Rob Callister

[thesultanofsheight 7,693]

12 hours ago, Donald Trumps said:

Yes, there possibly is better defence for a politician behind the legendary DfE Wall of Sheer Arrogance

It’s not a valid conflict of interest or a defense; it’s an “excuse” and little else. If even back benchers (acting only under delegated authority from their Minister - where they may or may not have responsibilities) are conflicted who even in government can politically sit on any of these scrutiny committees? It’s just nonsensical. It’s just another quick exit stage left for Mr Teflon before the shit hits the fan on the prom. 

[Neil Down 5,829]

22 minutes ago, thesultanofsheight said:

It’s not a valid conflict of interest or a defense; it’s an “excuse” and little else. If even back benchers (acting only under delegated authority from their Minister - where they may or may not have responsibilities) are conflicted who even in government can politically sit on any of these scrutiny committees? It’s just nonsensical. It’s just another quick exit stage left for Mr Teflon before the shit hits the fan on the prom. 

Isn’t this called “politics”

[thesultanofsheight 7,693]

20 minutes ago, Neil Down said:

Isn’t this called “politics”

If you’re a shyster perhaps. But apparently this is the most honest, transparent, public informing MHK we have ever had according to himself  It’s pitifully transparent to be honest. 

[Roger Mexico 5,549]

4 hours ago, Mr Helmut Fromage said:

It would be interesting to know the mark up IOM Govt make on the excursions if any or do they just trot out basic passenger numbers.

Recently one of the ships had an American client / passenger whom if you are even remotely interested in Golf would have recognised from miles away - he wanted to do a bit of golf whacking when here, the Cruise Ship quoted him £ 750 +. he organised it himself for less than a £100 and gave the people at Mount Murray a big boost.

Essentially who is making the money the Cruise Operators or the attractions ?  - it's pretty fucking obvious.....

The money stays on board.

2 hours ago, dilligaf said:

Even you don't believe that. FFS

I'm afraid it's perfectly true - and it's true of all cruise ships in all destinations.  The mark up that the cruise company puts on pre-booked excursions is quite phenomenal.  We'not just talking of a few tens of percent but several times the cost price to them.  Experienced cruisers will tell you never to book via the ship, but to use those run by a local company or maybe hire your own guide.  Indeed you can have your own bespoke personal tour and still pay less than you would be dragged round in a big group on the ship's own one.  I've heard guides on the Island say they get paid less for the day taking a large cruise party round than a single one of those passengers paid the cruise company for that tour.

The only difference with the Isle of Man is that they are so desperate for more cruises, so as to justify all those well-paid jobs in DfE, that they probably charge even less than other places do.

[MrPB 1,014]

11 hours ago, Mr Helmut Fromage said:

Recently one of the ships had an American client / passenger whom if you are even remotely interested in Golf would have recognised from miles away - he wanted to do a bit of golf whacking when here, the Cruise Ship quoted him £ 750 +. he organised it himself for less than a £100 and gave the people at Mount Murray a big boost.

Clearly nobody in tourism spotted him or it would have been all over Twitter and Facebook as some sort of endorsement of IOM holidays. 

[Neil Down 5,829]

8 hours ago, thesultanofsheight said:

If you’re a shyster perhaps. But apparently this is the most honest, transparent, public informing MHK we have ever had according to himself  It’s pitifully transparent to be honest. 

One day he will be Chief Minister. 

[Uhtred 7,264]

2 minutes ago, Neil Down said:

One day he will be Chief Minister. 

I was about to ridicule that statement...and then thought of Boris Johnson.

[Donald Trumps 4,336]

13 hours ago, Mr Helmut Fromage said:

It would be interesting to know the mark up IOM Govt make on the excursions if any or do they just trot out basic passenger numbers.

Recently one of the ships had an American client / passenger whom if you are even remotely interested in Golf would have recognised from miles away - he wanted to do a bit of golf whacking when here, the Cruise Ship quoted him £ 750 +. he organised it himself for less than a £100 and gave the people at Mount Murray a big boost.

Essentially who is making the money the Cruise Operators or the attractions ?  - it's pretty fucking obvious.....

The money stays on board.

Now that's interesting - do cruise lines publish their itineraries?

Be complicated but people like iomgolfholidays.com could target the passenger lists 

[Donald Trumps 4,336]

2 hours ago, Uhtred said:

I was about to ridicule that statement...and then thought of Boris Johnson.

CM Quayle will surely be in sheer ecstasy surely at the very thought of Boris in No 10, or do I have the man wrong?

[Neil Down 5,829]

1 hour ago, Donald Trumps said:

CM Quayle will surely be in sheer ecstasy surely at the very thought of Boris in No 10, or do I have the man wrong?

Which man...

[Numbnuts 363]

I live near the Museum in Douglas and got talking too a Canadian couple who had there tour price guide with them and showed me it.

I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture as prices were well over the top £45 a person to go to Laxey wheel. £70 plus to go to Peel.

 

[WTF 4,142]

3 hours ago, Numbnuts said:

I live near the Museum in Douglas and got talking too a Canadian couple who had there tour price guide with them and showed me it.

I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture as prices were well over the top £45 a person to go to Laxey wheel. £70 plus to go to Peel.

 

  that was just the taxi prices.

Edited July 30 by WTF

[piebaps 2,015]

7 hours ago, Numbnuts said:

I live near the Museum in Douglas and got talking too a Canadian couple who had there tour price guide with them and showed me it.

I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture as prices were well over the top £45 a person to go to Laxey wheel. £70 plus to go to Peel.

 

No surprises there. If you ever go on a package holiday and book an excursion, you are most likely being ripped off. The reps earn bonuses for sales and probably backhanders from the businesses too. Its just the way of the world.

[Donald Trumps 4,336]

They receive commission, not backhanders

[Roger Mexico 5,549]

56 minutes ago, piebaps said:

No surprises there. If you ever go on a package holiday and book an excursion, you are most likely being ripped off. The reps earn bonuses for sales and probably backhanders from the businesses too. Its just the way of the world.

As I said before though, it's a whole different level of over-charging with cruise companies.  In part this is because of their business model - they try to keep the basic cost of the cruise low-ish and discount from it quite a lot.  This means that to make their profits they need to charge heavily on the 'extras' such as the excursions.  So the mark-up on those is phenomenal - maybe two or three times the cost to the cruise company. 

It's a lot more extra than you would get away with on a land-based package holiday's add-on tours where holiday-makers have more of chance to shop around than a cruise passenger would.  Some people will pay a bit more for the convenience, but you can't put too much extra on.

And of course the guides get backhanders as anyone who's ever thought "Oh God! Not another carpet shop" will tell you.  But there are some people for whom a holiday is just an excuse to do more shopping, so they're catering for them as well.