CRUISING TO SUCCESS

So that his regular cruise clients who’ve struck up friendships can get away together as a group on future voyages, he charters them a boutique cruise liner or a tall ship once or twice a year to do so.

Other times he books them a swag of suites aboard some of the biggest ships in the world: just recently when Queen Mary 2 sailed her inaugural cruise from New York to Sydney, Hardy and his team took out the honours for having one of the largest groups of passengers on board from anywhere in the world - 300 Aussies.

And he or fellow directors go along with his groups to ensure they get the most value for their holiday bucks, seeing that everything’s just right from the location of clients’ cabins or staterooms, to having enough porters on hand to get their luggage to their rooms in the quickest possible time, and that dinner tables are arranged so all his group who wish to, can dine together.

And so his groups don’t have to share shore excursions with strangers, Hardy charters them their own coach for that too.

Then every December instead of his clients thanking Hardy, he thanks his most frequent cruisers for their business with a slap-up reunion: last year when more than 300 accepted his invitation, he had to split them into two groups over two luncheons.

It’s a far cry from working long, lonely hours on his own as a technician with a telephone company in his homeland Germany.

“I jumped from communications well after I’d come to Australia and had a bit of a mid-life crisis,” he says, with a hint of mock humility. “My real love was always travel, and in 1988 I got game enough to ask a Sydney agency if they’d take me on: I started as an unpaid trainee – and at 33 years of age was Australia’s oldest travel agency junior…”

Hardy learned all he could as quickly as he could, ultimately opening his own agency that ended up with two suburban offices. “I ran them for eight years before selling the business, and after a bit of a break opened Cruise Express International with two business partners in 2001.”

Today it’s the envy of many others in the industry, and Hardy puts its success down to the hands-on of the owners. “If our staff are busy when someone phones or comes into our office, we take calls or see visitors ourselves… many are often surprised to find they’re dealing with the owner-directors.”

Of course it’s not always roses: one client who booked first class air and 5-star hotels, demanded both a discount “because of all the First Class money I’m spending with you,” and that her favourite Champagne and magazines be put on her flight.

“Worse, she hated things green,” Hardy says. “Of course when she got to her destination, the only luxury model the car rental company had was green. She threatened to take us to Consumer Affairs when she got back, but we eventually sorted it out…”

While Hardy’s had up to 300 guests on his group cruises, normally groups are around 30 or 40, mostly aged 45-plus.

Already over 400 have booked on different groups with him this year, and he’s now contemplating his most exclusive charter ever. “I’d love to charter one of the SeaDream Yacht Club mega motor-cruisers in the Mediterranean in 2008, with 95 crew to look after just 100 of our clients.

“SeaDream’s considered the world’s best and everything’s included: 5-star meals with wines, bar drinks, watersports, a golf simulator, even tips. Yet they’re not snobbish – in the Mediterranean we’ll have most meals outdoors under shade covers on deck while enjoying the weather and the views, and there’ll be no such thing as jackets or ties at dinner.

“I think that would be the ultimate...”

If you can already smell the salt air, phone Hardy on 1300 766 537 or check-out www.cruisexpress.com.au