Lorey served on various agent advisory boards including those of Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Carnival Cruise Lines and Boston's Massport.
'From the day I met Ken Lorey, we realized we had an unusual passion for cruising as a vacation,' said Maurice Zarmati, former president and ceo of Costa Cruises-North America and Carnival's previous long-time vp worldwide sales.
'He was always extremely responsive to our needs and the conscientiousness of his follow-through was exceptional. He's a real good guy,' Zarmati added.
Lorey was hired by Preview Travel in 1999 to call on advertising agencies in New York City. Within a few weeks he convinced the management to sell cruises.
'We sold our first cruise in 1999 and we were the first OTA with the capability to complete a cruise transaction 100% online,' he recalled.
Travelocity acquired the company in 2000, 'and that’s when things really took off,' Lorey said. 'We built a great cruise team and became one of the top sellers of cruises in the USA.'
Last August Travelocity announced it had signed a long-term marketing partnership with Expedia and all job functions at Travelocity would be assumed by the counterparts at Expedia.
Lorey will travel to Europe next week for a cruise—leaving his iPhone behind, he noted with delight. He plans to take the summer off to catch up on some golf and is considering a couple consulting gigs in the fall.
