I’m guessing I’m showing my age here – but you can’t bring up Princess Cruises without “The Love Boat” Theme running through my head. Truth is, the show was partly responsible for me wanting to work in the travel industry. The show certainly portrayed a very glamorous lifestyle that I wanted to be part of.

Little did I know at the time what the future had in store for me with an opportunity like YTB.

Several years ago YTB came up with this idea of hosting a “Sail-a-thon” on the Internet to promote both key partners and destinations for our customers. The field loves it because it gives many an opportunity to host a party at the house. Partners love it because it costs them nothing. They simply piggy back on the technology and infrastructure YTB has invested in – giving them an opportunity to promote from a single location to thousands. YTB has been hosting these “Sail-A-Thons” for years with several companies and since they keep on popping up every couple of months – everyone involved sees value in the events.

Cruise nights aren’t new however. CLIA (Cruise Line Industry Association) actually came up with the concept five years ago with the “World’s Largest Cruise Night“. Hundreds of Agencies still get together in a collective effort each year in October to promote the joy of cruising to clients.

All YTB did was modernize the concept, making it easier for clients to become informed and educated, while at the same time saving Cruise Lines some serious money by reaching the same number of clients (if not more) from one centralized location over the internet. Most recently, YTB partnered the webcast with Facebook to make it even easier for YTB Agents to send a simple link to friends and clients to enjoy specials and promotions on the worlds most popular social networking site.

Adding Facebook into the equation makes it interactive, an element that was missing with a simple webcast. When YTB tried it for the first time with Carnival back in November, we had no idea the power it possessed and how much fun it could be. Thousands of people posted their favorite cruise pictures and some even won prizes! (Like yours truly. ;-P)

Thursday night, Princess Cruises gets into the act with a new twist called Trivia Night. The hour long broadcast will ask six Trivia Gold questions about Princess and/or Alaska to give viewers a chance to win prizes by answering the questions. In the meantime viewers also become educated on the value of cruising – and more specifically why Princess Cruises is the premier cruise line when it comes to an Alaska destination.

For example, a 7-night Voyage of the Glaciers cruise is followed by 5-nights on land featuring 1 night at McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge, 2 nights at Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge and 2 nights at Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge. It’s the only cruise of it’s kind. Princess has invested millions into these lodges and you won’t find these type of amenities from any other cruise line.

This cruisetour offers the ultimate vacation for the entire family, ensuring you see all the best of Alaska by land and by sea. You just can’t get that with any other line. 

As an added incentive to “come aboard”, Cruise customers will see some great prices for all destinations with the following benefits:

• Up to $100 onboard credit per stateroom
• Reduced deposit of just $100 per person
• Coupons worth up to $325 in onboard savings

The entire savings package can be found right here, and you can pull up a direct link to Princess Cruise Lines here to investigate and price out your next Princess Cruise.

The Sail-a-Thon should be a lot fun. From what I saw, Facebook fans enjoyed interacting with each other during the Carnival Sail-a-Thon a few months ago.

Technology – aint it grand?

Hope to see you there and of course some of you will be singing it with me until then…

Love, exciting and new
Come Aboard. We’re expecting you.
Love, life’s sweetest reward.
Let it flow, it floats back to you.

If you’re too young to remember the song that’s okay. Just remember to join us tomorrow night!

Hope to see you then!

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My how times have changed. If you would have told me that I’d be able to invite my Facebook friends to a live Sail-a-thon with “The Most Popular Cruise Line In The World” a year ago, I’m not sure I would have bought into that idea. Don’t get me wrong – I would have loved the idea! (I love anything that’s technology related and easy to use like Facebook.) A year ago however, it would have been hard to imagine corporations like YTB and Carnival buying into Facebook as a means of promoting business.

Today, not only does a promotion like this make perfect sense – but it becomes a reality tonight as YTB hosts it’s first Sail-a-thon using Facebook with Carnival Cruise Lines.

