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Repricing Discussion, TA or no TA, Alert Sites


pmh

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I found that repricing was rather painless  It is easy to get a RC customer service agent online and ask for a repricing. It was rather  I did it twice with no hustle.  The dummy reservation process was slightly time consuming but, in my case, it was well worth it.  

My tendency is to avoid the middle person including TA's. I have used Costco because it is a self directed simple process and and often followed by a nice rewards card.  Please don't let this turn in to a discussion about the merits of using a TA.  Fee free to refer me to other discussion threads in that regard but I am asking specific questions here. 

I am concerned that using any TA such as Costco will hinder direct efforts to do the repricing or other self help cruise planning.  The one time I used a TA I was dealing with a OBC investor based issue and initially referred to my TA.  The RC rep relented and allowed me to deal direct. 

So here are my questions for discussion; 1, If I have a TA can I call direct for a repricing 2,  are there good websites or user groups that can provided valid alerts for repricing purposes 

Thank you in advance. 

😀

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My own anecdotal observation:

I signed up at cruisewatch.com that supposedly checks prices.  I've gotten 3 price drops in the last 2-3 months for 2 different cruises. They came proactively from my TA, including one that I didn't see myself on RC.com.

I got no notifications from cruisewatch.com

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2 hours ago, pmh said:

I found that repricing was rather painless  It is easy to get a RC customer service agent online and ask for a repricing. It was rather  I did it twice with no hustle.  The dummy reservation process was slightly time consuming but, in my case, it was well worth it.  

My tendency is to avoid the middle person including TA's. I have used Costco because it is a self directed simple process and and often followed by a nice rewards card.  Please don't let this turn in to a discussion about the merits of using a TA.  Fee free to refer me to other discussion threads in that regard but I am asking specific questions here. 

I am concerned that using any TA such as Costco will hinder direct efforts to do the repricing or other self help cruise planning.  The one time I used a TA I was dealing with a OBC investor based issue and initially referred to my TA.  The RC rep relented and allowed me to deal direct. 

So here are my questions for discussion; 1, If I have a TA can I call direct for a repricing 2,  are there good websites or user groups that can provided valid alerts for repricing purposes 

Thank you in advance. 

😀

Costco is definitely not a traditional TA - It will be harder to do anything regarding your cruise through them vs booking directly through the cruise line.  You will have to call them for any dealings with your cruise - Royal will not talk to you.

I switched to a TA for this reason after having to spend hours dealing with cancelled cruises during covid but I would have been better calling the cruise line directly.

 

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9 minutes ago, FManke said:

Why would you want to use a TA and then do your own leg work? Just asking.

 

Happy Cruising!

It is easy to call a RC CS rep and ask for repricing.  Unless the TA proactively pursues repricing I would have to call the TA who then calls RC for the repricing.  I tend to be a do it yourselfer by nature and that is my first instinct, just get it done.  The way COSTCO is set up with a website to book the cruise it is like booking direct with RC but with COSTCO comes a COSTCO card post cruise to good to spend at COSTCO as well as possible other benefits.  As far as I can tell the perks are a bit better at COSTCO and the site allows me to do my own research, comparison shop then click and schedule  I suppose there are outstanding TA's out there that stay on top of repricing and provide services that override any added COSTCO perks  

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Generally I've given up on alert sites.  

Within each cabin type (balcony, suite, interior) are specific categories and I've yet to find an alert site that allows me to monitor my exact category such as a 4D balcony for my qualifiers.  Often the alerts generated don't apply to me or my qualifiers.  The alert sites tend to monitor for two guests with no other qualifiers like age, solo, state of residency, etc.  Often price drops only appear based on those qualifiers.  

Some online booking engines will announce a fare drop of some trivial amount to trick these alert sites into advertising that booking engine.  "Fare drop... $2."  but when you look at it the actual rate is the same as what I've got.  

