Latest Sales & Trade Marketing News

Carnival Corporation’s five North American brands are tapping into one of the top business schools in the country to strengthen the support their business development managers provide to travel agent partners. In a unique collaboration with the Aresty Institute of Executive Education of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Carnival Corporation has developed a new Sales Strategy and Customer Marketing certificate program. This partnership with Wharton Executive Education ensures that sales teams across Carnival brands have the top skills in the industry to deliver the best sales and service to their trade partners. Sales Strategy and Customer Marketing courses are taught by Wharton School faculty and are delivered through lectures, assigned coursework and discussions with professors. After completing…

Carnival Cruise Line is launching a completely redesigned version of its popular Travel Agent Finder. The upgraded tool is more user-friendly and provides enhanced individual agency information, as well as displays more agencies to help consumers find a local travel professional within Carnival’s extensive network. In the first phase of the redesign, which is complete, the look and feel of the page was updated to better match the cruise line’s main site, www.carnival.com. Further, it now uses Google Maps to display agency locations, providing a greater degree of detail and accuracy than was possible before. “As we continue to deliver on our commitment to support our travel agent partners as they grow their business, we’ve significantly enhanced the functionality and…

Nexion Travel Group honored Carnival Cruise Line with its 2018 Supplier Humanitarian of the Year Award during the host agency’s 2018 CoNexion Conference Sept. 23. It was the first year the new humanitarian award was presented, and it recognizes a Nexion Preferred Supplier Partner that has gone above and beyond assisting those in need as a result of natural disasters, as well as a company that actively contributes to poverty alleviation, sustainable tourism, cultural heritage preservation and other philanthropic endeavors. Accepting the award on behalf of Carnival was Alicia Steuart, senior sales director, key accounts, who also was named Nexion’s 2018 Business Development Manager of the Year. “Through its charitable works, Carnival has proven to be not just a great…

To mark the start of Choose Cruise Month, Cruise Lines International’s annual monthlong consumer awareness campaign, Carnival Cruise Line is offering low fares, stateroom category upgrades and an early-booking bonus. Travelers who #ChooseCruise and #ChooseFun with Carnival can qualify for low per-person rates of $259 on select two- to five-day cruises and $469 on select cruises of six days or longer through December 2019 if booked by Oct. 31, 2018. Reservations made during Choose Cruise Month also qualify for free two-category upgrades. In addition, Carnival is offering an early-booking bonus for reservations made during the first week of Choose Cruise Month from Oct. 1-8. Along with a great rate and upgrade, two- to five-day cruises receive a $25 per cabin…

  Carnival Cruise Line has signed a preferred supplier agreement with WESTA, the Western Association of Travel Agents consortium. The new partnership will become effective Jan. 1, 2019, and will offer a focused program with Carnival business development managers engaging with WESTA members to define shared strategies and marketing plans, and initiate Carnival brand and product training. Carnival Cruise Line joins Carnival Corporation sister brands Holland America Line and Princess Cruises on WESTA’s roster of preferred suppliers. “I am excited to welcome Carnival Cruise Lines’ back into WESTA’s preferred supplier program,” said Mike Estill, chief operating officer for Western Association of Travel Agencies. “Given their increasingly strong presence on the West Coast and our member agency footprint, the partnership is…

Following a fun-filled homecoming celebration aboard the new Carnival Horizon featuring Carnival’s Chief Fun Officer Shaquille O’Neal and Miami HEAT legends, 400 travel agents and their guests departed Thursday, Sept. 20, on the ship’s inaugural cruise from PortMiami. During the two-day cruise to Nassau, Bahamas, travel agents were hosted by Carnival business development directors and sales leadership team members. Events included a gala cocktail party, hosted dinners in the Meridian Dining Room and specialty restaurants, exclusive ship tours and exploration of Nassau. Carnival Horizon returned to Miami Saturday, Sept. 22, to begin its new year-round schedule of alternating six- and eight-day Caribbean cruises.

Carnival Cruise Line is going beyond a smile, a wink or a wave and asking travel agents to Choose Fun® with their favorite emoji. The “Choose Fun! Emoji Contest” begins Monday, Sept. 24, and continues through Friday, Oct. 5, 2018, giving Carnival’s travel partners the chance to win the grand prize of an up-to seven-day Caribbean cruise for two in a balcony stateroom as well as daily gift card giveaways. Agents can play once a day during the 12-day promotional period from their PC desktop or mobile phone. The interactive promotion is part of Carnival’s Choose Fun® movement and can be accessed on Carnival’s Trade Facebook page. During a brief online session, participants will be prompted to answer engaging questions…

Adolfo Perez, Carnival’s SVP sales and trade marketing – who memorably demonstrated his commitment to the agent community with a customized Travel Agents Rock tattoo – has come up with a new way to #ChooseFun, taking an aerial journey with two travel agent executives in the new Carnival AirShip, a massive 128-foot-long blimp that has been traveling the southeast to promote the line’s Homeport Advantage campaign. Perez, along with SVP CruiseOne/Dream Vacations/Cruises Inc. Debbie Fiorino and GM of Network Engagement and Performance, World Travel Holdings Drew Daly, took the skies to get a birds-eye view of South Florida prior to tomorrow’s arrival of Carnival Horizon to its year-round PortMiami homeport. Carnival AirShip is a key component of the Homeport Advantage…

Carnival Cruise Line’s Sales and Trade Marketing team received two gold and two silver 2018 Magellan Awards in Travel Weekly’s annual competition. All four awards were bestowed in the Cruise Marketing–Web Marketing/Advertising Category. Carnival’s Facebook page for travel agents received a gold award for its effectiveness as a trade communications platform. The page is run by Adolfo Perez, senior vice president of sales and trade relations, and currently has more than 37,000 followers and over 36,000 likes. The other gold Magellan was earned for the innovative “What’s Your Carnival IQ?” Facebook contest that tested travel agents’ knowledge about the Carnival brand and onboard product. The redesign of Carnival’s travel trade portal, GoCCL.com, into a more mobile-responsive and exclusive business-to-business tool…

Carnival Corporation’s three largest North American cruise brands and the top cruise retail organizations, travel agencies and agents from across the continent gathered in San Diego, California, last night for the presentation of the World’s Leading Cruise Lines Excellence Awards 2018. Sales and marketing representatives from Carnival Cruise Line, Holland America Line and Princess Cruises were on hand to celebrate excellence in cruise sales in 12 categories on the national and regional levels as well as sectors of the business such as consortia, franchises and online agencies. “Travel agents play a most critical role in helping their clients who become our guests choose the right cruise line and even the right ship and itinerary through listening to where they want…