About Us
Cruise Ambassadors’ management and advisory board members have extensive experience and credentials in the cruise and travel industry. We believe that cruise vacations represent exceptional value and opportunities and have created our Ambassador program so that cruise enthusiasts can share their passion with others and earn supplemental income from their efforts.
Anthony J. Persico – Chairman. Mr. Persico is a veteran cruise and travel executive. He has held management positions in the tourism sector for more than 35 years including Liberty Travel, Go Go Tours, and Puerto Rico Tourism. He was also a principal in the first cruise agency marketing consortium – The Cruise Authority which opened in 1979. Mr. Persico founded Cruise World in 1989, a chain of cruise agencies in the Northeast U.S. In 1992 he founded and was CEO of CruiseOne, the first franchised home based cruise travel retail company. The company was sold in 2000 to a public company and today is part of World Travel Holdings, which is the largest retailer seller of cruises in the world. Currently Mr. Persico is a principal in Home Care One, a health services provider.
Joe Ewart – CEO Mr. Ewart has more than 30 years experience in the cruise industry with a career that includes executive roles with cruise lines and as an entrepreneur in the retail travel sector. Following sales and marketing management positions at Norwegian Cruise Lines, in 1984 he founded Cruise Holidays International which was the first store front cruise-only franchise. In 1999, he joined CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. as vice president of sales and marketing until 2007 when he left to develop CruiseJungle Holdings. Mr. Ewart is the creator of the Cruise Ambassadors concept. In 2005, Mr. Ewart was among the first six inductees into the Cruise Lines International Association Hall of Fame along with the founder of Carnival Cruise Lines.
David Christopher – Advisory Board Member. Mr. Christopher has an extensive background in cruise line management. He has served as Executive Vice President of Costa Cruises and in other positions with the line. He was also Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Commodore & Crown Cruise Lines and Vice President of Sales for Ocean Cruise Lines. In 1980 as Director of Passenger Services for NCL, he was instrumental in developing the shore side procedures to manage the introduction of the SS Norway – at the time the largest ship in the world.
Ronald Kurtz –Advisory Board Member Mr. Kurtz is currently President of The American Research Center and Management Resource Group. Prior to founding MRG, Ron’s experience included over twenty years in general management and senior marketing positions in both large and entrepreneurial organizations competing in U.S. and international markets. His travel sector experience includes management positions with Pan Am and American Express. He was the founding president of Sea Goddess Cruises and served as the chief marketing officer of Norwegian Cruise Line, Windstar Sail Cruises, and The French Line. He holds an MBA from Harvard University
About our fulfillment partner, Cruise Planners
Cruise Ambassadors has entered into an agreement with one of the country’s cruise retailers, Cruise Planners/ American Express to service all clients generated by our programs. Cruise Planners has been in business since 1994 and has more than 725 independent franchise operators throughout the U.S. Cruise Planners is a member of Cruise Lines International Association and is the number 1 ranked business in its category in the Entrepreneur Magazine 2009 Franchise 500. In addition, the company was named Royal Caribbean International Partner of the Year for 2008. The company has been consistently ranked as a top producer for all major cruise line for more than 15 years.