Carnival Corp.’s U.S. brands (Carnival, Holland America Line, Princess, Cunard, Costa and Seabourn) will maintain travel agencies’
current commission rates for 2021, regardless of whether they meet the
necessary criteria this year.
Carnival Cruise Line’s senior vice president of global sales
and trade marketing Adolfo Perez said the move was made in recognition of the
fact that “this year there is less opportunity this year to make bookings and
hit those targets.”
At Carnival Cruise Line, the move is part of several
enhancements to its Onboard with You pledge to help travel advisors navigate
the coronavirus crisis. The line said it will pay an additional 1% on new
bookings made through GoCCL.com and other online booking tools through June 30.
Carnival is enticing travel advisors to do more online, given the stress on the
company’s call centers due to the huge number of canceled sailings.
“The call center has been challenging across the industry,”
Perez said, citing wait times that can reach more than an hour.
As part of the Onboard with You pledge, Carnival will
continue protecting travel advisors’ commission on all fully paid bookings
canceled because of the pause in operations, Also, Carnival will pay an
additional full commission on the value of future cruise credits, which
Carnival began doing in 2016, long before the current crisis.
“We understand how hard agents worked for the first booking,
and rebooking their clients using the future cruise credit involves additional
work,” Perez said. “We want to recognize this effort and ensure that agents get
commission on both bookings.”
Perez along with Carnival president Christine Duffy, chief
commercial officer Ken Tate and “chief fun officer” Shaquille O’Neal recorded a
video message to travel partners to thank them for their support.