Compete for cruise bookings.
Pay only when you win one.
SailMatch sends you travelers who have already chosen an exact cruise and want it quoted. You compete on price and perks, keep your full cruise-line commission, and pay a flat 2.5% only after the booking converts. No subscription, no lead fees, no ad spend.
How selling on SailMatch works
Five stages from a live request to a booked cruise. You quote for free and owe nothing until the last one.
- 1
Browse live requests
Travelers post an exact cruise: line, ship, sailing, and cabin. Pick the requests you know you can win.
- 2
Submit one quote
Send a single clear offer, your price for that cabin plus any perks. You stay anonymous, so you win on the offer, not your name.
- 3
Win the match
If the traveler accepts, your identity and their contact details are shared so you can book with them directly.
- 4
Book and report it
Book with the cruise line the way you always do, then file a one-click booking report with the guest invoice as soon as the deposit is paid (within 7 days).
- 5
Pay your 2.5%
The fee applies to the base fare, billed Net 30. Up to this point, you owed nothing.
How fees work
One fee, charged only when you win the booking. Quoting is free, losing a bid is free, and there is nothing to cancel because there is no subscription.
- Platform fee
- 2.5% of the base cruise fare: the cruise-fare line on the guest invoice, before taxes, port charges, and gratuities.
- When it's owed
- Only when your customer pays their deposit to the cruise line. A match that never converts owes nothing.
- How you report it
- File a one-click booking report as soon as the deposit is paid (within 7 days) and attach the cruise line's guest invoice. The invoice sets the fare, so the fee is exact.
- How it's billed
- One invoice to your agency, due Net 30.
- Worked example
- A $4,000 base fare owes a $100 fee. Your cruise-line commission is yours alone.
The rules agents work by
This is the agreement every agent accepts before quoting, published in full. Everything named in it (the fee, the penalties, contact scrubbing, the close-rate audit) works exactly as described here.
- 1
Quote only what you can book
Your price is for the exact sailing and cabin the traveler requested, bookable when you submit it. If availability or pricing changes, amend or withdraw the quote on the platform. Never quote a price you can’t honor.
- 2
Know each cruise line’s pricing rules
Some lines don’t allow selling below their published fares (Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, for example), and many restrict how discounted fares can be offered or advertised. Knowing and following the pricing policies of every line you quote is your responsibility. Where discounting isn’t allowed, win on value instead: onboard credit, prepaid gratuities, specialty dining, and other extras.
- 3
Deliver every perk you list
Travelers compare perks line by line and choose partly on them. List only perks you will actually provide, with accurate values. If something changes and you can’t deliver a perk, sort it out with the traveler directly; a substitute or refund they accept settles it. Complaints about promised perks that never arrived count against your standing, and a pattern of winning matches on perks you don’t deliver means suspension or removal.
- 4
Anonymity holds until acceptance
Pre-acceptance Q&A is contact-scrubbed in both directions. Don’t share contact details, reveal your identity or agency, or try to move a traveler off SailMatch before they accept your quote. Every bypass attempt is flagged for admin review: the first confirmed attempt is a written warning, the second is a $100 fine, and repeat attempts mean a 30-day suspension. Systematically working around anonymity means permanent removal.
- 5
Report every booking
When a matched traveler pays their deposit to the cruise line, file the booking report with the cruise line’s guest invoice right away — within 7 days at the latest. That bills SailMatch’s 2.5% fee on the actual base fare, Net 30. Conversions are cross-checked with travelers directly, agency close rates are audited (under 15% triggers an automatic review), and if SailMatch asks, you’ll provide the cruise line’s booking documentation for a matched traveler.
- 6
One fee per match, whatever the sailing
The fee applies to the first cruise your matched traveler books with your agency within 12 months of accepting your quote, even if it’s a different ship, sailing, or cruise line than you quoted. Cabins booked for companions traveling on that same sailing are part of the booking, whoever pays for them. After that first booking, the traveler’s repeat business is yours alone: SailMatch charges nothing on it.
- 7
The fee is earned at the deposit
SailMatch’s 2.5% is earned the moment your traveler pays their deposit, because that is what you were matched for: a ready-to-book traveler who booked. What happens to the cruise afterwards is between you, the traveler, and the cruise line. If the traveler or the cruise line later changes or cancels the sailing, the fee still stands, and you don’t need to report the change to us. A match that never books is never billed at all.
- 8
Not reporting a booking has set penalties
First time: twice the fee plus a $250 fine, and quoting is paused from the moment the finding is confirmed until the penalty is paid. Repeat: five times the fee and a 90-day suspension. A pattern of unreported bookings means permanent removal from the platform. Underreporting counts too: reporting a token or partial booking to dodge the fee on the real one is treated as an unreported booking.
- 9
Traveler contact details are for the match
The identity and contact information revealed at acceptance is for completing that traveler’s booking. No marketing lists, no sharing or selling data, no unrelated outreach.
- 10
Stay reachable and professional
Answer clarification questions in good faith while your quote is live, reach out promptly after a traveler accepts, and see the booking through with the cruise line.
Who can join
SailMatch is for verified cruise professionals. If you own or run an agency, or you advise independently under your own credentials, you can apply here. Agencies register once and then invite their agents.
Accounts belong to the verified agency, not the individual, so the agency stays accountable for everyone quoting under its name. The owner adds each agent under the agency's IATA or CLIA credential and can revoke that access the instant someone leaves, which also pulls their open quotes. A former agent can't keep quoting, or reach travelers, on the agency's behalf.
So if you work at an agency you don't own, the owner registers it and invites you in.
- Requests where the traveler has already chosen an exact cruise
- No subscription and no lead fees, you pay only on conversion
- Your own dashboard to browse requests, quote, and manage matches
- A valid IATA or CLIA credential
- A certified agency or host-agency affiliation