It was a travel writer’s dream: sailing with 800 Dream Vacations franchisees and a slew of top travel executives. And while I have lots of great stories to tell about the travel advisors, I’m going to first share some advice on selling travel from four amazing women who spent the week with us: our hostess, Celebrity’s Katina Athanasiou; Vicki Freed, of sister company Royal Caribbean; Princess’s Carmen Roia, who will host the conference next year; and Debbie Fiorino of Dream Vacation/Dream Vacations parent World Travel Holdings
Rather than waste space and your time, I’ll just share some of what each one told me.
From Katina Athanasiou, Celebrity Cruises
Looking for some co-op marketing funds from the major cruise lines? The first step is to connect with your sales manager and talk about your business model, how you generate demand, and what a co-op advertising initiative might look like. Share early on in the conversation what success looks like for both sides, manage the expectations, and then hone in on a great business plan. A lot of our top sellers are working more collaboratively than ever with the three companies in our family of brands—Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, and Silversea—and the three of us are working more collaboratively than ever to talk with and partner with our travel partners. Leveraging that collaboration is a massive opportunity. Having reciprocity across our loyalty programs has been step one to our long-term plan. Having vacation options for the lifetime of our customers is a huge opportunity in 2025 and, as travel advisors become more inundated with more offers and more suppliers, leveraging the power and the sales contacts within our brands can really help. We’ve done industry keynotes, trade shows, and cruise nights together. Not everything makes sense but there are more opportunities than in the past.
For 2025 I’m excited about the new short trips in the Caribbean – it’s a great way to attract new-to-cruise and new-to-brand customers and create opportunities in the Caribbean. It’s so accessible and approachable, it’s an opportunity to see other cultures without significant long-haul travel. We’ve started to see a younger demographic, and part of that has been because of those short Caribbean cruises. That ability to do something really quickly has really driven supplemental vacations. It’s also an opportunity for you to check in with your clients more often, as guests as sailing those itineraries more often.
New for 2025: I’m really excited about Iceland, our second year sailing there, and about the Grand Voyage, 110 nights, our first nonrepeatable cruise of this length. It’s an answer to what our loyalists are asking for. We also are doing a big media push on national TV that started a couple of months ago. In 2025 add new markets, professional and college sports.
A tip Cheryl sees in what she said; might consider pushing onboard experiences: We’ve learned from a lot of guests that the ship experience, specifically the activities during the day, are an opportunity we can build upon. Guests tell us they want ship experiences that are unique and to let them share with other people. And guests that purchase them give us higher Net Promoter Scores. So it’s not about generating revenue, it’s about enhancing the guest experience. As far as destinations,
What I’m looking forward to in 2025: I really want to get to the Galapagos. Also, I am doing a Seminar at Sea in conjunction with CLIA, four nights Fort Lauderdale round trip. I’m also getting ready to do my first-ever ASTA partnership Seminar at Sea with Mark Meeder—there are special rates for that, it’s Key West and the Bahamas on Silhouette, we do networking sessions, seminars, peer-to-peer panels, and with ASTA we’re working to bring in some speakers and some additional content to make it broader industry training.
On the travel advisor channel: We’ve continued to have a really strong year. The trade is over-indexing and consumers are starting to adjust their behavior, to book a little earlier than last year, so it’s really important to secure space now. There will be a point in time when there will be a little bit of a race for space, it’s important to make sure they deposit and secure what they want now.
Cheryl’s favorite line: RCCL is the product we sail for our kids and Celebrity is where we sail with our kids.
Carmen Roia, VP Sales, Princess
So many new people are coming into the industry who have been successful in other businesses. Everyone is afraid of change, and you are taking on a whole new industry you know nothing about. Building a relationship with a supplier is all about one-on-one relationships. Attending a weeklong conference like this is a huge commitment of time for an executive but it’s worth it; talking to folks, understanding what fits their needs, and helping them focus is very difficult but very important. Follow your passion and become an expert in one thing.
