Time flies, InCruises vacations for the countries of the Russian Federation and Belarus are coming to an end and we are offered to participate in a dubious scheme. And it sounds something like this: You pay now, and then we will come up with something. And if you ignore payment, you will receive nothing at all. This is what it looks like at first glance. But let’s take our time and put everything in order.
Let me remind those who have not read my article about vacations that due to the international situation, or rather sanctions against our countries, partners and members of the InCruises club are deprived of the opportunity to travel. That is, for us the database for booking sea cruises has been closed for six months.
In connection with this, vacations were initiated by the company management. Partners and club members were exempted from paying membership fees, since the service could not be provided. Which is quite logical.
What the InCruises club now offers
Contrary to the same common sense, a countdown to the payment date appeared in the offices. Technical support responds to user questions with three standard replies. And only one of the options contains the phrase that everything may change, follow the news, you will be notified.
It is unclear to whom and by what criteria the responses are sorted. But, one way or another, it all comes down to one thing: — You were given a vacation, and it’s over.
In other words, we are offered to pay membership fees without the possibility of booking cruises. Moreover, SWIFT, through which payments were previously made, is disabled for known reasons. As an alternative, they offer payment with cryptocurrency.
I remember that not everyone was able to pay with regular cards right away, and now it is a completely dubious and for many an extremely difficult option for exchange and payment.
Boards overboard?
A webinar was held the other day, where this decision was finally announced by our “leaders,” the Board of Directors. Why in quotes? Well, let’s say not all of them are close to the understanding of ordinary people — lovers of travel. Leaders are not interested in defending our rights and savings. But saving your income is archivally important business now.
Most people don’t live in Russia, and there you can’t have luxury there without decent money. And they are divorced from our problems and reality. The main thing is to convey what management says. Otherwise, they will be merged along with the bulk of dissatisfied club members.
Well, of course, not everyone is like that, there are those who understand, who remain, first of all, people of different ranks as directors. But how long will they last? It is extremely difficult to go against the system, especially in a foreign company against the backdrop of what is happening in the world.
What will we lose?
The bonus points that we have accumulated while they are on the “gold card”. People have accumulated enough of them during the pandemic and everyone wants to use them. Let me remind you that we saved them for years, the company used these funds.
On the “golden map” there are BBs in a 1:2 ratio. That is, for our patience and endurance, under the terms of the membership agreement 2.0, every dollar invested as a membership fee increased by 2 times. This is the whole attractiveness of the InCruises club offer.
Separately as a business, without offering cruises at good prices — of little interest. People are not stupid and know how to compare business offers. But it should be noted that at the time of opening and until membership version 2, the combination of membership and business was quite decent. But someone decided otherwise.
So, now we are threatened that if the fee is not paid, the accumulated funds from the “gold card” will be transferred to the “blue” one. That is 1:1. And everything would be fine if they could be used in full. But as verified by partners and me personally, the discount per person ranges from 4% to 12% maximum. And they promised 25.
In fact, this cannot be considered a discount at all. Any tour operator will give you more. And in order to select all these accumulated BB, you will have to spend the rest of your life living in ship cabins, booking cruises one after another.
And people have accumulated thousands of bonus points. Ordinary club members paid their hard-earned money for the opportunity to receive a discount when booking cruises. Just like my family. Between me and my wife, we have about $12 000 hanging on gold cards.
What motivates you to make another mistake
As a long-time partner of the company, I have repeatedly heard different interpretations of leadership ideas by leaders of different structures over the years. But when everything was going well, you don’t pay attention to these little things. Even now, I have little faith in their sincerity. And this is logical in my opinion.
First you work for the image, then the image works for you.
Common truth
But apparently not for everyone. So this is what they said in the last webinar:
- You’ll lose more if you don’t pay.
- We have an operator in mind who will work with the Russian Federation and Belarus.
- The company reaches a higher level.
I described above how we will lose. There is something in mind about this. I wonder if this company at least knows that it is in the spotlight? I’m not even talking about — contract signed. They just noticed someone. How do you like the rationale?
InCruises goes public. That is, it increases its level in the business environment. And they need to show the accounting department that this is how many people we have and everyone pays. For God’s sake! But don’t offend us, let us take advantage of our club membership privileges. Or extend your vacation.
But, as I understand, the money has been wasted over the years of the pandemic, and it is not possible to provide membership services. It is also impossible to return the money under the same conditions that we signed earlier.
So, it turns out, pay, and maybe someday you’ll go on a cruise. It smells like something not good, don’t you think? This is exactly what dishonest companies offer: you give us money now, and we’ll give you later…
People were tired, and most fled to other companies. The only desire is to use your accumulated BB, privileges in the club and then peacefully, quietly leave. Without spoiling anyone’s reputation, business, good name.
Special Operation
Another thought haunts me as a patriot of my Motherland. In this situation, paying fees, taxes from which go to the American treasury, is extremely unpleasant. It is from the budget of this country that arms supplies to Ukraine are financed. And there our compatriots die from these weapons. And if at the beginning of the special operation everything that was “unbelievable” was sent, now these are quite modern types of weapons.
In one of the chats, they responded to a similar message like: you don’t use an iPhone either? No, I prefer equally high-quality products from friendly countries. But the train of thought is clear to me. And I will say this, I support the policy of the country’s leadership. Mutual sanctions have already eliminated the possibility of buying products from unfriendly countries.
Options for getting out of the situation
Dear Michael Hutchison! I offer a couple of solutions to the problem:
- Extend the holidays until partners and club members can redeem their accumulated points.
- Give people the opportunity to spend their accumulated BB, negotiate with cruise lines to provide the required number of routes for this.
Output.
Well, it’s too early to draw a conclusion. I am extremely interested to see the attitude of the InCruises club management at the end of the month. I personally haven’t hoped for anything for a long time. But will the president of the company ultimately listen to the requests that are written en masse by both leaders of various ranks and ordinary members and partners of the club — interesting.
You know, it’s like, he was a respected man, everyone trusted him, everything went better than ever. Then «BANG» and under changed external conditions, it was as if he had been replaced. Well, let’s wait and see the result at the end of the month.
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