Amber Sprague Costa, Cruise Planners Franchise Owner since 2013, recently sailed with Lindblad Expeditions, experiencing firsthand how expert-led exploration transforms every destination.
People exploring a travel advisor career often wonder what the job is really like beyond booking vacations. Do travel advisors get to experience destinations, cruise lines, resorts, or tours firsthand? Do they have opportunities to learn directly from suppliers? And can those experiences help them become better at serving clients?
One answer is yes: through professional opportunities known as FAM trips.
FAM trips, short for familiarization trips, give travel advisors a chance to experience travel products firsthand. These trips can include cruises, resorts, hotels, guided tours, destinations, or supplier-hosted experiences designed to help advisors learn what their clients may experience.
For someone building a travel business, that kind of firsthand knowledge can be powerful. It can help advisors speak with more confidence, recommend the right vacation, create better content, and build stronger trust with clients.
FAM trips are familiarization trips for travel advisors. They are professional travel experiences that allow advisors to learn about a destination, cruise line, resort, hotel, tour operator, or supplier product firsthand. The goal is education, not just travel. FAM trips help advisors better understand what they are recommending, so they can guide clients with more confidence.
A FAM trip is short for familiarization trip.
These trips are typically offered by travel suppliers, tourism boards, cruise lines, resorts, hotels, tour operators, or industry partners. The purpose is to help travel advisors become more familiar with a travel experience so they can better explain, recommend, and sell it to clients.
Instead of learning only from a brochure, website, webinar, or sales sheet, advisors get the chance to experience the product more directly.
Depending on the opportunity, a FAM trip may allow advisors to explore:
For travel advisors, this kind of experience can turn product knowledge into practical insight.
When an advisor has seen, tasted, toured, sailed, or experienced something firsthand, they can often explain it in a more helpful and personal way.
A travel advisor’s job is not just to book a trip. It is to help clients make smart travel decisions.
That means understanding what different travelers need, what questions to ask, and which products are the best fit for each client. FAM trips can support that work because they help advisors move from basic product awareness to deeper product understanding.
For example, a client may ask:
An advisor who has firsthand experience may be able to answer those questions with more detail and confidence.
FAM trips can also help travel advisors understand the small details that matter to clients. These details may include the flow of an itinerary, how formal or casual the experience feels, how active the excursions are, what the service is like, or what type of traveler will enjoy the product most.
That matters because great travel advice is not one-size-fits-all. The right recommendation depends on the client.
Product knowledge is one of the biggest advantages a travel advisor can bring to the planning process.
Clients can search online, read reviews, and compare prices on their own. But a travel advisor can help make sense of the options. They can explain the differences, narrow down choices, and recommend what fits the client’s goals.
FAM trips can help advisors build that knowledge in a more meaningful way.
A travel advisor who experiences a cruise, resort, or destination firsthand may better understand:
This can be especially valuable for specialized travel products.
Some vacations are easy for clients to understand right away. Others need more explanation. Expedition cruises, luxury travel, group travel, river cruises, destination weddings, family vacations, and bucket-list itineraries may all require a higher level of guidance.
When advisors understand these experiences firsthand, they can explain the value more clearly.
They are not just saying, “This looks like a good option.” They can say, “Here’s the type of traveler this experience is best for, here’s what makes it different, and here’s what you should know before you book.”
That kind of guidance can help clients feel more confident in their decision.
Adam Martindale, Cruise Planners Franchise Owner since 2009, recently explored remote Southeast Greenland with Lindblad Expeditions, gaining firsthand knowledge to help clients confidently choose the right expedition adventure.
Some of the world's most extraordinary destinations are also the hardest to describe. To help advisors truly understand expedition travel, Lindblad Expeditions invited 10 Cruise Planners advisors to experience expedition voyages across Greenland, Iceland, Alaska, Scandinavia, and the Baltic. These educational sailings allowed advisors to explore some of the world's most remote regions, learn directly from expedition leaders and naturalists, and gain the firsthand perspective needed to confidently recommend this specialized style of travel.
Unlike a traditional cruise where the itinerary revolves around scheduled ports of call, Lindblad Expeditions are built around exploration. Each day is shaped by wildlife sightings, weather conditions, and opportunities to venture ashore by Zodiac with expert guides. Advisors quickly discovered that expedition travel is less about checking destinations off a list and more about experiencing places that few travelers ever have the chance to see. That firsthand understanding helps them better identify which clients will appreciate this style of travel and explain the value of an expedition beyond the itinerary.
After sailing aboard Resolution in Southeast Greenland, Adam Martindale said the experience transformed his understanding of the product and the guests it is designed for.
"Being able to experience the ship and this expedition firsthand really makes a huge difference for me. I am much more knowledgeable about their product and onboard offerings, as well as the expeditions off the ship and the coordination of everything to make this such a special and unique adventure to offer to the right clients."
Amber Sprague Costa said the voyage highlighted how seamlessly adventure, education, and comfort come together, giving her greater confidence in recommending expedition travel to the right clients.
