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Hello, passionate cruisers! This is Paul. I am delighted to welcome this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, Kim Anderson, global nomad, host, and creator of the Design Her Travel podcast. Design Her Travel inspires you to live the life of your dreams and incorporate more travel into your daily life. Each week you'll discover travel tips and tales from individuals doing just that. Whether you're dreaming of taking your first trip or an experienced globetrotter, each week—through guest interviews and solo episodes—you'll hear inspiring stories and discover proven travel methods that will motivate you to take that next step in designing your life.
Kim is a global citizen who has lived, worked, and traveled to almost 40 countries. Many of her years were spent traveling the world by sea or exploring the world through solo adventures. Her purpose in life is to show people the world and be a living inspiration for their dreams. As creator and host of the Design Her Travel podcast, Kim currently showcases stories of people living extraordinary lives with travel as the centerpiece. Kim and Design Her Travel has been featured in Backpacker Magazine – Asia, Dockwalker Magazine, and on several podcasts.
I have to say Design Her Travel and The Joy of Cruising Podcast sharesome key characteristics—we are both about travel, started about the same time, have a similar number of episodes, and are both quite global with listeners in over 100 countries. There is one difference though; Design Her Travel is in the top 2.5% of podcasts in the world, making Kim my podcast role model!
Design Her Travel Website
Join the waitlist for the DHT Group Trip opening early 2025. Special earlybird discount available to the waitlist only!
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This week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, I am delighted to welcome Matthew Jones of The Cruise Maps. Based in UK, their ingenious, unique products based on maps of your cruise journey is far more than meets the eye. It all starts with your cruise shipʼs navigation system. While it was designed to help seafarers identify other ships and safely navigate the seas, it also enables The Cruise Maps to remotely follow the progress of every ship in the world in real time. A massive global network of satellite and land-based receivers are continuously sending signals them back to databases to store and analyze the global fleet’s movements. This system is used for everything from managing traffic and tracking logistics, identifying illegal fishing and analyzing global trade. And now, for creating Cruise Maps! Imagine completing that cruise celebrating a milestone like a special birthday? The Cruise Maps can immortalize that special cruise with a unique, custom-made keepsake you won’t find in souvenir shops or need to stuff in your luggage.The Cruise Maps story starts in 2007 when partners Matthew and Will were housemates at the University of Southampton, bonding over a shared love of travel, ships and the ocean. Will was a lifelong sailor and naval architect in training and Matthew was a Geography undergraduate with two seafaring parents, who met working on the Queen Elizabeth 2 in the 1980s. They found themselves, 16 years later in London, talking excitedly over breakfast about the possibilities of using satellite data in different ways—it wasn’t really a huge surprise. That day in 2023, they teamed up to create the world’s first personalized and entirely accurate print maps for cruise passengers. By using satellite ship tracking data, they managed to build a system that can take a passenger’s basic cruise details and create the perfect map of where the ship actually went, rather than where it planned to go. ‘We are both perfectionists at heart. We want to create maps that you will hang on your walls proudly for decades to come.’ If you choose to order your own cruise map, use my affiliate link www.thecruisemaps.com/joyofcruising10 to automatically receive a 10% dis
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Hello, passionate cruisers! This is Paul and this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, I am delighted to welcome a special guest, Colleen McDaniel. Among the global cruise personalities, we are blessed to host, today, I am honored to welcome another one of those Googleable individuals (is that a word...yes) we occasionally have the honor to host.
Colleen McDaniel is Editor-in-Chief of Cruise Critic. She considers cruising to be a true passion, having traveled the world by water – from Alaska, the Caribbean and Hawaii, to Europe’s rivers, Antarctica and Africa – on ships of all shapes and sizes. I first “met” when I featured her husband John Roberts of In the Loop Travel in my book Cruising Interrupted amzn.to/3seFU8y.
When not cruising, Colleen loves running, biking, hiking or anything that keeps her moving. Living in Colorado makes it easy to get outside and stay active. She’s also a fan of craft beer, and science fiction movies and TV. Trying craft beers in cruise ports all over the world has become a passion. She’ll talk your ear off about hair bands from the '80s and anything related to "Doctor Who." A Wisconsin native, Colleen roots for the Green Bay Packers – she’s a team owner. (As I am a football fan, I definitely want to ask her about that.)
