Every challenge comes with an opportunity to learn and grow. Smart people and good companies take full advantage of such an opportunity while others – well…not so much.

Carnival has been an interesting “case study” over the last few years. The various challenges the with rising fuel prices and the eventual recession that followed keeping more people at home, Carnival has managed to handle the adversity very well with a willingness to make tough choices, and the ability to rethink and transform their operations to streamline their business and continue to turn a profit.

Automation has played a key roll in Carnival’s transformation and ability to remain “The Most Popular Cruise Line in the World”. It’s not that you couldn’t book and manage clients through Carnival’s agent portal prior, but much of the “call center” activities that lingering old timers have known for years is now gone. (And they’re visibly upset – as usual.)

Early Saver, Pack & Go and Interline Rates have been handled via automation for a while now. Resident Rates, Senior Promotions, Military Rates and Travel Agent Cruise Sales recently went into automation mode August 1st. With so many new features now handled online only, Carnival decided to streamline their Agent Portal for ease of use with a totally new agent portal called GoCCL.com.

GoCCL was created with the Agent in mind, making it easier-to-navigate, more information than ever before, and it’s even Google-search-powered. The end result helps agents speed up the sales process along with some innovative and creative tools to help market to clients and prospects.

Carnival focused on these key areas:

• Improved design and organization – Carnival took all the constructive feedback and designed GoCCL.com around the concept that the right tool is only one-click away. You’ll always be ready when your customer is.
• The right information – when you need it. Now, there’s no more searching around the portal for information you need. GoCCL.com features a completely redesigned Resource Center that gives you lightning-fast access to a comprehensive library of sales programs and product information. Finding the right link is a breeze with GoCCL’s Google-powered search engine.
• Booking Tools – Create and manage reservations, access FunShipPay and verify Guest Document Status.
• Marketing Tools – It’s the one-stop place for all of your marketing needs, including the updated Ad Wizard, eBrochures, Collateral Ordering Tool, Brand Center, Fun Itineraries – as well as our Carnival Fun Tees!
• Training – Explore informative training videos, exclusive Webinars and learn more about how to advance your business at CCL University. You can also browse schedules and register for executive conferences, exciting shipboard events and our signature “Funtastic” Fam Weekends.
• Resource Center – This is the place to get all the information you need. You’ll find Carnival news and updates, FAQs, forms and policies, and Carnival products and program details. Be sure to check out our value-packed Knowledge Center: a great reference resource with facts about Carnival procedures, ship and port information – and much more.
• Specials – Get the scoop on Carnival specials, Early Saver fares, promotional programs, featured specials and other great deals for your clients.
• News and Alerts – The home page news ticker displays Carnivals latest news and important advisories and remains visible throughout the site.

The GoCCL portal is a state-of-the-art sales and marketing tool that will not only keep Carnival number one, but possibly widen the gap as new agents embrace the technology that’s available today. From the looks of it, it will make sales and marketing faster, easier, and more powerful than ever before.

If you look back over this blog and all the articles we’ve written about Carnival over the years, you’ll see that change is in fact a good thing. It’s not about being broken or unproductive – it’s about tweaking and moving forward in today’s fast paced and information rich environment with more opportunities than ever before. Reminds me of another “business model” that’s near and dear to our hearts. (And we’ve documented plenty about THAT topic here too!)

So go check out GoCCL.com. I think you’ll like the upgrade once you come aboard!

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It’s been 6 months since I switched my internet provider to CLEAR and I absolutely love it. Not only did I quadruple my internet speed, I added a USB modem to bring the internet with me.

Both for less than what I paid my old DSL service provider.

At the time I switched to CLEAR, the 4G signal was just out of reach at the house. I had towers all around me that were equipped and ready to be turned on. I could drive down to the local Kroger around the corner and have all the speed I wanted with my USB modem – but the house was dead. All the action was two tens of a mile away. Even though I didn’t have the blazing fasts speeds here at the house, the bundle for both home and mobile internet was still cheaper, faster and more dependable than any other mobile internet service I could find.

With the amount of time I spend out and about – the choice was easy.

I didn’t have to wait very long for local service. About a month later, a tower was tuned on that was able to get signal here at the house. Once that happened, I canceled my DSL service and went totally wireless for my internet and never looked back – until recently.

