Accountants are needed to handle general accounting, payroll and financials. You will work with cruise line operations, sales and marketing, passenger services, ticketing and billing. Qualifications include a strong accounting background, bookkeeping and computer skills in Lotus or other database or spreadsheet programs. Banking, travel agency, restaurant, hotel or other tourism experience is preferred.
EMILIANO PEREZ, ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE
A former mathematics teacher, Emiliano Perez enjoys working with Dolphin Cruise Line's ticketing, and billing processes. "I love my job," says Emiliano. "Although I have to work some Sundays, because the ships sail seven days a week, I enjoy the organization and the diversity of my work."
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
Administrative assistants are needed in all departments including sales and marketing, public relations, finance and accounting, reservations, ticketing, shore side and ship operations. Qualifications: secretarial experience, pleasant telephone manner, shorthand 75 wpm, typing 55 wpm, filing, computer experience, such as word processing, WordPerfect, Lotus and general data entry. Previous travel industry experience is helpful but not necessary. The administrative assistant needs to be flexible and eager to learn the cruise business. Use this opportunity to promote within the company.
SALES AND MARKETING
The sales staff is responsible for promoting their cruise line's products via travel agents to prospective and experienced cruisers. Sales and marketing departments are expanding to represent new ships. Jobs in sales and reservations are the positions most often advertised in travel trade magazines. See Bibliography; travel trade magazines.
Positions include reservations, air-sea ticketing, group sales, incentive/ corporate sales, marketing coordinator, sales account executive, district sales manager DSM, regional sales manager and vice president of sales and marketing.
Sales account executives and DSM's visit travel agencies to promote new ships, itineraries, programs, special promotions and rates. Your goal is to motivate travel agents to recommend your cruise line's products to prospective cruisers. The successful sales manager will be flexible, resilient, reliable, enthusiastic, a good public speaker and have a good sense of humor.
Helpful previous experience includes: sales executive or cruise consultant for a travel agency, experience with airline reservations and sales/marketing, rental car sales and hotel and resort sales or promotions. Cruise lines prefer candidates with developed contacts within the travel agency community in a defined geographic region and experience with reservations systems.
RESERVATIONS AGENT
"Reservations are a great place to start," says Vicki Molino, Director of Reservations, and Dolphin Cruise Line. "We do promote from within, because you'll have the product knowledge that people coming off the street don't have. We promote into individual sales, group sales, tours and capacity control."
Tony Hernandez, Sales Account Manager, says, "If you talk to any reservations manager, one of the hardest things for them to do is to keep good people. Because the best people always get promoted. There's a big turnover in reservations. ''Gents achieve success and provide their clients with fast, efficient service."
Ms. Molino says; "As reservations manager, I help reservationists build their selling skills. We train our reservationists to sell properly and communicate with travel agents."
She looks for applicants with the ability to be consistent, organized, dedicated, responsible and resourceful. "A good reservationist knows the product and can meet the customer's needs effectively and efficiently," says Molino.
"There is a certain amount of stress in this job because you are on the telephone all day," says a former Premier Cruise Lines personnel executive. The ideal reservation agent applicant has graduated travel or tourism school, has some computer background and a 'people person,' outgoing personality. It's also very important that the applicant have some sales experience and a pleasant telephone voice. Most cruise lines offer in house training on their reservations systems.
"Reservations is a great place to start, we do promote from within, because you'll have the product knowledge that people coming off the street don't have. We promote into individual sales, group sales, tours and capacity control."
VICKI MOULINOS, RESERVATIONS MANAGER
"Get out there and apply!
The opportunity to move up in reservations is ideal.
"I had just graduated with an accounting degree; and here was an opportunity to use what I studied in school. I started in the company as a reservation agent and from there I worked at the pier and in sales and service. My experience in the different departments helped me to be promoted to supervisor and then to reservations manager. The opportunity to move up in reservations is ideal."
Vicki has seen Dolphin grow from ten reservation agents to more than ninety, and the addition of Majesty Cruise Line has further expanded reservations. "Each time we add a new ship, we have to expand. All cruise lines that add new ships will be expanding their reservations departments," says Vicki.