Travel advisors tell me the number-one asset to them is having a BDM they can contact. I told my team they have to engage and follow up, now more than ever; the travel advisor is so valuable. When I meet a new travel advisor, I bring out my card with my QR code. I take a screenshot of their badge and immediately email it to my BDM and copy the director of sales and say, “I’m here investing my time and energy and this is a new advisor I need you to reach out and engage with. Please set up a meeting on Tuesday (not Monday) and help them learn all they need to know about our brand.” It’s Wave Season; we take no vacations Q1, we work weekends and evenings, whenever someone needs us, we will be there doing presentations.
The easiest way to make business happen is through affinity groups.
Our business plan was due yesterday. Our roadmap to success for 2025 is getting out there more. We celebrated the year we had and then we set the course for 2025, get in the weeds of the numbers, how to approach the business, created 30-, 60- and 90-day marketing plans from our level and then prep for Valentines Day. Being the Love Boat we launch Love Fests every November for travel advisors – we do them on the ships and in port, they are training opportunities and we welcome everyone to come.
2024 has been a great year but have to build on that, you can’t let up. A partnership isn’t just a one- or two-year plan, it’s constant and building. and expanding the number of conferences and events and marketing opportunities. We have 17 ships and it’s a full-court press for 2025. You can’t let up.
What would you be doing to get the ball rolling? If you do not know who your BDM is, I’d be calling Carmen 786-486-6490 – croig@princesscruises.com. I will become your BDM until I get an introduction for you. Everyone who raises their hand, we will help you and work with you. This company was my biggest account when I was the BDM at Carnival.
Vicki Freed, Royal Caribbean
Being in this business for a very long time, I see the biggest opportunity and challenge for the trade this year is finding new prospects and clients. And the best way to do that is through groups. Don’t be intimidated into thinking you don’t know any groups; a group can be a hobby you love or a group of friends that like to travel together or play pickleball, families involved in soccer, or a bachelorette party. A three- or four-day itinerary on Utopia of the Seas is a good answer for a group like that; it’s a small investment of time. Our short Caribbean sailings are a way to introduce people to cruising in a short timeframe, and also the on-ramp for new-to-cruise. We want to expand that category, and having Utopia does that. You can’t do it all on a four-day cruise; you have to come back again and again. With Perfect Day Mexico, coming in 2027, clients will be able to do that from the Texas and Florida markets.
Every time you close a sale, ask, “Is there anyone else who might want to travel with you on this cruise?” One time in four you will get a new booking.
And try suggesting Royal Up, where you bid to get upgraded.
I go to a conference almost every week during conference season – about 200 days a year. This is my passion, I started at 21 as a sales rep at Carnival and never lost sight of how valuable travel advisors are in helping guide the consumer into the right value experience. Everyone is looking for the best ROI on their vacation dollar – that’s the value the travel advisor brings and we can never lose sight of that.
We have money to spend with the trade in 2025, a very nice coop budget. Reach out to your local strategic account manager – it doesn’t matter to us if you are new or experienced if you have the passion and the drive. If you give us an idea and it makes sense to us, we will make the investment. But it has to be a win-win for both of us.
Debbie Fiorino, World Travel Holdings
Planning where you want to go in your business is important, but the difference between people who get what they want and those who don’t is they keep going. Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle. You can be inspired by them, let them show you the way to dream bigger. But if you are having a hard time getting started, take the advice of Ed Mylett in “The Power of One More.” Don’t quit for one more day. Send one more email, one more text. If you were planning to make five sales calls today, make six.
May your 2025 be filled with good news and good cheer!
Cheryl’s 40-year career in journalism is bookended by roles in the travel industry, including Executive Editor of Business Travel News in the 1990s, and recently, Editor in Chief of Travel Market Report and admin of Cheryl Rosen’s Group for Travel Professionals, a news and support group on Facebook. As an independent contractor since retiring from the 9-to-5 to travel more, she has written regular articles about the life and business of travel agents for Luxury Travel Advisor, Travel Agent, and Insider Travel Report. She also writes and edits for professional publications in the financial services, business, and technology sectors.
