Corporate Travel Destinations

Corporate travel is not just average travel. Corporate travel is designed to award top-performers within a company or organization for their hard work, dedication, and innovation. Top-performers and first class employees deserve more from their employer than simply mediocre and mundane corporate travel. Of course, in uncertain economic times the extravagance of corporate travel has to be balanced with the financial resources available for incentive travel expenses. However, businesses do not have to choose between quality and value when planning corporate travel. They can enjoy both by booking cruise ship charter.

An incentive cruise is an ideal way to award top-performers and motivate others within the organization. By choosing to conduct meetings at sea, businesses can save approximately 40 percent compared to land-based incentive travel. Travel incentives such as a ship charter are excellent because they are all inclusive. Cruise event participants can enjoy premium services, accommodations, dining, and entertainment on an incentive cruise. A cruise ship charters' inclusive incentives will be attractive to even the most well-seasoned traveler. Since a cruise event may be less expensive than land-based travel, group cruise planning is a real value to the business. Therefore, businesses do not have to sacrifice quality or value if they choose an incentive cruise for their corporate travel.

While smaller meetings and events on cruise ships are all well and good, there is another option that is actually even better for those who truly have a need: chartering and/or buy-outs.  Ship charters are surprisingly affordable, as it gives the cruise company a chance to earn their overhead without spending as much on marketing, but there is so much more to consider:

• Some meetings need to be secretive by nature, and buy-outs/chartering ensures that none of the other passengers might be eavesdropping. On the other hand, companies that host cruise meetings where others can see them might not only seem more open and honest, but they may seem more attractive to investors.
• A buy-out of all cabins on an existing cruise ensures complete access to all facilities at all hours. In short, you are calling just about all of the shots save for the course. Even then, the captain of the ship might be amenable to arranging longer stays in Port A and skipping Port B.
• Complete concierge services is also typically available on charters. This should be no surprise since the concierge usually serves the guests. Since all the guests are your invitees, all you have to do is kick back and relax and let someone else sort out their problems.
• There are big and small charter cruise ships available. Do not worry if all you have are a hundred or so participants as there are smaller cruise ships that are ideal for the task at hand. Even a smaller cruise ship is still an enormous floating meeting and entertainment facility.

When an organization is looking to make their cruise event really special, a meeting planner may want to consider a group ship charter. There are many types of ship charters from which a meeting planner may choose, and some come with higher-class amenities than others. Exquisite ship charters can offer deluxe sailing for incentive cruises and meetings at sea. There are many advantages that a premium ship charter can offer. For example, the services offered on a premium ship charter can save an organization a significant amount of money compared to services priced separately at land venues such as hotels and resorts.

Deluxe ship charters offer services such as a personal butler in each suite. Cruise event attendees will be stunned by and appreciative of such personalized care. Not only do these deluxe ship charters come with a personal butler and top-rated personalized services, but the majority of these suites also have private verandas. These superior accommodations will leave attendees breathless. Furthermore, meetings at sea can be held in meeting spaces with necessary audio/visual equipment. After meetings and before retiring for the night, attendees can dine in their choice of one of many gourmet restaurants. For the best in cruise events and meetings at sea, deluxe ship charters should be considered.

For a different kind of group cruise experience, you may want to consider barge cruising on rivers in Europe. This type of laidback cruising is ideal for groups of 12 or less and offers a casual, intimate atmosphere that is perfect for an executive retreat, a teambuilding experience or small-scale corporate meetings and events. Barges are often captained by the owner and cooking is often taken care of by the owner or the spouse of the owner, with local foods that are purchased daily before leaving the night’s mooring spot in the morning. This adds to the houseguest feel of barge cruising, and generally also makes for wonderfully outfitted barges that show distinctive pride of ownership.

During the day, guests will enjoy slowly making their way down Europe’s inland waterways, and then will have the opportunity to go ashore to visit quaint villages or wineries before heading to bed each night. Many barge cruises include tours of sites of historical or cultural importance and sometimes have eclectic, impromptu entertainment during the evening. Some barge cruises also offer optional extras, such as hot air ballooning, which can make your corporate travel even more memorable. Exclusive ship charters allow you to organize an intimate awards ceremony or relaxing incentive travel package that is sure to appeal to your attendees.

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

First of all, it is important to know your options. When chartering a cruise ship, you often can choose between group, half-ship and full-ship charter options. Full ship charters obviously allow for the greatest freedom, customization, exclusivity and prestige, while group-level charters will likely be most cost-effective.

Each of these options comes with pros and cons; however, they all offer distinct benefits for those determine that chartering a ship is their best option.

In order for chartering a ship for your next cruise event to be a good idea, you will need to have a solid headcount of attendees, a good understanding of your meeting space needs and the resources to make a significant financial commitment upfront, generally guaranteed by a letter of credit.

Once these things are in place, your next task is finding the perfect cruise ship to fit your event needs. This will need to include appropriately-sized meeting spaces, overall costs that are within your planning budget, a suitable destination and an overall quality that suits the level of service and prestige required by your cruise event.