Companies pay to put workers at sea.
Forget the Love Boat. More companies say that ships are great places to conduct business meetings because they are relatively inexpensive and great for boosting morale. After the company's distributors went on a Caribbean cruise last month, sales were 13 percent higher in the normally slow days of August than they were in July. The combined company, MFS WorldCom, is expected to serve more than a half million customers around the world. Providence College and the University of Rhode Island are among the 150 best college buys in the country, according to Money magazine.