My Adventure Down Under
(58 Reviews)
100% Recommended
Christy Johnson
Wildomar, CA
Family and Group Cruise Specialist
I specialize in luxury and group travel and my passion is creating trips that are hassle free for everyone, regardless of age.
I love helping others live out their travel dreams whether it’s a cruise to the wilderness of Alaska or a Christm...
I specialize in luxury and group travel and my passion is creating trips that are hassle free for everyone, regardless of age.
I love helping others live out their travel dreams whether it’s a cruise to the wilderness of Alaska or a Christmastime family Disney cruise.
I love to book cruises!
- I am a Master Cruise Counselor with CLIA, an association for top cruise line travel advisors. Accreditation required personal cruising experience, qualified sells, ship inspections and both in-person and online classes.
- I have achieved Commodore status with both Princess Cruises and Cunard.
- I've attained the highest possible rankings at many of the major cruise lines' training sites including Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, Disney, and Carnival.
- I have completed CLIA's Luxury Cruise Certificate (2019)
- As of March 2024, I have sailed on 37 cruises.
- I’ve sailed 10 different cruise lines and more than 230 nights.
- I have toured numerous other ships while they were in port.
- Reserving cruises since 2009, I have lost count of the people I have sent on various ships, but many of those clients are still booking with me 15 years later.
I’ve personally sailed on several of the ships that depart from the ports of Los Angeles and San Diego, so I am very familiar with these trips and can offer personal recommendations and insights.
Other destinations I have cruised to include Alaska, the Caribbean, Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, the Mediterranean, Greek Isles, Mexico and Canada/New England. Sailing on at least two or three ships per year gives me much experience to share with my clients. In 2019, I sailed on seven itineraries on Disney, Norwegian, Princess, Royal Caribbean and Carnival ships.
In 2022, I cruised on Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Silversea and Holland America. In addition to Baja Mexico cruises from Long Beach, I also sailed from Athens, Greece through Greece, Turkey and Israel. On Holland America, I experienced cruising from Sydney, Australia through Auckland, New Zealand with a different port almost every day.
Beginning in 2023, I have been hosting our exclusive Distinctive Voyages. These are special sailings contracted by our consortium that include added amenities such as a welcome cocktail reception, services of a dedicated host and a complimentary shore excursion. Ask me about our next Distinctive Voyage sailings!
I hope to inspire others to travel by showing you how rewarding it can be. Traveling frequently myself helps me to understand the various components of travel. My adventures this year:
- New Year's Caribbean cruise - Holland America
- Universal Studios Orlando
- Western Caribbean cruise on Celebrity
- I flew to Amsterdam and stayed on the AmaSerena river cruise boat while attending the River Cruise Expo and experiencing 12 different boats!
- My husband and I then celebrated our anniversary in Las Vegas
- The month of April found me in Fort Lauderdale attending a cruise conference and advancing my credentials
- A June trip to Tennessee resulted in visiting more wonderful places here in the United States, such as the Lost Sea and Cumberland Falls
- Merida, Yucatan - what a place! The cuisine here was amazing.
- Seabourn cruise in Alaska through the Canadian Inside Passage
- Holland America cruise in Alaska, northbound
- Savannah, Georgia to see all it can offer groups
As Hans Christian Andersen said, “To travel is to live.” I believe this is true. There is so much to see and do in this world.
Exploring the world is a privilege and I love to help people achieve their dreams of seeing new places and having new cultural experiences. The most important thing to me is that my clients have a terrific and stress-free experience on any trip. I will help you through all aspects of your trip, starting right from when you leave your front porch.
My clients can check their itineraries through a special app that can be accessed through your smart phone.
I like to make sure that you know exactly what you are doing, how you are doing it and when you are doing it.
- How are you getting to the airport or the cruise terminal?
- Where will you stay before your cruise?
- What will you do while in port?
- How will you get there?
- How will you get back home?
- What is your plan if something goes wrong?
I will work through all those details with you. All you have to do is relax and enjoy the trip!
Can Be Reached At
1-951-368-4350
Visiting New Zealand and Australia had always been on my list of places to explore and I finally got to both countries in December 2022. I traveled with my husband and adult daughter from Los Angeles to Sydney, where we spent two nights before embarking on a cruise for two weeks that concluded in Auckland, New Zealand.
Our overall opinions of both countries were that they seemed very safe and clean, environmentally green and we wouldn't mind living there!
In Sydney we stayed at the Marriott at Circular Quay, just two blocks from the major transportation hub with trains, light rail and ferries available. There were also many places there for dining from fast food to pubs and eateries to fine dining. And, to my daughter's delight, there were souvenir shops.
On our full day in Sydney we walked to the quay, purchased some ferry tickets to take us to the Taronga Zoo and enjoyed the day there viewing the various animals in their habitats.
During our cruise on Holland America we visited nine ports of call. We booked a shore excursion for just about every port, although there were one or two where we just walked around a bit and explored on foot. Many of the ports were industrial ports so we were required to take a shuttle bus out of the port into town.
Our favorite shore excursion was to Hobbiton, the movie set of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings films. This location was beautiful and is well-maintained. It looks just as it does in the movies! Our tour guide was knowledgeable and patient with us as some of us really took our time along the trail, photographing hundreds of shots.
On our day in Wellington, we rented e-bikes and rode along the waterfront. It was great to get out in the fresh air and we were able to cover much more ground than if we were walking. We even stopped at the Te Papa museum for a while.
Melbourne was a city that we just hopped on the courtesy shuttle into the city's center and wandered around. It was wonderful walking along the river as everything was decorated for the winter holidays. A visit to the ACMI - formerly the Australian Centre for the Moving Image - was delightful with lots of hands-on activities. We had gotten a late start that day and didn't want to rush back to the bus station for the return trip to the ship, so we actually ended up walking the 7 miles or so back to the pier expecting to stop and call an uber somewhere along the way. We would have rented bikes and/or scooters which were plentiful on the sidewalks, but we had issues trying to download the app to pay for them.
Tasmania was a beautiful port - very lush and green. We had an excursion that took us to the Trout and Salmon Ponds, than on to to Mt. Field National Park. Both places were great. You can feed the fish at the ponds and it's crazy to see them jump out of the water for the food. At Mt. Field we did a short hike along a trail to some waterfalls. We could have enjoyed more time there, and moved on to a further waterfall.
During the cruise we did some sightseeing through a couple sounds. Milford Sound and Dusky Sound were on different days. Dusky Sound was not on our itinerary, but our captain got clearance to take us through. Both mornings called for an early wake up to go out on the bow of the ship (normally closed to passengers) and enjoy the serenity of the sounds.
In Dunedin, our tour took us to the Otago Settlers Museum, Chinese Gardens and Larnach Castle. All of these were wonderful and full of history.
In Picton, we simply walked along the waterfront and did some shopping.
Our tour in Napier took us through the Art Deco capital of the world, exclaiming over the detail of the old buildings that were built after much of the city had collapsed in an earthquake. We also saw the Sunken Gardens, a sculpture garden, a couple of lookouts like Bluff Hill, and a honey farm.
On our last day we opted for shore excursion that included a transfer to the airport. We had purposely booked a late flight so we could see some of Auckland before going home. Our excursion took us out to Waitomo to the Glow worm Caves.
All in all, it was a wonderful trip and I'd love to share in more detail with anyone looking for a vacation to Australia and New Zealand.