Get Ready to Sail On Celebrity Apex

It's National Conference Time 

Each year World Travel Holdings has a national conference for all Cruises Inc., CruiseOne, and Dream Vacations travel professionals. Last year our conference was held virtually due to Covid-19. It was to have taken place on the brand-new Celebrity Apex, but the ship was grounded like the rest of the cruise industry. Finally we are all back together in person for our annual event. We are still holding it aboard Celebrity Apex which has just come over from Europe to begin her Caribbean season out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 

Follow along on our social media platforms for an inside look at the ship and how the crew of Celebrity Apex hosts their largest group to date. We have over 800 people in attendance making up 45% of the ship's capacity on this sailing. Tonight we will be kicking things off with a preconference cocktail party at Le Méridien Dania Beach at Fort Lauderdale Airport . Tomorrow morning we will take a shuttle to the pier and board our ship for the next 7 days.

#2021TogetherConference

The theme for this year's conference is Together.   What a fitting theme since this is the first time in over 18 months that we are able to meet face to face with each other.   Normally we'd also have had regional conferences in addition to our national event.   As travel professionals, we are always continuing our education on the products we sell, destinations, and other industry knowledge.  Being together gives us the opportunity to network with our peers as well as others in the industry from our various travel partners.

We flew into Fort Lauderdale this morning and it's already great to see our friends in the industry, shake hands and give hugs to each other.   This will be an emotional week for all of us.  We are thrilled to be sharing it with you, our loyal readers and new followers.  

 

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Cozy Up to the 2020 Vision Fireplace

When's the last time you saw a fireplace chat on a cruise ship?   Never - exactly !  In their "fireside chat"  Debbie and Drew, our executive leaders, discussed the pros and cons of this virtual conference as well as highlighting the week's events.   In upcoming sessions speakers will provide more information about the future of cruising, and how we, as Travel Advisors, will be key to helping people travel again safely.

We will have to wait to meet in person next year on Celebrity Apex.  Perhaps the hardest thing this year has been the inability to be with people and get hugs.  Virtual hugs just aren't the same. Missing also is the laughter, the comradery, and the energy from our typical National Conference.   

On a positive note, we have 715 agents registered with additional suppliers in attendance bringing the total to 820.   That would be about 1500 with guests exceeding our normal attendance.  

We were able to meet (virtually) many of the HQ staff that would be working behind the scenes while we were onboard the ship.  Suppliers, that might not have been able to travel to the conference, are here with us all week in our sessions, workshops, and office hours opening up the possibility for more interaction between the agent community and our suppliers.

As we emerge from 2020 we'll appreciate those in person meetings more.  We will embrace those moments and celebrate them.

There are lots of people to thank in making this Virtual National Conference a reality.  There are too many to name here for fear of leaving any of them out.    Of course, Andrea and Charity were part of the core team as usual.   This will be the "Best Virtual  National Conference Ever".   (Note:  this is our first one, so it has to be the best!)

State of the Industry 

click images to enlarge

Next up on the agenda were an inside look at the state of the industry from three of the cruise line leaders, Frank Del Rio, president and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Arnold Donald, CEO of Carnival Corporation, and Richard Fain, Chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Group. 

We covered their sessions in depth in our previous post, Cruise Industry Leaders Share Their Vision.

This word cloud provides visual representation of their remarks.  

The cruise industry is resilient, everyone has worked together to tackle the problems and to formulate a go forward plan, and they are all optimistic that we will be able to safely resume sailing soon.   Health and Safety remain Top Priority. 

Together with CLIA and CDC, they have formulated plans that will be adopted across the industry. There's no competing on safety.  CDC only has one plan to review because they've all agreed to adopt the six pillars.  (see previous post: Reassuring Safe to Cruise for details of the plans).

Here's a final take-a-way from this morning's sessions.

 

 

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Where have you explored? 

Gather your travel and food pics and join us every Wednesday night for the latest installment of #FoodTravelChat