Gin, Pimps, and Motivational Speakers! It’s Christmas at Cruise.co!!!

Over the coming days you will find many references to our Cruise.co annual Christmas Conference which is put together for us lucky lot by the management team at Cruise.co, and I’m hoping a lot of them will be blogging about the cruise itself, how much they loved Fred Olsen’s Balmoral & how they all ate chocolate in Bruges etc…..yawn…..

Keen readers of my blog will actually remember that I sailed aboard Balmoral last October, and even keener readers will know I’ve already been to Bruges twice before. And so, I shall not be going over old ground since neither Balmoral (which I loved anyway), nor Bruges have changed whatsoever since I last went on/to both.

Instead I wanted to give you a little insight into the comical nature of this cracking annual event, and as the strap line suggests, it’s all a little ‘out of the ordinary’.

So after we boarded on Friday afternoon, we endured, ahem, I mean enjoyed, the first set of presentations laid on by the cruise lines who were invited to showcase their own products, as well as giving ourselves a little pat on the back and an update on what staff had done what in the last year. Of course I was named, and made to stand up this year, as many of my customers will know I got married this year, so nice to get a clap from everyone for that!

But then, as the session came to a close, everybody got way too excited because that night had a little theme to it……… the theme? The 1970’s! Oh dear…….

Not an era I was familiar, and I’m sure there is some historical significance, however there is one part of the 70’s that quite frankly should be erased from living memory – the clothes!!

Here are few of the best outfits – including my own of course, along with staff names to shame them!!

Adam (left) and Freddie (me) Disco Pimps

Scooby Doo!! David, Babs, Holly and Anthony (not sure who is Shaggy here – perhaps you know?)

Rob, Andrew and Sean – the toilet was an interesting exercise….

The Best of the Rest – Flower Power or what?! 

There are of course many more photos of our hilarious Cruise.co Team which I’m sure you will see floating around the website, blogs and various social media links but these are a few of my favourites! As you can see a brilliant night was had by all, and what a cracking effort everyone made to get dressed up! Balmoral didn’t know what hit her!

Day two again was spent listening to various presentations from some of our wonderful suppliers such as APT River Cruising, Holland America and Cunard – it was great to watch as they all struggled with their laptops, blaming the sound, wires, internet etc………We all knew the truth however, they were all just utterly hungover, wishing they hadn’t got their groove on the night before!

However there was one presentation that stood out for me……

We were graced by the presence of a remarkable man by the name of Gerry Duffy, now a motivational speaker by trade, brought in by the company to give us a little ‘pick me up’, and a gee up going into 2016. But I took away so much more than a pick me up.

I have never really bought into motivational speaking to be honest down to me being a fairly motivated bloke, and generally quite happy with my life.

But what came through rather than motivation for me, was inspiration.

Gerry is a man that due to a decline in health and lifestyle, decided to put his physical and mental state to the test by changing his life and bringing fitness into his day to day life. He ended up completing 10 Triathlons in 10 days all in the name of charity! A True Iron Man! He also told of stories that had led him to this point and his ethos and new outlook on life – linking it perfectly to our own lives and work. He actually had a travel background for 14 years so his ability to link in and relate to us was superb.

He was a passionate fellow with a true desire to succeed, all starting with simple exercise and being able to control your state of mind whilst pushing yourself to the next level. I found it invaluable and would advise anyone needing a kick up the backside to get in touch with him. It really was truly inspirational, and I’d like to say a big Thank You to Gerry for his time with us.

Onto the night, and whilst some of the staff decided to venture in Bruges for the night, me and a few of the guys, namely Adam, Max and Peter – now known collectively as ‘The Wolf Pack’, decided we would stay on board the ship and hit the Gin Bar on the ship.

Now I’m essentially what you might call a professional Gin drinker, an embarrassing, self given title – but it’s the absolute truth. But the other guys were not so familiar with the juniper infused spirit. So I convinced them to all have a go. Probably the most famous line of the night, and the biggest porky I have ever told was to my buddy Peter, cruelly advising him that you cannot physically get a hangover from drinking G&T due to tonic being water – thus keeping the brain and body hydrated, eradicating the chance of hangover.

Who was I to know the idiot would believe me.

I won’t tell you what his first words the next morning (or afternoon as it was) were, but it was along the lines of ‘Freddie is full of …….insert terrible word here….‘

Needless to say we are speaking less now haha Gotcha!!

Anyway needless to say we all had a fantastic cruise, and I would like to thank Fred Olsen for their hospitality – fantastic as usual.

I hope you have all enjoyed reading my final blog of 2015 and had a few titters along the way, and I look forward to helping you in 2016 with all your cruising needs!

And so, from myself, the Wolf Pack, and everyone at Cruise.co, I wish you a very Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!!! I leave you with my favourite image of the year and hope to be sending you there in the near future!

Parliament Building in Budapest: taken from my cabin aboard Emerald Sun, cruising the Danube in November, an incredible experience!