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Life at sea is in my blood… or so it seems! I give credit for my sea legs to my Grandad & Dad, who were both in the Navy when they were young. I didn’t exactly go running for the open ocean the minute I was old enough to travel though; in fact, cruising wasn’t really on my radar at all. I cruised for the first time in 2004 from LA for four nights down to Mexico, but it wasn’t really my go-to when it came to holidays.

You can just imagine how “at sea” I felt when I started working at Clean Cruising in July 2012 – I knew almost nothing about cruising! I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t completely clueless when I started the job, so I did as many online courses provided by the cruiselines that I could. Unfortunately for my first few clients, I knew a million different facts about cruising – but not much about the reality of the experience itself. I was determined to change this as quickly as possible.

In my first 12 months as a cruise consultant, I cruised on five different ships from three ports. I was also lucky to be able to inspect nine other ships when they stopped through Brisbane. Knowing that seasickness was not an issue for me, meant that I was signing up for everything on offer. I soon discovered that life at sea was for me and that I loved to cruise! Keep an eye out for future posts to find out exactly what I love about cruising!

Every time I cruised or got onboard another ship, my confidence in selling cruise holidays grew exponentially. I would hope that this was reflected to my clients and helped to ensure that every one of them had a better experience on their cruise holiday. While I haven’t cruised quite as much as I’d like to have yet, I have tried all sorts of cruise experiences – on the ocean & also a river or two.

I continue to do every online course released by the cruiselines and also the industry focused courses released by Cruise Lines International Association – Australasia (CLIA). I also learn from clients as they travel. From first timers to experienced cruisers everyone has something to share. As much as I’d like to, I’m never going to get on every ship or cruise to every port. Learning from you & your experiences is invaluable to me. I love when clients share photos & stories with me on their return home from a fabulous cruise holiday!

My current tally of ship experiences sits at forty – either inspected or cruised aboard – a few on multiple occasions. Visit my About Me page for the full list. You can find links on this list to each of my Facebook albums for dozens of photos taken onboard each of these ships, to give you an idea of what you can experience for yourself.

Surprisingly enough, I now make sure to add a cruise to every holiday – either on its own or as a bonus on to an extended trip. My next cruise will be on the Pride of America (NCL) in Hawaii after the 2018 TravelManagers Conference. Look out for my Facebook posts from Hawaii in August.

If you’re not sure if life at sea is for you, give me a call. I’d love to talk to you about the experience and to help find the perfect cruise for you. With the variety of cruiselines & different experiences available, there is a ship out there for everyone – and an itinerary to match. ? Christie

PS. My Grandad’s naval service included the D-Day Landings in June 1944. Look out for a future post about my own Normandy experience a few years ago – returning to Juno Beach where his landing craft bought soldiers ashore throughout the campaign.