Travel Agent - September 24, 2007 - (Page 12)

Vital Signs Royal Caribbean Initiates New York Marketing Blitz, Wants to Be More Global assured them they are their most important selling arm. “We encourage consumers to book through travel agents,” said Ken Muskat, vice president of sales for Royal Caribbean. Mobile billboards are already stating such, with advertisements in Las Vegas imploring people not to gamble with their next vacation and to contact a travel agent. Royal Caribbean seemed to be in good shape with the assembled travel agents. One agent, Betty Krystyniak, vice president of Travel Network Vacation Central in Englewood Cliffs, NJ, couldn’t hide her glee. Her family takes many small vacations throughout the year, but her granddaughter always says something is missing. “My granddaughter,” Krystyniak said, “says to me, ‘when are we going on vacation?’ and I say to her, ‘what do you mean? we just went on one.’ ‘No,’ she says, ‘it’s not vacation unless it’s on a Royal Caribbean cruise.’” That’s a strong compliment with a nugget of sage advice between the lines. “Young teens,” Krystyniak said. “They are the target market to go after.” —David Eisen News You Can Use NEW YORK—New York- and New Jersey-area travel agents joined Royal Caribbean (www.royalcaribbean.com) executives at the 21 Club in New York last week to learn about the cruise line’s plans to promote its East Coast sailings and to expand globally. Agents were driven to the event in cars wrapped in Royal Caribbean signage: The cruise line is upping its marketing presence in the New York vicinity through December with subway signs and cabs and buses wrapped in Royal Caribbean advertising. The marketing blitz is being put into action to showcase Explorer of the Seas’ year-round Caribbean, Bermuda and Canada/New England cruises from the Cape Liberty Cruise Port in Bayonne, NJ, which exclusively caters to Royal Caribbean International ships. Lisa Bauer, Royal Caribbean’s senior vice president of sales, cited recent Gallup polls that placed Royal Caribbean as the top cruise line in Bermuda and the Caribbean, and she alluded to increasing future deployment in Hawaii. management and deployment, said a total of seven ships would be deployed in Europe in 2008. Brilliance of the Seas will run an unprecedented year-round European program from Barcelona. And for the first time, Royal Caribbean will enter Asia next year with Rhapsody of the Seas. “We are trying to become a more global brand,” Block said. Royal Caribbean also looked to ingratiate itself with the agent community and Celebrity Unveils New, Larger Solstice Stateroom Celebrity employed five “leading ladies” from varying walks of life to pitch in with design ideas for Celebrity Solstice’s new stateroom, which the cruise line unveiled last week in New York. The new stateroom facilitates “spacious flow”—it is 15 percent bigger than Celebrity’s Millennium-class ships—with elements including higher beds for underneath storage, bigger bathrooms with glass showers, 32inch flat-screen TVs, noise-deadening vestibules and more muted coloring. Celebrity Solstice will debut next year. —DE Global Expansion Farther afield, Diana Block, Royal Caribbean’s vice president of revenue 12 TravelAgent September 24, 2007 http://www.royalcaribbean.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Travel Agent - September 24, 2007

Contents Editor's Letter News You Can Use Agenda: Fam Trips, Calendar of Events, Deal of the Week Cover Story - Down the Stretch: Ramping Up 2007 Sales Central & South America: Anthony’s Key Resort, Roatan, Honduras Florida: Hotel Packages for Cruise-Bound Travelers Cruises: A Tale of Two Lines Agent Exchange Classified Marketplace Luxury Travel Expo Update Advertisers’ Information People & Places

Travel Agent - September 24, 2007

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