What's in a name? In the Shakespeare unit of my High School English class I was taught that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. My take-away from that was that a name doesn't mean much of anything. That thought might work for Shakespearean prose, but not for a business. Janet and I have operated our travel business as Tidewater Cruise and Travel for about 14 years now, and I can tell you our name carries a great deal of meaning.
When we decided to start our business I thought coming up with a name for it would easy. After all, that's what I learned from Shakespeare. I was wrong. Or should I say Shakespeare was wrong. We labored over our business name. Colleagues advised us our name should be short, reflect our business identity, and tell prospective clients what we sell. Oh…and they told us that we shouldn’t use our names. Using first or last names in a travel business tags you as a hobbyist. There went my idea.
After considerable thought we came up with Tidewater for the identity part of our name as a nod to our heritage...where we came from, and where we live now. Janet and I were both born and raised in the northern corner of Maryland's tidewater region. I thought surely the second part of our name, where we tell prospective clients what we are selling, would be easy. Cruising was what we loved, what we knew best, and what we would be selling. Tidewater Cruise...short and to the point. And once again, I was wrong.
When we decided to form our business Janet hired a business coach, Corey, to guide us through the start-up period. We consulted with Corey before making Tidewater Cruise our official name, to get his take on it. He didn’t like it. I thought he was just being mean, but Corey is Canadian and Canadians aren’t mean by nature. They can get mean, particularly at a hockey game when their team is losing, but it’s not a natural state for them.
It was the Cruise part of the name Corey objected to, and he wasn’t being mean...he was being smart. Corey knew that if we called ourselves Tidewater Cruise we would forever be known as a travel agency that sold cruises…only cruises, and that would limit our growth potential. At the time that was fine with me and Janet, but Corey knew that as our business grew, so would the interest from our clients in having us plan vacations for them that didn’t involve a cruise ship. He suggested Tidewater Cruise and Travel...an aspirational name we could grow into. And though we started selling mostly cruises, as Corey predicted we've expanded into a full service travel agency with a wide range of expertise in leisure travel to meet our clients' needs. We've grown into our name.
Ocean cruising was our first love and though we still enjoy ocean cruises, our travel interests have evolved. Partly that comes from being in a different phase of our lives, and partly it comes from a divergence between what ocean cruising was when we first started cruising and what it has become today. Cruise lines have moved to ever larger ships, while we increasingly prefer the small ship experience. Our interests these days run to river cruising, all-inclusives, and land tours where we can actually see something beyond Diamonds International.
Ocean cruising has evolved to favor big ships for multiple reasons…economies of scale, to keep up with an explosion in demand, and because cruisers were demanding more features like adrenaline producing multi-story water slides, laser tag, escape rooms…even roller coasters. That approach to satisfying the masses extends to their private islands as well. What were once simple beach breaks on uninhabited sandbars, which we loved, have become mini theme park experiences.
We’ve cruised on some of those city-sized ships, and though we see their appeal to families, they no longer appeal to us as they once did. Instead of offering a respite from the hectic pace of our lives on land, one of the things that drew us to ocean cruising, big ship cruising has become a continuation of that hectic pace. Fixed seating times for dinner are a thing of the past…grab and go has become the norm, with parents quick to head to the ship’s casino and bars, and their kids eager to hang out with their peers at the arcade, in the hot tubs, or at one of the ship’s action venues. There is nothing wrong with that kind of vacation...it reflects the changing trends in what people are looking for out of their vacations. The big ships sail full on a regular basis, and cruise lines are adding more of them to their fleets every year to keep up with the demand. That just isn't our style any longer.
We will continue to visit the big ships, occasionally cruise on them, and keep up with the evolution of the experience, because its our job and big ship cruising remains a popular vacation option. But big ship ocean cruising is no longer our first choice when it comes to vacationing. These days we prefer cruising on smaller ships to more exotic destinations, where the relaxed pace that we fell in love with is still the norm. But we have embraced the transition from the rigidity of the highly programmed onboard experience with its formal nights complete with tuxedos and evening gowns, to the more relaxed country club casual you find on most small ships.
Beyond ocean cruises, we are taking more river cruises, experiencing adventure travel, and visiting more exotic destinations while we can still tolerate long flights and navigate cobblestone streets. In that sense, we are continuing to grow into our business name.
I don’t often take exception to something Shakespeare has written, but when it comes to the question of “What’s in a name” I have to part company. What’s in a name? Everything. We may have started out focusing on ocean cruises, but for years we have been a full service travel agency, helping our clients plan their all-inclusive get-ways, group and self-guided land tours and river cruises throughout Europe, African safaris, explorations in Asia, so so much more. Our name may have been a stretch in the early days, but we’ve grown into it.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
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