Thinking About a Cruise Vacation? How to Check the Cruise Line

Thinking About a Cruise Vacation? How to Check the Cruise Line

 

When thinking about a cruise vacation you may be thinking about Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Disney, Princess or one of the other large lines. Then you may decide to think small and pick a smaller ship for a more intimate feel. What choice should you make? The answer is simple. What fits YOU best!

 

What is important is checking out the Cruise Lines current track record. You can search for health and safety, along with environmental impact. You can also look to see if they are canceling cruises or having problems. It is also wise to check on if they are part of a large cruise industry trade association, such as Cruise Line International Association, CLIA.

 

Want to see the current State Department records on the cruise lines? Click here:

https://www.transportation.gov/mission/safety/cruise-line-incident-reports

 

CLIA has had a huge impact on the international Cruise Industry. 95% of cruise lines are part of CLIA. When concerns such as health and safety, and guests not being treated fairly or not being compensated for loss due to the cruise line errors CLIA stepped in and pushed for a Passenger Bill of Rights to protect the cruising guests. CLIA has encouraged fairer cancelation policies, especially during the recent pandemic. CLIA has pushed for and gotten cruise lines to work towards being more environmentally friendly and clean as well.

 

Why check if your cruise line is part of a large trade organization like CLIA?? The story is sadly clear in recent news. Vantage Cruise Line recently stopped service leaving many travelers stranded. Vantage is not part of any trade association. There honestly is no protection for Vantage guests. Hundreds of guests found out at the last minute, some of them while at the airport waiting to board their plane, that their trip of a lifetime was cancelled and the return of money uncertain! If you had your Vantage cruise canceled contact the Massachusetts Attorney General as there is a class action lawsuit and there may be help getting your funds back.

 

Another thing about CLIA is that it not only advocates for the Cruise Line Industry, and their guests, it also advocates for Travel Agents selling cruise travel. It helps inform agents about the current state of the cruise industry and where it is going. It teaches agents how to sell cruise travel, and what different types of cruises are available. CLIA is a bridge between Cruise Lines, Guests, and Agents. Its goal is improving the industry for the traveling public.

 

A CLIA Certified Travel Agent is one that has taken the time to take training with CLIA. There are 4 levels of certification for agents along with a training course for Agency Owners. Much of it is online but CLIA also has live seminars. Don’t hesitate to ask your Travel Agent if they, or the Agency Owner has a CLIA card and is working on training.

 

Why choose a CLIA member agency/agent? They are working towards learning more about the cruise industry in particular, and travel in general. They are staying informed with a goal of improving travel for the industry and guests alike. They can check on the status of a cruise line for you and give you  the information you need to make a wise decision in choosing your next cruise vacation.

 

Full Disclosure here. Pixie Dusted Memories Travel is part of CLIA, and the owner is a Certified Cruise Counselor and will soon be working on the Travel Agency Executive training as well as the Accredited Cruise Counselor Training with plans to do more training. Pixie Dusted Memories Travel encourages all their agents to join CLIA when they are ready.