Norwegian Cruise Line is launching a free series of live events for travel advisors entitled “Week of You.” The series – taking place on Dec. 7-11 – will feature virtual events “designed to inspire and support travel advisors as they prepare for the industry’s highly-anticipated comeback,” the cruise line stated.
“This is really one of the most meaningful initiatives we’ve ever done at NCL,” the Chief Sales Officer of Norwegian Cruise Line Katina Athanasiou said during a virtual press conference. “It’s a significant investment, both emotionally (and) from a resource perspective. But we never shy away from anything that’s hard when we know that it’s right. We really wanted to help be the best partner to our travel advisors and help our advisors be the best version of themselves to really help succeed as we move forward.”
The series will feature “13 different programming opportunities made up of a combination within three tracks.” The three tracks are education, lifestyle, and business partners.
The events will be attended by “A-list speakers” and Norwegian Cruise Line executives, Athanasiou said, where “thought-provoking conversations, engaging activities, fun initiatives, business educational sessions, and development content” will be held.
Among the announced speakers is author and purpose coach Jay Shetty, interior designer Bobby Berk, Facebook’s Head of Travel, Colleen Coulter, and businessman Peter Sheahan.
“We’re really designing it around helping our travel partners reset, refocus, and succeed moving into wave season,” she said.
All content will be saved and made available to watch on-demand. Alongside the events, there will be a giveaway of 20 seven-day cruises and a home office makeover with Bobby Berk.
Additionally, Athanasiou announced $300 value Cruise First certificates that guests can obtain from travel agents for the cost of $150. The coupons will be available for purchase in January and can be used on any cruise within a three-year period. Each guest can get no more than 10 such certificates, Athanasiou said.
“This is a brand new initiative that we started testing in November, and we’ve had some early success with new group opportunities, which is something we’re really going to talk a lot about during our business partner sessions and our Metro Meetings – about how Cruise First can really help from a new base loading perspective with respect to groups,” she explained.
Athanasiou said that the idea for Week of You was born out of their previous travel partner support program – Week of Thank You – and many recent conversations with travel partners.
“After talking honestly with many partners over the course of the last several months, it really became apparent that being a travel advisor in this current environment has taxed people like it never has before. This was really the driving force behind the evolution and creation of Week of You versus Week of Thank You,” she said.
