HOUSTON, TX – Tom Baker, owner of a highly acclaimed Houston-based CruiseCenter.com, received the coveted Condè Nast Traveler magazine award for “World’s Leading Large Ship Specialist” for the second year in a row and was announced by Conde Nast at their annual Top Travel Specialists award announcement in New York. According to Baker, “Cruising already represents the best value for the discerning traveler. I’m pleased to earn the Condè Nast award for the second year in a row as it represents international recognition of leadership in the travel industry.” CruiseCenter.com owner Baker was chosen among thousands of travel agents for this annual prestigious award. The Ninth Annual 128 World’s Top Travel Specialists honors are awarded to the world’s most trusted consultants—people who offer the best combination of specialized knowledge, insider connections, user-friendliness, and value.
Tom Baker, President of CruiseCenter.com, found his passion for cruising as a five-year-old while with his grandparents aboard Norwegian America Line’s Sagafjord on a transatlantic crossing. Like countless sailors before him, a lifetime romance with the sea and ships was born. That crossing would be the first of more than 150 cruises and counting Baker has taken.
After more than half a life of cruising and an unforgettable around-the-world cruise on Holland America’s ss Rotterdam after college, Baker knew he had to work in cruise travel. Holland America hired him as District Sales Manager for the greater Los Angeles region, and after ten years in the cruise industry, he relocated to Houston to join Atlas Travel, where he would meet his future business partners Ariel Leibovitz and Ellen Kalish.
CruiseCenter.com began as a division of Atlas Travel, known for its attention to detail and roster of top corporate clients. In 1996, when Atlas was sold to Navigant International, Tom and Ellen were kept on to ride the dot-com wave and create the company’s online cruise booking engine. The pair describe it as a time when they had no rules or no budget limitations – the edict was, simply, build the business.
Under Baker and Kalish, CruiseCenter.com business increases more than 30-percent a year, in turn becoming one of the world’s leading vacation experience agencies. In 2003, the duo, along with Houston entrepreneur Ariel Leibovitz, bought the company from Navigant and set sail on their own.
“We’ve ingrained a culture of cruising here,” says Baker, who for a second year in a row named World’s Leading Large Ship Specialist by Conde Nast Traveler.
Tom Baker Cruises Blog 
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