AnnetteJackson

The best thing to do is to confirm that you are all seated at the same table when you get on board the ship.  Have one person go to the dining room to confirm this with the stateroom numbers for the group.  Everything linked up for 5:15 or 5:30 seems ok, but it could download to the ship totally different.  

9 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

@AnnetteJackson, would it be acceptable to approach a specific MEI agent directly? I've just been having a look at the "Meet Our Team" section of the website and I see that there is an agent (Heather) in North Hollywood, CA, which is where my son lives. I would probably feel more comfortable knowing that she's just around the corner, so to speak, plus there are a couple of posters on here who speak highly of her... 

Sorry if I'm sounding like a control nut; I'm not really, but I used to be a TA myself back in the day, which is why I find it so hard to sit back and let others do the work... 

Feel free to reach out to her.  She does a lot of Disney and overseas travel, but she does book a lot of cruises as well.

Next cruise will give you a great deal on your upcoming cruise, but dont leave it there...... continue to check to see if other promotions apply to the cruise you booked.  Royal is hoping that you book once and not touch it again until you pay the final and go on your cruise.  Some offers cannot be combined with the on board offer, but you can compare to see which one works best for you and adjust.

11 hours ago, Deenyce said:

Looking for insight on the RCI policy on reducing number of people in cabin from 3 guests to 2?  We are in the 60 day window before departure. 

Any time you have a cancellation you will need to call in to have Royal give you the details.  It does depend on how you are booked at times.

Also, if you are in a room that slept 3 they could make you change your stateroom to a room that only sleeps 2 so that they will have that triple to sell to someone that needs that type room.

Good luck!

15 minutes ago, Fairlynew said:

The last time we cruised, we used AAA travel-we were not happy in general with the service and have used MEI for our next two cruises.  For one, our gratuities are covered, but nothing for the next one.  AAA left a bottle of champagne in each of our three staterooms, which was a waste, since we had the drink packages.  We left it for our room stewards, hoping that they would be able to enjoy it.  We have the drink package for each of our upcoming cruises as well; would it be rude to ask that the agent not send wine to our rooms?  

No it would not be rude.  The agent is trying to do something to thank you for the business.  Feel free to let them know your preferences.  Matt let me know early on not to send Champagne as they didn't drink it.  We like sending gifts that can be used.

44 minutes ago, Planeprincess said:

I' am very new to  posting and equally new to using this TA or any TA.

I just received a quote and from what I have been reading on the message boards it seems that $75.00 OBC for booking a suite is a little low.

The difference in price from RCCL and MEI  is $47.00 total and then the $75.00 OBC.  I was expecting a little more from booking with a TA.

As I am not an established customer, is this the norm?

 

 

 

 

 

Hey,

There are agents and agencies out there that might offer your more OBC than the agent you received the quote from.  For the MEI agents they look at what you were booking, the cost, length of cruise can come into play, and that helps determine what they decide to offer as a gift to you for the booking.  Some of our agents prefer to give surprise gifts to clients in the room as a thank you as well.  The agent will be working for you to adjust the price if Royal has a rate that is better than what you are booked at as well.  This can also come into play with the amount they offer.

In the end it depends on if you are looking for a Travel planner to offer you large amount of OBC but maybe not provide service or some OBC and still continue to work with you to help save you money.

15 hours ago, Jack_Lime said:

Im doing a solo cruise in a few months.

The ocean view stateroom says it comes with 2 twin beds that can be pushed together for a big one.

Would they be able to remove one of the beds so I have more standing room? Not sure how big the stateroom is anyway

Hey,

While they wont take the bed out of the room, i have been known when traveling solo to either keep the beds together or slide the one twin against the wall instead of out into the room for more walking room and a place to put my suitcase.  It would depend on the room type you are booked in if there was room for this, but i have a habit of wanting as much room as possible on cruises and rearranging within the room for more space.

