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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Cruise3sixty Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Tenth Anniversary 

CLIA Cruise3sixty

Those of you that follow me on Facebook have, already had a glimpse last week's events  as I posted a few images from CLIA's 10th Annual Cruise3sixty conference which was being held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

It was exciting being here for part of this historic occasion.   I've attended all but last year's conference which was held in Vancouver.

With CLIA CEO Christine Duffy at Cruise3sixty

Cruise Lines International Association, Inc (CLIA) is the world's largest cruise industry trade association with representation in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australasia. CLIA represents the interests of cruise lines and travel agents before regulatory and legislative policy makers. 

CLIA is also engaged in travel agent training, research and marketing communications to promote the value and desirability of cruise holiday vacations with thousands of travel agency and travel agent members.

CLIA North America is comprised of 26 cruise lines and 10,500 travel agencies representing more than 35,000 individual travel agents. In addition, more than 120 of the most innovative suppliers of goods and services to the cruise industry make up CLIA’s Executive Partner Program.

As a Master Cruise Counselor (MCC),  it is necessary for me to complete additional training each year in order to be re-certified.    CLIA's Cruise3sixty conference is a great way to meet those requirements and exceed them by attending seminars from many of the industry's leaders and interacting with agents and suppliers on 1-1 basis throughout the week.

Congratulations Christine Duffy and the entire CLIA staff for hosting yet another fabulous Cruise3sixty conference. I'm looking forward to next year's conference which will be back in Fort Lauderdale.

In my next posts, I'll talk more about some of my week's activities including ship inspections onboard some of the newest ships afloat.

Lifeboat Drill for Training

Updated Policy Life Boat Loading for Training Purposes

On behalf of the global cruise industry, Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) and the European Cruise Council (ECC) announced that the cruise industry has adopted an additional safety policy. This policy, which exceeds current international regulatory requirements, addresses issues related to the loading of lifeboats by crewmembers for training purposes. It is an outcome of the Cruise Industry Operational Safety Review, which was launched in January 2012 following the Costa Concordia accident.

Life Boat Loading for Training Purposes Policy

• full loading of a lifeboat at least once every six months for crew training purposes
• the lifeboat must be filled to capacity with crew members
• maneuvered in the water to facilitate familiarization with lifeboat operations
• mandatory attendance for all crew members involved in operating or loading of lifeboats 

The new policy is for all oceangoing members of CLIA and ECC, and is effective immediately. Smaller ships with less than 300 crew members will conduct similar training as appropriate.

“The cruise industry continues to work on a global level to improve the safety of passengers and crew, which is our number one priority,” said Christine Duffy, president and CEO of CLIA.

“Since January of this year, and in keeping with our efforts to continuously improve operational excellence, the global cruise industry has voluntarily adopted seven wide-ranging safety policies. We remain fully committed to exploring further enhancements in a number of areas that will add to the industry’s excellent safety record.”

Commenting on the new policy Manfredi Lefebvre, ECC Chairman said:

“The Cruise industry’s Operational Safety Review demonstrates our on-going determination to ensure that cruise ships remain the safest vacation option and the safest part of the shipping industry. This policy, like all the policies that have already been developed by the Operational Safety Review, exceeds current international regulatory requirements and has been externally verified by world renowned independent experts.”

He added: “Our industry is committed to improving our safety performance in the short, the medium and the long term I believe our approach supports the goal of European Commission of re-launching their ‘Quality Shipping Campaign’ as set out in its Maritime Policy 2009-2018.”

Related Posts & Information:

Cruise Industry Adopts New Muster Policy  

Carnival Corp Taking Steps to Address Safety Concerns
Cruise Industry Safety Standards Changes

Life Boat Loading for Training Purposes policy (full version)
All CLIA Cruise Industry Policies