Wanna Know More?

Some of you may already know this about me.....but there's the likelihood that most of you don't.  In another time.....about 8ish years ago.....I retired from dedicating almost 20 years to the cruise industry.  For several years leading up to this career.....I kept thinking there was something missing in my life.....and that something I called "IT," for lack of a better definition.  I was absolutely clueless what was missing in my life.....but I was certain that I would know it when IT entered my life.  This IT conundrum was about the time when The Love Boat was on the boob tube.....and yes.....I was a faithful follower.  As a result of this show, I decided that I just had to try cruising for myself.....and cruise I did.....in fact, several times.  Then one day, several years later.....IT hit me in the head like a ton of bricks.....it became quite evident that IT was travel.....IT was my career change.....IT was my future!  I went to travel school.....got my certificate.....and by the luck of the gods above.....I hooked up with a client of ours where I was working who just happened to own a travel agency.....and just happened to know I was going to travel school.....and just happened to have a job waiting for me when I graduated.....and it just happened to be selling cruises to John Q. Public!  My world rocked!!!  I lived a life that I wouldn't trade for anything.....I was living Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous (without being rich or famous).....PLUS.....getting paid for it!!!  Trust me.....but I worked my ass off.....but I also got rewarded very nicely.....it really pays having a boss that believes in their employees, and recognizes their accomplishments by whisking them off to Florida every other weekend to tour cruise ships.....stay at top beachfront hotels in Miami Beach.....be wined and dined by the cruise lines.....and then come home totally exhausted Sunday night.  Did I mention that we crammed in a weeks worth of checking out cruise ships from topside to below, forward to aft, and port to starboard in 1-1/2 days.....yeppers.....they royally busted our butts.....because they wanted us to come back home from 1-1/2 days of FUN.....FUN.....FUN.....and SELL.....SELL.....SELL their product.....and sell we did!  When we really impressed the cruise lines.....they would occasionally fly us down to whatever port they wanted us at, and put us on a 3-night cruise.....again.....at the cruise line's expense.  But all good things do come to an end.....and the travel industry as I once knew it was on that course.  Gone were the days of mom and pop travel agencies.....gone were the days of a travel agency in every strip center.....gone were the days of even the big agencies staying afloat (they were now selling out to the mega-agencies).....gone was my bread and butter.....and now it was time to move on.

Squeezed into those early days in my travel career, I took the plunge and opened my own agency.....Cruise Ahoy!  It was great while the going was good.....but it was also during those beginning days of the end of agencies as we all knew it.....so I gracefully closed shop.....and moved on to another agency.  There were several more agencies in the years to come.....but none compared to the days of the gal who gave me my first intro to this industry.....and when I had my own agency.  Now I was working for 'corporate' agencies who looked at the travel industry as just a business.....the caring for the employee was far down on the list of priorities.....and an unhappy employee doesn't really help when you're trying to sell someone their dream.....and that's what I loved.....selling dreams that did come true.

See this picture down below.....

This guy was the BEST client I ever booked on a cruise.....this guy is the Big Boober 11 years ago.  I booked a few couples on a cruise out of San Juan.....and fortunately for the Big Boober and I.....I was able to get a cabin for dirt cheap for the two of us.  Going on this cruise was huge for me.....this cruise was just 2 months after our motorcycle wreck (another story for another day).  This cruise bonded several friends for life.....and this cruise bonded one couple for their own happily ever after.  That picture up above was taken on the wonderful island of Jamaica.....where the Big Boober was hoping to propose to me at Dunn's River Falls.  I'm a huge Jamaica fan.....been there too many times for this ol' gal to remember.....and this was where he thought proposing to me would be most memorable.  Well, ol' Forrest Gump was still in her leg brace.....and climbing the Falls was so out of the question.  Fast forward.....he did propose a couple of days later while we were both slightly inebriated (well, may be more than slightly), and chest deep in the beautiful Caribbean blue waters in Mexico.....no other proposal could have been more romantic!  By the way.....I'm sure you've already figured it out.....I did say yes!

That cruise was the last one I was on.....I gave my heart and soul to the cruise industry for a few more years.....but then IT was gone.  Everyone around me saw that IT was gone.....and couldn't understand why I kept giving when there was nothing left to give.  For me.....I just hated giving up what I loved so much.....making people's dreams come true!

Come sail away.....come sail away.....come sail away with me.....