The COVID  crisis has changed many lives of so many individuals over the past two years and with financial pressure and lack of substantial savings many people were forced into some life changing directions and career changes.

Joey Burke was one of them, after having 53 cancellations in one week he was thrown into a personal crisis of having to think out of the box and find a way to support himself and his family.

His successful online auction platforms and auctioneering courses were a tremendous success and fantastic alternative but not sustainable enough so he decided, out of the blue, to answer an advert on Facebook for cruise line art auctioneers.

Within a week he was accepted by Park West Gallery (USA) and within 6 weeks he was flying off into the unknown world of life at sea.

After three months of working on two cruise ships , the “Independence of the Seas” and the “Mariner of the seas”, Joey Burke was successfully promoted to Principal auctioneer on the “Navigator of the seas”. Here he sold art to clients from the USA and Europe travelling to the Mexican Islands and the Caribbean.

What a life changing and surreal experience, which has now become his new way of life.

Seeing the world and selling art on auction is his dream job and this will be his way of life for the next 10 years.

Learning the art world and meeting people from all parts of the world has made his experience unforgettable . Although challenging at times , he has achieved top goals and sold some incredible works of art to clients from all over the United States and Europe.

He is currently on vacation and leaves for Europe on 28th August to join the Norwegian Gem from the Norwegian cruise line company NCL where he will be cruising to Venice, Montenegro, Corfu, Santorini, Mykonos and Dubrovnik.

His charity work still continues in South Africa and if anyone requires assistance he will put you in touch with one of his exceptional colleagues in Cape Town.

For further infomation on charity events and auctions in and around Cape Town please  contact joeyb@joeyburke.co.za