Meetings & Events at Sea

There is no travel experience quite like a cruise, where you visit multiple beautiful destinations, experience world-class entertainment, enjoy fine cuisines, all while making a home away from home in a comfortable and well-appointed stateroom. But cruise ships are also incredible choices for any sort of event—from strategic planning meetings, seminars and training, employee incentives, customer rewards, and more—you could even plan a complete conference and have the ship entirely to yourself with a custom charter!

Throughout our experience in the travel business, we at Outward Travel have had the pleasure of participating in several events at sea—including training, and both big and small conferences. With our extensive background in event planning and experience design, we are uniquely able to help you design an event that suits your unique internal goals or important customer outcomes. Plus, custom events and groups are available on all types of cruises, including the large ocean ships, river cruises, luxury small-ship, and superyacts; when it comes to planning a cruise event, you are only limited by your imagination.

Cruises are All-in-One Venues for Special Events, Meetings, & Conferences

Reward Your Employees or Entice Your Customers

If your employees have gone above and beyond, rewarding them with a cruise is incredibly cost effective for you and and an ultra-high value for them. Research has shown that employees value rewards in the form of experiences and gifts more than simple extra cash, and allowing them to bring their significant others or families engenders even deeper loyalty and goodwill on your team.

This notion of reward and loyalty extends to your customers, too! Whether you are rewarding your top distributors, thanking your most lucrative clients, or building an event to recruit new high-value clients, a cruise offers a low-pressure venue for building those critical relationships. With meeting spaces onboard, you can sprinkle important discussions throughout the trip without impinging on their relaxation or time with their families.

Host Trainings and Seminars

When you need to train your people, or you want to sell your unique insight to customers, cruises are an ideal venue. A conference room in an office park or convention hall is sterile and uninspiring, and when the meeting is over, your guests' brains are dulled and they'll forget everything as they battle traffic home. But on a cruise ship, that conference room is in the midst of a 360° experience that relaxes the body and invigorates the mind, so your guests not only remember what you said, but their calmer state helps them internalize and remember it.

Moreover, there is so much more to hosting a training or seminar at sea than the meeting room itself. Special dining options, cocktail parties, and most of the public spaces can be reserved just for you! Create a truly special event that they will remember you, and your content, fondly for.

Build a Special Event That's Uniquely You

When you have an idea for how to improve people's lives, or share unique content, or simply gather people with similar passions or interests, Outward Travel can help you host your event on a cruise.Special Events aren't just for corporations—content creators, special interest groups, churches, heritage groups, and every other sort of people can build an event that is affordable, fascinating, and fun. Plus, when you create an event that people want to attend, it not only improves your brand image or connection with similar people, it can generate profit for you, too.

At Outward Travel, we specialize in building custom events and helping to craft these sorts of meaningful experiences. We can help with everything from planning, to promotion and recruitment, to running the event on-ship for you. If you've got a crazy idea, we'd love to hear it.

Groups of Any Size Can Host Meetings & Events on Cruise Ships

Even if you have a couple dozen people, or hundreds or even a thousand (or more), cruise ships are a perfect venue for your meeting, conference, or special social event.

Meeting Rooms

Most ocean cruise ships have meeting rooms and conference centers, and often at no charge. They can be configured in almost any way, offer wide audio/visual options, and can be complimented by refreshments.

Theater Spaces

If you need to host a large general session, special show, or church gathering, the large theater spaces can be reserved for you, too.

Lounges & Bars

Enjoy a private cocktail hour in the beautiful onboard lounges and bars. Food and refreshment are made available for a nominal cost and you have the space all to yourself.

Group Dinners

A section of the main dining room can be reserved for your group each day, so that you always enjoy your dinners together. You can also choose to buy out the specialty restaurants for an extra special evening together.

Exclusive Activites

Ocean cruise ships have a huge collection of incredible activities onboard, like ice skating rinks, bumper cars, laser tag, sports facilities, and water parks. You can arrange to have these facilities reserved for just your group for some awesome team building.

Custom Shore Excursions

Take a special trip ashore—from a particular historical site to museums or even volunteer opportunities—so your group can continue bonding in another beautiful place in the world.

Customization options vary by cruise line and ship.

Custom Charters Give You A Cruise Ship To Yourself

When you charter a cruise ship, the possibilities for customization are endless. You have the ship to command, and your gathering will amaze and inspire your guests like nothing you can achieve on land. It's all the pomp and glitz of Las Vegas combined with the ease and luxury of a beach resort, but 100% dedicated to you and your people.

Charters are a better option than conference centers and sprawling hotels for conferences, corporate gatherings, or large networking events. They're also perfect for social events where you want to gather likeminded people from around the world, or when you want to create a totally custom travel offering and almost run your own cruise (with none of the headaches of actually running a cruise line!).

Why Charter a Cruise Ship

• You have the freedom to craft the perfect experience in every onboard space without worrying about time limits or other guests.
• Phenomenal networking opportunities with everyone in the same space—no splitting events over multiple hotels in a hot, dusty town.
• Pervasive branding—your logo and messages can be spread throughout the ship, from banners & signage to cocktail napkins and cookies.
• Unique itineraries—choose the ports of call, and the length of time spent in each, to accommodate your guests' interests and needs.
• Engage the onboard team to facilitate your event—the cruise director is your emcee and the crew becomes your event staff.
• Built-in activites for spouses and kids—when the families can come, more people are likely to attend.

Customization options vary by cruise line and ship.

Outward Travel Makes Meetings & Events Simple

At Outward Travel, we work hard to help your meeting, event, or special gathering go off without a hitch. Depending on your specific needs, our expert approach to planning, preparing, and execution will ensure your attendees have a successful, productive, and restorative trip: