 “Are we there yet?” After 40 minutes or so, and yet another “how close are we,” in the distance the mighty Harmony of the Seas cruise ship came into view as we approached Port Canaveral. Up until a little over a year prior, Harmony of the Seas was the world’s largest cruise ship; it was indeed awe-inspiring and immediately captured LaKi’s attention. Perhaps the only thing LaKi likes more than getting in the water is being on the water on a cruise ship. The beach outing was a fun subterfuge; in reality we had decided to celebrate LaKi’s birthday with a cruise. She loves cruising; this was going to be the 5th cruise we have done with
LaKi in the last 4 years—most recently the previous Christmas on Anthem of the Seas, the culmination of The Joy of Cruising. A broad grin took over LaKi’s face as the ruse about the beach became clear; the grin did not disappear for the next eight days! Harmony of the Seas was all we had hoped for and more. Besides the many highlights of Harmony, it was also our first visit to the newly imagined Royal Caribbean private island, Coco Cay. The private island had recently re-opened as Perfect Day at Coco Cay, a $250 million transformation of Royal Caribbean’s picturesque beach playground into a more kid-friendly space with a water park and hot air balloon rides adjacent to the beach, and theme park style eateries replacing the private island standard picnic style buffet. Oh, and a newly constructed dock enabling cruise ships to anchor right at Coco Cay instead of requiring ship passengers to be transported to the island from the ship via a tender, a small boat only capable of moving a finite number of the ships passengers at a time and subject to safety issues related to the weather and getting on and off the tender. Cheryl, LaKi and I had a wonderful time at Perfect Day at Coco Cay despite a fair amount of trepidation as to whether we would get to experience it at all. During breakfast prior to disembarking, a downpour started, and it did not appear our day at Coco Cay was going to be so perfect after all. When the Cruise Director came on the public address system and announced several additional on-ship activities, it brought to mind my dreaded experience on Anthem of the Seas just six months prior. (On Christmas morning on Anthem, right before we were due to stop at Coco Cay, the Captain announced it was too windy to tender and we had to skip the stop.) This time there was a happy ending: the weather cleared, sun came out, and Perfect Day at Coco Cay was wonderful. LaKi loved the water park and the Up, Up & Away balloon ride with me; it offered great views and a wonderful vantage point for photos. My wife and I enjoyed a shady spot to sip our Miami Vices while LaKi was on the waterslides, and we sampled the nearby wave pool. ***** The second cruise I booked post-The Joy of Cruising was also chosen directly as a result of writing the book. Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas, or Indy, as it was affectionately known to Brits after it was launched and based in UK in 2008, had a significant role in The Joy of Cruising. A popular feature in The Joy of Cruising, was “The Godmother: Elizabeth Hill,” which was about the first non-royal, non-celebrity person in UK chosen to serve as a cruise ship Godmother, of then new UK-based, world’s largest ship Independence of the Seas. Known as Cruise Like A Godmother on social media, Elizabeth’s story of being plucked from relative obscurity as a leader of a charity working with children on a working farm, to be named the Godmother (she had never been on a cruise before!) of the at-the-time, world’s largest cruise ship, was like a modern-day fairy tale.... In The Joy of Cruising I included a photo of The Godmother standing next to her portrait which is permanently displayed on Indy. My plan was to take a photo of my grandkids next to the The Godmother’s portrait for inclusion in this book. Yet another cruise chosen as a result of my of my involvement with The Joy of Cruising, was our first Mediterranean cruise, booked for NCL Epic November 2020. I asked each of the passionate cruisers profiled in The Joy of Cruising about their most memorable cruises as well as cruises they have on their “bucket list.” A number of destinations showed up repeatedly: Alaska, Panama Canal; Galapagos, and of course, the Mediterranean, and, several cited Barcelona, Spain as among their favorite ports. Speaking to seasoned cruisers from around the world led us to broaden our horizons instead of always cruising to the Bahamas and the Caribbean. So, the Mediterranean cruise is our first step in that direction and we looked for an itinerary that included Barcelona. For our 28th wedding anniversary we will be spending a few days in Barcelona, and then on November 1 cruising from Barcelona to France, then Italy, and then back to Barcelona. In 2021, Alaska here we come. You know, research! Alas, our 2020 cruise plans fell victim to the pandemic. It was going to have to be More Joy of Cruising…deferred! Read the rest of More Joy of Cruising in Cruising Interrupted, available now!
