TPN Chats: The Power of In Person Events and Cruise World 2026 with Cat Brask of Northstar Travel Group

July 6th, 2026 – In this episode of TPN Chat, Andy Ogg sits down with Cat Brask, Senior Director of Marketing for Northstar Travel Group’s retail events, for a candid conversation about why in-person industry events still matter more than ever — and what Cruise World, taking place November 4-6 in Fort Lauderdale, delivers that a webinar simply can’t. It’s a strong case for face-to-face learning at a moment when almost everything else in the travel industry is happening on a screen.

 

Cat oversees the events produced in partnership with Travel Weekly, Travel Age West, TravelPulse, and Agent at Home — brands that have shaped the travel advisor community for decades. She and Andy dig into why webinars and Zoom calls, however convenient, can’t replicate what happens when advisors are 100% present in a room with peers, suppliers, and executives who are actively shaping where the industry is headed. As Cat puts it in the episode: it’s hard to really lock in on a keynote when you’re folding laundry.

 

The conversation walks through exactly what advisors experience at Cruise World — from main-stage keynotes and CEO interviews conducted by Travel Weekly’s new editor-in-chief Johanna Jainchill, to the Exhibitor Showcase where hundreds of supplier companies exhibit and cruise line CEOs literally step off the stage to shake hands and take photos with attendees. Cat also breaks down the semi-hosted STAR program, which offsets registration and hotel costs so more advisors can experience the event and access some STAR-only programming both before and during the show.

 

New for 2026: the peer-to-peer sessions are being organized into experience-based tracks — one for advisors new to the industry, one for those chasing their first million-dollar year, and one for established agency owners — with 30-minute workshops led by some of the industry’s most successful advisors. Our own Jesse Morris will be hosting a session on behalf of Travel Professional News, joining a peer-to-peer program that has consistently earned top ratings from attendees year after year.

 

Plus, ship tours on November 7-8 with a current lineup that includes the Celebrity Silhouette, MSC World America, Norwegian Luna, Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas, Explora III, Regal Princess, and Virgin Voyages’ Resilient Lady — with more expected to be added throughout the summer. And if you register today using code HBTA, you’ll save $25 off the current rate (the code doesn’t expire, but rates do climb as the event gets closer). Watch the full conversation below, and find the complete transcript underneath.

 

 

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Andy Ogg: Welcome to the Travel Professional News Podcast, your essential source for staying ahead in the travel industry. Thank you for joining us. My name is Andy Ogg with TravelProfessionalNews.com, FindAHostTravelAgency.com, and HomeBasedTravelAgent.com.

I wear the shades because I’m blind and I got a wonky eye, so please excuse how cool I look. I know Cat’s over there just staring at me going, “Man, that is a handsome-looking old man.”

Today I am so happy to be joined by my friend, a long-time friend, I’ve known this lady for a while, Cat Brask. She’s with… gosh, give me the actual terminology of your title nowadays?

 

Cat Brask: Yeah, so I am officially the Senior Director of Marketing for Northstar Travel Group’s retail events, which encompasses the events that are produced in partnership with Travel Weekly, Travel Age West, TravelPulse, and Agent at Home. So I know, a lot of different brands, a lot of different logos. But everything that I do is geared towards events in the travel advisor space.

 

Andy Ogg: Very cool. Well, Cat and I — I think the last time we saw each other was probably five, six years ago, when I kind of had to take a backseat due to losing my vision. But for five, six years before that we were seeing each other every year at Cruise World. And my mother Joni actually had kind of a little hand in the creation of this show way back when. How long has Cruise World been going on for now?

 

Cat Brask: Oh, gosh. Cruise World has had a number of different iterations and even names. It’s morphed over the years, so that makes it a little hard to pinpoint exactly when Cruise World started and was launched. But I have been with the company for 12 years, and it was very much well-established in the industry before I even started. And that’s where I first met your mom — working on Cruise World and actually our GTM events as well.

