North America
Accredited Cruise Counsellor (ACC)
Accredited Cruise Counsellor (ACC) certification is for experienced travel advisors seeking to deepen their expertise and elevate their standing in the cruise industry. Building on foundational knowledge, advisors will complete advanced learning, fulfill hands-on experience requirements, and demonstrate a higher level of sales proficiency to earn the ACC designation.
The Significant CLIA Certification
Established travel advisors with proficiency in selling cruises that want to expand their credibility in the cruise industry.
Certification requirements vary by year. The requirements below pertain to those who have registered for the certification in 2022 and beyond. Please refer to your Certification Logbook if you’ve enrolled in previous years.
The enrollment fee does not include individual courses, certificate programs, ship inspections, personal cruise experiences, or other out-of-pocket expenses required to complete certification. These components are selected by CLIA based on the certification’s goals and are completed separately as part of the overall certification requirements.
Certification Requirements
In order to qualify for Accredited Cruise Counsellor (ACC) Certification, the following must be achieved:
Pre- and Post- requisites
Enrollee must be an active CLIA Individual Agent Member (IAM) and maintain active membership during the certification completion period. Accredited Cruise Counsellor Certification candidates have two (2) years from the date of enrollment to complete the certification requirements and submit documentation per the Logbook instructions. Once a CLIA IAM graduates with the ACC designation, the graduate must renew CLIA Individual Agent Membership to maintain the certification.
Mandatory Credits
- Forty (40) credits in CLIA online courses and live seminars evident by successfully passing the course quizzes
- One (1) CLIA Certificate Program Including:
- RiverView Certificate Program
- Public Relations for Your Cruise Business Certificate Program
- Family Cruise Travel Certificate Program
- Luxury Cruise Travel Certificate Program
- Accessible Cruise Travel Certificate Program
- Cruise Groups Certificate Program
- Meetings & Events at Sea Certificate Program
Elective Credits
Eighty (80) credits received for any combination of the following:
- Attendance at CLIA’s Cruise360 Conference (40 credits)
- Cruise360 attendance can only be used once per certification level. If you have attended Cruise360 multiple times, you must use a different year for other certification levels.
- Full attendance at a CLIA Live Learning or Virtual Learning Event (30 credits each, one per certification level)
- CLIA online courses and live seminars evident by successfully passing the course quizzes (10 credits each)
- CLIA Industry Partner Training - Global Cruise Line Members, Hotels, Destinations (credits vary)
- Completion of an additional CLIA Certificate Program as listed below (50 credits each):
- RiverView Certificate Program
- Public Relations for Your Cruise Business Certificate Program
- Family Cruise Travel Certificate Program
- Luxury Cruise Travel Certificate Program
- Accessible Cruise Travel Certificate Program
- Cruise Groups Certificate Program
- Meetings & Events at Sea Certificate Program
- Achievement of the Travel Institute’s CTA designation (10 credits)
- Achievement of Association of Canadian Travel Agencies (ACTA) CTC designation (10 credits)
Product Knowledge - Must complete all items
- Ship Inspections (5 required, Not utilized for attainment of any other CLIA designation)
- Live or CLIA provided virtual ship inspections
- Cruise Line must be CLIA Global Cruise Line
- May use same Global Cruise Line, but must be for different ships.
- May include ship inspections from up to three (3) years prior to enrollment date
- Personal Cruise Experiences - Two cruises at least 2 nights in length
- Must be on two (2) different CLIA Global Cruise Lines evident by providing an itinerary from each
- Must be on separate product and destination itineraries (i.e. Alaska and Caribbean)
- May include cruises from two (2) years prior to enrollment date
- Must not be a completed cruise utilized to attain lower level CLIA certifications
- May include similar itineraries that stop at different ports
- Stateroom Sales
- Twenty (20) staterooms booked/deposited through a current CLIA member travel agency during the two-year completion term following enrollment
- May include bookings from one (1) year prior to enrollment date
- Must be a CLIA Cruise Line