Social Fresh Cruise 2010, 2 months away

[tweetmeme source=”cruisesource” only_single=false “http://cruisesource.us/2010/10/07/social-fresh-cruise/”%5DWe are now 2 months away from the 2nd Annual Social Fresh Cruise. I’ve been passionate about new media and it’s ability to introduce new people to cruising for a few years now. So for a Cruise Geek, the Social Fresh Cruise is my dream voyage. On December 2nd, 2010, I’ll be unplugging, relaxing, and reconnecting with some of my favorite online personalities.

@DougMeacham & @CMajor Karaoke

Social Media is all about the relationships and Social Fresh Cruise takes those relationships to the next level.

Joining us for Social Fresh Cruise 2010 will be successful bloggers like @SteveHall of AdRants.com, @JennFowler of FrugalUpstate.com, Jordan Cooper, the funny guy behind NotaProBlog.com and @MommaDJane of MommaDJane.com. We have entrepreneurs like George and Jeff from GroupStory.com and CEOs/industry thought leaders like Ted Murphy of IZEA and Adam Holden-Bache of MassTransmit. We have Social Media Marketing professionals from large corporations like @AshevilleAllie from Playboy and I will be representing Travel Leaders Leisure Group. We have Social Media rockstars like @LucretiaPruitt & @KatebuckJr who have built strong audiences across multiple channels. As you can see the Social Fresh Cruise attracts a diverse group including Social Media Managers of large corporations, Bloggers, Consultants, Higher Ed., Government, non-profits, Start-ups, Social Brands, etc. The common thread is that we are all passionate about the future of the Social Web and we all enjoy building deeper relationships with our online friends.

Chris Brogan speaking at Social Fresh Cruise 2009

Are you a social media leader? Social Fresh Cruise includes interactive social media conference sessions, meals, 4 day cruise, entertainment, cocktail parties, and a beach party in Cozumel. All of this for about the same price as just the admission to many conferences. You have the opportunity to share a lifetime experience with 80 other social media leaders. You will go home with a much stronger network for 2011. Want more information about the premier social media conference at sea? Click here for all the details.

Carlos & Charlies #SoCruise Beach Party

Social Fresh Cruise is invitation only, but if you are truly passionate about Social Media, I’m confident that you’ll manage to find an invite code. If you book by 10.20.10, you will be entered to win a $125 Spa Package while on the cruise!

Contact me with any questions: rtucker [at] cruisedeals [dot] com. No one paid to be in this post and unfortunately I left out all of the other smart, cool people who will be joining us on December 2nd, 2010. See the whole list at http://socialfresh.com/cruise

Social Fresh Charlotte, Recap

[tweetmeme source=”cruisesource” only_single=false “http://cruisesource.us/2010/08/20/social-fresh-charlotte-recap/”%5DI recently attended the Social Fresh Social Media Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina geared toward marketers with a great showing from big brands and agencies.   One of the best parts of attending social media conferences is that when I get home I can experiment immediately with the few things that I learn.    By far, my favorite part of social media conferences is the networking at the pre/post parties and in between sessions.   Those who are the most passionate about social media seem to get the most out of the relationships made during quick conversations that happen between sessions at these conferences.  After the conference, they have to continue to grow these relationships online.   Social Fresh Cruise was created for the social media conference speakers, panelist, and attendees who want more time to truly build meaningful relations with other social media leaders.  A cruise is the most social form of vacationing and is very conducive to building life-long friendships. 

What did I learn at this Social Fresh Conference?  I learned that we have moved beyond is Social Media important to social media needs to be integrated with existing business practices and goal.   Social Media by itself is not the answer, but when properly integrated with your other marketing and branding activities the results can be awesome. 

@JRuckman & @CruiseSource at Social Fresh CLT

I find Blue Sky Factory CEO,Greg Cangialosi to typically be about 6 months ahead of most others, and this year he was talking some Social CRM.  From Greg’s presentation, Social CRM will be one of the upcoming trends thanks in part to the slick new integration of Salesforce.com and Twitter.  In order to track ROI, we have to be able track leads from the source all the way to purchase.

