By KEN MILIANI & CLAUDE RENSHAW

My wife, who is a licensed massage therapist, is considering signing up for an Alaskan cruise that features massage therapist training as part of its deal. If she attends the onboard training sessions, she can get a year’s worth of “Continuing Education Units” and thus maintain her certification. The package price for one person is about $2,700 for the one-week cruise, which includes the price of the training. Would this be a legitimate business expense? My tax preparer says that we can deduct the entire trip, but I just wanted to get your reaction.

P. L., via e-mail

Well, P.L., our first reaction is that you should find yourself a new tax preparer! The idea that you can deduct the full cost of a cruise while spending a small amount of time on a “training” or “seminar” type activity is, to say the least, a little aggressive. Yet, some things, like the continuing popularity of Alec Baldwin or Newt Gingrich‘s certainty that he will be on the November presidential ballot, just go on and on for no apparent reason. The simple version of the rule is: If theprimarypurpose of the travel is “business related,” the travel costs can be deducted; if theprimary purpose of the trip is personal, then none of the travel costs can be deducted. The usual way to determine if a particular trip is business or personal is the relative amount of time spent on each activity — in other words, if during your wife’s weeklong cruise, she spent more time on cruise-related activities (sightseeing, land packages, etc.) than on her therapy training, there would be no deduction for the travel and meals, but she would be able to deduct her class fee if it was separately stated. All travel and entertainment rules are covered in IRS Pub. 463.

When this list actively becomes part of your routine, it’s time to call your travel agent.

You think you have cruise-itis? At our house, it’s inevitable that when enough time passes between cruises, my husband or I start, well, itching, to hop onboard a ship.

One sign that we’re ready to hit the high seas is when we start tuning into Turner Classic Movies, hoping to catch some love story unfolding on a transatlantic voyage. (“An Affair to Remember,” anyone?) And, we pay more attention to the ship and ocean than we do the cast. Here’s my Top 10 List to tell when it’s time to book the next cruise.

10. You call going to the supermarket a “shore excursion.”

9. You want a burger poolside – and it’s snowing outside.

8. You tell the kids to pick up their toys and stash them in their cabin.

7. You put your luggage outside your bedroom, and it’s still there in the morning.

6. No one is passing out free popcorn in the movie theatre.

5. You forgot how to merengue.

4. You bought DVDs of “The Love Boat” – and they’re not even on sale.

3. You don’t understand why an orchestra isn’t playing when you go out to dinner.

2. You fashion your own elephants out of towels at bedtime.

1. You yell “man overboard” when your spouse leaves for work in the morning.

By Kayleigh Kulp, Special to CNN

(CNN) — Imagine sitting at a conference roundtable and being able to look out on the turquoise sea for inspiration. At lunch, you steal away to sunbathe on deck. That night, after a featured speaker presentation, you’ll watch a cabaret. Tomorrow, you’ll spend a few hours on Grand Cayman.

This is what a corporate retreat should look like, some meeting planners say, and companies, large and small, are catching on. They’re choosing cruises as venues for corporate meetings, events and conferences. Eight percent of companies surveyed by research firm PhoCusWright last year listed cruise ships as their first choice for a meeting venue — up from 6% in 2009.

Interest is growing partly because, when comparing apples to apples — including meals, entertainment, presentation equipment and meeting space — an all-inclusive cruise ship event saves 20 to 30% on cost, according to cruise event services company Landry & Kling. Cruising builds in the social and excursion time needed to get a clear head, generate fresh thinking and share new experiences with colleagues.

“There have been a lot of organizations that deleted or deferred meetings and want to do something to get their momentum back up,” says Jo Kling, co-founder and CEO of Landry & Kling. “Taking people to an environment they don’t go often or have never been shifts the perspective all together. They’re not in a (dark) hotel ballroom … thinking, ‘Here we go again.’”

Business has picked up nicely since the 2008 economic downturn and the “AIG effect” socked the meeting industry, Kling says. Her company expects to double its 2010 business next year.

Companies have access to amenities on cruise ships they might not otherwise be able to afford for a retreat– nightly entertainment, happy hours, floral arrangements, audio/visual equipment, and personally chosen meals rather than preplanned banquet platters.

“It just disappears from your budget altogether,” Kling says.

