I've one some hotel shops and really enjoy them (once you figure out what the company wants!). I am wondering if any one has done cruise shops or amusement parks (like Disney World). What kind of detail do they want? Do they reimburse a set amount? flat fee? googling cruise shops just gives you MS mailing list companies. Just looking for advice! Thanks!

I've been getting offers to mystery shop a national chain of large theme parks recently from Confero, and there's a company called Amusement Advantage that does more local amusements (smaller parks, and also things like funhouses and bowling alleys).

If Disneyland is mystery shopped I'd be all over that like Oprah on the inspirational story of an underprivileged donut. I take an annual trip to Anaheim for a convention and I go to Disneyland anyway, so if I can combine that with some mystery shopping, hey, wonderful.

I recently completed a shop for <Whoa! Let's just say a big giant famous theme park place> with Amusement Advantage. It was a long, hot day and a long report to fill out. I had to do twenty separate purchases and evaluations. But in the end, it will be worth it. I'll get reimbursed for the purchases and a total of 3 extra one day tickets to Universal/Islands of Adventure. My kids will be happy!



Mod note: Hi Zinnia, and welcome to the forum! Please remember not to link client and MSC in the same post. Thanks!

Crusie ships are a different animal altogether. Do not plan on doing anything but your required interactions and writing during the cruise, plus writing for a day or two afterwards. Most do not cover expenses to get to the port and some expect you to buy your own cruise ticket.

In order to get good cruise shops, first do a lot of very, very high end hotels and spas and a casino or two. Then, get into a very long line of qualified shoppers for a very, very few shops.

Hi zinnia,

Please edit your post to remove the client or the MSC. It violates ICA and the rules of this forum to post both the client and MSC.

I have seen Disney shops where you are going to different kiosks in the park and making particular purchases, but they have a flat fee of around $20. They are looking for people who already have tickets/annual passes, and I bet they will find them.

Also, a note about cruise shops - do one high end hotel shop, and then decide if you want to do a cruise shop. I love mystery shopping, and I love cruises (I have been on eight), but mystery shopping a cruise truly sounds like a nightmare after all of the work I did on the high end hotel.

I happily have done a shop for Disney and several for Downtown Disney Kiosks and use my annual pass to do so.
The MSC has never offered a park admission, nor parking reimbursement for these shops and they are not on the boards very long, so my assumption is it's locals like me taking those as quickly as they come up.

What is the appeal to this type of shop? If you can't even enjoy it and then spend the next 48 reporting, that does not sound like something even remotely appealing to me. Especially if they don't even pay the required expenses??

walesmaven Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Crusie ships are a different animal altogether.
> Do not plan on doing anything but your required
> interactions and writing during the cruise, plus
> writing for a day or two afterwards. Most do not
> cover expenses to get to the port and some expect
> you to buy your own cruise ticket.

walesmaven Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Crusie ships are a different animal altogether.
> Do not plan on doing anything but your required
> interactions and writing during the cruise, plus
> writing for a day or two afterwards. Most do not
> cover expenses to get to the port and some expect
> you to buy your own cruise ticket.
>
> In order to get good cruise shops, first do a lot
> of very, very high end hotels and spas and a
> casino or two. Then, get into a very long line of
> qualified shoppers for a very, very few shops.

I agree with the second paragraph but disagree with the first.

Cruise shops are like involved hotel/resort shops. I have done two cruise shops and seen quite a few others. In both cases, I had some time each day to do sightseeing, socializing with my guest, and just plain relaxing. I finished the shop on the plane ride home, so I did not spend two days post cruise writing. In both cases, my cruise ticket AND my guest's cruise ticket was paid, and I received airfare for two (myself and my guest). I also received a fee for my time, excursions, alcoholic beverages, and enrichment activities that would have cost me money had I paid for them.

One of my experiences was not worth it. It was a mass-market 7-day cruise in the Carribbean. It was not particularly expensive (I think the total reimbursement for two, including flights and extras was around $3,000), and while I had SOME time for recreation, I was also working a fair amount too. I would rather just pay the $3,000 and enjoy myself.

The other experience was totally hands down worth it - it was a 12 night cruise to Northern Europe. Total reimbursement value for myself and my guest was upwards of $10,000 and it was LESS work than the 7 night cruise. I would do that again in a heartbeat.

For me, I don't see the required interactions as work. The interactions can be fun and exciting (ie getting a massage, eating dinner, drinks at the bar). So when others say their schedule is filled with interactions and writing, I only see the writing as work.

