Personalized Travel Planner: Cruise Holidays Elevates the Customer Experience

Imagine, going on vacation with your cruise itinerary, detailed information on ports of call, maps, and what to see and do all at your fingertips in a neat, little, water-resistant book created just for you.  The new Cruise Holidays’ Personalized Travel Planner, which is designed to seamlessly provide customized travel information to its cruise customers, will allow travelers to ditch sifting through Web sites and printing out pages of information that will undoubtedly get lost.  This new product was unveiled today during the 2007 Cruise Holidays Annual Convention which is being held aboard Celebrity Cruises’ Mercury, September 23-28, 2007.

“We know we provide excellent customer service, but our Cruise Holidays franchisees are always seeking exciting new ways to further exceed client expectations,” said Peter D. Thomson, Vice President and COO of Cruise Holidays.  “Our research shows that most consumers study up on their destination after they’ve booked their trip.  So why wouldn’t we, as their cruise experts, provide that information for them in a form that allows them to read and get excited before their trip and take it with them while on their cruise?  It makes perfect sense and will surprise and thrill our customers.”

Each customer’s Personalized Travel Planner will be individualized based on the booking information derived from CruiseWeb, Cruise Holidays’ proprietary Web-based business operating system.  The booklet will include the customer’s name, itinerary, a full description of the ship on which they will be cruising , a personal thank you letter from the Cruise Holidays expert who has been assisting the customer, along with a wide range of destination information and maps.

The database of information being built by the headquarters team already includes:

• 11 regions to be used for the front and back covers of the planners
• 16 cruise lines and 145 cruise ships
• 110 ports of call in the following regions
  o Bahamas / Caribbean
  o Bermuda
  o West Coast / Mexico
  o Alaska / Pacific NW
  o Hawaii
  o Canada / New England
  o Panama Canal / Central America

“Onboard, or on shore, we want our customers to have an amazing experience and the Personalized Travel Planner will add a ‘wow’ factor that others can’t duplicate,” added Thomson.  “By receiving their planner shortly after booking a cruise, our customers will have plenty of time to envision their vacation and get excited about their upcoming trip.  Because of the fun, interesting, and detailed information included, they will certainly want to have the planner with them and when other cruise guests see what our Cruise Holidays customers receive as part of our service, hopefully they will look to us in the future.”

The Personalized Travel Planner is a joint initiative with Cruise Holidays’ sister brands Carlson Wagonlit Travel Associates and SeaMaster Cruises and is exclusive to the Carlson Travel franchise Group.

With stores throughout the United States and Canada, Cruise Holidays is North America’s largest Franchise network of cruise-specialty travel agencies. 

About Cruise Holidays
Cruise Holidays is the oldest and largest cruise-specialty Retail franchise in North America, with stores in both the United States and Canada. Cruise Holidays is also a distinguished provider of land tour vacation packages.  Founded in 1984, Cruise Holidays was acquired in 2001 by Carlson Travel Network Associates, Inc., one of the world’s largest and most respected travel franchisers and a subsidiary of Minneapolis-based Carlson.  Carlson is a global leader in the travel and hospitality industry.  In addition to Cruise Holidays, the Carlson family of businesses includes Regent ® International Hotels, Regent Seven Seas Cruises®, Radisson Hotels & Resorts®, T.G.I. Friday’s®, Carlson Wagonlit Travel and more.