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Hello, passionate cruisers! This is Paul and this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, I am delighted to welcome Damion & Quanda EXP, Travel with Us to The Joy of Cruising Podcast. They shared with me:

We’re Damion and Quanda, a couple whose love story started fast and hasn’t slowed down since. Damion moved from Jamaica in 2012, met Quanda, and just three months later, we were married. More than a decade later, we’re raising our two adventurous boys (10 and 11), building careers we love, and exploring the world together, mostly by sea.

Both of us are proud to work with Royal Caribbean Cruises. Damion, originally from Jamaica, is part of the Executive Escalations team, where he responds to communications sent to executive leadership from directors all the way up to the CEO. Quanda, who proudly carries both Jamaican and Turks Islander heritage, works on the Accessible Needs team, helping guests with physical, emotional, or mental challenges enjoy a cruise that’s not just possible, but unforgettable, because everyone deserves an amazing vacation.

Outside of work, you’ll find us doing what we love most: cruising with our kids. We believe there’s no better way to see the world than by ship, since you get to experience multiple destinations in one trip while creating unforgettable family memories. While Royal Caribbean is our home at sea and our first love, we’ve also enjoyed sailing with Celebrity, MSC, Carnival, and most recently Virgin Voyages.

For us, cruising isn’t just travel. It’s a way to teach our boys about different cultures, show them the beauty of the world, and remind them that adventure is always just a boarding pass away.

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Hello, passionate cruisers! This is Paul and this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast I am delighted to welcome back my cohost Cheryl. For the first time since we moved into our new house, we are doing a podcast together. Some of you know the past several weeks have been quite hectic for us. We have been slowly moving from North Carolina to Virginia during that time. Weekly we would drive a load of stuff to the home we bought in September. Right in the middle of this moving process, we cruised for 3-weeks straight on 2 cruise lines. Terribly inconvenient timing but badly needed. Of course, both of these cruises were planned long before we decided to move. The first leg of our side-to-side cruises was on Holland America Line Rotterdam, about which Cheryl and i shared our reflections on episode 218 November 27. The second leg of our side-to-side was on the new Princess Cruises Star Princess—5-days stopping at Amber Cove, Dominican Republic, and Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos.

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Hello, passionate cruisers! This is Paul and this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, I am delighted to welcome back Gail and Mike, from UK and creators of the Sail With Gail and Mike YouTube channel, Instagram platform, and Facebook group. Check out their previous episode at where they were present at Cunard’s Queen Anne’s official naming ceremony at the Liverpool waterfront. Gail and Mike are from Liverpool, UK, and Cunard had announced the unprecedented decision to choose the city of Liverpool as “Godparent” of Queen Anne. 

We want to catch up with Gail and Mike and see what they have been up to. I know just from the title—a lot.

Welcome back, Gail and Mike to The Joy of Cruising Podcast

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Hello, passionate cruisers! I am delighted to welcome Wayne Schell as my guest on The Joy of Cruising Podcast. Wayne is the 89-year-old owner of Laguna Del Sol near Sacramento, CA, one of the largest, most well-known clothing optional resorts in the us. He also owns Mira Vista, another clothing optional resort in Tucson, AR. I first met Wayne on my other podcast, Lucid Driver Podcast, which is about my dream car, the electric vehicle and one of the fastest cars in the world. Wayne is the owner—maybe the eldest in the world, of a Venus Red super luxurious Lucid Air GT.

Wayne told me, “I see you are also into cruising. I have traveled the world and have been on at least 100 cruises.” I knew then he would be a future guest on The Joy of Cruising Podcast.

Wayne told me that just returned from their most recent and most upscale cruise.  “It was on a 550-foot-long cruise ship called the Scenic Eclipse II, a yacht holding only 225 passengers and 225 crew. The cabins are large and well appointed. There are two helicopters on board and a submarine. There are seven different eating venues. We had the honor of being invited to the Chef’s Table. It was an over-the-top experience with nine courses, and I lost count of the number of different wines offered. What was the highlight of this cruise? Because of the many Bare Necessities cruises we have been on half the people know me and I am a pretty good stand-up comedian. They asked me to do stand-up one evening in the theater and I got a standing ovation. I am very blessed at my age to still be able to travel and tell jokes without forgetting the punchline. How many total cruises have I been on in total? I lost count but it’s well over 100. What’s the key? Work hard when you’re young and live to be old. I’ll be 90 in July of 2026”

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Welcome passionate cruisers. Our brief thoughts about our dream cruise to the Panama Canal on Holland America Line Rotterdam.

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Hello, passionate cruisers! This is Paul and this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, I am delighted to welcome Kenneth Jarvis. Ken is a confirmed Global Traveler (he’s visited 6 continents); Frequent Flyer (1.5 Million Miles on American Airlines and it’s One world Partners); Frequent Floater (118 cruises all in suites, Pinnacle with Royal Caribbean / Zenith with Celebrity); and Business Traveler (Senior Director in Global Networks and Technology for a major telecom company). 

