When to get a new Travel agent?

[jupiter03]

Hi all,

I've been using the same travel agent since 2015 and she used to be great. I've booked several cruises with her and she was always very responsive and quick to take care of any price drops or new bookings. She would respond on nights or weekends. Her agency would always kick in some OBC to sweeten the deals.

But this last year has been a mess. I've cancelled several cruises this year (rightly, since they all ended up cancelled by Royal anyway) and a myriad of issues that she has not been able to fix (such as missing FCC/refunds, refundable cruises rebooked as non-refundable, cruises not price-protected, etc.). I don't know if these problems were errors by her or errors by Royal. I want to be loyal to her because I'm sure her business has really suffered, but I just want my many issues fixed. I feel like I've been very patient and only check in once a month, but her responses are always that she's put in the request for Royal to fix things, but nothing ever gets fixed. I read all the posts by people on this board that are happy with their TA and I wonder about mine.

The final straw for me is that I saw a booking for 2023 that I wanted to do on Tuesday. It was a good sale, and normally she responds back right away and books it. But I didn't hear back from her. Sale ended. I sent two more emails before I received a response that she was super busy with the latest cancellations and would help me later. It's been days and no response. I don't want to be a nag, but I feel like TAs know how fast cruise prices change and she should have gotten back to me by now. I check this cruise everyday and the price keeps changing.

So big question: when should I get a new travel agent?  Should I find a new TA for the 2023 cruise, or should I stick with my current TA (which I still have several 2021/2022 cruises booked through and several FCCs from all the cancelled cruises)? I know she owns the bookings, but does she own the FCCs?

[Lovetocruise2002]

You own your FCCs. And yes, IMO, you needed a new agent like Tuesday.

[AshleyDillo]

The TA does NOT own the FCCs.  

[WAAAYTOOO]

I would definitely try someone new for this 2023 cruise. Your old TA has had plenty of time to act and she didn’t.  Try someone new for this one and then figure out if you want to continue with your new agent or go back to your old one.  As @AshleyDilloand @Lovetocruise2002said, the FCCs are yours - you can place them anywhere you want.  There’s no harm in trying something new.

I recommend Michelle Cunningham at MEI. [email protected] All of the MEI agents are very good.  Best of luck !

[jupiter03]

Thank you everyone. Just wanted to make sure I didn't have the wrong expectations.

Thanks for Michelle's contact info. I'll get in touch.

[twangster]

As a tip in general, even the best TAs are not available 24 x 7 (they all need to sleep at some point).

If you are in the US you can always book a cruise directly on the Royal website anytime day or night and transfer it to any travel agent you desire.  It has to be transferred within 60 days and it can't be paid in full so just put down the minimum deposit amount.  

I often find a deal or a favorite cabin that I know will be gone the next day.  At times when my TA is not available I book it directly then transfer it later.

This doesn't work for cruises that are within final payment booked a few months before sailing though.  Those have to paid in full on the spot.

Just as an FYI I also had some refundable bookings converted to non-refundable by Royal.  That was Royal who did that, not my TA.  

[Jill]

Ditto @twangster. I normally book what I want directly with RC then transfer to my TA (Sharla at MEI). 
 

Agree with others it’s time to change TA’s. 

[jupiter03]

Thanks for the tips! I didn't realize I could book on my own and transfer later. However, my current TA always gives some sort of OBC for booking with her and I never know what that will be. Sometimes that makes the difference whether I can convince my husband to let me book another cruise or not. Do MEI travel agents ever offer any OBC for booking? 

Yes, I know TAs aren't always available. I always worry about bothering them too often, as I know this has been a terrible year for them and they are doing tons more work cancelling/rebooking and not getting paid. 

[Lovetocruise2002]

8 minutes ago, jupiter03 said:

However, my current TA always gives some sort of OBC for booking with her and I never know what that will be.

With my old TA, who turned out a be a lemon when global cancellations broke out, I would book first and transfer it and reap the benefits of the discounts offered by the agency.  However, be very careful with looking at price only.  I too was deceived by that for quite a long time.  In the end, the discounts are not always worth the personal service that a good and competent TA can offer you.  

[RockerDom31]

Just to piggy-back off this topic...

If we cancelled a reservation and (begrudgingly) paid the cancellation fees to my former TA, my relationship with that TA is now done, correct? I have zero obligation to return to them? Or to even talk to them ever again?

Once we decide to use our FCC’s, will they get a notification that we did? I am definitely considering MEI but I don’t want to break any honor codes or anything between TAs.

Thanks!

