andrew_amy Posted March 14, 2023 Report Posted March 14, 2023 We transferred our cruise to MEI last month following all the amazing feedback from the group around effortless repricing, but it looks like we were paired with an unresponsive agent (withholding name). I sent a simple time-sensitive question via email to her a week ago and haven't heard back. I was considering reaching out to MEI and perhaps asking for a more responsive agent - seems like a reasonable request. Is it too late to transfer back to RC? Thanks for the advice, Andrew WAYNO and Allen2 2 Quote
FireFishII Posted March 14, 2023 Report Posted March 14, 2023 Sorry I don't have the answer to your question but I know you can reach out to MEI and request a different agent. In fact, I bet you anything that a MEI agent will see this post and reach out to you. Shari3 and Jenn G-MEI Travel 2 Quote
DublinFC Posted March 14, 2023 Report Posted March 14, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, andrew_amy said: We transferred our cruise to MEI last month following all the amazing feedback from the group around effortless repricing, but it looks like we were paired with an unresponsive agent (withholding name). I sent a simple time-sensitive question via email to her a week ago and haven't heard back. I was considering reaching out to MEI and perhaps asking for a more responsive agent - seems like a reasonable request. Is it too late to transfer back to RC? Thanks for the advice, Andrew I had a similar experience with MEI. 1st vacation through them I was satisfied overall. 2nd there were issues with communication and things we asked to be booked were neglected. Response time was slow over email and I had a hard time connecting over the phone, which is my preferred method to talk when discussing plans. I had to remove vacations from them when pricing changed without explanation. I lost confidence at that point and have been booking things on my own. I considered using a TA again for an all inclusive resort we booked, but decided not to. Each their own, I am not advocating for not using a TA or even to avoid MEI. I think my experience could just come down to a difference in preferences which lead to the issues experienced. Edited March 14, 2023 by DublinFC grammar :) 4ensic, dmattinson, FireFishII and 2 others 5 Quote
Allen2 Posted March 14, 2023 Report Posted March 14, 2023 Had similar issues with MEI: unresponsive, incorrect information. Migrated to another agency and am thrilled. WAYNO and PeloAl 1 1 Quote
Xaa Posted March 14, 2023 Report Posted March 14, 2023 Tagging @Beci to see if she can assist. Neesa and teddy 2 Quote
Montemy2419 Posted March 14, 2023 Report Posted March 14, 2023 44 minutes ago, DublinFC said: I had a similar experience with MEI. 1st vacation through them I was satisfied overall. 2nd there were issues with communication and things we asked to be booked were neglected. Response time was slow over email and I had a hard time connecting over the phone, which is my preferred method to talk when discussing plans. I had to removed vacations from them when pricing changed without explanation. I lost confidence at that point and have been booking things on my own. I considered using a TA again for an all inclusive resort we booked, but decided not to. Each their own, I am not advocating for not using a TA or even to avoid MEI. I think my experience could just come down to a difference in preferences which lead to the issues experienced. I also have cruised booking cruises on my own and previously with a TA. Our Aunt used this TA and had been having great customer service for many years. We weren't really happy with the slow response with returning our phone calls and when we were traveling we called her for help on a same-day flight problem and she was no help. We had travel insurance and this would be the first time that we ever had used it for reimbursement. She gave us no help and once we were back home, after finally reaching our cruise a day late, I went thru all the paperwork on my own. I did ask for help with the paperwork and she said that it was easy and just follow the instructions. Right then is when we started booking all travel on our own. WAYNO and 4ensic 1 1 Quote
Pooch Posted March 14, 2023 Report Posted March 14, 2023 I had that same issue with an MEI agent, flight issues day of & she indicated she could be of no help. She did send insurance paperwork but then we were on our own. I had received good prompt service both prior & after but it did leave a bad taste in my mouth. Pattycruise 1 Quote
