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January / February 2007 Article

Cruising from a planner’s perspective
An overview from an expert on all manner of ships

Book a sailing ship in the Virgin Islands for a crowd that loves sport. Cruise the rivers of Europe for those into history, culture, and fine dining. Got a young crowd? Send them off to the Caribbean on a vessel that really rocks. If wildlife is a passion, Alaska cruising is a once in a lifetime experience. Looking for something more adventurous? How about stops in Algeria, Libya and Dubai.

Cruises come in many styles, on ships of many sizes, to places all over the globe, and can accomplish a variety of goals. You can visit several countries in a short time and never have to repack and unpack.

The Ryder Cup in Ireland. America’s Cup in Spain. The Grand Prix of Monaco. Worldwide Cruise Associates regularly arranges charters that would allow you to use some of the world’s greatest events as incentives…with luxury shipboard lodging.

Worldwide’s main service is matching you with a ship that’s perfect for your program, based on size, nature of audience, and your goals, explains Steve Bloss, sales director.

River Barges and Ships

“Cruising Europe is a tremendous bargain,” Steve reports. “The ships get you right into the heart of Europe and when they arrive in port, they are usually right downtown in the old area that you want to explore.”

With barge and river ship cruising you have a self-contained hotel, with an excellent restaurant, bar and all the amenities you will need to enjoy your time on-board. No need to switch hotels as you switch cities, and countries.

For the most part, canal cruises emphasize relaxed, leisurely travel in country regions filled with often-overlooked sightseeing treasures. There is ample time and opportunity for such activities as towpath walking or cycling, exploring the villages and towns along the way, as well as visiting vineyards or playing golf. River ships accommodate more passengers than barges and feel more like traditional cruising.

Special interest cruises offered include:

• Wine cruises
• Cooking cruises
• Golf charters
• Fishing charters
• Flower and garden cruises
• Cycling charters
• Henley Royal Regatta cruises

 

River cruises can be made along most of Europe’s major rivers, but also are available in the United States, South America, Africa, and Asia.

Sailing Ships
Sailing ships range from modern marvels to classic four-masted schooners of a bygone age, (many of which are in reality floating museum exhibits) down to small sailing ships constructed in the local traditional style such as junks and dhows. Windstar Cruise ships, Star Clipper's magnificent sailing clippers and Le Ponant represent a new breed of sailing ships that have all the comforts and amenities one expects to find on a modern ship. Generally sailing ships serve fewer passengers though newer ones can handle upwards of 200. On some ships, guests are invited to give a hand with the sails if they like. Sailing ship cruises are available throughout the world.

Luxury yachts
With capacities from 12 to 80, these are perfect for important corporate board meetings where concentrating on business can mix well with pampered leisure. They are outfitted with complete offices with all the electronic comforts of any executive domain.

Small Ships
Smaller ships are ideal for charters as they allow the charterer to have exclusive use of the ship and be able to customize many aspects of the day to day operation, producing a truly unique cruise experience. Small can mean anything from 30 to 400 guests. Such ships would serve particularly well for companies looking to reward all of their employees with one celebration cruise.

Large Ships
Great meeting space, lots of entertainment and sports, a variety of restaurant choices, luxurious accommodations, super service. Holding a convention of up to 3,000 delegates on a large cruise ship offers as many amenities as a resort or a small city. But with the audience quite captive, it presents some decided pluses.

Floating Hotel
Docked in the harbor at places such as New Orleans, Miami, Barcelona, or Stockholm, a luxury ship can be used simply as a hotel but also can serve as an unusual entertainment venue for clients or a showroom for your company’s products and services. Using a ship as a hotel can be especially rewarding when events such as the America’s Cup sell-out land based options and can actually best be viewed by sea.

How does it work?

Worldwide supplies the ship… offering all the major cruise lines products, but also many other ships that are not in the public eye, ships ideally suited to charter for corporate programs. Planners discuss their needs and goals and Worldwide suggests the ships that would best meet them. They are familiar with a wide range of ships from around the world. Worldwide also handles contracting, accounting, and program coordination.

Incentives account for the largest share of Worldwide’s cruise business with North American clients representing more than half. The average cruise for an American client runs from 3 to 7 nights, Steve reports, while Europeans tend to book longer programs. (One Australia client booked a cruise to Italy!) A typical incentive group averages about 200 guests, while meetings can run up to 3,000.

The one caution Steve has is to beware “Once you’ve been on a cruise, it is addictive.”

Worldwide Cruise Associates has been in the meeting and incentive business for more than 15 years and has a huge portfolio of ships they have personally cruised on. Reviews of these ships are available for the asking. And to ask, contact your Krisam or GEP representative or e-mail newsletter@theeventinsider.com.