If you’re like me, you hardly use the house phone any longer. Cell phones changed all that years ago. We’re a mobile society now, and if you want to catch me – you’re not going to get me by calling my home. We discussed dropping a home number all together a few years ago. Because our DSL service was attached to the home phone, the big bells made certain that the cost wouldn’t justify doing so however.

Today with the kids growing up, the home phone does ring considerably more with friends and neighbors wanting to get in touch with our two kids. Would you want an 8 year old daughter (who’s going on 16) tying up your cell phone all day long?

Didn’t think so.

So getting rid of the house phone is no longer a smart option for us. But each month, we’d look over the phone bill and see charges for services that we have to pay for, but never use. Long distance is a great example. I mean, why pay so many cents per minute when you can just use your cell phone that doesn’t charge a thing for long distance.

The answer is CLEAR.

One of the most impressive aspects about CLEAR for me (besides the blazing fast speeds) is how the bandwidth doesn’t get choked up. I can pull up a half dozen YouTube videos in different windows and CLEAR doesn’t skip a beat. (Not that anyone would want to watch six videos at the same time, but it’s a great demo when selling this service.) With so much bandwidth available, voice couldn’t be that hard.

After testing the service here at the house for the last couple of months, it’s been extremely reliable. Yes, speeds can vary from one minute to another (you can test your own speed at speedtest.net) but the service is consistently faster than DSL ever provided even at its peak.

What’s even more impressive is that CLEAR and VoIP offers even more services than standard phone companies at no additional charge. While international rates still apply – unlimited calling is offered within the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, as well as Canada and Puerto Rico. Voice mail also comes with VoIP with a nice bonus. Voice mail can be turned into e-mail with a .wav file sent to your work account so that you’re not only notified that someone called, but actually get the message via e-mail. Caller ID and call waiting are also provided for no additional service charges. (Something our phone company charged for.)

A couple other services that come with CLEAR’s VoIP service that we never bothered to add to our old service but are nice additions (for no added cost) are 3-way calling, advanced call forwarding, call blocking, and Do Not Disturb. (Meaning, no more telemarketers during dinner or after 8:00 pm!)

I can’t say the quality is remarkable, because there really no difference between the old service and VoIP, but the technology certainly is. What is remarkable however is that my internet is not only mobile, but I have it for less than what I paid for DSL and basic phone before. Three services for less than the price of two with more features and faster speeds.

Interested in finding out more about CLEAR and VoIP service? You can check it out through ZamZuu and the ZamTek link under Internet Services. It’s super easy to install (plug and play) – faster than anything out there, and fits perfect into your mobile lifestyle.

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You know, I looked for this list last week and didn’t see it. Then mid-morning yesterday, it dawned on me that it might be out this week. After writing about this Power List the last 4 years (because YTB has made the list all 4 years) I can go directly to the URL without even needing to look it up. I’ve enjoyed the publication (I enjoy it all year long actually) and it’s fascinating to see the chess match that goes on in the travel industry.

Ironically, Travel Weekly appears to see it as a chess match as well, but on a much grander scale – the last decade. There have been some new faces (like YTB) that have shown up in the last few years and others that have either gone completely out of business or have been acquired by or merged with other companies. (More of the latter from what I can tell.)

The biggest surprise to me was who knocked off the #1 and #2 positions the last few years. American Express and Carlson Wagonlit have had a lock on the the number one and number two spots respectively until this year. (American Express has had a lock on #1 since 1992, when the Power List first came out.)

Online giant Expedia jumped over both this year to take the number one spot.

Yep, online travel is now king.

The list also shrunk in size this year (from 61 total to 52) because – well 2009 was a rough year for travel. Bookings may have been up – but with prices cut in half to get people on board ships, into hotel rooms, and on vacation you literally needed to sell twice as much in order to even maintain your spot from last year.

How did YTB fair in all this?

Not too bad actually. YTB did drop from 25 to 29.

Considering the economy, the incessant and dysfunctional obsession from industry “professionals” about YTB’s MLM model and our fine group of ambulance chasers who can’t quite grasp the meaning of the word “NO” – 29 is actually pretty good.

On the other hand, most clients who book with YTB don’t know (or don’t really care) that there’s an MLM arm attached to the company. Technology plays a big part in that.