Alert sites also do not consider my willingness to move cabins or upgrade from what I've got to something else... if the price difference is within my idea of acceptable.  A suite category may go on sale but my balcony didn't so it doesn't alert me but when a suite is now only $100 more. I'll take that upgrade every time.  

In the end I find that doing my own checks has paid much better dividends. 

Some TA's like MEI Travel have proprietary software that uses an API into the Royal backend reservation system so that gives them the ability to look at my exact details right down to my exact cabin and find price drops.

Sometimes price drops are fleeting or brief.  There may be only one of my category left and once it's sold it's harder to catch price drops.  I can check and see nothing but when that other cabin is coming and going out of inventory an automated system like MEI's can catch the price drop in that instant.  If I had checked 3 minutes earlier it was there but I miss it when checking manually. 

22 minutes ago, pmh said:

It is easy to call a RC CS rep and ask for repricing.  Unless the TA proactively pursues repricing I would have to call the TA who then calls RC for the repricing.  I tend to be a do it yourselfer by nature and that is my first instinct, just get it done.  The way COSTCO is set up with a website to book the cruise it is like booking direct with RC but with COSTCO comes a COSTCO card post cruise to good to spend at COSTCO as well as possible other benefits.  As far as I can tell the perks are a bit better at COSTCO and the site allows me to do my own research, comparison shop then click and schedule  I suppose there are outstanding TA's out there that stay on top of repricing and provide services that override any added COSTCO perks  

Be aware that historically Costco does not participate in the RoyalUp program.  I've used them until I had an issue that caused a missed cruise and insurance claim.  I had a really hard time getting them to invest any time into getting me the documentation required by my insurance company.  It's all good until it isn't.  It was a cruise booking after final payment 45 days away.  Who needs a full service agency?  What could go wrong?  Doh!

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4 minutes ago, twangster said:

Be aware that historically Costco does not participate in the RoyalUp program.  I've used them until I had an issue that caused a missed cruise and insurance claim.  I had a really hard time getting them to invest any time into getting me the documentation required by my insurance company.  It's all good until it isn't.  It was a cruise booking after final payment 45 days away.  Who needs a full service agency?  What could go wrong?  Doh!

This was my experience with Costco and also Expedia - Everything was fine until there was a problem - then it became a big problem.  

I switched to MEI for those reasons.  

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3 hours ago, pmh said:

1, If I have a TA can I call direct for a repricing

No you can't, but you can alert the TA and they should do it for you. 

 

3 hours ago, pmh said:

I am concerned that using any TA such as Costco will hinder direct efforts to do the repricing or other self help cruise planning. 

I can't speak for Costco because they are a wholesaler and not exactly a TA. But a lot of traditional agents reprice. As people have said those of us at MEI-Travel have a tool that checks for us. But a lot of times clients email me before I get that notice from the tool. Sometimes it's lower, sometimes it isn't. Sometimes they forget that they added gratuities or insurance and the price isn't actually lower.
But to answer what I think is your question- yes, if the price goes down the commission goes down, so would that make me not want to change it? No, because it's part of the service we provide, meaning if I do a good job with helping you out you'll come back, meaning more money. 

I don't know of any alert sites beyond what people have mentioned, but those alert sites aren't 100% accurate anyway. They mine the RoyalCaribbean site for the price but they don't necessarily know your price or, again, if you added gratuities, have a non-refundable vs refundable deposit, etc.

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I got 2 price drops on my upcoming LOTS trip. The first one, my TA just sent me an email with a new invoice (prior to final payment) reflecting new price and a note saying there was a price adjustment. The second (after final payment) I noticed a lower price when I was booking dining package (I always do a quick mock booking anytime I am logged on the site), shot me TA a quick email, and 45 minutes later the OBC showed up in my cruise planner. 

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3 hours ago, Sharla said:

if the price goes down the commission goes down

This always makes me feel a bit guilty....we're booking bottom end to start with and hate to be a pita.  The guilty feeling is on my end though...I've never had anything but stellar customer service.  I suspect decades of being in customer service has made me uncomfortable being an actual customer.

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20 minutes ago, teddy said:

This always makes me feel a bit guilty....we're booking bottom end to start with and hate to be a pita.  The guilty feeling is on my end though...I've never had anything but stellar customer service.  I suspect decades of being in customer service has made me uncomfortable being an actual customer.

Don't feel guilty, it's part of it. Again, want you to have the best deal, and want to give the best service!

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I always do my own bookings online with RC. Then I monitor and service each of them, usually a dozen or so…price drops, cruise planner deals, better cabins for lesser prices. But it takes lots of time and effort. I use charts and pages of notes (or, as some in may family have so indelicately described…unreadable hieroglyphics) to keep track. Fortunately I have the time do do it. Whenever I have had a reason to call, I try first thing in the morning. It’s a little frustrating to have to hang on while going through all the recorded messages and phone prompts…push 1, push 4, etc. I wish there was just a way to bypass it all and get to an agent. The worst is getting through it all to the last message, “this call may be recorded or monitored for training purposes”, then hear one ring and then nothing! Disconnect and try all over again. However, I have never had a bad experience with an agent when I finally got through. 
But….if I didn’t have the time or the patience to do it…even for one reservation…then I would definitely use MEI and let them do all the grunge work. Plus a little OBC would be nice. Either way, good luck and happy cruising!

Oh…and the best site I found for heads up on deals is this one. Lots of fellow cruisers sharing timely information and advice. Just sayin’!🧐

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16 minutes ago, BrianB said:

I always do my own bookings online with RC. Then I monitor and service each of them, usually a dozen or so…price drops, cruise planner deals, better cabins for lesser prices. But it takes lots of time and effort. I use charts and pages of notes (or, as some in may family have so indelicately described…unreadable hieroglyphics) to keep track. Fortunately I have the time do do it. Whenever I have had a reason to call, I try first thing in the morning. It’s a little frustrating to have to hang on while going through all the recorded messages and phone prompts…push 1, push 4, etc. I wish there was just a way to bypass it all and get to an agent. The worst is getting through it all to the last message, “this call may be recorded or monitored for training purposes”, then hear one ring and then nothing! Disconnect and try all over again. However, I have never had a bad experience with an agent when I finally got through. 
But….if I didn’t have the time or the patience to do it…even for one reservation…then I would definitely use MEI and let them do all the grunge work. Plus a little OBC would be nice. Either way, good luck and happy cruising!

Oh…and the best site I found for heads up on deals is this one. Lots of fellow cruisers sharing timely information and advice. Just sayin’!🧐

That certainly puts things in perspective. Maybe you have been rewarded with some spectacular deals?

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1 hour ago, pmh said:

That certainly puts things in perspective. Maybe you have been rewarded with some spectacular deals?

Some deals are fleeting. Some deals are for certain sailings only. It’s easy to understand when they issue emails advertising deals…but there are some that appear because of a lack of bookings during a certain sailing…or for a certain category. It makes economic sense for Royal to re-evaluate the pricing and try to get more bookings or upgrades before turning it over to RoyalUp for bids. I’d much rather be able to pick my cabin during an upgrade instead of hoping I win a bid not knowing what cabin I get. But this is what a good TA will watch out for and take advantage of. And remember, a good TA has plenty of clients. They retain them and attract more through word of mouth when they do a good job as a client advocate. They may make less of a commission if you pay a less price, but wouldn’t that encourage you to use them again…and tell others? Again, we’re back to economic sense. Enjoy your cruise!

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The best price alerts come from the Facebook groups I’m in. Seriously. Someone on my upcoming sailing just got a drop so I emailed @Sharlato check all my cruises, again, because prices are literally dropping every few days. 
 

I didn’t get a drop on that one but Sharla did tell me I could change my refundable to a non refundable and save $514.99. 
 

Through MEI, Sharla has saved my about $3300 on 3 cruises just since June. 
 

I’m also one of those who sees a lower price while perusing, then reminded I have a refundable deposit lol 

We’ve got some bucket list cruises coming up this year including 2 weeks in Europe and I’m glad I’ve got a contact that knows my booking and the history to be there should we run into issues. 

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5 hours ago, Sharla said:


But to answer what I think is your question- yes, if the price goes down the commission goes down,
 

I never knew how the TA gets paid.  I just switched from the company recommended here because I felt the agent was inattentive/unreachable  for a few issues  and OBC, not a cent.  Now I’ve gone with an agent I met onboard my last sailing.  LOVE her personality but when I find a 20% off on Celebrity sailing extension, and it saved me $800 I have to wonder “where was THIS TA when the sale started?”   I think I just draw the short straw and think every agent will provide excellent service and I have a hard time parting with someone I want to “give another chance”.

So if I decide to book using Next cruise on my upcoming cruise, I know I can sign the waiver to Ditch the current agent, but will the current agent be able to tell?  I’ve got 3 more cruises booked through July with her and I’m unsure if I want to give her additional business. 

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9 hours ago, pmh said:

I found that repricing was rather painless  It is easy to get a RC customer service agent online and ask for a repricing. It was rather  I did it twice with no hustle.  The dummy reservation process was slightly time consuming but, in my case, it was well worth it.  

My tendency is to avoid the middle person including TA's. I have used Costco because it is a self directed simple process and and often followed by a nice rewards card.  Please don't let this turn in to a discussion about the merits of using a TA.  Fee free to refer me to other discussion threads in that regard but I am asking specific questions here. 

I am concerned that using any TA such as Costco will hinder direct efforts to do the repricing or other self help cruise planning.  The one time I used a TA I was dealing with a OBC investor based issue and initially referred to my TA.  The RC rep relented and allowed me to deal direct. 

So here are my questions for discussion; 1, If I have a TA can I call direct for a repricing 2,  are there good websites or user groups that can provided valid alerts for repricing purposes 

Thank you in advance. 

😀

There's general cruise blog site, (Cruiseline.com),  that allows you to set price alerts on cruises you're interested in watching.   It draws info from some a handful of travel  sites and allows you to set an email alert for changes.  There is latency in the alerts, but when you get them, go to the cruise line or your TA's site to validate, then if good, ask the line or TA to reprice you.   I've saved maybe $2K total  across 4 different cruises I've used the price alert feature. I've used it for when I've used a TA and direct booking.  (It makes sense to pay attention to any OBC that factors into your original price before requesting the reprice)

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2 hours ago, Pattycruise said:

I never knew how the TA gets paid.  I just switched from the company recommended here because I felt the agent was inattentive/unreachable  for a few issues  and OBC, not a cent.  Now I’ve gone with an agent I met onboard my last sailing.  LOVE her personality but when I find a 20% off on Celebrity sailing extension, and it saved me $800 I have to wonder “where was THIS TA when the sale started?”   I think I just draw the short straw and think every agent will provide excellent service and I have a hard time parting with someone I want to “give another chance”.

So if I decide to book using Next cruise on my upcoming cruise, I know I can sign the waiver to Ditch the current agent, but will the current agent be able to tell?  I’ve got 3 more cruises booked through July with her and I’m unsure if I want to give her additional business. 

Royal Caribbean pays a certain percentage of the cruise fare in commission. A portion of the cruise fare is non-commissionable, and the amount that they pay depends on the business you do- the more business you do, the higher the commission percentage. 

How a specific agency pays their agent will depend on the agency, if the agent is an employee or an IC, bonuses, etc. 

If you book onboard at Next Cruise and request that it does not go to that current agent, then they will not know. Then you can keep the booking yourself or transfer it to an agency within 30 days of returning from the cruise (and keep your Next Cruise OBC).

If you feel like an agent with MEI or any company you can request a different agent with MEI or the other company. 

