It began with a passion for cruises

There was a time, when there were no cruise-only businesses, only your traditional travel agency. In the early 1980’s when cruising was still at it’s infancy, there was no internet to browse, or websites to view and you had to visit your local travel agency to book a cruise.  Cruising was a vacation still considered to be reserved mostly for the elderly, but a TV show called the Love Boat began to change that stigma. The early eighties could be considered the Love Boat crowd….people wanted to experience for themselves what was portrayed on the TV show.  There was a romance to cruising, because it was still a new and fresh vacation option. 

Barry Vaudrin had a passion for the history of the trans-Atlantic liners like the Queen Mary, the Mauretania, the Normandie, SS United States and the QE2.   Many of the ocean liners were transformed into cruise ships, so Barry’s interest in the liners also moved with the times as more and more liners became cruise ships.  A pivotal time in the cruise industry, was when Norwegian Cruise Lines took a huge risk and purchased one of the more famous ocean liners in history that was laid up…the SS France.  The SS France, the longest ocean liner ever built, was transformed into the SS Norway and began service in 1981.  Barry had it in his mind in the early eighties to someday open up a cruise-only travel business, because he could see a trend in the travel industry that cruising was gaining momentum as a vacation option.  Also, there was a need for the cruise-only travel business, because it was too difficult for travel agents to become specialist in all forms of travel and know everything there is to know about the cruise industry too.  Barry found that the travel agent community was seriously lacking in knowledge of the cruise industry, so he was determined to someday open up a cruise-only travel business that specialized in helping people find the right cruise. 

In 1986, Barry Vaudrin applied for a membership to Cruise Lines International Association, or CLIA, and he began selling cruises from his dorm room in college.  To gain practical experience with the cruise industry, in 1989 Barry signed-on to work aboard the cruise ships as an entertainer and finally a Cruise Director.  In 1992, Barry lived out one of his wildest fantasies when he signed-on to work aboard the famous ocean liner, the QE2. In 1993 Barry created a business called Global Cruise Centers…a cruise-only business.  Since then Barry has strived to provide expert cruise planning for his customers.  Barry offers his first-hand experience and unique knowledge of the cruise industry to plan cruises for groups and individuals like only an expert would be able to do.  Global Cruise Centers is a specialized business with an expert-level culmination of over 25 years of cruise experience. 

Please test our knowledge, test our expertise and let a Cruise Specialist from Global Cruise Centers plan your next cruise.  Most people, when searching for a cruise these days, are looking for the best price…so put us to work, here at Global Cruise Centers, to find the best cruise value and the perfect cruise for you.  Few people in the country know the cruise industry as intimately as we do here at Global Cruise Centers.  When purchasing a cruise in this world of the internet and thousands of cruise websites, most people still want to talk with a knowledgeable cruise specialist.  Please let us be your Cruise Specialist. 

Contact us at:  cruisequote@aol.com

Our phone number is: 651-207-3731

Global Cruise Centers is located in Bloomington, Minnesota