Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Club Cruises have scooped a Peer Award for Excellence for their online Cruising for Excellence training programme. The brands were honoured in the ‘Technology for People’ category for their innovative ability to give travel agents an experience of the product, which, as Trade Training Manager Michelle Russell, noted: “Would otherwise be very difficult, were we to try and get 20,000 travel agents onboard our cruise ships!”
Beating competition from BP, Bupa, the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, and WIPRO (employment relationship management), the Cruising for Excellence online training programme was cited as a model for large-scale online training to which the rest of the industry should aspire and an innovative way to educate and engage the programme’s core audience of travel agents.
Michelle added: “I am exceptionally proud of each and every member of the trade training team, who all deserve a share of this prestigious award. Our trade partners are vital to our brand’s continued growth and we are committed to supporting them with training, ship visits and innovative marketing.
“Consistent trade feedback on Cruising for Excellence has been fantastic and the investment in training to bring our ships to life continues to convert yet more agents to be great Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Club Cruises ambassadors. This award is a reflection of that and I am honoured that the judging panel at the Peer Awards for Excellence recognises our efforts and the quality of our offering.”
Since its inception in 2006, Cruising for Excellence online has trained over 20,000 travel agents, with half of these agents making it to the highest tier of the training programme. First developed for the UK and Ireland, Cruising for Excellence online has been translated into 13 different languages for RCL Cruises Ltd’s travel agent partners throughout the world and has won numerous awards.