Corporations working with good cruise lines also need fewer on-site staff to run events, says Sandra Daniel, CEO of FIRE Light Group, an incentive travel and marketing firm.

“The contracts for cruise programs are often more liberal than hotel contracts on attrition clauses and less restrictive cancellation fees,” she adds. “Most participants appreciate that they have the opportunity to see many destinations, some of them exclusive to the cruise line, but only need to unpack once.”

And to top it off, pricing is usually in U.S. dollars, even when traveling abroad.

The types of events held on cruise ships run the gamut, but are mostly incentive trips for salespeople in the insurance, financial, direct selling and manufacturing fields. Cruise ships are also venues for continuing education courses, product launches and national meetings. Landry & Kling’s list of cruise customers includes Microsoft, Aflac, Harley-Davidson, Land O’Lakes, Mastercard International and MetLife.

Companies can book part of a ship or arrange a full, private charter, depending on their size. Meetings at sea may not be such a good fit for large association meetings, which may require hundreds of breakout rooms.

Cruising has become increasingly accessible for companies in the last decade as “loads of new ships” have entered the market, Kling says, with about 27 gateways in the U.S., including Boston; New York; Norfolk, Virginia; Charleston, South Carolina; and Galveston, Texas. About 70% of people live within a five-hour drive of a cruise port, she adds.

To accommodate increasing demand, Landry & Kling launched Seasite.com, an online portal dedicated to cruise meetings and events, to allow corporate planners to send custom electronic Requests For Proposals to five cruise lines and negotiate directly for group pricing.

But the movement is still small. About 25 to 35% of Royal Caribbean’s business is group business, and corporate groups are a small piece of that, says Lori Cassidy, the cruise line’s director of charters and incentives. (She wouldn’t say exactly what percentage is corporate business.)

But cruise lines are interested in attracting more corporate business because the lead time is longer, allowing them to commit their space well in advance, Kling says.

“You are starting to see more cruise lines reaching out to corporate America. We have a fleet of 22 ships that were purposefully built with conference centers,” Cassidy says.

Corporate trips on Royal Caribbean are mostly three- to five-night programs in the Caribbean, Alaska and Europe, with some shorter cruises out of South Florida.

Meeting planners express concerns about seasickness and the inability to get on and off at leisure. Daniel says the first is rarely an issue with today’s large, smooth-moving ships. Cassidy and Kling say the latter is an advantage.

“It’s a captive audience. There’s nowhere for (attendees) to go,” Cassidy says.

As a result, the environment is more comfortable, the speaker won’t disappear, and attendees won’t skip sessions to golf instead. Everyone goes their own way for dinner during many hotel retreats, but not on a cruise ship.

Laura LaBelle, chief operating officer of modeling agency Barbizon USA, said her company opted to host two 2,000-person events on a cruise ship out of its base of Tampa, Florida, instead of holding its usual land-based Los Angeles and New York events, because it could offer a similar event for about half the price.

The response from participants has been great, LaBelle says. “Families had it much easier. They enjoyed going to shows and dressing up.”

Corporate meeting planners should do their homework before committing to a group cruise program, Daniel says. For example, some cruise ships have lower quality food and smaller rooms than a land hotel. Organizers should pay attention to how long they will be in port at various destinations and how long they are at sea in between stops.

“There are many cruise lines out there, some of which can provide a 5-star experience. They need not be the wild spring break on-board experience that some may fear,” she adds. “If you are accustomed to land meetings and have never tried a cruise, it might be something worth considering.”

Kling agrees.

“(Cruising) is not going to replace hotels, but it’s certainly a nice alternative once in a while,” she says. “It excites people.”

Have you participated in a business cruise? What did you think of the event? Share your comments

Crystal Serenity’s luxury cruise offered dancing and glamour from Venice to Istanbul.

Crisped out in tails and pin-striped trousers, our butler Samir opened the door to our penthouse suite on the 10th deck of the Crystal Serenity, and stood aside.

The white tufted floor-to-ceiling headboard, “bubble” table lamps, wall paper and sumptuous silk, velvet and leather textiles look very Hollywood glam, reminiscent of Palm Springs in its heyday when megastars began colonizing it as an exclusive retreat.

Frank Sinatra could have stayed here, played here, and even chased Ava Gardner around the featherbed and out onto the veranda overlooking the Venetian gondolas.