[jupiter03]

Yes, I agree. Before the pandemic, I didn't have any problems, so no problems with my TA either and I thought she was great. Now I'm looking for someone that can handle issues and is in the know. This has jogged my memory of a few times where Matt has mentioned some new change Royal implemented and when I asked her about it, she would respond that she hadn't heard about it, but would check into it and then crickets. Then when I would push again, she'd say, no that doesn't exist. I don't know if she was talking to a customer service rep who also didn't know about it, if she wasn't checking at all, or if she just didn't know how to deal with it.

I've worked customer service jobs before, so I understand that not everything can be fixed easily and some things are out of your control. As a customer, I think all everybody wants is to know that someone has your back and they care. 

[smokeybandit]

I would imagine there's some percentage of TAs who put TA stuff on the back burner during the pandemic.

[Matt]

45 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

In the end, the discounts are not always worth the personal service that a good and competent TA can offer you.  

[WAAAYTOOO]

33 minutes ago, RockerDom31 said:

Just to piggy-back off this topic...

If we cancelled a reservation and (begrudgingly) paid the cancellation fees to my former TA, my relationship with that TA is now done, correct? I have zero obligation to return to them? Or to even talk to them ever again?

Once we decide to use our FCC’s, will they get a notification that we did? I am definitely considering MEI but I don’t want to break any honor codes or anything between TAs.

Thanks!

Yes, once you are "out" of a particular reservation, you have no further obligation (not that you ever really did...but just the whole "honor code" thing) to that TA.  Any FCC's that you may have garnered belong to YOU, not the agency.  The only issue (at least, it has been an issue for us) is that you may not have gotten all of the info on all of your FCC's.  In our case, the emails with FCC info have only ever gone to our TA...she then tells us about it.  So once you are confident that you have all of the FCC values and their certificate numbers, you will be good-to-go.  ...and whether they will admit it to you or not, the Royal agents CAN access all of the information regarding FCC's if they are willing to do that.  Last week we managed to find an incredible Club Royale agent (Jean) who took almost an hour with us to locate and quantify every single FCC we have.  I need to touch base with @michelleto make sure that she and I have the same info.  So it's worth a try....if you want to try and call Royal and see if you can get a good agent who will help you locate and document all of your FCC's.  Then you will have no need to interact with the old Agency at all.

[teddy]

1 hour ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

In the end, the discounts are not always worth the personal service that a good and competent TA can offer you.  

I agree. 
 

When we decide to book a cruise, we’re going to ahead and do just that regardless of any extras.   We budget for the listed price of the cruise, not any potential discounts  

The service we’re receiving during this pandemic is top shelf, and we are so grateful to have our agent in our corner to advocate for us. 
 

[Lovetocruise2002]

1 hour ago, RockerDom31 said:

If we cancelled a reservation and (begrudgingly) paid the cancellation fees to my former TA, my relationship with that TA is now done, correct? I have zero obligation to return to them? Or to even talk to them ever again?

Your TA charged you a cancellation fee?????  That is definitely grounds for "see you never again", IMO.

And yes, once the reservation is cancelled, you are not tied to them.  The FCCs belong to you.  However, I have found with the many cancellations that I have had this year, some of the FCCs went to my former TA and not to me.  Being that they are not reliable, they never sent it to me.  A quick call to Royal and that's all it took for me to receive it.

[KevinJ]

I had booked two cruises direct in 2020 and early 2021. When all the cancellations started I was able to move my 2021 cruise to a TA and have booked two more with them. The issue I've run into is tracking the FCCs and OBCs from my personal cruise which were later added to the 2021 cruise which then got cancelled as well. The TA could not track them accurately. Spent about an hour on the phone with Royal and got it all figured out. I'm still quite happy going forward with my TA. Glad to hear about booking a cruise myself then transferring it, I hadn't thought about that and I've played message tag with my TA trying to get a booking that I really wanted. I'm going to keep this in mind as I start looking at 2023.

[Sharla]

3 hours ago, RockerDom31 said:

Just to piggy-back off this topic...

If we cancelled a reservation and (begrudgingly) paid the cancellation fees to my former TA, my relationship with that TA is now done, correct? I have zero obligation to return to them? Or to even talk to them ever again?

Once we decide to use our FCC’s, will they get a notification that we did? I am definitely considering MEI but I don’t want to break any honor codes or anything between TAs.

Thanks!

Your relationship with your current TA is done when all your cruises with them are cancelled. MEI-Travel does not charge any cancellation fees, ever. 

 

[Sharla]

@jupiter03 It does sound like it's time for you to get a new TA. However, with Royal Caribbean their FCCs and refunds have been messed up for a year now. It's been incredibly difficult as a TA to get things fixed. But the FCCs do belong to you, you can take them to Royal or direct or to any other travel agency.

But in terms of you wanting to book that new cruise, I don't think her response was a valid one. It does not take long to make a new booking, and I would have done that for you right away. You need a new TA for sure!