Ken is also a retired social media influencer. He has numerous cruise reviews on Cruise Critic. Ken is a former co-leader of RCPeriscopers which was a Facebook group for people who used the live streaming app Periscope to broadcast live from cruise ships and would host an Annual Super Bowl Group cruise. Ken still hosts the YouTube Channel, Kcjarvis Suite Life.

We have been social media friends for a couple of years and I have always found Ken’s posts to be interesting and even intriguing—for instance his infamous “Post of the day,” whereby he highlights naïve, asinine, or outrageous cruise line posts made by prospective travelers; or references to #KJsAmazingSummer which I now know relates to major spring and summer vacations Ken goes on. And, he is from or at least works in my original hometown of New York City. So, I am delighted to now get to ask Ken about is travels directly and am so glad he agreed to come on The Joy of Cruising Podcast.

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Hello, passionate cruisers! This is Paul and this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast i am delighted to welcome back a special guest, my cohost Cheryl.

As you know we are largely in the bucket list checking stage of our lives, and just got the opportunity to check one off. We recently traveled to Las Vegas. That’s not the bucket list check I am referring to—we have been to Vegas a zillion times. An aside, we used to own a chain of video stores—memba them—and the annual conference and trade show of the Video Software Dealer’s Association was held in Vegas and were can’t miss events. What made this trip to Vegas a bucket list checking opportunity was the allure of the Sphere, the iconic spherically shaped venue built by the owners of the NY Knicks and Madison Square Garden. The Sphere, costing about 2.3 billion opened in 2023 with a 40-night residency by U2.

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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, certainly worthy to join the handful of guests who have been on the podcast for three times. I first met Roland and Emma a couple of years ago on the 119,000 member Melanin At Sea, created by friends of the show and global cruise personalities A Rich and Jazzy Life, and I anointed them as my new travel role models, after they posted photos and description of just an absolute bucket list trip, Ep 63 40-Day Enchanted Princess European. I had to invite them on. Then they did it again the following year with an epic Ep 142 European adventure covering 61 days! 

Well, they have outdone themselves themselves with their Grand Asian Invasion Holiday! 

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Hello, passionate cruisers! This is Paul and this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, I am honored to welcome a special guest, Richard Fain, Chairman and former CEO of Royal Caribbean Group (RCG). Mr. Fain’s new book, Delivering the WOW: Culture as Catalyst for Lasting Success (October 21, 2025; Fast Company Press), reveals actionable lessons from Royal Caribbean’s rapid growth: a culture that motivated employees to deliver WOWs to customers, transforming the customer and employee experience all at once with electrifying energy. RCG’s trademark culture and dedication to delivering wows also catalyzed innovations including the world’s first and biggest megaships, beginning with Sovereign of the Seas in 1988—Cheryl and my first cruise, also in 1988—peerless onboard experiences, including soaring atriums and unexpected ice-skating rinks at sea; and unforgettable offboard experiences including Perfect Day at CocoCay, a private island resort owned by RCG. 

Proceeds from proceeds from Delivering the WOW will be donated to the Fain Scholarship Fund, a scholarship program Richard Fain established in 1999 to support the education of Royal Caribbean Group employees and their children, which he has been contributing to at an average of $200,000 in annual support.

Richard Fain served as chairman and CEO from 1988 to 2022 when he transitioned to his current role as chairman. Under his leadership, the company grew from a small cruise line to its current place as one of the world’s most valuable vacation companies. Recognized for his “visionary leadership”, Mr. Fain was named one of the 30 World’s Best CEOs by Barron’s for three years running and received the Ultimate CEO Award from the South Florida Business Journal. His international awards include the rank of Officier in the Légion d’Honneur of France and Commander, First Class, of the Order of the Lion of Finland. He and his wife of 56 years have four children and eight extraordinary grandchildren.

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This week I am delighted to welcome back to The Joy of Cruising Podcast Iris MacBeath creator of the blog Life of Iris. I wrote the story of Life of Iris in my latest book The Joy of Cruising Again amzn.to/3lAfyON in a section called “Ship life,” which followed the career of four past and present crew, staff, and officers from three different cruise lines.

At the time, I wrote that In the community that comprises onboard life, Iris is a dual member: first, not only is she a longtime crew member on various ships for Holland America Line. Secondly, Iris is what is known in cruise ship parlance as a “traveling spouse,” or a “Spouse-On-Board.” Specifically, Iris’ husband Stuart is a ship officer, and Iris has lived on ships with him. Those distinct vantage points afford Iris a unique perspective of onboard life, and she chronicles that on her blog, Life of Iris. The chapter I wrote about Iris in The Joy of Cruising Again was easily the most poignant in the book as I chronicled how Iris’ ship life directly intersected with two of the major world events of the 21st century—Covid and the cruising shutdown; and the refugee crisis in Ukraine due to the unanticipated war with Russia.

Iris came on The Joy of Cruising Podcast almost 2 years ago to recount those events, Ep 62; her story was also featured in Ep 77, Most Memorable, Funniest, Embarrassing Moments of the podcast’s 1st year. Iris also broke some news during her podcast—she was pregnant with her and Stuart’s first child. When we reconnected for this episode, I was surprised to learn she had just delivered their 2nd baby. Congratulations Iris and Stuart! 

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