Specific travel agencies are being promoted to consumers visiting the websites of Complete Cruise Solution brands P&O Cruises, Cunard and Princess Cruises.
A travel agency locator function has been introduced on the sites within the ‘how to book’ section of each.
But only agencies with staff who achieve Commodore status on the CCS Academy training programme for each of the cruise lines are eligible to gain exclusive placement on the travel agency locator.
The locator allows visitors to search for their closest cruise expert agencies by postcode.
Search results are displayed on a map, as well as a text-based list. Where agencies have a dedicated cruise line landing page, this link is also displayed.
The local agencies are grouped by Academy status, with the closest 10 Commodore agencies being listed first, regardless of distance, followed by 10 other agencies.
To be recommended, at least one member of staff in an agency has to have completed training to Commodore status on the cruise line.
“This shows that the agency and that specific member of staff have the knowledge and expertise to sell P&O Cruises, Cunard or Princess Cruises holidays,” CCS said.
Carnival UK sales and customer service director Giles Hawke said: “The locator feature on our cruise line websites demonstrates our confidence in recommending our agent partners to our customers, and that we support and encourage sales through the trade, specifically through agents who have invested time in becoming experts in selling our cruises.
“We place great emphasis and value on the added contribution that they can bring to our customers in the way of sales expertise, knowledge and customer service.”
He added: “The Complete Cruise Solution Academy training programme has been developed specifically for UK travel agents, to enable them to have the expertise and extensive knowledge of every facet of our product, so that they can sell the right cruise holiday to their clients every time and keep them coming back because they know what excellent service and product knowledge they receive.