Headquarter Happenings: Cruise Planners Kicks Off First-Ever Conference at Sea

What do blow-up guitars, a KISS mask, and sequenced pleather pants have in common? They all made an appearance at the kick-off of the 2025 Cruise Planners annual convention, this year appropriately themed “Rock on,” onboard Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas.

This year marks the first time the franchise Host has held its annual convention at sea. In past years, the company provided four days of land-based panels, education, and more, followed by a two- or three-night cruise, with no educational components. This year, breakout sessions and the trade show were held at the Fort Lauderdale Convention Center in the two days prior to sailing, but the full lineup of panels, networking, on-stage presentations, and more are being held at sea.

While the senior leadership team for the franchise Host embraced some goofiness on stage, the litany of new tech, marketing, and training tools they announced showed just how serious Cruise Planners is about helping its network of advisors. From two new AI tools to a completely rebuilt itinerary builder and more the CP team revealed no less than 15 new initiatives designed to help advisors optimize and grow their businesses.

Before the announcement blitz began, however, the CP team first provided an overview of how 2025 has been going so far.

“In 2025, we didn’t just raise the bar. You all smashed guitars with bold moves and big wins,” Michelle Fee, founder and CEO of Cruise Planners told a packed theater of some 1,200 franchise owners, travel advisors, and supplier partners.

“Once again, Cruise Planners has exceeded the billon-dollar mark,” Fee said, adding this will be third year in a row the company has surpassed a billion dollars.

“If I look at just the Millionaire Club members and the Mega Stars (advisors who achieve more than $600,000 in revenue), they are forecast to grow a whopping 20% this year.”

Departures overall in 2025 are so far up 14% year-over-year, with departures this year outpacing 2024 nearly every single week of 2025.

Sales Up Across all Travel Verticals

Breaking down what’s selling, cruise bookings are up 15% over last year. Caribbean cruises represent 60% of all cruise bookings made and, to date, is up 9% year-over-year. Alaska cruises have seen growth of over 10% year-over-year, while Europe is up 19%.

“While Caribbean bookings lead the way, an interesting fact is that, on average, you have to sell three Caribbean bookings just to equal the same revenue and earnings from one European vacation,” Cruise Planners’ chief information officer Brian Shultz said.

Land vacations are up as well, growing 8% over last year, as is luxury travel, which grew by 20% year-over-year.

The biggest growth year-over-year? That came with river cruising, which grew by a massive 27%.

Looking ahead, 2026 is looking promising, with 2026 sales already pacing 15% over 2025.