Customized Shore Excursions
by Cindy Bertram

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Here's a quick overview on who’s offering what:

• MSC Cruises not only pays commissions to travel agents who pre-book shore excursions for their guests, but this line is also able to customize shore excursions to accommodate any substantial or large group needs. And, once again, these pre-booked, customized excursions are commissionable to the travel agent.
  
  
• Holland America Line, which began offering customized shore excursion tours for groups in 2005, prefers to have 30 guests when developing a custom shore excursion. The more guests, the more cost-effective it is. Holland America gives a net rate on these customized private shore excursions, allowing the travel agent to then add on a commission. (Travel agents can pre-book the published regular shore excursions, but there is no extra commission involved.)
  
  
• Carnival Cruise Lines began offering customized shore excursions for groups about three years ago. This can be for smaller groups of 25 guests up to partial/full ship charters - a dedicated manager in their tour operations department handles these requests. According to Cherie Weinstein, Vice President of Group Sales and Administration, “Carnival does not pay a commission, per se, on customized shore excursions, but because these are custom and the transaction is between Carnival and the travel agent, the agent can add a mark up rate to the rate that Carnival provides before re-selling to the end user client.”
  
  
• Royal Caribbean International does pay commissions to travel agents for customized groups and, according to Vicki Freed, Senior Vice President of Sales and Trade Support & Services, “We will build in the commission and/or provide a net rate for the travel partner.” As far as group size, a group of 40 or 50 guests is best, because that’s what is needed to fill a bus.

A few cruise lines, including Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) and Costa Cruises, have resources to customize group shore excursions, but they currently do not offer a commission on these to travel agents.

What’s involved in getting customized group shore excursions set up? The time frames to request and book vary from cruise line to cruise line, but the standard seems to be putting in the request at least 30 days out from the sailing date. Farther out is preferred, because it enhances the planning. A deposit is required per guest, and final pre-payment is due in house at least 30 days prior. Also, any deposits not paid will usually result in the cancellation of the tour/excursion, with cancellations after full payment resulting in no refund.

Don’t think you have the right groups who might have interest in doing a customized pre-booked and paid shore excursion? Think again, because here are just two types that are perfect candidates:

• Multi-generational groups: Extended family groups composed of grandparents, parents, adult children, and grandchildren might like an excursion or two just for their family members to experience together, creating memories of a lifetime.
  
  
• Special interest groups: With the growth in groups of friends traveling together with common interests, letting these group leaders know you can customize something for them to create that special experience provides key value. Vineyard tours, wine tastings, and culinary tours are probably the most successful. Another selling point – these are cruisers who’ve probably done enough of the conventional shore excursions.

By finding the right fits with your groups, you can not only provide an extra service to your clients which elevates your value, but depending on the cruise line, you can generate some extra commissions as well!

Cindy Bertram, MCC, writes extensively about the cruise industry for various travel trade publications, including an ongoing column for Leisure Group Travel . She has more than 15 years of experience in the travel industry, from working in frontline sales and marketing development at a full-service travel agency to conducting training workshops at travel and cruise conferences. She may be reached at cindybertram@hotmail.com.

(Credits: Cindy Bertram; Carnival Cruise Lines; Royal Caribbean)