Welcome Aboard the SeaSite Blog!

Welcome to the SeaSite Blog! In the weeks ahead, we'll be offering new links and resources, and adding new categories where experienced cruise group and meeting planners, and cruise line partners can share insights, experiences, stories and tips. Also, where anyone considering operating an event at sea, can post questions and receive answers from seasoned cruised planner professionals. Thanks for visiting!

Also visit our main site at: www.seasite.com

From Tired to Inspired – How to Shake Up Your Meetings

In the August issue of Corporate & Incentive Travel Magazine, publisher Harvey Grotsky admonishes meeting and event professionals “It’s time to shake things up”. The thought of planning a meeting at sea might be out of your comfort zone, but that’s precisely why it’s a good thing.

In the magazine’s “Publisher’s Message”, Mr. Grotsky agrees with Seasite.com CEO Jo Kling’s suggestion to shake things up: “Move your event to a ship to transform a dull meeting into a much richer, active experience.”

In our cover story “Meetings At Sea”, Kling noted, “Planners are thinking that they are not going to be able to do their normal event, and that’s true – that’s why it is so successful. You don’t do the same thing in the same way on a ship that you do in a hotel, and it’s that difference that excites you. What brings forth innovative thinking is not having people in the same old, same old environment.” (editor’s emphasis)

We couldn’t agree more! In the cover story “The Cruising Difference: Setting a New High-Water Mark” by Susan Gregg, Jo Kling explores planner hesitations, shares success stories, talks about the all-inclusive benefits of cruise ship events, suggests customization options, and shares insider tips for planning successful meetings at sea.

Read the article and find out how Microsoft Corporation doubled their international conference attendance by using cruise ships. And, how the shipboard environment helped create a sense of community and led to unique shared experiences.

Ready to shake up your meetings and “chart new horizons”? It just might be time to take your group to sea.

Essential Time-Saving Tips for Planners

Comment bien partir la journée!
Image by BMeunier via Flickr

If you’re a meeting or event planner,  I’ll bet you often find yourself wishing for more hours in your time-crunched day to button up those last important details. Just one more email to answer, call to make, article to read, contract to review, RFP to submit….Sound familiar?

If so, you’ll enjoy this useful article posted on the EliteMeetings.com blog: “Time Saving Tips for Meeting Professionals”. The writer includes six habits you can quickly integrate to increase productivity and reduce stress. My favorite? “Get rid of distractions” (do I really have to check email every 5 minutes?).

Essential time management yields increased success and productivity by eliminating distractions, getting enough sleep, and making use of the best tools. You can maximize your productivity and get more done in the few hours you have available by taking the initiative and driving new habits into your day.

To read all the tips, click on Time Saving Tips for Meeting Professionals.

And of course, we’d be remiss if we didn’t add a few of our own time-saving suggestions for meeting planners:

  1. Book a cruise - An event at sea saves planning time and simplifies your budget with built-in entertainment, meals, activities, meeting space, AV – all included
  2. Use Seasite.com - Planning tools, online RFP and meeting-friendly cruise search criteria at your fingertips
  3. Purchase Individual Incentive Cruise Certificates – Fast. easy, flexible cruise rewards

Now that you have some extra time in your day, how are your going to use it?  Do you have any of your own time-saving tips? Please share!

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Short Voyages, Sweet Value – Caribbean Yacht Charters Now Available

Hot Opportunity and Cool Prices

Because of some 4 and 5 night charters that were sold in the Caribbean, SeaDream Yacht Club has given us dibs on a few rare charter opportunities that we can’t wait to share with you:

2 and 3 night remnant voyages at an excellent value.

These unique short yacht charters can accommodate 112 guests and are perfect for weddings, birthdays, family reunions, company meetings or incentives.  If your group has more time, you can combine two consecutive voyages, or add a resort stay to create an exciting “surf and turf” event.

February 18 – 20, 2011 – 2 nights – Roundtrip St. Martin

April 7 – 10, 2011 – 3 nights – Roundtrip St. Thomas

April 10 – 13, 2011 – 3 nights – St. Thomas to San Juan

April 21 – 23, 2011 – 2 nights – Roundtrip San Juan

YOUR ALL-INCLUSIVE YACHT CHARTER INCLUDES:

  • 56 elegantly appointed, ocean view staterooms
  • Gourmet meals (in the dining salon or al fresco)
  • Wine with lunch and dinner
  • Open bar
  • Gratuities
  • Use of water toys and mountain bikes
  • SeaDream’s signature “Champagne and Caviar Splash” deluxe beach event
  • Evening entertainment including piano bar, dancing “under the stars” and Starlit Movies
  • Fitness center and Thai-certified Spa (spa treatments additional)
  • Outdoor pool, whirlpool, and water sports marina
  • An attentive crew of 95 to “splendidly spoil” your attendees with 5-star service

Word to the Wise: If you’re short on time and looking for some amazing charter prices, please act quickly – these all-inclusive “gems” won’t last long!

