Wave deals/advisor support from Carnival, HAL, Celebrity, Ponant, Swan Hellenic, Paul Gauguin, ECN

(Traditionally, snowstorms in wave season have spurred bookings from winter-weary travelers looking for warm-weather getaways or thinking ahead to summer vacations.)

The promotions are in from Holland America Line (with a one day only offer), Celebrity Cruises, Ponant, Swan Hellenic and Paul Gauguin Cruises, while Carnival Cruise Line is offering travel advisor rewards and the Expedition Cruise Network is conveying its members promotions to advisors. Deals include discounts for the second traveler in a stateroom, free air to Alaska, a romance package for Tahiti and on-board credit. Incentives for advisors including prizes and gift cards. 

Carnival's 'Rock and Spin' travel advisor rewards

Carnival Cruise Line's new 'Rock and Spin' booking promotion, part of the brand's 'Travel Agents Rock' program, is designed to support advisors’ wave season sales.

Travel advisors earn spins on the Carnival promotion’s interactive digital prize wheel by making new bookings

Running through March 31, Rock and Spin rewards advisors for their work with chances to win from a total of $5,000 in prizes each month, including gift cards, Loyalty Rocks! Reward Points and Carnival-branded merchandise. Plus, at the end of the promotion, one grand prize winner will be randomly selected for an up to eight-day cruise for two.

Travel advisors earn spins on the promotion’s interactive digital prize wheel by making new bookings. The more bookings made, the more spins and chances to win.

This comes on the heels of Carnival’s 'Amp Up Commission Challenge,' giving advisors the opportunity to boost their pay up to the 15% level for full-year 2024 based on bookings made now through March.

Advisors can opt in to the Rock and Spin program at GoCCL.com.

HAL's one day only $1 deposits

As a special addition to Holland America’s 'Time of Your Life' wave season offer, the brand is reducing deposits to $1 for one day only: Jan. 16.

Travelers can lock in a cruise and get balcony upgrades, savings up to 40% on select sailings and free fares for kids for just $1 down on Jan. 16.

Celebrity's up to 75% off for the second guest

Celebrity Cruises is offering up to 75% off the fare of the second guest in a stateroom for all sailings from now until April 30, 2026. Those booking on select dates will also receive $200 to spend on board.

Itineraries include Celebrity's biggest Caribbean season yet. Nine of the line's ships — the most ever for the brand — will sail the region on cruises ranging from new three-night getaways to 12-night vacations to escape the winter blues. Select cruises call at the highly rated Perfect Day at CocoCay.

In 2024 for the first time, travelers have the opportunity to get away every weekend on Celebrity Reflection, Celebrity Silhouette and Celebrity Summit, sailing three- and four-night itineraries.

Celebrity Ascent is currently operating its inaugural season of seven-night eastern and western Caribbean cruises departing Sundays from Port Everglades.

Celebrity Beyond will spend its first summer season in the Caribbean and from May will be calling at Perfect Day at CocoCay on longer itineraries.

Ponant's included air for Alaska and advisor gift cards

Ponant's offer for the US market is free round-trip airfare from US gateways for a selection of 2024 Alaska sailings. Plus, travel advisors will receive one $250 gift card per booking made during January.

There are eight departures of three itineraries. 

The nine-day 'Emblematic Alaska' from Vancouver, BC travels through the Johnstone Strait and the Inside Passage to traditional towns like Petersburg, a commercial fishing hamlet, and the Tlingit village of Kake. Rates start at $5,530 per person.

The 11-day 'Majestic Alaska,' from Sitka to Vancouver, features Elfin Cove, Glacier Bay National Park and the small settlements of Kake and Metlakatla. A stop at the wooded island of Cormorant, just off the north coast of Vancouver Island, will give the opportunity to discover the Indigenous culture at Alert Bay. Rates start at $7,480.

And the 12-day 'Alaska, Nature on a Grand Scale,' which starts in Seward and ends in Vancouver, visits traditional villages, Prince William Sound an Tsaa Fjord, dominated by Mount Saint Elias. Other highlights include Glacier Bay, Misty Fjords National Monument, the Inside Passage and Johnstone Strait. Rates start at $7,600.

Swan Hellenic's SH Vega

Swan Hellenic's 50% off for the second guest

Swan Hellenic's 'Explore Together' gives 50% savings for travel companions on 2024 sailings when booked by Feb. 29.

The offer applies to almost all cruises to destinations such as Antarctica, the Arctic, Africa, the Mediterranean, Western Europe and the Americas.

'Explore Together' has no limit on party size, so if 10 are traveling, for example, five in the group get a 50% reduction.

Paul Gauguin's 'Take Your Sweetie to Tahiti'

French Polynesia destination expert Paul Gauguin Cruises' 'Take Your Sweetie to Tahiti' wave promotion features a $500 shipboard credit per suite or stateroom with a welcome bottle of Champagne and a chocolate treat.

The promotion is offered for a wide range of seven-, 10-, 11- and 14-night all-inclusive luxury voyages throughout 2024.

There’s a sweet treat for travel advisors, too — for each newly deposited booking made through Feb. 16, they will receive up to a $500 gift card.

Paul Gauguin is 'the perfect choice for those clients dreaming of celebrating a honeymoon, an anniversary, Valentine’s Day or the everyday in the most romantic place on earth,' said Susan Robison, GM sales and marketing for the line.

Eligible voyages depart from May through December 2024 with all-inclusive fares beginning at $4,860 per person. 

Expedition Cruise Network sales guide

The UK's Expedition Cruise Network created a guide for travel advisors to help them navigate the many wave season promotions.

'Selling Expedition Cruising: Wave 2024' is a live data document.

Launched in April, the ECN now has 20 cruise line members: AE Expeditions, Albatros Expeditions, Atlas Ocean Voyages, Aqua Expeditions, Aranui, Australis Expeditions, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, Heritage Expeditions, HX, Intrepid, Latin Trails, Lindblad Expeditions, Ponant, Poseidon Expeditions, Quark Expeditions, Scenic, Seabourn, Silversea, Swan Hellenic, UnCruise Adventures, Metropolitan Touring, Polar Latitudes and Oceanwide Expeditions.

The network claims more than 1,000 travel trade members including advisors, tour operators, travel designers and product, marketing and other professionals supporting expedition cruise sales.

This is Seatrade Cruise News' fifth periodic roundup in a continuing series covering 2024 wave season offers