Buy the Sea plans incentive trips at sea and on land for companies that want to reward their people well, without paying a fee for the help.
Since 2000 we have helped corporate planners run incentive travel programs on cruise ships and at all-inclusive resorts. Groups range from 16 guests to more than 12,000. We are independent, so we work with every cruise line and every all-inclusive resort, and we tell you which one actually fits.
Cruise or resort incentive trips
A cruise moves your group to new places while everyone sleeps in the same spot, with dining, entertainment and meeting space included. An all-inclusive resort keeps the group together in one place with predictable budgets and room for meetings, awards dinners and downtime. We price both options side by side so the decision is a business decision. Incentive programs at sea · Incentive programs on land
What we handle
- Sourcing every line and resort
- Rates, upgrades and credits
- Payment and cancellation terms
- Contract review
- Liaison through the trip
- Final reconciliation
We negotiate the details that matter: rates, upgrades, onboard or resort credits, payment terms and cancellation flexibility. Then we stay on as your liaison with the cruise line or resort through the program and the final reconciliation. See how it works.
Why there’s no fee
We are paid by the cruise line or resort, not by you. That is how we can work with every brand and still give you a straight answer. Twenty-five partner awards over the years, including Royal Caribbean Partner of the Year ten times, came from doing it that way.
Popular programs
President’s Club trips · Full-ship charters · Group cruise rates
Incentive travel programs we run
- Sales incentive trips
- President’s Club and achiever trips
- Partner and customer reward trips
- Corporate retreats
- Meetings with a reward attached
- Full-ship incentive charters
Every incentive travel program starts with the same question: what is it for? If the answer is reward and shared experience, a cruise usually wins. If the answer is content delivery with a reward attached, a resort with convention-grade meeting space is often the better call. If it is genuinely both, that is the program worth pricing both ways rather than defaulting to whatever you ran last year. We broker both and are paid the same either way, so the recommendation follows the program.
Designing tiers that motivate
Many corporate incentive travel programs reward different achievement levels on the same trip. Done well, tiering stretches the budget. Done carelessly, it demotivates the middle of your field. The principle we use: tier differences should be things the higher tier notices and everyone else doesn’t have to watch, like a quiet cabin or room upgrade, rather than a roped-off section of a shared venue. Give each tier something that is genuinely its own, publish the qualification criteria early, and don’t move them.
The money side of incentive travel
Most of what goes wrong financially on an incentive trip goes wrong after it ends, when the final statement arrives with charges nobody recognizes. We reconcile during the program, matching what was authorized against what was posted, so you can take a closing number to your CFO that matches the one you promised. Programs get cancelled after a messy reconciliation far more often than after a bad itinerary.
Questions planners ask
What does an incentive travel company do?
It plans and negotiates reward trips for employees, sales teams or customers. For us that means finding the right cruise line or resort, negotiating rates and terms, reviewing contracts, and acting as your liaison through the trip and the final reconciliation.
How is Buy the Sea paid?
By the cruise line or resort. There is no service fee or markup to the client.
What size groups do you work with?
Programs from 16 guests to more than 12,000.
Do you only do cruises?
No. We plan incentive programs at sea and at all-inclusive resorts, and we often price both for the same program.
How much notice do you need?
More time gives more options, but we have placed programs with as little as four weeks’ notice.
Can you help design qualification tiers?
Yes. We help structure tiers so higher achievers get meaningful extras, like cabin or room upgrades, without the rest of the group feeling ranked, and we build the cabin and room inventory to match before contracts are signed.
Is a cruise or a resort better for incentive travel?
It depends on what the program is for. Reward and shared experience lean cruise; heavy meeting content leans resort. We price both for the same dates so you can decide on the numbers.