Millburn resident, travel journalist named godmother of Windstar cruise ship

Wendy Perrin has something in common with the Queen of England, Sophia Lauren, Tinkerbelle and the Rockettes, and she says it’s more than a pair of X chromosomes.

Earlier this month the township resident was appointed godmother of Windstar Cruises’ newest ship, Star Breeze. The May 6 christening included a pier-side celebration and ceremonial breaking of a champagne bottle against the yacht’s bow, and marked the boat’s introduction to the Windstar fleet.

The travel writer spent more than two decades as Director of Consumer News and Digital Community for Condé Nast Traveler Magazine. She now serves as Trip Advisor’s first-ever Travel Advocate and recently founded WendyPerrin.com, a travel solutions and planning company.

Perrin is an advocate of helping travelers have better trips, which she said is in alignment with Windstar Cruises’ credo, “180 degrees from ordinary.”

“I’ve been told by people who know the cruise industry that I’m the first journalist chosen as the godmother,” said Perrin, whose role as godmother is to bless the ship during christening and guarantee safe passage eternally. “I think Windstar saw a similar philosophy in terms of the sorts of experiences we want to make happen for travelers.”

Perrin shares her 25 years-worth of knowledge in an “Ask Wendy” column on her website and provides her readers, most of who she said are “savvy and frequent travelers,” with a list of trusted travel experts in a section called the “WOW List.”

Safe travels

WOW List travel specialists are chosen by Perrin in part for their “unparalleled expertise” regarding specific countries. as well as their ability to extract travelers from any type of emergency situation whether it be from a political turbulence or a natural disaster.

“Part of how to make your trip extraordinary is safeguarding it and handling any emergency,” Perrin told The Item of Millburn and Short Hills. “Unexpected events can happen, but there are ways to protect yourself against that.”

One couple was in Katmandu, Nepal, when the earthquake struck on April 25, according to one of Perrin’s blog posts. The couple planned their trip with the Nepal specialist on the WOW List. The pair said the specialist booked them new flights and corresponded with them, their relatives in the United States and other connections of hers in Nepal and surrounding countries, to get them to a safe destination.

Perrin listed other emergency precautions such as renting a satellite phone, getting a global rescue membership, creating an emergency contact sheet, and even following the right Twitter feeds for news updates.

The travel journalist said she found herself in a scary situation in 1999, when she and her now-husband, Tim Baker, were vacationing in Egypt. The two climbed to the top of Mount Sinai to see the sunset but as soon as the colors disappeared from the sky, Perrin and Baker were surrounded by darkness.

“There were no lights, stairs or railings on the mountain, which are your basic tourism infrastructure,” Perrin said. “Just as we were about to go down (Tim) took a step back and fell into this 10-foot cistern.”

Though the couple eventually made it down safely on their own, Perrin said a flashlight would’ve made all the difference, even for a seasoned traveler.

A changing industry

In her 25 years of experience as a travel journalist, Perrin said she’s seen a number of changes in the travel industry including:

• More crowds and longer lines,

• Cell phones make for constant communication making it more difficult to escape.

• Networking with other travelers: Perrin explained brochures are obsolete compared to “intel – from people who were just there – on sites like TripAdvisor.”

• Drastic drop in value of airline miles.

• Extreme increase in hotel “nickel-and-diming.”