Scott Ahlsmith, CTC's - Roads Less Traveled

The Carnival Experience

Bob Dickinson, CTC, president & CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines, will love this story.  It personifies everything (well, not exactly everything!) Bob has preached for nearly 34 years.  It's one of those "transformational" moments that experiential marketers savor.

Yesterday, Marty, owner of Just Magnificent Limo, drove me to Chicago's O'Hare airport and as soon as we pulled out of our driveway he announced, "We just returned from a cruise."  His voice contained that tone of eagerness telling me he really wanted to talk about his cruise.  I never know if that eager tone leads to a "good" travel conversation or a "bad" travel conversation, but I know we're going to have a conversation and either way I love to talk about travel.

So, I asked, "How was it?"

Smoke a Cigarette? You'll be Told to Disembark

Oceania Cruises, implemented a "zero tolerance" policy for people caught smoking in non-smoking areas onboard its three ships, including in cabins and on balconies, and you can expect other cruiselines to follow after last week's deadly fire onboard the StarPrincess.

While  U. S. Coast Guard, National Transportation Safety Board, Great Britain Marine Accident Investigation Branch, and FBI investigators are not saying whether a cigarette started the blaze, Oceania is taking no chances. Oceania implimented a no smoking policy when they launched their first ship.  Policy violators, in the past got a stern but polite warning.

2006 Cruises Nearly 50% Sold Out

[The following post is excerpted from Joel Abel's editorial which will appear in next Monday's addition of "Travel Trade".  Joel is the editor and publisher of "Travel Trade" which has the largest circulation and is the most widely read travel industry trade publication.]  Joel writes, "People ask me whether I think the cruise industry is going crazy with its extraordinary new building plans.  On the surface it does make you wonder when you see and hear about all of the 3,000+ passenger ship plans now in the works, and then along comes the 5,400 passenger Royal Caribbean ship�the biggest colossus of them all.  And, I am waiting to hear the latest word from Carnival�s  chairman & CEO,  Micky Arison, after he digests all of the latest news. I'll bet he will have  a couple of colossal sized surprises to announce.