Social Media is an ever expanding.  It now encompasses blogging, micro-blogging, Facebook, video creation and distribution, community management, mobile, monitoring, and much more.  As keynote Amber Naslund discussed future success will require a volunteer army from inside or outside the organization. In order to achieve success it needs to be integrated with business goals and with all traditional marketing efforts.

Photo by @TheRab.

Style Pod – Fashion Social Media Cruise

CruiseDeals.com, the Cruise Industry’s Social Media Leader has teamed up with top Fashion Industry Social Media Mavens to host the first Fashion Social Media Cruise Event: Style Pod.

Modeled after the successful Social Fresh Cruise, Style Pod will give an opportunity for Fashion Industry insiders to learn, network, and have fun on a 4 day Royal Caribbean Cruise departing Fort Lauderdale on October 14th, 2010. Kimmie Smith, Editor-in-Chief of Kitten Lounge, Karen Robinovitz, Creatrix of Purple Lab and Jeannine Morris, Editor in Chief of Beauty Sweet Spot are hosting and providing content for the Social Media Conference Sessions.

Kimmie Smith, Editor-in-chief of Kitten Lounge

Passionate about Social Media and Fashion? It will be tough to find a better event to deepen your social network with others who are using the social web to increase the reach of their fashion brands. Conferences at sea are growing in popularity thanks to their incredible value. Style Pod’s rates start at only $460 which includes the conference style sessions, meals, 3 hour drinks included beach party Cozumel, and shipboard entertainment. Space is limited, Reserve your spot now on Style Pod.

Time to Focus on 2010 – CruiseSource

We’ve hit “Wave Season”, the time of the year when most people book their cruise vacations for that year.  It’s off to a great start and you can notice that a lot of the rates are starting to inch upward which is a great sign for the industry.   I spent my last blog post recapping 2009 for CruiseSource.us.  It was an awesome year, but now it is time to focus on the future. 

2010 is setup to be an even more amazing year.  If you were not following along in 2009, hoepfully you will start following along in 2010.  You can subscribe to CruiseSource.us by putting your email address in the top right hand corner of this page to make sure that you do not miss out on New Ship reviews, advice, and the deals.

Where will CruiseSource.us take you in 2010?

Costa Deliziosa – On January 30^th, my wife and I will be in Italy joining Costa Cruise Line as they take ownership of the Brand New Costa Deliziosa from the ship yard.  Costa will be taking her on a 5 day spin around Italy showing off the new ride.  We’re honored to be one of a few in the US Cruise Industry invited on this inaugural event. 

Celebrity Solstice – On April 4^th, my wife, son, and I will be cruising aboard the Highly-Reviewed Celebrity Solstice visiting St.  Kitts, Puerto Rico, and St. Maarten.  When I was on the Oasis of the Seas, several people I talked to compared the Celebrity Solstice to a W Hotel at Sea…so we are very excited.

NCL Epic – On July 8^th, I will be on one of the NCL Epic inaugural sailings out of Miami, FL.  I will be taking dad on this 2 day event.  It will be the first time we’ve cruised together. 

Social Fresh Cruise 2010 – Just announced this week: Social Fresh Cruise 2010, the premier social media conference at sea will be departing from New Orleans, LA on December 2nd.  The Social Fresh Cruise Alums are excited to get an opportunity to meet the New Orleans Social Media Community. The New Orleans Social Media Community is excited to get to show off what makes the #NoLa  Community to special!

Follow CruiseSource on Twitter, Youtube, and here at the CruiseSource.us blog to get pictures, videos, and reviews of all these events.

2009 – Year of the Tweet

2009 was my best year ever, and I owe most of it to the incredible relationships I’ve made on the Social Media platform Twitter.

2009 started with me winning a Shorty Award for providing the best travel content on Twitter with the Twitter ID @CruiseSource. On February 11th, 2009, I accepted the award in NYC, and in my 140 character acceptance speech I announced that we would be planning the premier cruise for social media professionals — the Social Fresh Cruise (hashtag #SoCruise). The Wall Street Journal got a real kick out of me using my acceptance speech to promote the Social Fresh Cruise.

