework, trusting instead that the agent will steer them in the right direction.  Most do.  But a surprising amount of people who sell cruises have never actually cruised themselves.  This isn't a problem if they're well-informed, because they can still provide you with all the necessary information.  The problem occurs if you get someone who is misinformed.

In the end: it pays to do your homework.  You might think you're booking on the Celebrity Equinox when you're really about to embark on the SS Wasn't-What-I-Thought-It-Was.