 

Andy Ogg: Yep, I remember that. So don’t worry — she’s still alive and kicking. Definitely enjoying being a grandma and a dog mom very much. She’s doing quite well. She’s not traveling as much. I think she’s over airplanes a little bit.

 

Cat Brask: Yeah, we definitely miss having her at our events. I think the last time I saw her, she and I actually co-hosted Cruise World’s signature Think Tank. I want to say that was maybe in 2023.

 

Andy Ogg: I think you’re absolutely right. That’s a good memory.

Well, so today we’re talking about what you do, and really I want to hone in on what going to these events can do for a travel advisor in today’s world. Because it’s so easy to stay home. It is so easy to join webinars. It is so easy to do these Zoom meetings. But being face to face, shaking hands, drinking coffee and enjoying each other’s company, I think is a very powerful thing for an advisor that’s either just getting their foot in the door or even the ones that have been doing this for 10 years. It’s a good reignition, if you will, of reminding themselves how cool this industry is.

What do you see when people come to these events? And more focus here on Cruise World, since it’s happening this November — what do you see when people attend?

 

Cat Brask: Yeah, so as I mentioned, our events — Cruise World, GTM — we also produce another event called Future Leaders. So there’s a lot that we do in the travel industry, and all of our events are geared towards travel advisors and what they need to develop, to build relationships with one another and with suppliers.

And Andy, you hit the nail on the head. There’s so much available to advisors in terms of education through webinars and training platforms offered by brands like Travel Weekly and Travel Age West, as well as from the suppliers directly. But it really does not replace that face-to-face interaction and that in-person learning. Because we all know, you put a webinar on and you start maybe washing the dishes or folding laundry, and then you get an email from a client and you kind of have to answer that and tune out.

But when you are on-site at an event, you are 100% present, and the learning just becomes at a higher level because you’re there, you’re focused, and you have goals and you understand what you’re wanting to accomplish out of that event. I really think that in today’s digital world, being constantly attached to our phones, it provides an opportunity to lock in and get the most out of what is being offered to you in person.

And we do a really, really good job of making sure that your time out of the office is beneficial and valuable, because we know that advisors today are pulled in a million different directions — whether it’s work in general, but then you also have your personal lives and your family and your hobbies and your interests. So when you are at our events, we cram a lot into the few days we have. For Cruise World, that’s specifically three days. This year that’s November 4th, 5th, and 6th — Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

We want to make that time as valuable as possible to get you connected with as many people as possible. Because being out of your office is a big investment in your time. And it’s a financial investment too, to participate in the events with hotel and air and registration. So we want to make sure that you get the most out of it and that investment in yourself is going to pay off over and over again.

But people always tell us that they leave feeling energized, like you said — reinvigorated with new ideas, refreshed. They got to connect with old friends, they got to meet new people. It’s really just a pleasure to head home having seen so many people and being very fulfilled by the experience they have at Cruise World.

 

Andy Ogg: I think that’s very true. And one of the things that I really noticed the last time I went — I want to say it was around 2018, 2019, possibly was the last year I went — I remember that particular show was packed. It was a big show, a lot of people there. And I remember meeting so many people, all of them so kind, so excited about their business.

I remember walking up one of the hallways, I think to one of the exhibitor luncheons, and there was an agent there working at one of those little chairs at their desk — they were cranking out bookings while they were there. So the cool part about being a home-based travel advisor is you can work wherever you want to work, even if it’s in the hallway at Cruise World, while you’re still investing in your business. And that point — everyone has to buy a new computer or a new phone every once in a while. But really investing in your knowledge, your connections, your networking as an advisor in 2026, I think is very powerful.

So in terms of connecting with suppliers — we know that BDMs change, ownership of these cruise lines and tour operators and suppliers change. What can an agent kind of dive into and expect when they’re at Cruise World? Do they get to meet some of these vice presidents and presidents there?

