This is Paul and this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, I am delighted to welcome Bill Raffel now of Fort Lauderdale. I say now of Fort Lauderdale because when I wrote about Bill and his wife Rosie several years ago, they lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I wrote about Bill and Rosie’s story in my first cruising book, The Joy of Cruising amzn.to/2EAMddF in a section called “Cruisers Like You and Me...Sort Of.” This section, a reader favorite retained in each book of The Joy of Cruising Trilogy, follows the theme of “ordinary” cruisers with extraordinary stories. And then I wrote about Bill and Rosie again in my second cruising book, Cruising Interrupted amzn.to/3seFU8y in a section called “The Passionate Cruisers of The Joy of Cruising...What Are They Up To Now?” So, of the approximately 75 or so fascinating cruisers I wrote about in The Joy of Cruising Trilogy, Bill and Rosie are among the few I can count on one hand that I wrote about twice!
 
I said now of Fort Lauderdale because when I wrote about Bill and Rosie several years ago, they lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Like me, Bill is a cruise geek! He told me one of the main reasons they moved to Fort Lauderdale “was to be near the multiple ports and of course the weather… We live along the inlet between the Ocean and Port Everglades, and I take photos of all the ships as they sail away. I post the photos in numerous Facebook groups where the people on the ships can see themselves as they sail away. For example, photos from Royal Caribbean cruise ships are in the “Royal Caribbean Cruisers” Facebook group.”
 
Amusingly, when I reached out to Bill to schedule him for The Joy of Cruising Podcast, he said, ‘…if you think your listeners would find my cruising life interesting.’ I responded, ‘Bill, I saw fit to write about you in two books so they will either find your cruising life interesting or question my judgment!” Interesting? Bill and Rosie have been on 81 cruises. Alaska four times, Panama Canal four times. Add to that Africa on a three-week Safari, Australia to scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef, and Hawaii and a whole lot more but I’ll let them tell you.

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I am delighted to welcome this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast Jenni Fielding, creator of the Cruise Mummy blog and just named winner of the UK Wave Award for Favourite Cruise Influencer. I featured Cruise Mummy in Cruising Interrupted amzn.to/3seFU8y in a section called “Bloggers: Cruise Community Champions.” I also was fortunate to host Jenni on a previous episode of The Joy of Cruising Podcast—episode #31 Cruise Mummyhttps://www.buzzsprout.com/2113608/13142254


When last on the show, I congratulated Jenni for winning the 2022 Wave Award and vowed to have her back because she is a leader in the global cruise community, and I knew she would be going on great cruises that The Joy of Cruising Podcast listeners would want to hear about. However, I have since hosted all of Jenni’s co-finalists for the 2023 award on the podcast, and decided we would bring the winner back on the show as soon as possible after the winner was announced in November. So, Jenni is back sooner rather than later—we are excited about that—and we will still have her back on the show in 2024!


Jenni describes herself thusly, “I’m a 38-year-old mum of two from Bolton, UK. I first developed my cruise addiction when we booked a honeymoon cruise in 2013. As soon as I stepped onboard Allure of the Seas I was hooked! So much so, that we took our second cruise just six months later. Nowadays, cruising is a very different affair, since the arrival of our two children, who are eight and six.” One way things are different is that Cruise Mummy is an authority on family cruising!


To refresh your memories, Cruise Mummy is one of the top cruise blogs in the world. Cruise Mummy is the second most trafficked cruise blog in the UK, and the 7th most popular cruise blog in the world! She has been quoted in international cruise and news outlets. And now, Cruise Mummy joins the massively successful Cruise with Ben and David as the only two-time Wave Award winner for bloggers/cruise influencers.
Cruise Mummy https://www.cruisemummy.co.uk/

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This week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, I am delighted to welcome Mark and Leanne Weston of Queensland Australia. I wrote about Mark and Leanne’s story in my first cruising book, The Joy of Cruising, in a section called “Cruisers Like You and Me...Sort Of.” This section, a reader favorite that has been retained in each book of The Joy of Cruising Trilogy, follows the theme of “ordinary” cruisers with extraordinary stories. Mark and Leanne’s cruising is anything but ordinary, but as Mark stresses in The Joy of Cruising, he and Leanne are ordinary cruisers. “Mark tells people that cruising doesn’t have to be expensive. Sure, it can be, but he and Leanne typically book much less expensive inside cabins, since they rarely spend much time in their stateroom.”
 
My introduction to the Weston’s was simple and kind of amusing. It was the middle of 2018. I embarked on this journey to write a book about cruising—one that focused on cruisers who were passionate and pursued their passion in ways that I thought were worthy of sharing their stories with the cruise community. I was browsing a cruise group on Facebook when a post piqued my interest. “Does anyone else have our addiction—10 cruises done for the first half of this year, 11 more before Christmas...?” Mark asked the cruise group discussion board. His query elicited over 900 responses, the most I had ever seen regarding a single post. Of course, Mark’s post captured my attention, and I was just as curious as to what the commenters would say. So, I read several hundred comments —more than half—before my eyes started to glaze over. Most reflected a mix of awe, envy, “go for it” encouragement, and a fair amount of religiosity (there were dozens of variations of “you are blessed”). Of course, this being the Internet there was also a smattering of haters and snark. “Get a life!” “Buy a boat!” There was at least one comment delivered to Mark privately. It was from me, and essentially said, “Tell me more!

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his week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, I am delighted to welcome Judi Cohen, known in the cruise community as Traveling Judi. I featured Traveling Judi in my second cruising book, Cruising Interrupted  amzn.to/3seFU8y in a section called “Cruisers Like You and Me... Sort Of.” Traveling Judi is a fervent world cruiser with a penchant for smaller, and even tiny ships relative to mainstream cruise ships. Judi is also a travel writer extraordinaire—in fact, I met her through my association with Quirky Cruise online magazine, for whom she is a significant contributor. Quirky was also featured in Cruising Interrupted and on the podcast.


From travelingjudi.com: Judi has traveled the world in search of unique experiences and off-the-beaten-path destinations. She is also a connoisseur of small-ship cruises that pack big adventure, and local cultural and dining experiences. Judi became a full-time traveler and travel advisor in 2015 following her 35-year career in engineering and transportation, and today she writes about her experiences to inspire others to step outside their comfort zones and embrace new kinds of adventures. Judi has been to over 90 countries on six continents and enjoys sharing her stories along the way. Her training and experience as a Health Coach and as a Travel Advisor allows her to plan trips and seek out wellness destinations and experiences.  Combined with her story-telling  skills, she has become an accomplished Travel Writer accredited by SATW,  NATJA and IFWTWA, and her work has been published on travel websites such as Quirkycruise.com. She is also a Board Member on the Travel Media Association of Canada's (TMAC) National Board and Board Secretary.


It was fun interviewing Judi for Cruising Interrupted. A couple of anecdotes stick in my mind. One, was from Judi’s recollection of her expedition cruise to Antarctica. ‘…one of the most memorable—maybe not in a good way—was crossing the Drake Passage. It was rough, it was crazy, and my husband gets seasick in a bathtub,’ Judi laughed. The other was asking Judi about her bucket list. As you know I ask all interviewees about what’s on their bucket list. Judi’s response was colorful and hilarious. Unfortunately, I can’t repeat it on the podcast! What I can quote is ‘I liken bucket list to ‘before I die.’ For me, I am much more forward-thinking than that. I want to do these things while I am healthy, while I can, and while I am still interested. I don’t know, talking about what I am going to do before I die just has a negative connotation...I’m more about turning my dreams into memories every day.” 

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