Sharla

Good question! We get paid when the cruise sails (or is cancelled but paid in full). However it's not a waste of time to quote, book, or anything and change it. It's all part of the services we provide. MEI-Travel is not the only agency out there and we get that, but we do personalized service and I don't ever pressure you to book if you're not ready.
 
So ask us to quote or anything, that's not a problem at all! 

Hi Paul- Full disclosure here- I am a Travel Agent. 
We will always offer the same price Royal Caribbean does, with a few exceptions (and those exceptions are special contracted group rates that are lower than you could get booking direct). The benefit to booking with us is that you have an advocate in your corner to help you plan your trip. This means: 
- You have someone to continue to look for and apply discounts should any be released (which is very often with RCCL), so that you do not have to spend time doing the same, or potentially missing a better offer. 
- You have someone to help you navigate the Cruise Planner program.
- You have someone to help you make your dining reservations if you'd like. 
- You have an expert in all things cruising and travel to help you plan the best vacation you can. 
- You have someone you can come to directly to ask questions to instead of spending time looking around on the internet for your answers. 
- You have someone to turn to should something go wrong while you are traveling. This has been key for 2020/ early 2021 bookings. 
And the best part is, we provide all of this for FREE to you. You get our concierge level service at no extra charge. The difference when you book with me is the difference between information and expertise. Anyone can look up information on the internet. When booking your trip with me you know you have an expert in your corner that can help tailor your trip to your desires and make sure you see everything you want to do!

Also- you're paying for our services anyway- what we are paid comes out of the cruise line's pocket. So it's factored in whether you use a TA or not. 

Hi Paul- Full disclosure here- I am a Travel Agent. 
We will always offer the same price Royal Caribbean does, with a few exceptions (and those exceptions are special contracted group rates that are lower than you could get booking direct). The benefit to booking with us is that you have an advocate in your corner to help you plan your trip. This means: 
- You have someone to continue to look for and apply discounts should any be released (which is very often with RCCL), so that you do not have to spend time doing the same, or potentially missing a better offer. 
- You have someone to help you navigate the Cruise Planner program.
- You have someone to help you make your dining reservations if you'd like. 
- You have an expert in all things cruising and travel to help you plan the best vacation you can. 
- You have someone you can come to directly to ask questions to instead of spending time looking around on the internet for your answers. 
- You have someone to turn to should something go wrong while you are traveling. This has been key for 2020/ early 2021 bookings. 
And the best part is, we provide all of this for FREE to you. You get our concierge level service at no extra charge. The difference when you book with me is the difference between information and expertise. Anyone can look up information on the internet. When booking your trip with me you know you have an expert in your corner that can help tailor your trip to your desires and make sure you see everything you want to do!

Also- you're paying for our services anyway- what we are paid comes out of the cruise line's pocket. So it's factored in whether you use a TA or not. 

Hi Paul- Full disclosure here- I am a Travel Agent. 
We will always offer the same price Royal Caribbean does, with a few exceptions (and those exceptions are special contracted group rates that are lower than you could get booking direct). The benefit to booking with us is that you have an advocate in your corner to help you plan your trip. This means: 
- You have someone to continue to look for and apply discounts should any be released (which is very often with RCCL), so that you do not have to spend time doing the same, or potentially missing a better offer. 
- You have someone to help you navigate the Cruise Planner program.
- You have someone to help you make your dining reservations if you'd like. 
- You have an expert in all things cruising and travel to help you plan the best vacation you can. 
- You have someone you can come to directly to ask questions to instead of spending time looking around on the internet for your answers. 
- You have someone to turn to should something go wrong while you are traveling. This has been key for 2020/ early 2021 bookings. 
And the best part is, we provide all of this for FREE to you. You get our concierge level service at no extra charge. The difference when you book with me is the difference between information and expertise. Anyone can look up information on the internet. When booking your trip with me you know you have an expert in your corner that can help tailor your trip to your desires and make sure you see everything you want to do!

Also- you're paying for our services anyway- what we are paid comes out of the cruise line's pocket. So it's factored in whether you use a TA or not. 

Good question! We get paid when the cruise sails (or is cancelled but paid in full). However it's not a waste of time to quote, book, or anything and change it. It's all part of the services we provide. MEI-Travel is not the only agency out there and we get that, but we do personalized service and I don't ever pressure you to book if you're not ready.
 
So ask us to quote or anything, that's not a problem at all! 

