cruise3sixty Wrap-up: Day Three

Another busy day at cruise3sixty has come to a close.

Things started bright and early this morning with some educational seminars, including one on “Successful Qualifying” or how to get the information you need from a customer to make sure they get the right vacation for their needs.

We were also treated to a command performance by Kathleen Passanisi. After speaking yesterday at the General Session in front of over 2,000 people, today’s seminar was much more intimate but just as funny and insightful.

After her presentation, we were off to General Session 2. This lunch-time program featured several speakers and panels.

The first panel was a discussion about growing your customer base, featuring the following industry executives:

Joni Rein – Carnival Cruise Line
Dondra Ritzenthaler – Celebrity Cruises
Eva Jenner – Holland America Line & Seabourn
Ken Muskat – MSC Cruises
Nathan Hickman – Norwegian Cruise Line
Vicki Freed – Royal Caribbean International

The second panel was a discussion of the booming river cruise market, featuring a panel of experts including:

Kristen Karst – AmaWaterways
Susan Schultz – American Cruise Lines
Patrick Clark – Avalon Waterways
Cindy Christen – CroisiEurope
Chris Greco – Tauck River Cruising
Nancy Logan – Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection

After lunch, it was time for day number one of the Trade Show, featuring booths for all 28 member cruise lines and hundreds of other travel companies and suppliers. We shot some interesting and funny videos on the trade show floor – look for those on our PCT-TV page soon!

After the trade show, we spent the remainder of the afternoon with the Alaska tourism folks discussing various vacation options in that beautiful state. Alaska is a bucket-list destination for most people and after this session we have even more ways for you to enjoy this incredible destination on both land and sea (in the same vacation!)

The day was capped off with one of the highlights of the entire conference – the Hall of Fame dinner. As the newest members of the CLIA Hall of Fame were honored, we also enjoyed some wonderful cruise-style entertainment, including:

Directly from the Quantum of the Seas, Royal Caribbean brought us DSB: An American Journey, a Journey tribute band. They were amazing in their four-song set that included “Wheel in the Sky,” “Separate Ways” and of course “Don’t Stop Believin’.”

Up next was entertainment from Celebrity Cruises, featuring the British singing sensations Tenors of Rock, all former stage singers who banded together to sing their style of rock music. They sang everything from Guns ‘n Roses to Whitesnake, with a little “The Phantom of the Opera” thrown in for good measure.

After inducting this year’s Hall of Fame class, we were invited to dance the night away as Norwegian Cruise Line brought us their GLOW party directly from the Norwegian Getaway, currently sailing from Miami.

That closes it out for day three. We’re back at it tomorrow morning at 8am and will of course have updates throughout the day.

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