Meet John Persad: Turning Global Experience into Unforgettable Trips

We talk with Parkland neighbor John Persad about how a concierge travel advisor works, why his veteran-owned family business focuses on real human support, and what it takes to curate trips from simple getaways to high-end experiences. We also break down the money question, the perks question, and how we help travelers reduce stress by planning, coordinating, and troubleshooting from start to finish. 
• veteran-owned Cruise Planners franchise and what full-service travel advising means 
• building a “client family” and bringing personalized service back 
• how travel advisors get paid by suppliers rather than charging clients directly 
• what co-branded industry relationships can unlock for pricing and perks 
• luxury travel planning examples including Monaco Grand Prix and private yachts 
• John’s background in the military, aviation, and global consulting 
• trip planning workflow, vendor coordination, and risk mitigation guidance 
• options for travelers who want minimal help versus total trip management 
give a call and see what it's all about. 

Call: 645-229-1489

Go to: CRUISEPLANNERSLUXURYTRAVEL.COM 

Local Living is a community podcast for Palm Beach to Parkland. Are You A Local Business, Resident, Leader or Non-Profit?  If so, we would love to have you on the podcast!
 Go to www.locallivingpodcast.com for all of the info. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Welcome, welcome everyone to local living. We are a community podcast for Palm Beach to Parkland. I'm David Conway, your host. And today we've actually uh got one of my neighbors on here. He's a fellow Parkland resident. Um, his name is John Prasad, and he's the owner of Cruise Planners Prasad and Associates. John, welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

Hi, David. Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to um be on your program.

Concierge Travel And Family Service

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Uh my pleasure. I was looking forward to chatting with you. Um, know a little bit about you. I know you've got one heck of a story, and we're not going to take too deep a dive today because things aren't always as they seem, uh, which is definitely the case with you. I know you've got a vast array of experiences. Um, but today, why don't we start out by telling our listeners a little bit more about Prasad and Associates, cruise planners, and what you do?

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Oh, well, thank you. Well, cruise planners, Prasad and Associates is um, well, as as you've probably alluded to before, a veteran registered Florida LLC operating as an independently owned franchise of cruise planners. And cruise planners, as you know, is located right here in Coral Springs. They're a large um family-owned operation. What we do is we provide a full-service concierge travel advisory service um to our client family. And we we try to coin that phrase or client family because we try to give them that that um personalized service that is so lacking in today's industry. Everything is computerized, so we try to um put that that um personal service back into it. Um we do everything from the planning phases all the way through to coming back home and beyond. We we keep we want to keep that relationship going. So many times you've booked a cruise or you've booked a land tour or you've curated a trip, and then after you pay your fees, you never hear from them again. And when you want um something resolved, you have to go through three, four, five, six different people. That's not the case with us, and we've experienced that in our travels, that's why we try to bridge that gap. Um, as I said, we provide a full service um concierge travel service. We specialize in curated and luxury to contemporary travel, to the general public, and we create memories for families. That's kind of what we do. We also have a sports team division that handles tournaments overseas and sometimes within the local area. We are the preferred travel partner um of the professional Fort Lauderdale Soccer and Sports Club and their affiliate clubs. So we provide um tournament uh travel to Spain, to Sweden, uh Gothingburg, Daniel Cup, um Book. So we do a lot of that. As a family-owned business, we bring that personalized touch back into the mix. And my son, who is an attorney, and my daughter-in-law is a nurse, they also run the business with my wife and myself, who is also a retired commander.

How Cruise Planners Gets Paid

SPEAKER_00 3:31

So I want to take a deeper dive into Persad Associates and cruise planners. I know you bring a little bit more to the table, or it seems to me, than uh your average uh uh cruise agent or or travel agent. But John, why don't you tell us a little bit about how you got into this business? Because I know you have a vast array, like I alluded to, of experiences. So what got you into this business?

SPEAKER_01 4:02

Well, let me segue into that. Um, our wife and I, we're both retired military officers, and uh, I'm also a retired UPS international pilot. Um, I do a lot of travels and consulting as far as geopolitical uh geopolitics goes. And um I'm also a geopolitical author, and I've done extensive travel in the world, business and pleasure. Um, we continue to travel and we came to the conclusion of offering our knowledge and travel wisdom to the community because when we do travel um privately, we came up with all these inconsistencies and all these things where oh, we we have an issue, we can't get this resolved. We cannot get that resolved. Yes, I can do my own planning. Um, but it's very time consuming. So I I defer to an agency to do that, and the service was just below par. So we decided that's when we decided, hey, um let's get into let's see what the the options are getting into this. So we continue to travel, and we decided let's let's do this, I guess, scrutiny of different companies that offer a service. And after careful careful scrutiny, we chose cruise planners as our franchise operator to base our business under. And what stood out to me uh about cruise planners was and we've we we went and toured their their corporate operation. I wanted to see everything that went on. And their professionalism, their support, um, their corporate structure, their industry footprint is huge. Their vetting process is also great.

