Cruising - An Animal Behaviourist is a Guest speaker on a cruise ship!

I have been fortunate to be asked to speak on a number of cruises over the last few years. Here are some of my highlights as a guest speaker on a cruise ship…

CRUISING…

Ship ahoy!

pacific pearl top deck — *Pacific Pearl top deck*

“How would you like to talk on a cruise ship?”

That was the email I received one evening, sent from P&O. The email looked official but somehow I didn’t believe it.

“Tell me more,” I replied. ‘Let’s talk.”

So Elise from P&O Lifestyle cruises and I began our conversation, planning and scheming to bring pets to cruise ships. Well, we can’t actually bring pets on board ship (I’ll be the one planning and scheming over the next few years to do this J) but we can talk about them.

All aboard!

Now, here I am aboard the lovely Pacific Pearl, a new cruise ship to the fleet of P&O vessels, sailing from Auckland to Sydney. Not being a regular cruiser, I have to say I was a little worried about seasickness but no worries, shipmate. I have sea legs.

There are 14 levels on this ship – amazing. There is everything you could need – an over-abundance of food and drinks, entertainment for every taste and so many spots to relax. Then there is all the lifestyle advice – tasting wine, reducing stress, the style squad – and yes I need it all. You could call it heaven but then again… there are no pets!

Guest speaker on a cruise ship

So here I am giving advice to people, as I always strive to do. Except, this time, it’s not in the local vet clinic or the nearby park, it’s in a cruise ship theatre. A passing thought… combining pet talk with a singing & dancing cabaret Dr Jo act… crosses my mind, but only fleetingly. People want to hear about pets. People want to talk about their pets. People want to show me pictures of their pets. Life as normal.

Ever taken a cruise?

Read on for more of my onboard experiences…

CRUISING WITHOUT PETS!

Guest speaker on a cruise ship — *Holiday packing – without my pets (hopefully!)*

OK – so I was cruising without any pets but… there are always ways of bringing cats and dogs into a canine-less, feline-less world.

Not, however, the way that I was reading about… Having a chance to read a book or two while on board I had downloaded a novel of my favourite genre – murder, mystery – onto my iPad to relax and read away my hours of free time. The crime in question took place on a cruise ship (‘Killer Cruise by Laura Levine – in case you want to know) and the amateur sleuth was a guest lecturer on board (sounds familiar). When she gets on board she discovers her cat has stowed away with her!

Ok, so this didn’t happen to me. I did, however, have a powerpoint presentation with lots and lots of photos of pets (mostly my pets!) for people to watch as they listened to me talk. I asked anyone who had pics of their pets on board to show me their pets. And they did. It was lovely to see so many people love their pets enough to have their pics in on their phones or in their wallets. I love this as it means that people talk to me about their pets – even when they have no behavioural problems. I often have no shortage of the latter asking me questions but I rarely get to hear about those with no problems.

The cat on this bag was Strathie, who sailed in the 1930s with P&O ship Strathaird. Apparently, Strathie was a favourite with the passengers, crew and many a male cat she met! Her kittens went to many other ships and Strathie eventually retired and lived with a ship’s officer… Ok so I may not have had a real cat on board but at least I have a cat pic and story 🙂

Cats would be perfect ship pets. Happy to live in small areas like cabins, sit on windowsills & watch the world go by. In fact, cats were one very common on ships, both to reduce the mouse population but also to keep the Captain company. On board the Pacific Pearl I just had to purchase one of their limited edition tote bags – one with a ship’s cat pictured.

I thought my watery canine-less world would be inevitable but I was wrong. P&O have a lovely nightly turndown service where you have a choc left no your pillow. Well, a couple of nights into the cruise I no longer had a chocolate, I had a dog in my cabin. A dog made out of towels! This made me laugh out loud. Here is my canine cabin companion…

Role on my next cruise!

SOUTH PACIFIC CRUISING

Lucky me! 16 nights cruising the South Pacific!

Visiting Norfolk Island, Tonga (Vava’u & Nuku’alofa), Fiji (Suva, Port Denarau and Dravuni Island) and New Caledonia (Noumea). My P&O cruise followed the route of the Bounty. Fortunately, we had no mutiny on board this time!

What I love about cruising…

Getting to visit places that I have never seen before and all the new experiences that come from this. Including watching pets and other animals. Snorkelling. Whale watching. Feeling the sea breeze. The food. Meeting all sorts of interesting people onboard – almost all of them pet-lovers! Working aboard (yes, there is work and yes I love it!)

What I dislike about cruising…

That my pets have to stay at home 🙁

Some of my highlights of this cruise..

The smiling dog on Dravuni Island
Snorkelling and viewing the underwater life
Walking along a Dravuni Island beach accompanied by two local dogs
Coffee in Cafe Friends in Tonga with chickens at my feet
A curry at Indigo Fiji (yes, more food!!)
Working (yes I did mark exams & write articles), while listening to some sweet soul music aboard the Pacific Pearl