The wine “expert” was teetotal!!

I have worked in the travel industry for many years and I still love reading the trade journals. Often I recognise people in them who I’ve met over the years and there is always something new to learn about a tour company or a destination. I consider myself to be a specialist in travel,and especially cruising, as are my colleagues. I have toured the globe and am constantly increasing my knowledge through training and from listening to my clients.

One of my favourite items in these journals is the mystery shopper. Every week, call centres, online booking sites and high street agencies are contacted by potential clients and scored out of 100. Here at cruise.co.uk we love feedback and you only have to look at our website to see how much we get, and good or not so good, we are happy to share this.

This week , one of these mystery shoppers requested a Caribbean cruise  in a well known high street agency. She was introduced to their “Cruise Expert”. The ensuing write-up was not very encouraging and it transpired that this agent hadn’t ever stepped foot on a cruise ship! She had earned her dubious title by completing a couple of online training modules.

In our industry, we will never claim to know every resort in every country of the world or have cruised on every ship. I have however cruised on many different ships, take every opportunity to visit ships in dock where possible, been to every continent, flown in business, premium and economy on various airlines and stayed in hotels from 1 -6 stars so have a very good general knowledge. My colleagues and I get away as often as we can and sometimes meet by coincidence . For example, I am off on MSC Magnifica tomorrow for a short holiday with my family and 2 other members of our staff are on the same cruise!

So, what I’m asking is…..would you buy a car from a non-driver, would you ask for advise on wine from a teetotaller and would you really want advise on your trip of a lifetime from someone with no more knowledge than you can get online???

I’d love to hear your thoughts…….