Complete Cruise Solution is making 700 ‘graduation cruises’ available to agents who make the grade in its new training scheme.
The online CCS Academy – based on Princess Cruises’ US trade training – will offer 75 modules on P&O Cruises, Cunard and Princess Cruises by the end of the year.
The Academy has been created to follow the naval tradition of recognising achievement with promotions through the ranks. As agents complete the required courses they will rise from First Officer up to Commodore status on all three brands.
Benefits are available to both the individual agent and the agency owner or manager, including e-newsletter Academy Insider, ship visits, certificate and pin and marketing kits, containing a press release that the agent can tailor to promote the fact that they are experts at selling cruise.
The ultimate reward is a graduation cruise, with 700 cruises available each year between the three lines.
The online training is accessed via completecruisesolution.com (where there is also a users’ guide) and offers a range of ‘required’ and ‘optional’ modules. Agents can manage their training schedules, tailor their learning and progress at their own pace, according to CCS.
As well as modules on each of the cruise lines, training will be available on specialist topics such as world cruises, dining, families, weddings at sea and booking online.
A competition for agents to win Attraction World vouchers that can be used both in the UK and abroad is being run to promote the launch.
The first 50 agents to reach First Officer status on any of the brand Academies will win one of the £40 vouchers. An additional 50 vouchers are being offered to store managers/owners, who will be entered into a prize draw once they have registered their individual staff members on to the Academy. Winners will be chosen by July 31.
CCS head of sales Mark Pilkington said: “Via The Academy we are launching not just one but three training platforms – one for each of our cruise lines. This aims to deliver deeper training that will help agents become cruise experts and grow their cruise business.
“In turn, we will recommend those agents at Commodore level via our customer facing websites, and when Commodores travel on our ships on holiday they will be accorded the benefits of our customer loyalty programme to thank them for their support. The Academy is based on the Princess Cruises US Academy and they have seen some fantastic results.
“In the US and Australia they have seen a huge increase in sales performance for Commodore agents, this clearly presents an opportunity in the UK market for those who wish to be more successful and we encourage all agents to work with us on this and become a true cruise expert.