Holland America Lines (HAL) turned on its considerable charm for personal travel manager (PTM) Camilla Manson during her cruise famil on MS Zuiderdam, leaving her in no doubt as to why the cruise line was named joint supplier of the year at TravelManagers’ 2022 annual national conference.
Manson, who was accompanied by her husband on a seven-day self famil cruise out of Vancouver, says it was the couple’s first visit to Canada and Alaska but she is quite certain it won’t be her last.
“Having never been to this part of North America before, the entire week was an incredible learning experience for me,” she explains. “There is so much on offer and I’m excited to be able to pass on my first-hand knowledge of this amazing destination to my customers.”
“Holland America’s knowledge of and love for Alaska is second to none, and the crew were incredible, always going above and beyond with their service. The Inside Passage, Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan and especially Glacier Bay blew me away – from its wild coastline to its incredible wildlife, it is so worthy of its World Heritage status and needs to be protected at all costs.”
As TravelManagers’ representative for Kingscliff, NSW, Manson is one of 52 PTMs to have participated in HAL famils this year out of a total 94 famils across all suppliers.
Key Accounts Manager for Holland America and Seabourn, Helen Courias, says the cruise brand has been focused on supporting TravelManagers’ PTM network strongly throughout 2022 by delivering a variety of self-famil and hosted famil opportunities as well as running incentives and providing ongoing support with bookings and future cruise credits.
“We were thrilled to have been awarded TravelManagers’ Supplier of the Year award for 2022 and feel grateful for the recognition that comes with winning,” she confirms. “Our team really put in the effort to ensure that we service our PTM network to the highest level and we really feel that winning such an award is a fabulous acknowledgement for all the hard work that goes into ensuring we deliver high level of service and support to the wonderful PTM network and TravelManagers family.”
Courias says many PTMs have contacted the HAL/Seabourn team throughout the past few months to express their thanks for what has been in many cases a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take a Holland America self-famil to Alaska. She believes the experience was made even more special and meaningful coming out of an extremely difficult two years of pandemic.
“I am also chuffed at the recognition from TravelManagers’ National Partnership Office (NPO) team, who I work so closely with on virtually a daily basis,” Courias adds. “I cannot thank them enough for their unstinting support also for our beautiful brands – it goes without saying that our partnership is very strong, and we will continue to build on this into the near future.”
For more information or to speak to someone confidentially about TravelManagers please contact Graciela Craig on (02) 8062 6421 or email join.us@travelmanagers.com.au.
