Cruise Planners Exec chosen to be Viking Magni Godmother

Vicky Garcia, COO of Cruise Planners, will christen the Viking Magni in Amsterdam

Cruise Planners - American Express Travel, the nation’s largest home-based travel agent franchise network in the travel industry, announced at The New York Times Travel Show that Viking Cruises has selected COO, Vicky Garcia, to be the godmother of the new longship Viking Magni. 

“I am truly honored to be selected as godmother during this historic event,” said Vicky Garcia, COO and co-owner of Cruise Planners-American Express Travel. “Viking Cruises believes in travel agents and they are an amazing travel partner.” 

Garcia is co-owner of Cruise Planners-American Express Travel, which represents more than 900 travel franchises around the world. All travel agents now have more river cruise options to sell with Viking’s new longships, and Cruise Planners expects to help fill that since the demand during the past few years has skyrocketed. Cruise Planners has seen a spike of more than 250% in river cruise sales in the last two years, which includes sales of Viking Cruises. 

“From the industry perspective, Viking Cruises still pays agent commissions on non-commissionable fares, which shows how the line values travel agents,” Garcia said. “The effort they have made to grow the river cruising market has been great.”

The christening ceremony will take place in Amsterdam in March 2014 and will be part of the unprecedented fleet of 18- longships being christened by Viking Cruises. 

“Remarkable women are historically honored as godmothers,” said Michelle Fee, CEO of Cruise Planners-American Express Travel. “Vicky embodies what Viking represents and selecting her to be godmother of Viking Magni, meaning strength, is a word that truly describes her.”

As ceremonial godmother, Garcia is entrusted with the guidance of the ship to and around its destinations, and will perform the age-old, maritime traditional blessing of the ship for the safety of its crew and passengers throughout its journey. In addition to providing the blessing, godmothers traditionally break champagne against the ship’s hull to formally christen a ship before its inaugural sail. 

“I’m especially touched that I was selected to christen the Viking Magni since it has such a powerful definition, so I now have a lot to live up to,” Garcia said. “I usually don’t like wasting a good ‘bubbly,’ but I am truly excited about breaking this bottle of champagne,” Garcia joked.