How to Sell Cruises Step by Step by Lori Berberian Pelentay

Author:Lori Berberian Pelentay [Pelentay, Lori Berberian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: how to, cruises, selling cruises, cruise, cruise agent, travel agent
Publisher: Soul's Road Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Reservation Authorization

The Reservation Authorization is perhaps the most important document you will ever use in your business. It protects you and your business from litigation against you in the event of the cruise line’s negligence. It has several components:

1. An introduction, asking them to return the form to you

2. The details of their cruise, including the proper spelling of their names, ship, sailing date, etc.

3. Booking number

4. First statement that any changes will result in penalties

5. Statement that rates and fares are not guaranteed until paid in full

6. Fuel Supplement Statement

a. This is very important, because the cruise line could at any time assess a fuel supplement of up to $10 per person, per day, even if the cruise is paid in full! If you don’t let them know, you could be liable for paying this yourself. I make them initial that they have seen this notice.

7. Insurance Advisory – They need to initial whether they accept or decline insurance. You need this in writing because if something happens during the penalty period, it’s your word against theirs.

8. Payment Authorization – Credit card information. I do not put the entire credit card number, just the first four numbers and last two, so they know which card they used. This is a credit card receipt that corresponds to the invoice that is included in the packet.

9. Signature agreement statements – These are especially important because they protect you by saying the client read the Limiting Terms and Conditions.

10. Signature

I say that final documents cannot be released until this form is signed and returned. Now that they can print their documents from the Internet, this is hard to enforce, but it gives it a sense of urgency, and I have never had a problem collecting this form.

Limiting Terms and Conditions

The Limiting Terms and Conditions are very, very important to your business. Take a few minutes and go to the Appendix and read them. You will see that this covers everything! I’ve even included a paragraph relieving me of responsibility if I’ve gone online and accepted the cruise line’s passage of contract on their behalf. This is because I am often the first person to log on to their booking on the cruise line’s website, and the website requires you accept the cruise line’s contract at that point.

The paperwork talks about the need for a passport, documentation, baggage, check-in, reconfirmation, tickets, change of plans, the importance of insurance, cancellations, itineraries (I’ll explain why this is important below), special needs, traveling by air, air deviation, payments, and taxes/surcharges (such as fuel supplements). I wouldn’t have thought itineraries would have been that big of a deal, but I will share with you why it is so important.

Truthfully, this is still a hard story for me to share, but I think it’s important for you to hear because you never would have believed it from a friend. I had a friend who booked a cruise to the Eastern Caribbean more than fifteen months prior to sailing.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.