Advantage Travel Centres inks deal with...

Advantage Travel Centres inks deal with cruise add-ons firm

Advantage Travel Centres has forged a commercial deal with cruise add-ons company Cruisingexcursions.com.

The shore excursions and port transfers firm has produced a 16-page ‘shore-trip’ sampler brochure for Advantage clients, with incentives for the booking to be made through the agent, rather than direct.

The company has been building relationships with the trade since its launch a year ago and has signed up many cruise specialist agents, but Advantage is the first major agency group to publicly endorse its services.

Agents receive up to 8% commission on the ancillary cruise sales. The company covers more than 5,000 excursions at 600 ports worldwide.

Cruisingexcursions.com managing director Simon Purchase said: “Our research shows that like many holiday essentials, such as airport car parking, transfers and car hire, the customer is aware that it makes economic sense to pre-book and save, rather than pay high prices on the day.

“The customers are fully protected with our non-porting money back guarantee – if the ship doesn’t port then the customer receives a full refund.

“In addition in the very unlikely event that we can’t get a passenger back on board before the ship departs, and it’s not the passengers fault, then we will transport free of charge to the next port of call.”