Hi Paul- Full disclosure here- I am a Travel Agent. 
We will always offer the same price Royal Caribbean does, with a few exceptions (and those exceptions are special contracted group rates that are lower than you could get booking direct). The benefit to booking with us is that you have an advocate in your corner to help you plan your trip. This means: 
- You have someone to continue to look for and apply discounts should any be released (which is very often with RCCL), so that you do not have to spend time doing the same, or potentially missing a better offer. 
- You have someone to help you navigate the Cruise Planner program.
- You have someone to help you make your dining reservations if you'd like. 
- You have an expert in all things cruising and travel to help you plan the best vacation you can. 
- You have someone you can come to directly to ask questions to instead of spending time looking around on the internet for your answers. 
- You have someone to turn to should something go wrong while you are traveling. This has been key for 2020/ early 2021 bookings. 
And the best part is, we provide all of this for FREE to you. You get our concierge level service at no extra charge. The difference when you book with me is the difference between information and expertise. Anyone can look up information on the internet. When booking your trip with me you know you have an expert in your corner that can help tailor your trip to your desires and make sure you see everything you want to do!

Also- you're paying for our services anyway- what we are paid comes out of the cruise line's pocket. So it's factored in whether you use a TA or not. 

Good question! We get paid when the cruise sails (or is cancelled but paid in full). However it's not a waste of time to quote, book, or anything and change it. It's all part of the services we provide. MEI-Travel is not the only agency out there and we get that, but we do personalized service and I don't ever pressure you to book if you're not ready.
 
So ask us to quote or anything, that's not a problem at all! 

Good question! We get paid when the cruise sails (or is cancelled but paid in full). However it's not a waste of time to quote, book, or anything and change it. It's all part of the services we provide. MEI-Travel is not the only agency out there and we get that, but we do personalized service and I don't ever pressure you to book if you're not ready.
 
So ask us to quote or anything, that's not a problem at all! 

Hi Paul- Full disclosure here- I am a Travel Agent. 
We will always offer the same price Royal Caribbean does, with a few exceptions (and those exceptions are special contracted group rates that are lower than you could get booking direct). The benefit to booking with us is that you have an advocate in your corner to help you plan your trip. This means: 
- You have someone to continue to look for and apply discounts should any be released (which is very often with RCCL), so that you do not have to spend time doing the same, or potentially missing a better offer. 
- You have someone to help you navigate the Cruise Planner program.
- You have someone to help you make your dining reservations if you'd like. 
- You have an expert in all things cruising and travel to help you plan the best vacation you can. 
- You have someone you can come to directly to ask questions to instead of spending time looking around on the internet for your answers. 
- You have someone to turn to should something go wrong while you are traveling. This has been key for 2020/ early 2021 bookings. 
And the best part is, we provide all of this for FREE to you. You get our concierge level service at no extra charge. The difference when you book with me is the difference between information and expertise. Anyone can look up information on the internet. When booking your trip with me you know you have an expert in your corner that can help tailor your trip to your desires and make sure you see everything you want to do!

Also- you're paying for our services anyway- what we are paid comes out of the cruise line's pocket. So it's factored in whether you use a TA or not. 

Hi Paul- Full disclosure here- I am a Travel Agent. 
We will always offer the same price Royal Caribbean does, with a few exceptions (and those exceptions are special contracted group rates that are lower than you could get booking direct). The benefit to booking with us is that you have an advocate in your corner to help you plan your trip. This means: 
- You have someone to continue to look for and apply discounts should any be released (which is very often with RCCL), so that you do not have to spend time doing the same, or potentially missing a better offer. 
- You have someone to help you navigate the Cruise Planner program.
- You have someone to help you make your dining reservations if you'd like. 
- You have an expert in all things cruising and travel to help you plan the best vacation you can. 
- You have someone you can come to directly to ask questions to instead of spending time looking around on the internet for your answers. 
- You have someone to turn to should something go wrong while you are traveling. This has been key for 2020/ early 2021 bookings. 
And the best part is, we provide all of this for FREE to you. You get our concierge level service at no extra charge. The difference when you book with me is the difference between information and expertise. Anyone can look up information on the internet. When booking your trip with me you know you have an expert in your corner that can help tailor your trip to your desires and make sure you see everything you want to do!

Also- you're paying for our services anyway- what we are paid comes out of the cruise line's pocket. So it's factored in whether you use a TA or not. 

