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07-02-2019, 07:16 AM
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#1
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Moderator
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Flyover country
Posts: 25,358
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Travel catalogs
We get catalogs from four companies all the time and although they normally go straight into the recycle bin I wondered what the actual quantity was. So I've saved them for the last two months and just weighed them.
4.4 lbs OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel)
4.1 lbs Lindblad/National Geographic
3.6 lbs Viking River/Ocean Cruises
3.2 lbs Tauck
Note that this is just for the past two months.
We've gone with both Lindblad and Viking a few times, and have an upcoming trip scheduled with both OAT and Tauck, but it shows that once they get your mailing address they will kill as many trees as it takes to get you onboard.
__________________
I thought growing old would take longer.
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07-02-2019, 07:29 AM
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#2
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Moderator
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 13,926
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I've never even cruised, but a month after my parents first went on viking I ended up getting em... at least one per month.
But nothing is as bad as restoration hardware. I ordered some knick knacks from them about 5 years ago and they send books.
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07-02-2019, 08:22 AM
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#3
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Huntsville, AL/Helen, GA
Posts: 6,002
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I'm on their mailing lists too. The fares are so far out of my price range that I too don't even look at them either.
My wife stays up late nights trolling the internet for travel bargains. She's spending some of her 2019 RMD taking her daughter to Europe 3 months after getting home from the last trip. I think I'll start hiding her laptop.
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07-02-2019, 08:34 AM
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#4
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 1,862
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I highly recommend Catalog Choice to stop this type of mail (if that's what you want to do): https://www.catalogchoice.org/
Or call them and ask to be removed. I've been really aggressive for the past few years and have really whittled down the amount of mail that goes straight to recycling.
__________________
FIRE Class of 2018 @ 61
Old men and women sit in the shade of trees they planted long ago
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07-02-2019, 08:38 AM
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#5
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gone traveling
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Berkeley, Denver, CO, USA
Posts: 1,406
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More proof that cruises are evil.
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07-02-2019, 08:53 AM
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#6
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: City
Posts: 10,351
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We took a Viking river cruise maybe six or seven years ago. Most weeks we will have at least a couple of mailings from them. The thing that galls me the most is that the fare offers are constantly changing. Price, free air, etc. The list prices are completely phony and it is impossible to know what the "real" price is. For that reason alone we will never take another Viking trip. We don't like companies that try to cheat us.
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07-02-2019, 09:16 AM
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#7
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Colorado
Posts: 8,971
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We do "adventure" travel and I get about an equal amount of recyclable material from
VBT, Country Walkers, Trek Travel and Backroads.
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07-03-2019, 04:19 PM
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#8
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Chattanooga
Posts: 499
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No one has mentioned road scholar yet. It's the worst we see. We went on one trip with them a few years ago and get multiple mailings every week. Haven't weighed it but they are big thick newspaper books just about every time. Worst part? They ask for donations to support their programs.
__________________
Currently SKI-ing (spending the Kids' Inheritance)
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07-04-2019, 11:03 AM
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#9
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 2,613
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If you have an account with a travel company (OAT, Road Scholar, Viking, etc) you can change your mail preferences on the company's website. If you don't ever want to see their material again, call Customer Service.
__________________
Only got A dimple, would have preferred 2!
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07-06-2019, 02:08 AM
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#10
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Sep 2016
Posts: 342
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I hesitate to reply to this thread, as I might inadvertently get added to some catalog mailing list. ;-) Thankfully I don't get any travel information in the postal mail, that is probably because I have never been on a structured tour or cruise, instead just buy airfare and accommodations separately.
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07-06-2019, 05:46 AM
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#11
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 7,373
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Quote:
Originally Posted by davebarnes
More proof that cruises are evil.
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Viking is one of the better ones; so is UnCruise. MUCH smaller ships, fewer additional costs over the sticker price. I haven't weighed the catalogues but I get a few from UnCruise and from OAT every year; I have past and future trips on both. I plan to get on-line and stop both; easy enough to get info on their Web sites. I get abbreviated Viking mailers with deals but as a solo traveler, "two-for-one" offers don't do me any good.
The biggest non-travel offender is The Great Courses and I LOVE The Great Courses. Hmmm... bet I can go on their site and cut off those, too, although they've tapered off noticeably since I haven't placed an order in years.
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07-06-2019, 05:52 AM
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#12
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Administrator
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Chicagoland
Posts: 40,724
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Quote:
Originally Posted by braumeister
We get catalogs from four companies all the time and although they normally go straight into the recycle bin I wondered what the actual quantity was. So I've saved them for the last two months and just weighed them.
