It was not NCL, it was Celebrity Galaxy which sometimes does offer
discounts in Europe, as an older ship.
I know the writer of this article, Anita Potter, and I asked her about
it. That is how I know the agent did not come thru CruiseCompete. The
agent was a recommendation of a friend.
Yes, the agent was with Joystar, and Anita told me that Celebrity did
indeed allow Joystar to make good on this group by rebating their
entire commission - something Celebrity (as a subsid of Royal
Caribbean) does not allow travel agents to do at all. They made an
exception to help Joystar salvage its reputation.
Notably, this was before the banning of "cardmills' by RCI. It seems
logical to assume this incident had something to do with that decision
although that has not been directly stated.
Now, I am not a travel agent, and I don't know that much about the
intricate details between a consortium and a host agency, for example.
I will say that Joystar claims to have sold several millions in $$ in
Carnival cruises since the RCI ban. I have also heard that Vicki
Freed, who left Carnival VP Sales and just went to RCI as same, is not
as down on Joystar as RCI is. Carnival stills allows them and has been
known to support them.
It is unfortunate for the agents at Joystar who do know what they are
doing that they have been unfairly tainted by the ones who don't. But
RCIs response was "they should move to a different agency." They also
said there are ways for agents to become individually certified.
I personally do not like the MLM model in anything, except maybe Avon.
I think it is a travesty for travel agents who often sell vacations
totalling (as in this case) close to $100,000 to have the ability to
pony up $150 (or whatever the cost is) to get an ID card and handle
sales. That is outright dangerous to consumers. But as said above
Caveat Emptor.
Know who you are dealing with, including suspecting when something is
too good to be true.
This group got LUCKY. The agent could have convinced him to send her a
check for the entire amount and flown to South America. Then no one
would have been able to help him.
Paul Motter
editor: CruiseMates.com |