Welcome to the Flips and Flops column. We are able to do what we do here because of your input and information. If you want a supplier or a res agent or DSM to get special recognition, let us know. If there is something amiss with a company’s policies or actions, share them with us, as well. Let us know which booking engines and Web pages are hits and which are misses! E-mail your suggestions to packagedeals@comcast.net.

This month, two cruise lines get both FLIPs and FLOPs. First, Cunard. When their 2008 Queen Victoria itineraries opened for sale, phone lines were so tied up that agents had long waits on hold. Cunard took lots of bookings — a FLIP for them. But it was a FLOP when one agent was on hold for 210 minutes. All he wanted to do was to cancel a booking before penalties began.
His client, not accepting the near four-hour wait excuse from the agent, decided the best way to cancel was to dispute the charge with the credit card company. When the agent finally connected with someone, he was told he should have just cancelled on the Web site. The agent said, “Your vessels are not run by Web sites, and neither am I. My clients rely on service, not Web sites.”
The other cruise line is Oceania. It broke records this month when it opened its 2008 winter itineraries and processed 1,293 bookings. Congrats on selling a ton of space — that deserves a FLIP. But the FLOP is for its currently overbooked sailings. Just like the airlines, it oversold the cruise, selling cabins as a guarantee.
Only four days before a European sailing, it was offering huge refunds and incentives if agents could convince their clients to cancel. Remember, this involved international flights and even visas. The offer, whether they rebooked or not, was more than I spent on my first car. At least five agents grabbed the offer.
Tim Rubacky, spokesman for Oceania, responded that, “With the exceptionally heavy demand we are experiencing, we occasionally have departures that end up overbooked as we approach the sail date as the number of expected cancellations do not materialize. When an occasion such as this arises, we reach out to our travel partners and guests with incentives for them to choose another sail date. Thankfully, they have been understanding and receptive when we need to reaccommodate guests in instances such as this.”
What a nice gesture from an Orange Park, FL Comfort Inn. They sent out gift packages to agents showing the amenities they give to our clients. The selection of lotions and toiletries, snacks and even a Harlequin book, were better than some very high-end properties. This is a first, a FLIP to a Comfort Inn.
What’s a month without a FLOP for the airlines? Why do they dislike us? If you book air with the cruise line and it uses American Airlines, be prepared for a service fee of $15 if you, the agent, try to change their seat.
And Delta now advertises that consumers should book on its Web site to avoid any travel agent fees. Yet, if they book on the phone, Delta now charges $20 a ticket. It still bothers me when it asks if I would be interested in booking a car rental with them.
A FLOP for surveys. Cruise lines, Marriotts and others offer these optional phone surveys immediately after your phone call. Somehow the questions are so one-sided that it not an easy task for agents to get across their satisfaction or displeasure.
Last month, I gave a FLOP to Imperial Majesty Cruises for the wording on its client invoices that mention a travel agent commission. Sure enough, I received an E-mail from their CEO and president, Martin Salzedo. “ We are correcting our passengers confirmation to remove any reference to travel agent commission... We are trying to become more agent-friendly and appreciate these and any future suggestions.” A FLIP to this company that provides 2-night cruises from Ft. Lauderdale to Nassau.
From Michigan agent Ruth Brown, a FLIP for Cruise West. Her clients, while onboard, were given postcards and told that Cruise West would pay postage to mail them. The travel agent’s name and address was pre-addressed on the cards. What a classy gesture! Agents should encourage their clients to take addresses of people to whom they want to send postcards. Or agents should follow Cruise West’s example, and provide postcards with the final documents — and the postage!
Quite a few agents have contacted me about the CLIA Bonus Commission certificates that come with their renewal package. It seems that more and more of these cannot be redeemed because of the small print disclaimers. One agent reports that Cunard didn’t accept them if the bookings were made during a cruise night promotion. Let me hear your successes and failures before I give it a FLIP or a FLOP.
A FLIP to a major cruise exec. She personally interacts with agents and their complaints. Imagine — after an inquiry about a group booking problem, a reply was received within a few minutes at 9 p.m. on a Sunday night. I won’t mention her name because I don’t want agents to abuse her accessibility. But this should be an incentive for ALL supplier execs. If one or two can do it — why can’t more follow their path?
A FLOP for NCL and its lack of response. When it announced the cancellation of some of its Hawaii bookings for 2008, due to a ship’s deployment, it took four phone calls to get a client’s deposit refunded — back and forth between the res department and accounting.
A FLIP to Royal Caribbean’s latest innovation on its 40,000-plus passenger vessel. Upon boarding, especially for a new cruiser, getting around the ship can be daunting. Now, they can get a headset that offers a self-guided tour of the ship and its offerings. What a great idea! What’s next? Why not a mini cam tour that we can download for our clients? It would make a great sales tool for a cruise night promo. Hey, any execs reading this?
A 24-hour hotline: We have seen that many times on client’s documents. But how many times is it tested? One agent got a phone call at 6 a.m. from frantic passengers who had been waiting at the airport for almost two hours to check in for their flight to Nassau. It was apparent they were going to miss their flight and all the later flights were overbooked.
Did the supplier’s 24-hour hotline work? Of course not — that’s why this is a FLOP! It was a recording. The very sleepy travel agent booked a rental car for her clients, so they could drive four hours to another airport where she booked a different carrier. The out of pocket expense was over $1,000. And at 9:30 a.m., when the agent finally connected with the hotline, she found that it isn’t manned until the office opens.
So for all you insomniacs out there, try calling one of those hotlines at 3 a.m., just to see if someone is working.
A FLIP to the Board of Tourism and suppliers for Bermuda. Clients who visit Bermuda for at least four nights may be entitled to a $300 gift certificate accepted by most merchants throughout Bermuda. What a nice incentive to get people to visit this beautiful country.
A FLOP for a popular cruise line air department. When the agent booked a family of 20 people with air for a Caribbean cruise, everyone was on the same flight to the ship. Sure enough, only one person was put on a different flight for the return home. And who was randomly selected? A teenager. Why couldn’t the air department communicate with the agent and offer alternatives?