At cruise3sixty in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday, Terry Dale, president and CEO, Cruise Lines International Association, told the thousands of agents in attendance that CLIA is introducing new "bundled learning," options, or "if you don't like our bundles, you can go online and create your own" from CLIA's list of 20 online courses. In addition, in a new series of two-day regional training programs, CLIA plans to combine two days of classroom instructions with member line trade shows. At these Training Fests agents may earn up to 70 credits toward CLIA Cruise Counselor certification. The shows will be held throughout North America in the coming months. At the two-day Training Fests, retailers may choose from taking either Level 1 (introductory) courses, including Cruise Vacations: An Introduction, Principles of Professional Selling, Managing Your Time Effectively, and Psychology of Selling or Level 2 (more advanced) classes including Group Sales Made Easy, Direct Mail that Sells, Effective Presentation Skills, and Creating a Cruise Marketing Plan. Separately, CLIA also announced a new Allied Membership category designed for ports, convention and visitors bureaus, attractions and other related tourism entities. And, Dale said last year's World's Largest Cruise Night in the fall was highly successful, with 400 agencies participating and 7,000 cabins sold, but this fall, he expects even more: "I need to double or triple that and I need every agency to participate."