She’s regularly quoted as a cruise expert in media outlets across the country, including The Associated Press, Good Morning America, TODAY, CNN, FOX Business, CNBC, The New York Times, Travel + Leisure and Skift.Relying on ship wifi is slow, unsecure, sometimes not available & at foreign ports travelers don’t want to pay their carriers’ high fees. Save $ with GigSky! Get a data package usable on the ship & in ports. Link to GigSky: https://gigsky.pxf.io/nloxor. For a 10% discount use code: joyofcruising
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Hello, passionate cruisers! This is Paul. I am delighted to welcome this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, Brandee and Shannon Lake, a couple of special guests who were recently sailors, roommates on Royal Caribbean’s Ultimate World Cruise on Serenade of the Seas. We want to get their reflections about the special cruise which left Miami December 10, 2023, and disembarked in Miami on September 10, 2024. Shortly after embarkation Ultimate World Cruise became a social media sensation, and for several passengers it became a social media obsession. One of the best known of those passengers was Brandee Lake, and The Joy of Cruising Podcast was fortunate to have her on the show earlier in the year Ep. 115 .
In addition to being cabin mates for nine months, Brandee and Shannon host a podcast together, Brannon Files, and they did publish a couple of episodes from Serenade of the Seas. I enjoyed immensely when Brandee joined the podcast. It is now my pleasure to bring Brandee back to the show and welcome her sister Shannon and hear the highlights of their Ultimate World Cruise, learn about its aftermath—and its path forward, and talk to Brandee and Shannon about their cruising plans.
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I am delighted to welcome this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, Jon Saxx, saxophonist extraordinaire. I first experienced Jon on a cruise we attended prior to the shutdown—Festival at Sea. Jon was a ‘house musician’ for Festival at Sea, the longest-running African-American cultural cruise. Created by African-American entrepreneur and owner of San Francisco’s Blue World Travel Agency, Patricia Yarbrough, Festival at Sea has put on over 35 consecutive years of sold out full ship charters of its annual cruise. In addition to Festival at Sea, Patricia’s affiliate brand, Friends of Festival at Sea puts on luxury cruises on high-end vessels to exotic locations every few years. Patricia was a guest on The Joy of Cruising Podcast and it is really worth a listen, Ep 39.
We recently had the opportunity to experience Jon again, this time up close and personal, when Friends of Festival at Sea put on an amazing itinerary River cruise in Southern France on AmaWaterways AmaKristina coupled with 3 days in Paris. Besides being a part of the evening entertainment on AmaKristina, Jon headlined a Gospel Brunch Event. It was during the Friends of Festival at Sea Gospel Brunch when Jon shared his personal testimony that I decided I had to bring this gentleman with the great story to the listeners of The Joy of Cruising Podcast. Jon Saxx was voted Best Local Jazz Artist in So Florida by Miami New Times in 2008 and has performed with jazz and R&B stars Najee, Montell Jordan, Howard Hewitt, and National Anthem Performances for the Miami Heat. Jon was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio earned a degree in Manuf Engineering. He was employed by Johnson & Johnson as a Med Device Engineer for 4 years. Jon’s musical inspiration, Mr. Wright, his saxophone teacher, taught him to go beyond playing the music, to making the music a reality for himself and his audience! Witnessing Jon in his element, whether or not his eyes are hidden under one of his trademark hats, or 3-piece suits, you realize you're watching a man possessed by the spirit of jazz.Relying on ship wifi is slow, unsecure, sometimes not available & at foreign ports travelers don’t want to pay their carriers’ high fees. Save $ with GigSky! Get a data package usable on the ship & in ports. Link to GigSky: https://gigsky.pxf.io/nloxor. For a 10% discount use code: joyofcruising
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In my effort to portray cruising in all its diversity, now for something completely different. This week The Joy of Cruising Podcast is delighted to welcome Cris Kostiuk, creator of Cris the Cruising Duck Man. Let me preface by saying that for the most part up until recently, I have been rather ambivalent toward the phenomenon of hiding and finding toy ducks on cruise ships. First of all, I assumed it would be a short-lived trend that would fade away. Wrong! Secondly, I kind of thought it was mainly for kids—and since I no longer have young children to cruise with I have “aged out” of the target clientele. Wrong again. Cruise ship ducks are very much a kids, and adults craze.