4.4 lbs OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel)
4.1 lbs Lindblad/National Geographic
3.6 lbs Viking River/Ocean Cruises
3.2 lbs Tauck
Note that this is just for the past two months.
We've gone with both Lindblad and Viking a few times, and have an upcoming trip scheduled with both OAT and Tauck, but it shows that once they get your mailing address they will kill as many trees as it takes to get you onboard.
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I see this in a more positive way. Just think of all the employment this is creating.
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07-06-2019, 06:06 AM
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#13
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Moderator
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Flyover country
Posts: 25,358
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If there had ever been any doubt that the online version of the cruise catalogs was better than the snail mail version, here it is.
The other day we got one of the Viking catalogs (and yes, I've told them not to send them) and DW happened to look through it. She started laughing and showed me that most of the photos in the brochure looked like this:
Screen Shot 2019-07-06 at 8.02.26 AM.png
Alas, no amount of clicking on the printed page would start the video!
__________________
I thought growing old would take longer.
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07-06-2019, 06:26 AM
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#14
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Administrator
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Chicagoland
Posts: 40,724
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A screenshot of a video? That’s terrible. All the expense to produce and mail a brochure and they can’t even copy a photo? Someone then signed off on this?
Imagine the calls. What does the phone agent respond when the caller says “I have the catalog right here in front of me, I keep pressing the arrow button but there’s no video. What am I doing wrong?”
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07-06-2019, 11:40 AM
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#15
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 717
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Okay, I’ll take the contrary position.
As a travel lover and a frequent cruiser, I like getting the travel catalogues, especially if there is a “sale”, and particularly for the smaller lines/ships.
Thankfully however we do not get the Restoration Hardware catalogue!
__________________
Whatever failures I have known, whatever errors I have committed, whatever follies I have witnessed in private and public life have been the consequence of action without thought... - Bernard Baruch
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07-06-2019, 08:15 PM
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#16
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Sep 2016
Posts: 342
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Quote:
Originally Posted by braumeister
If there had ever been any doubt that the online version of the cruise catalogs was better than the snail mail version, here it is.
The other day we got one of the Viking catalogs (and yes, I've told them not to send them) and DW happened to look through it. She started laughing and showed me that most of the photos in the brochure looked like this:
Attachment 32035
Alas, no amount of clicking on the printed page would start the video!
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Did you see the story about the guy who got a "play" button as part of his new hairstyle.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/814195...r-pause-video/
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07-07-2019, 04:07 AM
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#17
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Michigan
Posts: 5,003
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We get a bunch of them too. DW likes to cruise, especially with her DS's. We are thinking about road Scholar to Egypt. That is definitely a place I would not want to go on our own. For the most part though, I find packaged tours to be a bad deal and would rather self plan.
__________________
"The mountains are calling, and I must go." John Muir
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07-07-2019, 04:41 AM
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#18
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 12,659
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Every time we get those gigantic glossy books, I think, "No wonder those trips cost so much!"
Quote:
Originally Posted by braumeister
We get catalogs from four companies all the time and although they normally go straight into the recycle bin I wondered what the actual quantity was. So I've saved them for the last two months and just weighed them.
4.4 lbs OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel)
4.1 lbs Lindblad/National Geographic
3.6 lbs Viking River/Ocean Cruises
3.2 lbs Tauck
Note that this is just for the past two months.
We've gone with both Lindblad and Viking a few times, and have an upcoming trip scheduled with both OAT and Tauck, but it shows that once they get your mailing address they will kill as many trees as it takes to get you onboard.
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__________________
If you understood everything I say, you'd be me ~ Miles Davis
'There is only one success – to be able to spend your life in your own way.’ Christopher Morley.
Even a blind clock finds an acorn twice a day.
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07-07-2019, 02:59 PM
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#19
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Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 10,725
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Viking finally quit sending, but I was researching a cruise for my mom on "Oceania" and had an issue with their web site, so called them. Ever since, I've been getting multiple pounds per month. Often every day for 5 days I'm a row. Nuts.
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07-07-2019, 03:50 PM
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#20
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,637
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Over about a 10 year period we've been on 5 cruises with four different companies, including Viking. They are the only cruise line that regularly (very regularly) sends brochures. We also get them from companies we've never cruised or traveled with. When one of us brings in the mail every day we've made it a habit to announce which company sent the cruise brochure for that day. We get them 3-4 days per week.
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friar1610
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