 

Cat Brask: Yeah. So there are so many people that come to Cruise World, of all different levels on the supplier side. I’ll just dive in a little bit to how Cruise World is set up and the different components, and then talk about who you can meet during each different component.

So we have general sessions at Cruise World. Some days we have two general sessions, some days we have one general session. This is where all of our advisor attendees are in one place at the same time. And we have our main-stage programming where we’ll have executives, leadership, SVPs of sales, EVPs of marketing. They’re there to give you updates on what is happening with their companies and what is trending in the industry.

We will have Travel Weekly’s new editor-in-chief, Johanna Jainchill, interviewing CEOs on stage from cruise lines. We’ll also have lots of representation from hotels and tourism boards. So you really get to hear what is planned for the future, what is going on directly from these executives. That’s so unique, because you talk about time — we know they’re all pressed for time at those senior levels, but they take the time out of their day and their schedules to come to Cruise World to talk to advisors. Which is so valuable for them to get in front of advisors, and so valuable for you to hear from this leadership.

And it’s also really cool because they’re very accessible. They get off the stage and a lot of times they stay for our Exhibitor Showcase, which is our trade show that happens on Thursday at Cruise World. So you’ll have the opportunity to talk to them, shake their hands, introduce yourself, take a picture with them. A lot of advisors — it’s such a bragging right to take a picture with a CEO of a cruise line and post that on your business account and say, “Hey, I’m a travel advisor who has direct access to these CEOs, that’s hearing directly from these CEOs. Therefore I am educated, I am connected, and I’m the advisor that you want to work with because I am in the same room as these people.”

So that’s who is at our general sessions and on the main stage — that more senior-level executive. And you’re hearing from them in keynotes, interviews, panel discussions.

Then I mentioned the Exhibitor Showcase. That is our one-day trade show where a number of different supplier companies — we have hundreds of them, literally hundreds — participate. And this is not just in the cruise category. We have air, we have hotel, we have tour operator, destinations, we have professional services. You can walk around the trade show floor and meet representatives from those companies.

That’s where the executives will come and pop by and network. But then you’ve got your BDMs there working those booths. So you’re able to connect with maybe your local BDM and meet someone face to face who is that person you’re reaching out to when you have an issue, when you want to learn more, when you want to schedule maybe that webinar, that training for your agency if you’ve got a large agency. Those connections are wonderful as well.

Then we also have supplier workshops at Cruise World. Those take place over Wednesday and Thursday. Our suppliers will host a one-hour workshop where you can choose — we have multiple going on concurrently from different companies. So depending on where you’re looking to grow your business, what you’re looking to learn about, or what your area of expertise is, you can choose who you want to hear from.

And again, sometimes there are multiple people from that company giving presentations. Carnival Corporation does a workshop with representation from each of their cruise lines, which is incredible. So you also get the opportunity to hear from people within the company at all various levels that can help you throughout your career.

It’s nice because we have that variability in title level and responsibility within the various supplier organizations. So the connections are truly infinite on the supplier side.

 

Andy Ogg: Okay, you’re gonna have to refresh me in a second. I know we just published a really, really good piece you guys shared with us on the STAR program — I think it was just a couple weeks ago, we hit that live on TravelProfessionalNews.com. Is the exhibitor training workshop different than the STAR program? Can you tell me the differences there?

 

Cat Brask: Yeah. So as an advisor you can participate in Cruise World one of two ways. The first is traditional registration — you go on our website and you register for the event. We have different rates throughout our cycle. We launched the event earlier in the spring for registration with our lowest rate. Our current registration rate is $325.

For our friends here at Travel Professional News, we have a discount code to get $25 off, which is HBTA. So you can put that in registration, and that gives you access to the general sessions, the supplier workshops, the Exhibitor Showcase, our peer-to-peer sessions — which I think Andy and I will probably chat about a little bit later — and then also the opportunity for ship tours over the weekend. So that’s our traditional registration. It includes access to everything.

