[Travelandtourism] For those interested in becoming what is PhD at sea

[cheryl echevarria]

Good morning all:

I have spoken to some on this list who are thinking about becoming Travel Agents.

A few things I tell people about becoming a travel agent, isn't that you need to spend a few thousand dollars on taking Travel and Hospitality Courses at college.

I would recommend that you take a few business courses, and speak to a CPA and business lawyer about the different issues you might want to consider and learn about before do anything kind of business on your own.

Also, many of the standard stuff you need to learn is what you are selling and how to sell it.

Learn your product inside and out.  I would recommend this to existing Travel agents as well.

Because if you don't know the product and you tell someone something, and it isn't right, you will have egg on your face.

The Suppliers all offer free training, example the cruise lines.

Do the online training programs and as much as possible, go a do a travel agent ship inspection or at least get out and cruise on one ship.

I will give other ideas later, but right now I am focusing on the PhD at Sea<mailto:PhD at Sea> through Norwegian Cruise Lines.

The reason I had been focusing on this cruise line for so long, is because of all of you.

When I first started out, and I was doing a fundraiser for NAGDU, OMG, and I mentioned NCL, boy, like Don Gillmore mentioned at the National Convention this year, we almost had a riot on our hands.  

Did I know that is the worse cruse lines at sea?

Didn't you know that the NFB sued them in the 90s?

Etc.

That put my radar up to find out the scoop and see if things have changed since back them.

Well they have, and from my postings in the past and ship tour on October 9, with the NFB, they certainly have, and mind you it wasn't just NCL, it was all of the cruise lines back then.

Now, we come to this coming Sunday, the 6th of November.

The PhD at sea<mailto:PhD at sea> is a graduation cruise for travel agents that have done all the training online at NCL U. You can only do this once.  Dah graduation cruise.

I am taking husband, Nelson, and, Maxx, my guide dog with me.

What is on the Agenda. Well we are sailing round trip on the Norwegian Gem to Orlando and the Bahamas.

1st Day Welcome cocktail party with crew of the ship and team from NCL.

2nd Day CLIA Training Class on Marketing 

Because all the cruise lines belong to the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), which is the identification you need to book cruise lines as a travel agent, and by no mean is it free to get anymore, that is for another post.  Hard work and at the end of it, which doesn't mean anything to the clients, but it means we have gone through our of hard work studying, selling a certain amount of cruises, and sailed on at least 1 2-5 day cruise and 1 5 day or longer cruise.

day 3-5 in Orlando, Great Stirrup Cay, and Nassau

Day 6 another CLIA Class, behind the scenes tour of the ship, from the kitchens and the laundry rooms, to the bridge.  

Also, NCL product training and graduation night.

So busy time.  There will be time for evening stuff and spa time, etc.

Can wait to give review with video and photos.

Leading the Way in Independent Travel!

Cheryl Echevarria
http://www.echevarriatravel.com<http://www.echevarriatravel.com/>
631-456-5394
reservations at echevarriatravel.com<mailto:reservations at echevarriatravel.com>

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