[RockerDom31]

3 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Your TA charged you a cancellation fee?????  That is definitely grounds for "see you never again", IMO.

And yes, once the reservation is cancelled, you are not tied to them.  The FCCs belong to you.  However, I have found with the many cancellations that I have had this year, some of the FCCs went to my former TA and not to me.  Being that they are not reliable, they never sent it to me.  A quick call to Royal and that's all it took for me to receive it.

Yup - $150 per person - $300 total. It was not a fun transaction. And unfortunately, this clause was buried in their fine print terms and conditions.

THEN, they had the audacity to try to have us come back to them “for a special rate of only a $100 per person planning fee”. They had never charged us before but I guess now they are.

So good riddance to them! Out of respect to that company, I won’t mention who they are.

But I will be reaching out to MEI once we can start booking again! I hear they are great :-)

thanks all!

[Lovetocruise2002]

10 minutes ago, RockerDom31 said:

So good riddance to them! Out of respect to that company, I won’t mention who they are.

A certain TA with a YouTube channel comes to mind lol

[RockerDom31]

12 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

A certain TA with a YouTube channel comes to mind lol

Haha. It’s actual a local Mom-and-Pop company in the town where I work. We actually found them at a wedding show when we were planning our honeymoon. We planned three international vacations with them and we only ever paid for the cost of the trip.

Now they have “re-branded” and fees are everywhere! Oh here’s another fun fee - “reservation change fee, $50 per person, per change” and yes, that would have been charged had we “lift-and-shifted”!

Amen to the advice said all over the site and forum -“Use a GOOD travel agent”!

[Sharla]

6 hours ago, RockerDom31 said:

Once we decide to use our FCC’s, will they get a notification that we did? I am definitely considering MEI but I don’t want to break any honor codes or anything between TAs.

No, the old agency will not be notified.  There's a difference in being unethical (i.e. me just stealing your business from the existing TA like promising you something if you cancel your reservation with them) and just business (i.e. you aren't happy with the current TA and like our service better).  It's a service industry for sure.

 

[Sharla]

6 hours ago, jupiter03 said:

Do MEI travel agents ever offer any OBC for booking? 

I can promise you the lowest price in terms of what Royal direct has to offer, but I can't promise you to match a $600 discount that Costco is giving, or anything like that. But I can promise you that I will work hard for you and do my best job for you, as I would for everyone no matter what. 

*By "I" I do mean "pretty much all MEI-Travel agents."

[smokeybandit]

Since we're talking travel agents, is it a thing for any travel agents to monitor for price drops or is that typically the responsibility of the client?  That's not a loaded question, just curious.

[Sharla]

8 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Since we're talking travel agents, is it a thing for any travel agents to monitor for price drops or is that typically the responsibility of the client?  That's not a loaded question, just curious.

MEI-Travel does monitor- I often check and we have an alert tool that works for us (most of the time). However, if you do see a lower price, you can email your agent and they can check on it. We work together!

[KathyC]

28 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Since we're talking travel agents, is it a thing for any travel agents to monitor for price drops or is that typically the responsibility of the client?  That's not a loaded question, just curious.

Some do and some don't.  MEI is one of those that take the initiative on their own when sales are announced and will check their client's bookings.  Another agent I used to use would happily re-price, but only after I did the price check on my own every time there was a sale; "too busy with too many clients to check every one every time".  I've had others in the past that wanted nothing to do with a re-price, as that meant extra work for them to receive a lower commission, or would charge a small fee for the bother. 

That is a valid question to ask any agent, so you know up front what their practice is. 

[jupiter03]

4 hours ago, Sharla said:

 MEI-Travel does not charge any cancellation fees, ever. 

 

@Sharla Does MEI travel have any other fees? Like change fees or booking fees? That's great that you monitor prices. 

[WAAAYTOOO]

@michellealways checks prices when a new sale is announced BUT  she does not, nor do I expect her to check prices daily.  That is MY job and I do it every. single. day.  If I happen to catch a price drop (this has not happened for some time, BTW) I notify her immediately and she looks into it.

I have never ever been charged a single dime in fees from MEI.  Never.  Ever....and I've been using them for nearly 10 years.

[smokeybandit]

You guy make me want to switch to MEI for my next booking.

 

Question: Would NextCruise OBC convey with the transfer of a booking to a TA?

[teddy]

10 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

You guy make me want to switch to MEI for my next booking.

 

Question: Would NextCruise OBC convey with the transfer of a booking to a TA?

Yes. 
 

When we booked at NextCruise, the bookings were automatically transferred to Michelle (with MEI), who is our agent of record.  The obc we got for booking there stayed with us. 

