Caribbean Event Specialists

The first steps to any incentive program is to consider what you want the program to accomplish. Take a look at business goals and how they fit with the current market conditions. Keep in mind just how your objectives are affected by the overall business environment, world events, the economy, and your company's strengths and weaknesses. Carefully look at those of your competition, too.

Set a realistic budget and then stick to it. All inclusive Caribbean destinations are one great way to avoid over budget situations. With all inclusive packages, there are no surprises or cost overages. A Caribbean cruise is one great type of all inclusive venue.

Cruise meetings and events are one of the most popular Caribbean incentives these days. Cruise meetings can also provide cost savings of 25-40% versus land based events.

Incentive travel planners who work with corporate groups are faced with clients who just don't have a large budget to spend, these days. Smaller businesses are trying to cut out luxuries with the hope that no one will say anything, and larger companies-especially those who accepted bailout money-are trying to regain an image of competence and frugality. Incentive travel is a scary proposition for them both.

Enter the incentive cruise. These are often much more affordable choices for people who love to travel in general, and could be your answer to the problem of affordable incentive travel. Why? Because cruises are relaxing, cruise lines have expanded their ports of call, and a cruise is typically all inclusive. A cruise can save you as much as 40% compared to a land based hotel venue because almost everything is included. Meals, meeting rooms, A/V, coffee breaks, activities, entertainment and even room service are part of the all-inclusive cruise fare. You spend nothing more for linens, florals, lighting, labor or state/city taxes, which saves your client money and gives you time to devote to your business agenda and attendees.

You may also save yourself some headaches other than financial ones. If you have a small incentive travel group that is from a foreign culture, you might consider a cruise that will appeal to that culture. For instance, let's pretend Irish music and culture has become all the rage in Eastern Europe. You have been hired to find a cruise for a group of Eastern European business people. Your logical choice will include Ireland, and expand to the other British Isles if there is time just for a bonus.

Cruises can, indeed, be a port in this financial storm the world is in right now. Next time you are trying to find an affordable incentive travel program, take a few minutes and check the cruise lines. The best place to start is Seasite.com - The Online Cruise Meeting Marketplace

Seasite.com makes it easy to plan an all inclusive incentive cruise.

* One Site - All Cruise Brands
* Puts Cruise Sourcing on Par with Hotel Site Selection
* E-RFP Streamlines the Entire Process
* 24/7 Access to Global Cruise Opportunities for Groups
* Pricing is the Same as Buying Direct
* Impartial and Objective

If you are planning a business incentive travel package, make it easy for yourself and delight your attendees when you go to Seasite.com and start sourcing an incentive cruise package.

It's a well known fact that cruising for groups, as corporate incentives offers exceptional savings of up to 40% over land-based venues such as hotels and convention centers. According to a recent report in Corporate Meetings & Incentives magazine, 34% of their readers had booked a cruise for an incentive event and an astonishing 72% said they planned to book one - an unmistakable indication of where the industry is headed.

If you are planning a group cruise for your next incentive travel event, you may be considering whether chartering a ship would be a more appropriate option than booking reservations on a cruise containing unaffiliated passengers. It may or may not be, contingent on a number of issues.

To start with, it is significant to understand your alternatives. When chartering a cruise ship, you frequently can pick between group, half-ship and full-ship charter options. Full ship charters clearly allow for the most freedom, customization, exclusivity and prestige, while group-level charters will in all probability be most economical.

All of these alternatives has pros and cons; but, they each provide definite advantages for those event planners deciding if chartering a cruise ship is their top option.

In order for chartering a cruise ship for your next cruise meeting to be a good scheme, you will need to have a firm number of attendees, a good idea of your business meeting space requirements and the funds to make a significant financial commitment upfront, usually guaranteed by a letter of credit.

As soon as these things are in place, your next job is selecting the ideal cruise ship to fit your meeting needs. This will need to include appropriately-sized meeting spaces, overall costs that are within your planning budget, a suitable itinerary and an overall quality that suits the level of service and prestige required by your cruise meeting client.