Good question! We get paid when the cruise sails (or is cancelled but paid in full). However it's not a waste of time to quote, book, or anything and change it. It's all part of the services we provide. MEI-Travel is not the only agency out there and we get that, but we do personalized service and I don't ever pressure you to book if you're not ready.
 
So ask us to quote or anything, that's not a problem at all! 

Good question! We get paid when the cruise sails (or is cancelled but paid in full). However it's not a waste of time to quote, book, or anything and change it. It's all part of the services we provide. MEI-Travel is not the only agency out there and we get that, but we do personalized service and I don't ever pressure you to book if you're not ready.
 
So ask us to quote or anything, that's not a problem at all! 

Hi Paul- Full disclosure here- I am a Travel Agent. 
We will always offer the same price Royal Caribbean does, with a few exceptions (and those exceptions are special contracted group rates that are lower than you could get booking direct). The benefit to booking with us is that you have an advocate in your corner to help you plan your trip. This means: 
- You have someone to continue to look for and apply discounts should any be released (which is very often with RCCL), so that you do not have to spend time doing the same, or potentially missing a better offer. 
- You have someone to help you navigate the Cruise Planner program.
- You have someone to help you make your dining reservations if you'd like. 
- You have an expert in all things cruising and travel to help you plan the best vacation you can. 
- You have someone you can come to directly to ask questions to instead of spending time looking around on the internet for your answers. 
- You have someone to turn to should something go wrong while you are traveling. This has been key for 2020/ early 2021 bookings. 
And the best part is, we provide all of this for FREE to you. You get our concierge level service at no extra charge. The difference when you book with me is the difference between information and expertise. Anyone can look up information on the internet. When booking your trip with me you know you have an expert in your corner that can help tailor your trip to your desires and make sure you see everything you want to do!

Also- you're paying for our services anyway- what we are paid comes out of the cruise line's pocket. So it's factored in whether you use a TA or not. 

As a travel agent I want this question answered as a top priority.  B2B cruising piggbacks on this same issue and I was just speaking with regional manager from Royal about this yesterday. I think they get the mounting frustration but the CDC owns the shoe that contains the cards we are dealt. I don't think the CDC is going to respond very soon since the sailing cancellation period extended until the end of February. Naturally this has delayed the test sailings from US ports but I do think Royal could be more flexible on final payment due dates on cruises they know may be a "no-go." 
 
Just throwin' my 2 pennies "out there,"
Hagar the Horrible

I've dabbled with some big box store and outfits like AAA.  Many of them are outsourced to agencies that wear many different hats.  They may answer the phone for one company one call then another company another call.  
In general my experience with these types of outfits is that they are fine when everything goes well and there no issues to deal with.  Prior to the pandemic many sailings worked this way.
The problems begin when things don't go right or you start getting off the well established "normal" path.  If you introduce FCC or FCC has to be reissued then a cruise cancels and now the FCC is from 3 cruises ago.  It's when things don't go well that I've regretted using these types of companies.  
It seems to me like all these agents want to do is book new cruises.  Maybe their comp plan works that way.  Simple requests are no problem like a cabin change.  If an issue will require them to spend hours on the phone with a cruise line they start inventing rules on their own.  "Nope, not allowed to do that, goodbye".  Sometimes they don't reply to an email.  
The last thing I would want during pandemic cruising is booking direct or booking through these types of travel companies.  

Hi Paul- Full disclosure here- I am a Travel Agent. 
We will always offer the same price Royal Caribbean does, with a few exceptions (and those exceptions are special contracted group rates that are lower than you could get booking direct). The benefit to booking with us is that you have an advocate in your corner to help you plan your trip. This means: 
- You have someone to continue to look for and apply discounts should any be released (which is very often with RCCL), so that you do not have to spend time doing the same, or potentially missing a better offer. 
- You have someone to help you navigate the Cruise Planner program.
- You have someone to help you make your dining reservations if you'd like. 
- You have an expert in all things cruising and travel to help you plan the best vacation you can. 
- You have someone you can come to directly to ask questions to instead of spending time looking around on the internet for your answers. 
- You have someone to turn to should something go wrong while you are traveling. This has been key for 2020/ early 2021 bookings. 
And the best part is, we provide all of this for FREE to you. You get our concierge level service at no extra charge. The difference when you book with me is the difference between information and expertise. Anyone can look up information on the internet. When booking your trip with me you know you have an expert in your corner that can help tailor your trip to your desires and make sure you see everything you want to do!

Also- you're paying for our services anyway- what we are paid comes out of the cruise line's pocket. So it's factored in whether you use a TA or not. 