I’ve got to hand it to YTB, they’ve come up with another idea that’s new and innovative that captures a very large paradigm shift in social networking. It’s hard to pin down exactly how many people actually use Facebook these days, but the most reliable source I’ve been able to find is Facebook itself with over 250 million users as of July of this year. I’ve seen numbers of 100 million more by this time, but regardless if the numbers are right or accurate – it’s a HUGE number of users that interconnect via one massive network.

Think about how easy it is to post something to your Facebook page, inviting friends back to a place they enjoy hanging out anyway to interact and talk with others on the worlds largest social network. It’s a perfect marriage of the right companies and the right social network.

The 6 hour event (which runs from 6:00 pm to Midnight Central Standard Time) isn’t just about sales – it’s designed to be educational and fun. If you join us tonight – you’ll learn the following tips and tricks directly from YTB and Carnival:

- Learn why you should book with YTB
– Learn how to find the best fare
– Understanding what type of fares are available
– Learn when you should you make a reservation
– Learn how to select the best cabin/location
– Learn what constitutes a group
– Learn what types of groups are there
– Holiday Gift Certificates
– Cruise Sale offer — 2 category upgrade

If you want to learn and interact with others, simply pull up YTB Travel Network President, Kim Sorensen’s Facebook page. You can get involved by asking questions, answering the polls, sending in pictures of your party or a previous Carnival Cruise you’ve been on. YTB will have members of the creative team on the page during the entire broadcast to keep things lively and entertaining throughout the evening.

Carnival appears to be pumped about this event too. Ann Sedgewick has been sending her subscribers updates all week – offering up ideas and promotional materials to use to get the word out. Carnival was the one who started this whole Sail-a-thon concept two years ago with YTB. Because they keep coming back for more (this is our 4th event with the Cruise Line) I can only assume that the events are working for them. Why else would they keep doing it? In addition, other vendors like Princess and Pleasant Holidays have seen how easy and inexpensive these webinars are and have joined YTB to host thier own events.

Also, just to clarify – this Carnival event is exclusively with YTB. I encourage you to join me and thousands of others for the webcast, at your leisure from the comfort of their own home. It’s going to be a great event, a lot of fun, great offers and GREAT information for all; whether you’re a seasoned cruiser or first timer! Pick a cruise tonight or purchase a gift certificate to choose later if you’d like. You’ll see certificates ranging from 3-8 days with prices from $358 for a cruise for two. (Yes, TWO, not per person which makes this one very attractive offer!)

Also in honor of Veterans Day, there’s a month long promotion going on with special pricing and category upgrades to say “Thanks for your service”. So if you or anyone you know has sacrificed with service for this great Country, be sure to be part of tonight’s events.

It’s a winning combination any way you look at it – and it’s fitting that YTB is part of it.

Remember, the event starts at 6:00 pm Central and you can go to BandBVacations.com to find the video link and YTB Travel Network President, Kim Sorensen’s Facebook page to ask questions, interact with others and win prizes just for participating. It should be a really good time and since you’re probably going to be on Facebook anyway tonight, might as well get yourself an exceptional deal on your next cruise with Carnival Cruise Lines!

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For the fifth consecutive year, CLIA will host the World’s Largest Cruise Night tonight. Thousands of agents will be hosting events all over the country and YTB is no exception. Princess Cruise Lines will partner up with YTB for it’s second Sail-A-Thon this year to help celebrate.

October is National Cruise Vacation Month. Tonight, you can join YTB as they host Princess Cruise Line for a Sail-a-thon during CLIA’s World’s Largest Cruise Night. The event will be hosted live from YTB booking engines at 6:00 pm Central with a special rebroadcasts at 7:30 pm and 9:00 pm Central.

In one 24-hour period, thousands of Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) member travel agencies will participate in the World’s Largest Cruise Night. Travel agencies across North America will join together to promote cruising as the vacation option of choice – all in a single day.

This is the perfect opportunity for friends and family to book incredible cruises. Tonight’s broadcast will feature a new Alaska Family Cruisetour with 25% off for the Entire Family.

This 7-night Voyage of the Glaciers cruise is followed by 5-nights on land featuring 1 night at McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge, 2 nights at Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge and 2 nights at Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge. It’s the only cruise of it’s kind. Princess has invested millions into these lodges and you won’t find these type of amenities from any other cruise line.