Shorty Awards with @MCHammer @misskatiemo & @kitmueller

At the Shorty Awards Gala in NYC I got to meet and connect with tons of amazing people including @MCHammer, @GaryVee, @WaltRibeiro, @AlohaArleen, @KitMueller, @girlwithnoname, @pawluxury, @danzarrella, my NYC Tour Guide @misskatiemo and many more. Vote now for 2010 Shorty Awards.

A couple of weeks before my trip to NYC, I volunteered to be the lead planner for Charlotte Twestival, the local event of the Global Charity event organized and promoted via Twitter scheduled for February 12th, 2009. Thanks to Twitter we were able to quickly assemble a team of amazing volunteers who organized a very successful event in barely 2 weeks. It was a powerful display of the power of Twitter and the strength of the Charlotte, NC, Twitter community. The awesome team included some of the earliest adopters of Twitter in Charlotte who’ve helped the local social media community flourish. The team included @jakrose, @NathanRichie, @jruckman, @kateydietz, @jarodhillerman, @CLTNightLife, @crystaldempsey, @DavidKyle, @mtyndal and others.

@NathanRichie and I at the #CLTwesitval

In July, I live-tweeted and videoed 4 different Carnival cruise ships including the Carnival Freedom and the Carnival Liberty.

In August I live-tweeted during a 7 night Hawaii cruise aboard NCL’s Pride of America. This was an incredible cruise vacation that I was able to share with my wife — a great chance for us to reconnect as she was beginning to feel like a “Social Media Widow.”

Jess and I on Hawaii ATV Tour

As soon as I announced plans for the Social Fresh Cruise at the Shorty Awards, I teamed up with @ChrisBrogan, @93octane, @jakrose, @CruiseDeals, and @GregCangialosi to plan and promote this unprecendented conference. It was an invitation-only social media conference at sea for leaders and influencers in the industry who wanted to get away, unplug and focus on creating some of their strongest relationship with their peers. So the 1st Annual Social Fresh Cruise departed Miami November 12th, 2009, with 50+ Twitter Rockstars on board, was a huge success and plans for a 2010 repeat about to be released.

The Social Fresh Crew at Carlos & Charlies

But what would a social media cruise be without a huge Bon Voyage Tweetup the night before? I co-hosted the largest tweetup in Miami history with help from the local social media luminaries including @yvetteferry, @miamiandbeaches, @alexdc, @refreshmiami, @smcsf and many more! While at the tweetup I enjoyed meeting and hanging out with online friends @CouchSurfingOri, @ViceQueenMaria, @steph_rose and so many more.

I was also fortunate to be invited on the inaugural cruise of the Oasis of the Seas, the world’s largest cruise ship. Prior to the inaugural the Miami Herald wrote an article about the cruise industry’s use of social media, and in the article the Miami Herald instructed their readers to follow @CruiseSource for live tweets from the Oasis during the inaugural. My quote from earlier in the year that “Social Media and Cruising are like Chocolate and Peanut Butter, two tastes that taste great together” made it into the article.

I also live-tweeted from the Celebrity Century that sailed to Jamaica and Grand Cayman. I was on board to teach other travel agents “Social Media 101,” which of course included a heavy dose of Twitter training.

Of course throughout the year on Twitter I posted the best cruise deals on the Internets! — and we were recognized by AARP Magazine, CRM Magazine and other publications for providing the Best Travel Deal Tweets.

2009 was a success because I was able to use Twitter to team up with smart, energetic people to accomplish BIG goals. @93octane was the only friend mentioned above that I knew prior to Twitter…he was the evangelist who introduced me to Twitter… Thanks, Lyell!

2010 is looking like it will be bigger and better, and none of it would be possible without my friends, my community of readers, Twitter, my followers and the CruiseSource.us blog. The Best part is that I have a ever growing list of online friends who I can’t wait to meet Face to Face. Traveling with online friends, sharing a once in a lifetime experience creates life long friendships and I hope to share that gift with many more people in 2010!

