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Travel Agent advantages?


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I booked a 5 night mother-daughter cruise on the Mariner of the Seas for next November.  I booked directly with RCCL online and not with a travel agent.  I have read that it would be to my advantage to transfer to a travel agent.  Is this really so?  What advantages might I find in doing so?  I would appreciate  your thoughts.

Thanks,  Patt

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If everything goes 100% smoothly then the benefits may be limited (perhaps a bit of OBC or a bottle of wine in your stateroom, if anything). However, when things go awry, a good travel agent is a blessing because they will be on your side to help sort out the mess.

I used to be a travel agent myself and have a hard time giving up control of my bookings. Call it premonition if you will but when I booked our doomed Allure cruise for September 2020 I decided to go with the suggestions on this board and contacted one of the MEI agents (@michelle - [email protected]) to look after the booking for us. Best decision ever. When Covid kicked off and the option to Lift & Shift came out, I asked her to shift our cruise. Done deal within a few hours from the time I contacted her (and there's a 5-hour time difference!). I also enlisted her help to get the long-overdue refund we were owed for cruise planner purchases on the cancelled Allure sailing. In both cases, I would likely have been hanging on the phone to RC for ages and getting nowhere.

So, in the current climate I would say it is definitely worth your while transferring to a travel agent.

By all accounts, any of the MEI agents (who sponsor this board) are great to work with. 

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I'm a big believer in letting people who are experts do the things they are experts in.   I work in a skilled trade.  Sure, anyone can do what I do, especially with the internet and YouTube, but I'm faster, neater, and more cost effective than someone who hasn't been doing it for decades.  You can't beat years of experience and the contacts that are developed over those years.

 

We are fairly new to using a travel agent.  We only started doing so after finding this site.  My wife was ambivalent, so I made contact with MEI through this site and very quickly heard from Michelle.  She is great.  ?  

My wife is no longer ambivalent and would not think of planning a vacation without Michelle being involved. 

 

Whether we have been booking a cruise, adding a person to an existing reservation, adding a cruise to an existing one to make it a back to back, lifting/shifting due to Covid, having to deal with a charter that canceled an existing booking, or simply repricing due to a price drop, the process for us is literally just a couple emails.

 

I hope Royal Caribbean (and any other company who works the same way) is making sure that travel agents who work on commission are not struggling financially during the time that cruises are not running.  We feel kind of guilty receiving the level of service we get knowing that no one is actually cruising right now.

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Hi Patt,
There are a lot of advantages! We will always offer the same price Royal Caribbean does, with a few exceptions. 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. 
 
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!
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Welcome to the boards Patt!

I too am an advocate of MEI (we are also looked after by @michelle).

I also used to book everything direct with RCCL (I am in the UK and thought at the time that it was the only option available) but, similar to @FionaMGI coincidentally made the switch to MEI not long before the world entered its current crazy phase.

It has been comforting to know that Michelle is in our corner throughout the rounds of cancellations, new bookings, further cancellations, etc, and all the ancillary activities that go with them (for example Michelle recently researched the visa requirements for a total of 10 islands/destinations that we hope to visit on 2021/22 sailings, which saved me a whole heap of time).

I don't know where you are based, but in short if you are willing/able to book in USD then I would recommend MEI all the way.

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Travel agents can sometimes book at a lower rate than is offered on the cruise line website because they have access to group rates.  If any agent within their entire agency has booked a group for that particular cruise then your agent can usually put you in that group.  Group rates are typically a bit lower and they are also typically refundable fares.  I've found this to be a big advantage in addition to everything else mentioned above.

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I've used Costco Travel a few times and their agents seem to be pretty knowledgeable.  I'm not sure if you can request any particular agent but I've always gotten the same rates as what the cruise lines were offering on their websites plus they will give you a Costco gift card per room booked and sometimes other perks.  The other side bonus is that your purchase also qualifies for the 2% back if you have an executive membership.  On our trip for this Summer I should get close to $500 in gift cards plus ~$160 back from the 2% portion for the 3 rooms that I booked for our family.

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I always used a travel agent until last year, when covid hit New Jersey required that all non essential businesses close. We had a July 2020 cruise booked, I couldn't get in touch with my agent (agency laid her off) to pay the balance of the cruise and when I called RC, they wouldn't accept it directly. I eventually got in touch with the owner of the travel agency and completed my payment. I have since booked 4 cruises direct. I don't have a problem using an agent, just wasn't comfortable with what happened last year.

 

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14 hours ago, Ken Jensen said:

I always used a travel agent until last year, when covid hit New Jersey required that all non essential businesses close. We had a July 2020 cruise booked, I couldn't get in touch with my agent (agency laid her off) to pay the balance of the cruise and when I called RC, they wouldn't accept it directly. I eventually got in touch with the owner of the travel agency and completed my payment. I have since booked 4 cruises direct. I don't have a problem using an agent, just wasn't comfortable with what happened last year.

 

That's unfortunate and I can understand the frustration, but that's also very much an edge case due to the crazy times we live in.  

