Don’t get me wrong. I have a keen sense of appreciation for cruise ships and the opportunity to see the world that they provide.  From the smallest to the most gigantic, they all offer a stellar travel experience when matched with the right traveler. This week, I am in Fort Lauderdale for the annual SeaTrade convention where 11,000+ people in the cruise business will present ideas and innovations from every aspect of the maritime industry.  Some of that show you will see here as new products, services, and innovations that will be on ships of the future.  But the reason I go is simple: The People, my favorite part of travel.

After we hit the 100 cruises mark a while ago I started to think about what I like best about travel by ship.  Yes, the destinations, onboard programming, ship features and more have a ton of value, often hundreds of thousands of tons of value actually adding up to price tags in the hundreds of $millions.  Nice to know, fun to compare, confirms the value of a cruise stacked up against other travel options.  Looking back though?  It’s the people we met along the way that I remember most vividly.  Let me illustrate that point with a short story.

The Bordeaux region of France draws lovers of wine from around the world.  It’s a common and popular port of call on river cruises and an equally popular place as a destination vacation. There is architecture to enjoy, common areas where locals just kind of hang out or get cooled off on a hot summer day and wine stores aplenty.

On tour with Viking River Cruises, Christine Couper was the guide who sold me on the place.  How?  Because she paid attention and had an actual conversation with us. That’s as opposed to a mechanical script-like presentation.  Christine redirected the tour as she became more aware of what we were interested in.  It’s not the bullet point attractions of the area or even the 41 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in France that draws us back.  It’s the seed planted, perhaps inadvertently, by Christine Couper.  We have a friend there.  We will see her again one day.

Again, don’t get me wrong, the Viking Longship and her crew were wonderful.  Simply put: the right tool for the job, all things considered. Not the only tool for the job by any means.  There are a bunch of river cruise companies out there.  On what is considered just a so-so river cruise line, traveling with Abercrombie & Kent Connections added a layer of luxury that was simply enchanting with our Abercrombie Angel with us every step of the way. One of the most enduring memories?  Meeting and getting to know Joe Ford who introduced himself and his wife “I’m Joe and this is my wife Joe. We’re Joe and Joe”. Obviously, the likable, good people couple were an instant hit.

Later on that A&K trip, I would find that Joe and his son saw a problem in Africa and fixed it. It was on a trip to Rwanda where Joe and his son Scott, formerly in the telecommunications business, saw shockingly deplorable conditions in the production of coffee beans.  Workers were paid very little, worked long days and had little to look forward to.  They were “the poorest of the poor” Joe told me and the Fords started to develop a relationship with Rwanda’s president, setting up a school for orphans.  But they wanted to do more; they wanted to change lives.

The answer was to set up Rwanda Trading, a company determined to improve the lives of Rwandan coffee farmers in an economy still recovering from the genocide of the 1990’s.

Their facility provides workers with restrooms, shower facilities, a hot meal every day,  a wage 35 cents more an hour than other operators and a retirement plan.

See Westrock Coffee for more

Azamara Club Cruises nails the people element of the equation quite nicely.  They sum it up well as “They come for the destinations, they come back for the people”.  Direct hit on the mark…but that is what we find with well-defined travel products.  Like how matching the right traveler with the right cruise line is so very critical to the planning process, matching crew to the right cruise line also makes a huge difference in their lives as well. Oddly, I worry that when the two-ship Azamara fleet gains another this year if that experience will be diluted.  I am really possessive about that and it’s not just me. Readers seem to be weighing the human element of the experience more these days as well.  I noticed this big time on Windstar Cruises earlier this year.

The occasion there was the 2018 Windstar Presidents Cruise . There, Windstar hosted crew families at a two-day event a block from the historic Manila Hotel.

The first day saw the families come on board to exactly where it was that their son, daughter, husband, wife, father or mother went out to sea for months at a time.  This was as serious as I have seen a cruise line be about crew and their life.

The next day all were invited shoreside to a lovely banquet in their honor.  There, everyone from our ship’s Captain to a number of executives from the line’s Seattle office thanked them for their sacrifice and for being a part of their family.  And brother, I have to tell you, crew on any ship is a family but widening that circle to include their natural family: solidly brilliant, appropriate and respected.

And again, don’t get me wrong: I do have a great appreciation for big ships as well.  The also clearly defined Carnival Cruise Line experience brings one of the best values in travel. Period.

Interestingly, it is not really the top deck features that formed the foundation for this line’s success but…you guessed it…the people.  (Uncle) Bob Dickinson built Carnival with a simple plan. I remember a travel agent convention years ago.  At a discussion panel comprised of a number of cruise line Presidents, the moderator asked each one to define their cruise line in a sentence or two.  One by one they went down the panel, with each providing a detailed description of what they are all about, customized to fare well stacked up to those who had gone before them.  Some were rather lengthy. Others rambled. Last on the list was Bob Dickinson who just smiled and said  “Easy Question: We’re the Funships”..to which the entire auditorium was on their feet cheering.  We really like well-defined.

One of the most interesting parts of the whole Carnival phenomenon though has been the organization’s effect on the world. Yes, the world.  We started sailing as a family with Carnival Cruise line after a couple really expensive but really not that great land vacations.  So did a bunch of other families of our generation.  Now, those the kids of those families are gone off into the world but all continue to sail.  Mom and Dad, now without the extra expense along, move up in accommodations on their Carnival Cruise, try other cruise lines and become very comfortable with seeing the world via a ship.  Eventually, they make the jump to international travel and off we go into the great big wonderful world actually prepared to see it.

Two reasons we like Carnival.

Lisa likes to say “you always know what to expect” which speaks to consistency which goes hand in hand with orderly, a state of being that most infrequent travelers appreciate.
It is way more simple to me: Carnival has enabled people to travel who might not have otherwise.  I have said that for decades and it is just as true today as it was in the 90’s.

The thought of how travel can change the world is one that was driven home by Holland America Line President Orlando Ashford at the christening of then-new ms Koninsdam in Amsterdam.  Watch this. No, really, watch it.

Holland America Line also is not top deck attraction-heavy and we are seeing Ashford’s vision for the line resolving in a cruise line that everyone is more engaged with. Passengers, crew, suppliers, ports, land facilities, shorex operations all have a conversation going between people.  Beautiful new ships and an updated existing fleet? Yep, they have those too.  Those too are lovely pieces of hardware. But it’s not so much the exact ship I remember from Holland America Line sailings as it is the people on the ships.

Like Oprah, for example

Here we have taken the closed environment of a cruise ship and used it in a way that directly benefits travelers.  Not so much from the Oprah-specific content, themed sailings and onboard O-store, even considering their substantial motivational value.

This is where Oprah opened a great big difficult to budge door and introduced an entirely different market segment to the world of travel. It took that magnitude of star power to do but think about that.  Think about the wonderful after-effect of a cruise when you are able to ‘escape completely’, ‘travel the world in comfort’, ‘Be Azamazed’ or enjoy/learn/grow from the positive outcome of a good experience with any cruise line. That always happens because of people. My favorite part of travel.

I have people-focused stories from nearly every sailing on just about every cruise line.  While cruise lines continue to differentiate themselves from one another, this element of what they do remains the same.  Unlike ships and oceans to sail them in, people are a critical part of the formula that has not received a lot of attention, and rightfully so. We don’t know for sure who we might engage on a cruise.  All the more reason for increased attention to people, my favorite part of travel.  We’ll have more of that going forward.