The Small Ship Collective

10/10/2026

n September I joined Lori Eldridge-Ervin on her podcast, "Modern Marketing Made Simple", to talk about the systems behind my business.

Some of my clients' cruises now require a digital entry QR code that can only be applied for three days before arrival, while they are already at sea, and making sure that never slips through the cracks is the kind of detail I spend my days on.

I wrote about my reflections on our chat, including what most people misread about small ship cruising and how my systems let me give my clients the personalized attention this kind of travel needs.

The full episode is linked in the article if you would like to listen. I loved our frank conversation and the chance to share a little "behind the scenes" of the work that means my clients never have to think about it.

Helen King of The Small Ship Collective reflects on her Modern Marketing Made Simple conversation with Lori Ervin: what people assume about small ship cruising, and why a specialist runs on systems.

10/08/2026

If you get our weekly newsletter, please check your junk folder. We used the new email address today and let’s just say that it didn’t go as planned…🤦‍♀️

10/08/2026

In this afternoon's newsletter - dodge the dreaded last-night cruise bill plus two November 2027 sailings priced like a typo!

Earlier this week I spent an hour on a video call with clients who are planning their honeymoon and have never cruised before. Before we looked at a single ship, I walked them through the part most cruise websites and travel agents skip, which is how far apart the advertised price and the final bill can be.

I learned that one the hard way. On my first cruise, the bill that slid under our cabin door on the last night came to more than the four of us had paid for the sailing itself (not my favourite souvenir).

This week's Thursday Travel Talk is the Mediterranean guide I wish I'd had back then. I'm also featuring two sailings for November 2027, one 7 days and one 8. The fares are ones I rarely see at this level and with just six suites left, they are going to go fast.

You can subscribe via the link in the first comment. And if you know someone who has been talking about the Mediterranean for years, feel free to pass this along.

10/06/2026

Eight hours in port sounds like plenty of time, until you work backwards from all-aboard.

A client emailed me this week after reading and re-reading the Tenerife shore excursions, because none of them went where she wanted to go. She asked whether she could rent a car instead, and the answer was yes.

Before she locked anything in, I walked her through what that day would look like, starting with a 20-minute taxi to the nearest rental counter and a queue on a morning when several ships are in. All-aboard would likely be 4:30 or 5:00 for a 6pm departure, so her time exploring came down to a few hours, with one traffic jam standing between her and a very stressful afternoon.

There's a bigger picture behind this one too. Since 2020, quality guides and drivers have been harder to find, particularly on smaller islands like Tenerife. When I was in the Faroe Islands this summer, my guide was a schoolteacher doing it on the side because there were more travellers than guides to go around.

She chose to forego the stress and look into a private tour, and wrote back that the extra information and precautions were precisely what she was hoping I'd share (that one made my day).

Working with me costs you nothing extra, and this is the part of the job I love most. If you're planning a cruise in 2027, '28 or '29, send me a message and let's talk about your options. And if someone you love has a cruise coming up, feel free to pass this along.

10/05/2026

Greece and Italy on one cruise sounds like it should be easy to find. Both countries share the same sea, and the brochures make it look like one tidy loop. In practice, the Mediterranean sails in circuits, and each one tends to stay in its own lane.

The four you'll run into most often:

(1) The Greek Isles. Athens, Mykonos, Santorini and Rhodes, with whitewashed villages and evenings that stretch late. Lovely, and almost entirely Greek.

(2) The Adriatic. Venice at one end, Corfu at the other, and Croatia and Montenegro in between (often the part people love most).

(3) Rome to Athens. Amalfi, Sicily, Katakolon for Olympia, then Athens. Your best bet for both countries in 7 to 10 nights, as long as you plan a night in Rome first (Civitavecchia is over an hour from the city) and go in knowing you'll likely see just one Greek island.

(4) The Western Med. Barcelona, Monaco, Livorno for Florence, then Rome. Spectacular, with no Greece at all, so wanting both means two sailings back to back and the time and budget that takes.

None of this is something you'd have a reason to know until you're well into planning. If the Mediterranean is on your maybe one day list, save this post, and when you're ready to lock in a date, leave the rest with me.

10/03/2026

One of my clients has sailed nearly 200 nights with Regent Seven Seas. So when someone with that much experience says an advisor still makes a difference, I pay attention to what he says that difference is.

For him, this year, it was the visas. His voyage from Auckland to Tokyo meant a long list of applications and deadlines across many countries, and he wanted someone keeping track of them so he didn't have to.

The line that stayed with me was about the advisor he had before me, who sadly passed away. Being trusted with a relationship someone valued that much is the part of this work I take most personally.

We're already planning his next one, South America in January 2028. I'm grateful he took the time to write this.

10/01/2026

Last month I had lunch with Riverside Luxury Cruises, and I wasn't going to leave without asking about "the elephant in the room".

This summer, low water left stretches of the Rhine completely impassable, and many river cruises were cancelled, some at the very last minute.

I wanted to know what Riverside did for their guests when it happened because, as you know, I have "trust issues" and I know all I need to know about a supplier partner, by how they respond when things go wrong.

Their answer told me a lot about the company, and what else I learned, has me looking at river cruising a little differently.

It's all in this afternoon's newsletter, which comes our just before 2 pm. If you are not already receiving it, let me know and I'll send you the link to subscribe.

09/29/2026

The itinerary is the part of a trip everyone sees. It's also only part of what makes a trip work.

The rest is quieter. It's knowing what matters to you (the food, the quiet, the cabin, the pace), noticing the small things before they become problems, and choosing a ship that suits the way you like to travel.

Earlier this year I had clients on a long Asian voyage who needed multiple entry approvals and visas. The digital entry approvals could only be filed a few days before arriving, while they were at sea. So I scheduled each one to land in their inbox at 6 am local time, three days before they reached that country, with the right link inside.

Click, fill in, submit, and most importantly, get back to their day.

Nobody posts a photo of that, but it's still part of the trip, and it's a big part of why it felt easy.

That work starts with our first conversation and carries on until you're home. And then I'll want to hear all about it.

09/28/2026

Two questions come up in almost every first conversation I have with small-ship travellers, and I see the same two in cruise forums every week.

The first is which cruise line fits them. Four different lines can all call themselves luxury and feel completely different once you're on board, from the food to how the evenings unfold. Their websites don't always make those differences clear, either.

The second is what's included. One fare covers drinks, excursions, gratuities and Wi-Fi, while another covers only some of that. Comparing two prices without knowing what's inside them is how people end up surprised and ultimately frustrated and feeling "duped".

So I built something to help with both. It's a short quiz that asks what matters to you on board, then suggests three cruise lines that fit, with a side-by-side comparison of what each one includes and what it doesn't.

Think of it as a place to start. Your three matches may not be the final answer, and that's what a conversation is for. If you'd like to talk it through, leave your name at the end and I'll be in touch.

Everyone who takes the quiz receives an extra onboard credit when they book with me.

Ready to take the quiz? Click on my website (it's listed in the bio) and then "the right cruise" in the top navigation bar.