Hi Paul- Full disclosure here- I am a Travel Agent. 
We will always offer the same price Royal Caribbean does, with a few exceptions (and those exceptions are special contracted group rates that are lower than you could get booking direct). The benefit to booking with us is that you have an advocate in your corner to help you plan your trip. This means: 
- You have someone to continue to look for and apply discounts should any be released (which is very often with RCCL), so that you do not have to spend time doing the same, or potentially missing a better offer. 
- You have someone to help you navigate the Cruise Planner program.
- You have someone to help you make your dining reservations if you'd like. 
- You have an expert in all things cruising and travel to help you plan the best vacation you can. 
- You have someone you can come to directly to ask questions to instead of spending time looking around on the internet for your answers. 
- You have someone to turn to should something go wrong while you are traveling. This has been key for 2020/ early 2021 bookings. 
And the best part is, we provide all of this for FREE to you. You get our concierge level service at no extra charge. The difference when you book with me is the difference between information and expertise. Anyone can look up information on the internet. When booking your trip with me you know you have an expert in your corner that can help tailor your trip to your desires and make sure you see everything you want to do!

Also- you're paying for our services anyway- what we are paid comes out of the cruise line's pocket. So it's factored in whether you use a TA or not. 

I would not personally use a AAA travel agent for cruise travel. They are very generalized travel agents there, so unlike a TA who is focused on cruise travel, they have a lot of shortcomings in my mind:
They don't know the differences between the various cruise lines, or even the ships within the lines, and which is likely the best fit for your / your family's preferred cruising style They won't know which cruise line might be best for a particular destination, whether for ship selection or itinerary options Great example: My current TA strongly urged me to check Princess for our planned 2022 Mediterranean trip. She openly said that for the Caribbean she'd understand me sailing with Royal or Celebrity, and Princess wouldn't be her first choice either; but in the Med (and also Alaska) the Princess itineraries were the best to be found and good value for the dollar. I was dubious, and really wanted to sail Celebrity for that trip, but after spending weeks waiting for the various lines to release their itineraries and comparing them all for my time frame and budget, I found out that she was spot on. They likely aren't going to do the regular checks on new sales and pricing to see if they can save you money; and even if you do that work, they may not be interested in doing a reprice for you with all that waiting on the phone. Full disclosure on this -- My personal experience with AAA travel is limited to a pair of Disney bookings, but with that I found they very much wanted us to get all the options figured out up front so they could book everything and move on. Never got follow-up from them on anything, either before or after the trip. And I pretty much had to figure out any questions I had on my own, or by calling Disney World myself. Better to find a travel agent who is part of an agency focused on cruising, who you can get a lot of recommendations from. You won't necessarily (or even likely) get a discount vs the rates listed on Royal's (or any other line's) site, unless they happen to have group rates available. But the good ones will be the ones who tick those boxes.

I don't believe where you or your TA is located matters. Nearly all of them can handle a global clientele.
But you're on the right track for wanting to use a TA. You have everything to gain, and nothing to lose!
The official sponsor TA of RoyalCaribbeanBlog is MEI Travel, and it is the agency I use for all of my bookings.

Remember it's 45-60 BUSINESS days, not just regular days. So that might make a difference.

Okay.  That explains it.  Yes, those cruises are currently locked and in utter limbo.  No changes can be made.  If I were in your situation I would hang tight and do nothing until either the cruise is cancelled or they change the status so that you can make changes.  I do understand your frustration.  When they make an arbitrary change like that it's hard on everyone.

I use Michelle Cunningham (MEI)
[email protected]
703-986-0661
She is awesome.

Correct.  Once it's sold out, it can no longer be viewed by the public.  If you booked direct through Royal, they can price check a sold out category for you.  If you booked with a TA, only the TA can request the price check.  This is why a good, trustworthy TA is so critical.  Once you find one, they are worth their weight in gold.
MEI is the official agent sponsor of Royal Caribbean Blog. 

Welcome to the message boards.
This is why many of us use a travel agent.  Let them do their job.  Work with them to reach a solution you are happy with.   The cruise line has policies about kids booked in their own cabin so be patient and let your TA work with Royal to figure this out.
 

Just got approved here in Canada..168,000 doses by end of December...drop in the bucket as that's a 2 step vaccine....but its a start...gives us about 250,000 doses from Pfizer and Moderna(enough for 125,000 people)
 
Positive news....but now we need this rolled out in large numbers!