1. Seasite.com is the first and only web portal for the cruise meetings and incentive market. Until now, there has been no single, online platform dedicated to serving the highly specialized cruise meetings market. Seasite's innovative technology opens up the untapped world of cruising for planners, connecting cruise lines and meeting professionals like never before. Cruise sourcing can now be as easy and efficient as planning hotel events, and equally reliable - thanks to the tried and tested experience of Seasite's founders, Landry & Kling, the meetings-at-sea experts.

2. One source delivers it all. The tedious tasks of phoning and searching multiple cruise web sites in vain are gone, as Seasite provides impartial access any day, any time, to 35 cruise brands (over 250 ships), and its meeting-friendly search criteria even allows users to search for charters of a specific size, plus three other specialty searches. A simple click compares ship choices along with maps, itineraries, ship profiles and essential meeting planning data.

3. Data not found elsewhere. Planner's Guides offer comprehensive ship data harvested only for Seasite - never before published - not even on individual cruise line web sites. Planners will find meeting space grids, function room capacities, outdoor function areas, group dining information, photo galleries, an inventory of guest rooms by category, AV equipment, communications technology and more.

4. High tech/high touch. Rich data and sophisticated search technology lets planners "loose" yet "in control," providing 24/7 answers and ship-sourcing tools so they can become more knowledgeable planners and educated cruise buyers. At the same time, Cruise Advisors, who are trained by Landry & Kling, offer the expertise, backup and support to source and deliver with confidence.

5. Search, sort and conquer. Seasite's powerful search capabilities allow planners to drill down and refine searches by cruise line, ship rating, size, capacity of largest function room, cruise style (floating resort, boutique ship, sail ship, river boat), by port or day of departure, destination, cruise length and much more.

6. Unique eRFP process. Streamlining and simplifying what can be an arduous process, Seasite offers the first group cruise RFP online, all supported by Cruise Advisors. One single RFP is sent to multiple cruise lines, generating electronic bottom-line quotes for a quick and accurate "apples to apples" comparison.

7. Cost cutting and value driven. Cruise meetings can provide cost savings of 25-40%, and Seasite helps make that a reality. No longer is sourcing and planning a meeting or incentive at sea labor intensive and intimidating for those unfamiliar with the process. With Seasite, everything you need to research the possibilities and create a successful program is a click away (with expert Cruise Advisors at your service when needed). Seasite.com finally puts cruise sourcing on par with hotels, so group travel buyers can easily compare price/value - their main focus in today's economy.

8. The ultimate source for Do It Yourselfers (DIY). An indispensible tool for savvy DIY planners as well as those looking to learn more about cruise meetings and incentives, the Knowledge Center is a repository of information and advice designed for all levels of expertise. It includes operational checklists and timelines, comparison of using a cruise verses a hotel, how to overcome obstacles and myths about business at sea, distance between airports and seaports, sample day-by-day agendas, cruise contract terminology, a cruise event feasibility quiz; case histories and much more. Planners no longer have to rely on others to spoon-feed them information and ideas. A wealth of data and resources, driven by a robust search engine, allows 24/7 research and planning anywhere, anytime.

9. Creativity and inspiration. Seasite's "Great Ideas" section stimulates individuality, creativity and customization. An invaluable source of ideas, planners will find recommended "Gems," (rare and hard to find, short cruise opportunities), a "Top 10" list of best ships and itineraries for groups and "Quick Picks" with cruise ideas based on group size. Additionally, the all important aspect of on-board dining is transformed from challenging to exciting as Seasite provides the facts about dining facilities, seating capacities and exclusive use of specialty restaurants.

10. It's free. There's no cost or membership fee to use Seasite.com and pricing is the same as buying direct.

For more information on Seasite.com, A Landry & Kling Company, visit www.seasite.com or call 888- 713-1371.

While organizing a meeting at sea for your next corporate travel destination, you may like to take into consideration the prospect of including a stop on a private island as part of your tour. Some cruise lines now offer stops to private islands, especially in the Caribbean, as a portion of their cruise itinerary. Although the cost of food, beverages, water sports equipment and other items will nearly always cost more on a private island than they would at a standard stop for an onshore excursion while in port, there are many good advantages to selecting cruise lines that include destinations at private islands.