I’d highly recommend taking some time to read Travel Weekly’s cover Story “10 Years In Review” to attain their perspective on how technology has changed the face of travel. I’ve been writing about it for years here – but I’m just one of those MLM “Yahoo’s” – a newcomer to the industry who really doesn’t know how things work. (Or so some would have you think.)

Turns out that the internet and technology has not only changed the rankings considerably over the last ten years, but it’s essential in the growth and viability of the vast majority of the agencies who are still around. That’s not to say high touch and high service doesn’t continue to play a role like most of the old dogs would have you believe. (The ones who demand this type of service from YTB in order to legitimize the model.)

A total focus on high touch and high service however, would have certainly landed YTB on the outside of this Power List looking in.

Back in 2001 when YTB was founded, they saw a trend towards technology. Today, over $50 BILLION in travel was purchased online last year between Expedia, Orbitz, Priceline, and Travelocity. While all four certainly produced top 10 rankings, Travelocity didn’t provide sales numbers and wasn’t included in this years rankings. (See “What happened to…” in the Travel Weekly report.)

Those who have embraced this shift and taken advantage of the paradigm shift from brick and mortar to click and order have done very well for themselves over the last ten years.

Those who haven’t? Well, you can now find them on various message boards, forums and some have even created their own blogs to bitch and complain about how MLM not technology has ruined their business.

Change is a little more difficult for some – and honestly, some may never come around. (I certainly wouldn’t count on it.) I wouldn’t worry about it however. They’re the ones who are faced with another Power List with the name YTB Travel Network in it for the forth year in a row.

Instead, embrace the technology YTB has provided with new an innovative ways of booking travel.

In fact, you can do that tonight if you’d like. Carnival will be featured once again on our booking engine with yet another “Sail-A-Thon” to wind down Carnival Month with YTB. It’s a live 4 hour blowout sale and you could get up to $160 Cash Back from Carnival if you book with us tonight.

Technology and travel…

It appears to be the right mix if you ask me. ;-P

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Most of you know that Coach, Scott, and Kim have been enjoying Waikiki Beach in Hawaii this past week and should be primed and pumped for the Power of 7 Summit held there tonight and tomorrow. When I book exotic locations for clients, at times I like to check out the action while they’re there…from right here at home.

If you love technology the way I do, you know that there is an abundance of web cams found on the internet that provide live views of just about any destination you can imagine. When my parents booked Alaska and a European River cruise with me, I knew thier itinerary and the times they would be at certain locations. It was very cool viewing streaming video from prime spots of these locations while they were actually there. (I never could get them to wave at me.)

I got an e-mail earlier in the week of a site that’s loaded with live cams from all over the world. EarthTV.com isn’t just another cool web cam site with locations on all five continents, there’s a cool new contest that’s both fun but educational. It’s the technology version of Marc Mancini’s “Geography Bowl”, on steroids.

The concept for “Where In The World Is…?” is this: entrants register on earthTV and earn “miles” (i.e. points) by clicking on a camera shot featured on the home page that day. For example, if the featured shot today is Venice, Italy, the entrant would go to the Venice camera detail page where they will click an “I Found It!” button to collect the miles.

Each day for 30 days, a new camera shot will be featured. It’s fun, addictive and interactive. At the end of the promotion, the 2 entrants with the most miles win Briggs & Riley Traveleware. A random winner (regardless of miles) will be picked to win a B&R business case. Other mileage leaders will win cash prizes and Amazon gift certificates. You can find a list of all the prizes here.

The contest runs from June 15 to July 15 with a new location each day.

It’s a very cool way to actually learn something about different destinations all month long including stats like population, local weather and time, geographic information, and key aspects of tourism.

The competition entry page also has a box for entrants to write where they heard about the competition so be sure to tell them you heard about it on Just Picture It Now.

Hope to see you over there this month!

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Do You ZamZuu?

I’ve been surfing around the last few days and about all I can say is “yuck”.

So rather than get caught up in the childish bantering, the market collapse, sad Annual Reports, and more job losses, we’re going to shift gears (maybe from here on out?) and focus on something positive. Personally, I just don’t like participating in doom and gloom, which has escalated into even more absurdity. It’s not only unproductive, and when negativity is all you focus on, what do you get more of?

More negativity.

So for now, we’re going to focus on something positive. Something meaningful. Something important.

My new iPhone!

