05/23/2023
So, maybe you've wondered why my page has been so silent about the Mah Jongg cruise last October. I have really struggled with how or whether to tell this tale because although the 51 ladies who came, played heartily and had a lovely time ( despite rather rough waters & many troubled tummies on the way out of Baltimore), the aftermath of dealing with the travel agents has caused much grief.
I am new to the Mah Jongg world and somehow, still in my "Golden Years", too trusting. I negotiated the cruise with the travel agents as a fundraiser for my community women's club which is why it was called Sea Gals cruise ( the name of the club). We were supposed to receive a per head dollar amount out of the reservations which would add to our annual scholarship fund and reimburse my cruise fee. I spent a lot of time marketing the cruise by posting, reposting, and answering questions on twelve FB sites as well as locally on the Delaware & Maryland coastal communities. The travel agents never disclosed to me that one of those sites was owned by one of them...but it was one I read (or used to) and it was my post on their site that brought in some of the reservations. I believe that my efforts were completely the reason 51 people signed up, and the agent I dealt with told me several times that this was many more than she had had on a cruise to that date.
The agent who cruised with us unexpectedly brought along a girl friend to help and very effectively shut me out of being recognized on the cruise. I brought 4 tile sets for use by the players, which she appropriated as hers to be kept secure by her. I negotiated and obtained discount coupons, swag items, and two author signed books on the history of MJ to be used as prizes. My special, personal Tiger dice were never returned, only one of the books was given as a prize, and I handed out the coupons myself. I don't know what happened to the swag items. I was not able to greet the group or talk about the fundraiser aspect. The people who missed playing sessions due to sea sickness told me during disembarkment they had never received any response from the agent when they left her messages.
It took the agents nearly 6 months to reconcile the cruise account, blaming 3 months delay on Royal Crown. They sent us a check in an amount that equated to 6 reservations (mine and four women from the club)plus a "donation" to round the amount up to $1,000 and have never sent a reimbursement for my cruise. Did they use the money for my cruise, for her girlfriend?
All the photos posted by them were taken by the photographer I brought along (one of the 6), using her work but never even offering to pay her. The agent I had such a difficult time with never returned a single call or email from me; it was her partner who finally responded to my club president by sending that check.
Obviously, this experience has left me with a very negative feeling about these agents. They are active in the MJ world and have been for longer than I. I should have never trusted them to live up to their word without a written contract, so lesson learned. I have not even detailed the problems incurred by my friends in booking or getting cruise questions answered, or the slurs she threw out about me on the cruise, thinking I didn't hear.
I've waited this long to say anything because I know how this could sound and that it will negatively color some people's impression of me. But I can't get rid of the feeling that without this post, someone else is going to be adversely affected by the agents in like manner. And if that happens, it will probably be someone who was on our cruise or heard about it.
Thank you for listening, be wiser than I was, and please stick with me. There will be more events both here "down de shore" and on the sea! Maybe Alaska? Panama?
Wishing you a Heavenly Hand,
Joan McGrath
