Cruising: Let's Share the Adventure!

Wishing you calm seas and sunny beaches! This is Kristine, recently returned from an incredible week aboard the Celebrity Summit in the southern Caribbean with more than 200 Close To My Heart cruise earners and their guests. We were fortunate to be spared the difficulties experienced by those aboard the Triumph; our heartfelt best wishes go out to those folks. We hope their future experiences are more like the fabulous time that we had together—but don't take MY word for it, let's hear from some of our Consultant cruisers! To provide you a Consultant's-eye view of what earning a Close To My Heart incentive trip is like, Jeanette asked me to recruit a few revelers to share some thoughts and photos with blog readers. You'll hear from first-time cruise-earners as well as seasoned pros, each with their own take on the work and the rewards of this unique adventure.

To get us started, let's hear from a husband of a cruise earner! If one thing is clear, it's that incentive trip earners have the most fantastic support teams ever. We get to meet these wonderful husbands, moms, daughters, sisters, and friends and it is a constant: the guest is always a great cheerleader of the Consultant's business. We honor and applaud their commitment to their Consultant's passion for Close To My Heart and know the great work they do "behind the scenes." Today, meet Stacey Froemming, husband of Senior Director Shari Froemming of Omaha, Nebraska who has been a consistent trip earner for more than a decade:

STACEY FROEMMING:
Thank you for approaching me about what these incentive trips mean to me personally. It is difficult to boil down what should be pages of memories into a paragraph or two, however, I am sure that the memories we have will fill more than one album. I can't tell you how much fun I have had on these adventures. They do get in your blood, and I am so looking forward to Costa Rica.

Patricia Schultz, in her book 1,000 Places To See Before You Die, closes her introduction by quoting Mark Twain: "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the tradewinds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

How many of us get the privilege to follow in the footsteps of Columbus, Ponce de Leon or Blackbeard? This past incentive reward trip afforded us these privileges, and even more, as we walked through the Fort of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico; visited Christopher Columbus's favorite island, St. Kitts (he named it St. Christopher's after himself); entered St. George Harbor in Grenada; or strolled along the silky sands of Magens Bay in St. Thomas, voted one of the most beautiful beaches in the world?

Each and every incentive trip Shari earns with CTMH brings with it a sense of excitement and wonder as we 'check off' another site on the list from Schultz's book. When we look at the map of the places we have been on her computer, all the magnificent and exotic locales we have visited becomes real. To some that might seem too good to be true, but the reality is that Close To My Heart has given her the opportunity to do exactly what she is made to do: succeed! Close To My Heart is a community, and every year, I get to see CTMH friends as we set off on another adventure.