Cruise Planners Partners With Marino Campus to Offer Student Internships

WHY IT RATES: Cruise Planners continues its commitment to giving back despite COVID-19 closures. —Janeen Christoff, TravelPulse Senior Writer

Early in the year, Cruise Planners committed to providing a comprehensive internship experience to prepare young adults of various abilities for independence and job readiness in partnership with the Dan Marino Foundation’s Marino Campus. When the COVID-19 pandemic posed a new risk to derail the internship program until next year, Cruise Planners proposed a virtual internship to support the commitment it made to the students.

For almost thirty years, the Dan Marino Foundation’s mission is to empower individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities. Cruise Planners was not going to let any obstacle get in the way of its participants. At Cruise Planners, its diverse team members come from different backgrounds and cultures, yet three things unite the team: a passion for travel, commitment to one another and a shared vision of success.

Unstoppable Innovation

Cruise Planners' Information Technology team was integral in facilitating the internship program, which required students to complete over 300 internship hours. The Marino Campus offers coursework in the areas of independent living and life skills in addition to Hospitality and Computer Technology.

Cruise Planners supported the Marino Campus educational model by blending classroom instruction, business internships and social enrichment opportunities to equip students for a professional career. Students Braedon Shevitz and Chris Landry completed two programs as part of their virtual internship experiences: Microsoft Office Specialist and IT fundamentals. The internship proved to be fruitful as Landry applied his hands-on learning experience from Cruise Planners to land a new job in his chosen field.

"We are extremely excited to have leveraged our technological infrastructure as one of the first virtual internship sites with the Dan Marino Foundation’s Marino Campus program," says Vicky Garcia, COO, and co-owner of Cruise Planners. "As the nation's largest home-based travel advisor franchise network, where you can run your business virtually from anywhere, we felt the students could benefit greatly from a remote internship."

CP Cares

For years, CP Cares, a corporate initiative spearheaded by the organization's leadership, has activated its team members to support fundraising efforts and accrue hundreds of hours volunteering for various charities including Shoes for Africa, Forgotten Soldiers Outreach and, most notably, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS.)

Cruise Planners believes that differences in age, race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, physical ability, religion, education and background bring richness and creativity to the work environment. Diversity within the Home Office Team and travel franchise community is celebrated.

We've received a lot of great feedback and excitement from our Home Office Team upon announcing the partnership with the Foundation, which is a testament to our beliefs that diversity and inclusion are integral to creating a community within the workplace," says Garcia.

SOURCE: Cruise Planners press release.