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Archive
Cruisitude Convention – Fireside Chats with Execs
One of the benefits of being a Cruise Planners franchise owner is that each agent receives support and has direct access to the Home Office team. CP’s four agent levels (Shooting Star, Rising Star, Superstar and Rockstar) were all invited to intimate fireside chats where CP agents were able to voice concerns, share success stories and offer comments from 2009. As CP continues to grow (we’ve seen our largest growth in 2009) the Home Office team uses the information from the chats to bring around change and improve the support from agents. This year, the main topic agents kept ch...
Posted on 23/11/09 in Convention 2009Read More...
Cruisitude Convention – Celebrity and Royal Caribbean’s Recipe for Success
Vicki Freed and Dondra Ritzenthaler from Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises put on quite a show when they threw raw eggs and flour at each other and discussed how agents can cook up a “Recipe for Success.”Dressed in aprons as Lucy and Ethel, the comic duo highlighted how cruise lines provide all the ingredients for CP agents to cook up success. Below, their Recipe for Success:1 cup – Truly leveraging your preferred suppliers and strategic partnerships and selling exclusive deals with cruise lines. (Sell the innovations the cruise lines are unveiling, like ...
Posted on 23/11/09 in Convention 2009Read More...
Cruisitude Convention – Epic Changes in Cruising
Size matters in the cruise industry, and this year more than $4.7 billion was invested in 15 new (and some extremely large) ships, which is a great sign for travel agents.Andy Stuart, Executive VP of Global Sales & Passenger Services for Norwegian Cruise Line revealed what the cruise industry is doing to continue to innovate and stand out. He chatted about new localized ports, exotic products and new staterooms.All of these new innovations and investments have created a lot of buzz about the cruise industry in general, which ultimately drives cruisers to reach out to CP agents to close ...
Posted on 23/11/09 in Convention 2009Read More...
Cruisitude Convention - Carnival Cruise Lines' Adolfo Perez
Adolfo Perez, VP of Worldwide Reservation Sales for Carnival Cruise Lines kicked off the morning with tips on how agents can make more money without spending a dime. Adolfo’s message resonated the sentiments of many speakers from the first day of the conference by stressing the importance of having a strong customer contact strategy. His tips include:• Put as much effort into contacting your clients after they book as you do before they book.• Keep them excited throughout the post-booking phase.&bul...
Posted on 23/11/09 in Convention 2009Read More...
Cruisitude convention – Results-driven Social Media Marketing
Social media has grown exponentially since last year’s conference, so this year, we invited Ashley Norman, the director of social media at CP’s PR firm, to share her insight on how our agents can use these tools to help grow their businesses. Ashley gave practical tips for agents to take home and start implementing to enhance their social media presence. She delved deeper into the topic and below are some of the highlights from her presentation. Starting the conversation: Consumers don’t want advertising pushed on them anymore, so agents need to move away from traditional ...
Posted on 20/11/09 in Convention 2009Read More...
Cruisitude Convention - It's a Family Fued
It's a Family Feud at the Cruise Planners ConventionDid you all do your homework? Not a question we'd necessarily expect to hear at the Cruise Planners convention breakout session on cruise line loyalty programs. Terri Burke, Cruise Planners senior VP of relationship marketing, wanted to make sure the room was prepared to win prizes, but not without a little work first - Cruise Planners very own version of Family Feud! Michelle Homoky, director of SE sales for Celebrity Cruises and Theresa Scalzitti, national account manager for Royal Caribbean International, provided an ov...
Posted on 19/11/09 in Convention 2009Read More...
Cruisitude convention - Cruise line executive panel
This morning, top executives from major cruise lines got their cruisitude on by trading in traditional business attire for funky and memorable firefighter, Uncle Sam and pilot costumes. Each executive shared how agents can benefit from their line's incentive programs. Below are the top take away tips from each panel presenter:"Corporate Group Incentive Travel, Meeting Groups & Individual Incentive Travel" - Ron Gulaskey, Director of Corporate Sales & Charters for Celebrity Cruises / Azamara: - Avoid old-school thinking by selling to corporations and using incentive sales- Whe...
Posted on 19/11/09 in Convention 2009Read More...