Vicki started her cruise line career by applying at the cruise line's corporate headquarters. She offers advice for the newcomer, "Get out there and apply! Weigh your expectations about the business; it is glamorous but it's also very frustrating. It's the type of industry where you start at the bottom and move up. It's not me or just one person that makes us successful. It's everyone together that makes the reservation department a success."
TONY HERNANDEZ, DISTRICT SALES MANAGER
"Choose the best products to sell. Be selective and go after the job."
"A good District Sales Manager will be resourceful, patient, communicative, responsible, highly interactive, persistent and creative; because you're constantly dealing with people," says Tony. "You have to learn to read people, and be a good businessman, because you'll be negotiating deals and figuring profits."
Tony had not planned a career in cruising; at first he wanted to become an English teacher in South America. Tony speaks Spanish, and wanted the exciting lifestyle that working abroad could offer. After a trial period of teaching in Colombia, Tony made a career change to travel and tourism.
"I returned to Florida, where a cousin of mine worked for Marriott Hotels. My cousin's friend was a reservations manager at Paquet Cruise; they were looking for a reservationist - that's where it all started."
Tony began his cruise career as a reservationist for Paquet, promoted to group sales, reservations supervisor, and ships' dispatcher and then became a district sales manager for Royal Viking Line.
TONY HERNANDEZ, DISTRICT SALES MANAGER
"Choose the best products to sell. Be selective and go after the job."
Tony had not planned to a career in cruising; at first he wanted to become an English teacher in South America. Tony speaks Spanish, and believed that teaching English abroad offered an exciting lifestyle. After a trial period of teaching in Colombia, Tony made a career change to travel and tourism. "I returned to Florida where my cousin worked for Marriot Hotels. Her friend was a reservations manager at Paquet Cruises. Paquet was looking for a reservationist and that's where it all started."
Tony joined the cruise industry in 1980 as a reservationist with Paquet His first promotion was to the group sales department; "Paquet was a small company with a high degree of turnover and I stayed," says Tony of his rapid rise through the ranks. In three years he promoted from group sales to reservations supervisor, ship's dispatcher and then became a district sales manager (DSM) for Royal Viking Line.
Tony credits his promotion to DSM to his mentor, Dave Levine; "He must have seen something in me. It's good to have a mentor to help you start; then it's up to you and how you do the job. You could make it without a mentor if you had experience in the travel industry, as a travel agent or other areas of the business. But it sure helps to know you can count on an experienced professional to help you when you need it."
"A good DSM will be resourceful, patient, communicative, responsible, highly interactive, persistent and creative because you're constantly dealing with people," says Tony. Tony is the liaison between the travel agent and the cruise line. He uses sales and human relations skills to maintain a good rapport with his travel agents. "You have to learn to read people, and be a good businessman because you'll be negotiating deals and figuring profits."
A typical day; Tony will make a minimum of five sales calls to travel agencies. When he's not on the road, he'll telephone agents to resolve problems or negotiate promotions. He acts as a trouble shooter, dealing with wrong cabin assignments, late documents and coordinating group events. He also presents workshops, hosts breakfasts or cocktail parties promoting the cruise line's products and represents the line at trade shows.
Tony says it's important that you are trustworthy as an employee, and that you honestly record the hours you have worked. "A district sales manager is allowed a lot of freedom. No one keeps tabs on you, but you will be recording your sales calls for your report. The only thing that keeps you going is your own motivation. You have to be motivated in order to appreciate the freedom that you have, otherwise you're going to be lost in the job. You decide where you're going to be and how many sales calls you will make."
"I really like my job. I was a shy person before becoming a DSM; then I discovered that I like public speaking. My work really has taught me things about myself. I'm also surprised to have developed an emotional attachment to an inanimate object like a cruise ship. I take it as a personal affront if somebody says something unkind about the line."
"The travel is also very nice. The pressure comes when ifs a slow day and I can't complete all my sales calls. The pressure is what I like least, and sometimes being on the road," says Tony. "If you really want to be a DSM you have to be persistent. Choose the best products to sell. Be selective and go after the job. Ifs not an easy job to get into, but it can be very rewarding. To give you a better shot at getting a sales job, first work with a travel agency or with a local cruise line."
"The job may require you to sit most of the day, so you need to build stamina. It's all hard work." To keep up his energy when he's on the road, Tony takes along his fishing gear. At the end of a long day, he relaxes and goes fishing.