SPEAKER_00 5:50

So let me ask you a question. I mean, obviously, when you when you choose uh to be a franchisee, you you're looking for things with a company that benefit you um as the local owner, of course, but you mentioned the extensive reach that cruise planners has. Um, and I assume you mean relationships with different uh different components within the travel industry. Can you tell me a little bit more about that?

SPEAKER_01 6:17

Yes, they are one of the largest travel advisory firms, they do not sell any travel. How they make their their funding is they um support and offer franchise operators um the well, the franchises. You purchase your franchise and you have to be uh you know a company. And when we sell or co-brand with with um different companies, cruise companies, Lantor companies, um, or design our own packages, no one ever pays us, the client. They never pay us. It is always the company or the corporation that we deal with. If we book something through Viking cruises, since we're co-branded with Viking, Viking provides the the payment for us. We we never charge anything for any aspect of our services to our clients. And the you also pay directly to the cooperation, to the like Viking or Oceania or wherever you you book through. But cruise planners has done all the vetting, they are on the major boards of all the cruise lines, all the the major um um tourist, I guess you want to call them tourist uh operations from the club meds to the to the sandals to the you name it to the rius, and they're all over. They even have consolidated um um airlines that we work through. So everything is is is set for us and they're vetted.

Perks And Luxury Trip Examples

SPEAKER_00 8:02

So as a traveler, and and I don't I'm I'm take I'm kind of going on on a onto a limb here because I'm not I really don't know the answer. Um, and I love the service uh that you're talking about, the personalized experience that you get working with you. Um and the idea of those co-brands as a potential traveler appeals to me, John. Let me ask you, are there any perks? I mean, do I get perks? Are there some perks that a traveler may get for working with a co-branded travel um organization like yourself? I mean, are there some benefits to the traveler? Great question.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

Yes, they are. We don't push it. That is not you know the focus of we don't go like a lot of the travel agents and so on at the which I am not knocking at the individual level, they go, hey, you know, you book with us, we give you this, this, this, this. No, no, no. We provide a service right that is unmatched, but in the interim, because of the large um footprint and the in um how in embedded cruise planners is with the travel industry, corporate to corporate, they negotiate special prices, they negotiate special perks. Interesting, and everything that they on their corporate end negotiates, we have the ability to offer that. So, for example, you book a trip that costs five dollars, and uh yes, it may be uh less than what you may get on the outside, and that five dollars may come with a um a$200 credit for a donkey ride or um going on a safari cruise and all your meals are included, or this or that. So, yes, they are perks, but they are not uh truth and fact, we don't negotiate those perks that is done at the corporate level and it passes through to our clients. So, yes, there are benefits to it, but since we as a franchise owner, LNC, we don't negotiate those um individual perks, we can't advertise it, or I can't tell you, oh David, don't worry, I'll give you$600. Now, in the past, with large um accounts, we have negotiated um with cruise planners, of course, and said, Hey, I need to give my clients, you know, at least a$500 per room credit. Come on, they're spending well, like one we did in Monaco, they're spending$85,000 per person. Yes, Mr. Persad, nothing no problem. And they actually go on our behalf and contact the the agency Exotica or whoever or Explorer who that was done through. And Explorer loves the the amount of of corporate um attention they get from cruise planners and the amount of clients they get, they said, Oh yes. So again, because of the corporate um relationship, they say to cruise planners, oh sure, yes, we'll give you$500 credit. Then they contact me and say, Yes, you have your$500 credit. So that's how that actually works.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

I don't mean to fixate on this, but when you you said$85,000 per person. Is that correct? That was per person.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 11:37

That's one heck of a that must have been one heck of a trip.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

Um, we there were some clients. Uh my my son is a lawyer, and and some of uh uh their other his friends and um co-workers and stuff within the state and outside of the state wanted to do the Monaco trip for the for the um uh Grand Prix. So they wanted a private yacht, they wanted everything, and that that's kind of what we do. We can curate anything. If if you want to go um on the ski slope of you know in um um Mount Fiji or wherever you want to go, and you want to do it in a bright red color and half naked, yes, you want to do it, we can curate it for you as long as it's legal.

