ALG Vacations® brands are a go-to for many top-performing travel advisors and their agencies for high earnings for air-inclusive vacation packages. In fact, Apple Vacations, Travel Impressions, Funjet Vacations, Southwest Vacations, Blue Sky Tours, and United Vacations are also highly regarded earning vehicles for air- or land-only components for travel pros. But did you know that you can also maximize your earnings with us even with your cruise crew?

Just because your customers are booking a cruise doesn’t mean you have to resign yourself to losing out on ALGV’s commissions and adding valuable WAVES® points to their account. The answer is simply to leverage those reservations into extended, full-experience vacations with pre- and post-cruise stays and tour components. 

Adding a stay before or after embarkation offers a lot of benefits to the travel advisor. And offering clients the opportunity to do so also adds to your value as a trusted travel expert since it enhances their experience, adds value, and shows off your knowledge of how to do the absolute most with their time investment and their budget.  Plus, we all know the better of a vacation they have, the higher their sense of satisfaction in booking with you and the stronger their loyalty to you and your agency becomes.

Here are the best ways to enhance their cruise getaway … and your commissioned income.

Set Your Own Commission

No matter where they’re setting sail from, they have to get there, right? And most of the time, it’s by flying. With ALGV’s Set Your Own Commission tool, you can earn commission on published air with any airline we sell – not just the selection available through the cruise line. That means you can offer the flight times and brands your customers want from a global array instead of settling for a third party recommendation, and make more in the meantime.

Flight Benefits

When you book flights through ALG Vacations®, you can reserve seat assignments for applicable clients immediately after booking, which gives them greater peace of mind that they’ll be traveling together from end to end. Plus, our booking engine allows you to add their frequent flyer number directly to their reservation so that they earn miles as you earn dollars.

Book Transfers

Okay, so they got from home to the airport, then to the plane, through Customs … but now what? For most bookings, there’s a gap between the airport and the cruise port and ship. Don’t leave your clients grasping for public transportation in a different state or foreign country, taxis that may overcharge, or ride shares that may not even be available due to so many fellow passengers arriving at the same time!

Booking a shared or private transfer to the port makes sure that they don’t flounder before they even hit the deck. In some cases, some drivers will even meet them in baggage claim, and all will track the flight’s arrival in case of delays. And best of all, this peace of mind for them is commissionable when you book transfers with ALGV.

Add On-the-Ground Activities

ALG Vacations® sells vetted tours through destination management company Amstar DMC in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Hawaii, and with our global partners over at Viator everywhere else. All are commissionable with various time slots for scheduling flexibility. So if your customers are doing an overnight before or after their cruise, they then have the freedom to see as much of the city as they like, at the same ambitious pace of a cruise itinerary or at a more leisurely one. A wide range of options let them design how they want to start or continue their journey.

Pre- and Post-Cruise Stays

The benefits of booking a pre- or post-cruise stay are obvious. It reduces the stress of getting to and from the airport and cruise ship, provides a buffer to decompress between means of travel, allows them more time in an interesting destination … and builds trust and loyalty to you, their travel advisor, as it enhances a memorable vacation. Do it once, and they’ll never go straight from plane to ship again.

ALGV pays full hotel commission for hotel bookings made near most of the world’s most popular port cities, plus bonuses like Exclusive Perks where they’re offered and promotional rates when applicable. And we’ve now made it easier than ever to find the right match with the Points of Interest filter in VAX, which allows you to narrow down your options to properties that are near the cruise port.

Destinations Offered

Search for hotels and tours in:

• The United States: Alabama, Alaska, California, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington
• Canada: British Columbia, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec
• Caribbean: Barbados, Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico, Sint Maarten, Turks & Caicos, U.S. Virgin Islands
• Mexico: Costa Maya, Cozumel, Ensenada, Mazatlan, Progreso, Puerto Vallarta
• Central America: Honduras, Panama
• South America: Argentina, Chile, Colombia
• Europe: Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Montenegro, Monaco, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom
• Africa: Tunisia
• Australia and Oceania: Botany, Brisbane, New Caledonia, Perth, Sydney, Tahiti, Fiji
• Asia: China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan
• Middle East: United Arab Emirates, Israel