Rodriguez attended the annual Cruiseco conventions in Canberra in 2010 and Port Douglas in 2012 and in July 2013 called on key cruise sellers Down Under in her role as svp sales and marketing for Azamara Club Cruises to promote the company’s open bar policy introduced earlier that year.
She arrived in Brisbane on Monday and has been to the Gold Coast and Melbourne. She co-hosted a media lunch in Sydney today at the exclusive Chiswick Restaurant in Woollahra with Crystal’s gsa for Australia and New Zealand, Diane Patrick of Wiltrans International. Tonight they will host a cocktail party for repeat passengers before Rodriguez returns to Los Angeles tomorrow.
Rodriguez spoke about Crystal Symphony’s $20m-plus dry dock last month. Patrick plans to showcase the ship’s new innovations and plush finishes when it arrives in Sydney from New Zealand on November 24-25 and goes to Brisbane (November 26), Hamilton Island (November 28), Cairns (November 29) and Darwin (December 2).
Rodriguez said there are long wait lists for the Crystal product and her vision is to grow the brand.
‘It is not a question of if, it is a question of when,’ she said.
‘We can build in a myriad of ways. We could have a new shipbuild that might take three years to deliver or we could refresh others to make them look and feel like Crystal.
‘I hope by the end of the year to have some exciting announcements to make.’