For 12 days we were going to play it our way on one of America‘s most luxurious cruise lines.

And the price tag was actually less than what we would have spent at the five-star Ritz Carlton in Istanbul that didn’t include food or go anywhere.

We, on the other hand, were traversing some 3,400 miles from Venice to Istanbul calling at ports just emerging from out of the shadows of the old Soviet Union, and others taking tentative steps to shape their ancient cliff-hanging monasteries and mosques into seductive packages for sophisticated cultural tourists.

With dining at the onboard Nobu Matsuhisa Silk Road (which can cost $600 a person in the land-based Beijing restaurant) included at no cost, free lectures by luminaries like novelist Mary Higgins Clark, staterooms that start at about $15,000 for a 12-day cruise like ours, plus special pricing and social perks for solo travelers, luxury the Crystal way would make even your accountant smile.

Next year the inducements get even more inviting, thanks to the rollout of its “all-inclusive” pricing. You won’t have to fork out those heavy-duty tips for hardworking housekeeping, bar and dining staff — they’re included. So are a selection of “fine” wines and ‘premium” spirits.

If you’re traveling solo and want to luxuriate in your own private stateroom, the single supplement can range from 25 percent to 200 percent, depending on room category, which says Crystal, is among the lowest in the luxury cruise market

You’ll still have to flash your plastic for those private high-end wine pairings that break the bank at $2,100 per person, but hey, the food is free.

Solo doesn’t mean solitary

For every aspiring Ginger Rogers there’s Crystal’s Fred Astaire. Called ambassador hosts, these 75 volunteer dancing partners ensure that solo sailors aren’t wallflowers. “We are the only luxury line that guarantees their presence on every cruise, and that gives us a competitive edge,” says Mimi Weisand, vice president of public relations.

Depending on the type and length of cruise, at least 5 to 15 percent of passengers are single, affluent older women mad about ballroom dancing. For them the availability of skilled dancing partners is often the decisive booking factor.

“Most are repeat customers who know the men personally and have favorites,” says ambassador host program coordinator Sheila Hoffman. “When they’re choosing their cruises, they contact me first to see who the hosts are. That’s when they make up their minds.”

So popular is the program that Hoffman can’t hire hosts fast enough. Last year, she sent recruitment flyers to every dance studio in the U.S. and Canada, but got zero referrals, probably because “they didn’t think their clientele met our standards.”

Being on your toes — literally and figuratively — seven hours a day takes talent, tenacity and tact. Hosts have to be physically fit, good conversationalists and socially adept. They also host tables at dinner, escort shore excursions and participate in dance classes and games. In exchange, they get free cabins (generally shared), drinks and dry-cleaning allowance, and comp airfare under certain conditions.

“Occasionally, a dance is scheduled at the Cove, where the floor is marble and the music mostly jive,” says ambassador host Len Tan, 71. “The marble floor is hard on our feet, ankles, knees, and hips, especially when you have one jive after another.”

Although Hoffman says the program is responsible for half a dozen marriages; ambassadors can’t play favorites. And they must be single. “While a wife may initially say she doesn’t care if her husband goes on a cruise without her, Crystal provides a very romantic background which has caused problems before,” Hoffman said.

Pay it forward

You don’t normally associate helping troubled kids in Dublin spruce up their youth club, feeding the hungry in Halifax, or caring for burn victims in Peru with high-end cruising.

For Crystal, that changed in January 2011 with the introduction of its “You Care, We Care” voluntourism excursions which involve hands-on experiences on every sailing. Free for both guests and crew, the experiences last a few hours to half a day, and immerse participants in everything from urban farming lessons in Colombia to Maori traditions in New Zealand. So far 350 guests and crew have lent a helping hand.

Touching lives they enrich their own.

One pediatric dentist was so inspired by his experience working with children in Colombo, Sri Lanka that he organized a group of colleagues to continue the effort.

Jacqueline Roa, 36, spent two hours with kids in need at The Smile of a Child in Navplion, Greece, helping youngsters make crafts as a fundraiser.

“We had an interpreter with us and a social worker, but because the children were so emotionally damaged we weren’t supposed to really speak with them, just smile and say “hi.’ But when we arrived, they had baked a cake for us, and seemed really glad we’d come. Being there showed them that others care.”

