It’s been a momentous year for Christine Oliver – winning the CLIA Cruise Line Champion award and opening AmaWaterways’ first Australian office – and there’s lots more in store for 2025.
When Christine (pictured centre with CLIA’s Marita Nosic and Peter Kollar) landed her first job in a travel agency, she recalls meeting people who had been in the industry for 30 years and being amazed at how long they had been there. Now, 30 years later, it seems like nothing.
Christine worked for Singapore Airlines before moving to Holland America Line and Seabourn as a BMD more than 10 years ago.
She has won numerous awards, but when nominated as Cruise Line Champion shortly after moving to AmaWaterways earlier this year, she says, “I honestly didn’t expect to win, as I’d only just moved to AmaWaterways. I even rang CLIA to let them know and withdraw, but they said that the Cruise Champion award was not about what company you work for – it’s about what you do for the cruise industry as a whole”.
“It sounds simple, but when you love something you talk about it often. You subconsciously promote and defend it. And I do love cruise – ocean, river, expedition – there is a cruise out there for everyone. The challenge is putting the right person on the right ship.”
Introducing AmaWaterways Down Under
Although the American river cruise company has been operating since 2002, it wasn’t sold under its own name in Australia until this year.
Gary Murphy, a Co-owner of AmaWaterways, spent several weeks in Sydney when the new office opened in March, and will return in March 2025 to host agent training events in several cities.
Christine adds, “My colleagues Kim Vaughan and Kylie Chapman and I have done many expos, regional trade events, morning seminars, Teams meetings and conferences – we are doing as much as we can to ensure both the trade and consumer sectors know who we are”.
“For the first few months we had to be a bit careful as contractually we haven’t been able to sell any 2024 departures. But now we are so close to the end of the year and people are booking 2025 and 2026 we are ramping things up.
“We work with trade partners such as Helloworld, Virtuoso and Flight Centre mostly, and encourage bookings through them. I recently did a Facebook Live session on the Flight Centre page, and we had more than 31,000 views in the space of a week.”
By the end of this year, everyone in the team will have sailed on one of AmaWaterways’ ships.
“It’s exciting to see the product come to life, the joy and happiness on our guests’ faces, meeting the crew, and spending time in the destinations we visit,” Christine says.
“We have a great team here – I know, everyone says that – but we are all so different and bring a multitude of experiences to the table. And our reservations team in Sydney is just incredible! We are small but mighty and we will grow.”
Catching the travel bug
Like so many of us who work in travel, the seeds were sown in childhood. “My parents were 10-pound Poms,” Christine says. “Mum took us back to the UK every few years and I have many memories of how different it was to Australia.
“I remember when I was four that my uncle sat me on the lions at Trafalgar Square; seeing snow for the first time; standing on the seat of the plane so I could watch the movie on the single TV screen at the front; people smoking on the plane; and having stopovers in places like Sri Lanka. So many things come to mind that gave me that love for exploring the world.
“In 1988, I was a Rotary exchange student in South Africa. I came home and just wanted to travel. I started a uni course and after eight months realised it wasn’t for me.
“I tried to get a job in several travel agencies but realised I had to have a degree. So, I changed over to a TAFE course to become a Travel Manager. I fell in love with the industry and apart from a couple of years when I lived in Europe, I’ve always worked in travel.”
Staying on top of the game
The TAFE course was the first of many Christine has taken during her career and she firmly believes you can never know too much.
“There is so much training now for consultants – every supplier puts on events to help them to learn about their brands. It doesn’t matter if you are new to the industry or you’ve been around for years, there is always more to learn.
“I also promote CLIA to agents and encourage them to join and take full advantage of the benefits. Three cruise bookings and you have made your annual fee back! Plus the more cruises you sell, the more rewards – why wouldn’t you join CLIA?
“Cruise has changed a lot in recent years – there is a far greater variety of companies and ships to choose from and you need to be across it all. Since COVID, many more people are booking travel on luxury lines – they know what they want and are prepared to pay for it.”
Christine believes that river cruise is still a growing market and, compared to ocean cruising, it’s still relatively new in the leisure space.
“Many people think they are either an ocean or a river cruiser, but of course, you can be both. As we say at AmaWaterways, oceans take you to the countries and rivers take you through them!
“Australians know about the Amsterdam to Budapest trip – which is great – but they are starting to realise how much more there is to see and do in Europe. And AmaMagdalena’s launch in Colombia next year will showcase a whole new culture and destination for the avid cruiser.”
The work-life balance challenge
Working in travel will never be a nine-to-five business and sometimes it can be hard to switch off. How does Christine deal with it?
“I think this is an issue most people face. I am getting better – or at least trying to! I now have a personal and a work phone. I leave the work phone in my office over the weekend (though I do work from home). I try not to look at it or check my emails. Sometimes I can do it and other times I’m not so good.
“I don’t have kids and admire reps who do and can juggle the constant battle of being away. Until recently, my husband worked shifts and I worked a lot of nights and weekends – we’ve always just operated on the premise that if we can fit in with each other’s plans, great – if not, have fun, I love you and I’ll see you when I’m back!
“We also have a wonderful friend who loves our dog, Paddy, as much as we do, so she is always happy to have him. You can’t do this job without support from loved ones.”
For more information, visit AmaWaterways.
