Meetings at Sea: The Wave of the Future

By ALLAN LYNCH

It’s not often that the president of a major manufacturer uses the word“fabulous,” but that’s how Wayne“Giff” Swayne described his company’s product launch. When Swayne, president of Baltimore-based rescue equipment manufacturer Holmatro Inc., was looking for a way to fire up his staff prior to the launch, he turned to the Disney Cruise Line.

“Our product had been in develop-ment for five years, and we wanted to do something beyond our normal meet-in-a-ballroom-at-an-airport-hotel,” Swayne said. “We’ve done a bunch of those and they’re fine, but we were looking for something spectacular.”

Holmatro’s product launch took place on the main stage of the Disney Wonder before an audience of 200 dealers.

“That was some of the best money I have ever spent,” he said. “It has indeed been a very, very successful launch. Months later I still get e-mails saying how great [the event] was.”

Growth in Cruising

Holmatro is part of a growing number of companies setting sail for their business meetings and incentives. Cruise lines are reporting double-digit growth in the meetings market. The Yachts of Seabourn, which offers 200-passenger mega yachts,which offers 200-passenger mega yachts, doubled its full-ship charters between 2003 and 2004 and expects a 33 percent increase in charters for 2005. Radisson Seven Seas Cruises reports a 20 percent increase in 2005 compared to 2004. And Silversea Cruises reports a 28 percent increase each year since 2001.

The growth in the corporate market may simply be a reflection of individual travel trends. The Cruise Lines International Association, which represents 98 percent of the North American cruise lines, reports the North American market is up 12.9 percent from 2004. With cruise lines running at 104 percent occupancy, the industry is pumping out ships to keep up with demand 68 new ships were launched in the past five years, and 20 more are scheduled to launch by 2008.

Cruise Appeal

So, what’s the draw for cruise meetings? Top of the list is all-inclusive pricing. Carol Krugman, CMP, CMM, president and CEO of St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Krugman Group International, raves about the cost savings.

“If you’re planning a four-day land-based program, you’re going to be taking people off site at least two of those nights,” said Krugman, a member of the MPI Tampa Bay Area Chapter. “That runs into the expense of hauling people back and forth. It gets much less complicated when you put people on a cruise ship because everything is there. Also, from a safety and security perspective, you’ve got everyone in one place it’s a controlled environment.”

Cruise lines are able to offer very competitive pricing on accommodations, meals and drinks, which, when you factor in the availability gratis of live entertainment, full audiovisual systems and staging, makes land-based resorts look like budget busters. The one caveat, says George Gehl, president of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.-based Contacts Unlimited Inc., is single supplements. Cruise lines often charge 150 percent to 200 percent for single (rather than double) room occupancy in order to manage inventory and revenue.

Supplements aside, the attraction for planners is the ease of booking. Lisa Derby, fleet and travel administrator for Rockland, Mass.-based biotech company Serono Inc., organized her company’s first cruise incentive in the Mediterranean in 2004 aboard one of SeaDream Yacht Club’s vessels for 40 winners and guests.

“This cruise was all-inclusive, so peoplehad a great sense of leaving their wallets at home,” she said. “They came to enjoy a trip of a lifetime, visiting places they wouldn’t otherwise see. The reviews we got werefantastic.”

So fantastic, in fact, that Serono has booked Radisson Seven Seas for a Baltic cruise in 2006.

Brooke Sommers, CMP, manager of events and field communication for Louisville, Colo.-based StorageTek, likes having the flexibility of buying out asmaller cruise ship.

“The benefit of the buyout is that the ship’s entire staff is working for you and your customers,” said Sommers, a member of the MPI Rocky Mountain Chapter. “Another thing that is special about ships: Your CEO or top salespeople get to have dinner with the captain. There are some special things about being on a ship, and the entertainment is great. You don’t have to pay for all the entertainment that you would bring into a hotel.”

Cruising Challenges

Meeting at sea, however, is not always smooth sailing. Krugman is quick to remind planners that a space-intensive meeting one that requires a lot of breakout space is better off staying on dry land if the group can’t buy out the whole ship.

“If you’re going to have people in the meeting room all day, then why would you go on a cruise ship? You need a meeting where you can be flexible in your timing and programming,” she said.

