The Pinnacle Club is both an exclusive and elusive club for the top producers of Carnival Cruise Lines. Criteria for membership is a closely guarded secret akin to the Seven Society , the recipe for Coca Cola or even the herbs and spices in a leg of chicken from KFC.
Certainly sales play a part in the selection criteria and I would imagine future potential and creativity are also included as well.
Since there has been so much braggadocio from YTB over the years about how much Carnival they sold and how they were Pinnacle Club award recipients, I just assumed their numbers were off the board. So, I was surprised to see the addition of two new recipients announced this year:
Joystar with 4000 members, and Cruise Planners with 700 members received the award this year. Wow, talk about an accomplishment. These two entities achieved the same exalted status as YTB with 136,000 and 139,300 less members (respectively). Congrats to you both. Obviously this is a clear demonstration of your knowledge, expertise, and support of the cruise industry in general, and in particular of Carnival Cruise Lines. I wonder why it takes so many agents in YTB to achieve the same result?
I guess the more apt question might be, why was YTB not included in this award this year? Have their sales fallen? Have they not lived up to the potential Carnival expected? Did Carnival run out of the replica ships for the awards? Or is this another misunderstanding that is being worked out like the RCCL and IATAN issues?
Since Carnival does not officially release the recipient names, I also need to wonder if YTB did actually win it "three years in a row" as their many RTAs are fond of saying. I know when questioned at the Luxury Travel/Home Based Show in Vegas, Vicki Freed (then SVP at Carnival) said she only recalled them winning it one time. Is YTB becoming a "green" company and recycling awards? It is strange that in the photos of YTB winning it "three times" the Carnival BDM and Kim Sorenson are wearing the exact same clothes--all three years! Maybe someone from Carnival can set us straight.
I am not holding my breath. You see in the Seven Society, members are not known until after their death. I suspect it may be one or two more years till we hear.