You can nominate @CruiseSource for this year’s Shorty Award in the Travel Category by Tweeting the following message (click on it for a quick two click process):

I nominate @CruiseSource for a Shorty Award in #travel because [your reason here] http://bit.ly/CShorty

My Office At Sea - Celebrity Century

Celebrity Century 5nt. Cruise to Jamaica & Grand Cayman

I’m in the airport getting ready to head to Miami for the 8th time this year. Those of you who have been following along know I have had a blessed year. Jess and I cruised 7-nights around Hawaii on the Pride of America. I was one of the first on the Oasis of the Seas for a 2 night inaugural sailing. I’ve toured 4 Carnival ships including the Carnival Liberty and Carnival Freedom. And my personal favorite, I was the lead organizer of the 1st Annual Social Fresh Cruise which is the Premier Social Media Conference at Sea.

Today, I’ll be boarding the Celebrity Century for a 5-night cruise with stops in Jamaica and Grand Cayman. This will be my first Celebrity Cruise Line experience so I am very excited. In full disclosure, this is a work trip. I will be teaching a Social Media class to other Travel Professionals. So, I am not paying for the trip, but it is in not what I would consider free as I will hopefully be earning my keep.

While in Jamaica we will be doing the Dunn’s River Falls tour and in Grand Cayman we will be swimming with the Stingrays at Stingray Island. Grand Cayman is a new Island for me and I hear it is beautiful. I will be posting videos on the CruiseSource TV Channel on YouTube. Follow along to see the Celebrity Century for yourself. If the videos get you excited about trying the Celebrity Century for yourself, I have good news: In January and February 2010 you can sail on the 5 star Celebrity Century for 5-nights for only $295 per person.

Jumping on the plane now! Please forgive any grammar or typos I did not have time to edit. ~ Happy Sailing ~ Rich Tucker

Social Fresh Cruise Recap

Social Fresh Cruise, 11.12.09 – The recap

Cruisedeals.com and Social Fresh, LLC teamed up to bring the 1st Premier Annual Social Media Cruise to the Carnival Destiny on 11.12.09. CruiseDeals.com is a leader in Group and Conference Cruises and Social Fresh is a leader in Social Media Conferences. on 11.11.09, we teamed up with the South Florida Social Media Community to throw the Social Fresh Bon Voyage Tweetup which was the largest Tweetup in Miami history. By the end of the Social Fresh Cruise, we proved that “Social Media and Cruising are like peanut butter and chocolate, two tastes that taste great together”. Most of the Social Fresh attendees have been long-time evangelist for the importance of making online connections stronger by taking advantage of opportunities to meet face to face. On Social Fresh Cruise, we took Face to Face to another level.

Chris Brogan Videoing, Allie Sullivan, Katey Dietz & Kit Mueller Sailing away

We shared many once-in-a-lifetime experiences with those who are equally as passionate about the impacts of Social Media on all aspects of business. We had a diverse group of attendees who create incredible content online for a wide variety of audiences. We even had few owners of Social Media Applications in the mix of attendees. Cruising with a group of people who share a passion whether it is Golf, Poker, Bridge, etc. adds value to the cruise experience. Cruising with some of the most Social people involved with Social Media today, and it was a homerun.

Chris Brogan Questioning the Social Fresh Cruisers

We had 6 hours of Interactive Sessions with content and direction from Jason Keath, Chris Brogan, Greg Cangialosi, Amber Naslund, DJ Waldow, Lyell Petersen, Ryan Wynia, & Katie Morse. We had an impromtu Bloggers Roundtable that was wide open with all kinds of great lessons learned flying around the table. At the bottom of this post are links to the note for all of the Sessions.

