Cruise Influencers Make $350,000 a Year Attracting Gen Z to Ships
As cruise companies have bounced back after the pandemic, social media has become part of their strategy to appeal to new customers.
Influencer Adrie Smith shoots content with her mother in Key West, Florida.
Photographer: Ysa Perez/Bloomberg
Business professor Melissa Newman once shied away from the term “influencer.” It has become more palatable after social media posts sharing her love of travelling on cruise ships earned her $350,000 last year, quadrupling her regular salary.
Newman, 46, calls herself “Professor Melissa” across her YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok accounts, where she has amassed almost half a million subscribers guiding fellow cruisers on everything from the five worst ports to how to avoid overpacking. The money comes in via affiliate links and advertising across her videos, blog and podcast, as well as services she offers as a travel agent.