Depending on how many of you there are, you might could consider renting a car and driving the 45 minutes.  There is no one way drop off fee in Florida, and there are several hotels in the area that will pick you up from the rental car locations.  Hertz is actually within walking distance to Country Inn and Suites, Residence Inn and Homewood Suites.

Every TA has different incentives for using them.  RC will not match them in fact many times RC will tell you to book and transfer to a TA for added benefits.  

Once it is transferred to an agent, you will no longer be able to make payments or changes to your reservation without the agent doing it for you.  Some people find that hard to handle, but for clients that transfer to us, we are working on offer days to check your reservation to see if the new promotion will benefit you (RC will not do this for you).  We do not charge a fee - some do - so Royal is paying us, not you.

Your booking being a GTY will not change whether you are booked direct or with the agent.

Hope this helps

On 7/28/2019 at 8:42 AM, Katibear7 said:

Can we bring a small tabletop fan (13") on the cruise as my husband needs it to sleep better?

The ships have them if you ask for them when you first meet your attendant.  There is a limited number, but I have never not gotten one and in fact - they typically look like the ones everyone is posting pictures of.

On 7/26/2019 at 9:27 PM, Blulady said:

Hi Annette,

 

I asked Matt about the 'cooling topper' on his Periscope -  he had no idea what I was talking about.  I find the cabin way too hot to sleep (68 is NOT a/c! LOL)  We are going on Oasis after dry dock - do you know if they will have these cooling toppers?  We've booked through MEI and I've already talked to Michelle about a fan   Thanks for any help!

Pam

Hey there!

Ask for a fan as soon as you meet your attendant at the room.  All ships have different toppers sometimes its an egg crate, sometimes its the nice foam ones.  It depends on the ship and to be honest, it can depend on who gets them first on the ship.  I have seen both types on one ship.  No way to get this prior to getting on the ship

1 minute ago, Garth said:

What is people's typical experience with response time for payments by email?  I'm not sure how long I should wait before emailing again.  Trying not to be unreasonable, since I know I'm not the only customer and they have such great reviews.

Hey,

If you want to PM me or email me, I can look into what is going on.  We do have a couple of agents traveling but I can look into this and get you an answer back today.  Most of the agents reply within 24 to 48 hours.  It can depend on offers, client issues, and other items with other reservations. And sometimes it could be there is a lost email.

6 hours ago, alexacruise said:

Should I keep checking back to see if any balcony rooms drop below what we paid and ask to be upgraded? We also got royalup email offers but I don’t want to bid if I have even a small chance of being upgraded for free.

I was going to say just that.  You should call and see if there is a possible upgrade you could do.  Royal will not refund you the money you have spent but if you find another way to spend it - or possibly that upgrade would only be a couple bucks more - they might let you do that.

9 hours ago, Pen said:

We booked through Michelle Cunningham  We caught her right before she headed out of town.  She booked my sister and myself...and my nephew and his wife 

The great thing about this team - even while Michelle is out she will have someone checking for you if another offer comes in.  Glad she was able to help before escaping for a much deserved vacation

19 minutes ago, JRT said:

Our question is: if we book the group cruise while on board through Next Cruise and then transfer to our Mei travel agent, would we still be qualified for the group cruise benefits. 

Our reason for doing bookings on board would be to receive (OBC) and reduced deposit. 

Thanks,

Jim

oh!... BUT .... if you are booking the Freedom group cruise over NYE - our rates are almost half on some of what is direct.  We will lose these rates soon.  SO... it might not be a bad idea to get a quote on that and then we can compare to what you could get on board.  I more than likely would be better without the on board booking with the OBC.  (Sorry, didnt think about that when posting a minute ago)

2 minutes ago, twangster said:

Be aware by default any cruise booked at Next will be assigned to the travel agent that you booked your current cruise through.  

You can request to leave a Next booking unassigned and then it will qualify for transfer to MEI but you need to mention this while booking at Next otherwise your existing travel agent will get the cruise by default.

