About Us

Cruise Holidays of Shelby is not just a Web-site or 1-800 company. We have dedicated staff of professional specialists who collectively as a team have traveled the world. These travel experiences allow us to provide our clients with expert advice as it relates to destinations of interest, cruise line recommendations based on the expectations of our clients, exceptional shore excursions suggestions, travel insurance recommendations, ideal pre and post packages and many of the other questions frequently asked by today's travelers. Over the years Cruise Holidays of Shelby has developed great partnerships with many land based and all-inclusive destinations. For those clients exploring travel options other than a cruise one of our land based specialists can provide you with the same level of service, delivery and expertise that are cruise clients enjoy.

Chuck Kratz, Owner and CEO
Chuck is the President and CEO of Cruise Holidays of Shelby. After spending 26 years in the field of education with an Ed.D. in leadership and collective bargaining, Chuck began his second career in 1997. In a very short time span Chuck becamea member of the President’s Circle for 9 years, has received awards as the #1 location in the Mid-west for 11 years and is recognized as the leader in arranging conventions, meetings and incentive travel for organizations, small businesses, and corporate America across the country on cruise ships and land based locations worldwide. In January of 2009, Chuck became the travel expert and host of a weekly one hour radio show "Travel News and Views" on WJR (760) which reaches listeners in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, parts of Pennsylvania and as far north as Toronto in Ontario. His show is from 5-6 pm Sundays and is both live streamedand archived for travel enthusiasts.

He has cruised on all of the major cruise lines, with two of the river boat companies and has enjoyed many land based vacations around the world. Chuck has developed a great working relationship with most of the corporate staffs of the major cruise lines and prides himself in providing his clients with a professional level of service.

  

Katie Flannigan, COO & Vice President of Corporate Accounts
Katie has been traveling the world since her college years. She has biked in Vietnam, zip lined in Mexico, backpacked through Europe, camped in Greece, driven all of Ireland , lava tubed in Hawaii ,spent a month in China, and cruised extensively. Katie brings extensive marketing and operations experience to Cruise Holidays. She has changed careers from her position as Director of Cardiovascular Services and Special Assistant to the President in a large Metro Detroit Hospital and brings many of her leadership, organizational, and service oriented skills to her position at Cruise Holidays.

 Katie Travel Expert
Claudia Korenic, Director of Operations
Claudia has been with Cruise Holidays of Shelby since the beginning -10 years ago. Claudia is the Director of Operations and works with Chuck and Katie in setting the customer service priorities and yearly new programs for Cruise Holidays. Claudia is an expert in all venues of cruising with Europe being her speciality. She is also an expert in group travel and all-inclusives with a focus on Hawaii and the Caribbean. She has an extensive client following and has been in the Cruise Holidays One Million Dollar club for the past two years- one of the few nationwide Cruise Holiday travel counselors who can claim that feat. Claudia lives is Shelby with her husband George and enjoys summer boating on their 35 foot cabin cruiser on Lake St. Clair. 		 Claudia Travel Expert
Christina Hudkins, Director of Land Based Sales
Christina has been in the Travel Industry for 10 years. She has traveled to the Caribbean, Hawaii, Mexico and one of her favorite places to travel is to Disney World. She has cruised on all the major cruise lines and stayed at many different All Inclusive resorts. Christina is Cruise Holidays All-inclusive land specialist and works closely with Fun Jet Vacations, Apple Vacations, Northwest World Vacations, GO-GO Vacations and Sandals. She is also very experienced at setting up destination weddings at all-inclusive land resorts or at sea. When she is not traveling she spends time with her husband, Matt and her daughter, Shelby		  
Amy Hunter, Director of Cruise Sales
Amy has an extensive background in travel and service. She is a graduate of the Travel Education Institute and is a Commodore in the Princes Academy. She has cruised on most cruise lines and is an expert on Mexico and all –inclusives as well as the Disney products. Amy had worked as a member of Virtuoso in Oakland County and as a concierge of the Westin Hotels before settling in the Shelby area with her husband and two beautiful children, Dylan 6 and Isabelle 5.		  
 Donna Kidman, Executive Assistant
Donna is Cruise Holidays newest member. During the day Donna is the Executive Assistant to the President of a local hospital and works nights and weekend at Cruise Holidays. She has fast become an expert in all-inclusives and Las Vegas. Her favorite Caribbean island is the Dominican Republic and she has experienced many of the all-inclusive properties there.
 
 Clem Kolesar, Director of Outside Sales
Clem Kolesar entered the travel industry after retiring from his 1st career as an educator. Clem was a co-op coordinator and Director of Career and technical education for 15 years and sponsored and traveled with students to destinations such as Florida, Mexico, Bahamas, Hawaii, and the Canary Islands. He is an expert in group travel and arrangements. Clem and his wife Cindy have cruised all the major cruise lines specializing in the Caribbean and Mexico Riviera. He prides himself in providing professional service to his clients during all phases of the vacation experience. He has arranged many honeymoon packages both land and sea and has extensive experience in all-inclusives in Mexico and the Caribbean. During the summer Clem and wife enjoy their home in Northern Michigan.