I've seen some timeshare shops for the same group from at least a couple of MSCs...has anyone done these? Do you have time for recreation/sightseeing? Or have you been able to perhaps sneak other shops in while there?

petrohd,
Since the time share shops tend to focus on the sales presentation, with a small number of short interations like check-in and check-out thrown in, they provide a lot of time to enjoy the amenities, if any. (Some put the shopper up in a limited service hotel near the sales site, so you may not have access to much in the way of amenities.) I have used time share stays to support shopping routes on more than one occasion. When the timeshare has a kitchen (pretty much any of them will) I can take groceries and cut back on meal expenses for the route, as well as covering my lodging for 2-7 nights. Down side? Some time share locatioins are too remote to be good home bases for other shops.

I have been on numerous cruise shops and "resort" shops. Last year, I started doing amusement shops has a cheap getaway for my family.

Here are my thoughts:

Cruise and resort shops are very strict and rigid. You need to be highly organized. I did a cruise in July (my next one is in two weeks to Alaska!), and my 5 day cruise included over 30 different "interactions". Interact with the bartender, interact with room service, interact with the cruise director, etc... Each interaction had about 10-15 "points" you had to hit. When it was all said and done, I had over 150 pages narrative that took me 2 days to complete. I even brought my computer with me and used Dragon dictation! The narrative is about the same for resort shops.

The fee structure is unique. In most cases, you need to pay for the cruise, hotel, airplane tickets, resort, and excursions up front. Save, scan, and SAVE your receipts. A few years ago, I did a shop for a Trans-Alantic Cruise, and I had to pony up $8k! Depending on the MSC, you will get reimbursed in 4-6 weeks. The fee is usually $300 - $1000 depending on the length, amount of narratives/interactions, and complexity.

While cruise/resort shops are fun, plan on doing 2-3 hours of narratives, research, and review a day. Also, plan on taking an additional 2-3 days off while you complete your paperwork. Be ready for rewrites and more rewrites and more rewrites. Be sure to document EVERYTHING and try to take pictures of EVERYONE you speak to. Your auditor will become your BFF for a few days.

If you have anymore questions, please let me know.

Take pictures of everyone you speak to??

anerrorhasoccurred Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have been on numerous cruise shops and "resort"
> shops. Last year, I started doing amusement shops
> has a cheap getaway for my family.
>
> Here are my thoughts:
>
> Cruise and resort shops are very strict and rigid.
> You need to be highly organized. I did a cruise
> in July (my next one is in two weeks to Alaska!),
> and my 5 day cruise included over 30 different
> "interactions". Interact with the bartender,
> interact with room service, interact with the
> cruise director, etc... Each interaction had
> about 10-15 "points" you had to hit. When it was
> all said and done, I had over 150 pages narrative
> that took me 2 days to complete. I even brought
> my computer with me and used Dragon dictation!
> The narrative is about the same for resort shops.
>
> The fee structure is unique. In most cases, you
> need to pay for the cruise, hotel, airplane
> tickets, resort, and excursions up front. Save,
> scan, and SAVE your receipts. A few years ago, I
> did a shop for a Trans-Alantic Cruise, and I had
> to pony up $8k! Depending on the MSC, you will
> get reimbursed in 4-6 weeks. The fee is usually
> $300 - $1000 depending on the length, amount of
> narratives/interactions, and complexity.
>
> While cruise/resort shops are fun, plan on doing
> 2-3 hours of narratives, research, and review a
> day. Also, plan on taking an additional 2-3 days
> off while you complete your paperwork. Be ready
> for rewrites and more rewrites and more rewrites.
> Be sure to document EVERYTHING and try to take
> pictures of EVERYONE you speak to. Your auditor
> will become your BFF for a few days.
>
> If you have anymore questions, please let me know.

My cruise experience is similar to MickeyB. The mass-market cruises are like budget hotels. I am not that interested in writing so much for a $1,000 reimbursement. The affordable cruise lines I have evaluated have also been very strict about not paying for drinks, stuck us in the the worst rooms on the ship and even removed the cruise credit from my 'frequent cruiser' account. I've done three of them and would never do it again. Boo…

The luxury cruises, on the other had, were great and I would jump at the opportunity to do them again. I got a 14-day cruise through Asia with all travel expenses fully reimbursed for me and my guest, and the wine at meals was complimentary. It included massages and shore excursions with 100% of those reimbursed as well. I did work for around 3 days straight after the cruise, but did very little work while on the ship. It felt like a vacation and was well worth 3 days of work.

