Booking Question

[Skid]

Having never sailed Oasis Class before, we are probably going to book Symphony for May 2019.  Being the impatient control freak I am, along with not having much luck the few times we did use travel agents, I usually book myself online. I was wondering what  @Lovetocruise2002 , @Boston Babe , @WAAAYTOOO or any others that have booked both ways think about booking through MEI as opposed to continue doing it myself. I'm sure I already know what  @Matt thinks!   Thanks to all.

[Lovetocruise2002]

Well, I have very mixed feelings about a TA.  I'll be honest.  I am 100% a control freak.  I cannot handle not doing it myself but I have and do use a TA if it works out better in my favour.  It really depends on the individual and your comfort zone.  Some people simply prefer to have someone take care of things for them.  That's totally ok.  In that case, use MEI because from what I have read here, it really sounds like they give great service.  Some people, myself included, are fairly comfortable on their own, and see no real reason for a TA unless further incentives are there to do so.  To further this argument, as a fellow control freak, sometimes I see a TA as an extra step that I now have to go through to resolve things.  But there are many benefits to using a TA as well, especially if you are traveling with a group or if you run into trouble.  Not sure if this has been helpful.  I really comes down personal preference again.

[Skid]

2 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

  To further this argument, as a fellow control freak, sometimes I see a TA as an extra step that I now have to go through to resolve things. 

My thoughts exactly. I'd be checking all the time anyway even if I believe they' will also. Frankly, the reason I am even thinking about it is because they sponsor Matt and this great forum!

[twangster]

When it comes to flying I am a total control freak.  I'll avoid certain flights because of aircraft or seating available.  I know what layover times work and which to avoid.  I can't stand it when someone books my flights on my behalf. 

When it comes to cruising I am somewhat the same way.  I look at cabin availability, itinerary, dates and usually have a couple of cruises in mind before narrowing it down to the one.  However I have found there is no down side to booking through an agent.  The only possible exception would be if a different cabin becomes available and I want to switch I have to contact my agent instead of RCI direct.  Changing dinner from fixed early to late, or to MTD is another but I never do that.

Once booked, the rest is all within my control.  The cruise planner is the same and i can book, refund and re-book any cruise planner item just the same.  

18 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

To further this argument, as a fellow control freak, sometimes I see a TA as an extra step that I now have to go through to resolve things. 

That goes both ways.  When Royal screws up and lets face it, they do, with a TA you make one phone call or send one email and they spend hours on the phone with Royal fixing it.  When OBC disappears or the fare magically increases, not a problem... one email and I'm back watching football while they (with more clout than I have) deal with it.  

When my Anthem B2B C&A points never showed up, my agent spent 6 hours arguing with them.  Somehow my reservation numbers changed in their system and they said I didn't sail.  My agent had all the right paperwork and accounting codes to prove that I did. 

[Lovetocruise2002]

17 minutes ago, twangster said:

That goes both ways.  When Royal screws up and lets face it, they do, with a TA you make one phone call or send one email and they spend hours on the phone with Royal fixing it.  When OBC disappears or the fare magically increases, not a problem... one email and I'm back watching football while they (with more clout than I have) deal with it.

Very true...but the ultimate control freak would rather spend the hours dealing directly with Royal because then you can hear it straight from RC and not by another party 

Like I said before, I too use a TA when it benefits me.

[CruiseLife72]

In the past, we have booked direct with RCCL and via another TA. This year we switched to MEI and are happy with our decision. So far, our TA has changed one sail date, repriced two cruises and resolved an issue with our OBC not showing the correct amount. Each of these changes would have required a call to RCCL, but instead it was a quick email to our TA. Plus, like @twangster said, the TA mainly helps with the booking process so you will retain complete control over your cruise planner purchases.

You can always give MEI (or another TA) a try to see how you like the process. We started out by transferring a direct cruise booking over to MEI. Once we were happy with our decision, we began booking with them too.

[Boston Babe]

1 hour ago, Skid said:

, I usually book myself online.

I too am a control freak.  I used one TA and that was for this upcoming sailing this Saturday.  I booked RC and Celebrity direct.  I book Suites so I have Vacation planners that are always updating me, letting me know about waitlist clearance and lower prices. I believe @Lovetocruise2002 used my planner at RC and he really helped her. Same with flights as @twangster was saying, NOBODY books my flights (well Celebrity will but I will tell them which ones!) but me. I do plan however for a future cruise I've been looking at to use MEI as Heather as been very responsive. 

