A homeworker who convinced her land-loving clients to dive in and try a cruise secured £207,000-worth of bookings for MSC Cruises in just five months.

Lynne Walton is not a cruise specialist but managed to make 54 bookings between February and June this year, with over 75% of them coming from people who’ve never cruised before.

The 57-year-old, from Yarm on Tees, joined Blue Bay Travel’s homeworking division as a self-employed Personal Travel Consultant in October 2021.

She has 35+ years’ experience as a travel agent and returned to homeworking last October after a two-year break.

Her bookings accounted for 87% of all sales of MSC Cruises product by The Personal Travel Consultants in Partnership with Blue Bay Travel in the period.

None of the bookings were discounted and they carried an average value of £3,995 each.

She said:  “Most of my customers are families booking luxury, land-based holidays in Europe, but they were convinced to try cruising for the first time when I showed them what fantastic value for money the MSC cruises were offering, compared with a traditional Mediterranean resort holiday.

“They were attracted by the free kids places up to age 17 and also the prospect of departing from Southampton, thus avoiding any potential airport queues or flight delays. 

 “Once I had booked a couple of customers on MSC sailings, they started referring me to their friends and it snowballed from there. 

“I even had one family call me on the day they returned from a three-night May half-term cruise on MSC Virtuosa, that I had sent them on, to book another 12-night sailing with me on the same ship for August.” 

The Personal Travel Consultants Sales Manager Abbie Heaton said: “We were so pleased to have Lynne join us at the end of last year – she’s exactly the calibre of homeworker we’re looking for.”