Cruise Holidays — The perks of the business | Travel Research Online

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Cruise Holidays — The perks of the business

As I am writing this diary entry, my feet are up in a chaise lounge, and I am overlooking the family pools onboard Freedom of the Seas. The sun is bright, margaritas are close at hand, and the deck chair fight is in full swing.

The week I have just spent alone with my daughter during her school’s fall break is slowly coming to a close. Scratch that…what I should be saying is even though there were times that just dragged and dragged, the past week has passed at a break-neck, speed. I have always said in just a blink of an eye my daughter will no longer be asking me to play–and playing is what we have been doing all week.

This cruise was something I have been planning from the moment I walked out of my initial training class with SeaMaster Cruises in August of 2008. I knew that this would be an easy sell to other families within her school district. Our district has this late September ‘fall break’ as they return to school very early in August. Who wouldn’t see the value in a cruise vacation? It turns out things weren’t as easy as I had hoped. I was fighting a horrible economy, and I still have more work to do so that people know that I am the “go to” guy for cruises.

Nothing emphasized this fact more than the moment at the first night’s dinner when I walked into neighbors and friends whom I had no idea would be cruising on this ship.  It happened again on the second day when we were eating ice cream on the Royal Promenade when someone called out my daughter’s name.  However, that strange feeling was not unique to me. A family with whom we were traveling, ran into their children’s school principal!

I spent time during this cruise blogging a virtual cruise complete with narrative and photos. These updates were also sent to my Twitter followers and Facebook fans. As a result the amount of visitors and page views I received was five times greater than any week since I started blogging. I am hopeful these views will turn into eventual sales.

I hope to use my blogging experience to further refine and build on my technique for my next trip.  While you are reading this, I have just stepped off a plane in Madrid and am about to experience a four day land tour of Madrid, Toledo and Barcelona. From Barcelona, my wife and I will be stepping onto Celebrity Century for a seven night western Mediterranean cruise to take part in our annual convention.

Chuck Flagg is an independent owner/operator with Cruise Holidays in Canton, GA. For information contact Chuck at cflagg@cruiseholidays.com or by phone at 770-355-9569.

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  One thought on “Cruise Holidays — The perks of the business

  1. Mike Marchev says:

    Chuck,
    Good stuff. Keep on keeping on and be sure to tell everybody onboard I said “hi.”
    As for your neighbors on The Freedom, all you can do is all you can do. Your first-hand experience will pay dividends. Don’t stop doing what you are doing.
    Great job.
    Thanks for writing.
    Mike Marchev

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