[KasinoCrazy]

I booked our first cruise ever by myself about a month ago, online through the RCCL website..  I called RCCL and changed my room a few times (after research and learning more about the rooms) and there were price drops that I called for as well..  I ended up with a 2BR Aquatheater suite on the Oasis on deck 9 (pretty good huh?!) THEN, I came across this gem of a site and learned about MEI.  So I changed my booking to them.  After my first initial email I was offered the same room on deck 8 which we know is quite larger in size in room and balcony.  This room on deck 8 was not available online.  I am so glad I switched to MEI and was able to snag that room!

[Lovetocruise2002]

6 minutes ago, Boston Babe said:

I too am a control freak.  I used one TA and that was for this upcoming sailing this Saturday.  I booked RC and Celebrity direct.  I book Suites so I have Vacation planners that are always updating me, letting me know about waitlist clearance and lower prices. I believe @Lovetocruise2002 used my planner at RC and he really helped her. Same with flights as @twangster was saying, NOBODY books my flights (well Celebrity will but I will tell them which ones!) but me. I do plan however for a future cruise I've been looking at to use MEI as Heather as been very responsive. 

Yes, I will add to that the Vacation Planners seem to be more knowledgeable and helpful than the regular RC reps.  Thanks again for that @Boston Babe!  And they give you a few extra goodies in your room too!

[Skid]

Thank you all for such quick responses. Very good points made. I think I may just book direct and take the 60 day period to transfer over to MEI. I guess now, in addition to being a control freak, I just became a procrastinator. I agree with dealing directly with the airlines. FYI, though, I did use Royal's Air2Sea last year for Puerto Rico and it turned out well.

The other issue with this particular sailing is that the early seating in MDR is apparently wait listed already. So I guess we'll have to do MTD or try specialty restaurants this time since we do NOT care for an 8:30 dining time. But that is another reason I'd want to keep calling to check, which I'd probably do much more often than the travel agent would.

Decisions, decisions.....but the way I see it, what great problems to have!!

[Lovetocruise2002]

9 minutes ago, Skid said:

Thank you all for such quick responses. Very good points made. I think I may just book direct and take the 60 day period to transfer over to MEI. I guess now, in addition to being a control freak, I just became a procrastinator. I agree with dealing directly with the airlines. FYI, though, I did use Royal's Air2Sea last year for Puerto Rico and it turned out well.

The other issue with this particular sailing is that the early seating in MDR is apparently wait listed already. So I guess we'll have to do MTD or try specialty restaurants this time since we do NOT care for an 8:30 dining time. But that is another reason I'd want to keep calling to check, which I'd probably do much more often than the travel agent would.

Decisions, decisions.....but the way I see it, what great problems to have!!

Well whatever you do, book it soon.  Symphony prices were ridiculous to begin with and they have just gone way up since then.

[Todd W]

for another perspective, i'm also a control freak and booked my first two cruises on my own through RCL and left them that way.   After hearing all the positive things about MEI, i booked through RCL a year ago for a cruise in April of 2019 and then switched it over to MEI to see how things would go.  Part of that booking also included 2 more couples which i got to switch over to MEI as well.   Now...   During this last year, i've had zero contact from my MEI rep other than when i reached out to make a payment of nearly all the balance.   During that call which was at the beginning of March , i had also told her i was interested in getting some pricing on HOTS for April 2020 for the same 6 of us from our 2019 cruise.  she said she would check into things for me and nearly 2 months have passed and again, not a word from her.     So,  I went ahead and have been watching pricing and booked my wife and I on my own for our first HOTS / Oasis class cruise (whoo hooo!)  in April 2020.   will I switch this one over to MEI, no.   for the $25 OBC that i would get, it's not worth it to me.   particularly because of the lack of any and all communication, as well as this rep had a minimum payment amount she "preferred" me to make when i called in.   I'd honestly rather have the ability to log into RCL's wonky website and chisel down my payments with as little or as large as i want to over the next two years.      This isn't intended as a slam on MEI because i always hear such great things about them.  in fact, now that i write this, i may very well switch over to them again but use a different rep.   I just booked last week so i have some time to consider it.    