LindaM Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Take pictures of everyone you speak to??
>

Yes, I did. I didn't ask them to pose with my wife or myself. Instead, I would take a picture of a food arrangement, and "happen" to have them in the background. When you do these "vacation" narratives, it helps to be *very* detailed with all the interactions.

Also, on the cruises that I have been on, I have seen loads of passengers insisting on taking pictures of servers, of cabin stewards holding their towel "creations", the bartender pouring champagne, etc. I think that many crew members are quite used to this.

Steve/MickeyB/walesmaven - I always love hearing about your cruise and/or hotel shops. I feel like I live vicariously through you folks until the time I have vacation time to spare, no kids in the house, and the clout with MSC's to take on some of those more adventurous shops. For now I'm thrilled when a shop takes me away for a long weekend, but I want to grow up to be like you guys!

And after seeing it alluded to several times, I dug through the archives and read about your RTW shop Steve. Now that's really something I'd like to try some day just to say I've done it. Thanks for sharing with this board!

saacman5033 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> And after seeing it alluded to several times, I
> dug through the archives and read about your RTW
> shop Steve. Now that's really something I'd like
> to try some day just to say I've done it. Thanks
> for sharing with this board!

I just looked it up to re-read it. It's been a while

The post is here for anyone that didn't read it back then:

[www.mysteryshopforum.com]

I have to correct one item which kind of ruins the joke. The credit card I used for most of it switched over to a new system right around the time I left that offered $50 cash back for every $5,000 spent, so I actually received an additional $100 about a month later and did accomplish my goal of making over $5. It wasn't intentional, however.

MickeyB was also right in that I'm looking into another one later this year. Never say never….

I need to clarify this. My cruises have been for pleasure, not done as shops. I find just being at sea so relaxing that I can hardly be bothered with many of the onboard activities, lol!

Wow....I could only dream of the travel shops some of you have done! I have my first hotel shop this weekend and am just excited to get 'frequent flyer' points, but maybe one day, I can travel the world shopping. Can I ask those of you who do the cruise ones, how far in advance do they have you book your cruises?

Hotel shops are a goal of mine and work my way up to perhaps to cruises....

I do see one MSC who has airline shops....now if I could match a hotel shop with that airline shop, I'd have an extra trip I could take

Oh the things I do for adventure.....

Most of the cruises I evaluated were booked 2-3 months out. I always received the impression that the cruise companies offered the evaluations on ships that had the most open cabins.

The luxury cruise was sold out and scheduled a bit further in advance.

I would like to start doing hotel and/or cruise ship/travel shops. Would appreciate names of MSC's that does them.

Thanks Steve! I live near a 'port' but can't really book a 'last minute' cruise that I sometimes see super discounted with travel companies, but if I can get a few months warning, I can certainly get on a boat!

The only flight mystery shop I have seen was a round trip to the middle of nowhere and you had to do both legs back and forth the same day. I'm not sure I want to fly across the country and back for no reason.

For the cruise evaluations, do we start evaluating at the port? There are numerous staff members, like the person who tells you where to go, then the person who issues the room keys, then the person who tells you where to line up to get on the ramp, then the person who takes your picture before boarding the cruise, etc. Are we evaluating all of those people? If we are, are those in all separate sections or are they in one long narrative for one section?

One MSC did feature a flight for airlines from certain cities to their hubs last month...they would pay for a RT ticket but you would only have shop the flight going down there.

If I did a round trip flight, I would make sure its a flight early in the day so I could enjoy the location I am going to at least for a few hours.....either that or see if the destination airport had a number of shops that could keep me occupied for a few hours.

Linda, I would think the cruise evals would start on the boat since most of the 'land' services are not from the cruise company. Most of those people before you board are port and/or contracted folks. The only reason I know is that I looked at doing that work here at my port during the busy summer months, but the work season starts before we're out of school here.

Why would the cruise company not be interested in the entire experience that guests go through…even if the staff are contracted?

All of the ones I have done are like hotels. You start reporting from the minute you arrive, which includes parking attendants, porters, check in staff, picture takers, greeters, complimentary beverage providers, etc….

To answer Linda's question; Yes, it's all one section. I think my last arrival at the port was around 2 pages. That's probably the hardest part of the cruise narrative since the departure is segmented and you don't really have to check out from a cruise.