Cruises Supply a Fresh Tackle Conferences
Planners who’ve by no means used a cruise ship for a meeting may be stunned to learn that negotiation of the assorted event elements is actually more streamlined than for a land-based meeting.
According to Cindy D’Aoust, acting CEO of Cruise Lines Worldwide Association (CLIA) and former chief operating officer of Assembly Professionals Worldwide (MPI), “Planners have a lot to work with on a ship, yet they don’t must build their event from scratch as they need to do for land-based meetings.”
Connie Vo, cruise manager for Northwest Seminars based in Pasco, Washington, conducts 25 medical meetings every year, starting from 20 to 200 attendees and friends, across several cruise lines. She gives a substitute for negotiating for everything and having to build out estimated price for every line item.
“It’s simpler to get value certainty on cruises because they work on a value-per-cabin basis.” Vo says. “And it’s typically more cost effective because you’re not paying additional for event space, audiovisual, leisure or meals.”
Some eating places on board may require an upcharge, though, while an optional surcharge would cover unlimited beverage consumption by attendees and their guests. For occasions in which Vo chooses not to pay that surcharge, she negotiates at the least one free cocktail party for her groups.
While meeting area is indeed complimentary, business conference many ship-primarily based occasions are too giant to put all of their sessions within the dedicated assembly space on board. Then again, given the number of restaurants and lounges, as well as leisure venues found on most vessels, planners of larger events want to use only a bit of creativity as they associate with a cruise line’s group-gross sales coordinator to make enterprise sessions work.
“We are starting to get more requests from associations for his or her annual conferences and they require concurrent breakouts,” Royal Caribbean’s Cassidy says. “We don’t have one large ballroom that may escape to 20 completely different rooms. But when a planner goes with the circulation of a ship’s layout, there are numerous alternatives to use eating and lounge areas during off-peak hours, as well as large theaters which are superbly decorated and have skilled manufacturing quality.”
D’Aoust points out meals outlets may be reworked into nice meeting spaces because the seating is comfortable and versatile, and plenty of rooms have water views to create interesting experiences. “And the studies that address what make conferences successful often point out flexible formats that encourage interactivity, and ships can do that.”
Improved Connectivity
The quality of Internet connectivity on cruise ships has undoubtedly improved. Royal Caribbean’s most robust connectivity product on selected ships, called VOOM, prices $15 per attendee per day. “We’ve got land-speed connectivity through satellite broadband,” Cassidy says
Norwegian’s “capabilities have catapulted over the past few years, to the point that we have now hosted conferences that simultaneously linked to land-primarily based occasions,” Athanasiou says.
Carnival’s advancements in Internet and Wi-Fi capabilities have introduced more velocity, new social-media packages starting at $5 per individual per day, and the flexibility to host purposes such as Skype and group chat.
Take pleasure in Ports of Call
The allure of memorable shared experiences when attendees partake in actions at a ship’s scheduled ports could be a real highlight for groups. For instance, the flexibility to see a number of European cities throughout a Mediterranean cruise offers unforgettable recollections and bang for the buck.
Some cruise lines even have their very own private tropical locations where they provide a full day of beach actions, water sports and barbecue for passengers. In actual fact, meeting teams can cordon off an area and host an exclusive event there, too.