This cruisetour offers the ultimate vacation for the entire family, ensuring you see all the best of Alaska by land and by sea.  It will enable the entire family to “Escape Completely” – with Princess.

Alaska not your thing? Want Europe or the Caribbean for your next destination. No problem. As an added incentive to “come aboard”, Cruise customers will see some great prices for all destinations tonight along with the following benefits:

• Up to $100 onboard credit per stateroom
• Reduced deposit of just $100 per person
• Coupons worth up to $325 in onboard savings

CLIA’s World’s Largest Cruise Night has been gaining recognition and exposure over the years. According to the CLIA press release, which announced this years event:

In 2008, over 4,000 agents participated in WLCN events and online Virtual WLCN promotions estimated to have generated almost 43,000 bookings, $41.4 million in sales and nearly $5.4 million in commissions.

A record number of over 65,000 CLIA member line videos were viewed by consumers during virtual WLCN cruise events held by over 3,000 agents. These CLIA members who participated in Virtual WLCN promotions, sent email invitations to consumers inviting them to visit a customized Web site with cruise line videos, agency contact information and special offers. Over 1,100 agencies conducted traditional WLCN events, also a record. Nearly 500,000 consumers were invited to visit a customized WLCN website to obtain information on special offers. All of Liberty Travel’s locations participated with in-store events along with many of the leading vacation agency distributors in North America.

Cruise Lines and Agencies pull out all the stops for a night like tonight not just to get customers on their ships, but to show the benefits of cruising. We’ve been telling people for 13 years that a cruise is the best vacation money could buy. It doesn’t matter if you’re a avid cruise-a-holic like us or first time cruiser – the best time to check out what’s available is tonight.

So sing it with me now…

Love, exciting and new
Come Aboard. We’re expecting you.
Love, life’s sweetest reward.
Let it flow, it floats back to you.

Now that you’ve got that song firmly cemented into your head for the day – you’ll be sure to remember to join us.

Like I said…we pull out ALL the stops! ;-P

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Shopping for that perfect holiday gift?

What do you get for the person who has EVERYTHING?

What about the person that’s SO hard to shop for?

Have I got a stocking stuffer for you!

It’s that time of year again. YTB’s second annual Carnival One Day Sale. Carnival Cruise Gift Certificates are available NOW from BandBVacations.com. Choose from 18 different Gift Certificate options available for online purchase through December 31, 2008. (Don’t think you could miss it…but it’s that LARGE ad with the Carnival Funnel wrapped in Christmas lights…)

If a gift certificate isn’t you type of thing, we also have over 100 Carnival Cruise Specials if you head to our Group Bookings page. I would suggest you look at this entire list of groups. (Although it may take some time with well over 500 groups at any one time.) This page is ALWAYS the first place I look for clients because it’s the one place I know that can’t be beat when it comes to price. And please don’t think you’ll be stuck playing Parcheesi all week if you book with any one particular group. You’re free to do what you want, when you want, and the group probably won’t even know you booked with their group. But you can take advantage of the special group pricing to save anywhere between $50 and $250 per person.

If you’re not sure about which cruise you’d like, that’s fine too, the Gift Certificates are a great save now, cruise later option. This way you can let someone decide on their own what cruise they might like, or even when they want to go over the next 18 months.

By the way…all of these Gift Certificates can be upgraded to ANY cruise of their choice. Simply pay the difference. I have a certificate valid for a 3-4 day for two, but want to take the entire family on a 5 day this spring. The Promotions Department at Carnival will be extremely accommodating for any upgrade and use what you have to fulfill you dream cruise.

If you’re just now thinking about a cruise for a stocking stuffer, you might not know where to begin, or what is offered in regards to ports, destinations, and the wide variety of selections available. To help out with that, review the following documents for options.