Private islands may occasionally be populated with other vacationers, but they are not packed with con artists or pickpockets, as are some public beaches, which engenders a more calm environment for your participants. Security is always there to assure that visitors will have no fears about being mugged or having their belongings disappear if they turn their backs, and your participants can rest assured that the beaches will be immaculately clean and always pristine. Banana boat rides, scuba diving, snorkeling, massage and spa services, beverage bars and caf%uFFFDs are common features on private islands, making them an great selection for day-long beach events, and possibly even organized events, depending on what type of package you can negotiate with the cruise company.

A cruise meeting is one of the top ideas if you really want to energize employees. Your meeting attendees will never forget the excitement of going to several alluring destinations and just unpacking one time. Moreover to increasing attendance, incentives like an all inclusive incentive cruise will be much easier on the incentive travel budget, too.

Cruise events can save up to 40 percent over a land-based hotel venue, and offer spectacular onboard facilities and dining choices. Also, cruise ships are now being designed with conferences in mind, e.G. Dedicated event facilities, state-of-the-art technology, flexible public spaces and roomy theaters that can often accommodate as many as 1,600 people.
With most cruise lines, convention space and A/V equipment are complimentary, and the dedicated meeting facilities offer groups more privacy and technology.

Venues like a cruise ship's fabulous show lounges, comedy clubs, and culinary centers can stimulate creative thinking and team building. And there is no shortage of fun activities and challenging sports facilities for your incentive group to take part in between meetings, offering tons of motivational appeal (and bragging rights) for event participants of every age.

No matter if you are a corporate business meeting and event planner, a wedding planner or a corporate travel planner, a detailed knowledge of group cruise packages and how they can help you and your clients is essential to successfully incorporating cruise ship venues and destinations into your planning services. It is one thing to have experience with sourcing cruises for executive retreats or incentive travel packages, but understanding the convenience and cost savings of taking full advantage of group cruise packages opens the door to considerable budgetary benefits, as well as developing alternatives for the types of events you may think about hosting on a cruise ship. From weddings with fewer than 10 guests to conferences at sea with a entire ship charter, meeting, event and incentive travel planners will find that cruise ships can be a cost-effective option that offers substantial advantages and enhancements when compared to land-based events.

Opting for a group cruise event can result in up to 40 percent cost savings over selecting a land-based venue and provides the added advantage of being perceived as a luxury option, even while costing far less than a typical luxury resort on land. Beyond the considerable cost savings to be enjoyed with group cruise deals, planners will also find that organizing meetings at sea can be far easier than making arrangements for their land-based counterparts. While events on land require planners to organize most components individually, including venue, catering, decor, entertainment and equipment, planning events on cruise ships is much simpler and more convenient. Cruise lines are well-versed in hosting events on-board and are well-equipped to provide everything you need for a successful event. From themed decor to audio-visual equipment, cruise ships already have each one of the components you require, as well as built-in dining and entertainment options at no additional charge.

After you have determined that group cruise packages are well-suited for your event and travel planning needs, the next step is determining the tools you need to make group cruise sourcing easy and convenient. It is essential that you are able to without problems attain the information you need, such as which cruise lines are a good fit for groups, the meeting facilities, accommodations and other pertinent ship data for particular cruise ships, and which cruise lines have options for the dates and destinations you require. It is also extremely advantageous to be able to compare cruise lines and ships side by side and to have the ability to create a single RFP that can be sent to each potential provider. These tools will make your group cruise planning even easier and will assist you in finding the best group cruise deals available.

This is why so many corporate travel and event planners have bookmarked Seasite.Com and regularly use the valuable group cruise planning tools available at no charge. Using these planning tools and booking group cruise deals through Seasite.Com allows planners to experience the same cost savings as they would when booking direct, with the added benefits of a comprehensive Knowledge Center and an abundance of information and planning tips to enhance their cruise sourcing experience.

Taking advantage of group cruise deals for your incentive travel or corporate event needs is an excellent way to stay within your travel budget, while providing participants with a rewarding, luxury travel experience and a topnotch meeting or event.