The tide started to change for me in terms of paying a little more attention to cruise ship duck mania when I began to read about this duck trend in non-cruise media. Then I read a blog post by arguably the top cruise blogger/podcaster in the world, Matt Hochberg, of Royal Caribbean Blog that opened my eyes. In a blog whose title seemingly was directed at me, Hiding Ducks On A Cruise Ship Is A "Crazy" and Popular Trend - Whether You Like It Or Not https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2024/09/05/cruising-ducks-how-to-hide, Matt shared some information that put to rest any notion of cruise duck mania being a passing fad. For instance, there is a cruising ducks Facebook group that is approaching 300k members. And, Matt’s blog mentioned today’s guest.
What moved me to a podcast about duck mania though were images of ducks that would regularly show up in my Facebook feed; these ducks were a far cry from dollar store ducks or ducks sold in bulk on Amazon. They were amazing. You see I was Facebook friends with Cris the Cruising Duck Man. So, I invited him on.
After a catastrophic accident that Cris was fortunate to survive, Cris formed a new outlook on life and decided to start traveling more, including his 1st cruise. Of course, he got hooked. On his 2nd cruise, he took his kids and started learning about ducks. He got hooked on that too, to the point he purchased a 3-D printer (which ultimately became 6 3-D printers!) Cris takes multiple large suitcases of ducks every cruise & created a website cruisecave.com for selling his 3-D printed ducks. Cris says, ‘I love getting photos with people. I alRelying on ship wifi is slow, unsecure, sometimes not available & at foreign ports travelers don’t want to pay their carriers’ high fees. Save $ with GigSky! Get a data package usable on the ship & in ports. Link to GigSky: https://gigsky.pxf.io/nloxor. For a 10% discount use code: joyofcruising
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I am delighted to welcome back to The Joy of Cruising Podcast Mikkel and Dan, creators of the Sometimes Sailing cruise website and Instagram. Mikkel and Dan are special friends, and this is a special episode. I got to know Mikkel and Dan when I wrote about Sometimes Sailing in my new release The Joy of Cruising Again http://amzn.to/3lAfyON where I wrote about their penchant for small ship cruising as well as “ship-within-a-ship” spaces, for instance, Celebrity Cruises The Retreat, Norwegian Haven, and Princess Cruises Medallion Class. I hosted Sometimes Sailing on The Joy of Cruising Podcast Episode 28 last year, and on Episode 101 earlier this year where I mentioned how Mikkel and Dan were instrumental in motivating me to pursue my bucket list aspiration to sail our first river cruise—AmaWaterways Soulful Epicurean French River Cruise on AmaKristina. What makes this episode special is that Mikkel and Dan, Sometimes Sailing are the first guests to appear on the podcast three times!
Mikkel and Dan have created a complimentary river cruise planning resource for our listeners.
**Download their Essential River Cruise Budgeting Guide here.**
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Hello, passionate cruisers! This is Paul and this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, I present to you something quite different than what you are used to hearing from me. It’s a cruise news story—an absolutely amazing one. First, let me welcome to the show Cailyn. Joshua is an entrepreneur in Tulsa, Oklahoma who is a central figure in said cruise news story, and as a busy entrepreneur was not able to join us. I don’t normally cover cruise news. I leave that up to others who are renown and much better than I am about covering that sort of thing. However, Cailyn and her family’s story transcends cruise news. It was covered extensively worldwide by mainstream media. Besides, one topic I do like to bring to the cruising community are human interest stories—and the Gault's story is a human-interest tale on steroids. Let me summarize before I bring on Cailyn to give us the real deal:
In July 2024, Cailyn and her family of 9 embarked on Norwegian Encore for a family reunion cruise to Alaska. In total, 16 relatives were on the trip at a total cost of $30,000. Joshua and his immediate family, wife Cailyn, six children, and his 78-year-old mother-in-law, Sharron, went on an excursion which I’m sure many of you who have cruised to Alaska recall fondly—a Lumberjack show in Ketchikan. Cailyn and family did the right thing in that they chose an excursion offered by the cruise line. (I always recommend on various Facebook cruise groups that’s it’s best to choose an excursion offered by the cruise line versus an independent excursion because cruise line excursions come with a promise to never leave the port without you…) Upon the end of the Lumberjack show, Cailyn and family went to board the shuttle bus back to the port but it was full and they were told to wait for the next one—which never came. After a panicked phone call, a van was dispatched to pick them up but by the time it got them back to the port, Joshua and family watch the Encore sail off—with passports, clothes and prescription medications onboard.Cailyn joins us to share the ordeal in their own words as well as talk about the aftermath.
