ATLANTA -- Music from brass horns and drums filled the air, and a feather-adorned Junkanoo band paraded around an oversize sandcastle as travel advisors in tropical outfits captured the moment on their phones.
It was a hot and sunny day. But if it sounds like travel advisors were on a beach, they weren't. They were at The Carlyle, an indoor venue in Atlanta, on a Saturday morning in August for a sneak peek (and a chance to capture social media content) of what to expect at Carnival Cruise Line's new Caribbean private destination, Celebration Key.
"We are investing $600 million in this project, so I want to make sure that we take advantage of every opportunity we get to really push it, and for people to know it's there and get excited about it," said Adolfo Perez, Carnival's senior vice president of global sales and trade marketing.
Some 500 sailings with calls to Celebration Key, which opens on Grand Bahama next July, are now open and commanding premium pricing, he said. Eighteen ships are scheduled to visit the private destination from nine homeports, mainly on the East Coast and in Tampa and Galveston, Texas.
A replica of Celebration Key's "Suncastle." Photo Credit: Andrea Zelinski
Perez is hosting a four-city tour called "Your Peek at Paradise" meant to educate agents about the destination.
Although he was sick the day of the Atlanta event (an interview with Travel Weekly was conducted by phone after the event), Carnival held similar gatherings in Miami and Baltimore. The final event in Chicago on Sept. 14 will be livestreamed.
At the event here, about 350 people, mostly advisors and their guests, wandered to booths stationed around the castle while drinking mocktails like the Not Yo Mama's Bahama Mama.
Each booth represented one of five "portals" planned for Celebration Key, including family-friendly, retail and adults-only sections. As a teaching tool, Carnival armed agents with a "passport" booklet that contained information about each portal and asked them to answer related trivia questions for a chance to win a hard-hat tour of the destination before it opens or a $500 Carnival Cruise Line gift card.
Most trivia questions were simple or required a quick fact-check from the booklet. For example, one asked whether it was true or false that the Starfish Lagoon family-friendly area features a swim-up bar (it's true).
The thing to remember is that no one has yet been to Celebration Key, said Kirk Neal, regional vice president of sales for the Eastern U.S. and the Caribbean, who stepped in for Perez in Atlanta. Travel advisors who learn about the destination in advance can tap into that knowledge when they reach out to people who have cruised with Carnival before.
"Everyone's always looking for that next destination. This is going to be that little catalyst that can help you secure more business," he told agents during a presentation that included a segment reminiscent of the YouTube show "Hot Ones" -- this one was called "Burning Questions" -- where three sales executives answered questions about Celebration Key while eating Bahamian hot sauces.
Unlike other private destinations owned by its parent company, Carnival Corp., this one was designed specifically for Carnival Cruise Line guests. For instance, Half Moon Cay features a relaxed vibe, but Celebration Key is meant to be high-energy, aside from an area reserved for peaceful, adults-only escapes, Perez said.
As for the castle, a 10-story version will serve as the centerpiece of Celebration Key and be home to two, 350-foot-long waterslides. Glenn Aprile, Carnival's senior director of brand experience and product development, who is working closely on Celebration Key, said he hopes the design hits guests with nostalgia for their childhood days spent building sandcastles or for the days playing in the sand with their own kids.