Carnival Cruise Line made a big splash at Travel Weekly’s CruiseWorld, Nov. 7-9, 2018, at the Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center. The annual conference and exhibition was staged by Northstar Travel Media, parent company of the Travel Weekly branded publications.
In addition to participating on panels and hosting seminars, Carnival took over the workshop floor with a 300-square-foot activation space with activities and prizes, including Carnival cruise giveaways.
“CruiseWorld provides us a perfect platform to show our Fun Ship experience and interact with agents in a big way, and each year we try to up the fun factor with something that’s going to be entertaining and memorable,” said Adolfo Perez, senior vice president of sales and trade marketing for Carnival. “We came in with a lot of energy, and the feedback from agents was that they not only loved the activities, but they appreciated hearing about the latest news from our BDM team.”
Carnival’s activation space at CruiseWorld had travel agents testing their reflexes in two “fun bucks” machines — enclosed booths with bills blowing around inside — for a chance to catch as many circulating fun bucks as possible in 20 seconds. The tickets could be redeemed for prizes, including key chains, passport holders, Carnival T-shirts and tote bags. In addition to the smaller prizes, agents had a chance to win two five-day Carnival cruises through random drawings of agent business cards.
Wednesday, Nov. 7, Perez joined sales and marketing leaders from other cruise lines on the Mastermind Sales and Marketing Secrets of Success panel, and Carnival held a workshop titled “Choose Fun with Carnival!” Thursday, Nov. 8, presented by Alicia Steuart, senior sales director. She gave more than 100 travel agents the latest news on Carnival’s product, services and travel advisor programs. Agents who attended the workshop received reward points they can redeem in the Loyalty Rocks program.
Carnival Cruise Line representatives also took over the World’s Leading Cruise Line booth at the tradeshow Thursday afternoon. Carnival’s DJ Isaac Icecold and Cruise Director Benjamin Lambert brought the Choose Fun onboard experience shoreside to CruiseWorld. Agents who visited the WLCL booth met Carnival trade sales team members, received Fun Ship swag and entered another drawing to win an up to five-day cruise.
The fun didn’t stop with the close of CruiseWorld. Sunday, Nov. 11, Carnival hosted about 150 agents onboard its newest Vista-class ship, Carnival Horizon, in Miami. Agents were given a guided tour of staterooms and public spaces, and were hosted for lunch in the two-deck Meridian main dining room.
For additional information about Carnival Cruise Line call 1-800-327-9501 (individual) or 1-800-327-5782 (groups) or visit the line’s travel agent Internet portal, GoCCL.com. Carnival can also be found on: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
