Day three started off early again, although this time I managed to get 6 full hours of sleep, and actually woke up to my alarm instead of an hour or two before as I have been the first couple of days. So we all caught our shuttle from the B Ocean Hotel, and headed back to the Convention Center for the final day of CruiseWorld. The morning began with breakfast sponsored by Trisept Solutions, presenting their new CRM software. This sounds like a very good product, designed with travel agents in mind. I will likely take advantage of their trial offer of 2 free months when they officially launch December 1. As my business grows, I definitely need a more efficient way of managing profiles, reminders, payments, and invoices, and plenty more I haven’t realized yet I’m sure.

Breakfast was followed by the general session of the day, with a very cool panel of CEO/Presidents of most of the major cruise lines. We started with a conversation with Frank Del Rio of Norwegian Holdings, and learned about the integration of Oceania and Regent Seven Seas into the NCL portfolio. The presidents panel was fantastic. They discussed once again brand distinction and pushed the value message, meaning that we need to be selling their products on value, rather than on price. Continue reading CruiseWorld Day 3, full of learning, but ending with sadness in Paris →

CruiseWorld Day 2

My second day was more eventful and more educational than day 1, which I’m grateful for. I enjoyed the first day, but I think I walked away with more info today, so that’s a plus! The session began with breakfast by Celebrity and Royal, and we heard from Dondra and Vicki, the VP’s for sales for each line respectively. I always enjoy listening to them both. They are engaging, and interesting, and complement each other nicely. Food was tasty, and the Celebrity signature chocolate croissants were on the table!

My first session was a presentation from Exclusive Group Travel, a site dedicated to group bookings and management for the most part. I’ll take a look at what they offer, as they only work with travel agents. They seem like a company committed to their clients, and are not that big, so service is definitely first. The CEO was also engaging, and warm spoken, and gave ideas on how to manage the groups and people, although I would have liked to learn more about marketing and actual selling to groups.

My next session was about Continue reading CruiseWorld Day 2 – Ideas and meetings and… cycles? →

So this is my first year at CruiseWorld, an annual event sponsored by Northstar Media and Travel Weekly. Last year I attended Cruise3sixty, a CLIA event, so this year was time for CruiseWorld. Cruise3sixty was specifically focused on CLIA courses to help your new business grow, and each course earned credit toward CLIA certification. So after successfully completing the courses and selling a certain number of staterooms, I am proud to be ACC certified! CruiseWorld seems to be also focused on building your business, but from a little different perspective. I think this event will skew more towards some of the maintenance aspects of the business and growth, rather than some of the more rudimentary courses at CLIA. Established businesses have a wealth of information to gain, and I expect to learn a ton!

My first course this morning was a CLIA course, getting the most from your BDMs, business development managers. CLIA courses are very straightforward, with a coursebook and a           Continue reading CruiseWorld 2015, Day 1 Recap →