SPEAKER_00 12:21

John, if you could uh give me if there's any way you could sneak me, uh sneak me on with one of these trips in the future, just let me know. I'm I'm always available, I'm always on standby. You know, I I want to know, so as far as myths or because we have assumptions about so we don't the the as a as a traveler, we don't we don't pay you, we pay directly to the company. Is that correct? So we're not paying you a fee for your services at all. That is that is absolutely correct, 100%. So listen, I alluded earlier to it, and I know that you've got extensive experience. So um, you know, you're a retired veteran, you and your wife, um also a pilot with UPS, so very, very accomplished. Um, and so I I have a feeling that you bring that same level of determination to your current business. So you're probably working on uh cruise planners, prosad and associates, I'm guessing 24-7. But it when you do take time off, uh tell us tell us a little bit more about you, John. We don't need to peel the onion back too far. Uh, but um what what do you enjoy to do? I know you you you you live here in South Florida. Tell us a little bit more um about you, John.

SPEAKER_01 13:47

Well, um, you know, we're we're pretty simple, um, very simple, I act actually. Um, simple pleasures. And uh as a third-generation military guy, I can tell you this. Um, it's God, family, and country for us. I mean, it sounds corny, but that's pretty much the way we've grown up, and that's the way we live. And for fun, we travel with our family. My grandkids are are my eyeballs, um, they're everything to me. Um, and we also support veterans because um my viewpoint is that America stands on the shoulders of our military and our veterans, and we owe them a great deal of gratitude, and we try to help my wife. Her background is traumatic brain injury, um, um, psychotherapy, and things like that. She's a retired commander, and she um does some of that kind of services for people, and I do other kinds of services. Um, but believe it or not, I like to do um geopolitical work. I I do law enforcement advisory, I consult. Um and in doing that, I get to travel and then I bring my wife along. Uh so it's like a double benefit. So we're down in the LAC region, Latin America, Caribbean region. We're all over. My wife is from Panama. I grew up in Jamaica, my heritage is East Indian. Um, I'm a culture. My um mother left India, went to Guyana, South America. Um so I have uh lots of cultural influences. Um, I was born in England, um, so we traveled to Europe a lot. We're in in Italy a lot. Um, we love the U.S. We travel, we actually owned a camper, uh 47-footer, and hooked it up to the back of a F-350 dually, and we traveled the US. We loved it. Um, there's so much within the US, you know, people don't even realize their US cruises, river cruises that are awesome. They go through the Mississippi Delta, they go through everywhere. I mean, America is it's God's country. That's all I can say. And it it is beautiful, and um, a lot of people spend a lot of time going overseas, and there's a lot of that goes on within the US borders that we can see, and um, so that's kind of what we do. We literally travel. I like sports cars, I have my little old jaguar and this and that, and I tinkle with it, and I love flying, but I don't do flying um even as a hobby anymore. Um, my belief is that if you're out of it and you're not fully, fully in tuned and psyched and and um up to speed on all the professional aspects of your trade, you shouldn't ply your trade. And that's the way to get especially when you're up, you know, thousands of feet up in the air. Yeah, and I'm dual certified. I I fly uh I'm trained in helicopters, airplanes, everything, and uh I I just don't um do that. The only rating I don't have two ratings, astronaut rating and seaplane rating. And one of these days I'm gonna get my seaplane rating up in Alaska, but I'm not that that's that's pretty much it. Um so yeah, we just travel a lot. Well, and we bring that experience back.

Planning Process And Risk Mitigation

SPEAKER_00 17:25

I I can, you know, here I can feel your passion for travel, and and that's something I look for with my my travel advisor. Tell our listeners a little bit more about what they can expect. So they're gonna and we're gonna get your contact information and everything. Let them know how they can reach you. But what when they do reach out to you, I'm guessing you've got two sorts of travelers. You you may have one who pretty much knows what they want and they know where they want to go, and they may have we want to do this and this and this, and then you may have some people that might want a little more guidance or suggestions. Tell me a little bit quickly, if you can, about the experience when they first reach out to you, John.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

