Who can help me book a cruise?
There's different ways that you can book a cruise. First, I would say, a travel agent. Not every travel agent is a cruise expert, just like not every website is a cruise expert. And, a lot of travel agents are specialized in the cruise industry. There's an organization called the Cruise Line Industry Association, CLIA is the acronym, and they actually certify travel agents who are cruise specialists. They actually have a program that you take, and you do a course of study, and you get certified to be an expert, and they have a couple of, I think three or four tiers of specialization. Generally, I suggest to consumers, find somebody they can talk to, that they can relate to, that they can trust. I've had the personal experience many times of dealing with families with young children when my kids were young, and I had the experience of cruising. And somebody calls me, or I meet somebody and they start asking me questions about cruising, I tell them about my experiences with my kids. They can relate to that, so there's a trust level, and, so, it's all about that. If you find somebody that you can trust and you work with them, hug them and keep them. There's a lot of value in that and I would say that even in the end if the price they give you is twenty or thirty dollars more, so what? Look at the expertise that they gave you, and the experience that they gave you, and the confidence that they've built for you to take that vacation, that's so important.
