Virgin Voyages is offering agents a bonus 5% commission on group bookings until the end of the year.
A group is defined as 10 cabins or more, including solo cabins, and can be as large as 150 passengers.
Groups – or Circles – will also be eligible for onboard credit which is determined by cabin grades.
Insider and Sea View cabins will receive $50 per cabin; Sea Terraces receive $100 per cabin and Mega RockStar and RockStar Suites receive $200 per cabin. But these will be doubled on every booking made by December 31.
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For every 10 cabins sold, the group will earn an additional 10% voyage credit based on the highest fares.
The agent who makes the booking has control of the credit which can be used in different ways: spent in part or in total towards new cabins on a future booking; applied for prior to the final payment of the original booking; or used a way “to surprise” passengers during a future sailing which the group books.
The offer is valid on all 2020 sailings except Virgin Voyages’ maiden voyage on April 1 and Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson’s Birthday Bash sailing on July 15.
Tom McAlpin, Virgin Voyages president and chief executive, said: “We refer to groups of Sailors [passengers] as Circles because we love the idea of celebrating togetherness and human connection at sea.
“Our First Mates [travel agents] told us they were looking for something simple, consistent and rewarding for their clients who sail together.
“We listened to them and threw out the rule book again by eliminating complex point-based amenity programmes that apply only to select sail dates.”