The three-day World leading Cruise Lines Partnership Summit 2016 onboard Carnival Spirit closed yesterday morning in ‘Spooktacular’ fashion at dawn in Sydney Harbour with a narly posse of aqua witches greeting the superliner as she slipped into the city on the eve of Halloween.
Sporting black hats, flowing capes and flying brooms, the Paragliding, water-skiing and wakeboarding witches swooped on the ship by sea and by air, creating a mind blowing sight for the 300 Travel Agents, partners and local and international World Leading Cruise Line leaders and staff attending the Summit as well as their fellow 2400 cruising punters onboard.
One word. Epic.
This year’s Partnership Summit theme was ‘Seas the opportunity’ with the collective objective of building solid partnerships together to grow the cruise market the key focus.
And KarryOn was onboard to sample all the fun and get the lowdown on just where World Leading Cruise Lines are headed next.
The World Leading Cruise Line Leaders
One of the panels at The Summit
During the three days at sea, delegates heard updates in the Business sessions from World Leading Cruise Line brands Carnival, Princess Cruises, P&O Australia, Cunard, Seabourn, Fathom and Holland America Line as well as more in depth panel discussions on key cruising trends and innovation from the brand’ leaders.
Delegates also had to create a two-minute fun video in small groups about one of the brands, with each video being screened for all to see and the winning five videos being showcased at a special ‘Oscar’ styled event as part of the closing session at sea on Saturday. The overall winning group each received an IPad as a prize for their creative talents.
Lights, Camera, Action!
Not surprisingly though and in true cruise fun fashion, it was the myriad of fun and immersive entertainment throughout the three days cruising up and down the east coast on the Spirit that stole the show to put the biggest smiles on everyone’s dials.
The Sail Away party out of Sydney Harbour on Thursday afternoon got everyone in the mood to cruise whilst the endorphin charging Friday morning bootcamp hosted by Carnival VP Jennifer Vandekreeke up on the sun deck fired many of us early risers up (me included) for what lay ahead at The Summit.
Jennifer Vandekreeke (VP Carnival Australia) and her uber fit sidekick got us all in a sweat
Emcee Larry Emdur kept the gags flowing whilst the ‘Lip Sync Battles’ between the teams from Holland America (Aka Blues Brothers) vs P&O Australia (Backstreet Boys) and Princess Cruises (Pharrel Williams) vs Carnival (Spice Girls Medley) brought the house down with some serious ‘whop whoop’ moments and a lot of laughter.
The Backstreet Boys were back to win Round one (Aka P&O Australia)
The Blues Brothers (Aka Seabourn)
Whilst Pharrell and Princess Cruises came close…
It was Carnival Cruises who took the Lip Sync gong in round two
The Halloween ‘Spooktacular’ dinner was a ‘nicemare at sea’ of the highest order with most delegates going above and beyond with their costumes to bring on a massively ‘ghoulish’ night in the most devilish of ways.
From Donald and Ivana Trump lookalikes to Beetlejuice, blooded doctors and nurses, white walkers, devils and the obligatory Scream mask wearers that always seem to unnerve everyone, the Empire Restaurant was a sight to behold when the staff dressed as Zombies performed Michael Jacksons ‘Thriller’ en-masse amongst the tables to euphoric applause.
Familiar and not so familiar faces everywhere
Sandy Olsen, VP, Corporate Affairs & who’s that joker next to her?
Beyond all the big stuff though, it was just as much about the little moments and details that helped bring the Summit sense of belonging to life.
The Red Frog bar went off every night with an incredible band that also featured guest star appearances from helloworld Helensvale Plaza on The Gold Coast on drums and even Queen Carnival herself, Carnival VP Jennifer Vandekreeke unforgettably blasting out a variety of songs that had the crowd in raptures on the dancefloor.
All of the World Leading Cruise Line team facilitated an amazing show and as such the Summit buzz and positive vibe was everywhere you went on the ship. A testament to the industry it represents that prides itself on the core values of entertainment, connection and relaxation.
The WLCL team. Legends.
Come Sunday morning when the ship docked back into Sydney I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that I would have been quite happy to sail right back out again and enjoy some more relaxation.
Executive Chairman, Carnival Australia Ann Sherry who unfortunately couldn’t be at The Summit this year said in her opening video address;
“We want to ensure we make our partnership tangible in every way so that we can match the right customer for the right ship and itinerary. Because I can see 2 million passengers just over the horizon”.
A stronger partnership lays ahead
On the basis of the last three days at The Summit, that partnership will have only been strengthened further with agents and partners disembarking the Carnival Spirit as loyal advocates well and truly onboard to the goal of reaching that new horizon.
