Making The Most of CLIA Membership

CLIA UK & Ireland is here to help cut through the cruise information, terminology, trends and opportunities - and to give you the support to help you grow your cruise business. CLIA provides the official industry training and certification; we create and share unique resources; and we have a full calendar of inspiring events to support the travel agent community.

Step One: Activate your individual profile at cruising.org

As a first step we encourage all agents to activate their individual profile to access the training and resources available at cruising.org. There is no cost to activate your individual profile - the only requirement is that you are working at a Travel Agency with active CLIA membership or have paid for Homeworker membership yourself. YOU CAN ACTIVATE YOUR PROFILE HERE.

BE INFORMED

The cruise industry is always evolving and in order to give your customers the best advice, you can remain informed of the latest news, developments and innovations through your CLIA membership. CLIA is here with a selection of resources and tools that we recommend you keep close at hand to keep yourself updated.

It needs your time and commitment, so why not schedule some time each week or even each day so that you can top up your knowledge. Your membership gives you the best opportunities to remain informed – and here are some suggestions to do just that:

Get started with our New-to-Cruise Agent Resources
Take some time to keep up to date with the latest industry news
Browse the “Cruise & Ship Search”
Download your copy of the Member-only Cruise Guide
Member agents receive our weekly eNewsletters
Stream past episodes of the CLIA Podcasts

New-to-Cruise Agent Resources

We’ve created a great selection of resources aimed specifically to assist travel agents who may be new to selling cruise holidays.

The four “New-to…” Guides cover Ocean, River, Expedition & Yacht/Sail Cruising, with each providing an overview of key aspects of the cruise experience, including dining, staterooms, shore excursions, embarkation days and onboard entertainment, as well as information on the all-important embarkation ports of key cruising regions.

Our Destination Factsheet series covers key cruising regions, with each including the Top 10 reasons to cruise there, the best time to visit, Top 10 key attractions - including a labelled map of the region - and the key considerations when making a booking in this region.

You can find the new-to-cruise content in Agent Resources
Cruise Trade Publications

We work alongside many Trade publications who cover key cruise news stories, and offer opinion articles and insight into developments within the industry. It is crucially important to remain up-to-date. Through our Cruise Trade Publications page, you can sign up to Newsletters or subscribe to receive editions of their publications.
Cruise & Ship Search

As a CLIA member agent, you have access to an industry-leading Search facility to find the right ship and itinerary for your customers. Offered by our partners at Widgety, the Search can be a great help in finding cruise options to match the wishes of your guests.

The Search also offers extensive details on the facilities and experiences available onboard each of the ships listed.

Access the Cruise & Ship Search here
Annual Member-only Cruise Guide
We want you to keep CLIA close at hand throughout the year and produce an annual Member-only Cruise Guide. This Guide will include:
- All CLIA Cruise Line & River Cruise Operator Sales team contact details
- New Ship Arrivals to look out for
- CLIA Cruise Line Directory & Fleet Lists
The digital Guide can be accessed from Agent Resources
Weekly Member-only eNewsletter

Presenting top stories from the past week, we aim to become your one-stop-shop to keep you in the know on our fast-moving industry. From ship launches to deployment changes, technology innovations and destination news, we give you the headline and a link to read more from one of our trade media partners. We also have dedicated sections on CLIA Events, CLIA online resources and occasionally features from our Partners. These allow you to make sure you’re making the most of your membership with us - signing up to any new training or networking events we have announced, and accessing the latest resources we’ve added to cruising.org

All members with an active profile at cruising.org are automatically enrolled to receive the weekly eNewsletter.
Podcasts

CLIA produce two monthly Podcasts, focussing separately on both ocean and river cruising with Guest speakers, Cruise line representatives and expert panels. Available to stream via cruising.org or download from multiple mainstream channels including iTunes, Spotify and Soundcloud.

Our Podcasts can be found here

BE EDUCATED

With the variety of product and destinations available to your customers, it is vital that you make use of the training available to you. Whether developed by CLIA, a cruise line, or by our partners, there are many ways in which you can utilise your CLIA membership to educate yourself about the cruise sales process, about cruise terminology, destinations and trends.

Here are some things you can do to be educated:

Work through CLIA Destination and Sales training
Work towards achieving a CLIA Certification
Register for cruise line training
Watch cruise video content from CLIA and our cruise lines
Join CLIA virtual training
Work towards #RiverCruiseExpert status with our new River Cruise Program
Get the best advice directly from cruise industry leaders via the CLIA Trade Engagement Action Group

CLIA Destination & Sales Training

CLIA members have access to a Product Catalogue of both Destination and Specialist sales modules, which cover worldwide cruising regions and expert tips on how to offer exceptional customer service. With 18 Destination Modules, 9 Specialist Sales Modules and a 9-module Cruise Champion course, learners can enrol on their chosen areas for development – all of which work towards positioning you as an advocate of the cruise industry.

You can find details of all modules within the Product Catalogue
CLIA Certifications
CLIA offers the only cruise industry certification scheme for travel agents in Europe, where every individual can follow their own e-learning path and gain a cruise Certification. There are three levels of certification available. These must be completed in sequential order, beginning with an Introduction to Cruise Sales (Accredited Certification), progressing to Ambassador Certification and ultimately achieving the Master Certification with us, confirming your status as a true advocate of the cruise industry.

