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Hello, passionate cruisers! This is Paul. I am delighted to welcome this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, Laura Pedlar, and Craig Shaw of Cruise Lifestyle Blog. Those of you with my second cruising book, Cruising Interrupted amzn.to/3seFU8y, know that I featured Laura and Cruise Lifestyle in a section called “Bloggers: Cruise Community Champions.” Laura also came on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, Ep 46 Cruise Lifestyle over a year ago and I’m glad to talk to her again, and to welcome Craig for the first time. I was reminded that it was time to invite Laura back to the podcast when I saw a social media post that she and Craig were on Celebrity Ascent. I tried to get them on the podcast in advance of my own cruise on Celebrity Ascent in November so they could get me excited about what I was in for, but I couldn’t work out the dates. So now we’ll just compare experiences, and also catch up on what’s new with Laura, Craig, and Cruise Lifestyle.

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Hello, passionate cruisers! This is Paul. I am delighted to welcome back this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, Emma of the massively successful Emma Cruises.

Emma is one of the most well-known cruise personalities in the world—and she is still in her 20’s. I first met her in 2019 after Emma shocked the UK cruising community at age 23 by winning the UK Wave Award for Best Cruise Blogger for her irreverently named blog, “Cruising Isn’t Just for Old People.” I was writing my first cruise book, The Joy of Cruising amzn.to/2EAMddF, so I reached out to Emma, and she became one of the features in the book. Emma progressed in the cruising world significantly over the ensuing years, so I decided to feature her in my 3rd cruising book, The Joy of Cruising Again amzn.to/3lAfyON, mainly to discuss her transition from a 23-year-old part-time blogger to a full-time cruising business owner and global cruise personality, Emma Cruises. After publishing that book, Emma was a guest on my new podcast Ep 13, and discussed her new charitable venture, selling plush toys based on her beloved cat, Hudson, to raise funds in support of Mercy Ships. We are so thankful Emma came back to The Joy of Cruising Podcast, to talk about the state of her charitable venture and the huge milestone it just reached. And, Emma discusses a new passion—recently becoming a part of a venture we featured on the podcast a few weeks ago—The Cruise Maps Ep 154. Finally, hear why I refer to Emma as the answer to a trivia question!

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Hello, passionate cruisers! This is Paul. I am delighted to welcome this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, Melissa Newman.

Melissa Newman is a university professor who loves to cruise. For most of her life, she held two full-time jobs, serving as professor and also running a nonprofit organization. In 2022 she decided to stop letting work dominate her life and she exited the nonprofit sector and used her newly found free time to pursue one of her passions... Travel. And specifically, cruise travel. She now cruises monthly and creates content to share with others what she learns along the way, which is the perfect marriage of her job and hobby — teaching and cruising. Professor Melissa and I share two significant things in common—we both have been university professors, and are certified travel agents, so I am anxious to hear how those backgrounds mix to create challenges and opportunities.

Melissa has some valuable insight to share  that we did not have time to delve into for potential and new travel agents, as well as ways to cruise free using casino incentives. Following is some key information that you can follow-up with on your own about both:

Info on becoming a travel agent: https://www.profmelissa.com/travelagent

 How to Get FREE Casino Cruises (The Secrets) Curious about how to get free cruise offers through casino programs? In this video, I'll share the approach I use to get free casino cruises, and these are strategies anyone can use to (potentially) get casino offers.

Video about casino offers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN1JkeEGHpc

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Hello, passionate cruisers! I am delighted to welcome this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, a special guest, Magical Bones. We were introduced to Bones on our recent anniversary cruise to the A, B, and C Islands in the Southern Caribbean on Celebrity Ascent. Bones was a headliner that put on a show that was spellbinding, funny, and captivating as Bones broke into breakdancing! So, I enjoyed his performance but I was knocked off my feet as he shared his story of growing up Black in UK; getting into Bboying, and then into magic.

Magical Bones is one of the most exciting talents to emerge from the Magic scene in recent years; he has been entertaining audiences globally for over a decade. Starting out his career as a professional hip-hop dancer, he was given the nickname ‘Bones’ because of his hard-hitting dance style. An exceptionally skilled break-dancer and a gifted showman, Bones has worked with some of the biggest artists within the music industry such as Madonna, and Alicia Keys, and is the featured dancer in the music video of Mint Royals’ No. 1 smash hit single, Singing In the Rain.

Now focusing on his career as a magician, Bones’ uniqueness resides in his ability to effectively fuse mind-blowing magic with street-dance culture, music & lifestyle. He is a one-off. 2020 saw Bones make the final of Britain’s Got Talent with his audition logging over 10 million online views and the judges describing his act as the ‘best-presented magic act I’ve ever seen!’ Among his other TV credits are the BAFTA awards (BBC1), Penn & Teller Fool Us (The CW), Around the World in 80 Tricks (Amazon), Pure Magic (BBC) and This Morning (ITV). In 2022 Bones was the 2nd placed winner for ITV’s Christmas special The Ultimate Magician. On the live stage, Bones was selected as the headline magician for the hit West End magic show, IMPOSSIBLE, which played for two seasons at the Noel Coward Theatre before moving on to a hugely successful world tour in 2017. Bones’ debut solo show Black Magic sold-out residencies at both London’s Southbank Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and played to packed houses across UK. His second show Soulful Magic premiered at Fringe 2022 and went on to be a sell-out nationwide tour in the spring of 2023.

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, 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.

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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 al

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