 

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2 hours ago, Pattycruise said:

So if I decide to book using Next cruise on my upcoming cruise, I know I can sign the waiver to Ditch the current agent, but will the current agent be able to tell?  I’ve got 3 more cruises booked through July with her and I’m unsure if I want to give her additional business. 

By default if you say nothing a NextCruise booking goes to the agent who booked you onto the cruise you are onboard when you visit NextCruise.

You don't need to sign a waiver, but you do need to tell NextCruise not to assign it to your agent.  Just remember to say something and it will become a direct booking.

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8 hours ago, teddy said:

This always makes me feel a bit guilty....we're booking bottom end to start with and hate to be a pita.  The guilty feeling is on my end though...I've never had anything but stellar customer service.

the reason I don't feel guilty, is the alternative was I booked it myself, which in this day and internet age is very easy to do, and my TA would be getting nothing, it would all be company profit.

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On 9/23/2021 at 2:46 PM, cruisellama said:

There's general cruise blog site, (Cruiseline.com),  that allows you to set price alerts on cruises you're interested in watching.   It draws info from some a handful of travel  sites and allows you to set an email alert for changes.  There is latency in the alerts, but when you get them, go to the cruise line or your TA's site to validate, then if good, ask the line or TA to reprice you.   I've saved maybe $2K total  across 4 different cruises I've used the price alert feature. I've used it for when I've used a TA and direct booking.  (It makes sense to pay attention to any OBC that factors into your original price before requesting the reprice)

Update:  Just received an alert for our  Apex booking in Nov '22 and ended up with a $1,374 ($687pp) reduction after passing info to my TA.

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Wish me luck guys. I just contacted our (non-MEI 🥲) TA about my first ever price drop. Hoping she'll be able to do it without taking away our Next Cruise OBC!

Speaking of...I know MEI won't take reservations over directly from other TAs but is it possible to take a booking back to myself THEN switch to MEI? (we forgot to mention to our Next Cruise Agent that we may have been in the market to switch)

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18 minutes ago, CrimsonCruiser said:

Wish me luck guys. I just contacted our (non-MEI 🥲) TA about my first ever price drop. Hoping she'll be able to do it without taking away our Next Cruise OBC!

Speaking of...I know MEI won't take reservations over directly from other TAs but is it possible to take a booking back to myself THEN switch to MEI? (we forgot to mention to our Next Cruise Agent that we may have been in the market to switch)

Never say never but it requires a bit of work and cooperation from the original agency to let go of the booking.  If they aren't responsive they probably won't be responsive in releasing the booking.

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5 minutes ago, twangster said:

Never say never but it requires a bit of work and cooperation from the original agency to let go of the booking.  If they aren't responsive they probably won't be responsive in releasing the booking.

That's fair. And to be honest and fair, our TA isn't bad. She's responsive and helpful but in a more passive way and I've liked the active approach I've heard from MEI. She also can't do flights, hotels or any shore excursions with Royal (not sure if MEI can do the latter) so I was just open to shopping around. But I can wait - at least we get nice perks with it too!

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On 9/23/2021 at 10:37 AM, FManke said:

MEI for one! Just saying.

 

Happy Cruising!

I must say that we booked through MEI based on the rave reviews on this blog and have been sadly disappointed. We got a bunch of relatives who had self-booked to switch to the same agent, and referred other relatives to book with her. We have had to keep our own watch on prices for cruise fare and beverage packages. I found a drop on the cruise fare myself and contacted the agent. She rebooked us and we saved $800, which was great, but then I had to ask her to rebook everyone else in our party. If I hadn't been looking at fares myself, we would have missed the drop in price. Did I mention we have 15 passengers booked through her?

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I do not feel that it is the job of the TA to identify price drops.  Most of them have waaaytooo many bookings to do that on a regular basis.  Most of the Agents will do a price review when a new "sale" comes along but on a day-to-day basis ?  No way.

