Cruise Planners on Track for Best Year Ever

For the fourth year in a row, host and franchise travel company Cruise Planners will pass the billion-dollar mark, with sales across all cruise markets up double digits.

“2026, it’s going to be another record-breaking year,” said Michelle Fee, CEO and founder of Cruise Planners, to a packed audience of more than 1,300 travel advisors and supplier partners at this year’s CP World conference.

“Not only is it record-breaking, but this year we are on track to reach an incredible 1.5 billion dollars,” added Cruise Planners chief strategy officer Scott Koepf, who joked that if every advisor in the room each booked just two more cruises this week, the company could reach 2 billion dollars.

“You have exceeded expectations,” said Theresa Scalzitti, Cruise Planners’ chief operations officer, while chief information officer Brian Shultz pointed out that this year Cruise Planners agencies and advisors have outsold 2025 every single month so far this year.

When asked what is contributing to Cruise Planners’ significant growth this year, Scalzitti told TMR: “Our advisors are experienced and business focused. They are learning ways to grow their business through group travel, consumer events, etc. They are leaning into our tools and programs designed to save them time and work more efficiently.”

Breaking Cruise Planners’ sales down by segment, every travel vertical is seeing growth: Cruise sales overall are up 11%, river cruise bookings are up 30%, and luxury sales are up 24%. Also up double digits: Alaska, up 14% and Europe, up 16%.

Land vacations booked with Cruise Planners advisors is also up, 8% over last year.

Looking ahead, Cruise Planners is currently trending 16% ahead of its 2026 performance.

“For a 1.5 billon dollar company, double-digit growth at that scale is simply incredible,” Fee said.

Focus on the Future

This year’s conference – themed Game On – is focused firmly on the future. Fitting, then, that the first two and a half days were held at the all-new east expansion building of the Broward County Convention Center, which represents the future of the 35-year-old property.

Throughout the week-long conference – part of which was set on a five-night cruise aboard Princess’ Star Princess – Cruise Planners home office introduced a whopping 23 new tools or enhancements to the advisors, ranging from a revamped corporate Cruise Planners website and mobile app redesign to A.I.-driven research, planning, and analytics tools.

“Used the right way, A.I. is going to elevate you,” said Fee. “Our industry is evolving. Our customers are evolving. Standing still is not even an option… This is one of the most exciting times our industry has ever seen. A.I. is making us more efficient, more informed, and more personalized than ever before.”

Leaving aside the A.I. tools for the moment (TMR will cover these in a separate article), highlights of the new tech tools that Cruise Planners introduced include Flight Tracker enhancements, a redesigned corporate website, Maxx SharePlace, a relaunch of CP Connect, and the redesign of the CP mobile app.

Flight Tracker Enhancements

Starting next week, Cruise Planners’ Find a Flight tool will be enhanced with multi-city itinerary searches, as well as price tracking, which Fee said was the most requested update by far.

“Now, you can monitor any flight and receive notifications when the price changes, whether it goes up or down,” she explained.

This ability, which requires virtually no investment in time from the travel advisor beyond setting up the monitoring, increases the perceived value of advisors to their clients.

Redesigned Corporate Website

Launching in December, a completely redesigned CruisePlanners.com is being designed to increase consumer visibility, strengthen SEO and A.I. search performance, and, eventually (in 2027), connect more prospective travelers with Cruise Planners advisors.

Corresponding redesigned franchise websites will launch in early 2027, featuring greater personalization options, stronger local search visibility, and more ways to showcase advisor expertise.

Maxx SharePlace

Leveraging the power of community, Maxx SharePlace, launching in early 2027, will be a new dedicated space within CP Maxx where franchise owners can share their most effective templates, text snippets, flyers, newsletter assets, and more.

By making these assets easier to discover, customize, and reuse, SharePlace helps advisors reduce duplicated efforts, accelerate productivity, and benefit from the collective expertise of the network.

Updated Intranet

Also launching in early 2027 will be a reimagined intranet, which builds on the current CP Connect system. The new experience will feature personalized homepages, A.I.-powered search, announcements, events, and more.

“Need something specific? Just ask. A.I.-powered search understands what you’re looking for, even if you don’t know exactly what it’s called. No hunting, no guessing, no wait,” Scalzitti said.

App Redesign

Another tool launching in early 2027 will be a completely redesigned client app that will make it easier for clients to find inspiration, book their next vacation, manage their current trip(s), and connect with their Cruise Planners advisor.