Then we have our STAR program, which is a semi-hosted program within Cruise World. I mentioned that coming to the event is an investment in yourself and in your business. We understand that financially that can be a lot to ask of everyone. So we created the STAR program to offset some of those costs so more advisors can come and experience Cruise World and the benefits of Cruise World.

Our STAR program includes complimentary registration. It includes two hotel nights with the event at our host hotels. And then it includes some additional programming both pre-event and during the event. The pre-event programming is virtual. And then during, we have some sessions that are for STAR advisors only.

It is an application process — you can find that on our website at CruiseWorldShow.com. We are looking for full-time travel advisors, full-time sellers of travel, advisors who are looking to grow their business. You’ll have to fill out some information about your annual sales, the size of your agency and your business, the types of travel that you book, what you’re looking to get out of the program. And then we are accepting applications on a rolling basis.

We do always sell out and fill up every single year. So I would encourage anybody who’s interested in potentially participating in the STAR program to get that application in as soon as possible, and to reap those benefits of Cruise World and some of the additional programming.

We hear from people all of the time that Cruise World was the catalyst for them to reach that next level in their career — and then potentially qualify for some of our other events like our GTM event, that advisors have to do $1 million annually minimum in sales to qualify for. So we are really proud of our STAR program, and Travel Weekly is proud to be able to offset those costs to advisors, to be able to invest in the education for the future and in the future success of our industry.

 

Andy Ogg: That is a really cool offering that you guys do to help people get there, help them get that education and really take that next step in their business. That’s really cool.

You mentioned something earlier — the peer-to-peer discussions. Back in the day, I did do my fair share of general sessions — or, not general sessions, would it be peer-to-peer? What was I doing back then?

 

Cat Brask: So you always hosted a sponsored workshop. And then peer-to-peer as well — Joni hosted peer-to-peer. And you guys will have a presence during our peer-to-peer this year — Jesse Morris will be leading a session on behalf of Travel Professional News.

So our peer-to-peer sessions are really unique and honestly one of the things at Cruise World that are always top-rated, because we bring in advisors who are incredibly successful. As I mentioned, a lot of them are former GTM advisors. They are at the height of their careers, the top of their game. And we bring them in to teach 30-minute workshops on Friday. The topics span all types of things — sometimes they’re sales and marketing focused, sometimes they’re brand focused, sometimes they are focused on professional development.

We actually will poll our STAR advisors a lot of the time to see what they want to learn about and what they’re interested in picking the brains of other advisors on. And then we’ll build our sessions around that advisor feedback of — how do I do my first charter? How do I expand into the luxury space? I’m looking to bring on ICs, what does that look like? What are the legalities of it all? So those are the kinds of questions we’ll get from our STAR advisors — they’re looking to solve certain problems or learn certain things.

And then within our network across all of our events — because we meet so many advisors at all the events we host who have these various areas of expertise — we’ll invite them to come and speak. So we host a series of 12 peer-to-peer sessions at Cruise World on Friday.

And we’re doing something cool this year. We haven’t done this in a very long time — we haven’t done this since I have been a part of the event. I know we’ve done it early on. But we are doing tracks. Those tracks are going to be divided up by experience level. So if you are new to the industry, this set of sessions would be appropriate for you. If you are working your way to your first million-dollar mark, these sessions would be worth it for you. And if you are an experienced agency owner, these sessions would probably be most appropriate and applicable to you. So that everybody — it makes it really easy to determine the level of the session that’s going to be taught. We’re really looking forward to that.

These peer-to-peer sessions, people are always rating them top. And Joni has hosted a number of them — like I mentioned, Jesse’s going to be hosting one this year as well. We’ll be publishing the majority of this content at the end of the summer, early fall. So you can look on our website.

One of the great things too is that we record these sessions. We normally have that recording provided by one of our partners. So you can attend one of the sessions live, but you can watch all of the other sessions afterwards on demand. We actually do still have the 2025 sessions available to watch on demand on our website — last year it was sponsored by Viking. So that’s just a really awesome way to see the type of content we provide at Cruise World. Check that out on our website at CruiseWorldShow.com.