CCL DEPARTURE PORTS
CCL MORE FUN EVERYWHERE
CCL FUN SHIP FINDER
CCL 2009-10 CRUISE CATALOG

Of course, you could also join YTB tonight, December 4 from 5 -10:00 pm CST for a live webcast from YTB Headquarters in Wood River, Illinois. (Contact me and I’ll send you the link.) While you certainly don’t have to watch Coach, Kim, and Scott, and Carnival’s own Ann Sedgwick, but last years live webcast was a lot of fun. Last year’s event was loaded with all kinds of information on why a cruise is not only a great value, but has all kinds of activities and options to make your experience enjoyable.

Regardless if you want to watch or not, phones will be open till Midnight CST at the Home Office to take your reservations, with a special reservation number 800-400-9382. Of course, I’m available at 678-458-5812 at any time. (Even later in the month, or any time for that matter.)

Our goal is to be #1 with the #1. There’s a reason why Carnival is the Most Popular Cruise Line in the World. We’ve sailed with Carnival so much, they feel like home. We know the ships, we know the activities, we know the benefits.

Regardless if you’re a seasoned cruise veteran like us, or a first timer, a 100,000 ton cruise ship could be the most unique stocking stuffer your special someone has ever seen.

Bon Voyage!

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If you’ve been with YTB for any length of time like I have, you know how slow things can be this time of year. Most people, as they should, are focused on Holiday activities, and the thought of booking a large vacation, or starting a new business is one of the last things on peoples minds. On the other hand, many use Christmas money to book a vacation, or have New Years Resolutions that creates a tidal wave of prospects looking to start a new business or trying some new venture.

YTB is getting into the Holiday Spirit with a Holiday Sales for both Clients and potential Travel Store Owners.

I wrote Monday about the One Day Carnival Sale going on this Thursday with exceptional deals and stocking stuffers, (if you can call a 100,000 ton cruise ship a “stocking stuffer”!) While your free to let your friends and family decide just where they want to go with these Gift Certificates, we also have some great deals on our Group Bookings page with pricing to include port charges, taxes, and pre-paid gratuities. (We have a PDF here you can download and print to help decide.) Purchase of these group packages can be turned into a “stocking stuffer” from Santa for each of the guests. (I’ve done it in years past, just ask me how!)

Next, for those who are looking at starting a Home Based Business in 2009, we have a couple of FIRST TIME incentives to get you going this Holiday Season.

How would you like to see if YTB might be a good fit, but can’t find the cash to see if selling travel would be your thing?

From now until January 10th, you can become an Affiliate of YTB for only $250. You recieve all the great niche sites available such as Golf, Romance, Outdoors, and Flowers, with your first months hosting fee is waived, (a $49.95 value), and the ability to earn 30% commission on all travel sales you produce.

Find out just like I did that selling travel is easy? NO PROBLEM. You can upgrade to 60% for an additional $250 at any time.

YTB can also save you some money if you looking to go all the way and earn (like me) 70% commission on all sales and upgrade from Affiliate to RTA for only $499.90. Save now through January 10th, and YTB will throw in your second and third month hosting fee, (a $99.90 value) and provide complimentary First Class Training to get you started on the right foot. (a $149.00 value)

That’s a savings of $250 just for the Holidays!

Once you complete the First Class Training and pass the required test, you can then upgrade to 70% commission when you book travel either off your Travel Site or directly with suppliers. (You will remain at 60% commission until First Class Training is taken and passed.)

All the details on how to get started with your own state of the art Travel Store can be found here.

Tis the season of “wise buys” and with this economy, (Now “offically” a recession. Who Knew?) people need to look for value as a consumer and as a business owner.

With savings like this, it makes for very “Happy Holidays”!

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I can’t think of a better way to get going again after an extended weekend like we just had than hosting a “Travel Party”. I love weeks like this. Everyone is longing for more vacation time and looking to get back into that relaxation mode. The only difference I can see is possibly replacing “turkey” with “lobster” when it comes to stuffing ourselves. Short breaks like this, spending time with family, (mine who by the way are still here) and getting a break from traffic, time clocks, and office politics remind people how much they need a vacation. I love the sparkle in people’s eyes when the subject of travel or vacations comes up. It never ceases to amaze me how this subject is so universally loved by everyone. I’ve yet to meet anyone who’s told me;

You know, I’ve tried one of those vacations once…HATED it!