Charting new waters

In Trabzon, Turkey, we found ourselves clinging to the side of a mountain hoping to get a shot of the Sumela Monastery (Virgin Mary Monastery) built in the 4th century on steep rock cliffs 850 feet above the valley floor.

Expanded and refurbished through the 19th century, it fell under Russian occupation until 1923. Today, the elaborate structure, founded by two priests, seems like an architectural expression of “Closer My God to Thee.”

Since Trabzon was a maiden port of call for Crystal, the latest in about a dozen added since 2010, tourism in this lively city on Turkey’s historic Silk Road is still in embryonic stages. Ten minutes from the monastery, we stopped for lunch at Cosandere Dinlenme Tesisleri, a charming hotel/ restaurant serving authentic Black Sea cuisine. On a picnic table sandwiched between two of the restaurant’s original hotel rooms, we sampled a delicious lentil soup, traditional appetizers like dolmades, and fell in love with their gorgeous cheese type fondue.

Be better at bargaining

The last thing we expected to learn on a luxury cruise was the art of bargaining. Thanks to advice from Chris Hopkins, shopping director, you’ll probably be able to bring home a treasure from your next cruise at a jaw-dropping discount.

Assess the environment. Negotiate a better price in outdoor, non air-conditioned markets and stores that have electricity and a calculator.

Open with “I really like this item, but not the price”; then wait.

Expect 30 to 40 percent off the tag price on carpets in Turkey and Greece; 40 to 50 percent on jewelry. “Generic” jewelry made on the premises could result in a deeper discount of 60 to 70 percent.

USA  Today - reports about 300 passengers were left behind in San Juan Sunday  when approaching Hurricane Irene forced the ship to depart the island  early. But unlike Royal Caribbean, which faced a similar problem, Carnival  put all the passengers up in hotels and offered to fly them to the next  port. In both cases, the cruise lines learned early Sunday afternoon that  due to the approaching storm, harbor traffic would be limited. Two ships,  Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas and Carnival’s Victory, were  scheduled to start seven-day cruises that evening, and officials decided  to leave early. Serenade of the Seas left at 5:30 p.m., three hours early.  Victory left at 6 p.m., four hours early. Carnival provided hotel rooms  for two nights to all the guests left behind, and offered to fly them to  the next port, Barbados, on Wednesday. About half of the passengers took them up on the offer. Most of the others didn’t have a passport and couldn’t continue because the next port was in a foreign country. Although  cruise lines urge passengers to bring passports, they are not required for sailing from Puerto Rico, a U.S.  territory.

By Gene Sloan, USA TODAY

• In general, the bigger the ship, the more it offers in terms of deck-top amusements. Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas has a zip line that takes riders across an open-air atrium nine decks above the sea. But if being around crowds isn’t for you, reconsider this ship: it can carry more than 6,000 people.

by Kim Komando

Q. My husband and I are traveling to Rome soon. We need to coordinate with our daughter who is traveling up from Sicily. So we need to know whether to use our Sprint cellphone or if we should get something else. What would you suggest? Our daughter has an Italian cellphone, so we will be fine once we connect with her. Thanks for your help. I love your show.

A. Traveling internationally is a wonderful adventure. The fun diminishes, however, when you have to worry about cellphone compatibility and running up high phone bills.

Some people go on vacation and rack up phone bills in the thousands of dollars. They don’t even realize it until they get home. Don’t let this happen to you!

The main problem is trying to use American cellphones overseas. As soon as you leave the country, roaming charges kick in. Sprint, for example, charges $2 a minute to make calls in Italy. Yikes!

But the roaming charges are only part of the problem. There’s a good chance your phone won’t work over there at all. That’s because Europe uses the Global System for Mobiles standard for cellphones. In America, we use both GSM (AT&T and T-Mobile) and another standard called Code Division Multiple Access (Verizon and Sprint).

Even if you had a GSM phone, that’s no guarantee it would work. You see, U.S. phones use different GSM frequencies. Europe uses 900 MHz and 1800 MHz while the U.S. uses 850 MHz and 1900 MHz.

What you need is a tri-band or quad-band phone. Cellular providers also call these “World phones.” These phones work on American networks and European GSM frequencies. If you have an iPhone 4, it will work as well.

As long as you stay in one country, you don’t have to worry about international rates and roaming charges. Plus, if the phone is stolen, you won’t waste valuable vacation time taking care of security issues; you’re just out a few bucks.

