WHAT IS CAST ON?

Welcome to our first edition of Cast On! We are excited to introduce our affiliates e-newsletter. This quarterly newsletter will contain information on how to earn greater commissions through upcoming specials & sales tips.

For starters, we have two newsletters, Cast On for affiliates and Cast Off for customers. Cast On, our e-newsletter for affiliates, comes out quarterly and will introduce the next three Cast Off newsletters. Cast Off is our e-newsletter for customers featuring our different trips. Cast On for affiliates will introduce you to our trips with selling tips as well as ideas about how you can most effectively use current promotions.

Craft Cruises wants to build excitement about upcoming trips by giving additional information about the destinations, instructors, and classes. We'll give insider travel tips, selling points, incentives, printable versions of Cast Off, web banners, and more!

KNOW THE WORLD YOU SELL

Being excited about various destinations makes recommending trips easy. Take a little time to learn a few things about the places we visit. We pick popular cruising destinations with the greatest appeal to our customers. We select travel dates for a reason. Perhaps the weather is best, crowds are minimal or there are special activities and events happening. Private shore events are offered on every trip. Being familiar with these events is helpful since these are often strong motivators for participants.

Destination excitement combined with the love for the art of the craft is little more than most affiliates need to get the word out about our trips. Traveling with like minded people to exciting destinations is really what Craft Cruises is all about.

CANADA & NEW ENGLAND

The January Cast Off newsletter features one of our most popular destinations, Canada and New England. Not only is this a lovely itinerary but there are private shore events in Maine and Nova Scotia. Plus, this is our most affordable cruise this year onboard Royal Caribbean! This ten day sailing Sept. 29 - Oct. 8, 2011 onboard the Explorer of the Seas sailing round trip from Cape Liberty, NJ. There will be a pre-cruise NYC Yarn Crawl, Joan Schrouder and Donna Druchunas are the expert instructors teaching onboard and in Halifax the group will meet Cat Bordhi, Lucy Neatby and Kathryn Thomas (the Fleece Artist herself).

Sales Tips for this Trip

This cruise is easy and affordable and is at the beginning of the fall foliage season. Unlike summertime cruises to New England, where heat waves can bring temperatures in the triple digits, early October is a lovely time to visit.

Joan Schrouder has been one of the most sought after instructors for decades in the knitting world with her classes easily filling up at national events. To enjoy more time with her family Joan is teaching very little so taking a cruise with her is a great opportunity to learn from this master knitter.

Sales Tips for Royal Caribbean

Royal Caribbean is is an easy cruise line to recommend. Royal Caribbean is the leader when it comes to mainstream cruise lines. Royal Caribbean operates a fleet of modern super- and megaliners. Royal Caribbean consistently wins honors as the best mass-market cruise line and has a loyal customer base of repeat cruisers. This knitting cruise definitely offers something for everyone and attracts many non-particicpating travel companions.

Affiliate Incentive Tip

We expect the classes on this cruise to fill up early so advance booking is recommended. This cruise is affordable and easy since it sails round trip from Cape Liberty, a port in easy proximity to all three of the major NYC airports. For all bookings made within two weeks of receiving the newsletter each knitting participant will receive a $25 gift certificate for shopping at Halcyon Yarns in Bath, ME. And for affiliates, we'll match this with a $25 commission bonus.

SCANDINAVIAN GETAWAY W/ LILY CHIN

The February Cast Off newsletter will feature our Scandinavian Getaway cruise with Lily Chin (formerly with Karen Alfke who is now teaching on our Danube Waltz trip December 4, 2011). This cruise is designed for those who want to visit Europe but don't have two weeks for a longer cruise. This cruise includes the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Sweden with world famous Lily Chin. Lily, unlike many knitting instructors, has a strong foundation in tailoring and design and is an expert knitting and crocheting instructor who teaches both knitting and crocheting on all her cruises with us.

Before the cruise participants can visit the Louet Spinning & Weaving factory, can take up to 12 class hours onboard Holland America's Ryndam, and will have private fiber events and shopping excursions along the way. In Copenhagen the group will visit Somerfuglen, the largest yarn shop in Denmark, for trunk shows by world renown knitwear designers Helga Isager and Vivian Hoxbro.

Sales Tips for this Trip

Lily Chin is one of our most sought after instructors. She is a very famous published designer who teaches all over the world. This cruise sails round trip from Rotterdam (fly into Amsterdam) and is the most affordable Europe cruise we've offered. Unlike most Europe cruises this cruise features a great itinerary in only 7 days. So for those who only get a week off you can easily fly to Europe, spend a night or two in Amsterdam and still visit three other countries with two full days at sea to enjoy a knitting program of up to 12 class-hours. Any participant booking this cruise within 2 weeks of receiving the Scandinavian Getaway newsletter will receive a complimentary Lily Chin knitting or crocheting book.

