The Toronto Star. Monday, November 8, 1993 Our love for adventure lets her cruise to success. Art Chamberlain Mary Jean Trankina has exploited a niche in the travel market to develop a thriving business selling cruises. Now, she's spotted an even smaller niche that she hopes will let Cruise Professionals Ltd. keep on growing. "Canadians love to travel" says Trankina, who operates the largest cruise-only agency in Canada and the third-biggest in North America from her Mississauga office. Trankina started the company in 1987 with a tiny second-floor office and one employee. Today she has 12 employees, 3,400 square feet on the ground floor and plans to expand to the second floor, with a spiral staircase to the new incentive travel division. The office is open seven days a week, except in the summer when it closes on Sundays. With its North America-wide 800 number it does active business with Canadian snowbirds in Florida, thanks to its ads in papers down there. Trankina was working as district sales manager for Norwegian Cruise Lines when she started visiting Toronto. Looking at ads in local travel sections she kept wondering why people only bought cruises from tour operators, instead of dealing directly with the cruise lines. Spotting a chance to under-cut prices charged by tour operators, Trankina set up her business buying directly from the lines. The cruise business has been booming but competition is fierce, with 159 ships from more than 50 lines. Because of all the new ships that have just come into service, cruise prices are lower than they were seven years ago, Trankina says. "I'm working three times as hard for half the money, because prices have gone down." Her mark-up is 15 per cent, which doesn't leave much on a $1,000 cruise package after paying for couriers to deliver tickets and other expenses. However, the year ended April 30 was her most profitable ever. "I lost money the first year, but everybody loses money when they start a business. But I've been in the black ever since." Trankina says she gets great deals from the cruise lines because of the volume of business she does. During busy periods, the Cruise Professionals books 20 to 25 cruises a day. Over the years, the company has handled many groups and Trankina has decided to aggressively go after group tours and incentive packages that companies provide to top staff and sales people. She's hired a vice-president with experience in the travel incentive business and set up a separate division to hustle business. "For meetings, the nice thing about a ship is that it offers everything a hotel can offer, but it's all contained and you have a captive audience. Meeting planners don't need to worry about where people will eat, whether they need cabs to get there. All those extra details." Trankina spent $187,000 on advertising last year and is a strong believer in making a company's name known. "I love my work, I've taken 126 cruises over the years," Trankina says. Her staff is always travelling to gather information on new ships and new destinations. The information they bring back is part of the service Trankina stresses. "Matching people with the right ship is our greatest strength. Anybody can sell a cruise from a brochure. We've been on the ships and know what you'll find." "I want people to come back again and again. I want to offer the best price and the best service so people will tell their parents, and their friends."   Back         Top of Page

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