2007 Pizza Cruise Blows Attendees Out of the Water!
By Tom Boyles

The weather could have not been more perfect for the very first Pizza Cruise and the 48 attendees who soaked up the sun in St. Thomas, St. Maarten and Nassau. They came home with suntans and notebooks filled with information from the seven seminars, workshops and panel discussions. Their cameras were packed full of photos from the beaches, shore excursions and onboard events and shows. A few even came home with full pockets from the ship’s casino and everyone talked about the second annual Pizza Cruise that will take place next year.

We would like to start out thanking Sharon Viotto and Cruise Planners for an absolutely flawless trip. Due to their planning and execution, every seminar, dinner and party went off without even the slightest glitch. As everyone arrived on Saturday, the ship’s crew grabbed their bags, which magically appeared in nearly everyone’s cabin before they could wave goodbye to Port Canaveral and the Pizza Cruise began.

On the first night, PMQ hosted a Welcome Party in the ship’s Cinn-A-Bar, where everyone got to meet their fellow travel companions and have a few drinks. Eager to get an early start in Nassau the next morning, many Pizza Cruisers turned in early while some chose to head to the casino, nightclubs, and all-you-can-eat buffets. The next morning everyone headed out in different directions to explore Nassau.

Monday was a Fun Day at Sea on the Carnival ship Glory. Tom Lehmann started out the seminar and workshop sessions that day by hosting his Tom Lehmann Unleashed Seminar/Workshop where the Dough Doctor helped solve dough problems, discussed the nuances of dough prep, management and forming methods and held a question and answer session. Later that day the U.S. Pizza team held a dough throwing workshop in the ships main restaurant where kids and parents alike learned a few of the dough tossing tricks the pros use. After the USPT did a few tricks for the kitchen staff, the ship’s entertainment coordinator asked if they would do a demonstration in the gallery in the shopping area of the ship…as a matter of fact, the Pizza Team was asked back on Friday for an encore performance. Monday’s seminar sessions concluded with a panel discussion with PMQ’s Publisher Steve Green, Fox’s Pizza Den Founder Jim Fox, former member of GFS’s A-Team “Pizza Paul” Nyland and PMQ’s Editor-in-Chief Tom Boyles, who talked about working with food distributors, keys to succeeding in the pizza business and operational issues.

Tuesday and Wednesday served up more island life as Pizza Cruisers scatter out across St. Thomas and St. Maarten. Each island had its own unique offerings depending on what you wanted to do. There was some great shopping along with scuba and snorkeling sessions you could go on and even one shore excursion where you could go deep-sea fishing. Of course there were a couple of golf courses for the golfers and even an onboard golf pro on the ship who could arrange priority tee times.

Thursday and Friday concluded the Pizza Cruise with two more Fun Days at Sea. While on the Carnival Glory, passengers had their choice of activities. Some chose to soak up some much need sunshine on the Ledo deck at one of the two swimming pools, kids hit the arcades, some took advantage of the ships spas and massage treatments. Most of the pizza operators chose to attend Pizza Cruise seminars, which included seminars by Steve Green on the 10 Best Ways to Sell More Pizza and a Marketing Show and Tell session where Steve shared his collection of the best marketing pieces he has gathered over the years. There was also another session by Tom Lehmann called “Beyond the Crust” where he discussed breads, subs and rolls. The seminars concluded with a seminar by Tom Boyles on Emerging Global Pizza Trends that talked about gluten-free pizza, youth marketing, take-and-bake and other trends from around the globe.

Like all good things, the Pizza Cruise came to an end. Everyone came to the White Heat Disco for the Pizza Cruise Farewell Party, sponsored by Sharon Viotto and Cruise Planners, for drinks and to exchange contact information and photos. Thanks to Sharon for the great party.

Look through the photo album we have assembled and see what you missed, but don’t let missing this year’s Pizza Cruise bother you too much…there is always 2008. Sign up for PMQ’s email newsletters online for updates on the 2nd Annual Pizza Cruise or keep an eye on www.PizzaCruise.com for more details for 2008.