About us

Tripharbor was created for cruise vacation fans by cruise vacation fans. Really. Cruise vacation planning used to be somewhat of a trial and error process – that is to say, you went on a cruise, and sometimes you liked it, and sometimes you didn’t.

We thought – there has to be a better way. But there wasn’t. So we’ve created one.

We want Tripharbor to be the sort of place where people can get all the information they could ever need to learn about and plan really great cruises. Where they can meet other cruise vacationers and join a community of cruise fans, get the skinny on the various cruise lines and destinations, share opinions, and generally make the cruise planning experience just about a million times better. We hope you like it. We sure do. And as we mentioned above – we’re cruise fans. So it’s nice to have a better way. A way, in fact, that we’re going to make better and better over time, as we all learn and share with each other.

And here’s the thing. One of the big ideas of this site is that we don’t just want to help you plan an amazing cruise, and we don’t just want to help you book that amazing and perfect-for-you cruise – we want to have conversations about cruises. With people who cruise. And since we’re, well, a bunch of people who cruise, we’d love to have a conversation with you about that. And whatever else comes to mind. So if you have a question, a comment or just want to say hi, feel free to do so below. We really look forward to talking with you.

And if you’d like to learn a little (and in some cases a little more than a little) about the main players in this great cruise adventure, scroll on to read about them below.

Stuart MacDonald – CEO and Founder

I am a big fan of the cruise vacation. How could I not be, after all, since it was on a cruise, in 1992, that I asked my wife to marry me. As you can imagine, this was the start of a long and amicable (to say the least) relationship with cruising.

But I’ve never been a fan at all of the planning aspect of cruising – and in particular, I’ve long been puzzled by why it seemed so hard to find the right cruise online. These days, shouldn’t we all be able to find and share good cruise information online – whenever we want (especially if ‘whenever’ is more like ‘right now’)? And shouldn’t we be able to plan a cruise to our own particular preferences – not necessarily just ‘their’ (the cruise lines) way?

I’ve been involved in the off- and online travel world for some time now – I ran Marketing at Signature Vacations, subsequently started up and made successful Expedia.ca in Canada, and following that, worked at the top levels of Expedia.com in the US. So I know it’s absolutely possible to create an online travel resource that lets you plan a trip exactly the way you want it to be. So why shouldn’t planning a cruise vacation be the same?

Thus Tripharbor.com and Tripharbour.ca were born – out of a desire to make planning a cruise vacation easier, smarter and more well informed. To give you a way to share your cruise experiences and learn insider tips, and just generally plan a cruise that’s perfect for you – because you’ve seen all your options and learned a whole lot.

Basically, it all comes down to one thing – we really really want people to be able to find the right cruise. And you know what? With Tripharbor.com and Tripharbour.ca, we’re going to give you that opportunity.

Ian Burdett – Chief Financial Officer

I was born and raised in the UK. After some education (BSc in chemistry), some more education and the acquisition of a pretty good job (I became a chartered accountant with one of the UK’s ‘big four’ accounting firms), I embarked – if you don’t mind a rather apt choice of words – on a two year international transfer to Canada.

Today, quite a while after that two year transfer and a few senior financial positions later – including highly successful stints at Transat/Thomas Cook Travel and Signature Vacations – I’m the CFO for Tripharbour.

I first ran into Stuart MacDonald in the ‘offline’ travel world, at Signature Vacations, as a matter of fact. And as it turns out, all these years later, I still share his passion for helping people have an amazing travel experience. Which makes it just right that a particular bent I have, toward operational vision, efficiency and common sense, dovetails beautifully with Tripharbour’s goal – which is to help you plan a cruise that’s perfect for you.

A while ago, Stuart said to all of us on the Tripharbour team, “when I think of the people out there who have been waiting for us to come along – holy crab cakes! – we can’t let them down. We just can’t!” And I have to say, I’m looking forward to moving that vision to reality without letting a single person down. I’m here to do my best, and to help us all do our best, in every way I can.

John Starkey – Senior Vice President, Product & Design

One of the highlights of my summer is looking out my living room window at the cruise ships heading north to Alaska. As someone hugely passionate about technology and travel, the things I think about are how the booking was made, what the online experience was like for the customer and what types of information customers might be looking for online to help them plan the perfect cruise vacation.

So what does 'Senior Vice President, Product & Design' mean? In a nutshell, I'm the guy who leads the website development and technology team that makes the site look and feel and work the way it does.

I spend my days focused on our web-based technologies, social networking and online community tools, web application development and the like. And as it happens, I'm particularly right for the job. You see, prior to joining Tripharbour, I founded FCV, a leading interactive agency based in Vancouver. Before that, I worked for more than four years at various roles at Expedia in the US and Canada, most recently as Director of Business Development for the destination activities and private label technology businesses. So. Interactive agency, Expedia.ca - I'm thinking that you can just imagine how those two experiences led to a particularly perfect Tripharbour suitability. I recall speaking with Stuart at a Google event a couple years ago about how it would be great if our paths crossed again someday. So when he asked me if I wanted to be involved in a new online cruise and community site, I jumped at the chance. You could say that I don't just believe that the online cruise planning and buying experience can be hugely improved - I know it can. And with Tripharbour, it will.

Pat Perdue – Senior Vice President, Customer Experience

Okay, first things first: I'm a cruise virgin. I was one of those who figured cruising would never be for me. Then I met Stuart and, well, he set me straight. Like adventure travel? A cruise is for you. Like to learn something when you travel? A cruise is for you. Like to have a quiet vacation? A cruise is...well, you get the picture.

But when I tried to book a cruise, the experience wasn't what I hoped it would be. I started with my local travel agent. She told me to read some brochures and call her back. I called one of the websites and after asking a couple of questions, the person I was speaking to said they'd call me back. Months later, I still hadn’t heard from them. Were these my only options? These weren't customer experiences that made me want to book a cruise. When I told this to Stuart, he nodded sagely and mentioned he was going to transform the online cruise planning and buying experience. Then he asked me if I wanted to be part of it. It only made sense to say ‘yes’. Unequivocally.

I've spent my professional life providing exceptional customer experience over the phone and online in many parts of the world, from Canada to the US to the Far East. It was in Japan that I developed the standard of customer service excellence I rely on in North America. And of course I apply those standards for you at Tripharbor. After all, you deserve only the best.

As head of Customer Experience, it’s my role to safeguard your experience with us online and on the phone. We have an amazing team of Cruise Specialists who are here for you, but the experience ‘buck’, so to speak, stops with me. So when we get it right, or get it less than right (it'll happen - we'll dislike it as much as you, but it'll happen), I really want to hear from you. By knowing how things are going, we can learn how to make things better. We probably won't get it completely right at first because we're doing something pretty new here, but we'll get there. You can bet on it.