FORT LAUDERDALE -- The cruise industry may be doing well, but it will only get better from here.
That's what top Carnival Corp. sales executives said on a panel on the first day of Northstar Travel Group's CruiseWorld conference Wednesday, hesitating to call this moment the golden age of cruising.
"When we say golden age, we feel like we've reached the maximum capacity," said Priscilla Reyes, head of North America sales at Costa Cruises. "There's so many new destinations, there's so many new ships being built that we've just reached the beginning of that golden age."
Princess Cruises senior vice president of sales Carmen Roig said she wouldn't call this the golden age at all.
"We're in our infancy," she said. "We're scratching the surface. We are in the happiness business, and it's our role to make sure that all of you know that we're here to support you so that we can get to that golden age."
The potential that lies in the new-to-cruise market is evidence that "this will never slow down," said Justin French, regional vice president for the international and western region for Carnival Cruise Line.
French said if he were a travel advisor, he would focus on clients who have yet to take their first cruise.
"Tell people they don't know what they don't know," he told the advisors in the room.
To grow their business, advisors should learn deeply about several cruise lines and take advantage of not just the business development managers at each but the other layers of advisor support offered, the panelists said.
When gaining deeper expertise, choose a few brands that offer guests different experiences, such as one contemporary line and one luxury line, and then work with their sales teams, said Liz Fettes, Cunard's vice president of commercial for North America.
"Each one of us has a curated sales team, and they're really meant to be here to help you grow your business," she said.
Business development managers are like a "free extension to your sales force," French said. But they are not the only support that cruise lines offer agencies, said Rob Coleman, senior vice president of sales at both Holland America Line and Seabourn.
"We have a sales manager in the field to help you grow your business, but then we have other layers, and oftentimes people feel most comfortable filtering everything through their BDM for actioning instead of taking advantage of the other layers," Coleman said.
Advisors should also leverage the tools that their host organizations offer as much as possible, he said.
"What those organizations provide to you is invaluable," he said.
Travel Weekly editor in chief Arnie Weissmann moderated the panel.