Gulliver’s Travel, a Moline, Ill.-based agency with five branch offices in Illinois, Iowa and Tennessee has acquired Just Cruisin’ Plus of Brentwood, Tenn.
The sale was effective on Oct. 1; the price was not disclosed.
Sherrie and Charlie Funk, owners of Just Cruisin’ Plus, reported Gulliver’s acquired their book of business and will be retaining their staff, along with the agency’s brand.
The Funks will work through the transition and continue to consult on an as-needed basis through a new venture called CSF Travel Consulting, which will provide marketing, sales, operational and IT assistance to retail travel agencies.
Gulliver’s Travel vice president Beverly Moranville said Just Cruisin’ Plus complements their ocean and river cruising sales and that the two companies have compatible business philosophies and practices.
The Funks are well known among cruise sellers, cruise lines and readers of Travel Weekly. Sherrie converted an agency she opened in 1981, Pacesetter Tours, into the first cruise-only agency in Tennessee, renaming it Just Cruisin’, in 1988. Three years later, adding land-based vacations back into her inventory, she added “Plus” to the company’s name.
In 1993, Charlie joined the company full time and they have worked together since, dividing sales, marketing and operations responsibilities.
Awards and honors the company has received include a Travel Weekly award for best promotion for an agency under $5 million in 1986, Carnival Cruise Lines’ Agency of the Year for 1990 and recognition as Travel Agents of the Year by Travel Trade magazine in 2003. The couple was inducted into the CLIA Hall of Fame in 2012.
Charlie will remain as a contributing editor to Travel Weekly, writing his column “It’s Like This.”
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