Krugman looks for “sea days” days when the ship makes no port calls to schedule meeting time. However, if a client is determined to take an intensive meeting to sea, one option is to book a “repositioning cruise.” That’s when ships move from one region to another, such as when Holland America moves ships from its summer base in Vancouver to San Diego for the winter. These typically include three to four days at sea with no port calls.

Cruise duration is perhaps one of planners’ greater challenges. The need for shorter times away from the office almost guarantees all North American groups flock to the Caribbean, where there are more options. Bill Boyd, CMP, CMM, CITE, president and CEO of Sunbelt Motivation & Travel Inc. in Irving, Texas, says the cruise industry needs more five-day, four-night itineraries.

“That’s the ideal length of time for a domestic incentive program, and I think they’re missing part of the market by not offering more product for that time interval,” said Boyd, a member of the MPI Dallas/Fort Worth Chapter and a past MPI chairman.

The good news, Gehl says, is that Norwegian investors have heard the call, and in 2007 they plan to launch the 1,200-passenger Vision Quest, a purpose-built cruise liner for mid-sized meetings. Sailing short routes from a U.S. East Coast home port, Vision Quest will have 35,000 square feet of meeting space.

Planners advise caution when cruise representatives talk about being “creative” with space. Creativity could mean your meeting is in a noisy or poorly laid out lounge or dining room. If you’re relying on these spaces, those sea-day meetings can be problematic, Gehl says.

“If you’re using show lounges and restaurants on the vessels, there can be a conflict between the meeting group and the general passengers for that space. Even though you might be able to use the theater, the times are very restricted because the line will have bingo and shore excursion lectures scheduled for [the same room].”

Overcoming Myths

Clients who have cruised once tend to become converts, with many doing every-other-year cruise programs. However, cruises can be a tough sell for clients with only land-based experiences.

European clients suffer from a perception problem, says Eric Rozenberg, CMP, CMM, cofounder and managing director of Ince & Tive in Brussels, Belgium . There is an interest in cruising, but some Europeans still have the image of TV’s The Love Boat, and they are expecting huge ships. Also, boat sizes in Europe tend to be smaller than those available in North America, so if you don’t charter the full ship, groups can find it space-prohibitive, says Rozenberg, a member of the MPI Belgium Chapter.

North American clients are concerned about safety, seasickness and “that” virus.

Christine Fischer, communications director for the International Council of Cruise Lines, hears this often.

“The stomach flu, which also goes by the less-familiar name ‘norovirus,’ is the second-most prevalent illness in the United States (after the common cold),” she said. “You hear about norovirus on cruise ships because they are the only ones required, through a voluntary program, to report each and every case of gastrointestinal illness to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC estimates 23 million Americans or one in every 12 people get norovirus every year. In 2004, approximately 2,800 people on cruise ships or one in every 3,000 passengers had norovirus.”

Fischer’s advice for staying healthy at sea: wash your hands.

Today’s Trends

So what are some current cruise meeting trends? Depending on size, incentives are still in the forefront of exotic adventure. Krugman has taken groups to destinations such as Tahiti and Alaska, and next year she’s taking 150 radiologists up the Amazon River for an educational meeting on a new, 72-cabin luxury river cruiser. Rozenberg’s clients are cruising the Mediter- ranean, Baltic and Croatian coasts. Interest in Alaska is strong, and there is growing interest in the Greek Isles. On the meetings side, the Caribbean is hot. The main draws are the availability of shorter cruises and quick travel time.

 “We’re seeing more people considering cruising now that the inventory is there,” Krugman said. “If you go back 10 years, there really weren’t that many ships that had meeting facilities. The cruise industry really did not discover meetings until about six years ago.”

Cruise lines recognized the value of incentives, but it wasn’t until lines such as Celebrity actually built ships with dedicated meeting space that the industry learned [meetings are a] good market for them, Krugman says.

From an if-you-build-it-they-will-come approach, cruise lines have also discovered the interest in cruise meetings and ensured all new ships are built with dedicated meeting space. The biggest is Cunard’s Queen Mary 2, launched in 2004 and featuring 10,000 square feet of meeting facilities and the world’s only floating planetarium which doubles as a 500-seat auditorium. Carnival’s 21 “Fun Ships” have a variety of meeting rooms capable of holding from 55 to 1,400 people.