Ampurp85 Posted March 14, 2023 Report Posted March 14, 2023 I had a wonderful MEI agent who retired and the agent I was transferred to was not a good fit for me at all. I have new one, but I have only had casino comps, so I felt weird transferring them to her. She is nice and seems to be responsive but not all agents will be a fit for someone. Beci 1 Quote
Beci Posted March 14, 2023 Report Posted March 14, 2023 Hi @andrew_amy, I am very happy to help you find the right fit. The perfect advisor for another guest may be precisely the opposite of what you need. When you send in a request we do our best to match you but in the case of a transfer, we don't have a lot of info to go on, so it may take a conversation to get to know you, your needs, and your preferred communication style to match you perfectly. Some clients only want emails, and others want only phone calls. Some don't want to hear from an advisor unless there is a price drop, while others desire more info. And sometimes it's a training issue we need to work through. Please email me directly at [email protected] with your contact info and I will have my Client Relationship manager contact you and we can address any issues. This is open to any of you who have run into issues. Unfortunately, I am unable to address them if Im not aware, so I truly appreciate your time to help us, help you. Our biggest priority is our relationship with you! And please tell others to contact me directly if there are issues in the future so I may address them. (Thanks @Xaa ) Please forgive me for any delays. I am currently traveling in Italy but will get any feedback to my team asap. Thank you! EasyTarget83, Sharla, FionaMG and 10 others 11 2 Quote
CruiseGus Posted March 14, 2023 Report Posted March 14, 2023 33 minutes ago, Beci said: Hi @andrew_amy, I am very happy to help you find the right fit. The perfect advisor for another guest may be precisely the opposite of what you need. When you send in a request we do our best to match you but in the case of a transfer, we don't have a lot of info to go on, so it may take a conversation to get to know you, your needs, and your preferred communication style to match you perfectly. Some clients only want emails, and others want only phone calls. Some don't want to hear from an advisor unless there is a price drop, while others desire more info. And sometimes it's a training issue we need to work through. Please email me directly at [email protected] with your contact info and I will have my Client Relationship manager contact you and we can address any issues. This is open to any of you who have run into issues. Unfortunately, I am unable to address them if Im not aware, so I truly appreciate your time to help us, help you. Our biggest priority is our relationship with you! And please tell others to contact me directly if there are issues in the future so I may address them. (Thanks @Xaa ) Please forgive me for any delays. I am currently traveling in Italy but will get any feedback to my team asap. Thank you! I don't know how anyone else feels or thinks, but personally I think a response within 2 hours on a blog forum complaint is fantastic. Yes thanks to @Xaa for highlighting. I would give this company another chance, if it was me. BTW I am happy with my Agent kadmgs, Beci, teddy and 6 others 8 1 Quote
FionaMG Posted March 14, 2023 Report Posted March 14, 2023 31 minutes ago, CruiseGus said: I don't know how anyone else feels or thinks, but personally I think a response within 2 hours on a blog forum complaint is fantastic. And especially so when the person responding is travelling herself. jbrinkm, PhillyLady, Snotarni and 2 others 5 Quote
Rfk Posted March 14, 2023 Report Posted March 14, 2023 Beci was very responsive to my query a few months ago. Otherwise TA stands for Transaction Administrator. Haven’t heard a peep since final payment at 90 days. So glad for this board - just about everything I’ve learned to optimize our vacation investment and make advance/final plans at 90-60-30-ish days came from here. Beci 1 Quote
Sara_MEI Posted March 14, 2023 Report Posted March 14, 2023 Hi Everyone! My name is Sara and I am the Client Relationship Manager for MEI-Travel. I am sorry to hear some of you were not happy with your MEI agents! If you are experiencing issues with an agent, please feel free to reach out to me at [email protected]. As Beci said, we cannot solve a problem if we don't know that it exists! Thanks! PhillyLady, Beci, Carlyn3 and 11 others 13 1 Quote
