On The Cover - August 2007

The Carnival Triumph off the shore of Ocho Rios, Jamaica — one of the Western Caribbean stops on a cruise from Miami. Meeting facilities, from the show lounges to the dining rooms, can accommodate more than 1,000 attendeees. Photo courtesy of Carnival Cruise Lines

By John Buchanan

In their never-ending quest for programs that will pass the “something new and different” test, many planners overlook — mostly out of reflexive unfamiliarity — what is perhaps the most obvious and rewarding choice: a cruise. While most of the uninitiated still tend to think that all cruises are pretty much alike, there is, in fact, an astonishingly diverse range of options and a perfect match for every group size, type and budget. More important, planners who have used cruises agree that they offer unique and often surprising benefits, from excellent value to ease of planning.

“I think the biggest thing is that you visit multiple destinations, while only having to unpack and re-pack

On most Crystal Cruises, a qualified PGA professional is on board to offer golf classes and clinics. Attendees will find driving range nets and a putting green with a supply of practice clubs and balls. In addition, sets of rental golf clubs are available to use in port. Photo courtesy of Crystal Cruises

once,” said Mark Harris, executive producer, global events and incentives at Pleasanton, CA-based nutrition and home products supplier Shaklee Corporation.

Harris hosted his first cruise last November, an eight-day excursion on Princess Cruises for a group of 600, to Nassau, St. Thomas, Jamaica and Cozumel, Mexico. Next February, he will take a group on an eight-day Princess cruise to St. Martin and St. Thomas.

“The land-based trips that we’ve done were great,” said Harris, who will plan about 130 U.S. meetings and incentive programs this year. “We’ve done some terrific land-based destinations. But it’s hard to beat the ability to get on a ship and see four or five ports-of-call in eight days and have all the food and entertainment and shore excursions provided. That’s really hard to beat, even with a great land program.”

Liza Ahrendt, meetings and incentives manager for Winamac, IN-based Braun Corporation, a manufacturer of lifts, ramps and van conversions for wheelchair accessible vehicles, is a long-time user of cruises. “A big factor for us is value,” said Ahrendt, who will plan five major incentive trips this year, as well as a dozen meetings. “It’s difficult to do an all-inclusive program at any better price point and to have the quality you want. The other thing is that with a cruise, you have a self-contained audience. Your attendees can’t wander too far.”

Harris said that one of the things he likes most about cruises is that “you have everyone in one location.” The other factor that appeals to him, he said, is the ease of doing a cruise from a planner’s perspective. “You don’t have to plan any of it,” he explained. “There’s just so much to do on the ship, and then the attendees can plan their own shore excursions and choose from the activities that are available. We don’t have to get involved in that at all.”

A “Wow” Event
Ahrendt concurred, but with what she said is one important caveat. “Part of the mission of an incentive trip, at least in our world, is to present an experience that our dealers couldn’t ordinarily create for themselves,” she said. “Anybody can book themselves on a cruise. So, how do we differentiate our dealer incentive trip from any other cruise that they might book for themselves? That’s what our challenge is with cruises. How do we make it a wow event, rather than just another cruise?”

As a recent example of how she routinely handles that issue — by planning one unique special event during an evening in port — Ahrendt cited a Baltic Sea incentive program for 78 attendees she completed earlier this year with Crystal Cruises. “We took the whole group off-ship one night and did a private event at the Marble Palace in St. Petersburg. We staged a special catered dinner and had private entertainment throughout the evening. To take a group of 78 people and put them in a palace for a private gourmet dinner, all by themselves, and have fantastic entertainment like a children’s ballet company, a 60-piece accordion orchestra and a Cossack dance troupe was really wow — it was spectacular.”

Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity have spacious public areas that are ideal for meetings on board. The Hollywood Theatre is equipped with the latest projection technology, and is one of the only purpose-built theaters on a luxury line. The Palm Court is available for semi-private events or larger, private events of more than 200 people. The Galaxy Lounge, the venue for production shows and other evening entertainment, has a seating capacity of 420 on the Crystal Symphony and 564 on the Crystal Serenity. Venues for breakout sessions are available throughout each ship.

Crystal Cruises recently announced that, for a record 12th consecutive year, they have been voted the

The Caribbean Princess offers nightly movie features from the innovative Movies Under the Stars screen, one of Princess Cruises’ now-signature features available on several ships that shows the latest films, sporting events and other special programming to attendees gathered at the pool. Photo courtesy of Princess Cruises

“World’s Best Large-Ship Cruise Line” by the readers of Travel + Leisure magazine. Crystal Cruises is the only cruise line, resort or hotel to have won this award each year since its inception.

