“Out of successful partnerships come wonderful friendships,” says AmaWaterways EVP Kristin Karst—and many travel advisors would agree that their relationships with her go a step beyond just business. So when I sat down to chat with Karst about how travel advisors might build relationships with her and the river cruise company she co-founded, neither of us was surprised when Mara Hargarther stopped by to give her a hug. Soon she joined us in a three-way conversation about how travel advisors and suppliers can best work together.
The two ladies met at a cocktail party for CruiseOne top producers in about 2008; today, Hargarther’s Maratime Journeys is a $12 million business and the top-producing agency for AmaWaterways among all Dream Vacations franchisees. To a large extent, she says, that’s due to the help and advice—both professional and personal—she has received from Karst over the years.
Of course, friendship and business support form a two-way street, Hargarther says: it’s not about what your supplier can do for you, but what you can do for each other.
“If I owned a cruise line like my friend, before I gave anyone coop marketing funds they’d need to prove themselves a little bit,” Hargarther says. “When new advisors ask me what’s my key to success, I say pick one company in each space and develop a strong relationship with them. Pick up the phone and invite your BDM to coffee, because they are going to help you build your business. Ask what they need help with. Don’t ask them to send your client an onboard credit, do it yourself. Save those favors for when you really need them.”
Keep in mind, too, that the travel industry is small and “very incestuous; your rep with one company one year might possibly be with another supplier next year, so always keep it professional, and keep the doors open,” Hargarther says.
When she first met Karst, Hargarther was doing million-dollar groups on ocean cruises and thought she’d like to add rivers to her portfolio. She asked her longtime industry friend Alex Pinelo, who had moved from Norwegian Cruise Lines to AmaWaterways, to help her pitch a group to a new prospective group leader. Soon the group had chosen a ship and date—and she sold 80% of the charter in the first six weeks.
Over the years Hargarther has invited her AmaWaterways rep, Diane Curchy Horan, to speak at a local Yacht Club meeting; that eventually turned into several river cruise bookings. Next came a presentation to a local church group that grew into a partial charter. Now her son Corey also is hosting groups on river cruises, three or four times a year, for his board-game groups.
“We talk so much about personal bonds in this industry—and ours is a real friendship,” Karst says. “I still remember our earliest conversations. I know if I ever need Mara I can pick up the phone and call her.”
Indeed, theirs is the best kind of business relationship, Karst says, born not in an emergency but built over time, and based on shared values that are best explained through Karst’s 5 P’s: positivity, pioneer spirit, personal interaction, partnership, and purpose.
AmaWaterways has grown significantly over the past 22 years, and with 31 ships cruising through Europe, Africa, Egypt, Vietnam and Cambodia and soon Colombia, Karst can’t just hang out with every travel advisor, or come to every Cruise Night. But “Ama is very proud that we have a wonderful sales team supporting travel advisors in the US, Canada, and Latin America, and they are out in the field with our travel advisor partners to train, to meet and help them build their businesses,” she says. The key to cooperative ventures is for a travel advisor to have solid business skills and an existing social network “where we can talk about what we can do together in their country club or their yacht club. They have the relationships with the clients and we have the product knowledge to support them, and are happy to come, present and help answer questions.”
For 2025, there is a special focus on the two new ships on the Magdalena River in Colombia, AmaMagdalena and AmaMelodia, carrying 60 and 62 guests, respectively, with “spacious staterooms and wonderful shore excursions, sailing seven-night itineraries between Cartagena and Barranquilla with optional pre- and post-cruise land packages in Cartegena, Medellin and Panama.” Besides the natural beauty and diverse culture of Colombia, river cruises there also are very convenient as they are just a very short flight from the United States, she notes.
Also of special interest are AmaWaterways Africa Safaris & Wildlife Cruises featuring the 14-suite Zambezi Queen on the Chobe River, with a variety of pre- and post-cruise land packages including Kruger National Park and Rwanda to see the Mountain Gorillas, plus two new ships on the Nile, with pre and post-cruise land packages in Jordan and Dubai.
A trend Karst is seeing in 2025 is the many special interest groups joining river cruises, from chocolate making and skiing in the Bavarian Alps to a high school choir group that practiced onboard and sang in churches along the Danube. (Putting together a group like that is “a wonderful way to bring three generations together” and build your client database, Karst notes.)
What are you doing differently in 2025? We’re always interested in hearing your stories! Email Cheryl at crosentravel@gmail.com.
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.