Paid4c4 Posted March 14, 2023 Report Posted March 14, 2023 We are blessed to be with a Travel Agent who has faithfully served our last 60 cruises. I can email, text message or call her and a rapid response. One time as we were coming back into New York and an ice/snow storm she already had us booked into a Marriott Hotel for the evening. I appreciate Beci stepping up and offering to assist, as she stated they can't fix a problem if they don't know about it. Bill Sara_MEI and Beci 2 Quote
andrew_amy Posted March 15, 2023 Author Report Posted March 15, 2023 Thanks to those who shared their experiences. I’ll reach out to Beci to discuss further. FionaMG, Xaa, Beci and 1 other 3 1 Quote
Beci Posted March 25, 2023 Report Posted March 25, 2023 Thank you so much @CruiseGus. We are committed to responding to issues quickly and working to make it right for our clients. I see there are a few who posted stating they encountered issues and simply moved to book direct. Even if you are happy with that scenario, I'd appreciate hearing from you so we can address any training issues with the advisor who didn't deliver. My inbox is always open if anyone is having issues or even if you want to sing the praises of your advisor. You can message me here, email me at [email protected] or email our Client Relationship Manager Sara -- @Sara_MEI. Thanks again -- and please always tag me and/or Sara, like @Xaa did above, so we can jump in and address anything that needs attention. Happy sailing! Xaa, asquared17, CruiseGus and 1 other 4 Quote
KJ777 Posted March 26, 2023 Report Posted March 26, 2023 We transferred our last reservation to MEI with no issue. We got paired with Jenn and she's been amazing. She assisted us with changing an October cruise to December and was able to get the room we requested to be near our family members. Any time I've emailed her, I've heard back quickly, even on a Sunday. I'm sorry you had a bad experience with your TA but maybe give MEI another chance. Jenn G-MEI Travel, fireclan, Sharla and 1 other 3 1 Quote
wordell1 Posted March 26, 2023 Report Posted March 26, 2023 I needed to cancel and rebook a cruise for a week later. I realized in on Saturday AM, emailed my MEI TA at 10:30am. By 12:30 I was rebooked on the new cruise. All communication through easy emails. This would have required a long phone call to Royal if I had booked myself, and I can't even imagine if I had used Costco or one of the big online TA's. Great Job MEI ! Jenn G-MEI Travel, PhillyLady, Sara_MEI and 2 others 5 Quote
Jenn G-MEI Travel Posted March 27, 2023 Report Posted March 27, 2023 16 hours ago, KJ777 said: We transferred our last reservation to MEI with no issue. We got paired with Jenn and she's been amazing. She assisted us with changing an October cruise to December and was able to get the room we requested to be near our family members. Any time I've emailed her, I've heard back quickly, even on a Sunday. I'm sorry you had a bad experience with your TA but maybe give MEI another chance. Thank you so much for the kind words! I was happy to help you. KJ777, michelle, FloatyBoaty and 2 others 5 Quote
Jolly Ogre Posted March 27, 2023 Report Posted March 27, 2023 I had Danette and then when she left we got transferred to Michelle and everything as been smooth sailing. teddy and WAAAYTOOO 1 1 Quote
PeloAl Posted March 27, 2023 Report Posted March 27, 2023 I had the same experience with MEI as far as taking too long to respond to emails. They’re obviously in some sort of partnership with this page. I’m always a bit leery when so many people are pushing for one specific agency. Anyway, I was able to find a great agent elsewhere so all good WAAAYTOOO, SweetPea and Montemy2419 3 Quote
andrew_amy Posted March 28, 2023 Author Report Posted March 28, 2023 Update on this thread: I reached out to Sara (Client Relationship Manager) who recommended Jennifer Kelln and our experience to date has been outstanding. Thanks Sara and Jennifer! Jolly Ogre, Sara_MEI, Xaa and 4 others 7 Quote
Sara_MEI Posted March 28, 2023 Report Posted March 28, 2023 Our pleasure!! I am so glad we were able to work it out. Jenn G-MEI Travel 1 Quote
Xaa Posted March 28, 2023 Report Posted March 28, 2023 16 hours ago, PeloAl said: I had the same experience with MEI as far as taking too long to respond to emails. They’re obviously in some sort of partnership with this page. I’m always a bit leery when so many people are pushing for one specific agency. Anyway, I was able to find a great agent elsewhere so all good I think it's well known that they are a sponsor of royalcaribbeanblog.com. I think many here try them because upon arriving here, they are/were booking on their own. Seems like most have great experiences with them while some do not. The key I think is for folks to take advantage of a TA for cruise bookings to save time at the very least and in many cases money as well. Doesn't have to be MEI, but they are here so it is not in any way odd that they have a higher market share on this forum than they may enjoy in the marketplace at large. PeloAl and Allen2 2 Quote
