First there was Agentpalooza. Then it was business-honing workshops.
This year, Carnival Cruise Line's summer program for travel advisors will offer a virtual introduction to Celebration Key, Carnival's private beach destination scheduled to open on Grand Bahama in July 2025.
The "Your Peek at Paradise" series will give advisors a look at Celebration Key and offer insights from Carnival's leadership about the destination's vision, design and development.
The series will kick off in Miami on June 8, followed by events in Baltimore on July 13, Atlanta on Aug. 17 and Chicago on Sept. 14, which will overlap with a virtual event that day. Each event will be limited to 400 people, while the virtual event will be open to 5,000 advisors.
Travel advisors from the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico are invited. To register, go to GoCCL.com. Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis.
"We're spending $500 million on this exclusive destination, and we thought it would be a good way to give the opportunity for agents to have some fun and have them really get immersed in what they can expect at Celebration Key," said Adolfo Perez, Carnival's senior vice president of global sales and trade marketing.
Agents will see spaces built out to resemble elements of the private island, such as the destination's centerpiece sand castle with a slide on it. They will also have access to virtual reality interactive spaces, a Calypso Lagoon walkway, performances from a Bahamian Junkanoo band and samples of Bahamian food, like conch fritters.
Registered travel advisors will be offered a chance to win an early access trip to Celebration Key before it opens -- 10 grand-prize winners will be announced throughout the summer. Fifteen others will win a $500 gift card.
Perez said Carnival does not yet have a Celebration Key fam trip planned.
"That's something that is definitely high on my list. It's not confirmed yet, but it's definitely on my list of things that we'd like to do," he said.