Debra Cooper, corporate travel manager at Kichler Lighting, a manufacturer of residential and light commercial lighting fixtures based in Cleveland, OH, pointed out another aspect of cruises that makes them special for her groups. “The places that we’ve gone in the world primarily can only be seen by ship,” said Cooper, who manages a multi-tier incentive program for retailers. “If you want to see the Inside Passage in Alaska, you have to go on a cruise ship. If you want to see the Greek islands, or go to Tahiti and go around and see the Polynesian islands, you have to go on a cruise ship.”

Cooper’s first cruise meeting was to Alaska on Celebrity Cruises for a group of 275 attendees. Last year, she took 150 on a Caribbean cruise on Carnival and did a Mediterranean-Greek island excursion for 300 on Crystal Cruises. Next year, she’ll take 320 to Tahiti on a privately chartered ship from Regent Seven Seas.

Regent Seven Seas’ six-star ships have been designed with full business capabilities, including spacious conference and meeting rooms, and state-of-the-art multimedia facilities to accommodate groups from 10 to 700 attendees.

Despite such exotic itineraries, however, Cooper stressed that she has received excellent and consistent value. A standard cruise price per person includes all meals, snacks, meeting space, audio-visual equipment and virtually anything else within reason that a planner requires. “For that reason, for us it has also been a price issue,” she said. “When you contract with a cruise line, you contract in U.S. dollars at the price contracted at that time for everything so there are fewer variables that come into play when you’re contracting out two to three years in advance. You don’t have to worry about the dollar versus the Euro, or versus the pound. With a cruise, the only variables are the airfare and whether you buy the liquor package.”

Selling The Sizzle
For their part, cruise line sales managers cite some of the additional details that make meetings at sea an attractive proposition for corporate clients. At the same time, however, they are frank in their acknowledgement that across brands and individual ships, there are many options and that planners must know what they’re buying to be successful.

“A cruise is a unique venue for conducting a corporate program,” said Lori Cassidy, director, corporate and incentive sales at Carnival Cruise Lines in Miami, FL. “For years and years, planners have been doing hotels. By throwing a cruise into the mix, they’re offering something different that has a wow factor. Another thing is that a cruise typically has something for people of all ages, so that’s also good for groups. There are a lot of different entertainment venues, from big bands, to comedy, to jazz, to Las Vegas-style revue shows, to a dance club that’s open until 4 a.m. So, from the planner’s perspective, they don’t have to think about how to entertain the attendees every single evening when the ship is the entertainment venue and there’s something for everybody.”

Regent Seven Seas’ six-star ships have been designed with full business capabilities, including spacious conference and meeting rooms, and state-of-the-art multimedia facilities to accommodate groups from 10 to 700 attendees. Photo courtesy of Regent Seven Seas

As a result, Cassidy said, Carnival has seen steady growth in its meeting and incentive business over the past few years.

Windstar Cruises, a luxury provider sold earlier this year by Carnival Corporation to Ambassadors Cruise Group, is enjoying similar growth based on several key benefits.

“One of the primary factors in the success of cruises is the value and inclusiveness,” said Sandy Stevens, director of charter and incentive sales for Seattle, WA-based Windstar Cruises, which operates a trio of small sailing vessels, with capacities of 148 on its Wind Star and Wind Spirit and 312 on its Wind Surf. An average price point for a seven-day experience comparable to a five-star hotel is $350 to $450 per night per person. “If you break out a land-based program and you look at the meals and all the things you have to add to the cost of the hotel rooms, it just comes out much better on a cruise. When planners are costing a program, they like to be able to know up front exactly what it’s going to cost.”

Popularity Growing
Elena Rodriguez, director of incentive and charter sales at Valencia, CA-based Princess Cruises, another industry-leading brand, said she is seeing a trend toward longer incentive programs as the popularity of cruising grows. “In the early ’90s, they were taking three and four days,” she said. “In this economy, they’re taking five-, six- and seven-day programs.”

She added that incentive business is now steady year-round, with the Caribbean and Mexican Riviera popular in winter, and Alaska and Canada-New England popular in the summer and fall.

Michael Beale, senior director, charter and incentive sales at Viking River Cruises in Woodland Hills, CA, pointed out what he sees as additional benefits to which corporate clients are increasingly responding. “From the attendee’s point of view, one of the key areas that we talk about with planners is the so-called spouse appeal,” said Beale, a cruise industry veteran with 15 years of experience at Norwegian Cruise Lines, Premier Cruise Lines, Windstar Cruises and Commodore Cruises before joining Viking in 2001.

“That means that when the trip is announced, the value to the organization sponsoring the cruise tends to be very high, in many cases higher than most land-based destinations, just because there are a lot of

The world’s largest river cruise line, Viking River Cruises, offers journeys along Europe’s legendary rivers. Here the 75-cabin Viking Spirit is shown in Passau, Germany, at the junction of the Danube, Inn and Ilz Rivers.  Photo courtesy of Viking River Cruises

people who have always wanted to take a cruise vacation. And once they have, they realize that they really enjoy cruises.”

