Hot, Hot, Hot: Donna K. Phillips Remembers Her Fun Ship Father, The Joy of Cruising Podcast, 11/9

This week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, I am delighted to welcome Donna K. Philips. I wrote about Donna in my new release The Joy of Cruising Again in a section called ‘The Fun ships,’ where I featured Donna’s dad, the cruise industry, and carnival cruise line food and beverage giant Everette Daniel Phillips, in a chapter titled ‘Hot, Hot, Hot: Donna K. Phillips Remembers Her Fun Ship Father.’


In the introduction to The Fun Ships, I wrote: “Carnival Cruise Lines owned the brand, and the space in the fledgling cruise market, of The Fun Ships, essentially from its beginning with the launch of Mardi Gras in 1972 and Carnivale in 1975. In 1977, Joe Farcus was commissioned by Carnival to design its third ship, the Festivale, and stayed to design its next 30 or so ships. Today the retired Farcus is an internationally known icon of design. Shortly thereafter, food and beverage innovator, Everette Phillips, came to Carnival after stints with Morrisons Cafeteria, Eastern Steamship Line, Commodore Cruise Line (with its dancing waiters), and Chandris Cruises (now Celebrity Cruise Line), and stayed at Carnival until retirement. The late Phillips was recognized universally by the cruise industry as a food and beverage giant. No one did more to bring to life the motto ‘The Fun Ships,’ than Joe Farcus and Everette Phillips.”


Perhaps that bold assertion is subject to discussion. If so, perhaps we can talk about it on The Joy of Cruising Podcast! Joe Farcus was on The Joy of Cruising Podcast episode#30. Today through the words of Donna, who shared much of her dad’s experiences from the time of her first cruise with him at 11 months old through his retirement from carnival in 1997, we get a sense of the other The Fun Ships pioneer, Mr. Phillips, as he was known as by the many people who worked with him and for him.


I met Donna a couple of years ago. I was talking to a friend about the premise of The Joy of Cruising series, and she said, “You should speak with Donna Phillips; she’s part of cruising royalty.” Of course, that piqued my curiosity, and I asked if she could facilitate an introduction to Donna. She stated that she would and then shortly after our call, forwarded me an article shedding light on “cruising royalty.” The article was “Carnival family mourns Food & Beverage giant Everette Phillips,” Seatrade cruise news, by Anne Kalosh, and quoted several former associates of Mr. Phillips, one of whom I was familiar with, John Heald. I knew I needed to research Phillips and meet Donna. 

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