Testing the Waters with Dori: Another ‘Why You Should Always Use a Travel Advisor’ Story

Mother Nature can be … well let’s just say, she has a way of upending plans and, sometimes, ruining long-anticipated dreams. 

Such was the case for one river cruiser on her honeymoon in Germany during last week’s flooding of the Danube and Rhine rivers.

The couple, who had booked a top suite on a river cruise – to the tune of $20,000 – found themselves amidst the flooding in Southern Germany, and on a ship that had nowhere to go.

“Our ship sailed all night, canceled excursions, skipped ports, we were told to disembark our original ship to move to another ship, which was docked and stuck between two bridges,” the newlywed river cruiser told us. 

The ship they were transferred to was stuck at an industrial dock, far from downtown. In fact, she said, it was an hour and 45 minutes walk to Wurzburg.

“Since we were stuck at the docks, our ‘exploring’ turned into 1.5 hour-2 hour bus rides with only 1-2 hours in the actual towns and ports on our itinerary with little to no free time…”

She went on to say she was not able to get straight answers out of their program director, and that while stuck at the industrial dock they watched another ship from the same cruise line pass by, and was told yet another ship from that line had been able to navigate its way to Wurzburg.

I’m not sure what this person expected us at TMR to do, but it got me wondering. Nowhere did she reference reaching out to her travel advisor for help. Had she used one? If she had, would an advisor even have been able to help in this situation? 

As it turned out, she had not booked through a travel advisor, and she expressed regret for not having done so.

Was this then, yet another case of: Why you should always book with a travel advisor?

I reached out to some advisors to see how it might have gone differently for this river cruiser if she had booked with them.

“If my guests contact me, I would be on the phone with our sales manager asking what can be done,” said Joy Teet, MCC, CTA, VTA, co-owner of a Florida-based Dream Vacations franchise. “It is inexcusable that there is not a bus running at least on the half hour to and from the port to the town they are close to.”

Additionally, with no time limits (because the ship isn’t moving), the line should be able to extend excursion times to give guests more time.

These are both things she’d be advocating for on her client’s behalf – along with a future cruise credit. A previous client of hers affected by high waters got a 50% cruise credit from this cruise line in the past, she said.

Adam Martindale, owner of a Cruise Planners franchise, said much the same.

“We could certainly advocate on their behalf with our [redacted] rep (and raise it up to the VP if needed),” he told TMR.

He added that he would demand a partial refund and follow-up with the line upon the couple’s return to make sure the situation was resolved.

Perhaps more importantly, it’s what Teet told us she would have done for her client before the cruise that could have helped this river cruiser avoid her situation.

“Honestly with rivers the way they currently are, we inform all our guests upfront about the pros and cons of high and low water and why we recommend certain river cruise lines over others.”

For the money this couple was spending, Teet said she’d most likely have recommended a different line, one better able to navigate high and low waters.

“Upfront knowledge is one reason to use a travel agent over online or direct to vendor, because a part of what we do is educate and discuss these issues with guests.”

What do you think? Is this another case of why it’s so important for travelers to use an advisor? Or is something like high (or low) waters on the European Rivers going to be a problem that can’t be avoided or mitigated regardless of whether a travel advisor made the booking or not?

I’d love to hear your thoughts – and whether you might use a story like this as part of your client education. You can email me at dsaltzman@travelmarketreport.com.