Elite Cruise Counselor and More

When I first started out in the industry, I didn't know much about cruising except that I loved doing it. After purchasing the franchise, I started to sink myself into absorbing as much knowledge I could to be successful and to learn how to sell the right product to my clients. After all you want to get the best bang for you buck and a well educated travel agent can help. Over the years I have attended the Disney College of Knowledge, became a WOW Expert Plus with Royal Caribbean, NCL Advanced Specialist and my greatest acheivement Elite Cruise Counselor with CLIA (Cruise Line International Association). Cruise Planners has begun their own University which I am currently a Junior and I just completed Carnival's Certification as well. As you can see this list goes on with my accomplishments, but I am sure you can also see that it takes a lot of work, time and dedication to gain this knowledge. So when you are looking for a travel agent, be sure you ask the right questions. How long have you been an agent? What are your certifications, not their company's as a whole; but theirs personally? I wish I would have known to ask these questions when I bought my first cruise. That way I would have probalby used someone else who knew what they were doing and wouldn't have ended up in the very front of the ship with a port hole (was suppose to be an Ocean View). The window was 18 inches in diameter, you couldn't see much of that beautiful ocean, unless you were on a deck. The worst part was when we docked away from the island, because we were tendering in that day and they dropped anchor at 6:00 in the morning. The entire cabin vibrated like we were living through an earthquake. It was a horrible rude awakening and I would never allow my clients to have that experience. I recognize that there are a lot of people who claim to be travel agents, but there are a small amount of agents who really take the time to educate themselves, so that they can sell what is best for the client. I pride myself on my knowledge and my service and I will continue to develope both.

Happy Cruising!