No, bringing up the subject of vacations is something everyone loves to talk about, and for some, you can’t get a word in edge wise. Not a big problem, but some do tend to go on and on about how much they just LOVE the destination they came from or the destination they’re looking to head to next. With the economy looming over everyone’s head these days both agencies and suppliers are looking for that edge to help increase both visibility and sales.

This week, both YTB and Carnival appear to have that answer. Apparently, Carnival was pleased with the outcome of last years 24 Hour Cruise Event and has come to YTB again to help boost last minute year end sales to help both our bottom lines. Back in October, CLIA held its annual “World’s Largest Cruise Night”, which in years past has produced fourth quarter sales for both agencies and cruise lines. Last year the month long promotion for CLIA produced some 17,852 cruise bookings, however I’ve yet to see any hard numbers on this year’s event. YTB’s own cruise sale last November produced 12,000 passenger bookings. (Although, critics like to cut the number of “passengers” in half.)

This Tuesday, December 2 at 7:00 p.m. in each time zone, YTB will host the World’s Largest Travel Party in several cities around the country.  All locations are teaming together to host one huge event. The cities include:

• Atlanta, GA
• Baltimore, MD
• Boston, MA
• Chicago, IL
• Dallas, TX
• Denver, CO
• Detroit, MI
• Houston, TX
• Kansas City, MO
• Miami, FL
• New York, NY
• Orange County, CA
• Philadelphia, PA
• Reno, NV
• Richmond, VA
• San Diego, CA
• San Francisco, CA
• St. Louis, MO
• Tampa, FL

At each location, door prizes will include one free cruise certificate (for guests only) and five tickets to YTB’s 2009 National Convention for Reps or Travel Site Owners. Rooms at the live venues will have a party atmosphere with round tables, fun music, snacks, and drinks. (No alcoholic beverages.) The Cruise giveaways for two are for guests only, and you must be present to win. There will be a short video entitled “Cruising, the Best Vacation Value” followed by a live feed from the YTB Home Office via streaming video. After the presentation a flyer with the December 4th Sail-a-thon Cruise Specials will be handed out in addition to the free cruise drawing for each city.

On Thursday, December 4th, there will be a live webcast from 5 -10:00 pm Central from the YTB Headquarters in Wood River, Illinois. Phones will be open all day till Midnight Central Standard Time as well.

RTA’s have an opportunity to invite friends and family over for this Carnival Cruise Night on December 4th to watch Coach, Kim, and Scott, along with many guests, through a live webcast sales event. There will be dozens of cruise specials and a live team ready to take reservations. Travel customers can also choose from 18 different Gift Certificate options available for online purchase through December 31, 2008. Certificates are valid for a 3, 4, 5, 7 or 8 day Fall Cruise for Two and most include all Government Taxes, Fees and Gratuities. ALL certificates are upgradeable if desired and are valid for up to 18 months. Upgrades are never a problem at the time of booking, simply pay the difference.

It’s nice to see Carnival and YTB teaming up again in this way. I’m not aware of any other supplier who teams with a single agency such as this, but then again, no other single agency has the potential to reach as many customers at one time as YTB does. It’s very unique to our model and our company.

It’s all in an effort to “Be Number 1 with The Number 1!”

Happy Sailing!

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The final numbers for the Carnival One Day Sale were announced by YTB yesterday afternoon. While I had seen, and wanted to post about this release yesterday, I also was curious to see how some of our “Travel Agents” would respond to the news, and what kind of “spin” they would have before I started to write. To their credit, the response is admirable and while I certainly don’t believe YTB shocked the industry, we certainly did better than anyone expected when combined with the short notice and the assumption that we’re not a “Travel Company” per say, but a “Marketing Company” in their view.

On November 8th, YTB booked more than 12,000 cruise passengers through gift certificates, individual, and group cruises. If you recall the Cruise Lines International Association said its Oct. 17 World’s Largest Cruise Night (WLCN) is expected to generate 17,852 bookings.