 

Andy Ogg: So I’m looking forward to working with Jesse again. He always gets top marks from advisors, and you guys have always had a great presence with those. He’s a really charismatic guy. He’s so successful. I just talked to him maybe a week or two ago. He’s over in Tahiti staying in an overwater bungalow for 12 days. And I went, “Man, not bad. That doesn’t sound like what work should feel like at all.”

Speaking of that — I did always have this question, because I know you guys do the ship tours. I’ve never participated in the ship tours. How many times has an agent tried to stow away on a ship tour?

 

Cat Brask: We have never left anybody behind, to my knowledge. We have had a few people take a little bit longer than expected to get off the ships, to disembark. But no one’s been successful yet.

The ship tours are a really cool aspect of the event, because advisors get to board these ships for themselves and see the public spaces. Depending on the timing, there’s sometimes the opportunity to have lunch on board and see the level of service, taste the food. There’s potentially also the opportunity for advisors to see staterooms or to see some of the suites and private areas of the ships. All of the cruise lines run the ship tours a little bit differently, but they are always really excited to have the Cruise World advisors on board.

We have this on our website — we offer ship tours on Saturday and Sunday, so that’s November 7th and 8th. And you can select one ship tour each day. This year we have the Celebrity Silhouette, MSC World America, Norwegian Luna, Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas, Explora III, the Regal Princess, and Virgin Voyages’ Resilient Lady. Those are the ships that are available currently. So if you register for Cruise World, you can add on the ship tour option. We will likely add more ships throughout the summer.

You have the opportunity to tour two ships within the event. It’s included in your registration. And what better way to sell something than to see it for yourself?

 

Andy Ogg: I know we have a lot of advisors who are based in the South Florida area that probably have access to ships all the time. But we have a lot of advisors that come to Cruise World specifically for this because they’re in a landlocked state. They don’t have the opportunity to just jump on a ship really easily or really quickly. And to be able to tell your clients, “Well, I’ve actually seen what the stateroom looks like,” or “I’ve actually walked through that public space or seen the pool” — what an opportunity for agents. You could generate some fantastic content on those ship tours to share with your clients. That just seems like a home run to me.

 

Cat Brask: Yeah. We see that all the time — people are doing Facebook Lives from the ship tours or going on their Instagram stories, or even just taking their own photos. Because we all know, the photos we get from our supplier partners are professional and they’re pristine and they’re wonderful. But your clients want to see what your picture looks like. What it really looks like. You don’t want to buy a house looking just at the photos. You want to make sure you walk around in there first.

 

Andy Ogg: Yeah, for sure.

 

Cat Brask: So we love that. Our team always escorts them. We love to get to board the ships and make sure that our advisors have a great time. And our cruise line partners are wonderful in giving advisors from Cruise World access. We coordinate it all, so that makes it a little bit more seamless.

 

Andy Ogg: That’s awesome. I mean, I know it is a big investment — and not only financial investment, but time — to spend that time out there. Five days away from the family or from the job or from the office, it is a big thing. But I really do feel like when people go and they take that mindset of “I’m going to better my business through this experience,” I think they’re going to come home with those results.

 

Cat Brask: Yeah. And like you said, sometimes people are booking at Cruise World — they talk to a supplier and go, “Oh my gosh, I have the right client for this product, and I’m going to reach out to them right now because I just saw this presentation and I’ve got them top of mind,” and they make that sale on site.

And sometimes it’s much longer. It’s somebody that you form a long-term business relationship with, a business partnership with, that ends up — “Hey, we met at Cruise World.” We get these stories all the time. “We met at Cruise World, and two years later, I’m one of the top producers for XYZ company and I just got invited on their top producers trip. But it wouldn’t have come to this if we didn’t meet at Cruise World however long ago.”

