Sharon Allen has recently become the first travel agent in the area to be awarded Master status by the world’s largest cruise industry trade association - CLIA.
Recognising her as being at the pinnacle of her knowledge in the industry, the CLIA Master Accreditation has only been awarded to approximately 40 individuals, and recognises Sharon’s dedication to training and development in order to provide excellent service and expert advice to her customers.
Having been in the travel industry for over 20 years, Sharon started her career as a trainee travel agent in Grimsby. She honed her travel and tourism knowledge as a lecturer at the Grimsby Institute of Further & Higher Education before taking the plunge and starting her own business as an independent travel and cruise consultant in 2012.
Since then she has never looked back and has continued to sail to success, balancing life as a mother of three and successful businesswoman. Sharon says; "Choosing a cruise is not easy; there are so many cruise lines now available with various destinations and it’s my job to go through the options and help find the right holiday for the individual, couple or family concerned. In order for me to do this however, it’s important for me to invest a large amount of my time in training and developing my knowledge and experience and I’m pleased to say this has paid dividends - I’m absolutely delighted to be one of so few people to be awarded Master status by CLIA.”
CLIA cruise training for travel agents is the only City & Guild’s accredited agent training programme in the UK and consists of over 50 dedicated modules covering a wide range of topics from cruise destinations to cruise line specific training. There are three levels of Accreditation within the programme; Accredited, Ambassador & Master, with Master being the most exclusive accreditation level acknowledging those who have completed the majority of the training modules, written blogs and experienced much of the industry first hand.
More information on Sharon and the personal cruise services she offers, and her travel blogs can be found on her website – www.thecruiselady.co.uk