If you have never used a travel agent and booked direct with Royal this isn't a concern.

Good catch - yes... if you booked your cruise you are sailing on with another agency, you will need to stress at the desk that you do not want to work with that agency.  It can get a little messier if you are booked with another agency.

11 minutes ago, JRT said:

Our question is: if we book the group cruise while on board through Next Cruise and then transfer to our Mei travel agent, would we still be qualified for the group cruise benefits. 

Our reason for doing bookings on board would be to receive (OBC) and reduced deposit. 

Thanks,

Jim

Yes!  You would get the benefits from booking on board, transfer to us, and we will pull you into the group and check prices for you to compare to see if we can find a better rate for you.  Sometimes you will lose the OBC, but we always ask you about that before adjusting the price.  Come join us!

Personalized magnets are always great, and there is a company that does a complete door magnet which are amazing.  I have been told by a few people on cruises with our Group Cruises that they love seeing all this because it helps find your room when they all look the same!

If you have a teacher supply store near your, they have some great bulletin board cut outs that can be used for very little money (or you can find the on Amazon).  Bags of pre cut magnets with glue on them already, so easy to put together once on the ship.

I have also used magnetic paper in my printer at home and made my own.  Lots of cute designs out there.

Have fun with this - its vacation!

Please contact me at [email protected] and I will assign you to another agent.

16 minutes ago, emsff02 said:

I can attest to this. I called to check on my Oasis sailing, and my price would have gone up $300, which is the same as the OBC for suites....(not fishy at all)

Sorry it took so long for them to reach out.  I know for the very few that I had (MATT) it was taking longer than normal today because we always look at what you have booked and if possibly its cheaper for you to upgrade.  I had at least 7 I had to email on today to say - it cost more, but you get XX OBC - or you could change categories and get XYZ - this offer was not good to many that we have found

3 minutes ago, jce2 said:

It would actually add OBC in my case as I booked the day the cruise first posted and there was no OBC offered.  The problem is, how do you reprice the room if the catagory is sold out as there is no way to look at that catagories pricing on-line?

I understand that not all categories may be in the offer, but how can i definitivly find out?  In the past I could just call RC and ask, but as I understand it, they wont speak to me if it shows I have a TA (I honestly waffled on using a TA specifically for that lack of control but took the leap)
FYI: The room catagory in quesiton is the more expensive of the two "Spacious Balcony" catagories (aft cabins) on the June 19th sailing of Radiance out of Seawrd.....

I do not use the consumer site so not sure what you see vs what I see.  I would recommend reaching out to your TA and asking them to reprice for you.  Let them know you want to see the price with the OBC so you can see what compares.  You cant look at a similar sailing because it all depends on supply and demand.  If they dont have the offer on your category for the sailing you would not get the OBC without the offer.

2 minutes ago, Pen said:

We are new MEI customers....so glad to hear that MEI automatically checks the sale for savings for their customers 

Thank you for giving us a try!  It does take the agents a little bit of time to work thru all of these, but Im sure your agent is checking for you today!

Not all categories will be available with the offer.  If they have already moved to a waitlist situation then it will not have the offer on it.  You could look at other categories to see what the offer would be to possibly upgrade, but you might would lose the aft balcony by moving to another category.  I have looked at many reservations today, and just remember that KSF doesnt always work to a better price even with OBC.  They play with the names on these offers to attract more business.  Most of my clients that I looked at today would have to pay more.  I was only able to save 2 families money and even that was at small amounts ($42)

I always tell clients to book the package, but watch for further discounts.  You can always cancel the drink package and repruchase if the price goes lower.

IF its just clothes I cant imagine TSA searching your bag, but I have had my bag searched a few times and yes they do put a note in your bag so you know they went into the suitcase, but they do not always leave things back in the bag like you had them.  The tequila bottle in a winecloud bag was not returned to the ziplock bag nor was it inside or clothing to help protect it - right out by the outside of the bag to be broken.  So would depend on what you are wrapping all together.