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The Value of a Professional Travel Agent
by Lisa Plotnick
Several weeks ago, I read the news that every cruiser dreads: Your cruise has been fully chartered.
Yikes! My long-
You see, I have the good fortune of working with a professional travel agent, one
who has the knowledge and experience to handle all issues pertaining to cruise vacations,
no matter how unpleasant. While Internet boards were filling up with concerns posted
by anxious cruisers who were bumped from our sailing, I remained stress-
A common question I receive, both on the Internet board I manage and in person from friends and family, is how to make a cruise booking. Is it best to book directly with the cruise line? How about an Internet agency? Or, what if I want to use a travel agent? This is, clearly, a personal choice. Yet, the advice I offer, when asked, is to consult a travel agent who holds professional certifications from Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA).
Before continuing, I must state a few caveats. First, by no means am I encouraging anyone to leave an agent with whom you have developed a relationship. In fact, professional travel agents frown at taking away business from trusted relationships. Second, a travel agent may not be the right choice for everyone. Many passengers are comfortable booking their own cruise vacations on the Internet, just as I am with making my own air and hotel arrangements. Finally, as it is the policy of NauticalNotebook.com to not accept or make endorsements, this article is for informational purposes only. (Hence, the lack of a direct link.)
So, for first-
Why CLIA?
So, why the big deal about a CLIA agent? This may be answered in two words: training and experience. In addition to required coursework and exams, CLIA certification requires personal cruise experience on several lines and length of cruise, and ship inspections of five to nearly 15 different ships based on level of certification. This practical experience helps the CLIA agent select ships, as well as destinations, for his or her clients, after considering the clients’ personal preferences.
For example, my TA lets us know where it is advisable to take a cruise-
CLIA presently offers four levels of certification programs:
· Accredited Cruise Counsellor (ACC): Requires 30 credits of mandatory coursework
and exams, 50 credits of elective training (seminars, exams, conference attendance),
personal cruise experience (one 2-
· Master Cruise Counsellor (MCC): Requires ACC certification plus an additional 50 credits of mandatory coursework, 30 credits of elective training, personal cruise experience (two cruises of 7 nights or longer, on lines not used for the ACC), and three additional ship inspections.
· Elite Cruise Counsellor (ECC): Requires MCC certification plus additional training seminars, personal cruise experience (one of 7 nights or longer on a cruise line that was not used toward the ACC or MCC designations), and five additional ship inspections.
· Elite Scholar (ECCS): Requires ECC certification plus annual training courses, personal cruise experience (one of 7 nights or longer on a cruise line that was not used toward the ACC, MCC or ECC designations). This level must be renewed annually.
This is in addition to meeting requirements for number of bookings (increase incrementally
from one level to the next) and working for a CLIA-
CLIA also offers a number of other programs, including Luxury Cruise Specialist and Accredited Cruise Manager.
Locating an agent with CLIA certifications is a simple process. A search engine is located on the association’s Web page, http://cruising.org/vacation/welcome. Enter your ZIP code in the box marked “Cruise Expert Finder” to generate a listing of agents and agencies in or near your area.
You also don’t need to limit yourself to agents a short distance from your home.
My TA, for example, lives and works 2500 miles away from me. I found her the old-
This is not to say that an agent who has not met CLIA’s rigorous requirements for
certifications is not a good agent. I emphasize that for first-
Some Final Thoughts
My recent experience was not the first time I needed to rely on my travel agent’s expertise to resolve the situation. I leave you with a few more of these instances.
· The first occurred on our very first cruise, a honeymoon cruise back in 1990. Two nights prior to our departure, we were bumped from our hotel on the Walt Disney World (WDW) property to make room for additional attendees of a conference. (The hotel had been booked through the cruise line, which had a Disney affiliation at the time.) WDW made arrangements for us in another hotel, yet this was not on the Disney property and would necessitate us taking shuttle buses to the various parks, rather than our anticipated walk to EPCOT. Now, this was a long time ago, so I don’t recall the details, yet the change in hotel alone was not sufficient for our TA. She was able to get a few added amenities for our inconvenience, such as discounts on dining and merchandise. (Still, all of these years later, we have not returned to WDW, although we have cruised more than 30 additional times.)
· Another instance took place in 1996, on a Southern Caribbean cruise out of San
Juan. Back then, it was common for airfare and hotels to be booked as part of the
cruise package. To maximize our time in San Juan—a city we had been to just once
previously, as a port of call—we decided to arrive the morning of the day prior to
the cruise. (It was also common then to arrive the same day as the cruise departure.
This is no longer recommended.) When our TA received our air tickets a few weeks
before the cruise, she noted immediately that our arrival was for 9:00 pm, not the
pre-
· As for a situation that was confined to the ship itself, I turn to the story
of our travel companions on a 2005 cruise to the Mexican Riviera, who had booked
with the same CLIA Master Cruise Counsellor as we had. Our friends had booked a specific
cabin on this cruise—one that they’d had previously and enjoyed—and specified that
they did not wish to be considered for an upgrade. Their cruise documents were in
order. Yet, when they arrived at the embarkation pier, they learned that their cabin—an
aft balcony booked nearly one year out—had been reassigned to another party. They
were moved to a cabin one category above on a higher deck, but its midships location
was far less desirable to them. Their pleas to return them to the cabin they had
booked were ignored, despite their standing in the line’s loyalty program. So, while
still at check-
· And, to show the flip side, I share our 2003 experience of a transatlantic crossing
SNAFU. By this time, our then long-
Now, this does not mean that you will always have bad or inattentive service with
an Internet agency or non-
And now, with our next cruise vacation salvaged, I will examine shore excursion options. And, when I have any questions, I will know who to ask.