It's Showtime!!!



Charlotte Lawson, our NCL rep

Well, it's that time of year again.  We are definitely in Wave Season, as the cruise lines call it, when the wave of bookings for vacations for the year, picks up steam and culminates in a tsunami as we had last Sunday.  On January 30th, we held our 24th Annual Cruise & Vacation Supermarket at the Cool Springs Marriott in Franklin, TN.  After a very, very snowy week, we didn't know what to expect.  But on that day, the weather was perfect - 50 degrees and overcast.  

Sabrina Hampton, one of our agents





  

We set up our show the night prior and all of our reps from our travel providers were in town getting ready for our show.  We had done all the right things.  Our advertising had been effective and people were calling our office and the hotel daily to get more details.  The unknown in this equation was how many people would show up and how much business we would book.  As it turned out, everything gelled perfectly.  We opened the doors at 10:00 am and about 100 people swarmed in.  By 10:30, our reservations area was full.  By 11:30, we had a line waiting to see an agent to make a reservation.   What an incredible day!!! 

By the end of the day over 3000 had come through our doors.  They attended our seminars on Alaska, Europe and the Caribbean.  They visited the Holland America Alaska motorcoach parked outside the hotel.  The won hundreds of door prizes from our travel providers.  And, they booked vacations - lots and lots of vacations and cruises!!!  We are still booking vacations as hard and fast as we can.  If you were unable to attend, you can still take advantage of our show specials and super sail deals by clicking here.  

We could not pull this show off without the support of our travel providers - Sandals, Island Routes, Travel Impressions, Regent Seven Seas, Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, Apple Vacations & AM Resorts, Holland America Line, Carnival Cruise Lines, Princess Cruises, Cunard, Globus Family (Avalon Waterways, Globus, Cosmos, & Monograms), Azamara Club Cruises, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, and Celebrity Cruises.

The room at 10:30 am

Here's some more pictures from our show.  Don't you deserve a vacation this year?

Royal Caribbean's booth was very busy all day

Celeste Pevahouse with Princess and Cunard



Erin Miller with Apple Vacations and Carlos Gonzalez with AM Resorts

Dawn Bolte and Kyle Brock with Sandals



Steve Smith from Oceania Cruises



Tracie Mosley with Carnival







Welcome to Outta Here!

For months I've thought that our company, Just Cruisin' Plus, needed a company blog. After some coaxing from family and friends, I finally got off my duff and have started writing. Some days, I'll write. Some days Charlie, my hubby and business partner, will write. We'll post information on vacations, destinations and some "insider" info as well. If you have something you're interested in, let us know and we'll research it for you. If you have questions about travel, ask away. We may not know all the answers, but we will know someone who can help us find them.

By the way, I'm Sherrie Funk, and I started this little company out of the basement of our home in 1981. This was during the time when the term "home-based" was unheard of. In 1982, I moved 3000 people to the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville. Anyone remember those wonderful Petros made with Fritos, chili, and cheese? No cholesterol there. But, oh, so good!

This venture led to sending more and more people away on incentive trips and primarily dealing with groups. We took groups of UT Vol fans to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans and Vandy fans to Birmingham for a bowl game there. We even took Vandy fans to the Great Alaskan Shootout in Anchorage. School groups, church groups, every type of groups you can imagine became our specialty.

However, some of these group members soon wanted us to book their individual vacations. So, in 1987, we bought my partner out, changed the name and direction of the company and re-surfaced on Jan. 4, 1988, as Just Cruisin', Tennessee's first cruise only agency. Two years later, we realized that we needed to book more than just cruises, so we added the "Plus" to our name.

In 1990, we were named Carnival Cruise Lines' "Agency of the Year", an honor we cherish today. We have won numerous awards from all of the major cruise lines over the years. Now, we focus on vacations of any type - cruise, land-based travel, escorted tours, group travel, incentive travel, river cruises in Europe, China, Egypt and Russia.

Hope you'll subscribe to our blog, and encourage others to do the same. By the way, be sure to visit our website at http://www.jcp.travel/.

Welcome!