So we love hearing those stories, and we hear them all the time. I don’t mean to brag, but I think we at Northstar and Travel Weekly do a really good job of creating the space and the place and the opportunity for connections. And the advisors and the suppliers are the ones that really make things happen. We are just the platform for your business to take off. The advisors are the ones that are really making it happen.

 

Andy Ogg: I’ll testify. I remember being there and you guys running around all over that convention hall — backwards, forwards, and sideways — making everything come together. And I agree, you guys do a fantastic job. It’s a really great event.

I encourage — if you’re new to the industry, or maybe you’re sitting still, maybe you’re waiting for something to happen and you’re going, “Okay, I need to grow this thing. I’m tired of doing this half-way and I want to jump in, I want to just fully lean into this” — this might be an opportunity for you to do that and invest in your business and take that next step that can really take you from $250 grand a year to a million. I definitely encourage people to at least check it out and really think about the success of their business as they move forward.

 

Cat Brask: Yeah. And the great thing about Cruise World is that there is something for everyone. So we have programming for people who are doing it part time and who aren’t really sure about what that next step looks like in committing fully. We have content for people who are agency owners of a $10 million agency. So there’s something for everybody.

And those connections that you make with the other advisors as well — somebody that you just happen to sit down next to at lunch. I will say that is my advice for anybody who is considering coming, or who has already signed up and maybe is listening to this — is to meet as many people as possible. Maybe you go there with a couple other people from your agency, or there’s somebody there that you’ve met in the advisor community before, and it’s great to see those people again. But meet new people and make new connections. You never know where it’s going to go and who’s going to end up being your newest advisor friend or confidant that you go to with all of your questions or that you can share with. Everyone’s there for the same reason.

So one of those general questions — “Hi, hey, what do you specialize in?” Everyone’s going to be proud to talk about that. You can just start those conversations really organically.

 

Andy Ogg: I think that’s very true. That networking factor of Cruise World is huge.

Well, cool. So as we move forward — can you give me the dates of this thing again? November — I’m not going this year, Jesse’s going. I know it’s early November. What is it?

 

Cat Brask: November 4 through 6 in Fort Lauderdale. We’re at the Broward County Convention Center, and then we have hotel space as well — discounted rates at the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina. All the information for the event is listed on our website at CruiseWorldShow.com. You’ll find the ship tour information there, you’ll find the registration rates. Our program will be posted there at the end of the summer, early fall. We currently have our program from last year up so that gives you a sense of the types of sessions we cover and the speakers that come.

And we really hope you can join us. If Cruise World is not the event for you at this point in time, we encourage you to check out some of our other events — Global Travel Marketplace West, GTM North America, GTM Luxury, Future Leaders in Travel. There’s so much that we offer the advisor community, and we just want to be a small part of your success story.

 

Andy Ogg: That’s so cool. All right, and I got to put that one last plug — if someone wants to go register today, they get $25 off if they use code HBTA, is that correct?

 

Cat Brask: Yes, $25 off the current registration rate. That code doesn’t expire. Our rates do increase as we get closer and closer to the event. But you’ll always be able to get $25 off that current registration rate. So encourage you to go register as soon as possible — save some money.

And I should mention too that we have breakfast and lunches — you can see on our schedule throughout the event — that are included. So that helps take off some of the cost burden too, that’s included in your registration.

 

Andy Ogg: Absolutely. Cat, it’s been so good to catch up with you, and I’m so excited for you guys this year. Hopefully some people watching this can head on over to CruiseWorldShow.com, get themselves registered, and they’ll be meeting you this year in person.

 

Cat Brask: Yeah. It’s been great to chat with you today, Andy, and appreciate the time. Always good to connect. Say hi to your whole family for me. And hopefully we’ll get to see each other sometime soon.

 

Andy Ogg: Absolutely. And thank you for the time, Cat. Thank you all for watching. I appreciate you.

 

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Interview conducted by Andy Ogg, Travel Professional News. Guest: Cat Brask, Senior Director of Marketing — Northstar Travel Group’s Retail Events.