By Marie Donovan , Sun Correspondent

Barry Fisher and Janet Leggat pose outside the port at Icy Strait Point in Alaska recently. The ship in the background is the Celebrity Infinity. Fisher and Leggat recently formed their own home-based business, SeaMaster Cruises, which provides travel consulting for cruise enthusiasts. COURTESY PHOTO

LOWELL -- When Janet Leggat and Barry Fisher went on their first cruise five years ago, it was love at first sail.

"It was a Disney Cruise," Leggat said of the cruise that took them to the Bahamas and Disney World in Orlando, Fla.

"You can't help but be on a ship and start to relax, because everything is being taken care of," Leggat said. Nine cruises later, the Lowell couple decided to start their own home travel agency, SeaMaster Cruises, exclusively to serve cruise enthusiasts.

"We gab so much about cruising, our friends said, 'You ought to sell these things,'" said Leggat, who retired last year as executive director of the Lowell Folk Festival Foundation, although she still helps out on a consultant basis.

While there are already a lot of travel agencies in Greater Lowell, including some that specialize in cruises, Leggat said she is not worried about finding clients.

"It's a relationship business; we're not in competition," she said.

SeaMaster Cruises is a subsidiary of Carlson Leisure Group of Minnesota.

Fisher said the agency can help both novice and experienced travelers in picking the cruise that's best for them. "(It's) sort of like a dating service -- you have a lot of decisions to make," he said.

In addition to arranging air travel so that clients don't miss their cruise ship's departure, SeaMaster Cruises takes you through such particulars as whether cruises have occasions for formal entertaining, are they kid-friendly or offer a particular type of cuisine.

Typicallly, on a seven-day cruise, there are a few different entertainment acts, sometimes two or three production shows, plus a comedian, a singer and dueling piano bars and "generally, there are casinos," Leggat said.

Most, if not all, cruise lines offer fitness classes, too.

On some, "They rival anything you would find on land; they have great spa services," including exotic massage and facials, Leggat added.

Royal Caribbean, the most action-oriented line, offers rock climbing walls and ice skating rinks on some cruises. But for those who prefer to take it easy, "you can just sit by the pool and watch people," she said.

"Probably our favorite is Royal Caribbean," particularly a cruise they took to St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Aruba and Curacao," Leggat said. With cruises, travelers get to take in multiple locations without the hassle, she said.

"The No. 1 thing, you only have to unpack once," Leggat said.

Leggat, noting that she and Fisher are "not beach people," said there's still plenty to do at ports of call, including shopping and touring local historical sites. On a Mexican Riviera Cruise, for example, travelers can visit a coconut plantation or a shop where clay roof tiles are made.

Cruises today ar not just for couples, Leggat said.

"It's very interactive; even singles can go on a cruise," she said.

Fundraising cruises are popular.

"Family reunions, girlfriend getaways; those are big deals now," Leggat said.

In general, a room on an upper deck puts you closer to where the action is, but, "if you tend to feel like you might be sea sick, you should be on a lower deck," she said.

Leggat, a Lowell native, continues to serve on the city's Convention & Visitors Bureau, as well as on the Winterfest, City of Lights parade and COOL boards. She is a former president of the Lowell Kiwanas Club and a former board member at the Lowell Boys & Girls Club.

Fisher worked previously as a software engineer and a CVS district photo manager. He moonlights as a fledgling Civil War-era novelist.

The couple hope to cruise Canada and New England next fall and after that, maybe Asia.

"It's kind of the new frontier for folks that have been cruising," Leggat said.

Visit SeaMaster Cruises online at janetandbarry.com.

This article appeared in the Lowell Sun on Thursday, January 3, 2008