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On 2/9/2021 at 7:13 PM, Ken Jensen said:

I always used a travel agent until last year, when covid hit New Jersey required that all non essential businesses close. We had a July 2020 cruise booked, I couldn't get in touch with my agent (agency laid her off) to pay the balance of the cruise and when I called RC, they wouldn't accept it directly. I eventually got in touch with the owner of the travel agency and completed my payment. I have since booked 4 cruises direct. I don't have a problem using an agent, just wasn't comfortable with what happened last year.

 

Ken,  This did happen to several agents in the industry or they made changes with their agency affiliation.  Covid was a game changer that agents and the cruise lines were never prepared for as well as they NEVER thought it would go this long.  When working with a travel agent it is important to know how to reach them as well as the home office (which the cruise line can provide that information to you).   I know that it was frustrating to not reach the agent, but probably before this was never an issue.

The travel industry as a whole is going to need a lot of help to get back so anytime you can support a travel agent - please do.  Even when you have booked direct, you can transfer those bookings to a travel agent which should never cost you more, but you could find that it saves you time and money if they apply specials to your reservations.

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On 2/8/2021 at 12:51 PM, Ian T said:

Welcome to the boards Patt!

I too am an advocate of MEI (we are also looked after by @michelle).

I also used to book everything direct with RCCL (I am in the UK and thought at the time that it was the only option available) but, similar to @FionaMGI coincidentally made the switch to MEI not long before the world entered its current crazy phase.

It has been comforting to know that Michelle is in our corner throughout the rounds of cancellations, new bookings, further cancellations, etc, and all the ancillary activities that go with them (for example Michelle recently researched the visa requirements for a total of 10 islands/destinations that we hope to visit on 2021/22 sailings, which saved me a whole heap of time).

I don't know where you are based, but in short if you are willing/able to book in USD then I would recommend MEI all the way.

Thank you Ian - UK clients rock!

 

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Okay @michelle, @Sharla & the MANY others on the board better versed in these things than I am, I have a question.  What is the threshold for requesting a transfer of a booking to another agency?  I book a cruise back in early 2019 for last summer with a friend of mine who worked for a fairly major regional travel agency.  I "lifted & shifted" it to this August with her help.  Since that time, she was furloughed, my booking was transferred to another agent, and then he was furloughed as well.  I received an email from the corporate office of the agency with the name of my new agent, but I haven't heard anything from her since she took over a month ago (in her defense, I haven't reached out either).  The only reason I booked with this company was as a favor to a friend, now that she's gone, I really have no connection to the company or the agent at all, and the current agent hasn't had to do any work on my behalf.  They haven't done anything wrong per se, but the current agent hasn't sone anything for me, either.  Is this a situation that would warrant transferring my booking to another agency that I prefer?  Is it possible?  Is it ethical?  I'm not well-versed in the behind-the-scenes operations around who gets paid when and how to know if I'd be inadvertently hurting anyone who had worked with/fought for me (the original agent really had to log some serious time on the phone with RCI in the early days of the Lift & Shift program).  So, the TL;DR version: I would like to transfer my booking to a different agency out of personal preference, but not at the expense of any individuals who put in work on my behalf.

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15 minutes ago, USCG Teacher said:

Is this a situation that would warrant transferring my booking to another agency that I prefer?  Is it possible?  Is it ethical? 

I only know from my experiences pre-covid. When there is a new, unattached reservation, you have 60 days to transfer to an agent. I have heard that agents can take over a reservation past the 60 day mark as well, if it is unattached.

Where it gets tricky is your situation where it is already attached to an agent. My understanding is that even if the current agency released it, Royal would take it back. You cannot pull a reservation from one agent and move it over to another. If you find out that you can, let me know lol. I still have one reservation that is stuck with an agent that I am not happy with. 

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34 minutes ago, USCG Teacher said:

What is the threshold for requesting a transfer of a booking to another agency? 

This can be done- you have to get a letter from the existing agency that you'd like to transfer the booking to another agency. If that agency charges a cancellation fee that's up to you if you want to pay it. You don't have to have a "valid reason"- any reason is fine. 

If you want to reach out to one of us we can help, but it's going to depend on the other agency, and if they will indeed release it. 

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2 hours ago, Sharla said:

This can be done- you have to get a letter from the existing agency that you'd like to transfer the booking to another agency. If that agency charges a cancellation fee that's up to you if you want to pay it. You don't have to have a "valid reason"- any reason is fine. 

If you want to reach out to one of us we can help, but it's going to depend on the other agency, and if they will indeed release it. 

Thank you for the feedback, I'll reach out to the other agency and find out.  If they will grant it, I plan on transferring it to an MEI agent.  ???

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On 2/14/2021 at 7:31 PM, USCG Teacher said:

Thank you for the feedback, I'll reach out to the other agency and find out.  If they will grant it, I plan on transferring it to an MEI agent.  ???

Hi USCG Teacher - 
By the way - what a fun job!   Yes, tell the agency you want it released back to Royal Caribbean.  The owners have to send in a letter on agency letter head and its fairly easy to do this, but like Sharla said if that agency has a fee, you have to work with that.    It can take about 10 days for them to in fact release it
  Good Luck and any MEI agent can help you out in the future, TA are okay people ?

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