Selling a cruise holiday is renowned within the travel industry for being particularly tricky. With thousands of ships, cabins and itineraries to consider, it’s notoriously complicated. Yet, this sector of travel is among the most lucrative within the industry.

On the whole, agents have to invest far more of their time to organise, research and secure a cruise booking. Hence, it’s not a surprise that many agents shy away from this sector.

That’s no longer the case for Not Just Travel agents – franchisees of The Travel Franchise.

Having recognised the barriers and the fact that its agents were missing out on making large amounts of commission, The Travel Franchise has adopted a three pronged approach: technology, recruitment and training.

Having set up its Cruise Mastery Programme in 2022 – a 12-month programme specifically to educate agents on the cruise sector – the company has recently announced the appointment of Gemma Poppy Outram as Cruise Business Development Manager.

While that name may be unknown to those outside the industry, within the travel field she’s renowned as being among the best seller of cruise holidays.

Gemma has years of travel experience and used to sell £3-£5 million in cruise holidays each year while working for Bolsover Cruise. She was the top seller of P&O Cruises in the industry and won multiple awards, including the accolade for being the Individual Cruise Agent of the Year 2018 by the industry magazine Travel Trade Gazette.

Gemma’s remit is to coach, inspire and pass on her expertise to all the agents on Cruise Mastery Programme. “Now, our travel consultants can learn from the top-seller in the industry - it’s gold dust,” said company co-founder Paul Harrison.

In addititon, after years of development, The Travel Franchise has rolled out its ground-breaking new website: Not Just Cruise. This innovative tool allows agents to see nearly all the cruises on offer in one place, allowing them to cross reference and cut down on hundreds of hours of research.

“This is a complete game changer for our agents. The entire process is simplified for them. We are so proud of this innovation and it’s unique to us,” says Harrison.

The launch of the website came close on the back of the company’s recent Seminar at Sea, a five-day cruise on board Virgin Voyagers Valiant Lady when 120 agents attended educational seminars while also experiencing all the joys of the cruise first hand as part of the Cruise Mastery Programme. Hailed an “incredible success”, agents were securing sales just hours after boarding the ship.

Now with all the tools at their fingertips, the company’s cruise bookings are skyrocketing like never before.

“We knew we had to break down the barriers once and for all. We had to tackle the hurdles head on and we’ve come at it from all angles by recruiting the best in the business; by developing ground-breaking technology and by investing in training and education. We’ve given our travel consultants the competitive edge over all the other agents out there.”