Ryan Wynia Presenting Audience to Army at #SoCruise

We were in Cozumel from 7AM – 10PM. We had a 3 hour beach party scheduled from 2 – 5 PM at Carlos and Charlies. Everyone went their own way in the morning and we all met up at 2PM. At Carlos and Charlies, everyone shared fun stories about how they spent the morning in Cozumel. Many like @Kitmueller and I rented scooters and toured the entire Island. @ChrisBrogan and some others ate Fresh Grilled Lobster on the backside of Cozumel. At Carlos & Charlies (Charlos & Carlies according to Greg), 3 hours of Beach + Sun + Cervezas + Social Media Peeps = one of the highlights of the Cruise.

@nikinotes, @ashevilleallie, @Cmajor, & @girlgamy

The Social Fresh Crew at Carlos & Charlies

Each night we ate dinner as a group in our own designated section. The Dinners on the Carnival Destiny were delicious as always. I’m surprised Carnival did not go broke after @DJWaldow and @LuggageBoy put away multiple entrees each night. I can’t talk too much since I did eat two Lobster Tails on the formal dinner night. Social Fresh Cruise is one of the few Social Media Events that your non-social media spouse wants to attend. And with the amount of time that we put into social media, we sometimes need to reconnect with them too.

Dinners on the Destiny were Delicious!

At night, we played together in the Casino, sang Karaoke, danced in the discos, watched Rick Springfield perform on the Lido Deck, and on the last night we all dressed up in our Bathrobes to dance to ‘I’m on a Boat’ in the Piano Bar.

@dougmeacham & @Cmajor Rocking the Mic

For the past 2 years, my big two passions have been Social Media and Cruising. So although I’ve been on a lot of cruises, the Social Fresh Cruise was by far the most fun and valuable. The Cruise attracted the FUN Social Media Leaders who needed a vacation and saw the value in getting away with 50 other Social Media Insiders. By disconnecting for a couple days we actually made our strongest online connections. While the Cruise was close to perfect, we did have some places where we can improve the experience. We look forward to making the Social Fresh Cruise 2010 even better.

@JakRose, Founder of Social Fresh & @Nikisnotes

@LuggageBoy aka @findmespecials and Autumn enjoying the Sunset

All Photos in this post were taken by Steve Hall, @Adrants.

We book 100s of group cruises each year. If you would like to do a conference or themed group cruise please email me at rtucker@cruisedeals.com .

A few of the tweets from attendees after they returned from the 2009 Social Fresh Cruise (#SoCruise is the Twitter Hashtag):

@GeekMommy DITTO! I’m looking forward to CO in Feb, and #SoCruise next year!
Posted By MissKatieMo

Really missing all of my #socruise #sofresh people. I’d break an ankle instead of just sprainig it to cruise w/ them all again. Wild.
Posted By @GeekMommy

@93octane Lyell! I had a blast! Thank you for being such an awesome host! #socruise
Post by @JenChicago

@tomtravel2 Sure thing! Most valuable for me was an informal bloggers roundtable – a great peer-to-peer discussion. Very helpful! #socruise
Posted by @MaidenVoyage

@RichTucker many thanks again for an awesome trip. Finally got to relax for a bit;) #socruise
Posted by Elizabeth Hannan

Links to the Session Notes:

Real Online Communities – Amber Naslund of Radian 6 & DJ Waldow Community Mgr. Blue Sky Factory

The Future of Connectivity – Greg Cangialosi CEO of Blue Sky Factory

Future of MicroBlogging – Lyell Petersen aka @93octane the dotcom in CruiseDeals.com

Reverse Q & A with Chris Brogan Author of Trust Agents –

The Recording and Music Industry Today – Katie Morse aka @misskatiemo

Live Tweeting from the Oasis of the Seas 11.22.09

Departing on the Oasis of the Seas 2 night inaugural event tomorrow, 11.22.09.  I got back from the Social Fresh Social Media Cruise on Monday and I leave tomorrow for the Oasis of the Seas.   The Oasis of the Seas will change the Cruise Industry and it has been argued all over the internets whether or not it is good or bad.   This has been a huge month for the Cruise Industry on Social Media.  There has been lots of chatter, pictures and videos distrubuted for millions to view.  The Miami Herald reported that I would live tweeting from the Ship on Twitter.  Follow ME -> @CruiseSource.  

