Anchors aweigh at new Virginia Beach cruise center – Virginian

nate.delesline@insidebiz.com

Martin Bezada and Vilma Schenone, a husband-and-wife team of experienced travel executives, have launched their latest business initiative in Virginia Beach.

Their Expedia CruiseShipCenter, slated to open this week at 1860 Laskin Road, provides guidance in shaping a cruise or vacation by providing a face-to-face experience in a brick-and-mortar setting.

Although a large segment of the travel market goes online to do business, when it comes to cruises, “definitely more and more people are looking for expert advice,” Schenone said. “A cruise is not like when you book a flight or a hotel.”

That’s because with a vast variety of price points and options, most travelers appreciate having someone to guide them, she said. That guidance may cover everything from on-board activities to land tours, and there are also considerations for how you’re traveling – alone, as a couple, as a family with young children or as parents of teens who will probably want to do their own thing.

In addition to wanting to open their business in the city where they live, Schenone said Expedia is “a powerful brand, and that is what in the first moment caught our attention. The concept that you can have a center like a travel agency where you have consultants working one-on-one with customers, that caught our attention, too.”

Schenone and Bezada are publishers of the local Travelhost of Hampton Roads magazine, and Schenone also has 20 years of experience in the aviation business. She most recently served as CEO for NLG USA. Bezada served as an officer in the Peruvian Navy for 30 years and served in this area for two years as a liaison officer. He also has developed a network of airport-based VIP lounges in Peru and Mexico.

For years, the Caribbean was a top region for cruising, along with the Mediterranean. Now Alaska, Asia and South America are some of the industry’s emerging, trendy markets.

Schenone said Hampton Roads “definitely” has the potential to become an even more significant hub for the cruise industry because of the area’s geography, traffic and density. “Everything is really close, and you can put it all together – the cruise, the land tours. We think there is a big opportunity for Norfolk.”

The Expedia CruiseShipCenter brand is a subsidiary of Expedia, which is best known for its travel-booking website. In Virginia Beach, they expect to employ 20 consultants overall. Consultants are sought for the Virginia Beach location, and calls, emails and social media interaction are encouraged. If growth meets expectations, “maybe we’ll start growing with more centers in the area,” Schenone said.

In a February news release, the Washington-based Cruise Lines International Association said cruising “is becoming the vacation of choice around the world, quickly outpacing leisure or land-based travel.” In its 2016 state of the cruise industry outlook, CLIA said the industry expects 24 million passengers to sail this year, up from 23 million in 2015.

“Cruise lines are constantly updating their offerings and providing almost unlimited itinerary options for travelers, so it comes as no surprise that cruise travel is outpacing alternative vacation experiences,” Cindy D’Aoust, CLIA’s acting CEO, said in the statement. “A cruise vacation delivers amazing experiences in locations around the world at a tremendous value.”

Established in 1987, the Expedia CruiseShipCenters network includes more than 180 independently owned franchise locations and more than 4,000 vacation consultants in North America, according to the company’s website. In 2007, CruiseShipCenters entered into a strategic partnership with Expedia, rebranding itself Expedia CruiseShipCenters.