Here at CruiseWise, we unexpectedly found ourselves in the middle of some media attention this week. Amit Aharoni, our fearless CEO and one of the founders of CruiseWise, made headlines recently when his application to continue working in the United States was denied. Amit, ever the optimist, relocated temporarily to Vancouver and continued leading our day-to-day operations from afar. It’s been quite an adjustment having him only available via Skype, email, and chat, but our team was determined to keep moving CruiseWise forward in preparation for our big launch later this month.

CruiseWise was founded in May of 2010 with a single goal: radically simplify the online cruise booking process. Determined to build a product that would finally bring cruise booking off the phone and onto the web, the three founders traveled to Chile as part of StartUp Chile and began initial development. In January of 2011 they returned to San Francisco and raised more than $1.6 million in seed funding.

CruiseWise founders Steve Davis, Amit Aharoni, and Nicolas Meunier in Chile.

CruiseWise grew rapidly and expanded to include an in-house team of content developers and cruise experts who are building the most comprehensive database of cruise information ever assembled. This incredible resource will be an integral part of our product—a clean, beautifully designed booking system that will change the way you plan your next vacation. For us, simplifying the online cruise booking process means eliminating useless steps, providing clear pricing information, and giving you access to options that have never been available before. Planning a cruise should be about what you want to experience on your vacation, and we’re doing our best to make that much, much easier.

About a month ago, when Amit learned that he could no longer work in the US, we knew that not having him here with us in our San Francisco offices would change the dynamic of how we work. But our priorities were clear: continue building CruiseWise, continue planning our launch, and do our best to bring him back!

What we didn’t expect was the (amazing!) media attention that came our way after Amit was contacted by the Partnership for a New American Economy and ABC News picked up the story. When World News with Diane Sawyer aired the piece below, our inboxes started overflowing with supportive messages.

The impact of the news coverage was incredible. Not only were people around the world expressing their support for Amit, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services responded immediately and the very next day Amit’s case was reconsidered and approved.

Needless to say, there was quite a celebration that took place in our offices when we got the news. When Amit returns in the next couple of weeks, it will finally be back to business as usual here. And that business is making sure we bring you a cruise booking engine that will dramatically change the way you search for and plan your next cruise.

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