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Hello, passionate cruisers! This is Paul and this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, I am delighted to welcome Melissa Davis, and have a conversation with her about how she grew from running Port Shopping Programs onboard cruise ships to providing Port Shopping information and running to all cruisers as a private entrepreneur.
After running shopping programs on Crystal Cruises, Regent, Oceania, Viking, and Marella, and launching the first and only onshore shopping program on Viking River Cruises, Melissa decided to create an online recommended and guaranteed shopping program for all cruisers featuring Cruise Port Maps, and a long list of fabulous recommended and guaranteed retailers and brands in each port, and tried and tested attractions and best beaches. Melissa is the number one Online Port Shopping Guide
After working with several amazing cruise lines and cruising a lot herself, Melissa was surprised to see not all Cruise lines provide accurate Port Maps when the ships arrive in port. She decided to put her Cruise Port Insider Secrets online so everyone could access it.
Melissa’s cruise ship career started as a Fitness Instructor for Steiner Transocean on the old Holland America Line Noordam. She couldn’t wait for time off in port to explore the ports, and submerging herself in the culture and meeting wonderful people along the way. To this day she has artifacts, indigenous souvenirs and jewelry and art from these wonderful experiences. When a position came up as a Shopping Lecturer she jumped at the chance and for the next 7 years, she went to various cruise lines running lectures and helping cruise ship guests navigate the ports of call.
Now Melissa has all these amazing Cruise Port Maps, and will tell you how to get yours free, as well as shop for wonderful products from each destination or snag a souvenir for a loved one back home.Relying on ship wifi is slow, unsecure, sometimes not available & at foreign ports travelers don’t want to pay their carriers’ high fees. Save $ with GigSky! Get a data package usable on the ship & in ports. Link to GigSky: https://gigsky.pxf.io/nloxor. For a 10% discount use code: joyofcruising
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Hello, passionate cruisers! This week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, it is my pleasure to welcome back a special guest, Chef Rudi Sodamin, a culinary virtuoso of the seas. Chef Rudi is Princess Cruises' first Head of Culinary Arts effective January 2024. When I chatted with him back in December, Ep 71, we talked about his pending new role, along with his existing role as Master Chef for Holland America Line (HAL)—which I am particularly excited about as we cruise on HAL a couple times in 2025. Carnival Cruise Corporation—parent company of HAL, as well as Princess—was so impressed with Rubi’s Sel de Mer, the French-inspired intimate brasserie that Chef Rudi led the launch of on select HAL ships, that they commissioned him to create Rudi’s Seagrill for its new Excel-class ships—Mardi Gras, Celebration, and Jubilee.
In 2023 Chef Rudi partnered with Princess Cruises, to create The Catch by Rudi on Enchanted Princess, Majestic Princess, Sky Princess, Discovery Princess, and recently-released Sun Princess—which I am particularly excited about as I will sail her new sister STAR Princess in 2025.
Since I last spoke with Chef Rudi, Princess Cruises announced it is joining with world renowned artist Romero Britto, known for his bold, colorful, and joyful style, and a global advocate for happiness, to create Love by Britto, the first artistically inspired dining experience celebrating the essence of "Love" aboard Sun Princess. According to Princess: Love and art converge with taste in an immersive culinary journey, showcasing a meticulously curated menu by culinary virtuoso Rudi Sodamin. With Sodamin's ingenious touch, Love by Britto transcends into a multisensory exploration, offering extraordinary dishes that embody profound passion, exquisite flavor, and boundless creativity. Love by Britto features a 7-course menu--a flute of Champagne upon arrival, lobster, caviar and truffles, and chocolate fondue.
Says Chef Rudi, "Food is the international language of love; Love by Britto could not be more perfect for Princess, homeRelying on ship wifi is slow, unsecure, sometimes not available & at foreign ports travelers don’t want to pay their carriers’ high fees. Save $ with GigSky! Get a data package usable on the ship & in ports. Link to GigSky: https://gigsky.pxf.io/nloxor. For a 10% discount use code: joyofcruising
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Hello, passionate cruisers! This is Paul. I am delighted to welcome back this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, Heidi Sarna and Ted Scull’s Quirky Cruise, which was featured in my second cruise book, Cruising Interrupted in a section called “Specialty Cruising: Fun and Quirky.” When I first interviewed Heidi and Ted I knew very little about small shipcruising, that is, a small ship designed to hold 300 or fewer passengers; some low double digits, even single digits! These small ships can range from spartan to ultra-luxury, and because of their size and design can access destinations that mainstream cruise ships cannot. Quirky Cruise is an online magazine that focuses exclusively on the important and growing sector of the cruise industry. Quirky Cruise's slogan is “Travel without the crowds.” Quirky Cruise is the source for reviews, news, and round-ups about unusual and small-ship cruises under 300 passengers, from river boats to canal barges, sailing ships, coastal cruisers, and expedition vessels. Heidi Sarna and Ted Scull created Quirky Cruise because they love small-ship cruising and want to share what they know and have experienced with others who also like traveling on small, intimate vessels.
