THE CRUISE INSIDER
SERVICES
Orientation & consulting
Staff training & development
Education & Enrichment
The Cruise Insider services are aimed at local cruise destinations, both strategic level management and operational staff (i.e. destination guides and hospitality staff), cruise industry / destination management stakeholders as well as students of international tourism and any other parties with an interest in the cruise phenomenon
Because of the unique concept and culture of the cruise industry, the act of engaging it as a new destination takes a lot more deliberation than your average leisure tourism enterprise. Despite the growing interest from cruise lines in local, off the beaten track destinations, it takes a deliberate and sustained effort to attract cruise lines to new destinations, to retain the business (because if they do not like what they see, they are gone again), to develop your destination and your services to the appropriate level and to make your mark in the highly competitive Scando-Baltic destination scene.
ORIENTATION & CONSULTING
Providing insightful and actionable information
If you are a new destination trying to define a cruise tourism strategy, assess or refine your destination potential, set up an operational format or arouse interest and support from local stakeholders, the Cruise Insider can provide valuable and actionable background information and know-how. Having spent years working on both sides of the ships hull, from strategic, managerial and operational positions, the Cruise Insider can help support, assess, prioritize, refine and develop relevant issues for your success as a destination.
How can the Cruise Insider assist your destination?
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STAFF TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT
Developing human resources for cruise tourism management
The cruise lines demand competence, reliability, professionalism and a high level of service and hospitality from the external staff dealing with their guests, whether they be freelance staff assisting in turnaround / hospitality functions or whether they be local destination guides creating tour experiences for guests. And there is very little patience for 'learning on the job' - if you want to retain your cruise business, you best start off at 'excellent' and stay there. If you do not have the resources to instill that level of competency in-house, you can call the Cruise Insider.
The main challenge for operators relying on freelance staff is often a debilitating lack of knowledge of the task at hand and a cultural baggage of lacklustre Northern European (Scandinavian, in particular) customer service. The Cruise Insider trains freelance service staff for cruise service operations through comprehensive familiarization with the task at hand (overall purpose, dynamics, expectations and the role of the individual within) combined with a strong inspirational appeal to transcend their cultural customer service notions and step up to an international standard of cruise hospitality that has the kind of vitality, conviction and drive the cruise lines want for their guests. Knowing exactly where you are in the Big Picture and what is expected of you breeds confidence and peace of mind and that is the basis of extraordinary customer service performances.
The shore excursion experience is in transition and todays destination guides need to be so much more than just linguistically capable lecturers. They need to be dependable professionals, engaging performers, relatable individuals, resourceful crisis managers, empathetic chaperones and more. The Cruise Insider trains destination guides for their roles in the new shore excursion experience through comprehensive familiarization with the format, the expectations, the standards and the ways in which guides can explore the fullest potential of a very set and rigid format to create authentic, personal and memorable impressions of their destination.
EDUCATION &
ENRICHMENT
Building an empirical
academic approach
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The insatiable demand for new destinations to revitalize itineraries and attract new clientele means more and more local destinations experience cruise traffic and this development will require more destination professionals equipped to deal with it. For Master-level students of international tourism, who want to get an angle on this extraordinary leisure travel phenomenon, the Cruise Insider can deliver a scholarly breakdown of the contemporary cruise industry and local tourism management issues arising from cruise traffic engagement.
The Cruise Insider can provide unique insights into the cruise industry - especially in the interplay between ship and destination – present challenges and opportunities as viewed from both perspectives, explain the conceptual as well as the operational framework and provide valuable context for dealing with cruise tourism. Using academic tools of analysis and interpretation and drawing from my own multifaceted industry experience, I can design educational input specifically for university-level students of international tourism, whether just for introductory seminars or for more comprehensive serialized sessions. Inquire about possibilities.
And finally I also talk just to enrich and entertain; Interested in a comprehensive review of more than 170 years of 'cruising history', an insightful rundown of the modern cruise industry empires or just a lighthearted and informative breakdown of the consumer experience of cruising? The Cruise Insider can deliver all of these - to industry insiders as well as outsiders.