Cruise Planners

This agency is a SCAM!!

....over-promising and under-delivering.......Lots of rah-rah during orientation in Ft. Lauderdale, with lots of powerpoint presentations by suppliers butt training, in terms of delivering tools for success, fell miserably short (big time during and after the event) with no level-stteing regarding lengthy sales cycle explanation involved in selling travel.

As part of your due diligence, I would suggest asking:

What is the franchisee retention rate after the 3 yea4r obligatory sign on? They ram through lots and lots of new franchises each year, but their owners seem to be rather stagnant. Hmmmm......?????

What is the mean and median revenue and income history for CP Agents for 1st, 2nd & 3rd year agents , based on the most current data,.

Don Luria, from CP, mentioned the following (when I was considering joining CP) we have an 80/20 principle here, where 20% of our agents generate 80% of our revenue. So, I had listened more closely ........think could have have myself a slot of grief!....Lesson learned!!!sd!

Steve LaPamte

I joined Cruise Planners 3 months ago and continue to be impressed on a daily basis with the level of support home office provides us. From the initial training, to the daily support, proprietary programs and industry partnerships, it really gives us a competitive advantage when selling travel experiences to our clients.

I've owned successful businesses before and have always had a personal passion for travel. This was the perfect "next chapter" when I sold my last company in 2014. I was looking for something where there was a solid infrastructure and marketing tools along with accessible support. I also hoped to make some new friends along the way within the franchise system. Cruise Planners has lived up to that from Day One. The tools, marketing programs, support, training and flexibility available in a "business in a box" format are really, really impressive. The networking among colleagues is invaluable, especially for a newbie who has at least 100 questions a week!

I can't wait to continue to build my business and reach some key milestones in the next year!

"I joined Cruise Planners in 2012 as a way to work from home and watch my son grow up. Since then, I've had so much success and support that allowed me to have a second child while taking care of my business.
Being at Cruise Planners and a full-time mom is no walk in the park, but it is definitely worth it.

The key is to focus on a plan, get organized, and find the right balance between professionalism and parenthood. Each day, I focus on the priorities of the moment while never feeling alone since my business development coach is always a phone call or an email away from me. At Cruise Planners Home Office, there is a whole office of business development coaches who are constantly available to give me support throughout the day, which makes me feel that even though I am in business for myself, I am not by myself.

To make my family a priority, I do not multitask when I am with family, so when I am working I am as productive as I can be to make the most use of that time. There are so many helpful tools available at Cruise Planners that free up my time to prioritize my family and run an efficient business. It is a lot of work, but it is the type of work that, if you manage your energy well, can create amazing memories to all those around you."

I have had my cruise planners franchise for almost two years and it has been a wonderful journey. It is great having a great host behind you that can help with training, issues and coaching to keep you being the best you can. Also, being affiliated with Cruise Planners and AMEX gives us access to groups, specials that would not be the case otherwise. I love the CRM and it makes everything easy! Also, CP is like a family and everyone helps everyone.

Back in 2011 I was looking for new opportunities, and a new direction for my professional life. After spending nearly 22 years in “Corporate America”, I was ready and excited about a change. I was fortunate to find Cruise Planners. I had done a lot of due diligence looking at a variety of different opportunities to own my own business. I had a love for travel, and a personal passion for Disney-based travel, and figured I could make something good for my family’s future with Cruise Planners. There was something extra special about the information that the company shared, but it really came to light when I spoke with numerous franchise owners, separate and away from the organization’s franchise sales team.

I purchased my franchise late in 2011 and dove in feet first, no looking back. Using the skills and traits I had used in my previous career positions, I have been able to successfully grow my business beyond what our initial expectations were for our first three years in business. We’re currently in our fourth year with Cruise Planners and it has truly been a wonderful experience. We are growing year over year, and I have personally been able to expand my business footprint with the addition of an associate on my team in 2013, and I’m currently in talks with another potential associate. Cruise Planners allows us lots of flexibility in how we operate our individual franchises, and definitely encourages us to “work smarter, not harder”, and having associates absolutely helps me to grow my business.

But it doesn’t stop there. The marketing support from Cruise Planners is phenomenal. Being able to get to know and interact with all levels of the Home Office team is fantastic, as well as very beneficial. There have been so many times when I can reach out and ask questions with no problem. But it’s also great to be able to serve others and mentor one another. I have enjoyed having personal relationships with many long-time franchisees who are also extremely willing to help; and in turn, I offer my time and guidance to newer franchisees, or any franchisee who might have a question that they might be struggling with.

Cruise Planners also offers each of us an amazing palette of technology options, which allow us to a) be mobile – we can work from anywhere in the world, and b) keep our primary focus where it really ought to be – fostering and building relationships with our clients, not worrying too much about paperwork or back-end issues. I am blessed to have so many great options at my fingertips, and can only imagine what other great innovations the CP tech team will dream up next.