Here is Heidi’s previous appearance on The Joy of Cruising Podcast Ep 4 It is a pleasure to have Heidi back to talk about two very quirky cruises—from opposite sides of the world, one in driving distance from me here in North Carolina. Before I bring Heidi on, let me say Heidi has been involved in several ‘firsts’ in my cruise career. I already mentioned she and Ted were the first to familiarize me with small ship crusading; consequently, Hedi was instrumental in me taking my first River Cruise on AmaWaterways to Southern France on AmaKristina, and on the same River Cruise hired me for my first experience as a freelance travel writer for QuirkyCruise.com. Check out my article when you get a chance—the link is in the show notes https://www.thejoyofcruising.net/blog/amawaterways-soulful-experience-cruise-on-frances-rhone-river-paul-c-thornton-reviews-a-10-night-cruise-paris-combo.
It is an
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Hello, passionate cruisers! This is Paul. I am delighted to welcome this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, a special guest, Patrice Covington. We were introduced to Patrice on our recent anniversary cruise to the A, B, and C Islands in the Southern Caribbean on Celebrity Ascent. Patrice put on a show, I’m Your Whitney Tonight, a Whitney Houston Tribute.
Patrice Covington is an Emmy award winning Broadway, television and film actress. She is an accomplished singer, actor, voice over artist, media personality and educator of the arts. As a broadway veteran, Patrice has graced the world’s renowned, Broadway and toured the globe with all-star Broadway casts in several shows including The Book of Mormon, Motown The Musical, Ain’t Misbehaving, Dreamgirls, and the Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award Winning revival of The Color Purple. As a vocalist, she has traveled the world providing background vocals for top billed performers including Jennifer Hudson, Christina Aguilera, and Stevie Wonder. Patrice has performed on stages nationwide with The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Virginia Symphony, the American Pops Orchestra, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. She also dazzles vacationers aboard cruises lines with her perfectly curated shows featuring music of the women she was influenced and inspired by.
On television, Patrice is best known for her role as Erma Franklin in Natural Geographic anthology series, “Genius: Aretha,” a biopic about the legendary Aretha Franklin and Gracie in Amazon’s TV series “A League of Their Own,” a reimagining of the hit 1992 film. She can also be seen in guest star roles on All Rise, Chicago PD, and new series Sincerely Love. Patrice acts opposite Nicole Kidman in the upcoming murder mystery series “The Perfect Couple” on Netflix and as the lead in the new made for TV movie, “For What It’s Worth” on BET.
Patrice is the owner and operator of The Galaxy Space, a Performing Arts Studio by Patrice Covington, offering private training and a part of faculty at The Governor’s School for the Arts in Norfolk, VA. Patrice is a is a proud member of the illustrious Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. inspired by Matthew 5:14-16, her trademarked motto is "Don't be a star...be a galaxy.” A phrase meant to inspire and motivate humans
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Hello passionate cruisers, this is Paul. This week on The Joy Of Cruising Podcast Cheryl and I will share our reflections on our recent cruise—a 9-day sailing to the Southern Caribbean—A, B, C Islands aboard Celebrity Cruises newest ship, the latest in its Edge-class, the Ascent. A, B, C is an acronym for Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao.The full itinerary of Ascent was embarkation at FLL followed by a sea day; a stop at Cayman/Georgetown, a seaday, then Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire, then 2 sea days on the way back to Ft. Lauderdale.
