TopDawg Travel

Posts Tagged ‘Cruising’

Princess Cruises offers travel agents a rigorous training program to familiarize them with all the aspects of selling their cruises to the consumer/cruiser.  This program consists of 25 classes, each taken online with a quiz at the end of each class and an extensive final exam before graduation….read more

Research consistently shows that passengers go to Alaska for glaciers, mountains, wildlife, Denali Park, the Alaska railroad and Inside Passage cruising.  Princess Cruises has studied their passenger demographics and found that 35% of passengers who cruise to Alaska are first-timers.  This is 50% more than the average cruisers on Princess Cruises.  Princess Cruises also found that another 45% of cruisers to Alaska on Princess are past passengers of other cruise lines.  Alaska vacations are a great option for families and multi-generational groups because there are age-appropriate activities for all.  There are 4 types of Princess itineraries for Alaska.  Read more…  2010 Alaska itineraries on Princess Cruises take you places you want to go

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Carnival Cruise Lines has some incredible ships and programs for family travel.

An example of the Carnival program is on the Carnival Conquest. This ship has an expanded Camp Carnival and O2 Teen Program. The kids’ facilites is over 4200 square feet and has all modern entertainment and a children’s pool. Even their meal menus are designed for the age category – everything from hot dogs, chicken nuggets, pizza, macaroni & cheese, hamburgers and more. There are several new programs targeted to age groups and interests. The Edu-Seas program has a variety of fun activities that are also educational. The staff have experience and education in child-care so the kids enjoy their counselor and group.

In general the children’s programs on Carnival are exceptional no matter which ship you choose to cruise on.  Here’s a little I have learned about Carnival and their family-friendly programs:

CAMP CARNIVAL:  Carnival has broken the children’s program into 3 categories: Toddlers (age 2-5 years old) with age- appropriate activites – from finger painting to cartoon time, arts and crafts to puppet shows (good news for parents: Toddlers do not have to be potty-trained to be a part of the program- just supply the youth staff with diapers and toiletries for your child);

Juniors (age 6-8 years old) will have activities like Spin Art, dodgeball, volcano making as well as themed activities like prize bingo, water colors, jewelry making, foosball, air hockey and more;

Intermediates (ages 9-11 years old) play dodgeball, and pool parties to video games and scavenger hunts, making new friends and forging bonds with others their age.

For the Intermediates and Juniors there is an “evening After Hours” services from 10PM to 12AM and after 12AM they join the younger cruisers for a Slumber Party service until 3AM.Parents can have a “date night” or quiet time just for the two of them.

CIRCLE “C”:  For the 12-14 year olds there is the Circle C program. This is where children ages 12-14 can cruise, chill, and connect to others: Cool activities, awesome facilities and lots of new friends to add to their text-mail lists. Activities include games(video arcade, air hockey, foosball, karaoke), created and supervised by friendly, experienced staff. There are dance parties & outdoor movies, and they can even have an evening of dancing at the shipboard dance club. On some ships there are special shore excursions for kids to experience and explore exciting destinations.

CLUB O2: Teens, ages 15-17,  make new friends, hang together to watch movies, listen to music, play video games or join karaoke jam sessions.  On some cruises there are even teen-only shore excursions. They can play basketball or volleyball, ping-pong or participate in high energy dance and pool parties.  There is the Club O2′s dedicated lounge area onboard. This is a hot spot with cool colors, comfy seating, video monitors, and a state-of-the-art dance floor.  Teens can enjoy Coca-Cola products and other non-alcoholic specialty drinks as they watch movies, play video games and participate in this activity driven club.

And all this equals a great time for Mom and Dad, grandparents or friends. When the children have fun, the family has fun! (That is a Carnival Motto!)

If you found this interesting you might also want to read about the NCL Pearl with all the fun things to do on board there.

Through the summer I read about first the airlines, then the cruiselines and finally resorts charging their guests and customers “fuel surcharges”.  Now every day I read where airlines, cruise lines and other suppliers of hospitality services are (with some guidelines) reducing, or eliminating all together, the fuel surcharges they initiated during the summer of historically high fuel prices.

Travel agents were the front line recipients of consumer complaints about these charges.  And travel agents were equally chargrined about the charges.  No one was exempt from paying them, including travel agents.  And, in the case of the cruise lines, while we had to tell our clients about the fuel surcharges, collect the fuel surcharges and take some heat for the fuel surcharges, we did not get paid a commission on any of the surcharges.  Fuel surcharges and non-commissionable fees & taxes often caused the price of a cruise to more than double from the advertised “cabin” price.  And the cabin price is what travel agents earn their living from.  Those surcharges, along with non-commissionable fees and taxes, moneys spent on excursions and activities, and money spent on goods and services while onboard a ship, are all non-commissionable moneys the cruise lines keep in their own coffers.

EXAMPLE:  So imagine that in a 40 hour work week, you were working 20 hours for free so that the company you worked for could show more profit, or have a higher stockholder return or make more money to take home to the family.    How good would you feel about that?

This pretty much describes the situation for a travel agent.  Roughly half the prices a client pays for their cruise is non-commissionable.   When agents ask the cruise lines to pay commissions on more of the charges, the cruise lines say that those additional moneys collected are profit centers for them and they are not going to give up any of that money to their front line sales force (travel agents).

Just as people would not want to work for free 20 hours each week for their employers, travel agents do not much appreciate the cruise lines asking them to work for free when helping people choose a cruise.  Today’s itineraries are more complicated, the choices for cabins more varied and the excursion choices downright confusing.  There are pre-and post-cruise hotel rooms needed as well as air reservations, shore excursions and good advice.  That is why people go to a travel agent or consultant to begin with, for the expertise, the knowledge, the assurance of having someone who cares about you and looks after your best interests.

So people ask me, how are you being paid?  The best way I can be paid is by word of mouth referrals.  In my business, it takes volume…and I mean lots of volume…to earn a living wage.  So the greatest compliment my clients can give me is a referral to family, friends, clients, co-workers, just about anyone you talk to.  And when you are planning that vacation or cruise, any travel that involves leaving home for a night, call your travel agent.  Do whatever research you want on the internet, but call a travel agent to do the actual booking.  It will cost you exactly the same (or possibly less) as going direct and doing it yourself.  And you will receive valuable advice, have an advocate and someone to turn to if things go south on you.  Your travel agent is just like me: trying to earn a living wage, while performing customer service and loving what they do.

Some of the best of a cruise is all the things you can do while on a cruise (besides eating and drinking!!).  The Pearl just happens to have some of the most fun things to see and do. 

There is “Bar Alley”, a multitude of restaurants, Like this picture of Cagney’s 

And nearby Cagney’s is the Star Bar, pictures showing here:

Then there are all the other bars, lounges and eateries.  Here are a few pictures of just a few of the others:

 Well, there is always another day on board the ship to look at other areas of the ship, to experience dining and drinking, to go on excursions, to bowl or climb the “WALL”, or play tennis with the Wii……until next time, boys and girls…….

If you enjoyed this post, you might also enjoy reading about the Carnival Cruise Lines Family-Friendly Activities