Cruise Holidays

Founded: 1984 Franchising since: 1984
Cruise Holidays, founded in 1984, was acquired by travel franchise ByeByeNow.com in 1999. When ByeByeNow.com filed for bankruptcy in early 2001, its assets were acquired by Carlson Travel Network Associates Inc. in bankruptcy court later that year. Following the acquisition, Carlson decided to relaunch Cruise Holidays as a cruise-only travel planning and booking brand.

6442 City West Pkwy. Minneapolis, Minnesota 55344

Phone: (800)824-1481

Franchisor is a privately-held company with 961 employee(s); 96 employee(s) in franchise department.

Franchise Growth

Year	U.S. Franchises	Canadian Franchises	Foreign Franchises	Company Owned
2009	178	28	1	0
2008	212	34	0	0
2007	194	32	0	0
2006	160	31	0	0
2005	109	31	0	0

Where Seeking Franchisees
In the U.S. Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North carolina, North dakota, New hampshire, New jersey, New mexico, Nevada, New york, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode island, South carolina, South dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, West virginia, Wyoming
Outside the U.S.: Canada, Middle east

Total investment: $10.3K-233.6K Franchise fee: $9.5K/30K

Ongoing royalty fee: to 3% Term of agreement: 10 years, renewable

Type of Financing Available

	In-House	Third Party
Franchise Fee	No	No
Startup Costs	No	No
Equipment	No	No
Inventory	No	No
Accounts Receivable	No	No
Payroll	No	No

Qualifications
Net worth requirement: Varies
Cash liquidity requirement: Varies
Business Experience:

• General business experience
• Marketing skills

Operations

• Franchise can be run from home
• 3% of all franchisees own more than one unit
• Number of employees needed to run franchised unit: 4
• Absentee ownership of franchise is NOT allowed. (100% of current franchisees are owner/operators)

Training

• Available at headquarters: 3 weeks
• At franchisee's location: Varies
• Conference calls; annual regional meetings, 2 days; annual convention, 4 days; annual group training seminar, 7 days; Cruise University, 2 weeks

Ongoing Support

• Newsletter
• Meetings
• Toll-free phone line
• Grand opening
• Internet
• Field operations/evaluations
• Purchasing cooperatives

Marketing Support

• Co-op advertising
• Ad slicks
• National media

Other marketing support

• Seminars, online marketing

Franchise 500® rank:
#346 (2009); #444 (2008); #445 (2007); #468 (2006); #449 (2005);