AnnetteJackson

So glad you enjoy working with Heather.  All of our agents can book into Matt's groups.  I am the coordinator of the group from MEI-Travel.  I book very few clients, but I go on these trips to make sure all the MEI-Travel clients have a great time.  So feel free to book your next cruise and let Heather know you are waiting on the next group announcement.  I always make sure the agents are aware of the group details BEFORE Matt announces to you guys so they are ready to go when you start having questions.
Thank you for supporting Matt and the Blog by booking with us.

@twangster  CRACKING ME UP!

Any MEI travel agent can book a Royal Caribbean Blog group cruise.
Annette may do all the work on an actual GC (in case you thought Matt did anything),  but she doesn't have to manage your booking to qualify.
 

For all you lucky people cruising this month.  Have fun and enjoy a few cold ones for us that can't join you.
August 2018
4 - hisfuzziness (Freedom of the Seas)
5 - SorsCode (Liberty of the Seas)
5 - CraftyCat05 (Symphony of the Seas)
9 - TbearRunningMom (Anthem of the Seas)
11 - hisfuzziness (Freedom of the Seas)
13 - Lovetocruise2002 (Mariner of the Seas)
19 - Bella (Oasis of the Seas)
20 - Sweety (Majesty of the Seas)
20 - jurrjurr (Mariner of the Seas)
23 - CruisingQueen36 (Anthem of the Seas)
24 - greenline627 (Adventure of the Seas)
25 - Traveler (Rhapsody of the Seas)

Ahem - MEI is offering pre-paid gratuities as a perk for balcony and above. Deal ends today

Yes, A perk to adding these now and paying them is you don't have the charges on board, but also it locks you in on the price.  Royal has been increasing these yearly lately so this would protect your added cost.
 

Yes, A perk to adding these now and paying them is you don't have the charges on board, but also it locks you in on the price.  Royal has been increasing these yearly lately so this would protect your added cost.
 

I would love the opportunity to speak with you on the challenges you are facing.  I can be reached at [email protected]  

I can say that all pricing comes from RCCL - there are times that companies have other offers such as we are offer prepaid gratuities right now and other companies are not.  Also if there is a group for an agency on a date that will play with numbers and OBC offers as well.  Sorry that our pricing did not work out on the offers you were getting with other places, but the next time you come and ask we could have the better offer based on your travel dates.

I'm on board with the rest of the posters here ...... All of my cruises in recent years have gone out of Baltimore to Bermuda (I live in Maryland) ----
Easy Peasy ---- I can handle it myself.  On top of that, had a less than positive experience with a local travel agency here, so I stuck with doing things on my own.
But now, with 2019 approaching, and especially 2020, we'll be on different ships out of different ports going to different destinations...... way out of my comfort zone.
(Especially with the 2020 ---- Freedom out of SJ to the Eastern Caribbean) ---- the whole experience will be new to us....
So, I contacted Michelle with MEI (after hearing so many positive things from here)--- for us, she's semi-local (northern Virginia), but what really sold my wife and I was Michelle, the person.  She answered every question (no matter how mundane) with knowledge and enthusiasm -- she also understood that we were also skeptical when it came to TA's after the negative experience we'd had.  She's incredibly patient with us.
Even though our relationship with Michelle is in its infancy, and we are in no way a huge book of business for her, you'd never know it by the way she treats us like gold.
So, to wrap this post around --- this site is what brought us to Michelle, but it's Michelle that will keep us with MEI ---
Mark

@fonemanbob I joined this blog a short time ago and it has been a happy and informative experience. We have always booked directly with cruise lines since our first in 1994, but after reading the positive comments about MEI, it was a no-brainer to move our current reservation to them.  And that was before they worked a miracle for @alamode123 . Michelle C has been extremely accommodating and was even able to move our "way past the 60-day mark" reservation to MEI. We anticipate a great relationship going forward.

I am going to jump in here. I contacted MEI for a couple of reasons, mainly because I knew absolutely nothing about cruising, and they support this site. I booked about 14 months before my cruise. I received about 6 emails before my trip: I found you a better price. Those price drops ranged from $30 with onboard credit, to over $300. 
I did not book with MEI because I expected anything extra. I actually booked a second cruise before the first, and I am waiting for the next large release to book another. 
Although I did not ask or expect anything, my agent sent me lanyards, a portable phone charger, pens, and  a $50 onboard credit. I just post that to say, if that is important to you ask. It is not to me. It came as a complete surprise. The level of service I received was amazing, and I think I should be sending her gifts.

Exhibit A:
I won't say that you will not find this level of service with AAA if you run into the same kind of problem as @alamode123 got slammed with. But at least you now know you will have it with MEI, even if you don't get a lot of extra perks up front. It may not spare you a lot of stress while waiting for the outcome, but it certainly takes a load off knowing you have that person undeniably in your corner and working to at least try and make things right.

