Turning First-Time Cruisers Into Life-Time Cruisers
by Anita Pagliasso-Balamane
Author of "How I Made A Small Fortune as a Home-Based Travel Agent"
(www.redticketproductions.com)
President, Ticket To Travel (www.aticket2travel.com)
OSSN Western Regional Manager
Email: sanjoseca@ossn.com
Phone: 408-531-9228

Do you remember when you took your first cruise? I can remember mine like it was yesterday. It was about the time of the popular TV series "The Love Boat." I would watch that show week after week and visualize all of the wonderful experiences I could have on a cruise. I would spend hours leafing through those beautiful brochures and dreaming. I planned and saved -- and the time finally came. I was so excited! However, a series of events occurred at the beginning of my journey that were certainly not the way I expected to start my vacation.

Picture this: Arriving at the pier, I was directed to give my luggage to the porters, whom I found to be very abrupt, to the point of downright rudeness. After leaving my bags with the porters, I started worrying because they made me feel that the tip that I left was not adequate and I was now certain that I would never see my bags onboard the ship. Being a novice cruiser, I found the check-in process to be very confusing and the whole process of getting onboard quite chaotic and nerve-wracking.

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