Cruisitude convention - Celebrity Cruises' Dondra Ritzenhaler
The only person who inspires a positive cruisitude more than me is Dondra Ritzenhaler from Celebrity Cruises. She is ebullient, energetic and electrifying. The theme of her presentation was attitude (or in today's case cruisitude!) and believing in what you do. And, most importantly, never giving up. You have to be driven and remind yourself what drives you. Everyday. The four pillars of her drive are: believe, inspiration, purpose and attitude. Believe in not only what you are doing, but that you can do it. And to drive the point home showed the very poignant scene from The Pursuit of H...
Posted on 18/11/09 in Convention 2009Read More...
Cruisitude convention - Princess Cruises' Lee Robinson
Lee Robinson, VP of Field Sales for Princess, provided agents with a lesson in how a little time travel can teach survival tactics for the future. In his presentation, "Damn the Torpedoes, Full Speed Ahead," he illustrated the fact that, while these are extremely challenging times, the industry has experienced difficulties in the past in different forms...and agents can learn from this. Just in the past year, the industry has dealt with "wait and see" attitudes from clients, cruise line layoffs, retailers closing and investigation of crimes on cruise ships, just to name a few. There have...
Posted on 18/11/09 in Convention 2009Read More...
Cruisitude Convention 2009 - Opening ceremonies
Here in sunny Fort Lauderdale, it's always a great day for cruising! The Cruise Planners / American Express annual convention kicked off this morning with CEO Michelle Fee and company executives recognizing all of the amazing work our agents have done this year in an extremely challenging business environment. Though sales were down and revenue was generally flat in '09 compared to '08, cabin count was up, and that is a testament to the dedication, tenacity and intelligence Cruise Planners agents have displayed over the past year. To better assist the fantastic Cruise Planners agents, Home...
Posted on 18/11/09 in Convention 2009Read More...
Cruise Planners American Express launches CPU - industry’s first virtual education platform
Cruise Planners launches industry’s first virtual education platform Agents now have access to leading online educational content, social networking opportunities and the industry’s highest accreditation Fort Lauderdale, Fla. – November 18, 2009 – During today’s opening ceremony of the Cruise Planners/American Express annual convention, company executives unveiled their upgraded Cruise Planners University (CPU) educational program, which now integrates Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) and select cruise line and tour company universities with ...
Posted on 18/11/09 in Convention 2009Read More...
Cruisitude Convention 2009 - Kick-start!
Check in starts at 11:00 a.m. Some of our early birds are able to take a CLIA class entitled "Better Listening Skills" at 2:30 p.m. Our convention really begins with our welcome to SoFla cocktail party and our fantastic tradeshow featuring our cruise line partners, tour operators, vendors and all of our Home Office Team. The fun starts at 5:30 p.m. where our signature drink for the evening's cocktail party is the "cruisitude adjustment" (which is green of course!). The tradeshow is a convention favorite and has something for everyone. CP'ers know to bri...
Posted on 17/11/09 in Convention 2009Read More...
THE CRUISITUDE IS SET FOR CRUISE PLANNERS’ ANNUAL CONFERENCE
The Cruisitude is Set for Cruise Planners’ Annual ConferenceCompany will unveil new tools for franchise owners Fort Lauderdale, Fla. – November 16, 2009 – Cruise Planners/American Express, the nation’s largest home-based travel agent franchise network in the cruise industry, will host its annual convention in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, November 17-22, 2009 with the last two days taking place aboard Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas during its inaugural sailing. The “Cruisitude” theme will set the tone for the high-energy convention, which wil...
Posted on 16/11/09 in Convention 2009Read More...
CRUISE PLANNERS-AMERICAN EXPRESS LAUNCHES INDUSTRY’S FIRST VIRTUAL EDUCATION PLATFORM
Cruise Planners launches industry’s first virtual education platform Agents now have access to leading online educational content, social networking opportunities and the industry’s highest accreditation Fort Lauderdale, Fla. – November 18, 2009 – During today’s opening ceremony of the Cruise Planners/American Express annual convention, company leaders unveiled a new virtual educational platform that integrates Cruise Planners University (CPU) with Cruise Lines International Association’s (CLIA) certification process and cruise line traini...
Posted on 16/11/09 in Convention 2009Read More...
