CruiseManUK

Just to reply as a fellow U.K. cruiser, travel agents here are nothing like in the US. They don’t know our names, they won’t check to see if cruises are cheaper, they won’t give us any gifts, they won’t inform us of any special offers, they won’t even get us a good deal, they won’t know about the ships and they’ll book you connecting flights with 20 hour connections. All they care about is taking their commission and moving onto the next sucker which is why many U.K. cruisers will book holidays directly as it actually gives us more power.
But saying that - we therefore have to do all the research ourselves so we would know what is and isn’t included. I used the telephone team once and also had an issue with them but I escalated it to HQ via email and they were fantastic in resolving it. I tend to now only book nextcruise or via the website cutting out the telephone team. I have using MEI Travel on my to do list given that they will book cruises for those based in the U.K. 

One thing to consider is MEI Travel are allowed to book folks from the UK because of their relationship with this site

Just to reply as a fellow U.K. cruiser, travel agents here are nothing like in the US. They don’t know our names, they won’t check to see if cruises are cheaper, they won’t give us any gifts, they won’t inform us of any special offers, they won’t even get us a good deal, they won’t know about the ships and they’ll book you connecting flights with 20 hour connections. All they care about is taking their commission and moving onto the next sucker which is why many U.K. cruisers will book holidays directly as it actually gives us more power.
But saying that - we therefore have to do all the research ourselves so we would know what is and isn’t included. I used the telephone team once and also had an issue with them but I escalated it to HQ via email and they were fantastic in resolving it. I tend to now only book nextcruise or via the website cutting out the telephone team. I have using MEI Travel on my to do list given that they will book cruises for those based in the U.K. 

Just to reply as a fellow U.K. cruiser, travel agents here are nothing like in the US. They don’t know our names, they won’t check to see if cruises are cheaper, they won’t give us any gifts, they won’t inform us of any special offers, they won’t even get us a good deal, they won’t know about the ships and they’ll book you connecting flights with 20 hour connections. All they care about is taking their commission and moving onto the next sucker which is why many U.K. cruisers will book holidays directly as it actually gives us more power.
But saying that - we therefore have to do all the research ourselves so we would know what is and isn’t included. I used the telephone team once and also had an issue with them but I escalated it to HQ via email and they were fantastic in resolving it. I tend to now only book nextcruise or via the website cutting out the telephone team. I have using MEI Travel on my to do list given that they will book cruises for those based in the U.K. 

I have used the stock OBC many times and in the past, any OBC given during booking would be subtracted from the $100 stock benefit. For instance, I received $50 for booking a balcony on a 7 night cruise and the stock benefit was reduced to $50. I have not yet applied for the benefit since the change in June. I’ll find out on my Sept booking when I email my shareholder benefit request form.
Investment-wise, I have been happy with the performance of the stock over time. Also...In addition to the OBC benefit, the stock also pays dividends...which some other cruise lines do not. As always with any stock, future performance can not be predicted by past performance and any investment can result in loss of principal.
Happy cruising!

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2019/06/26/all-about-the-royal-caribbean-shareholder-discount
See the blog site page on this. Matt - it says that the discount is now combinable with other discounts post the change this year?