julesandjagger Posted March 28, 2023 Report Posted March 28, 2023 I had the same issue with MEI and I am now having to work directly with RC to rebook or cancel. I was able to speak with Sara and get assigned to a new agent, however RC had already taken back the reservation so I have not been able to work with a new agent at MEI. I am still trying to change my reservation and it is a different experience not talking to the same person each time - I feel really stuck now and prefer to have a go to person. My first reservation with them, they were responsive at first and then it was me sending multiple emails, calls texts just to get a simple response and none of the added on services they promised me like an OC which did not show up - my agent did Venmo me a credit but it was only half of what was promised. Im frustrated now that its taken me almost 1 month to try and move this reservation, as prices have gone up and availability is less than it was when I tried to move my booking initially. Does anyone know if I can the it sent to another TA? PeloAl 1 Quote
Sara_MEI Posted March 28, 2023 Report Posted March 28, 2023 3 hours ago, julesandjagger said: I had the same issue with MEI and I am now having to work directly with RC to rebook or cancel. I was able to speak with Sara and get assigned to a new agent, however RC had already taken back the reservation so I have not been able to work with a new agent at MEI. I am still trying to change my reservation and it is a different experience not talking to the same person each time - I feel really stuck now and prefer to have a go to person. My first reservation with them, they were responsive at first and then it was me sending multiple emails, calls texts just to get a simple response and none of the added on services they promised me like an OC which did not show up - my agent did Venmo me a credit but it was only half of what was promised. Im frustrated now that its taken me almost 1 month to try and move this reservation, as prices have gone up and availability is less than it was when I tried to move my booking initially. Does anyone know if I can the it sent to another TA? Hi Jules, I’m so sorry that it didn’t work out with your new MEI agent. Because you had already asked Royal to release your reservation to you, our hands were tied. You may have a tough time working with another agency because it is a non-refundable deposit, and it was booked a while ago. Hopefully Royal will be able to work with you on that! Sara Matt 1 Quote
Wilma Roman Posted April 2, 2024 Report Posted April 2, 2024 My family and I are having the same issue, unresponsive agent. This is our first time using a travel agent, always book directly with the cruise line. We’ve sent multiple texts and emails the last couple of days, but no response. We will request a new agent tomorrow if she doesn’t respond. Not sure if we will use a TA again after this experience. PeloAl, WAAAYTOOO, Neesa and 1 other 1 3 Quote
Sara_MEI Posted April 2, 2024 Report Posted April 2, 2024 Hi Wilma, Thank you for letting us know! I have checked in with your agent and she will reach out as soon as possible. Feel free to email me if you have any questions! Sara Client Relationship Manager, MEI-Travel [email protected] tingtang 1 Quote
Sara_MEI Posted April 2, 2024 Report Posted April 2, 2024 9 hours ago, Wilma Roman said: My family and I are having the same issue, unresponsive agent. This is our first time using a travel agent, always book directly with the cruise line. We’ve sent multiple texts and emails the last couple of days, but no response. We will request a new agent tomorrow if she doesn’t respond. Not sure if we will use a TA again after this experience. I'm so glad we were able to clear this up for you! Your agent has been responding throughout the weekend, just with another member of your party. All changes had been made by the time you posted, so the information must have just crossed! Thank you for using MEI-Travel for your travel needs! Floski, tingtang and Neesa 3 Quote
Snotarni Posted April 2, 2024 Report Posted April 2, 2024 We would be LOST without our MEI TA Kelley... Cannot recommend her enough!! (she says she's our Pinnacle-Enabler ) Neesa, PhillyLady, michelle and 1 other 4 Quote
