Return Of A Favorite

Well, Traveling Moms is back and as ill-informed as ever. This time, she goes by the moniker "Dine In"--I suppose for all those dining options her YTB site now offers!

But apparently she never got the memo about NCL. Someone left a comment asking about an NCL departure from New York:

Can you get me a price on THe Norwegan Dawn sailing from New York? I do not fly and we can drive up there or take the train. Does the train take me to the cruise ship?

And she replied:

I posted some info on the cruise from new york that is the only one this year. And you have to get back home from Miami. It is 14 days and they do have some amtrak deals.

And here is the link to the post about the fabulous deal someone can buy from her YTB site on NCL. Note that she didn't answer all the poster's questions and the one she did, she got wrong. No, the train does not go directly to the port. And of course the Norwegian Dawn has weekly departures from New York in May, June, July, August, a little bit in September and all of October. But why expect someone from YTB to know this?

I imagine this might be one of the myriad of reasons NCL tossed YTB overboard. The 92,000 RTAs that they have remaining are (as a whole) pretty clueless! Good job Traveling Moms!

PS: YTB Compliance, I thought you talked to her? Do you need a refreshed list of non-compliant sites?

YTB's Response To NCL

The following notice was just sent to Coach's Corner members 30 minutes ago. 

Important Notice re: Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL)

YTB Travel Network has been advised that Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) has elected to discontinue accepting new reservations from YTB or its agents. More than a year ago NCL elected not to renew YTB's contract and reduced commissions by almost 40% to our RTAs - thus the decreased sales activity. NCL offers an excellent product and the dissolution of our relationship is unfortunate, however NCL is not a Preferred Supplier of YTB.

During these difficult economic times it is important that YTB and our Affiliates and RTAs focus on our Preferred Suppliers (such as Carnival)
for all of our travel needs. A complete list of YTB's Preferred Suppliers is accessible from your Travel Portal.

All commissions owed by NCL to YTB for any passengers who booked prior to January 20, 2009 will be paid to YTB. All existing reservations booked prior to January 20 will be serviced as per the usual course of business for final payment. Of course YTB will continue to provide service to the passengers booked prior to January 20.

If you have any questions about any vendor on this list, please contact YTB's Travel Support.

Thank you.

Breaking News: NCL Terminates YTB

Well, it seems that another MAJOR vendor has kicked YTB to the curb. NCL has terminated their agreement with YTB. When Will Carnival wake up. Story developing and more to come!

According to Travel Pulse, NCL will no longer accept any reservations from YTB or any of its so called "agents".

Norwegian Cruise Line has ended its business relationship with YTB International, a controversial company that provides Internet-based travel booking services for travel agencies and home-based independent representatives. Many industry observers consider YTB to be a “card mill.” NCL will no longer accept new reservations from YTB or any of its affiliated agents. NCL will continue to service existing YTB reservations booked prior to Jan. 21. NCL on Jan. 5 also stopped accepting reservations from independent agents affiliated with Joystar. Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Azamara ended their relationship with YTB in October 2007. For more information, visit www.bookncl.com or www.yourtravelbiz.com.

I also have it on good authority that another major tour operator has declined to renew their preferred agreement with YTB and has cut their commission levels from 16% to 10%. All this despite a reported $13M in sales for 2008. More on this development as it becomes available.