Has @michellecome up with price reductions for bookings for me ?  Yes...but I don't expect her to be doing price recons on any kind of regular basis the way I do. More often than not, I will identify what I BELIEVE is a price reduction and then it turns out that it's not b/c different discounts or price incentives are in place from the original booking.

That's just me. Everyone has differing expectations.

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My MEI agent has probably caught a price drop once or twice. Usually I email him after scouring the site,😝. I honestly don't expect them to always be on price drops. They aren't charging me. I also don't think I am their only client, so if it takes a full day or so to answer me, I don't feel slighted in the least. What I was grateful for was not having to worry when the poop hit the fan during the height of the pandemic. But everyone likes their service to be performed a certain way so.....

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16 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

I would imagine an agent calling a client about a price drop is more the exception than the norm

Most of the time I am able to let clients know about a price drop first- most people don't check prices all of the time themselves, they let me do that. I find it the exception for clients to email me first.

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And my experience has been more like WAAAYTOOO’s.  My MEI agent is VERY responsive but I usually find the price drop & then email her to handle it.  I’m old (happy birthday to me) and retired & only have a couple of cruises to keep an eye on so it’s easy to look frequently.  I appreciate her quick responses.

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16 minutes ago, Sharla said:

Most of the time I am able to let clients know about a price drop first- most people don't check prices all of the time themselves, they let me do that. I find it the exception for clients to email me first.

MEI is the exception to the general travel agent rule, too. I've never heard of TAs proactively looking for price drops before being introduced to MEI.

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After seeing all this talk about price drops, I took the chance and called my Costco TA yesterday at 5:00 pm.  While I waited online she was able to get a RCI rep online within minutes and would come back to me every few minutes to report her progress.  They were able to find a 16% discount on my FOTS cruise in November.  I had already made my final payment back when the due date was 60 days out, but since they changed it to 30 days I am getting a refund instead of an OBC.  I didn't check prices first, just picked up the phone and asked them to do the leg work for me on my commute home which this TA was very happy to do...thank you Azurea.  Since these $$ were already paid off on my CC, now I have the problem 🙂 figuring out what would be the best way to spend this savings on my cruise!

 

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It seems as if no one has had any dealing with Priceline and several of you like MEI. On future cruises that I book, I may give MEI an opportunity to service my cruise bookings. However, reading some of your comments. it may be better to go back to booking directly thru RCC. It seems as if it's better to deal with RCC directly than having a TA do it for you.

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On 9/28/2021 at 7:55 PM, WAAAYTOOO said:

I do not feel that it is the job of the TA to identify price drops.  Most of them have waaaytooo many bookings to do that on a regular basis.  Most of the Agents will do a price review when a new "sale" comes along but on a day-to-day basis ?  No way.

Has @michellecome up with price reductions for bookings for me ?  Yes...but I don't expect her to be doing price recons on any kind of regular basis the way I do. More often than not, I will identify what I BELIEVE is a price reduction and then it turns out that it's not b/c different discounts or price incentives are in place from the original booking.

That's just me. Everyone has differing expectations.

 

On 9/28/2021 at 9:45 PM, Ampurp85 said:

My MEI agent has probably caught a price drop once or twice. Usually I email him after scouring the site,😝. I honestly don't expect them to always be on price drops. They aren't charging me. I also don't think I am their only client, so if it takes a full day or so to answer me, I don't feel slighted in the least. What I was grateful for was not having to worry when the poop hit the fan during the height of the pandemic. But everyone likes their service to be performed a certain way so.....

 

You're both probably right. I don't think I generally have unreasonable expectations, I am accustomed to taking care of things myself, and this was the first time I've used a TA to book a cruise. I think I was just basing my expectations on the rave reviews I've read on this site regarding TAs (specifically MEI) finding their clients great deals and price drops. I think @twangster also mentioned MEI having proprietary software that allows them to track price drops earlier on this topic, which kind of reinforced my misperception.

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