Okay, once you first reach out to us, um, think of us as your attorneys on retainer, but you never have to pay us a retainer fee. So I don't care if you call us three million times, please don't call three million times. But if you do call three million times, we're there to answer your questions. And you, you know, on one aspect, like you said, you have the ones that know what they want. Um, Mr. Persad, I want this, this, this, this, this, and this. Okay, find this for me. I want to go here. Okay, and we will work with you on that, and you get that personalized attention. We will do the planning, we would do everything. Now, if I have if I come up and I always try, I'm military, I mitigate risks. So wherever I see risks or or bottlenecks, I will say, hey, sir or ma'am, this is what's going on. You may want to reconsider, and that's where we come in. And we take care of all the planning, we get all the vendors in one place. I mean, you know, think of it. You're you're getting personalized service, right? Um, it is very hard for you to plan, mitigate risks, um, look at um coordinating all the different travel events, the the the the vendors, vetting the vendors. It's it's very, very time consuming for the average adult to do. So, what we do is one-stop shop, we do everything for you. Now, as least as you want, some people just call us and say, I just want, like I, my realtor and a couple other um friends, they said, Hey, John, I just want to go to do Club Med, and we always do the skiing thing, and we want to go to Canada again and do it. I said, Well, okay, great. But then in looking at it, I saw the rates for France, and I said, Hey, I can get it to you for a lot less, and you can take your family to France. Really? I said, Yeah, great, let's do that. Boom, boom, boom, it's done. So we offer suggestions and uh we help you in making that decision for your family that gives you the best memory. Then you have those that give me the weird stuff, like uh we want to go, we you know, we do private jets, we do private yachts, we do villas of distinction. I provide because of my past, I can provide um um protection services for high-valued clients um wherever they travel. Um I can get the clearances, you know, things like that to have them with their personalized uh travel, call it partners for protection, or your own doctor or nurse to travel with you, um, or even your own butler or your chef. You know, we can do everything. So as little as you want us involved, to as much as you want us involved, we're there. We we spread the gamut. And um, it's personalized. It's you're always going to talk to one of us. It's not going on a computer. And then once we get everything set and it's professionally put together, we send it to you, and then you look it over. If you don't like it, we go back to the drawing board. Simple as that.

SPEAKER_00 21:18

So, how many million times, 10 million times they can call you? No, I'm just John out.

High-End Requests And Safety Services

SPEAKER_01 21:24

Believe it or not, we get calls sometimes. I have to set boundaries sometimes with some of my guys, but it's hard because we become friends, and it's like, John, I know it's 10:30 at night, but Jesus, this has been on my mind. And I just got back from the office, and we do we do a lot of um dignitaries too. So uh, you know, their time is very, and I'm retired, so I I cater to them because their time is is on the clock. Mine is not. But um we we try to offer that and people appreciate it because in today's world everything is is so. Sterile and to speak to someone that can actually listen and kind of has been there, has done it. I have the t-shirt, the wife has the t-shirt. It's like, hey, you know what? Like the other day, going into Morocco, going into this village, that's where certain elements are. I wouldn't agree with you trying to take your family there right now. How about these options? And they actually didn't choose one of our options, but they came up with another option, which was great. And I said, Yeah, I like that one. So that's how we offer stuff.

SPEAKER_00 22:36

You know, you really bring a unique skill set combined with a passion to this. Let our listeners know uh if they do want to reach out to you, what's what's the quickest, what's the easiest, what's the best way to get a hold of you, John?

SPEAKER_01 22:50

Cruise planners luxury travel.com.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

Cruise Planners Luxury Travel.com.

SPEAKER_01 22:59

And they'll get and they're gonna get you with that. They're gonna get one of us, one of the four of us with that, and probably myself or my wife. Okay. And um, we're plastered all over the games at Nova for on the billboards because we're the official partner there um for that um sports club. And then we are on Instagram and everything, cruise planners, Persad and Associates, and our phone number, and of course, we advertise in your magazine so they can go to your magazine and they will see it there. And we provide uh, thanks to you, we provide a um a travel um snippet every every month, and we try to inform the community. So, and we're very happy with your service. So, yeah, we um we that's how the best way to get a hold of us.

SPEAKER_00 23:49

Well, John, it's been a pleasure having you today. Thank you for joining me on the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

Uh, thank you, sir. I really appreciate it. And um uh to your listeners, uh, give us a call and see what we're all about. It it doesn't cost anything.

SPEAKER_00 24:05

Once again, everyone. Um this was Mr. John Prasad, owner of Cruise Planners, Prasad and Associates. I want you to reach out to them. I think you can tell by our conversation today, and I'm uh I can safely say this you're gonna get a unique travel experience and skill set that I truly believe you're not gonna find anywhere else. Once again, I'm David Conway. This is Local Living. Appreciate you joining us today, and we look forward to having you back next time.