I can say that all pricing comes from RCCL - there are times that companies have other offers such as we are offer prepaid gratuities right now and other companies are not.  Also if there is a group for an agency on a date that will play with numbers and OBC offers as well.  Sorry that our pricing did not work out on the offers you were getting with other places, but the next time you come and ask we could have the better offer based on your travel dates.

I leave my kids at home any chance I get! They get to spend time with grandparents (being spoiled) and we get time to enjoy without kids. It's win-win.

Tell them you are checking it out to see if it suits them ?

Feel free to email me directly at [email protected]    I will match you up with one of our many agents that can help you with your plans.  We have a great team here to help you find the best price as well as to work with those unusual situations.  I wish I could say we always win when we go to battle with RCCL (or other cruise lines or suppliers) but we do give it our best effort to fight for our clients.
We love to help support Matt, the blog and his community.

We are so glad that we could jump in and try to help you out.  It does take some time to talk to all areas at the cruise line, and sometimes it doesn't work out this well, but so glad we could  could help keep your spring break plans in place.  Im sure once the kids see the new ship and the changes they will be excited and then all the new changes on Cocoa Cay. 
I know many times people will ask Matt or our agents, "why should I use a Travel Agent"  its these situations where you need a few other people in your corner to fight for you - and we are happy to do that for all our clients.

We are so glad that we could jump in and try to help you out.  It does take some time to talk to all areas at the cruise line, and sometimes it doesn't work out this well, but so glad we could  could help keep your spring break plans in place.  Im sure once the kids see the new ship and the changes they will be excited and then all the new changes on Cocoa Cay. 
I know many times people will ask Matt or our agents, "why should I use a Travel Agent"  its these situations where you need a few other people in your corner to fight for you - and we are happy to do that for all our clients.

We are so glad that we could jump in and try to help you out.  It does take some time to talk to all areas at the cruise line, and sometimes it doesn't work out this well, but so glad we could  could help keep your spring break plans in place.  Im sure once the kids see the new ship and the changes they will be excited and then all the new changes on Cocoa Cay. 
I know many times people will ask Matt or our agents, "why should I use a Travel Agent"  its these situations where you need a few other people in your corner to fight for you - and we are happy to do that for all our clients.

Just an update to this string....
If you look you will see there was a new string created with an update
We were able to jump in and work with Royal to get a satisfying resolution for alamode123.
Sometimes these situations take a little longer  - but we always strive to help take some of the stress out of planning a vacation - even if it was caused by the cruise line!
 

Just an update to this string....
If you look you will see there was a new string created with an update
We were able to jump in and work with Royal to get a satisfying resolution for alamode123.
Sometimes these situations take a little longer  - but we always strive to help take some of the stress out of planning a vacation - even if it was caused by the cruise line!
 

This absolutely made my day ...... So glad I work with MEI (Michelle in my case) ----
The girls will come around ..... encourage them to watch YouTube videos of the ship and your destinations, that'll get them ramped up.
Mark
 
 

Bravo MEI !  SO happy that this is coming to a good end.  There are so many lessons here.  Twangbot's are extremely important - our children DO learn to handle life's disappointments (and joys !) from us and we don't know until WELL after it's too late that the way we handle crises is exactly the way they will handle crises.  Another important lesson here is to be persistent (well done, alamode123) and not accept the answers you sometimes get if it's not what you want !  The third lesson is one we hear over and over and over again on these boards.  A GOOD TA is worth waaay more during adversity than they are when things go the way you want them to go.  I LOVE my Agent (Michelle Cunnningham, in case there's a soul on this planet that doesn't know yet).  She works hard for us.  Very hard.  Believe it or not, I am NOT the easiest customer to have !  ?  I ask for stupid stuff and have her check prices WAAAYTOOO often.  I cancel and rebook, change rooms, overreact and whine.  But she couldn't be more professional and attentive. 
To be completely honest (now that the crisis has passed) I did not expect this unfortunate scenario to end well for alamode123.  I have heard MANY such stories (there shouldn't even be ONE) and they rarely (never ?) work out in the passengers' favor.   Honestly, I think this might be the one and only time I've ever heard of Royal actually changing their minds and offering an alternative option to what their pathetic offers usually are.  So, hooray for this time.  The girls and you are going to have a great cruise.  It won't be long and you will not even remember that your cruise was originally booked on a different ship.  The truth is, you are getting a BETTER ship now and you will all have the time of our lives.  Good deal !

Just an update to this string....
If you look you will see there was a new string created with an update
We were able to jump in and work with Royal to get a satisfying resolution for alamode123.
Sometimes these situations take a little longer  - but we always strive to help take some of the stress out of planning a vacation - even if it was caused by the cruise line!