Sara_MEI Posted April 2, 2024 Report Posted April 2, 2024 1 hour ago, Snotarni said: We would be LOST without our MEI TA Kelley... Cannot recommend her enough!! (she says she's our Pinnacle-Enabler ) So glad to hear that! Kelley is fantastic! Snotarni 1 Quote
jbrinkm Posted April 2, 2024 Report Posted April 2, 2024 On 3/28/2023 at 8:26 AM, andrew_amy said: Update on this thread: I reached out to Sara (Client Relationship Manager) who recommended Jennifer Kelln and our experience to date has been outstanding. Thanks Sara and Jennifer! We also use Jennifer Kelln and have had fantastic experiences with her! Neesa and Sara_MEI 2 Quote
Neesa Posted April 2, 2024 Report Posted April 2, 2024 Well huge shout out to @Sharla. Lightening fast communication, knowing our cruising style can anticipate our needs. When she was on cruise and we needed something she sent Kelley mentioned above to the rescue. I always feel we are in secure hands with her! WAAAYTOOO, Snotarni, Sara_MEI and 1 other 4 Quote
TXCoastPatriot Posted April 2, 2024 Report Posted April 2, 2024 33 minutes ago, Neesa said: huge shout out to @Sharla. L Interesting. I recently got a email from Sharla saying she was moving on to do something different. Apparently, I was kindly being dropped. Quote
Sara_MEI Posted April 2, 2024 Report Posted April 2, 2024 20 minutes ago, TXCoastPatriot said: Interesting. I recently got a email from Sharla saying she was moving on to do something different. Apparently, I was kindly being dropped. Hi TXCoastPatriot, Sharla has taken a bit of a step back from her travel business. I will be happy to get you reassigned to another MEI-Travel agent who can help you moving forward! Send me an email at [email protected] when you are ready to book your next vacation! Quote
Neesa Posted April 2, 2024 Report Posted April 2, 2024 @TXCoastPatriot no don't get me wrong, she was just finishing servicing my already booked sailings & she was great! She has advised me of the same. I had things booked since day of release. I wanted to give her kudos on this thread as well. She has taken care of us since 2019! Sharla 1 Quote
Floski Posted April 2, 2024 Report Posted April 2, 2024 I can empathize with the OP. I'm an easy cruiser, as we only go about once a year and between this board and a lot of RC Facebook pages, I can keep up with most any of the specials or discounts. I'm sure my TA is crazy busy, and no, I can email her and not hear anything until the next day or even 2 days, but that's usually because I let her know if it's hot or not. I had 2 MEI TAs that I just didn't mix well with; this doesn't mean they're not great TAs, as MEI is nothing but a first-rate company, it just means we didn't gel. Then I found Beth and am super happy with her. She never rushes me when we're talking on the phone, even though I know she has LOTS of folks to care for. I just recommend that you ask for another agent. It's up to you, but when the doodoo hits the fan and you've been on the phone with Royal for a few hours, you may regret not having one. P.S. - If you aren't already, I highly suggest joining the Royal Caribbean Blog Insiders. It's a small investment, and not only do you learn from lots of genuine, friendly, and seasoned cruisers, but you have access to some awesome Insider info. If you're super lucky, you may someday get to cruise with Tony Diaz (well, except on the **** of the Seas!). Lovetocruise2002, Sara_MEI, fireclan and 1 other 3 1 Quote
Gilley Posted April 3, 2024 Report Posted April 3, 2024 I have to send a shout out to the #1 Mei TA in my book. Ashley Bittenbender. Sometimes I think I drive her crazy with all my changes or indecisiveness. She keeps up with all my changes and gets back to me in a timely manner. She lets me know if she is unable to work on my bookings, because she is unavailable, on vacation or have limited internet access. Wouldn’t trade her. She is patient and kind. mom2mybugs, WAAAYTOOO and PhillyLady 3 Quote
Sara_MEI Posted April 3, 2024 Report Posted April 3, 2024 So happy to see so many shout outs to our incredible MEI-Travel agents!! Neesa, WAAAYTOOO and PhillyLady 2 1 Quote
Levi Posted April 3, 2024 Report Posted April 3, 2024 Just to tag in - we work with Christine Surh and she's been fabulous. Responsive and pre-emptive with both potential concerns and if she's going to be unavailable who we should reach out to instead. Nothing but praises here. WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote
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