Puerto Rico first delegation to Aquila's Living Lab in Saint John

Attendees are from the Puerto Rico Tourism Co. along with 12 professionals representing six tour operators. This is the first time a cruise destination has taken a delegation to Aquila’s Living Lab.

Fruitful partnership

For the last 10 years, the Puerto Rico Tourism Co. has been working with Aquila on a strategy that includes ongoing training for their front-line workers, tour guides, tour operators and service providers. This approach has proven very successful, according to Crystal Bell, air and cruise access director, Puerto Rico Tourism Co.

Improved port ratings

'Our fruitful partnership with Aquila has been a cornerstone to ensure service excellence in Puerto Rico’s cruise industry,' Bell said. 'The trainings offered by Beth [Hatt, founder and partner] and her amazing team have made a measurable difference, improving our port ratings and bolstering desirability of our destination in the context of the Caribbean, the industry’s most competitive area. We are eager to continue this partnership for years to come.'

Three-day visit includes ship call, Bay of Fundy tour

The Puerto Rico Tourism Co.'s investment in the continuous learning and growth of their tour operators has brought them to this milestone as the first destination to take a delegation to Aquila’s Living Lab. Over the course of their three-day visit, the delegation is spending time with the Aquila team to learn their operational practices, see a cruise day in action (Carnival Venezia's call on Wednesday), participate in an Aquila shore excursion of the Bay of Fundy region and get a taste of the local culture.

'We’re so excited to showcase our Living Lab and to share the way we operate, in hopes that it will help the tour operators in Puerto Rico achieve even greater success in their own businesses and cruise destination,' Hatt said. 'It’s especially fun to have the opportunity to involve our shore excursion operations team in a training program and have them share their expertise.'

Training in more than 80 destinations globally

Aquila Center for Cruise Excellence has been providing destination training for the global cruise industry for more than 15 years, offering training strategies and a real-world-tested curriculum for international destinations, tour companies, tour guides and front-line operators looking to improve the visitor experience through service excellence.

Aquila is an industry-preferred destination training provider, having provided training in more than 80 cruise destinations around the world, and serving as the exclusive training partner of the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association.