Cruise Planners Top Travel Advisors Visit Puerto Vallarta on Immersive Elite Summit Trip

Cruise Planners executives and top travel advisors traveled to Grand Fiesta Americana in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for hands-on training and celebration of its travel advisors’ outstanding annual sales during Cruise Planners’ Elite Summit trip. The exclusive trip was the first of Cruise Planners’ two Elite Summit trips for 2019 and also included industry partners from La Colección Resorts (Catherine Pawelek), Celebrity Cruises (Cory Wallace), Regent Seven Seas Cruises (Shawn Tubman), Oceania Cruises (Joe Eastep) and ShoreTrips (Andrea Khan).

“The one-on-one relationships we are able form with our travel advisor network is part of what makes Cruise Planners so unique in the home-based travel agency space,” said Michelle Fee, CEO and founder of Cruise Planners. “The Elite Summit is a time when our travel advisors can celebrate their accomplishments while also getting to connect and learn from our team, our partners and each other, which in turn inspires them to grow their businesses even more.” 

Cruise Planners hosted its first 2019 Elite Summit, held at the Grand Fiesta Americana in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico where Cruise Planners executives hosted hands-on training and gave back to the local community 

The highlight of the trip was a ShoreTrips “Give” activity, which allowed the group to volunteer at a local children’s organization, Volcanes Community Education Project, where they painted classrooms, read to students and gardened. Affirming its commitment to making a positive impact in the travel world, Cruise Planners’ nonprofit CP Cares donated $2,000 to the organization to support the art, music and reading intervention programs and English classes offered to local children. The trip also included an interactive visit to a family-run tequila distillery, giving travel advisors a “taste” of the experiences available for their clients in this region.

“Firsthand experiences are a great way for travel advisors to confidently recommend a product to clients and this ShoreTrips ‘Give’ activity was all about getting to know this area and most importantly, its people,” Fee said. “By bringing us to a community outreach center where we spent time with kids and got our hands dirty, we were able to help out while fostering connections with the locals. These are the moments that many travelers cherish, and we are proud to partner with ShoreTrips to give our travel advisors the opportunity to offer voluntourism activities such as this one in Mexico and the Caribbean.”

Even with the nation’s largest home-based travel advisor network, Cruise Planners maintains the atmosphere of the “CP Family” and believes in the tight relationships formed between the Home Office Team, its travel advisors and travel partners. Cruise Planners has hosted Elite Summit trips, formerly called the Top Producers Trip, for many years. In 2018, Cruise Planners added a second Elite Summit as more and more travel advisors continue to grow their businesses. Past trips include visits to bucket-list destinations such as Machu Picchu, the Galapagos Islands and India. This year’s second trip will take travel advisors to Africa in May for a safari in partnership with South African Airways Vacations.