Our introductory course takes you towards Accredited Certification, and works through the below 4 modules:
- Module 1: The Foundation of Cruise Sales
- Module 2: Creating Options for Your Clients
- Module 3: Recommending and Closing the Sale
- Module 4: Becoming a Cruise Specialist
Start on The Introduction to Cruise Sales and obtain your first Certification with CLIA!
Cruise Line Training

Many of our cruise lines and river cruise operators will have their own online training opportunities. We strongly encourage our members to make use of these training programmes as they will provide you with invaluable product knowledge. Completion of these courses will often give you increased opportunities to experience the cruise line directly.
Webinars OnDemand

CLIA Members can access a great mix of video content, including Interviews, panel discussions and recordings of CLIA’s virtual events via the Webinars OnDemand page. This library of video recordings allows you to watch back anything you may have missed.

You can find the Webinars OnDemand here
CLIA Virtual Training
We understand that there is not always the opportunity to join us at events in person, so our events calendar offers a variety of virtual events across the year. The themes of our virtual sessions will provide a variety of opportunities, including:
- Showcases themed on different cruise sectors
- Virtual Ship Tours
- Sales-focussed Updates
- Brand Product Presentations
- Expert Q&A Interviews
- River Expert Panels
RiverView Program

If you’re looking to brush up on your river cruising knowledge, we have a new Certificate Program dedicated to help with this. Available exclusively as part of the new RiverView Program, both European and Worldwide River Cruising are covered, with comprehensive information on the key rivers you need to know about - completion of which offers a Certificate of #RiverCruiseExpert status.

Find more information on the RiverView Program here
Contact the CLIA Trade Engagement Action Group

The Trade Engagement Action Group comprises of 11 key Cruise Line Executives and thought leaders. These experts in the cruise industry offer support to CLIA and provide direction in how we work with our valued trade partners and members. The Trade Engagement Action Group meet regularly throughout the year to offer practical input to CLIA, and act as an advisory group, helping steer activity and promote the association to the travel agent community.

The Trade Engagement Action Group is also available as a travel agent contact service, providing member access to a huge range of expertise and experience in all aspects of the Cruise Industry. If you would like to contact any of the members of the working group this can be done by emailing askthetewg@cruising.org

BE INSPIRED

Whilst keeping yourself informed of the latest developments, don’t forget that you are selling a fantastic holiday experience – cruise holidays are the best way to see the world, and there are plenty of ways that these holidays can be showcased to inspire you, and your customers. Through our events and activity across social platforms, we hope to inspire you about the incredible industry you support.

Here are our suggestions in this area:

Attend CLIA events to network and experience different brands
Attend industry events to engage with the wider cruise community
Follow CLIA on social media
Use Cruise Line social media
Make contacts with the CLIA cruise lines and river cruise operators
Get inspired by peer-written “Cruising with Confidence” blogs
Participate in the annual Cruise Week campaign

CLIA Events

CLIA offer a variety of in-person events across the year, designed to increase your knowledge of the industry and get you onboard ships to experience a taste of the cruise industry’s hospitality.

Do make time to join a live event, a Roadshow, or one of our conferences – they are the perfect way to keep up to date, to network, make new connections and to learn!

For our up-coming events, click here

We returned to Southampton back in November 2021 for our Selling Cruise Day, and you can find a 3-minute photo montage from this event on our “Webinars OnDemand” page, giving you an insight into the cruise community your membership and engagement offers. If you’ve been tempted to join us, visit our Events & Ship Visits page for the latest opportunities to join us, both online and in-person.
Industry Events

Across the year, there will be opportunities to join events organised independently of CLIA, such as training roadshows, ship visit days and FAM trips or Conferences. Many of these are open and available to CLIA member travel agents and we will always share details through our weekly newsletters and online.
CLIA Social Media

CLIA are active across a number of social media channels, principally Twitter and Facebook. Agent members also have a dedicated Facebook Group “CLIA UK & Ireland Travel Agents” to communicate with peers and access news and offers from our cruise lines who post directly to this group.
Cruise Line Social Media

The best way to keep updated on the news and developments of our cruise lines and river cruise operators is to follow them on social media. Many of them have dedicated Trade accounts which offer insider hints and tips. CLIA are working to collate links to the social media accounts of our cruise lines and river cruise operators so you have a one-stop-shop listing.
Cruise Line Contacts

We’ve collated a listing of all key Trade Sales and Business Development contacts you need to grow your business. These can be found on our Cruise Line Travel Contacts page. You’ll likely know a few already, but we would encourage you to identify contacts of cruise lines you have never sold but would fit your customers’ wishes.
Cruising with Confidence

As the worldwide cruise fleet welcomes guests once again, the opportunity has never been more exciting, with brand new ships, itineraries and experiences that will appeal to regular cruisers and those who have never cruised before. We’ve created a new “Cruising with Confidence” page to showcase the great experiences you’re having onboard as we get back to cruising!

If you have cruised onboard a CLIA cruise line or river cruise operator in the past year, and have a positive story to tell, we’d love to hear from you - we want to spread the word that the cruise experiences we all know and love are back, better and bigger than ever!

Details of how to contribute can be found on the page, but don’t worry if you’re completely new to cruising – we’ve got some starter articles on there to read, and will add new submissions as we receive them.
Cruise Week

CLIA member agents have access to a range of trade-specific cruise activity and resources across the annual Cruise Week. We publish original content and a wealth of cruise inspiration across our social media platforms during the week, and cruise lines, river cruise operators and members of the CLIA team take the campaign on the road across the month, visiting trade partners to help amplify the cruise message.

Making The Most of CLIA Membership

BE INFORMED

BE EDUCATED

BE INSPIRED

Step One: Activate your individual profile at cruising.org

BE INFORMED

BE EDUCATED

BE INSPIRED

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