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January / February 2007 Article

The incentive appeal of the sea
Advice from a seasoned cruise professional

Not having to work is just the delicious beginning for passengers on an incentive cruise. Realizing they only have to unpack once is another early plus. Beyond that, a world of active and relaxing possibilities await.

Mario Villalobos, director of charter and incentive sales for Regent Seven Seas Cruises, cautions clients not to overplan. “Guests like some private time,” he explains. “Time to just go ashore, sip coffee in a café and read the International Herald Tribune.”

He also recommends scheduling a full day at sea so travelers can enjoy the wonderful amenities on board ship, sleep when they want, eat when they want, watch a movie, take a nap…basically not have to do anything, if they want.

Rest assured, though, there’s lots of action to be had on a cruise. Typically the ships visit a new port each day with planned shore excursions and often special interest activities such as food and wine, archaeology, theater, photography, sports, antiques and shopping.

On board ship, advance lectures can prepare travelers for the next day’s stop, events such as wine tasting can be held, and even a business meeting can be planned, if needed. All this in addition to the luxurious recreation, dining, and entertainment choices the ship offers.

And where to sail?

The Baltic Sea. Mario proposes this Seven Seas itinerary as an exceptional experience for travelers. The 7-day cruise visits the major cities on the Baltic: Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallinn, and the crown jewel St. Petersburg, where the ship docks for three days. From there, guests can take a charter flight for a day in Moscow. The cruise offers tremendous variety and the especially exotic Russian exposure.

The Mediterranean. Monaco. Rome. Venice. Athens. Istanbul. Barcelona. This itinerary varies from cruise to cruise, Mario says, assuring that once on a Mediterranean cruise is never enough. Interest in the Adriatic is growing with Venice as the central point and possible stops along the Croatian and Montenegrin coasts.

Western Caribbean. From Fort Lauderdale, a seven night cruise can take travelers to Cozumel, Belize, Guatemala (for a side trip to the ruins at Tikal), the Yucatan peninsula and back to Fort Lauderdale.

The Greek Islands, Tahiti, the Baltic, and Alaska are destinations particularly well-suited to a cruise itinerary, Mario advises. To truly explore the Greek Islands, for example, would involve a lot of packing and unpacking and land and air transports. With a ship, you can cruise at night and spend 12 to 16 hours in ports like Athens, Mykonos, and Santorini. “You wake up in the morning and Mykonos is outside your terrace,” Mario illustrates.

Making planners happy

Mario tells of an incentive agent who recently expressed surprise to him that when the cruise was over for the passengers, the program was over for her too. She went to the accounting office expecting to spend hours going over stacks and stacks of bills. What she found was simply two pages. Everything on a cruise is so all-inclusive, the wrap-up is a breeze.

Not only that, but Mario points out that a planner has no need to pick what room to have meals in, how many tables to use, what items to have on a menu. All of that is automatic on board ship. People have dining choices (including low salt and low fat) and can spend the entire cruise never seeing the same menu twice.

For first-time cruise planners, Mario’s key advice is “Don’t be afraid. It’s not difficult to set up. A cruise specialist can walk you through everything from initial idea to final billing. That’s their specialty.”

So when the incentive sets sail, it is not just the guests who gets to do nothing (if they choose), the incentive planner has a more relaxed time too.