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Over 750 Attendees Gather at Walt Disney World for Second Day of 2012 CruiseOne® & Cruises Inc.® National Conference

By: Dream Vacations / CruiseOne |  6 Shares     85 Reads

Sessions Include Presentation by Norwegian Cruise Line, River Cruise Panel, ‘Chat’ with Industry Vets Vicki Freed and Dondra Ritzenthaler and CLIA Workshop

October 17, 2012 // Franchising.com // Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.  – The 2012 CruiseOne® & Cruises Inc.® National Conference continued at Walt Disney World’s Coronado Springs Resort, with more than 750 attendees gathering for a morning general session and series of afternoon workshops.

The morning kicked off with a presentation by Shanel Knight-Tarver, Program Manager, Home Based Accounts and Alex Pinelo, Director, National Accounts for Norwegian Cruise Line. Following Norwegian’s presentation was a river cruise panel featuring:

• Kristin Karst, Executive Vice President and Co-Owner, AMA Waterways
• Kristen Steele, Business Development Manager, Globus Family of Brands
• John Restuccia, Director of National Accounts, Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection
• Darren Dolan, Director of Business Development, Southern Florida, Viking River Cruises

Agents and other participants were then treated to a chat between cruise industry leaders Vicki Freed and Dondra Ritzenthaler, with a co-sponsored lunch from Royal Caribbean and Celebrity.

“As always, the chemistry between Vicki and Dondra brought our conference programming to life this morning,” said Dwain Wall, Senior Vice President and General Manager of CruiseOne® & Cruises Inc.® “By sharing their own personal success stories, along with tips and tools to help agents sell in a changing economic climate, these two provided a motivational, inspirational message that will surely stay with our franchisees and independent contractors when they return to work.”

The afternoon’s series of workshops, designed to help agents grow their businesses and build sales, included:

• CLIA – Better Listening Skills for Better Business
• Company Cruises and Fundraising Cruises
• Free PR Tools to Grow Your Business
• Niche and Specialty Groups
• Social Media Mix

Following the agent workshops was a vendor trade show, hosted by CruiseOne® & Cruises Inc.®, which featured exhibits by more than 40 of the network’s supplier partners.

“For the second consecutive year, we have incorporated a vendor trade show into our National Conference program, which has added an interesting dynamic to the curriculum,” said Wall. “During the trade show, agents have the opportunity to mix and mingle with our most important partners, enjoying face time and product updates that are relevant to their respective markets.”

This evening as a special Halloween-inspired ‘treat,’ Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom will welcome all National Conference attendees for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party.

The annual CruiseOne® & Cruises Inc.® National Conference, which has become one of the industry’s hottest events welcoming an impressive roster of industry leaders, features a week of dynamic speakers, presentations and workshops designed to help franchise owners and agents grow their businesses. This year marks the company’s first-ever joint land and sea program.

To become part of CruiseOne® or Cruises Inc.®, visit www.CruiseOneFranchise.com or www.SellCruises.com. To take advantage of the companies’ special offers and book travel with a local vacation specialist, visit www.CruiseOne.com or www.CruisesInc.com.

About CruiseOne® & Cruises Inc.® 

CruiseOne®, the nation's largest home-based franchise travel agent network, was founded in 1992. Cruises Inc.®, the original cruise travel host agency, was founded in 1982. Together, the companies’ 1,200+ agents are part of World Travel Holdings (WTH), one of the nation’s top travel retail networks. CruiseOne® & Cruises Inc. ® are industry leaders, providing agents with innovative support, training, marketing and technology programs to successfully grow their business. The companies have relationships with every major cruise line and many tour operators and as a result, offer the highest commissions in the business. Both are consistently recognized for their efforts, including being named Royal Caribbean’s “Partner of the Year,” Celebrity Cruises’ “National Account Partner of the Year” and Carnival Cruise Line’s “Travel Partner of the Year.”

A proud member of the International Franchise Association (IFA), MinorityFRAN, and VetFRAN, CruiseOne® is consistently ranked in major editorial awards including Entrepreneur magazine's "Top 500", Forbes magazine’s “Top 20 Franchises to Start,” the Franchise Market’s "Top 100 Companies,” and FranchiseBusinessReview’s “Top Low Cost Franchises.”

Media Contact:

Samantha Jacobs | Lani Gerlak
M. Silver Associates, 954-765-3636
On-site Cell Phone, 954-319-1787
Samantha@msilver-pr.com | Lani@msilver-pr.com

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