My Workspace: Opening Eyes UnCruise creates experiences on small cruise ships

written by Sheila G. Miller

Sue Rooney says she has the best job in the world. The director of guest adventures for UnCruise, a small ship adventure cruise company, just might be right. She designs the cruise experiences, whether it’s a wine and gastronomy cruise along the Columbia and Snake rivers or an experience in the Galapagos Islands. “I take a vision and then I put the puzzle pieces of that vision together,” she said.

Although cruises to Alaska are UnCruise’s bread and butter, ships can sail year round. So the company offers other cruises to places around the world—Mexico, Hawaii, Costa Rica, Panama, and right here in the Pacific Northwest. “We have people go on those Alaska cruises with us and then they’ll go to a place they wouldn’t go if they didn’t trust us,” Rooney said.

In 2019, UnCruise will morph its fall wine cruise into a wine and culinary experience. The cruise will still include winery partners, but now will also offer spirits, beer, fruit, hazelnuts, coffee … all the things that make Washington (and its neighbor to the south) great.

Rooney’s favorite cruise the company offers is one that runs along the Columbia-Snake River system. “Sometimes that’s a complete shock to other people because it doesn’t have whales or glaciers,” she said. “But it does have magic and the unknown. People think they know what’s out there and we get to blow their minds. We get to mix food and culinary and wine and history, which is riveting. It’s an adventure of the mind and the palate.” “I live to connect,” Rooney said. “I live to watch people’s eyes fly open. It’s the perfect job for me.”

Learn more about Uncruise Adventures.