If you need more minutes, you can refill the phone at any time. This can be done in any store or from the phone itself. Just be aware the phone-based refilling procedure will be in another language. If your Italian isn’t fluent, you might be better off finding a store clerk who speaks English.

You can use the prepaid phone until you meet up with your daughter. Then keep it as a backup phone. It will come in handy for calling the hotel or checking reservations.

Now, while prepaid phones are handy, they tend to be basic models with limited features. Not all of them support text messaging, for example.

Text messaging is an especially good thing to have. You might need to send a message in a museum, restaurant or on a subway. Talking on the phone often isn’t allowed, but texting is much less intrusive.

Plus, text messaging often works in places with a poor cellular signal. Even if you can’t make a voice call, a text message can get through. It’s nice to have that extra insurance.

Don’t forget we use our phones in other ways as well. Are you going to be taking a camera? Or will you be taking photos with your phone? Do you need Internet access?

Consider renting a phone to make sure you get all the features you want. You can purchase rental phones for specific countries. There are also phones that will work in any European country, in case you decide to expand the boundaries of your trip.

Prices for rental phones can be as little as $19 per week. Smartphones can run you $50 per week. You’ll get better deals if you rent for an entire month. However, be sure to ask questions and watch for extra charges, like setup fees.

Now, this is just the price to rent the phone. The rental company will charge you for actual use on a per-minute or per-text basis. Expect to pay 30 cents to 90 cents per minute of voice time or per text message. Shop around to find the best package.

Some companies allow free incoming calls or free incoming text messages. When your daughter calls you, for example, it won’t cost you a thing! Be aware, though, that some rental cellphones use U.S. or U.K. phone numbers. In this case, your daughter would be charged international rates when she calls or texts. You’ll want to check your options for those reasons, too.

You may see rental phones that offer data plans for Internet access. No matter the price, data fees add up quickly. However, you can sidestep data fees by using Wi-Fi, which will be available at Internet cafes and perhaps at your hotel.

If you’re traveling overseas and decide to take your own smartphone, avoid incurring a massive phone bill by reading this tip. It will help you. Additionally, if you want to keep in touch with people at home, here’s what you’ll need to know.

Traveling is a lot of fun with the proper planning. Here are some great resources for planning an incredible trip.

• You’ve got a prospective destination all picked out. How can you learn what’s worth seeing and where to find the hidden gems? Plan your trip with these comprehensive travel guides.
• One of the biggest travel expenses is airfare. You want to make sure you get the best ticket price possible. Learn how to find the cheapest airfare.
• You may be taking mobile electronics on your trip. Who wants to be without their laptop? Unfortunately, mobile gadgets are easily stolen.Find out how to protect your gear while traveling.

By Paul Motter

Roughly 85% of cruises are still sold by travel  agents, and like most professionals, they have their trade secrets. One such  covert term is “cruise value season,” a period of time I did not know about  until I had been in the business several years.

Cruise value season just started and refers to  cruises that sail between the start of the school year and the beginning of the  holiday season. Holiday cruises sell well and generally cost more than any  cruise, and summer cruise prices are also higher because that’s when families  take vacations. The period from mid-January through  May is called “wave season” in the trade, and are ships filled by northerners  looking to escape the bitter winter cold.

The slowest (hence cheapest) weeks for cruising of  the entire year are usually the second week in December and the second week in  January.

Better Value Season Deals

As I was looking for some of the better value season  cruise deals, I had a common experience that probably confuses a lot of cruise  buyers. I was on the website of a well-known cruise agency called CruisesOnly, which is part of a larger company  called World Travel Holdings that supplies cruise inventory to warehouse chain  BJ’s, Hotwire.com, Priceline and other well-known retailers that sell  cruises.

Browsing for cruises through travel agent websites  has advantages and risks. Travel aggregator sites help users compare all  the major brands’ cruise prices at once. I am not going to find prices for NCL  cruises on Carnival.com.

CruisesOnly displays prices on a cost-per-day basis  because it helps me find the best cruise deals quickly. With that said, I never  consider a price at any travel agency website to be fully accurate until I  verify it.