To take advantage of these rare charter opportunities, call us today at 888-713-1317 /International: 1 -305- 403-3002 . Or, send us an email: CruiseAdvisors@seasite.com

SeaDreamYacht charter space is also available for longer voyages in 2011 and 2012. For more information about the SeaDream Yacht experience, click on About SeaDream Yacht Club.

A Happy Day for Hens

Superfly and FluffyWhy are Fluffy and Superfly doing the Happy Dance?

They just heard the good news -  Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and Carnival Cruise Lines, the world’s first and second-largest cruise companies, have switched to cage-free eggs!  Both cruise lines worked with the Humane Society of the United States to develop the new hen-friendly policies.

So why are the hens so happy?
Royal Caribbean will switch to 3.2 million cage-free eggs immediately, and have promised to increase to 6.8 million within a year – sparing nearly 30,000 hens each year from being held inside tiny cages. Carnival Cruise Lines has made similar progress, converting more than 2 million eggs to cage-free. These cage-free hens will have two to three times more space per bird than their less fortunate caged sisters.

We applaud Royal Caribbean and Carnival – the first cruise lines to join the growing national cage-free eggs movement already adopted by many major restaurant and fast-food chains including Subway, Wendy’s, Quiznos, and Burger King.

And thanks to Karyn Altman, our VP Business Development, for sharing the photo of her sister’s two adorable pet chickens, Superfly and Fluffy!

Sailing far, far away from ordinary

I’ve been meaning to write about Royal Caribbean’s groundbreaking partnership with DreamWorks Animation – how characters from movies including Shrek, Madagascar, and Kung Fu Panda will soon be sailing on Allure of Seas, the cruise line’s newest “biggest ship in the world”. Imagine the creative opportunities: character parades, photo ops, Ice Shows, 3-D movies on deck, Aqua Shows. But as they say…a picture is worth a thousand words.

See what happens when two of the world’s most innovative companies join forces. To experience the excitement for youself,  just click on the video and join the fun.

Meeting and event planners: There’s an App for that!

IMG_0009
Image by noj.johnson via Flickr

You’re planning an event and need information  – FAST.  You know there’s gotta be an app for that, right?

If you’re tired of wasting time searching for iPhone or iPad apps, you’ll want to check out MeetingsApps.com, a new website launched by Invenia and the IMEX Group for meeting, event, and hospitality professionals.

MeetingApps.com is the first on-line portal that lets planners quickly locate meeting management, hotel, air travel, CVB, ground transportation, wine apps and lots of other cool tools in minutes.

They also offer a “Free Apps” Club; members receive updates on the best free meeting and event industry apps and a “pick of the month” link for a free download.

To find some useful meeting industry apps, click on MeetingApps.com

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The Incredible Life of a Cruise Ship

Ever wonder what goes into building the world’s largest cruise ship? Or how much food is consumed at sea? Care to guess which is greater – the distance between New York and London, or electric cable on the Oasis of the Seas?

You can find answers to these questions and lots more fun and fascinating cruise statistics on a great infographic created by iglu.com. (Don’t you just love infographics?)

Click on the link below for a visual glimpse into the “Life of a Cruise Ship”.

Cruise Ship size infographic: Oasis of the Seas and more

Infographic by Iglucruise.com

Your customized ship comparison chart – a click away

You’re a savvy planner, and you already know that Seasite.com is the quickest way to search and source a cruise ship for your group event. You’ve entered your criteria and found a great selection of ships for your meeting or incentive program. Hmmm…each option looks better than the last – how do you choose? Wouldn’t it be helpful to see an “apples to apples” comparison of your selected ships and itineraries? Without having to enter all the ship data on a spreadsheet?

As we like to say around here, Seasite’s got your aft! Seasite.com’s “Compare Selected Cruises” feature instantly creates a side-by-side comparison chart with up to 5 choices – just one click and you’ll see which ship is the best fit for your event at sea.

This screenshot of 5 ship selections gives you an idea of what you’ll see. But that’s not the whole picture – in fact, it’s just a teaser. Your instant comparison chart also includes Planning Essentials such as:

  • Itinerary with map
  • Largest function room
  • Total number of function rooms
  • Capacity for pool deck receptions
  • Dining room capacities
  • Number of specialty restaurants
  • Guest to crew ratio
  • Breakdown of guest rooms (suites/balcony rooms/oceanview/interior)

…and much more!

