Loki was someone I personally reached out to and pestered to be on the show for some time. When I finally convinced him to be a guest after a couple months of persistence, I caught up with him while he was in the Caribbean awaiting his next ship to arrive.

He is a man of many talents, primarily going from ship to ship as a fly on guest entertainer, goes by either Loki or Manuel Martinez, and his on stage persona for at least one of those pseudonyms hails from Cuba, (I'll let you figure out which one).

We spoke about all things magic, cultural stereotypes, and a brief history of time...kind of.

He has also established the magic of ministry agency. Which helps book talent on different types of gigs all around the world.

Enjoy!

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Snejina worked with me on my very first contract back in 2006, and she herself did about 8 years in the industry, completing her first year as a cabin steward, and the rest she worked within the various shops onboard.

I had so much fun reminiscing with Snejina, and she had some really unique, interesting insights and stories from her time spent at sea over the years.

She told me how she coped her whole career with severe sea sickness, a storm so bad she was walking on the walls, what horrors she uncovered in peoples cabins, the kinds of stupid questions she got from passengers and more.

Enjoy!

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Today I spoke with a former colleague who wished to remain anonymous, and so said just to refer to him as Tommy.

All I can say is that we worked together on a Carnival Booze cruise back in 2010, and he did 10 months working as a guest services officer which was his one and only contract.

Tommy told me about the training he received prior to going onboard, crazy types of guests he encountered during that contract, (which is ultimately why it was the only one he did), heart attack at sea, drug smugglers onboard, being detained at the air for being a suspected smuggler himself, and much more.

Was great to catch up with another former shipmate after so many years.

Enjoy!

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In my attempts to connect with the broader podcasting network of creatives out there, I signed up to a conference call on meetup.com with a bunch of people all with their own shows.

Among them, was none other than Mr Ant McGinley, a gentlemen who was good enough to come on the show, and share his own ship journey from over the years.

He did just under 3 years with P&O, and a couple stints with Hurtigruten and Voyager.

Ant told me the hilarious story of how he first got himself onboard, what tactics he employed to mentally overcome belligerent and foolish guests, he mentioned an occasion involving a teddy bear stuffed full of drugs and loads more.

He has his own show called Wrestling with the Champ which can be found here Home https://wrestlingwiththechamp.com.

Plus he is half the brains behind Podomedy, the podcast comedy network. Helping funny podcasters save time and money, which can be found here Podcast Comedy Network - Funny Podcasts

Enjoy!

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This is not a typical episode of DeckTales with a guest sharing their stories, as I thought I would take the time to let you know a bit about myself, where I essentially got the inspiration for the show, what makes it different from other ship related podcasts, and what I hope to achieve moving forwards with it.

If you have enjoyed the show so far then please do drop up a 5 star rating on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This really helps boost visibility on the different platforms, and makes it easier to reach new listeners.

Fancy checking out my first book?

Its available as a paperback and audiobook on Amazon

Seems Like Smooth Sailing: Amazon.co.uk: Catling, Sam: 9781912964246: Books

Thanks for all the support so far xo

Sam

https://eddy.headliner.app/api/v1/transcript/eddy/project/cm83byeat00r501nyimvnjj0s/format/vtt

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Fergus and I worked together well over a decade ago for a brief period of time.

He came aboard a ship I was working on as a videographer, and we became fast friends as Fergus is definitely good people.

Instantly likeable, effortlessly cool, in many ways he reminds me of myself which is probably why we got on so well.

Fergus reminded me of the time we and a few others formed a virile boyband, told me how he met the woman who brought him into the world whilst on an excursion, and revealed some of the questionable practices he was taught when disposing of certain photo lab chemicals.

Enjoy!

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I connected with Daniel over social media, and we chatted about his journey working on ships over the past 17 years.

He's held quite a few various positions within the entertainment department, some of which he enjoyed more than others.

There's been quite a lot of adventures during his time at sea, and it was interesting to hear how he's had to deal with a plethora of medical injuries, upstart fly-on divas, ridiculous guests and much more.

Daniel was good to give me an insight into how ships are starting to get better internet onboard, and our chat took place just after he'd finished working for one cruise line, and was in the process of applying for the next.

Enjoy!

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I worked with Tommy on my first ever cruise ship contract back in 2006, and I never told him this, but back then I used to think he was the coolest guy on board.

He had those husky Brian Adams type vocals that melted knee caps everywhere he went, and to be fair to him he's still got it this day, as at one point during our recording he treated me to a little performance of a song he 'wrote' a long time ago.

In this episode you can expect to hear the pair of us reminiscing about the good old days, how Tommy's own chaotic life eventually got him onboard ships, what events at sea triggered his philanthropic pursuits, how he inadvertently ripped off someone of notoriety's work, and much more.

Enjoy!

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Mark is one of those people I met back in the day only a couple of times, but I found him buried among my Facebook friends with mutual acquaintances throughout the cruise ship industry, and it was only after a short amount of time speaking with him, that all the memories I had of his comedy came flooding back to me.

Mark is one of the most pleasant, affable, well mannered people I've had the pleasure of speaking to on DeckTales, and his act isn't much of an act, because he is like genuinely like that in real life.

I got to hear all about how he started his journey as a comic, when he made the transition to cruise director, and how they basically made him Carnival's first ever fleet supervisor.

He's been with the company over a lengthy period of time, so he's seen them go through a lot of changes over the years, and it was a lot of fun finding out all about it.

Enjoy!

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I connected with Steff through social media, whilst she was stranded ashore in her home country of the Dominican Republic, sandwiched between her first ever and second cruise ship contracts.

She is the first person from the galley I've had the pleasure of speaking to on DeckTales, and she filled me in on all things such as how she managed to get herself onboard, how her first experience went, what she made of ship dating life, how she coped with a wardrobe malfunction mid service and much more.

Enjoy!

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