Focus on Cruising: Technology, trust at heart of partnership

By Donna TunneyIt wasn't so long ago when the typical relationship between a cruise line and a cruise agent was strictly a two-party deal. The cruise line would offer a product, the agent would sell it to a client, and there was no reason to expect any communication between the supplier and the buyer.

That scenario still represents a perfect world to many agents, particularly those who, in the distant or recent past, were angered by a cruise line that aggressively reached out to customers.

But with Internet technology and social media so prevalent in daily life, retailers have far less control over what their clients see, hear and learn than they did 15 or 20 years ago, and contact between suppliers and buyers is inevitable.

The cruise line/cruise agent relationship has evolved in many ways since then, but industry veterans agree that the fundamental changes can be attributed to technology and trust.

The traditional practice, for example, of an agency keeping its client base under a cruise line's radar no longer appears to be a big concern at Virtuoso, the agency organization that specializes in high-end vacations.



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