Selling Alaska:

Consider the Possibilities

Are you a home based agent looking for an incomparable vacation experience for your clients? It’s not too early to be looking north to Alaska. The Last Frontier, with its breathtaking beauty, is the perfect destination for any client in your database —from honeymooners to families with young children to mature travelers.
Where else can one find a vast terrain with such diverse offerings — from spectacular calving glaciers to snowcapped mountains, hiking trails, river rafting and a vast variety of wildlife, including grizzly and black bears, Dall sheep, wild swans and golden eagles and, of course, polar bears? Clients may opt for everything from extreme wilderness adventures to more sedate sightseeing — the choices are all there for the taking.
Moreover, once clients have sampled their first taste of Alaska, they’re bound to want more — and since suppliers offer a vast array of Alaska vacation packages, you’ve got plenty to offer to entice potential return visitors.
Here’s just a sampling of the possibilities presented by several suppliers that are attuned to helping home based agents sell their product.

Carnival Cruise Lines:

‘Unforgettable” Vacation Experiences

By Vicki Freed
Senior Vice President Sales & Marketing

Carnival, which recently completed its 10th year in Alaska, is gearing up for yet another exciting season in 2006 sailing “The Last Frontier.”
The line’s 2006 Alaska cruises will again be on the 2,124-passenger Carnival Spirit — the ideal ship for scenic cruising, with a huge percentage of balconied staterooms, indoor and outdoor promenades and acres of teak space for viewing spectacular calving glaciers, and native sea plant and animal life found only in Alaska.
Carnival’s 2006 Alaska itineraries encompass 7-day Glacier Route cruises operating northbound from Vancouver and southbound from Whittier/Anchorage Wednesdays between May 17 and Aug. 30. Ports of call include Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway and Sitka, along with opportunities for cruising Lynn Canal and Prince William Sound.
Additionally, three Glacier Bay cruises operating round-trip from Vancouver will be offered May 10 and Sept. 6 and 13. In addition to two full days cruising the Inside Passage, these voyages feature visits to Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan.
Guests can also customize their Alaska vacations with optional 3- and 4-night land stays operated by Holland America Tours, one of the region’s leading tour operators.
For those who wish to get an “up close and personal” look at Alaska, Carnival offers more than 100 different shore excursions — everything from “adventure-type” tours like helicopter flightseeing and snowshoeing to more traditional excursions such as salmon bakes and gold panning.
And, Carnival is the only cruise line to offer guests a chance to experience Alaska “Fun Ship”-style with the widest variety of dining, entertainment and activity options at sea, including special menus featuring freshly caught local seafood and fish. Even kids get the full “Fun Ship” treatment with just-for-Alaska activities included in the line’s top-rated “Camp Carnival” program.
All this — combined with Carnival’s one-of-a-kind on-board experience and unmistakable brand of “fun” — makes a “Fun Ship” Alaska cruise truly an unforgettable vacation experience.

Holland America Line:

See More of Alaska on a CruiseTour

By Paul Allen,
Vice President Alaska Marketing & Sales

We never stop working for our travel agents and guests at Holland America Line. I’m pleased to announce the 2006 Alaska season is bolder than ever, offering eight ships, (three Vista-class), 159 departures, 29 CruiseTours and three ships departing from our homeport, Seattle.
What I would really like to emphasize is Holland America Line’s Great Land and Glacier Discovery CruiseTours. To really experience the best of Alaska, your clients need to combine a cruise and land tour. Our CruiseTours emphasize four spectacular areas of the Great Land — Yukon, Arctic, Kenai Peninsula and, of course, Denali, in combination with the glacier experiences, popular ports and scenic cruising of the renowned Inside Passage.
The memorable Yukon offers two spectacular parks, Tombstone Territorial Park near charming and historic Dawson City, and Kluane National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site outside of Whitehorse. Tombstone offers unique geological features and boasts having both Boreal Forest and sub-arctic tundra. Kluane is rugged, with five of the seven tallest mountains in North America and offers a variety of excursions, from interpreted hiking to rafting Class III and IV rapids on the world-class Tatshenshini River. “Outstanding” summarizes an experience in the Yukon. (Tombstone: CruiseTour 1-6 & 27, 28; Kluane: CruiseTours 5, 6, 9 & 10)
Our extensive Arctic Program includes a number of different ways to get above the Arctic Circle. We have a set of CruiseTours to Prudhoe Bay and the Arctic Ocean along the Dalton Highway, considered by many to offer the state’s best wildlife viewing. (CruiseTours 21 & 22) Other guests may extend their Alaska vacation with a flight to Gates of the Arctic National Park & Anaktuvuk Pass, where scenic attractions are around every corner. Learn the Nunamiut Eskimo way of life on an excursion led by a local guide. Wilderness fans may prefer the Brooks Range Expedition, combining light hiking and a river float trip near Gates of the Arctic.
A new CruiseTour of note in 2006 travels to the Kenai Peninsula and Homer. This scenic tour features the gorgeous fjords, mountains and wildlife of Seward, Homer and Cooper Landing on the Kenai River with numerous excursion options. Even Alaskans like to vacation here! (CruiseTour 29)
Our Business Development Managers are happy to help find the best Cruise or CruiseTour option for your clients. 2006 Alaska Cruises and CruiseTours brochures are now available and be sure to visit halpromos.com to find numerous tools designed to help you sell more effectively.

Port Promotions:

Earn Commissions On Excursions

By Steve Leland
President

The days of mass marketed motorcoach excursions have long passed and there is no destination more geared toward adventure than Alaska. Cruise passengers are no longer content to spend excursion dollars on passive sightseeing and prefer to actually participate in a wide variety of exciting adventures.
The same can be said of cruise agents. They no longer have to sit on the sidelines, as their cruise clients spend hundreds of dollars on shore excursions. There is no adventure more exciting for an agent than earning commission on shore excursions. In the past, agents were encouraged to assist their clients with excursion choices but earned nothing for their efforts.
Port Promotions of Plantation, FL has emerged as an innovator in providing agents an opportunity to earn commission on adventure excursions in Alaska as well as the Caribbean and Europe. Agents should ensure that their clients know that there are alternatives to traveling with hundreds of others on traditional excursions offered onboard. To facilitate agents, Port Promotions provides an actual shore excursion booking engine that can reside on their Web sites.
Clients can choose adventures such as air boat rides, river rafting, glacier helicopter adventures, salmon fishing and flightseeing experiences not available with the standard motorcoach options. These excursion reservations are processed and prepaid tickets sent by E-mail. Agents will earn 12% commission on every booking made, whether placed directly by the passenger or by the agent on www.portpromotions.com
For more information or to acquire the no cost excursion booking engine, phone (800) 929-4548 or go to www.portpromotions.com/agents.html