Cooper stressed yet another benefit for planners and attendees — exemplary service that is typically superior to a comparable hotel. “One of the very positive things about doing meetings on ships is the tremendous amount of support and help you get from the staff on the ship,” she said. “A ship just has so much staff, and they’re so service-oriented.”

However, Cooper said understanding the cruise market and making the right selections of line and ship are critical factors in a successful program.

A Three-Tier Industry
Cassidy explained that the huge cruise industry is divided into three basic tiers, with a range of choices in each. “You’ve got your contemporary cruise market, which is more of the mass-market product,” she said. “In that tier, Carnival and Royal Caribbean are really the two biggest brands in the incenti’ve arena. Then, you’ve got premium product — the cruise experience that is typically a little different, and the price point typically goes up. There, you’re looking more at a Holland America or Princess kind of experience. Then you’re going to move up to what we call the niche, or luxury, market. That’s more of the Windstar or SeaDream Yacht Club experience, more of those exotic, yuppie-ish kind of cruises — like a W hotel, if you compare it to the hotel market in terms a planner can understand. Carnival and Royal Caribbean are more like a Marriott or Hilton hotel experience.”

She also noted that Carnival Corporation, the parent company of Carnival Cruise Lines, dominates the entire industry, selling about 60 percent of all berths worldwide each year. Its other individual brands include Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Costa Cruises, The Yachts of Seabourn and Cunard Line. Each addresses the nuanced needs of specific market segments.

Cooper explained that the selection of the right cruise line and right ship can make or break a program. “A hotel room, by and large, is a hotel room,” she said, “but a cruise is a very individual experience, unique to what the group is and what they expect.”

Cassidy concurred, noting that Carnival Cruise Lines goes to great lengths to qualify every prospective group. In order for there to be a good match, she said, the cruise line and planner must have a detailed conversation. “Where have their attendees gone before? What are their interests? Their likes and dislikes? Their price point? Is the destination critical? Do they want something in South America, or are they looking for a four-night getaway in the Bahamas? Those are the types of qualifying questions you ask to start to point them in the right direction.”

Even within the luxury category, Stevens said, there are important differences. “Our market is small ships, very intimate, luxury accommodations, high crew-to-passenger ratio,” she said. “Pampering is a key part of our product. So planners have to know the market they’re trying to reach when they think about Windstar.

Celebrity Cruises has ordered a fourth Solstice-class cruise ship. The new vessel will enter service in 2011, following sister ships Celebrity Solstice in 2008, Celebrity Equinox in 2009 and Celebrity Eclipse in 2010, bringing Celebrity’s total fleet to 11 ships. Photo courtesy of Celebrity Cruises

We represent casual luxury. No ties, no evening wear. Think of us as a nice, casual resort, with no pantyhose to pack, but we’re absolutely luxurious. We go into ports that the big ships can’t get into. With Windstar, you don’t feel like you’re being herded anywhere. You also get a sense of exclusivity.”

A different kind of exclusivity is delivered by more specialized cruise lines, such as Viking River Cruises, the world’s largest provider of luxury river cruises, with 22 ships in Europe, Russia and China, with capacities of 150 to 200. Its most popular incentive itineraries are seven-night cruises on the Rhine, between Amsterdam and Basel, Switzerland; the Danube, between Nuremberg, Germany and Budapest, Hungary; French cruises on the Rhone, between Avignon and Burgundy-Provence, and a Seine cruise from Paris to Normandy. New five-star ships on the Yangtze River in China offer five- and nine-night itineraries, and a 12-night itinerary in Russia includes three nights in Moscow, six nights on the river and three nights in St. Petersburg. A typical price is $250 to $350 per person per night. About 75 percent of the company’s incentive business is full-ship charters, according to Beale.

Another popular specialty provider is SeaDream Yacht Club, which takes intimate, 110-passenger capacity mega-yachts on luxury excursions to exotic ports such as the British Virgin Islands and French West Indies in the Caribbean, and the Greek islands and Croatian coast in Europe.

Silversea Cruises offers four luxury vessels — Silver Cloud, Silver Wind, Silver Shadow and Silver Whisper.

The company recently expanded wireless Internet access to 100 percent coverage throughout its four ships, enabling attendees with Wi-Fi-enabled laptops and PDAs to surf the Internet and check e-mails from their suites as well as public areas.

Each Silversea ship also features Internet centers with state-of-the-art desktop computers and 17-inch flat screen monitors.

Know Your Audience
Another key point that planners and cruise line sales managers agree on is that when it comes to selecting a cruise, knowledge is indeed power. Without it, they add, a planner is courting disappointment.

