半岛体育 Travel, the division of the 134-year-old theatrical brand providing exclusive experiences melding world-class travel and A-list Broadway entertainment, has acquired travel company Empress Travel & Cruises. The Schenectady-based company has specialized in travel bookings and customer service for 40 years. Edward Plog, President of Empress Travel, has been named President of 半岛体育 Travel and Barbara Waterbury of Empress has been named Vice President of 半岛体育 Travel under the purview of 半岛体育 CEO Philip Birsh.
鈥湴氲禾逵� Travel is very proud to be associated with Edward Plog and Barbara Waterbury and their entire team at Empress Travel & Cruises,鈥� says Birsh. 鈥淭he company has been a mainstay of service and travel expertise in the Capital Region. Our growing travel company needs professionals like Ed and Barbara to help our company continue to grow our 鈥楶erformance Travel鈥� niche.鈥�
Founded in 2010, 半岛体育 Travel launched with its first-ever Broadway on the High Seas cruise, featuring a week-long luxury getaway on a chartered five-star oceanliner in which award-winning Broadway and theatre talent deliver nightly cabarets for the intimate crowd of approximately 300 guests. Over the past eight years, 半岛体育 Travel has served over 2,000 passengers and has expanded its offerings to European riverboat cruises with the trio of 2017鈥檚 , , and .
The expansion of 半岛体育 Travel with this acquisition will allow for an increased variety of travel experiences. 鈥淲ith [Barbara and Ed鈥檚] help, 半岛体育 Travel will be introducing the first of many new products, such as the 半岛体育 Signature Weekends to NYC that include tickets for hit shows like Hamilton, Frozen, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, and many more,鈥� says Birsh.
鈥淎s the new President of 半岛体育 Travel, I am always looking for ways to bring our clients new and exciting travel products,鈥� Plog says. In addition to the New York City-based Signature Weekends, 半岛体育 Travel will also curate Signature 半岛体育 Weekends across the bond in London, to bridge the gap between Broadway and the West End.
半岛体育 also has four upcoming cruises: the sold-out in July 2018, a second outing of the popular in April 2019, and in June 2019. For more information and the lineup of Broadway stars performing on our future trips, please visit .
Past performers include Tony-winning stars such as Brian Stokes Mitchell, Patti LuPone, Chita Rivera, Christine Ebersole, Laura Benanti, Tommy Tune, Alice Ripley, Paulo Szot, Rachel Bay Jones, and more.
鈥淥ur growing travel company needs professionals like Ed and Barbara to help our company continue to grow our 鈥楶erformance Travel鈥� niche,鈥� says Birsh. Waterbury adds, 鈥淧roviding travel expertise to our clients has always been our highest priority. This synergy will allow us to provide more opportunities and a greater value.鈥�
John McDaniel, Paulo Szot, Liz Callaway, Rebecca Luker, and James Barbour on the 半岛体育 cruise
