This is a great example for why you need a travel agent.

I had a small family group sailing on Mother’s Day on the Freedom of the Seas.  As I was enjoying my Sunday paper and latte with my family, I get a frantic call on my cell phone from one of my clients sailing on the cruise.  “We have big problems!  Instead of grabbing Kenny’s passport, Dorothy grabbed the bank passbook and he isn’t getting on the ship!”   Royal Caribbean told him if they had a copy of his birth certificate faxed to them he could sail on the cruise.   I told them if they had a hide-a-key I would go to their house and get the birth certificate and fax it to the cruise pier.   Of course, no such luck.  Dorothy wanted me to break in through a window… Kenny said absolutely not!   I told them to give me 10 minutes and I would call them with plan B.

Then it dawned on me.  I had a good friend and client who was a lock smith.  Fortunately he was willing to meet me at their house right away,  he “broke in,”  I went up to the bedroom and retrieved the birth certificate and passport, faxed them to Royal Caribbean and my clients were on the ship with 15 minutes to spare!

Kenny called me from the bar on the ship to say thank you and that Dorothy was on her 3rd Margarita!!!

Who else but a professional travel agent would go that extra mile?

By Lisa Hulbert