CRUISE CRUISE CRUISE

Hello to all,

​I am back and rejuvenated from my 8 day cruise on Carnival Horizon with the 2019 Brenda Jackson Reader's Reunion. National best selling author, Brenda Jackson, is one of my favorite author and inspirational mentor. She knows how to host social functions and how to gain loyal and animated followers of beautiful people that I had a chance to mingle with. I was deeply spoiled from the hotel, to the boat, and back to the United States.

I learned several things during this trip.:

1. As of today, I love cruises;
2. Networking on a boat with people who are traveling with a group is awesome; and
3. Interacting with others is great when you are on vacation.

Why do I love cruises? The most important fun fact of cruising is that you never have to clean up anything and food is readily available. The freedom of eating in one place, grabbing your glass and taking it to your room, then leaving it outside your door for pick up is a wonderful concept. As a mom, this is totally awesome to me. Dirty dishes were literally gone in a matter of minutes which never happens in my house. Just out of curiosity, I started to notice how long it took to clear out the hallway of dirty dishes. In most cases, it was 15-30 minutes at any given day. The crew  was always pleasant, attentive, and fun to be around. There was an array of diverse restaurant-styled food, which made it a huge commodity for a cruiser, such as myself. I even became adventurous enough to try alligator fritters (tasted like a chicken sausage).

Now, let's talk about networking. Let's not forget that the main reason for a person to be on vacation is to relax and maybe drink and party just a little bit. With that being said, it's good to connect with people but you don't want to come off as a sales person on vacation. Connecting with a stranger is easier since most people are in a relaxed state of mind. After all, they are on vacation. Another important factor is that you already have common interest since you are on an adventurous cruise ship full of comedy shows, excursions, shopping extravaganzas, live entertainment shows, and alcohol. Did I mention that they drink a lot on cruise ships?! Unlike conferences, trade shows, lunch meetings and the likes, a cruise is a neutral territory for personal and/or business networking, but networking should be used in moderation.

Lastly, interacting with strangers on a cruise ship is good for the soul. Any race, any sex, elder person, or young person is fully open to an interactive session with any body because most people have lowered their inhibitions on speaking with strangers. Cruisers are more relaxed and responsive to engaging in conversation with people they would not otherwise think twice to talk to. That's a wonderful concept that should be crossed over into our local communities. And with the assistance of social media, it's easier to keep in touch with your other fellow cruiser then just having a follower through social media. Your newly found cruising friends are better than friending or following people that are more impress with quantity (amount of followers) than quality (actually getting to know a person) in developing a true friendship or business relationship.

In all actuality,  just being apart of the human race is all any one person needs to know when starting any type of relationship. All I saw were people just talking, listening and exchanging ideas or greeting each other with an embrace and not caring about the different ethnic backgrounds that the other cruiser came from.

My suggestion to you is to get outside your normal and join a group you may not know and get to know them. You would be surprised as to how many similarities you both share and should celebrate the differences of each person because our differences are what makes us individuals, and not something to separate us.

One Love my friends, 
​Monette

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