Interesting Itineraries

While planning a cruise meeting or incentive requires long-range planning (forget three-month lead times, you need at least a year), groups can sometimes find flexibility in the posted schedules. When Sommers’ company held its first Mediterranean cruise, she was able to split the itinerary with another company. Instead of her group booking an entire 10-day cruise, one company’s group was on the cruise for five days, followed by the other group.

For a truly tailored experience, smaller cruise lines such as SeaDream Yacht Club will customize a client’s itinerary.

“If you’re chartering well in advance, we could build our itinerary around you,” said Lucille DePerro, the cruise line’s business development director and a member of the MPI New Jersey Chapter. “I had a client who wanted to go to Istanbul, Turkey , and we customized an itinerary around the client’s needs.”

While travel pages are awash in tales of the luxurious amenities offered on cruise ships, cruise meetings and incentives are, ultimately, about the bottom line. Swayne found condensing the meeting component to three-hour morning sessions and allowing playtime worked really well.

“Our folks were fresher for meetings, and the overall level of excitement about where they were and the venue brought an amazing amount of energy to the launch,” he said. TMP

ALLAN LYNCH is a freelance writer based in New Minas, Nova Scotia.

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Sidebar: A World of Choice

Think the world of floating meetings is all mega-ships? Think again. A staggering array of cruise options is available to small to mid-sized groups when it comes to full buyouts.

Tall ships, such as the 245-foot SV Caledonia which begins sailing Atlantic Canada in 2006 and the 250-foot clipper Stad Amsterdam operating in the Caribbean and Mediterranean , are ideal for team building.

Adventure-seeking groups can explore exotic locales such as the Arctic Circle, Greenland and Antarctica aboard the converted icebreaker M/V Polar Star, operated by Halifax, Nova Scotia-based Polar Star Expeditions.

Mega yachts, such as those operated by SeaDream Yacht Club or The Yachts of Seabourn, let groups experience the lifestyles of the rich and famous including fabulous itineraries. And riverboat cruises throughout Europe, South America and Africa including the Rhine, Danube, Nile and Amazon rivers provide groups with luxury, exclusivity and intimate introductions to destinations that larger cruise ships bypass.

Then there is the cache of the famous. Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis’ former yacht, the renamed Christina O, has entertained the rich and famous, including Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco, Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, John Paul Getty and former British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill. Relaunched in 2001 after a three-year, $50 million renovation, the 325-foot Christina O available for charter by groups of 36 has its own helipad and a dance floor that covers the pool.

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Sidebar: Key Questions to Ask Before You Book

Thinking of organizing a cruise meeting? While an attractive alternative to land-based meetings, cruises aren’t for every group. Here’s what planners should ask/consider before committing to a meeting at sea.

 Hattie Hill, CMM, CEO of Hattie Hill Enterprises Inc. in Dallas , organizes 20- to 50-person high-end corporate training and team building sessions on private yachts. She always asks, “What’s the goal that I’d like to accomplish on this trip?” And then, “Does this ship, like any other facility, help me accomplish that goal?”

Carol Krugman, CMP, CMM, president and CEO of Krugman Group International in St. Petersburg, Fla. , offers the following advice: “Book early, so if there are other groups, your group has first option on meeting space and dinner seating.”

Brooke Sommers, CMP, manager of events and field communication for Louisville, Colo.-based StorageTek, asks, “How do I get items on the ship?” “Are there tariffs or do you have to send it through a broker?” and “Will the ship have storage space?”

Evan Eggers, president of online cruise specialist 02Cruise.com, recommends booking onshore events on the private islands many cruise lines own. “It’s much better to negotiate an onshore event on a private island than one of the ports of call, where everything will need to be hired out.”

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Sidebar: Accessibility at Sea

Handicapped accessibility on cruise lines has been in the news recently. Evan Eggers, president of online cruise specialist 02Cruise.com, says the newer the ship, the better off groups are.

“Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to cruise vessels,” he said. “Trying to be good corporate citizens, the cruise lines have for a number of years been voluntarily making their ships as ADA compliant as possible.”

Eggers says that most groups will find that most cruise liners have suitable staterooms that are handicapped accessible. But he warns that planners should  be aware that there are ports of call where tendering (taking a boat ashore from a ship at anchor) is necessary, and that limits accessibility.

“It should not be something to stop someone from taking a cruise, but it should be something to factor in when choosing a ship and an itinerary,” Eggers said.