“You have to know your audience,” said Harris. “Know the people you are planning the incentive for, and look carefully at the ship you plan to do the event on. Make sure it fits.

“You have to learn what each cruise line has to offer, then make it the right fit for your individual group.”

Cooper agreed — and explained that there are some important differences in planning a cruise, as opposed to a land-based program. “One of the important things I’ve learned along the way, when it comes to doing cruises, is to really know your group,” she said. “What I mean by that, for example, is we’ve had experiences where things like the dining times became an issue. On a cruise, there are typically two dining times — first and second. We may think that 6 p.m. is too early, so we select 9 p.m. But you really have to know your group and then get the dining times that they want, which can be difficult sometimes for a large

There are numerous activities aboard a Holland America cruise ship from outdoor pursuits such as volleyball, shooting hoops or taking a run around the deck’s open- air track.  Additional activities include culinary programs and gaming pursuits.  Photo courtesy of Holland America Line

group. You also need to know where your cabins are located, so you don’t end up with the cabins at the point, or the back. You also have to know whether your group likes to keep busy and see a port every day, or whether they want some down time.”

As a result of the unique challenges that cruises present, planners and cruise line sales managers agree that using a broker is a smart way to go.

“My first piece of advice to a planner doing a cruise would be to use a broker,” Harris said. “Don’t try and do it yourself, because there’s no way you know as much about cruises as the broker does. And the broker doesn’t cost you anything, so why not take advantage of it? For us, it has been really valuable. It’s not that we couldn’t go book directly with the cruise line. We certainly have the knowledge to be able to do that, and we understand how to negotiate contracts. But what we don’t have is the cruise industry knowledge that the broker has. It’s so much more difficult for us to go out and look for the right cruise products. We’d have to look across 10 different cruise lines and 50 different ships, until we found the right fit. A broker makes it much easier.”

Harris, Cooper and Ahrendt all use Buy the Sea, an industry leader and innovator based in Plantation, FL. President Shari Wallack matches the product to the client and saves the client time and aggravation. She said, “We see or sail each cruise product on a regular basis, allowing us to give up-to-date information on the condition of the vessels, their service levels, food quality and entertainment. We also have very strong relationships with all departments at the cruise line and know what can and what cannot be negotiated on a client’s behalf. Being based in Fort Lauderdale allows us to meet with both ship and office personnel at most of the major lines when issues arise that need immediate attention.”

Learning The Hard Way
Another important point that even the most enthusiastic users of cruises make is that valuable lessons are often learned the hard way.

One example, said Ahrendt, is the onboard scheduling of popular social activities versus meeting times. “Make sure you understand the ship’s itinerary, or you can find yourself in a real conflict with what the ship has scheduled if you start scheduling company events that conflict with the ship’s activities,” she said. An example? “Our group loves to get together as a group and act silly and play bingo,” she said. “They love to play bingo on cruise ships. But I scheduled our business meeting during the only time bingo was scheduled on our last cruise, because I just didn’t know that was the only time bingo was going to be offered. So, we hurried up the meeting. Another thing is you don’t schedule a special event off-ship on formal night, because everybody loves to dress up for formal night.”

Another lesson Ahrendt learned was that “some ships are much better equipped with meeting space than others. It’s really important to understand the space they have available, and the space they can offer to you and when they can offer it to you. On this last cruise, they didn’t have ideal meeting space. But even worse, they didn’t have the audio-visual capability that I needed at the time I needed it. We got by, but it wasn’t ideal. So, all of these things are just kind of live and learn. The one thing I’ve really realized is don’t

The Wind Spirit (above) and the Wind Star, are Windstar Cruises’ 150-passenger motor sail yachts that offer cruises to St. Thomas, Europe or the Mediterranean. When conditions are perfect, the engines are cut and the ships are wind-driven. Photo courtesy of Windstar Cruises

ever assume that anything has remained a constant on a cruise line. I went on a site inspection a year ago and made assumptions for this cruise based on things I experienced a year ago. And some of those things had changed. They weren’t correct assumptions anymore.”

Such realities reinforce what every planner and cruise line sales manager repeated as the mantra that must be mastered to get the most from cruises.

“For planners, it’s about asking the right questions, or talking to someone who can help steer them in the right direction,” said Cassidy. “So many people go online and they go to a Web site and they don’t have a clue which is the right cruise line for them. So, you may want to get a knowledgeable third party, like a good broker, involved. Someone who can point you in the right direction.”

Stevens made a similar point. “For a planner to go into this, they really need to look carefully at all of the products out there,” she said. “The truth is, there is a ship for everyone. So, you have got to qualify, qualify, qualify to make sure you get the right ship for your group.”    C&IT