Carnival Cruise Line today announced it is reducing the number of sailed cabins required for each commission tier, which creates significantly greater earnings opportunities for travel agents according to a statement from the cruise line.

The sailed cabin requirement to reach each tier will be reduced, on average, by 32 percent for the 11-15 percent commission tiers.

The change is based on extensive input from travel agents and builds upon a number of initiatives the company has instituted over the past few years to bolster its commitment to travel professionals.  This latest move has been the number one priority of new VP of Trade Sales Adolfo Perez and his sales leadership team. The new commission structure is applicable to new bookings made starting January 1, 2016. 

“The new commission tiers will enable our travel partners to reach higher commission levels faster and earn more money when selling Carnival,” said Perez. “This change positions our commission program as one of the most competitive in the industry and is a demonstration of our commitment to travel agents and how much we value their support.”

Carnival’s commission program will continue to follow the line’s sailed cabin approach, whereby travel agents are incentivized based on how many cabins they sell that subsequently sail.  “Our goal was to make the new program meaningful and impactful and to build upon the many initiatives we’ve implemented over the past two years,” said Mike Julius, Carnival’s senior managing director of U.S. trade sales. “We have worked with hundreds of travel partners through our Carnival Conversations program and one-on-one dialogue to understand what is important to them to make sure that we got this right. We believe the new program is a real game changer for us and will put additional commission dollars in the pockets of our valued travel agent partners.”

Perez and the extended Carnival sales team will be launching a sales support blitz through the end of the year to share the commission program specifics and to help agents be positioned to take advantage of the new commission tiers at the start of 2016. This support program will include webinars, office visits and updates during the line’s Carnival Conversations events.  The sales support blitz will kick off with a podcast hosted by Perez and Julius, which will debut featured on GoCCL.com beginning today.