Cruise Planners Snags Top Talent from Royal Caribbean and Welcomes Theresa Scalzitti in Newly Created Role
Cruise Planners, the nation’s leading home-based travel agency network will be welcoming Theresa Scalzitti, a 20-plus year veteran with Royal Caribbean International. Scalzitti will come onboard as Vice President of Sales and Marketing on February 29th and will manage the strategic direction of the marketing, sales and business development teams at Cruise Planners, among other leadership strategies.
Scalzitti is known within the travel agent community as an advocate for travel professionals, a strategic and results-oriented thinker and someone who is focused on delivering revenue results. After more than two decades with Royal Caribbean in various roles, she was most recently National Account Sales & Marketing Senior Manager and consistently met or exceeded annual revenue goals for the past 11 years for her account portfolio. Scalzitti was an instrumental player in the Cruise Planners sales growth with Royal Caribbean and was awarded National Account Sales Manager of the Year for 2015 and President’s Challenge Award Winner for two consecutive years. Cruise Planners recently earned the prestigious Chairman’s Award based on a proven track record of success and mutually-beneficial innovation and partnership.
“Theresa knows our business model, understands the travel and cruise market and already comes with Cruisitude,” said Vicky Garcia, COO and co-owner of Cruise Planners, an American Express Travel Representative. “We know she could have gone anywhere, and we are happy she chose Cruise Planners and will join our amazing leadership team at Home Office to support our hard-working travel agent network. Theresa is a visionary and innovator and we know she will hit the ground running at Cruise Planners.”
One of the creative innovations that Scalzitti brought to the table is the “Come Sail Away With Me” marketing and sales campaign that is unique to Cruise Planners travel advisors. This program is a well-rounded approach that encourages bookings, strengthens the client and travel agent relationship and adds value to each cruise booking. These multi-faceted solutions combine her experience from various roles in product marketing, operations and sales and truly make her uniquely qualified for this new role at Cruise Planners.
“Theresa was a valuable member of the Royal Caribbean team,” said Vicki Freed, senior vice president, sales and trade support and service at Royal Caribbean International. “We wish her the best as she embarks on a new chapter in her career with Cruise Planners.”
Theresa is a native Floridian. In her personal time, she enjoys spending time with her three young children and husband. She loves to travel, is an adventure-seeker and loves to do CrossFit to stay in shape.
“Cruise Planners will continue to be a leader in the travel industry,” Garcia said. “We are proud to welcome Theresa to the CP family.”