We’ve gone on longer cruises and enjoyed the extra time but after a while Cheryl is like “I need land” like she said on our 16-day transatlantic with 8 straight sea days. The cruise was 9-days, a sweet spot for us; 7-days is just not quite long enough. This cruise was special in several ways. It was a celebration of our anniversary which was 3-weeks prior in October. A cruise on Celebrity Ascentwas a direct challenge to our as yet favorite cruise which was on Ascent’s sister ship in Celebrity’s Edge Class, the Celebrity Beyond two years prior. I often proudly mention in the same sentence that the CEO at Celebrity who launched the Edge Class—Lisa Lutoff Perlo, was a guest on the The Joy Of Cruising Podcast and she too selected Beyond as her personal favorite. Lisa launched the Celebrity Edge, Apex, and the Beyond before her move back to Royal Caribbean.
Most significantly was the sentimental aspect of this trip. Aruba is where we celebrated our honeymoon, and this was our first return back in 32 years.
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Hello, passionate cruisers! This is Paul. I am delighted to welcome back this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, Roland and Emma, a couple I first met on a Facebook cruise group, and I immediately anointed them as my new travel role models. That cruise group happened to be the most influential on Facebook—the 106,000 member Melanin At Sea, created by friends of the show and global cruise personalities A Rich and Jazzy Life. Roland and Emma were the first guests to come on The Joy of Cruising Podcast not as global cruise personalities, but as “ordinary” cruisers to talk to the listeners about an extraordinary bucket list cruise. I had seen their great description and photos of the cruise, and I reached out to them and enjoyed reliving the cruise with them.
Well, they did it again! This time Roland and Emma traveled via land and sea on an epic European adventure covering 61 days! So, when I called them my new cruise role models before that might have been hyperbole; now I want to know if they are looking to hire an administrative assistant! The Epic Euro trip started with: -
· 5 days in Airbnb London
· 14-night cruise Sky Princess (from London), a back-to-back
· 14 Night Land of the Midnight Sun Cruise Sky Princess
· 7-night Oasis of the Seas Spain/Italy
· 3-city Spain Adventure
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This week on The Joy Of Cruising Podcast we want to revisit a show from earlier in the year February 12, Episode 79 The Joy of Cruising Podcast, Bucket List Cruises 2024-2025 where we discussed our plans to check some milestone cruises off our overflowing bucket list over the course of this year and next. This is a mini episode as we are on a cruise to the Southern Caribbean. It may be mini in length but this The Joy Of Cruising Podcast episode packs a major punch in terms of a couple of substantial updates that directly impact the bucket list cruise journey that we are still.
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Hello, passionate cruisers! This is Paul. I am delighted to welcome back this week to The Joy of Cruising Podcast, Jamie Robins, creator of Travel Blog Jamie, a blog and YouTube channel. I first met Jamie over a year ago when I hosted each of the finalists for The Wave Awards who had not previously been on the show. The Wave Awards, UK cruise industry’s premier award; included are award categories for cruise lines, ships, travel agencies, and most pertinent to this episode—Favorite Cruise Influencer. Travel Blog Jamie again made the short-list.
Jamie is an educator by training—he has degrees in Spanish and French and a master’s degree in linguistics— taught Spanish and French, in education leadership. Since that last year episode, Jamie stepped away from his education career of 25 years to pursue cruise vlogging as his primary career. Jamie got to sail Cunard’s new Queen Anne, one of the most anticipated ships of ’24, and we want to hear all about that; been to Bali; been interviewed by the BBC; started a role as a columnist, and more but we’ll let him catch us up.
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Hello, passionate cruisers! This is Paul. I am delighted to welcome back this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, fun couple Scott and Tom, creators of Vitamin Sea UK. They were on a year ago and were a lot of fun and I can tell from Instagram they have sailed more fun cruises so we want to hear all about them. Vitamin Sea UK’s credo is ‘Sailing the seven seas (and rivers), two Hawaiian shirts at a time. We're here to show that there's a cruise line for everyone, shattering the image of what some believe cruising is. We #ChooseCruise to embrace new cultures, new food, try new experiences and see what the world has to offer wherever the sea laps the shore.’
I ‘met’ Vitamin Sea UK on Instagram via my The Joy of Cruising Podcast account. Our mutual interest in cruising was obvious from the beginning. What made Vitamin Sea UK captivating is that they always seem to be fun, happy, and embracing the moment. I’m sure you have heard some variation of ‘there is no such thing as a bad cruise.’ Well, Scott and Tom seem like the poster boys representing that ethos. Indeed, they describe themselves ‘as a fun, happy couple that both have a passion for travel, adventures, and embracing new cultures. Rather than focusing on the amenities that a ship has, we show ourselves enjoying them and what you can actually do on a cruise holiday.’
