Mystery Shopper: Call centres sell a Caribbean cruise

February 04, 2010, 09:00

This week Mystery Shopper was a couple looking to celebrate their retirement with a Caribbean cruise. They were looking for formal and relaxed dining options, and plenty of entertainment on the ship. They wanted to stay for about 10 nights and had a budget of £3,000 including flights.

Mystery Shopper was surprised not to even be able to leave a message at Cruise.co.uk, and very disappointed that none of the other consultants called her back when they said they would. Overall, a disappointing service from all agencies.

Target: Cruise websites’ phone lines
Wanted: A Caribbean cruise for a retired couple

Cruise.co.uk

Score: N/A

I phoned the main number on Cruise.co.uk. A friendly-sounding automated message welcoming me to the company kicked in. It gave two options, and I pressed ‘2’ to get a new quotation and the phone started ringing.

I waited for 50 rings before hanging up. During this time there was no automated message telling me I was in a queue and would be dealt with shortly. This was disappointing as the website looked full of tempting offers and I would have liked to have spoken to a consultant.

As I didn’t speak to anyone, I could not give this agency a score.

Gocruise.co.uk

Score: 62%

I contacted one of the Go Cruise agents, via the agent’s own website. The call was answered after only four rings and I spoke to a consultant, rather than having to hold or go through number options. She didn’t tell me her name, so I had to ask.

The consultant scored full marks for her telephone greeting, but then sounded put out that I had called and tried to push me towards the website.

She passed me on to a colleague, who was well informed and asked many questions, but who had quite a sharp manner. She didn’t ask about budget and I was concerned that she would find holidays I couldn’t afford.

Although she didn’t try to close the sale, I thought she would do a harder sell on the follow-up call. I was not given the names of any cruises, but I was told she would call later that evening. She did not call back.

Readeroffers.travel

Score: 68%

Readeroffers.travel picked up my call after three rings. It was answered by a sales consultant who gave her name and had a welcoming and enthusiastic manner, so she scored maximum points for the greeting.

The agent was extremely friendly, seemed to have a great attitude and an easy-going manner. She asked lots of questions about destination, dates etc, but didn’t ask about my preferred departure airport.

She talked me through the different cabin options and explained the difference between formal and casual dining. She didn’t ask about add-ons or mention any specific cruises, as she was going to ring me back with prices – she took my phone number.

She was professional and willing to help from the start, so I was disappointed not to receive a call back with prices and details of suggested cruises.

Bolsovercruiseclub.co.uk

Score: 83%

Bolsovercruiseclub.co.uk answered the phone after one ring, and I was given easy-to-understand number options. I waited two minutes to speak to an agent, who had a very efficient telephone manner and started the call positively. She asked for my full name, address and mobile number.

The consultant was very enthusiastic and relaxed. She seemed an excellent advertisement for the company. However, although she asked all the main questions to deal with my request, such as budget, dates of travel and destination, she was not very forthcoming with information until I asked questions. I had to prompt her for details of dining options, entertainment and the ship’s gym.

The consultant would have scored very highly if I could have had a few suggestions on the cruise while on the call. Ultimately, I was disappointed with the consultation. She said she was going to ring me back that afternoon with prices, but never did.

Top 5 tips

One of the main selling points of a cruise is that you get to see lots of different destinations in a short space of time, without all the packing and unpacking. They are great taster holidays for first-time visitors to the Caribbean.
There are generally three routes that Caribbean cruise ships take. Those doing the eastern Caribbean route usually take in St Maarten, the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Antigua. Those doing the southern Caribbean usually take in Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao and Grenada. Those doing the western Caribbean usually take in Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos and sometimes Cozumel in Mexico.
There are fantastic twin-centre options with a Caribbean cruise, including land stays in the Caribbean or city breaks in New York.
The most common departure destinations for Caribbean cruises are Puerto Rico, Barbados, Fort Lauderdale and Miami.
For more information and agent reviews on Caribbean Cruises, go to Gazetteers.com.

Scoring

Mystery Shopper was testing cruise website phone operators this week, so the score breakdown is different to the usual scoring system:

8% Greeting
20% Customer service
12% Establishing needs
50% Advice and knowledge
10% Overall experience