Connections
Planner + Supplier + Nonprofit
Who:
Steve Bloss Worldwide Travel & Cruise Associates Inc.
Nestor Rivera, Pinnacle Events
Event:
American Cancer Society Charity Cruise
Puerto Rico, departure
March 19-23
A planner with a large U.S. insurance company signed contracts for a Caribbean business cruise last January, but just three weeks before the March 19 departure, her company needed to cancel the event.
With the crumbling global economy as a backdrop, agents at the company needed to be at home selling. So the management team replaced the cruise with regional office visits where senior leaders conducted workshops and imparted strategic business plans. It wasn’t ideal, and the company’s original investment in the cruise was lost.
“Our senior leaders wanted to find a way for someone to use the ship—and that idea really resonated with me,” said the company’s senior director of meeting and event management (who requested to remain anonymous). She immediately contacted Steve Bloss of Worldwide Travel & Cruise Associates Inc., who had helped organize the original event. The two had only a weekend to find a new group and program for the now-empty Silver Cloud.
Bloss had an idea of how to reshape the cruise, but he didn't have any ideas as to whom he should offer it to. A friend in Puerto Rico had the answer. Bloss called longtime colleague Nestor “Pancho” Rivera of Pinnacle Events, part of a network of connections that would eventually present more than US$150,000 and a free cruise to the American Cancer Society.
Rivera was on a business trip in Barcelona when he received Bloss’ call late on a Friday, but he quickly placed several midnight calls to colleagues across the pond. He asked Jose Quinones of Avon Puerto Rico for advice on an appropriate charity (American Cancer). He called John Bowen of Suzuki del Caribe and Mario Davila of Toyota de Puerto Rico, both of whom had recently put incentive plans on hold; would they be interested in participating in the cruise? He asked his graphic artist Felix Agosto to create a promo over the weekend.
On Saturday, Rivera left a message for his colleague Zaily Rodriguez of Modern Travel—she would be his point person at the American Cancer Society gala, but she was in Argentina at the time (she checked in with an affirmative on Monday morning). By Tuesday, Suzuki and Toyota were in.
The end scheme was brilliant: Sell off the Silver Cloud’s empty rooms to the two car companies and attendees at the American Cancer Society gala (amongst others)—and let the nonprofit keep all the proceeds.
“It’s amazing in our industry how people can network and make something happen,” Bloss said, reflecting on that frenzied weekend of work. “We all came together over one weekend and made something truly magical happen.”
Coordinating the effort wasn’t as easy as it sounds. Lawyers for both the insurance company and the American Cancer Society worked at an astounding pace to ensure the transfer of all liabilities and contracts. The former donated the rights to its cruise marketing materials. Bloss worked with Silversea to change the itinerary to fit the new group. The cruise line changed departure from Barbados to Puerto Rico due to airlift issues, and some of the cruise’s original destinations were changed to better fit the plans of the American Cancer Society group.
Meanwhile, cruise bidders were preparing to sail in less than two weeks.
Rivera credits a vibrant industry network with the success of the charity event, which not only raised money for the American Cancer Society, but also guaranteed work for the ship’s captain and crew as well as vendors, restaurateurs and suppliers in Saint Barthélemy, Antiqua and Virgin Gorda.
“The industry is getting beaten up so badly in the press, but there are great companies out there doing great things,” Bloss said. “We could have scrapped the whole thing and watched millions go down the toilet, and the odds were certainly against us. But a lot of people worked really hard to make this happen, and we took 300 people to local economies throughout the Caribbean that really needed support, and we raised $150,000 for a great charity.”
—JESSIE STATES