Oh COME ON! It’s important to me, and this IS my blog, and I had no idea how useful this phone REALLY was until I got myself one a week ago. The screen on my old phone blanked out on me, and with the hundreds of contacts I had saved on it, and because I had saved the settings to silent due to the Directors meeting last week, I had no idea who called or even if they called. With my phone being my left arm, (laptop being my right) it was time for a new phone.

I’ve had team members who have raved about the iPhone for some time, and while I’ve always wanted one (actually wrote about how slick Google integrates with it), until I had a chance to see it and get first hand experience with a number of the applications, features, and benefits I truly had no idea. The only problem I have with the iPhone right now are my kids who can’t keep their hands off it wanting to play games. They’re rather upset that their father doesn’t have any games loaded and while I told them that it’s not a toy, my wife had the nerve to brake out in uncontrolled laughter. (What’s up with that?)

The iPhone 3G combines three products in one – a revolutionary phone, a widescreen iPod, and a breakthrough Internet device. It features 3G, built-in GPS, push email, calendar, and contacts. (You can also talk to people!)

Technology also has a way of making life easier, saving both time, money and space. I remember buying books on tape, which graduated to books on CD, and now I can download thousands of audiobooks on iTunes within a matter of minutes with a digital format that takes up very little space. I’m also thrilled with literally THOUSANDS of niche iTunes Podcasts that I can subscribe to and are downloaded automatically to the phone before I head out for the day. While I did listen to the radio a couple weeks ago during the Super Bowl, I rarely listen to the radio, opting for biographies, motivational, or personal developement CD’s instead. Now with the ability to listen via my iPhone for both books and broadcasts that empower me and nurish my mind instead of bombarding it with negativity and useless chatter, I’m more focused and prepared to take on the day.

Another area I just LOVE is the 3G feature for internet and GPS. This combination built right into the phone is absolutely amazing to me. If you throw in a couple of iPhone applications, that give you instant access to traffic delays, flight delays, and where to find the lowest gas price in your area you’ve got yourself some kind of power in your hand. While the Flight Track Pro is used for clients with air while I’m out and about, I can also access the Atlanta Traffic Cams right from my phone either before I head out or while I’m trying to decide the best route to take home. Another very cool application is Cheap Gas, which takes your current GPS location and not only posts the gas prices of surrounding stations, but when you find one you like, and not sure about the best route to take to get there just hit the “map” feature for turn by turn directions.

Of course the same can be done while you’re out and about using Google Mobile App that I wrote about some time ago. It’s been quite some time since I’ve toyed with voice recognition software, and I have to admit, either Google did their homework, or technology has finally caught up with this type of application making it virtually error free. There’s no training involved like the old days, and results come back surprisingly fast even if it hits the servers and comes back with results. Another application I really like is “Say Who” that accesses the names from you contact list, which is a real time saver when you have as many contacts as I do. Just say the name, it pulls it up and dials the number automatically. No more setup, and no more voice training which now opens up my entire list of contacts, not just the most used or the only the ones I’ve manually trained and programed.

I also love the voice mail features. In the past, people would leave a voice mail, and when I saved it for later because I couldn’t write down the dates or itinerary when I went to access it again, I’d have to scroll through several other saved voice mails in order to get to the one I wanted. It was frustrating and time consuming to say the least.

GONE! Now I can access any voice mail in any order, with a slick GUI interface that provides a name, date and time stamp, and I even have the ability to stop mid stream and call a client or friend back right from the voice mail area to clarify or reply with a quick answer. When done, simply delete.

One area that I know gets a lot of use from others, that I haven’t gotten the hang of just yet is typing on such a small screen. Put a full featured keyboard in front of me and I’ll type for hours, but this tiny keyboard does take some getting use to. I’ve never been one for texting and don’t intend to start now, but I can do like to respond to e-mail on the fly. I can also “Tweet” and update Facebook with many other Social Networking sites on the go. Yes, there are several applications for Social Networking and while I haven’t decide which one works best, (basically because I don’t use them that much) I do like the feature and ability to post on the fly.

Lastly, the browser used was a big surprise to me. I couldn’t imagine being able to read posts like this on such a small screen, but found out that while it is smaller, it’s surprisingly easy to read. It is different navigating around, and you certainly don’t have the space to read without scrolling, but I was surprised at the clarity and ease of use of the built in browser. I wouldn’t recommend it be your only connection to the internet, but it certainly does the job in a pinch when you need to access something on the go.