Based on what we now know about the One Day Sale, I’m going to direct you to John Frenaye’s response and perception concerning the take on YTB’s One Day Sale and how it relates to CLIA’s Worlds Largest Cruise Night. It happens to be consistent with the mindset and reasoning concerning our company, and John, to his credit, happens to be rather professional, and does provide documentation in an attempt to support his views. In addition, John’s perception of who we are and what we do illustrates perfectly what so many of our opposition keep telling people about YTB regarding how little Travel is sold through our RTA’s. These One Day Sales give us the best example that I can recall to actually compare apples to apples by using each of the numbers generated by the “One Day Sales”.

John writes:

“Based on the 130,000 Referring Travel Agents that participated, all things being equal, each would have earned 60% of the YTB commission or about $1.77 per Referring Travel Agent.”

John later states:

“So, 4,000 traditional agents produce 34,654 bookings (probably 70,000 passengers) resulting in sales of $43 million and commissions of $5.8million. This seems a bit more successful than 130,000 agents producing 6,000 bookings, resulting in sales of $2.4 million and commissions of $384,000.”

There are several problems with the statements above.

Two words mysteriously disappeared between what is actually reported in Modern Agent and what John is trying to convey. The report states 4,000 participating agents “and agencies”. In addition, the 34,654 and $43 Million being reported was not generated in one day, but between Oct. 15-31. The “One Day” or Oct. 17 World’s Largest Cruise Night (WLCN) is expected to generate 17,852 bookings, which translate into an estimated $22.3 million in sales and more than $3 million in travel agency commissions.

I know the opposition would like to lead you to believe that all 130,000 RTA’s participated in the One Day Sale to help the cause of YTB. If we are to assume that all 130,000 participated then we must also assume the entire Travel Agent Community participated in CLIA’s World’s Largest Cruise Night. I did some research, and found more than 20,000 ARC-accredited Travel Agency locations and Corporate Travel Departments. Since our opposition assumes that all YTB RTA’s participated in the One Day Sale, can we therefore assume that all Agencies and Agents participated in CLIA’s World’s Largest Cruise Night? Liberty Travel has 200 storefront locations, with 8 – 20 Agents per location, that’s a possible 4000 Agents from just one Agency. Just 10 Agents per Agency would consist of 200,000 Travel Agents overall.

Of course we couldn’t average everyone in the Industry overall, and I can just see the comments listed below now.

• Not all ARC Agencies participated.
• Not all Travel Agents sell cruises, some just do tours, some just do corporate, some just focus on all-inclusive vacations.
• Not all Travel Agents are CLIA certified and may not have known about the Cruise Night.
• You can’t assume that every Agency has a minimum of 10 Agents working for them, some are Independent.
• We only booked a few on that very night, but we did book some between Oct. 15-31.
• You can’t lump the entire Travel Industry together and divide it like that.

Oh…but of course I could, and I just did. The average Travel Agent will make just $11.50 in commission for their efforts in CLIA’s World’s Largest Cruise Night.

That’s all things being equal folks, but as you can clearly see, we don’t play by the same set of rules as everyone else. And I promise you, there will be people who will take John’s math and assumptions as fact and leave it at that. They don’t realize that the math actually used doubles (34,654 not 17,852) CLIA’s one day sales total, and divides in half YTB’s numbers from 12,000 to only 6000 and we are to believe that’s “all things being equal”.

Go figure.

In closing, I don’t mean to pick on John specifically. Like YTB, he just happens to be the most vocal of all the Traditional Travel Agents out there. With his industry connections in the media, he is far more capable than anyone in getting his views and opinions published in the press to promote his views. I will tell you that while John and I are on opposite sides of the fence concerning what is considered beneficial in our industry, we have formed a mutual appreciation for our difference of opinion. He has made very valid arguments in the past that I not only agree with but support. His perception of what YTB has actually accomplished with our successful one-day cruise sales event in November however happens to miss the mark.

For those of us who actually participated in YTB’s One Day Sale, I say kudos to you for your effort and responsibility in helping YTB in their efforts to let the industry know that we have stood up and want to be counted in the same fashion as everyone else in this industry. What we book we keep as our own. What is booked by any other Agent or Agency in this industry is not of our concern or part of our commissions earned. All things being equal, we are independent and we book travel just like anyone else.

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