Corporate Travel Destinations

As a single stop on a corporate cruise or a standalone destination for your next corporate meeting, conference or event, San Francisco has a wide variety of offerings and is sure to delight your participants. Most famous for the Golden Gate Bridge, the island of Alcatraz and cable cars, some of San Francisco’s other popular attractions include Fisherman’s Wharf, Chinatown, Pier 39, Golden Gate Park, the Cable Car Museum, Ghirardelli Square, Mission Delores and the Historic Ships Pier. Visitors will also enjoy world-class cuisine and shopping, as well as a wide variety of productions housed in historic theaters.

Each of San Francisco’s neighborhoods has distinctive characteristics, such as Lombard Street that zigzags down a steep hill in the Russian Hill neighborhood, the lively nightlife and rainbow flags in The Castro, and steep staircases leading to amazing views in the Telegraph Hill neighborhood. Affordable tours are available and can be arranged with group discounts as part of your event itinerary, and an excellent public transportation system makes getting around this diverse city a breeze.

There are three major airports and a cruise terminal servicing the San Francisco area, offering expanded options for transportation, and corporate event and travel planners can choose from historic hotels or major chains when selecting a venue and accommodations for attendees.

The island of Aruba is part of the Dutch Antilles located in the Caribbean just north of Venezuela. Every year, tourists are drawn to its sun-soaked shores to enjoy relaxing beachside vacations filled with water sports, long walks on sandy beaches, sipping cocktails under a beach umbrella and SCUBA diving in the crystal clear waters of the nearby coral reef off of De Palm Island. A cruise terminal and international airport are located on the island, allowing corporate travel planners and event planners to include this Caribbean paradise as part of a group cruise, or as a single corporate travel destination. The Reina Beatrix Airport (AUA) is just 2.5 miles from Oranjestad, which is also the home to the main cruise port, which is located just a short five-minute walk from the city center.

The main cities on the island are San Nicolas and Oranjestad, each of which offers a variety of meeting and event venues, with two of the most popular resort hotels on the island being the Aruba Gold Coast and the Occidental Grand Aruba. Popular attractions and activities available on the island include water sports, horseback riding, biking, bird watching at the Bubali Bird Sanctuary, the weekly Bonbini Festival at the Aruba Historical Museum and an 18-hole championship golf course.

Whether you are planning a group cruise, incentive travel package or corporate event, you simply cannot go wrong with Aruba.

There is a misconception among some segments of the corporate meeting and incentive travel industry that cruises are an extravagantly expensive option for corporate meetings and travel. On the contrary, opting to plan your next corporate meeting onboard a cruise ship can be quite cost-effective and can result in significant cost savings when compared to corporate meeting destinations that are land-based. This is particularly true when travel and event planners take advantage of enticing packages available when planning meetings with multiple attendees. The cost savings can be even greater if most of the attendees live near a port or cruise terminal, avoiding the need for air travel.

The idea of attending a corporate meeting at sea event is also much more exciting and appealing to attendees, which results in them actually looking forward to the trip, rather than dreading yet another event where they spend hours locked in a boring meeting room in Omaha or Kansas City. Onboard activities and entertainment are an excellent way to wind down after a long day of meetings, and offer plenty of options for days off. Stopping in interesting ports of call also adds appeal to shipboard corporate travel, and allows attendees to spend time enjoying attractions, dining, entertainment and shopping off the ship as well.

Plan your next corporate meeting on a cruise ship and you will find that attendees will be happier and more productive as they enjoy the opportunity to both work and play onboard.