Citing its appreciation of travel advisors’ loyalty and commitment, Carnival Cruise Line will honor the commission tier that each account earned in 2019 through 2022. That means travel advisors will continue to earn commission at their current rates for the next two years without the commission percentage changing.
“We truly appreciate the continued partnership and loyalty of our valued travel partners,” Adolfo Perez, Carnival’s senior vice president of global trade sales and marketing, tells Travel Agent. “By maintaining our current commission tiers, we’re recognizing the important role that travel advisors play in the vacation-selling process while providing peace of mind knowing their efforts through 2022 will be compensated at the rate they have worked so hard to earn.”
The "Fun Ship" line had previously announced that commission tiers would be maintained through 2021, so this announcement extends that protection for an additional year. Commissions are typically commensurate with sailed booking volumes at Carnival.
Moving into 2021, Perez says it was clear that the brand could not know exactly what would happen and that “it also would take a major commission restructuring for advisors to keep the commission they have,” particularly given the lack of sales compared with the normal sales environment.
In addition, Perez tells us that even if the line had opted to change that structure, who knew if what was decided upon would be the right or wrong way to go for advisors? With too many unknowns, Perez said the entire team—including Christine Duffy, the line's president—agreed that extending the commission tier levels for another year was the right way to go.
As for consumers, Perez says that “the pent-up demand is really there for cruising with bookings for 2022 outpacing those for 2019." He adds: "Agents are doing a great job of dealing with this difficult situation" and, moving forward, "we’re going to need them more than ever.”
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