Sales Tips for Holland America

Holland America is Europe's leading premium cruise line. This cruise is onboard the ms Ryndam, which is a vessel holding an average of fewer than 1,400 passengers. Holland America offers exceptional and unobtrusive service and really appeals to a more mature and sophisticated segment of cruise travelers. And, because Rotterdam is Holland America's original world headquarters, you can still see their original offices as you cruise out of port and for those who are looking for something totally unique you can stay in a suite on the old Rotterdam ship that was retired but is still used as a hotel for guests staying in Rotterdam before their cruise.

Affiliate Incentive Tip

This cruise needs to be promoted immediately! This seven night cruise is filling up quickly but we have a few more spots to fill so are giving added incentive for promotion. If you promote this trip you will earn DOUBLE the affiliate commission on any bookings on our May 29-June 5 Scandinavian Getaway sailing. Start promoting this one today!

BOOK ALL YOUR CRUISES WITH US!

The March Cast Off newsletter features the idea that Craft Cruises has been specializing in cruise vacations since 1989 and can help your referrals plan any cruise vacation they wish. While Craft Cruises is the industry leader in educational craft cruises our experts can also assist with personally planning individual cruise vacations, family reunions and any other type of group imaginable. Refer your friends, family members and colleagues who want to plan anything from a world cruise or a short getaway and you can earn commission on every cruise they take!

Everyone here at Craft Cruises not only specialize cruise planning but we are very well traveled. Because we personally escort groups of cruisers all over the world our first hand knowledge ranks high.

Craft Cruises always offers our best price guarantee on every cruise. In most cases Craft Cruises can beat the best price offered by the cruise line and if the price drops later on the sailing date and category your referrals want they can just give us a call and we'll have the cruise line adjust the pricing.

GENERAL SALES TIPS FOR SELLING CRAFT CRUISES

Every quarter we will feature in this section tips on selling Craft Cruises in general. For our very first newsletter I will emphasize what has made our trips so successful from the very beginning and that is - COMMUNITY. It is the instant community one experiences from the second they begin their Craft Cruise experience to the end, after the trip and on future trips. We create unique once in a lifetime experience where people with a common interest come together to travel. The shared travel experience combined with meeting locals who share your passion make our trips totally unique and rewarding.

Who cruises with us? A wide range of people from all backgrounds and income levels. Our age range can be anywhere from 5-100 depending on if you are on one of our Craft Cruises for Kids where grandparents and parents are encouraged to bring someone who they feel would enjoy learning to hand-craft or are traveling with your adult children. Craft Cruises attracts singles, couples, groups of friends and multi-generations of families who enjoy learning new things together and travel.

We attract couples, as well as singles who are married but their spouses either cannot travel or lack the interest, we attract singles who are widowed and like the comfort of traveling with others as well as singles who just love the shared travel experience. Craft Cruises can either arrange solo passage or allow participation in our single share program. Our single share programs is one of the best in the industry because participants are pre-qualified and introduced to others seeking roommates so they can personally determine compatibility.

JANUARY - MARCH 2011

Our consumer newsletter will feature sales incentives for customers and our affiliate newsletter will feature incentives for affiliates as well as those for consumers.

Consumer Incentives

January
January - "Canada & New England" newsletter participants will get a $25 Halcyon Yarn gift certificate

February
"Scandinavian Getaway" newsletter participants will get a free Lily Chin knitting or crocheting book

March
"Book ALL your cruises with us!" newsletter get an extra 5% off the lowest price available on all non-Craft Cruise sponsored trips for March

Affiliate Incentives

January
"Canada & New England" newsletter affiliates earn an extra $25 per participant bonus

February
"Scandinavian Getaway" newsletter affiliates earn double commission UNTIL SOLD OUT

March
"Book ALL your cruises with us!" affiliates can offer an extra 5% off ALL non-Craft Cruise cruises in March

Affiliates also earn DOUBLE COMMISSION on these sailings:

Scandinavian Getaway May 29 - June 5 , 2011 w/ Lily Chin

Bermuda Knitting Cruise July 17-24, 2011 w/ Judy Pascale

Bermuda Craft Cruises for Kids for kids July 17-24, 2011 w/ The Handwork Studio.

Call today to learn more on how to become a successful affiliate! We are here to help you.