[Skid]

2 minutes ago, Todd W said:

for another perspective, i'm also a control freak and booked my first two cruises on my own through RCL and left them that way.   After hearing all the positive things about MEI, i booked through RCL a year ago for a cruise in April of 2019 and then switched it over to MEI to see how things would go.  Part of that booking also included 2 more couples which i got to switch over to MEI as well.   Now...   During this last year, i've had zero contact from my MEI rep other than when i reached out to make a payment of nearly all the balance.   During that call which was at the beginning of March , i had also told her i was interested in getting some pricing on HOTS for April 2020 for the same 6 of us from our 2019 cruise.  she said she would check into things for me and nearly 2 months have passed and again, not a word from her.     So,  I went ahead and have been watching pricing and booked my wife and I on my own for our first HOTS / Oasis class cruise (whoo hooo!)  in April 2020.   will I switch this one over to MEI, no.   for the $25 OBC that i would get, it's not worth it to me.   particularly because of the lack of any and all communication, as well as this rep had a minimum payment amount she "preferred" me to make when i called in.   I'd honestly rather have the ability to log into RCL's wonky website and chisel down my payments with as little or as large as i want to over the next two years.      This isn't intended as a slam on MEI because i always hear such great things about them.  in fact, now that i write this, i may very well switch over to them again but use a different rep.   I just booked last week so i have some time to consider it.    

Thanks for sharing your experience. I have seen good things about 3 or so of the MEI reps and some not so good things about some others. I'm sure this is true of all companies, but is exactly why I am on the fence about this. Good luck and happy sailing!

[Todd W]

Thanks!     Best of luck in your decision as well.   Cheers!

2 minutes ago, Skid said:

Thanks for sharing your experience. I have seen good things about 3 or so of the MEI reps and some not so good things about some others. I'm sure this is true of all companies, but is exactly why I am on the fence about this. Good luck and happy sailing!

 

[tiny260]

Ok, one more perspective, I have 5 future cruises booked and MEI has 3 and I still have 2, obviously I'm a control freak like everyone  else, but I felt like I needed MEI's expertise on a couple of the cruises;

MEI cruises,

2018 Liberty, last minute changes adding and subtracting passengers, fare increase/decrease etc..

2019 Blog group cruise, having the same plan as the rest of the group.

2020 South Pacific cruise out of Sydney, this is out of my comfort zone, thinking pre/post cruise Transportation, Hotel, excursions, then add in airfare (Its a plus 2 day flight).

So my point is, that if the planning and booking is in your comfort zone then do it, if not use MEI, they haven't let me down...

[Lovetocruise2002]

Just now, tiny260 said:

 I felt like I needed MEI's expertise on a couple of the cruises;

So my point is, that if the planning and booking is in your comfort zone then do it, if not use MEI, they haven't let me down...

Tiny has a great point here....it comes down to what you are booking.  We book pretty standard cruises, especially since we've had the kids.  If I were to book a more exotic itinerary, I would change my game plan too.

[Rose City Cruiser]

My wife is the control freak and she books our cruises directly through Club Royale.  So I guess she's my personal TA lol.  Just like travel agents, Club Royale also have access to rooms that are not available yet on the RCL site.  So it is always worth the quick call and get a quote.  

[twangster]

I will admit I have experienced many dud TAs. I found one that works well for me and it makes a huge difference finding one who is good.  The problem IMO with the big websites and warehouse TAs seems to be there are a small cog in a very big machine and in many cases they are just there getting experience.  Not all TAs are created equal.

[Lovetocruise2002]

2 hours ago, jurrjurr said:

So I guess she's my personal TA lol.  

Haha! I always say that I am Hubby's personal TA/genie too but he says that I am the TA that he never asked for

[twangster]

14 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Haha! I always say that I am Hubby's personal TA/genie too but he says that I am the TA that he never asked for

So is that a compliment or... I guess I'll leave this one alone.

[Skid]

54 minutes ago, twangster said:

I will admit I have experienced many dud TAs. I found one that works well for me and it makes a huge difference finding one who is good.  The problem IMO with the big websites and warehouse TAs seems to be there are a small cog in a very big machine and in many cases they are just there getting experience.  Not all TAs are created equal.

So true. We had a local one that was great on our first trip. Then we inquired about 2 more and she was totally unresponsive. I can't even guess how much business she lost from us and our friends/family and she is the owner of the agency. I did run into her at a store one day and let her know how she messed up. All she said was "give us another try". Yeah, right!

27 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Haha! I always say that I am Hubby's personal TA/genie too but he says that I am the TA that he never asked for

Lately I feel like you have been MY personal TA. We are now booked on Symphony--only 379 days to go! Thanks!

