The Metropolitan State College of Denver Office of Alumni Relations profiles and/or reviews alumni-owned businesses each month as a part of its outreach efforts. Businesses will be highlighted on the blog and in the Office of Alumni Relations enews. Please email escully@mscd.edu if you have a business or know of someone who has a business we should consider profiling.By Lizzy Scully
After spending 150 nights at sea, including a four-month educational odyssey across the globe, Metro State alumnus Eric Peterson (
'99, marketing) has developed a passion for the sea that runs deep. And because his work in the mortgage industry slowed significantly due to increased regulation, he opted to do what he loves best—plan cruises. But instead of arranging all the trips for himself, he started another business, Denver-based
Cruise Planners in January, and will now help others chart their dream tours across the ocean.
“The ability to sell and plan cruises provides me with all of the passion and excitement that I missed working as a mortgage agent,” he explained in a recent email. And that enthusiasm, he adds, translates to an ability to really dial in to what his clients are looking for.
“Knowing that I have cruised around the world and continue to seek out new cruising adventures will help my clients to feel confident that buying a cruise from my agency was the right decision,” Peterson explains. There are a lot of people in the industry who never travel via cruise ship. Not Peterson. He’s been to dozens of ports of call, from Japan to Vietnam and Egypt to Cyprus. When his clients book a trip, he likely has first-hand knowledge about the ships and ports of call they are interested in.
“I believe I can truly recommend the vacation that best suits their needs,” he says. He can also offer them deals just as good as ones they would find online, but without the hours of searching. As a franchise of Cruise Planners/American Express, Peterson has relationships with every cruise line in the industry.
And, to keep up with the ever changing industry, Peterson will regularly scout new opportunities. He goes to Mexico on a five-day reconnaissance mission this spring, and regularly travels around on his 28-foot Lancer sailboat, “the amiga”.
In addition to traveling often to keep his business perspective fresh, Peterson one day hopes to regularly charter an entire ship and to create and maintain several themed cruises.
Traveling by ship, he says, “is an experience of a lifetime. Why not share it with as many other people as possible?”
Eric Peterson’s most memorable time at sea…My junior year at Metro State, I spent the entire Fall Semester (1997) on Semester at Sea, which is a globe-circling educational odyssey that takes 600 students around the world over a four-month period. We spent one week each in Japan, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Vietnam, India, Egypt, Cyprus, Greece, Spain and Morocco. I spent countless hours staring over rail at the sea with amazement. Ever since that journey, each time I get on a ship, the excitement level never wanes.
September of that year, it took us 15 days to cross the Pacific between Vancouver, BC and Kobe, Japan. During that voyage, we encountered two typhoons, and sea conditions that were unfathomable to me. Watching our ship take on 50-70 foot waves was frightening and fascinating at the same time. We were stuck indoors for five days because the winds were too dangerous to be on the decks of the ship. While sitting in class one day, a rogue wave hit the side of our ship and all of us fell over in our desks. The chalkboard rolled across the classroom and shattered into pieces as it slammed against the wall. Luckily, I was not seasick. Several of my classmates could not leave their cabins for days. I learned to respect the sea and to never underestimate it. 
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