Cruise Convos

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In this week's Cruise Convos Special, Claudine is joined by Rafat Ali, one of the most influential people in tourism worldwide - and founder and CEO of Skift, a respected source of news and insights into the travel and tourism industry.

Rafat shares some outside perspectives on cruise trends and traveler behavior, and Claudine quizzes him on how technological innovations will likely change travel marketing, tourism operations, and traveler expectations into the future - from FinTech to generative AI!

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It’s International Women’s Day! On this week’s episode, Claudine chats with Carol Cabezas, President of Azamara. 

Claudine and Carol talk about Carol’s journey as a trailblazing female leader in the cruise industry. Carol also teases some of the epic initiatives and itineraries happening at Azamara under her leadership and discusses how the industry can continue connecting with a younger generation of travelers.

As always, Carol looks back on her younger self and offers some amazing insight into overcoming life’s challenges!

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Claudine and industry trailblazer Russell Benford, VP of Government Relations at Royal Caribbean Group, discuss celebrating Black History Month in the US this February and taking the opportunity to reflect and tell the stories of generations that came before. Russell shares a truly inspirational story with Claudine about his great-grandparents and how their story has shaped who he is today.

Turning to Russell's career in cruise, Russell and Claudine discuss why he chose to work at Royal Caribbean Group after spending 23 years working in local governments across South Florida. 

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Claudine catches up with good friend Alex Zeitz, Director of Customer and Employee Experience at Virgin Voyages, to learn more about him and his journey in the cruise industry.

Don't miss the exciting discussion about what Virgin is all about and what it's really like to take a Virgin Voyages cruise - and what it's like to work on board!

Alex shares some of what Virgin does to make the crew feel at home and create a culture of belonging so staff can be themselves!

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We are excited to relaunch Cruise Convos with Seatrade Cruise Talks!

In this new podcast series with Seatrade Cruise Talks, Claudine chats with cruise industry leaders across the globe to discover what it takes to make our cruise industry so EPIC.

And if you have something to share, reach out to join the fun!