Carnival Holds Steady on Commission Levels for 2010

Carnival Cruise Lines will maintain travel agency commission tiers for 2010 at the current level, which marks the seventh year in a row the line has held steady on commission thresholds despite the addition of six new ships during that period.

Carnival bases its commission levels on passenger volume versus dollar volume, which protects travel agents from negative impact when the cruise industry experiences down pricing cycles.

“Carnival’s commission structure is simple and makes it extremely easy for travel agents to move up the earnings ladder while not penalizing them unfairly when larger economic factors impact overall cruise pricing,” said Lynn Torrent, Carnival’s senior vice president of sales and guest services.

For commission purposes, passengers are counted on a seven-day equivalent basis. So, for example, a guest sailing on a seven-day cruise counts as one, a guest sailing on a three to five-day cruise counts as one-half, and a guest sailing on a 14-day cruise counts as two.

Commission levels start at 10 percent, and travel agents move to 11 percent with 25 sailed guests within a one-year period. Fifteen percent commission requires 150 sailed guests, which represents as few as seven bookings a month, and a 16 percent commission level can be attained with 600 guests.

Once a travel agency reaches the number of sailed guests required to move up to the next commission level, the new commission percentage is reflected in Carnival’s reservations system within one week and applied to new bookings from that point forward.