[Linda R]

21 hours ago, jupiter03 said:

Hi all,

I've been using the same travel agent since 2015 and she used to be great. I've booked several cruises with her and she was always very responsive and quick to take care of any price drops or new bookings. She would respond on nights or weekends. Her agency would always kick in some OBC to sweeten the deals.

But this last year has been a mess. I've cancelled several cruises this year (rightly, since they all ended up cancelled by Royal anyway) and a myriad of issues that she has not been able to fix (such as missing FCC/refunds, refundable cruises rebooked as non-refundable, cruises not price-protected, etc.). I don't know if these problems were errors by her or errors by Royal. I want to be loyal to her because I'm sure her business has really suffered, but I just want my many issues fixed. I feel like I've been very patient and only check in once a month, but her responses are always that she's put in the request for Royal to fix things, but nothing ever gets fixed. I read all the posts by people on this board that are happy with their TA and I wonder about mine.

The final straw for me is that I saw a booking for 2023 that I wanted to do on Tuesday. It was a good sale, and normally she responds back right away and books it. But I didn't hear back from her. Sale ended. I sent two more emails before I received a response that she was super busy with the latest cancellations and would help me later. It's been days and no response. I don't want to be a nag, but I feel like TAs know how fast cruise prices change and she should have gotten back to me by now. I check this cruise everyday and the price keeps changing.

So big question: when should I get a new travel agent?  Should I find a new TA for the 2023 cruise, or should I stick with my current TA (which I still have several 2021/2022 cruises booked through and several FCCs from all the cancelled cruises)? I know she owns the bookings, but does she own the FCCs?

You can book yourself on RC site and transfer to your TA later.  Also the saving you may get on booking yourself may be better than an onboard credit anyway.

And your TA should understand, being so busy,  and maybe still give you an OBC?

[SpeedNoodles]

Honestly, right now, I wouldn't expect any OBC from TAs (meaning I personally simply would not expect it from them)..  They have been hammered with so much work and very little/no reward over the last year.

[Papamillz2]

I can vouch for @Sharla with MEI. Since our first Covid canceled cruise in May ‘20, I was not happy with our travel agent at the time in the way it was handled. After getting our FCC’s, I switched agencies after reading so many good recommendations about MEI here on the blog. Sharla has gone above and beyond booking numerous cruises and subsequent cancellations for us in the hopes of one day the cruising world (and the world in general) is back to normal. I also check for price drops frequently and if I see one, I just drop Sharla an email and she checks into it.  
 

Communication is the key to having a good travel agent and I couldn’t be happier with everything Sharla has done for us. 

[Matt]

18 hours ago, RockerDom31 said:

Now they have “re-branded” and fees are everywhere! Oh here’s another fun fee - “reservation change fee, $50 per person, per change” and yes, that would have been charged had we “lift-and-shifted”!

Wow. I've heard of cancellation fees from some TAs, but that is absolutely ridiculous.

[Sharla]

16 hours ago, jupiter03 said:

@Sharla Does MEI travel have any other fees? Like change fees or booking fees? That's great that you monitor prices. 

No fees, ever. Change, cancel, anything, no fees from us. (The supplier may charge fees, but never the agency.)

[smokeybandit]

Asking this here since it didn't seem to warrant a new topic.

 

In the context of calling RC about reservations, is there any benefit to calling the C&A phone number vs the main number?

If the Bahamas cruise pricing works out, I'll have one cruise to cancel (booked directly through RC) and then book the Bahamas one for the same-ish week.  The cruise I'd be canceling was booked with FCC.

I'll be on the road the rest of the week so I'm getting all my ducks in a row to be able to quickly call them up.

[Lovetocruise2002]

13 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

calling RC about reservations, is there any benefit to calling the C&A phone number vs the main number?

Yes!  Almost always, the C&A reps are a bit more knowledgeable than the regular reps.  I never call the regular reps.  It's too frustrating when you have to them about Royal's policies lol.

[Matt]

50 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Almost always, the C&A reps are a bit more knowledgeable than the regular reps. 

Especially for non-booking a cruise questions.

[DublinFC]

On 3/21/2021 at 5:22 AM, twangster said:

If you are in the US you can always book a cruise directly on the Royal website anytime day or night and transfer it to any travel agent you desire.  It has to be transferred within 60 days and it can't be paid in full so just put down the minimum deposit amount.  

I often find a deal or a favorite cabin that I know will be gone the next day.  At times when my TA is not available I book it directly then transfer it later.

 

This is something that I do.  During the weekend or late during the evening I know sending an email is not going to get looked at for a day or so.  Booking on my own then transferring eases my mind when it comes to getting the deal/cabin I want.  Then after the booking is made the TA can deal with any issues that come up, which is greatly appreciated.