I will also be Videoing all over the Oasis of the Seas…. Interviewing as many people as possible about their opinions of the Oasis of the Seas.   Subscribe for FREE to the CruiseSource Blog so you do not miss any of it!

Search for the Best Oasis of the Seas Prices Now

FULL Disclosure, this is a non-revenue Event for Royal Caribbean to celebrate the Oasis of the Seas… no one onboard the 2 day inaugural paid including me.   ~ Happy Sailing Rich Tucker

 

 

 

JenChicago’s Post Social Fresh Cruise Video

While I have been slow to get all of my Social Fresh Cruise Content out… Our good friend @JenChicago shows off all her Talent in her Post Social Fresh Cruise The SAUCE video. This video give you an great idea of the people who attended and the quality content they create online. So while you wait for me to get all my videos and recaps out from the Social Fresh Cruise, enjoy Jen’s video.

Full Disclosure :, Jen was a paying attendee on the Social Fresh Cruise who added much value to the event with her fun loving attitude. Jen had an amazing time (I think). We did not pay or bribe Jen in anyway for this video. Social Media Business is all about the relationships and that was the key to Social Fresh Cruise. It was all about the awesome attendees who “got it” and joined us ‘on the boat’ making friendships that will last a lifetime. After watching several of Jen’s Videos, I believe her personality in front of the camera will have us saying, ‘I knew her when’.

Happy Sailing,
Rich Tucker

2009 Social Fresh Cruise Bon Voyage Party Recap

I apologize for being silent at CruiseSource.us for a week, but what an amazing week it was. I had been planning the Social Fresh Social Media Cruise for 9 months and last week I got the opportunity to see my dream come to life. The Date of the Cruise was 11.12.09 on the Carnival Destiny. I will recap the Cruise in the next couple of posts.

Social Fresh Bon Voyage Tweetup, 11.11.09:
When members of the Miami Social Media Community heard that we were bringing 50 Social Media Leaders from across the US down to Miami to Cruise the Caribbean for 4 days, they contacted me immediately. They wanted to take the opportunity to meet as many of us in person and send us off properly with a big Tweetup. As written in the Miami New Times By Maria De Los Angeles, I worked with the South Florida Social Media Community and the Greater Miami Conventions and Visitors Bureau to throw the largest Tweetup in Miami history! There was no way that a “Cruise” Dude from Charlotte, NC could have been the catalyst to such a successful event in Miami without social media. The event truly displayed the power and collaborative spirit of Social Media. The South Florida Social Media Community shined by helping host such a successful event.

Awesome Photo by Francisco Jose Palacio

The Venue, the DoubleTree Grand Biscayne Bay Hotel could not have been a more gracious host providing the event with complimentary wine all evening. The DoubleTree Hotel is where the Social Fresh Cruisers stayed the night before the cruise and we all had a very nice stay. Their facilities are excellent for conference events and mixers with emaculate views of the Marina.

Great Twitter People I got to work with on the event included @miamiandbeaches @yvetteferry @AlexDC @BrianBreslin @SMCSF @AWCSF & @refreshmiami.

One of the highlights of the Social Fresh Bon Voyage Party is that I got to meet Online Friends who I have been following for years like @CouchSurfingOri @Uftukel and @Steph_Rose. Social Media facilitates quick connections, but meeting face to face moves a weak connection to a strong connection almost immediately. If you are not meeting the people you meet online, you are missing out on what makes it special.

I have a ton of content from the Social Fresh Cruise and from Oasis of the Seas coming in the next couple of weeks, Subscribe here to get all the posts from the Social Media Leader in the Cruise Industry.

Social Fresh Cruisers at the Bon Voyage Party

@CruiseSource with @Uftukel at the #SoCruise BonVoyage Tweetup

@CruiseSource @93Octane & @CouchsurfingOri

All Pictures taken by Blancastella.

Happy Sailing,
Rich Tucker
@CruiseSource