[Garnet21]

IF you are going to book a cruise directly through RC, I would recommend using one of their vacation planners.  I found a great one and she spent a huge amount of time working on a big problem that I had getting my cruise credit after my initial booking was canceled due to Hurricane Maria.   

I am using a TA for the first time for the Anthem July 4, 2019 GC. The TA is a lovely person who is quick to respond to email.  So far, I am very pleased with the service that MEI provides. 

[Skid]

6 minutes ago, Garnet21 said:

IF you are going to book a cruise directly through RC, I would recommend using one of their vacation planners.  I found a great one and she spent a huge amount of time working on a big problem that I had getting my cruise credit after my initial booking was canceled due to Hurricane Maria.   

I am using a TA for the first time for the Anthem July 4, 2019 GC. The TA is a lovely person who is quick to respond to email.  So far, I am very pleased with the service that MEI provides. 

Thanks for your input. I booked on line through the RC website. Did not use a vacation planner because it was a pretty straightforward reservation, but I did call the C&A line first to verify a few things. They were very nice also. Now I have 60 days to think about whether I want to transfer to a TA. BTW, if anyone needs it, the C&A line that I've always gotten right through on is 800-526-9723 and then immediately press 9.

[Matt]

Thanks to everyone who has (and continues to) support our sponsor, MEI Travel!

[Lovetocruise2002]

9 hours ago, twangster said:

So is that a compliment or... I guess I'll leave this one alone.

Well, I would think it would be lovely to have a personal TA that you reach 24/7 and who goes along with you to ensure everything runs smoothly.

Hubby on the other hand does not mean this as a compliment since I spend our money lol!

[Lovetocruise2002]

10 hours ago, Skid said:

Lately I feel like you have been MY personal TA. We are now booked on Symphony--only 379 days to go! Thanks!

My commission is that you have to come back and tell us all about Symphony

[AnnetteJackson]

22 hours ago, Todd W said:

for another perspective, i'm also a control freak and booked my first two cruises on my own through RCL and left them that way.   After hearing all the positive things about MEI, i booked through RCL a year ago for a cruise in April of 2019 and then switched it over to MEI to see how things would go.  Part of that booking also included 2 more couples which i got to switch over to MEI as well.   Now...   During this last year, i've had zero contact from my MEI rep other than when i reached out to make a payment of nearly all the balance.   During that call which was at the beginning of March , i had also told her i was interested in getting some pricing on HOTS for April 2020 for the same 6 of us from our 2019 cruise.  she said she would check into things for me and nearly 2 months have passed and again, not a word from her.     So,  I went ahead and have been watching pricing and booked my wife and I on my own for our first HOTS / Oasis class cruise (whoo hooo!)  in April 2020.   will I switch this one over to MEI, no.   for the $25 OBC that i would get, it's not worth it to me.   particularly because of the lack of any and all communication, as well as this rep had a minimum payment amount she "preferred" me to make when i called in.   I'd honestly rather have the ability to log into RCL's wonky website and chisel down my payments with as little or as large as i want to over the next two years.      This isn't intended as a slam on MEI because i always hear such great things about them.  in fact, now that i write this, i may very well switch over to them again but use a different rep.   I just booked last week so i have some time to consider it.    

Todd,

Our goal at MEI-Travel it to make the planning and rechecking process on reservations easier for you - not to add stress or not provide information to you.  I am sorry that this ball got dropped on the quote.  I am looking into this and going to speak to the agent, but I wanted to reach out and let you - and anyone else reading this know - that if you ever encounter any issues with an agent, I am here to help.  At any time you can contact me at [email protected] and let me know what is going on.  I will then find a better fit for you within the agency.  Thank you for your honest feedback.  The only way to improve sometimes is to know of a weakness.

[Todd W]

15 minutes ago, AnnetteJackson said:

Todd,

Our goal at MEI-Travel it to make the planning and rechecking process on reservations easier for you - not to add stress or not provide information to you.  I am sorry that this ball got dropped on the quote.  I am looking into this and going to speak to the agent, but I wanted to reach out and let you - and anyone else reading this know - that if you ever encounter any issues with an agent, I am here to help.  At any time you can contact me at [email protected] and let me know what is going on.  I will then find a better fit for you within the agency.  Thank you for your honest feedback.  The only way to improve sometimes is to know of a weakness.

No worries at all Annette.  My intention wasn't to air my dirty laundry but to provide honest feedback of my experience to the OP.     Thanks!