"What stood out most was how seamlessly adventure, education, and comfort came together. Every day offered opportunities to learn from naturalists, historians, and local experts while accessing places that simply aren't possible on traditional cruises. Experiencing it firsthand gives me the confidence to match the right clients with an expedition experience that truly aligns with their interests, activity level, and travel style."
For advisors like Richard Stieff, the most memorable moments were not found on a schedule but in the unexpected. Watching polar bears in their natural habitat and quietly taking in towering icebergs reinforced that expedition travel is about slowing down, embracing discovery, and connecting with nature in ways that are difficult to replicate elsewhere. Those experiences become powerful stories that help advisors bring this unique style of travel to life for their clients.
Experiences like these reflect the strength of Cruise Planners' supplier relationships and commitment to ongoing professional development. Through opportunities to learn directly from trusted travel partners, advisors continue building the expertise and confidence needed to deliver thoughtful recommendations and exceptional service, helping clients choose experiences that truly match their travel goals.
Trust is one of the most important parts of the advisor-client relationship.
Clients want to feel confident that they are making the right choice. They want to know that the person helping them understands their needs, their budget, their travel style, and the kind of experience they want.
Firsthand travel experience can help support that trust.
When advisors have experienced a supplier, destination, ship, resort, or itinerary themselves, they can often give more useful guidance. They may know what to recommend, what to avoid, what to explain upfront, and what details clients may not think to ask about.
This can make client conversations stronger.
For example, firsthand experience can help advisors:
This is one of the reasons FAM trips can be valuable in a travel advisor career. They help advisors turn experience into expertise.
FAM trips can be one of the exciting professional opportunities in the travel industry, but they should not be viewed simply as free vacations.
A FAM trip is a learning opportunity. It is designed to help travel advisors better understand a product, destination, or supplier experience so they can serve clients more effectively.
That distinction matters.
Travel advisors may enjoy the experience, but the purpose is professional development. Advisors are often expected to observe, learn, ask questions, create content, build supplier knowledge, and apply what they learned to future client conversations.
FAM trips may also vary by supplier, availability, eligibility, destination, timing, and business need. Not every advisor will have the same opportunities at the same time, and opportunities can depend on many factors.
Still, for advisors who are serious about building their business, FAM trips can be a meaningful part of the learning process.
They can help advisors better understand the travel products they sell and create stronger recommendations for the clients they serve.
Many travel advisors work from home, but that does not mean their business is limited to a home office.
A home-based travel business can still be connected to the wider travel industry through supplier education, webinars, conferences, networking, ship inspections, destination training, and FAM opportunities.
This is important for people researching how to become a travel advisor because it shows that the career can combine flexibility with professional growth.
A travel advisor may run their business from home while still building knowledge through:
This mix of flexibility and industry connection is one reason many people are drawn to a travel advisor career.
They want the ability to build a business with more control over their schedule, but they also want access to training, tools, support, and professional opportunities that help them grow.
FAM trips are only one part of what can help a travel advisor grow.
To build a strong travel business, advisors also need training, marketing, technology, supplier relationships, and ongoing support. They need to understand how to attract clients, manage bookings, follow up with travelers, and create a client experience that keeps people coming back.
That is where choosing the right business model matters.
With Cruise Planners, franchise owners have access to a recognized travel brand, marketing programs, technology, training, supplier relationships, and a network designed to support business growth.
For someone new to the industry, that support can make a difference.
Instead of trying to figure everything out alone, a supported franchise model can give advisors a clearer path. It can help them learn the industry, understand travel products, market their business, and build confidence as they grow.
FAM trips and supplier-hosted experiences can add to that foundation by helping advisors gain firsthand product knowledge. But the bigger value comes from combining those experiences with the right training, tools, and support system.
A travel advisor career may be a good fit for people who enjoy helping others, love learning about travel, and want to build a business around creating memorable experiences for clients.
It can also appeal to people who want flexibility, entrepreneurship, and the opportunity to grow in an industry built around relationships.
If you are researching travel advisor careers, FAM trips are worth understanding because they show one of the ways advisors can keep learning after they enter the industry.
They are not just travel perks. They are business-building opportunities that can help advisors become more knowledgeable, more confident, and more helpful to their clients.
And when advisors have the right support behind them, those experiences can become part of a larger path toward growth.
With Cruise Planners, franchise owners have access to the training, technology, marketing, supplier relationships, and support needed to build a travel business with confidence.
If you are ready to explore a career in travel, learn more about how a Cruise Planners franchise can help you get started.
FAM trip stands for familiarization trip. It is a professional travel experience that helps travel advisors learn about a destination, supplier, cruise line, resort, hotel, or travel product firsthand.
Some FAM trips may be complimentary or discounted, but they vary by supplier, opportunity, eligibility, and availability. They should be viewed as professional education opportunities, not free vacations.
Travel advisors go on FAM trips to build firsthand product knowledge. These experiences can help them better understand what they are recommending and provide stronger guidance to clients.
Opportunities can vary. New travel advisors may need to complete training, build supplier relationships, attend industry events, or meet certain requirements before becoming eligible for some FAM trips.
FAM trips help advisors experience travel products firsthand. That can make it easier to answer client questions, explain the value of a trip, recommend the right option, and build trust.