• 4 min de lectura
• 4 min de lectura
Line Murphy, cruise manager, Visit Region Stavanger, shares her cruise industry firsts.
October 5, 2026
From dispatching tours on the pier to developing new shore excursions, Line Murphy spent over a decade helping cruise passengers discover the best of Norway.PHOTO: VISIT STAVANGER REGION
In 2001, I took my first cruise – travelling with my mother on a seven-day Mediterranean voyage aboard a ship called Sunbird.
I've always been quite scared of the sea and I get seasick easily, so I was a little nervous about how I would cope. Luckily, it all went surprisingly well!
The highlights of the trip were visiting the Leaning Tower of Pisa and perhaps just as memorable, indulging in the incredible chocolate buffet on board. Definitely a sweet memory from my first – and so far only – cruise!
I started working with cruise ships in 2009, when I joined GuideCompaniet, a company providing guide services and organising shore excursions. I stayed with the company until 2019.
My role was what we in Norway like to call a 'potato' – someone who does a little bit of everything! My official title, however, was tour coordinator.
The job was incredibly varied. I dispatched tours on the pier, planned driving routes, booked entrances and attractions, developed new tours, trained guides and handled many of the practical details involved in making shore excursions run smoothly. I believe the first cruise ship I dispatched was an AIDA Cruises vessel in 2009.
I worked with cruise operations in both Stavanger and Haugesund, and over those 10 years I got to experience many different sides of the cruise and tourism industry.
My 2001 Mediterranean cruise [oulined above] remains my only cruise experience to date.
Wenche Hansen, manager at GuideCompaniet, was my boss for a decade and has been an important inspiration throughout my career.
Wenche genuinely cares about her city and her region, and I have always admired her dedication to cruise tourism and everything she has done to develop the industry. Much of her work benefited many others, often without her receiving the recognition she deserved.
One of the things I learned from Wenche was the importance of reputation building. Cruise tourism has often been treated somewhat differently from other parts of the tourism industry, and the positive impact of cruise is not always part of the conversation. Wenche worked hard to challenge perceptions – not simply with opinions, but with facts and by showing what cruise tourism actually contributes to destinations, local businesses and communities.
That approach continues to inspire me today in my role as cruise manager. It reminds me not to give up when perceptions are difficult to change, but to keep telling the broader story of our industry: what it contributes, why it matters and how we can continue to improve it.
I attended my first Seatrade event in 2023, at Seatrade Cruise Global in Fort Lauderdale. I had only been in my new role for eight weeks, so walking into such a major industry event was, quite honestly, a little intimidating. I didn't know many people yet, but luckily, my colleagues at Cruise Norway helped me make introductions and find my way into the industry.
Since then, attending Seatrade events has become an important part of my work. They give me the opportunity to pitch new shore excursion ideas, arrange onboard visits, discuss challenges with cruise lines, exchange ideas and, most importantly, build relationships.
For me, networking hasn't happened overnight. It has been about building my network stone by stone, conversation by conversation. Meeting people face to face really matters. It creates stronger relationships, builds trust and makes it much easier to pick up the phone or reach out when there is an opportunity, an idea or a challenge to solve together.
Line Murphy PHOTO: VISIT REGION STAVANGER