The cruise price quotes shown on websites can be  wrong. In most cases they are loaded into the website’s computer in the morning,  but prices can change drastically over the course of the day. If the price has  changed, it will not be reflected in the search results on that agency website,  but the updated price is the one you will have to pay when you try to purchase  the cruise. For an actual purchase transaction, the cruise agent’s website goes  to a central database for all cruise lines and fetches the current price. It’s  too costly for an agency to display up-to-the-minute prices for people just  browsing.

Consumers should be wary of any site that promises  the cheapest cruise prices. All cruise sites will eventually charge you the  price set by the cruise line. So, while last-minute cruise bargains are a  reality, no single site has any last-minute pricing advantage over the  competition.

Here’s the proof:

I recently went to CruisesOnly to seek out last-minute prices for the current  value season and found a four-night cruise on Celebrity Millennium showing the  unbelievably low price of $173 for a balcony cabin – even cheaper than an  inside cabin listed for $199 per person. To test the accuracy of the website, I  followed through with purchasing this cabin to the point where it actually asked  for my credit card. I discovered the total price, with  taxes, would be $700.82 for two people. The math did not add up: The taxes were  only $90.41 per person and the cruise fare was listed at $173 per person. The  final price should have been $173 cheaper.

Looking to solve the mystery, I went to the  Celebrity Cruises’s website and priced the very same stateroom. The cruise line  broke down the charges as $347 cruise fare for the first guest and $173 for the  second guest only – exactly half price. The CruisesOnly website had uploaded the best price for that stateroom from that morning as  $173, but it was only good for the second guest in the room. The purchase price,  with tax, was the same on all websites: $700.83.

CruisesOnly had picked the lowest price for that  stateroom, but it did not see that it only applied to the second guest in the  room. To be clear, this likely would have happened no matter where you priced  the cruise – except for the actual cruise line website. And that is the moral of  this story: for accuracy in prices, the cruise line is the final  authority.

That is why I only quote prices from the websites of  specific cruise lines in this column: I know they are the most accurate. Still,  I advise people always to book through a travel agent after they have  verified the correct price with the cruise line. Even though I quote prices from  the cruise line “supplier” websites, I don’t recommend buying the cruises  there.

by McLean Robbins

Most travel safety tips suggest that you should always remember to leave your valuables in the hotel safe. But just how “safe” is it? A new video posted by consultant skyrangerpro suggests that your hotel safe may not be as secure as you think.

Cost: Contrary to popular belief, a travel agent won’t always cost more. In fact, it’s possible you will pay less than booking a vacation yourself because agents might be aware of promotional offers and occasionally have access to exclusive deals. Some agents will charge a per-hour fee for their time in planning a trip. Agents can earn commissions on some bookings, but it’s not nearly as lucrative as it used to be because airlines don’t pay commission. In general, however, using a travel agent will often cost about the same as booking it yourself, experts say. But you save a lot of time and could get great advice that makes your trip more enjoyable.

Time: Some people enjoy trip planning, while others consider it an arduous chore. Research for even a simple trip can consume hours. Part of what you’re paying for with a travel agent, assuming you’re paying extra at all, is for someone else to do the research and present you with options, making the process less time-consuming for you.

Advice: How valuable would it be if an expert could tell you to stay at hotel A but avoid hotel B, or choose the great snorkeling excursion but skip the lame biking tour? Counseling you on what to do and which services to choose, based on personal experience or that of colleagues and customers, is where a travel agent can shine. Besides counsel on bookings, a travel agent can advise you on such issues as exchange rates, travel insurance, crowds, weather, competency of tours, areas of a town to avoid, travel visas, vaccinations, passports, tipping etiquette, packing lists and trip cancellation penalties and restrictions. A travel agent can sort out which airlines charge for checked bags or roomier exit-row seating.

Troubleshooting: A travel agent can be your advocate before, during and after your trip. If something goes wrong with a canceled flight, missed connection or something more serious, you have someone on your side who probably knows the system a little better.

Choosing an agent: You can find one through word of mouth, via friends, neighbors and relatives. There also are ratings of travel agents from Consumers’ Checkbook and Angie’s List, which require subscriptions, and Yelp.com, which is free. Also, keep an eye out for agents who are members of the American Society of Travel Agents. Members are required to adhere to a code of ethics and are offered continuing-education programs. Some travel agents are certified travel counselors, which means they have at least five years of experience and have completed an educational program.