Bottom line for me is that this phone absolutely ROCKS! The ease of use, stable platform, and incredibly useful and intuitive applications make the phone the best toy, errr, “tool” I’ve seen in a long, long time. The features, benefits and usefulness are amazing and provide real time savers, increased productivity and service to those I associate with.

I give it two thumbs up!

PS - If you're involved with YTB, sign up for our FREE Newsletter. As a Website Owner or Website Seller, we'll keep you up to date with all the latest news, acquisitions, and developments with YTB.

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Do You ZamZuu?

I think it’s save to say that we all like things that are familiar to us. When I go to the grocery store I usually go to the same one because unlike other stores I know exactly where to find my Heinz Ketchup, where Breyers Ice cream can be found, along with my favorite blend of Arabica Premium Ground Coffee. A few months ago, they changed a few of the front isles around from running vertically to horizontally and I must have stood there for 5 minutes just wondering how I was going to find things.

What happened to the way it was?

Part of the reason I struggled with the move from Blogger to WordPress was because I wasn’t comfortable with change. Blogger was familiar, I knew how to drive it, and I liked the template design.

But the template I was using was outdated, and couldn’t take advantage of all the new toys and features that are now available with updated Blogger templates. Plus I knew that this new format here on WordPress would be much more powerful, being able to host many features I knew were important in order to continue to grow and expand my visibility on the World Wide Web.

Logically, I knew the change would be good, and I’ve certainly been extremely pleased with the functionality of my new home. It’s was a simple matter not being familiar with what I was about to dive into.

With technology rapidly changing, with better tools and resources, and the internet becoming more and more of “The Source” for news, entertainment, and socializing, it’s not surprising the Travel Weekly just got an extreme makeover.

Like most everything I come across that I’m familiar with and find that’s changed, my first reaction is “Ack! How do I find what I want?!” But after taking the time to look around I was pleasantly surprised to find that not only was all the “stuff” I look for in Travel Weekly was still there, but a lot easier to find. (Again, change is often “good”.)

All the industry news that I like to read is now on the front page. Down at the bottom of the site are all the industry channels that I try to keep up with. I like reading about these different destinations and offers and find I can scan the entire section now and only read what catches my eye. There’s also a ton more content to browse over which I really like, and while Travel Weekly may not be the first to break important news, they have always had a history of reporting on stories I find elsewhere.

The Industry News section has also been expanded on the front page giving me a better idea of what’s going on around the industry. (Found Apple Vacations and Travel Impressions have also terminated it’s relationship with Joystar.)

Something else you may notice at the bottom of these articles is a comment section. Yes, you can now input your own comments and discuss what you think about the news and events that are being reported. However, like here, the comments are moderated. (I can’t imagine why?) If you’d like to get an idea of what Travel Weekly might expect in proper conduct to enable you to add comments on their site, you can find them here.

Other features have been introduced as well, a new multimedia section has been introduced for things such as uploading photos. Photo will be categorized in three areas, “Destination Albums”, “Recommend Trips”, and “Experiencing Cruising”. Readers will also be able to comment on photos that are uploaded. Video’s can also be uploaded for those that like that medium. (Hopefully, it will be a step up from YouTube.)

There is also an expanded area for hotel information, travel deals, and Fam information. (An area that was honestly lacking compared to other sources I read on a regular basis.) The Travel Weekly site is also introducing something called “5 Minute Guides” for key destinations, along with non-destination guides such as car rentals, and technology.

Overall, this is a huge makeover for “The National Newspaper of the Travel Industry”. I’ve seen many changes and upgrades over the years from sites like Travel Weekly. Travel Trade upgraded a few years ago, and Travel Pulse use to me Modern Agent back in the day. One of the best features I like about Travel Weekly however, is that unlike the upgrades I’ve seen in the past, the hundreds of links I’ve used as supporting documentation here on this blog from Travel Weekly, are still in tact.

Thank You – Thank You – Thank You!

Probably the best feature out of all since my goal here is to help educate and provide you with documentation of what’s REALLY going on in this industry.

PS - If you're involved with YTB, sign up for our FREE Newsletter. As a Website Owner or Website Seller, we'll keep you up to date with all the latest news, acquisitions, and developments with YTB.

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Do You ZamZuu?