Identify and make a short list of travel professionals.
Do not limit yourself to agents from “brick and mortal” locations, large offices or corporate agencies. Many small office agencies and home based travel agents are very, very good cruise planners.
Contact each person on your list.
Prioritize your list based on your initial personal reactions to the person you met or talked with via telephone.
Use a sliding scale of one through ten, with ten as the high number.
For the moment, this is strictly subjective on your part, your “gut” reaction.
Evaluate each candidate.
LOOK FOR TWO TYPES OF INFORMATION
1). The first type of information you are looking for pertains to credentials, such as professional associations, cruise experience, licensing (if applicable), years as an agent, and so on.
2). The second, and more elusive, type of information pertains to intangible factors.
Your approach when determining intangible factors is to observe behavior and to pay careful attention to questions.
For example:
- Did the agent greet you by standing up, smiling warmly, and perhaps offering to shake your hand?
- If your evaluation took place via telephone, did you