Creating your chart is as easy as 1-2-3.

  1. Go to “Cruise Search” and enter your group-friendly search criteria
  2. Find your best options and click the “Compare” box in the upper right hand corner of each selection
  3. When you’ve chosen your ships (up to 5), click “Compare Selected Cruises” on the top or bottom of the page

And Voila! You own customized comparison chart. You can print it, save it for later, return to your search results – even submit an RFP.

Our goal is to make your life easier – one click at a time. To get started, go to Seasite.com Cruise Search.

How Recognition Eases Anxiety and Drives Business

Just found another great article dealing with employee engagement strategies from Incentive Magazine, posted on IncentiveMag.com. The article, “High Anxiety: How Recognition Eases Workplace Tension”, was written by Mike Ryan, senior VP of Marketing and Client Strategy at Madison Performance Group, an employee marketing firm in New York City.

In the article, Mr. Ryan presents solid support for employee recognition programs, based on these sobering statistics:

The Corporate Leadership Council reports that the average “job footprint”—what a worker is expected to do—has increased by 33 percent since the beginning of the recession. The Hay Group says that two-thirds of workers report they are putting in unpaid overtime. The reward for all this effort is frozen or reduced pay and shrinking perks.

Here is the reality, as reported by the Hay Group: 63 percent of workers say their employers do not appreciate the effort.

Read the entire article: High Anxiety: How Recognition Eases Workplace Tension – Incentive Magazine.

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Family First – Bringing kids along

Ever catch yourself thinking, “If I only had more time I’d­­­­­…” If your wish for more time was granted, what would you do?

With  longer hours at the office and technology blurring the boundaries between work and personal time, stress levels are soaring – while relationships and productivity suffer . According to Y Partnership, the Orlando-based marketing research company specializing in travel and leisure, today’s lifestyle is characterized by “time poverty”. Not surprisingly, the report goes on to say that if given more time, most people would spend it with family.

As companies look for ways to create happier, healthier workplaces with more engaged employees, the importance of supporting work-life balance is paramount.

Case in Point: Recently, Karlyn Lang, Landry & Kling’s Manager of Cruise Events, accompanied one of our clients on a  ship inspection of Royal Caribbean’s new ship – Oasis of the Seas.

Of course, our meeting planner loved the Oasis and all the amazing onboard features (what’s not to love?), but what really impressed her was the family-friendly nature of the ship. She was blown away by the scope of the children and teen programs (even babies and toddlers have programs!)  – and the fact that age-specific activities, venues, and meals are included with the cruise.

Why would a corporate meeting planner care about kids? She just happens to work for an insurance company that knows the value of work life balance – their incentive program is a family affair. Our meeting planner confided that during the last program, their hotel charged $75 per child, per day for the kids program. Wow – factor in the cost for meals, and that can really add up to some serious bucks!

Kids On Board

We love telling you about all the amazing ships out there and why they’re terrific, cost-saving venues for meetings; now we’d like to let you know how fabulous they are for family programs. So if you’re planning a sales incentive or employee recognition program, consider a cruise ship – and by all means, invite the kids!

Today’s ships offer expanded facilities, age-specific activities, and venues to please all your attendees – from Boomers to babies and everyone in between (including teens – the hardest group to impress). With shipboard meals, entertainment, sports and kids programs all included,  it’s a no-brainer – family cruises are easier to plan and far less costly than land-based programs.

Here are a few unique experiences just for kids at sea:

Disney ships feature more than 100 activities and programs designed for children, including Cinderella’s Royal Ball, deck parties with Disney character interactions, a private island with a family beach and just-for-teens area.

On Royal Caribbeans new Allure of the Seas, look for appearances by Shrek, Donkey, and other DreamWorks characters; plus parades, special character shows in the Studio B ice rink, and 3D animated movies.

Sponge Bob is just one of the Nickelodeon characters you’ll find sailing on Norwegian Epic, and even grown up kids will love the multi-use sports deck with full-size basketball court, batting cage, bungee trampoline, rock-climbing wall, rope adventure course and a 24-foot-tall enclosed “Spider Web” climbing cage.

Carnival fun ships offer hangouts for both teens and tweens (with Wii, dedicated DJ’s, soda bars), youth spa treatments and children’s fitness programs. For kids of all ages, Carnival WaterWorks parks feature sky-high slides, twisters and chutes.

Don’t forget the grown-ups….

Cruise lines are adding kid-free zones to their ships with relaxation and pampering areas – just for adults.

Find the perfect ship for your next multigenerational program at seasite.com.