They have full-time jobs but have been able to carve out time for themselves to cruise the world. I love to keep up with them on Instagram where through imagery they epitomize ‘the Joy of cruising,’ and they certainly have gone on some great cruises since we spoke last year so let’s hear all about it.
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The Joy of Cruising is delighted to welcome sisters Juliet & Janice, creators of Cruise Sisters. The Cruise Sisters brand launched in 2015. I am pleased to note that Juliet and Janice are our first guests from Germany.
The Cruise Sisters love traveling, especially at sea, and have been cruising together since 2009. They have been on over 65 cruises, and through their blog offer suggestions for different cruises, their top activities on sea days, insider tips for local highlights ashore and take us with them on their travels virtually on Instagram.
The Cruise Sisters are independent and stress that they only write about our their own impressions vowing to remain authentic and honest. They are not a partner of a travel agency and do not sell anything via affiliate links, stating, “We just want to help other travelers with our experiences when choosing their next cruise and, above all, encourage readers to try out a new cruise line. We try to stay as unbiased as possible.” Janice is Juliet’s older sister. They point out, “Despite our age difference, there is nothing better for us than traveling together. We love traveling the world with our family, because cruising is such a nice way to spend time together and at the same time each individual can join in activities they like. We love to get to know the cultures, to try the typical food and to immerse ourselves completely in the world of cruising.”
The Cruise Sisters have also published a travel guidebook to the Western Mediterranean in 2020, but it is only available in German. The book focuses on port cities in the western Mediterranean and reveals their favorite spots and insider tips. Barcelona, Genoa, Marseille, Naples, Nice, Palma and Valencia, for example, are perfect for exploring on your own during a day ashore. In addition to interesting facts about each destination, the chapters offer recommendations for bars, restaurants and cafés. All personally tested by the Cruise Sisters. There are also ten typical local recipes to cook at home. Check out recipe at
The Cruise Sisters grew up in Gothenburg, Sweden, Kiel, Germany and St. Petersburg, Russia. They always lived near the sea and in addition to cruising, love boating, and sailing.” Janice ha
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Hello, passionate cruisers! This is Paul. I am delighted to welcome this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, John Shallo, the founder and editor of Cruise Addicts, a premier online community for cruise travelers. John’s love for cruising began after his first cruise in 1989. He later established Cruise Addicts in 1999 to share his passion for cruise travel with others, and it has become an award-winning destination for self-professed Cruise Addicts looking for the latest cruise industry news, forums, ship reviews, and travel tips. You can find him on the web and social media, sharing his latest cruise ship review, video, travel tips, and port guides. He hopes to continue sharing his experiences and inspiring others to enjoy cruise travel to its fullest.
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Hello, passionate cruisers! This is Paul. I am delighted to welcome this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast,
Cathy and Emma, creators of Cruise Addicted—YouTube channel, blog, Facebook and Instagram platform; and shortlist candidate for The Wave Awards, Favorite Cruise Influencer. Let me set the stage by pointing out The Wave Awards is the UK cruise industry’s premier award; included are award categories for cruise lines, ships, travel agencies, and cruise influencers. As you are aware I greatly appreciate cruise bloggers, vloggers and influencers and have written about them extensively. In the Joy of Cruising books, I call them “cruise community champions.” I have interviewed every winner and virtually every short lister since I have been involved with the cruising industry. Some trivia: the very first person who agreed to be featured in my first book in 2018—when I was just a “voice on the internet”—was 23-year-old Emma Le Teace, now of Emma Cruises, who I reached out to after she won The Wave Award for her Cruising Is Not Just for Old People blog. (Love that name!) This year’s award ceremony will be held in London in November. Most of this year’s Favorite Cruise Influencer finalists have been featured in the books and/or guests on the podcast. Cruise Addicted has not—love that name as well—and I thought this was a great opportunity to get to know Cathy and Emma and to share passionate cruisers’ story with the cruise community. I love this time of the year when the Wave Awards are pending because it always presents opportunities to enlarge my circle of global cruise friends.
Cathy and Emma, is the dynamic duo behind the scenes Cruise Addicted. Fuelled by a shared passion for cruising, they bring a wealth of experience in travel, business, photography, and writing. While rarely spotted together, their backgrounds blend seamlessly to offer you a unique perspective. With almost 50 years of combined cruising expertise – from planning, booking, packing, filming, writing, to pure enjoyment – they are the driving force behind Cruise Addicted.
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