Carib Dancer Cancellation

[divengolf]

I have no knowledge of the inner workings of the Aggressor/Dancer fleet, but typical liveaboard commissions to the travel agent is 20%. They won't work for less. I know this, because I don't offer 20%, and none of the major travel agents will work with me.

Frank,

As a customer of the Spree, I appreciate that you work to keep your pricing exceptionally competitive and very value oriented. If one can tolerate ALL the good food that is offered and ALL the great diving that is available, the Spree is a hell of a deal. LOL.

Keep it up.

Harry

 

[kidsdream]

This boat is not run or owned by a franchisee, this is actually a company owned boat. No where to hide, no one else to blame.

Jeff

I wonder if Dancer/Aggressor is considering removing this operator from thier franchise.

 

[Wookie]

Frank,

As a customer of the Spree, I appreciate that you work to keep your pricing exceptionally competitive and very value oriented. If one can tolerate ALL the good food that is offered and ALL the great diving that is available, the Spree is a hell of a deal. LOL.

Keep it up.

Harry

Wait for a month, Harry. CG tells me Cuba will be open for business this month. The Key West seaplanes have their operating license, so does CaprAir. We're just waiting for SOLAS certification....

 

[BDSC]

Poor Poor Poor customer service once again on their end. It's endless. I have been a travel agency owner for over 20 years and I have never experience poor customer service like with this company.

And this is the kind of post you are seeing more and more often about their company. The Carib Dancer appears to be one of the worst boats in their history. Problem after problem. What happened should surprise no one. You would think as more and more liveaboard options become available for divers to pick from, that customer service would actually be on the rise to obtain and retain business. But they seem to be headed in just the opposite direction. Remember, the integrity of a company is measured not when things go smooth, but when things go badly. Thread after thread on SB shows how they respond.

 

[shmuggy]

I use a travel agent when I am going on a far away trip, like to Palau or Galapagos because they know a lot about the destinations and can give me good advice on flights, hotels before and after the liveaboard, things to do while waiting on land, and I also think the liveaboard owners would think twice about ticking them off compared to just little old me. They also will accept credit cards which protects me against situations like this.

 

[ltoosilly]

This boat is not run or owned by a franchisee, this is actually a company owned boat.

I wasn't aware of this. Where did the boat come from? It's obviously not a new construction.

 

[DandyDon]

Sorry your trip got canceled, but glad it happened before you left home instead of at the dock, or already out on the boat. Of course you deserve a full refund on the boat, but the boat did not get all of the money. As Wookie said, the agent got around 20%, and as Quero explained - the agent should refund that too. It's just part of being a commissioned agent, rather than a secretary working for you by the hour.

I always pay with a credit card - I am sure the credit card company would, under these conditions, give me a full refund.

They also will accept credit cards which protects me against situations like this.

Sure, and where do you think those reimbursed funds come from? They come from whomever received the payments: boat & agent both.

So accept the refund from the agent and give him/her more business in the future.

If I understand this correctly, the op was refunded all the $$$ that was paid to Carib Dancer and offered a voucher (for some value) for future trips with them. All that remains in question is the travel agents fees paid by the OP which I expect are less than 5% and the travel agent has offered that refund. Sure, the OP is going to lose some $$$ on this particularly when you consider other expenses like air fare. But I see that as a potential problem with live-a-boards in general and don't really expect any of them to do more than Carib Dance has done.

Nope. Even tho the commission was more likely around 20%, and that's the significant part he's unhappy about - it went to the agent. Great that s/he is offering it - take it.

It could have been a lot worse. I was on a liveaboard in the Bahamas once when I relapsed with flu and lost most of the trip. Later on a different Bahamas boat, a winter storm headed our way and we had to head to port halfway thru the trip. Then, there was my Cozumel trip that got cut short by a hurricane, and my stories are tame compared to many others. On two of those three, I saw divers carried off and flown to the states.

 

[Quero]

I have a question and PLEASE don't take it as me being a smartass, but why would someone use a travel agent to book a liveaboard trip? With the internet it's really easy to book flights and find the best rates and every liveaboard I've been on takes direct booking over the phone for their boat, so why use a travel agent? Do you get a better price or something?

As somebody who manages bookings for liveaboard customers, I can say that in some parts of the world it's quite confusing to find the right boat for what you want. Here in Southeast Asia with many dozens (even hundreds) of boats offering liveaboard trips, it can be downright overwhelming. Local agents (I actually work more like a buyer's broker than an agent), have a lot of insider information, and sometimes we even have additional promotions we're able to offer our customers. Also, in my case, it costs no more to use my services than it does to make a direct booking, so if a diver or even a group of divers wants to have access to this insider information at no additional cost, a local agent can be a priceless resource. Look at it this way--a boat has one product to sell, and it will try to make the sale even if that product isn't exactly what you're looking for. A broker or an agent has a lot of products to offer and can help find the best fit to match the buyer's needs.

 

[Shasta_man]

Glad to hear it's not the "almost all the money" situation it originally appeared to be.

I always buy travel insurance but usually within a few weeks of the departure as it is much cheaper and I'm just looking to protect myself against my getting sick. However, I'm not entirely confident that that they will pay all of the expenses in all cases. Perhaps in this more straightforward case yes, but otherwise I've heard of a few loopholes up their sleeves.

You'll have to explain your new math to us, Awap. The trip is 5 grand. The insurance is $200 (or less). Short of going all the time (which would mean no need to insure since you go on so many that missing one doesn't matter), how could self insuring save you money if you have any event where you need to use it?

 

[flots am]

Sure, and where do you think those reimbursed funds come from? They come from whomever received the payments: boat & agent both.

This is one of those "don't care" events.

If I get hosed on a purchase, I'll give whoever I paid one chance for a full refund.

After that, it's just too much work. It's easier and much more certain to deal with the credit card company. If it's the agent getting hosed, they should make whatever business provisions are necessary to handle this type of event.

While I feel bad for anybody who gets screwed over on the deal, one of the benefits of buying stuff as a consumer is that other people's business problems aren't yours.

flots.