CruiseWorld 2017
Day 2 - 11-16-17
I can honestly say that the first day of Cruiseworld was fantastic! Although it was a pretty exhausting day with the classes and information overload, overall just needed time to process it all. Good thing we were able to have some down time last night.
Here is now the 2nd
day of Cruiseworld and I am feeling ok but for some reason I started to feel
under the weather. Somehow the room I
was in, even with the door open at night, was very dry and felt like I was
getting a sore throat. Uck! Not a good way to start the day but I was
determined to move forward and have some fun.
Another day of learning.
Kim and I met in the morning and
headed to the convention center for the breakfast that was being sponsored by
MSC. MSC had a contest going for the
picture submission of your best vacation moment and to put in some “swag” for
MSC. Since I didn’t have any swag, I
made a shirt with the MSC logo and some bling.
I really went all out for this contest because the prize was a free
7-day cruise on the new ship MSC Seaside.
I was disappointed at MSC because one of the submissions that MSC picked
as final submissions was plastered with photoshop pictures. The contest rules stated that you could not
do that. In addition, someone during the
contest made a minority comment. Really
people? Get a grip. Hey wouldn’t you know the individual who
photoshoped their picture won? Nice lady
and fun but that is really unfair. MSC
you need to follow your own rules! Trust
me when I tell you… my picture was the BOMB and so were several others who
should have won. 
Ok enough said about that and
rant over. LOL. After the MSC
presentation which features the Miami Dolphin cheerleaders, again taking right
from NCL’s Getaway inaugural and supposedly the godmothers of the ship, we went
to the Carnival presentation. Lots of
fun and laughter and getting ready for the Trade Show and Ribbon Cutting!
As Kim and I had to go separate
ways into the Trade show, as part of the STAR program you have a certain amount
of set appointments with different vendors, enabling you to get a one-on-one discussion
about their product and how it helps your clients. However, the Trade show is SOOO busy and so
much is going on, it is very hard to keep those appointments. I think that I was the only one who was able
to as every time I went to an appointment, there on time, either the vendor was
on the phone or talking to another travel agent and forgetting about the
schedule of appointments that Travel Weekly has set up. My personal opinion: The STAR program should have let us in BEFORE
the Trade show so that those travel agents who had appointments could meet
those 5 minutes with that vendor without any disruptions or distractions.
So trying to keep the appointments
I got to visit with some of my old colleagues and vendors I love so much and
that take care of my clients. Captain
Lou is great and always has a great positive outlook. He has helped me develop my business for
quite some time now. Then there is
Norwegian Cruise Line! How can I ever
forget my favorite people, my girl Maria and Jason? Visited with my Carnival girl Alicia and Jim
from Special Needs Group. Of course, you
have to love Orlando from Holland America and Vicki Freed with Royal
Caribbean. You have not lived until you
have cruised!!
Later on after all the walking,
exhaustion, and carrying all the chachkas we received from all the vendors, Kim
and I headed back toward the Hotel.
Later that evening, my colleague Jennifer with CIE Tours, invited us for
dinner with her at the Irish Pub Eatery down the road. Great food and good company as always.
So now that Day 2 is over, we
have one more day left and then cruise ship inspections on Saturday.
Please feel free to comment as I would love to hear from you. Stay tuned for Cruiseworld 2017 - Day 3!
#maralohatvl, #dedicatedtravelagent, #WeExist, #Cruiseworld2017, #cruises, #vacation, #fun
Please feel free to comment as I would love to hear from you. Stay tuned for Cruiseworld 2017 - Day 3!
