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As he leaves Travelocity, Lorey looks back on a fun career touting cruises

Anne Kalosh
Lorey was on hand for MSC Divina's Miami inaugural sailing festivities
Ken Lorey is wrapping his last day as vp partner marketing at Travelocity. 'It was a great run at Travelocity with some great people,' he told Seatrade Insider.

Lorey served on various agent advisory boards including those of Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Carnival Cruise Lines and Boston's Massport.

'From the day I met Ken Lorey, we realized we had an unusual passion for cruising as a vacation,' said Maurice Zarmati, former president and ceo of Costa Cruises-North America and Carnival's previous long-time vp worldwide sales.

'He was always extremely responsive to our needs and the conscientiousness of his follow-through was exceptional. He's a real good guy,' Zarmati added.

Lorey was hired by Preview Travel in 1999 to call on advertising agencies in New York City. Within a few weeks he convinced the management to sell cruises.

'We sold our first cruise in 1999 and we were the first OTA with the capability to complete a cruise transaction 100% online,' he recalled.

Travelocity acquired the company in 2000, 'and that’s when things really took off,' Lorey said. 'We built a great cruise team and became one of the top sellers of cruises in the USA.'

Last August Travelocity announced it had signed a long-term marketing partnership with Expedia and all job functions at Travelocity would be assumed by the counterparts at Expedia.

Lorey will travel to Europe next week for a cruise—leaving his iPhone behind, he noted with delight. He plans to take the summer off to catch up on some golf and is considering a couple consulting gigs in the fall.