About six months after I came back from speaking on my first cruise, I heard about a speaker who taught speakers to speak on cruises. Of course I listened to the teleseminar and was impressed with his information.

He suggested one of the ways to get on a cruise as “on board entertainment” was to offer to speak for free, let the cruise director see what kind of a audience draw you might have. When they are pleased with your turn out, they will offer you a cruise and at no cost to you. You also get to bring along a guest with each of you only paying port fees.

He also suggested you could develop material by researching what ports the cruise is going stop in and create a program to inform the passengers about the history of each port of call or the history of the various countries or tourist attractions.

I was surprised to meet Martha on the first cruise I went on. She lived aboard and worked 100 days cruising the same 10-day cruise, then she got 10 days off and changed to another cruise destination. Her job on the ship was to teach pottery classes. She worked from 10 am until 4 pm every day and had the same days off I did and was able to go into the ports with me.

I remember thinking it was a good thing I hadn’t discovered speaking on cruises when I was in my early 20′s or I would have made it my career.

If cruise speaking interests you, take the time to prepare a program and start calling the cruise activity directors.

I fell into speaking on a cruise, quite by accident! I was at a meeting when I was asked if I would be interested filling in for a speaker who couldn’t make the cruise. Of course I said yes!

That was Wednesday and the cruise left on Friday all the way across the country. To make matters more complicated, I didn’t have my passport updated. So by the time I drove into the city, presented my airline tickets to the Passport officer and completed my check list, I was ready to board the plane 54 hours after I heard about the cruise.

A lot of times speakers have to be prepared to jump at an opportunity because we never know when they might arise.

Speaking on a cruise was one of my best vacations ever.  I spoke for four hours out of 10 days. I presented variations on communication techniques and how to apply them to an audience who might not have any anything else to do during that hour. I created a presentation that was light hearted, entertaining yet full of practical information.

It was such a pleasure to walk through the dining room and hear my name whispered throughout the room. I felt like a celebrity and I enjoyed every minute of it, including being asked to join others for meals.

And discovering parts of the world I had never been to was a bonus!