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Can we give a special shout out to all of the great travel agents...


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who are working especially hard during this Covidilemma - waiting on hold with the cruise companies (ALL of them!), rebooking, refunding, repricing, upgrading - WHATEVER.  I imagine they are all putting in LOTS of extra hours to help their clients.  (We're looking at you, M.E.I. folks, but also so many more of the great ones out there!).

We appreciate you!

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Knowing they are all so busy, I've been putting down some deposits on sailings for 2021, then when we decide which we're going to keep I'll transfer them.  But tonight, as I prepare to sit on hold to start canceling the ones we have already decided against...I am sure missing those travel agents who would've done that for me!! 

I wish we could cancel online...

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3 minutes ago, Chadster said:

In the immortal words of Ric Flair...

WOOOOO!

excited ric flair GIF

I second that...and give Kelley at MEI a WOO, WOO, WOOOOOOOO for getting us a no cost upgrade today. I honestly feel kinda guilty for asking her to check on that when I know she's just flooded with work. This will be me in my new room:

bragging ric flair GIF

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Same thoughts here for Sharla @ MEI. She works so hard for us and while we were not cancelling anything she did manage to secure us fantastic re-pricing during this crazy time. While I like to imagine she is all mine, I want to acknowledge her hard work and dedication as reality is she most likely makes all of us feel like that, while she helps us all!  Yes and thanks to the wonderful @SpeedNoodles for starting this thread. Be safe and stay well everyone, happy sailing.

Working Hard GIF by memecandy

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Thank you to all of you for your kind words.  It seems in the TA world every year or two there is something that comes around such as this that shows people why they might not want to book direct - - the hold on the phone line or busy signal!  HAHA    While we are busy, it is you the client that we do this for because we love it.  Because many of us at MEI have been doing this for so long, we have lots of experience at holding on the phone, placing holds for new bookings online, chatting with another agent in the agency to either vent (so we don't toss the computer or phone out the window) , and we can order a pizza for dinner because we assume we will be on the phone til after dinner!  ???

 

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27 minutes ago, AnnetteJackson said:

Thank you to all of you for your kind words.  It seems in the TA world every year or two there is something that comes around such as this that shows people why they might not want to book direct - - the hold on the phone line or busy signal!  HAHA    While we are busy, it is you the client that we do this for because we love it.  Because many of us at MEI have been doing this for so long, we have lots of experience at holding on the phone, placing holds for new bookings online, chatting with another agent in the agency to either vent (so we don't toss the computer or phone out the window) , and we can order a pizza for dinner because we assume we will be on the phone til after dinner!  ???

 

Well, the work goes a long way in making some feel better about some frustrating times. In my former life, I was an Ops Mgr for a rental car company. One of the biggest training topics was the frustration of TRAVEL, and how a helpful person can go a LONG way in helping a frustrated person feel like this moment, at least, someone is trying to help and youre not fighting the entire world. Its how loyalty is created. Kudos to you and your team (especially Kelley) Annette. 

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We use Chris Owens (sorry MEI). He's always been great and available at any time for us (he's replied to emails within an hour, even in the middle of the night and weekends). He just spent 2 hours on the phone Friday and got us a cabin upgrade, this after our final payment date, with no loss of OBC. I'm sure we'll also find a couple of bottles of wine, finger foods and some type of gift when we sail. 

THANKS CHRIS!!???

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Thank you Nancy Swope at MEI travel! She cancelled my Harmony cruise and booked us a Cancun all inclusive on a Saturday!  Saturday morning, I emailed her to cancel and asked her to look into Cancun or Punta Cana.  She gave me 3 options before lunch and everything was finalized by dinner!  Amazing job and so appreciated!

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A great TA is what makes travel so much fun.  My usual TA left the company I used and I got a new one this time around.  Let's just say, even before CV popped up, she's not a fan of any communication.  We tried to upgraded 2 of our 3 rooms as prices dropped (after final) and she was unable to do so and in the process, lost our sequential cabin assignments.  Her response - "sorry, I'm sure it'll work out when the rush of callers die down".  

Can I switch to one you amazing TA's?

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38 minutes ago, doublegg said:

A great TA is what makes travel so much fun.  My usual TA left the company I used and I got a new one this time around.  Let's just say, even before CV popped up, she's not a fan of any communication.  We tried to upgraded 2 of our 3 rooms as prices dropped (after final) and she was unable to do so and in the process, lost our sequential cabin assignments.  Her response - "sorry, I'm sure it'll work out when the rush of callers die down".  

Can I switch to one you amazing TA's?

Ugh. So sorry to hear this.  Ask @SpeedNoodles.  It’s a hard lesson to learn.

There is a way to change Agencies but it’s very painful and rarely successful. The best you can really do is wait for “next time”.  One word of caution...if you choose to go to Next Cruise to book a cruise while you’re on a cruise AND if you’re not happy with the Agency that booked the cruise you are currently on...make SURE that you tell the Next Cruise folks that you do NOT want your current Agency to get the booking that you are making onboard.  Next Cruise will automatically give the booking to the “Agency of Record” (which is the Agency that booked the cruise you are on) unless you directly tell them not to. Even if you don’t know who you want your new Agent to be, just book directly with Royal and once you get home, you can easily move that booking to a new Agency of your choice. THAT kind of switch is easy to do.

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2 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Ugh. So sorry to hear this.  Ask @SpeedNoodles.  It’s a hard lesson to learn.

There is a way to change Agencies but it’s very painful and rarely successful. The best you can really do is wait for “next time”.  One word of caution...if you choose to go to Next Cruise to book a cruise while you’re on a cruise AND if you’re not happy with the Agency that booked the cruise you are currently on...make SURE that you tell the Next Cruise folks that you do NOT want your current Agency to get the booking that you are making onboard.  Next Cruise will automatically give the booking to the “Agency of Record” (which is the Agency that booked the cruise you are on) unless you directly tell them not to. Even if you don’t know who you want your new Agent to be, just book directly with Royal and once you get home, you can easily move that booking to a new Agency of your choice. THAT kind of switch is easy to do.

Well said.  One thing to consider is if you are cancelling your upcoming cruise under the "Virus rules" and getting a FCC for your rooms.  Those FCC's are tied to you and not the agency.  This means you could find new cruises and use that with another agency.  Not saying you need to cancel - if you still want to cruise your TA on record is going to have to work on that for you, or you could request to have them turned back over to you.  Normally that would take 3 to 5 business days but right now  - no clue.

Sorry you are going thru this, but I would recommend next time interview a few agents to make sure you are going to get the agent or agency that you feel would work best for you.

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54 minutes ago, AnnetteJackson said:

One thing to consider is if you are cancelling your upcoming cruise under the "Virus rules" and getting a FCC for your rooms.  Those FCC's are tied to you and not the agency.  This means you could find new cruises and use that with another agency.

This is exactly what I did, and I'm already very thankful I did. I now have much more peace of mind and I feel like me having a positive cruising experience is one of their utmost priorities -- and that means a lot, especially when I can actually reach out and be answered in a timely fashion.

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