I purchased my Cruise Planners franchise in Aug of 2013 and I only have positive things to say about the decision. From the Executive Leadership team, to the Home Office support, and the camaraderie with other franchise owners it has been a very positive (and profitable!!) experience. I came to Cruise Planners after a long career of working in both the airline industry and on board cruise ships. I thought Cruise Planners was mostly a cruise-based business, but I quickly learned it was so much more! Having the ability to sell cruise and land vacations has doubled my revenue options. And Cruise Planners has cultivated strong relationships with all the top suppliers in both the cruise and land vacation sectors of the business. Additionally, a large percentage of my client base is from the LGBT community and Cruise Planners is very engaged with their marketing and support of the LGBT community. The company provides very thorough initial training and the ongoing support is available 24/7 via Home Office support and e-learning modules, called Cruise Planners University. I could not be happier with my decision to purchase a Cruise Planners franchise and I plan on being a part of the CP family for years to come.

After retiring from the US Air Force I spent a full year researching various franchise opportunities. I have to admit, the thought of a travel franchise had never crossed my mind at the time I started researching even though I have spent my entire life traveling the world, and planning trips for myself and small groups of friends.

I purchased my Cruise Planners Franchise 20 months ago, and had formulated a 5 year plan to financial independence which I thought was ambitious. At the end of 12 months my business had shown such phenomenal growth that I began re-assess my 5-year goal, and submitted my notice to my then full-time employer.

The support and ongoing expansion of the home office team has been incredible over the past 20 months. I have a regional coach that I can reach out to personally when I have an issue or just need advice. The network of agents is phenomenal and really brings that military sense of "we're a family and we're all in this together to support on another" to life.

The IT infrastructure of the organization is really geared towards making your life as a home-based agent as easy as possible. They are constantly working to create newer and more customer-friendly technologies that appeal across the spectrum of the generations that love to travel.

My parting two cent? as with virtually any venture, you'll get out of a franchise what you put in to it. It's not an automatic formula for success, but Cruise Planners does their very best to set their franchisees up to be a success.

I feel like I might need to add a newer perspective to the rave reviews here so that new franchisees, or those thinking of getting in, can be a little smarter and go in with a better sense of reality. Yes, Cruise Planners does have an amazing amount of tools and resources. The people are positive, smart, and professional. However, there is so much information that it is overwhelming and there really isn't one person to help the new people coming onboard as each piece is handled by a different department and some is even outsourced. So, you'll need to allow a lot of time (regular Mon-Fri 8-5 time) to be on the computer and the phone getting set up. If you are trying to keep your job while you get set up, it will be difficult unless you can work evenings or weekends and work on your business during the day. You really do need to plan on being able to do without income for at least 6 months as it will probably take you at least that amount of time to get up and running and get any commissions coming in, and probably another 6 months for the commissions to be anything you can live off of, depending on the timing (I joined at a great time of year but the unexpected delays in getting all of my marketing materials is probably going to cost me the first big booking season). I wouldn't advise going to the training until you have all of your marketing tools in place as it will not be as meaningful. I still recommend the company but wish I'd have been better prepared. Hopefully, I'll be on here 5 years down the line talking about my tremendous success as well but you have to know that the first part is going to likely be really hard.

I have been with Cruise Planners for over 2 years now and I have enjoyed every moment of it. It was the best decision I have ever made. My wife and I love to travel, especially cruises. Other than planning our own personal travel, I do not have any sales or travel industry experience. I was in the computer industry prior to purchasing the Cruise Planners franchise. The initial week-long training provided by Home Office is invaluable. They give us everything we need to know to start our own Cruise Planners franchise, from how to organize the filing system in our home office to where to find our first customer. Technology is definitely first class and Home Office is constantly making improvements based on feedback from the franchisees. I can literally work from anywhere in the world as long as we have internet connection. We actually continued to conduct our business while in Europe on a river cruise and a Northern Europe Baltic cruise we were recently on.

Being an American Express Travel Representative, it definitely gave us a competitive advantage over other travel agencies, especially as a start-up. People immediately recognized the "blue box" and trust us as a reliable company.

I highly recommend Cruise Planners if you are looking into a good host agency. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

Ivan Lai, MCC
Master Cruise Counselor

I joined Cruise Planners just over 3 years ago and I love it! I had no prior travel experience but I have had prior experience with franchises and so purchasing a Cruise Planners franchise was an easy choice. They have provided me with all of the training, tools and continuous support needed for me to be successful. There is also an abundance of help and support from all of the other franchises. It really is one big family.
Cruise Planners has an amazing marketing and IT department with the best direct mailing pieces out there and our new Cruise Planners mobile phone app. It just keeps getting better!