I’ve been humming the Smokey Robinson song, Cruisin’, this week.
And now I have it in your brain too, right? 🙂 You’re welcome for the ear worm. (I put a link to Smokey Robinson’s official video with lyrics here, so you can sing along.) https://youtu.be/Gx77P0VH6FA
Maybe it’s because I’ve been booking so many cruises for clients – and – I’m planning so many cruises myself. But cruisin’ is definitely on the brain.
I’m taking a group to Greece for an intensive journey with Azamara next July (see section 3. in the newsletter below for details), and I’ve been booking clients on that as well as clients on Azamara’s France intensive journey and their Italy intensive journey. Â I’ll also be sailing with Azamara this winter.
I’ve booked some clients on a Ponant Mediterranean cruise, as well as some A&K charters on Ponant, and a couple of Tauck partial charters too.
I have clients today onboard AMA Waterways river cruises for the Taste of Bordeaux, and a Rhine Getaway – and I’m also working with and confirming other clients for Christmas markets, a New Year’s Eve cruise, Burgundy and Provence, the Douro, a Tulip cruise, and Egypt. Â And I’ll be sailing on AMA myself sometime this fall.
I’m confirming air for clients doing a Uniworld Christmas markets, and have some clients doing the French rivers with Tauck.
I’m working with a couple of clients on Lindblad sailings to Egypt with Jordan extensions.
I’m working with several clients on Oceania cruises to Australia and South Pacific, as well as some Med and South America cruises. And I’ll be sailing on Oceania myself again sometime soon.
I have a few clients cruises with Holland America to Singapore and the Baltics. And a few clients cruising Newfoundland and the eastern Canadian coast with Seabourn. Plus, there’s a few others doing Alaska with Lindblad and Princess.
I’ll be sailing with Windstar to the Caribbean in December, and have just confirmed some clients with them to Tahiti.
And I’m working on several clients cruises to Antarctica with Quark and Silversea and Lindblad. I’m also working on several Galapagos trips with Lindblad.
When I was in Vegas, some of my best meetings were with my cruise partners in the Cruise Cafe. Last week, I’d mentioned the Globetrotting Day, where I met with 36 travel partners in a trade show environment. (See https://lushlife.ca/30-cool-things-from-virtuoso-globetrotting/ ) . I also met with at least 20 or more cruise partners in one-on-one meetings for product updates and special trainings. They were some of the best for relationship building as well as knowledge building, so I can help my clients better travel the world.
I met with river cruise companies – including the “best river cruise company,” as declared by Virtuoso, AMA Waterways – as well as Uniworld, Tauck, Avalon, A&K, and more.
I met with expedition cruise companies – including the “best expedition cruise company,” as declared by Virtuoso, Lindblad Expeditions – as well as Quark, Silversea, Ponant, Hurtigruten, Aqua Expeditions, A&K Expeditions, Celebrity Expeditions, Intrepid, G Adventures, and more.
I met with ocean and small ship companies – including the “best ocean cruise company,” as declared by Virtuoso, Silversea Cruises – as well as Regent, Oceania, Azamara, Windstar, Celebrity, Ritz Carlton Yachts, Cunard, Paul Gauguin, and more.
I invested time and money (and as an independent travel advisor, this is all money out of my pocket to continually improve and learn) so that I can help my clients better travel the world.
It’s important to me when I’m working with a client that I get to know what’s important to them, and how they travel – because a lot of my work as a travel advisor is matchmaking the client to the best experience for them.
If you’re a foodie, then AMA Waterways may be the best river cruise company, and Oceania may be the best ocean cruise for you.
If you love science and nature and want to get to know as much about the people and the nature when you travel, then a Lindblad Expeditions cruise may be the best for you.
If you love luxury and five star service, and want everything including, then we can chat about whether Regent or Silversea is the better line for you – or maybe Seabourn or Cunard.
One of the things I do is travel on the different lines, and that’s in addition to investing time and money to improve my knowledge of the latest offerings and differentiators – so I can help put you on the right product for your cruising experiences – and – besides designing and booking the cruise holiday (including any pre or post holiday stays), it’s also managing the experience after booking and before travel. As well as helping you and following you along as you travel.
And – all along the way, I’m leveraging the relationships I’ve built with my cruise partners around the world to ensure you have the best experience possible. As some of the pictures show people, I personally know the heads and managing partners of the best of the best cruise lines, as well as the various layers of sales representatives. If there are issues, I pull on my contacts to help resolve them for you.
Let me know if you would like me to help you start cruisin’.