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 I first encountered Christine Beehler when we became kindred spirits, so to speak. We were among a group of cruise enthusiasts interviewed by CNN.com during the pandemic for an article about our interest in cruising as soon as possible, “Cruise Fans Explain Why They Can't Wait To Cruise Again,” by Francesca Street (July 24, 2020). All of the cruisers interviewed were “off-the-charts” eager to get back on the ocean again; well, all except yours truly! I came across as the most cautious of the bunch, in stark contrast to Chris. The article began with a depiction of Chris’ last cruise which took place in March 2020 on the ill-fated Princess Cruises Coral Princess, which was denied docking during the pandemic declaration and then was stricken with a Covid-19 outbreak. That opening to the article immediately caught my attention; then it said, “…Beehler returned home on April 6; she also tested positive for coronavirus. Beehler is 72, with a partial right lung. She also suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema..…”
Most remarkable of all: Chris can’t wait to cruise again! ..... Chris initially planned a 14-day cruise departing San Antonio, Chile, rounding Cape Horn, and then up the east side of South America and ending in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she would then fly back to the US. Ultimately, Chris decided to extend her time on Coral Princess, and booked the 32-day cruise itinerary where the cruise continued on from Buenos Aires to Fort Lauderdale. I asked Chris if she had any apprehension about returning to Coral Princess at that time in the face of the burgeoning coronavirus story abroad. “No, I wasn’t concerned. The coronavirus was confined mostly to China and Italy. There was only one reported case in South America at the time I left New Hampshire. A good friend suggested I not go. I downplayed her concern. I said ‘It’s South America. I’m going to be fine, they’ll take care of us.’ I did, however, during the days leading up to the cruise have fleeting thoughts about the news out of China—that if I ever did catch the virus I might have a hard time. I probably would need a ventilator. I might not make it. Yet I got on that airplane with complete confidence that nothing was going to happen.” “On the plane over to Chile on March 3rd, word spread regarding a second case reported in South America—this one in Santiago, which was our destination. You could sense a bit of panic on the plane. The thinking back then was that this was a virus that was just connected to China and Italy. Even the one case in South America was supposedly someone who had come back from Italy. And there were a few cases on the west coast in the US that had kind of escaped. The concern level rose—even though it was only two cases on the entire continent—especially when we got to the airport in Santiago and they were taking a lot of precautions: the airport workers were in Hazmat suits, we had to complete multiple health forms and have our temperatures taken. It was nothing like that when I left Boston. At the port the personnel very deliberately went through our passports to make sure we hadn’t been to China or Italy, and then we boarded the ship.” The cruise was uneventful for the first week..... A few weeks later..... ..... That evening, the first of quarantine, March 31, Coral Princess stopped in Barbados for what Princess referred to as a service call. Chris said, “We had to detour to Barbados for what we were told was to pick up medical supplies. It was so interesting going into Barbados because there were all the empty ships with crew only anchored at the port. It was pretty eerie—distressing. At Barbados we saw an ambulance at the dock and someone was taken off the ship. Supposedly, he was airlifted to Florida. After we returned home I heard he passed away from the virus. So now things moved from stressful to ominous. We were confined to our cabins, and then we see someone taken off the ship.” A couple of days later, Princess reported publicly that Coral Princess test samples processed in Barbados confirmed 12 positive cases of coronavirus. On April 2, the Captain informed the passengers of the results. That same day, for reasons not entirely clear, the U.S. Coast Guard announced it would not allow Coral Princessto dock in their home port of Fort Lauderdale on April 4 as scheduled. Chris told me, “Two infected Holland America ships were just ahead of us and were docking the day before us. We heard that Fort Lauderdale didn’t want additional Covid-19 cases to take up their medical facilities.” On April 3, Coral Princess met up with its sister ship, the Regal Princess, in the Bahamas to pick up additional medical personnel and supplies. There were no passengers on Regal Princess, just crew. Said Chris, “At this point we had been turned down by several places. There was a collective sense that nobody wanted us. So when our sister ship met us, we received a wonderful welcome from the crew on the decks of Regal Princess and in tenders.. They started their horns and the Coral Princess and the Regal Princess were communicating with each other, playing The Love Boat theme. When Princess ships leave port, their horns usually play out The Love Boat theme. It was…oh my gosh…I think everybody out on their balcony was crying......” Read the entire stirring chapter in Cruising Interrupted, available now!  .....Erin went to Disney World once as a child, and then several times as a young adult, and when her first daughter was a toddler, Erin wanted to introduce her to Disney. She told me, “I was in elementary school when Disney World opened. A lot of my friends’ parents were taking them to the park and they would come back to school and tell me these incredible stories. I was fascinated, and remember thinking, ‘How do you make a world?’ I was totally sucked in by those stories, The Wonderful World of Disney on TV, the gorgeous commercials. I was so freaking jealous. I vowed, even as a 10-year old kid, when I grew up I would take my children to Disney World as often as possible.”
“So, while I was staying home raising my daughter, I wanted to introduce her to Disney World, and we started going on Disney vacations. I had a research background and I started doing copious amounts of research on how to plan the best possible Disney vacation. The other moms in the neighborhood would tap my expertise. I was a go-to resource, and over coffee or lunch we would just talk for hours about how to plan a Disney trip. In 2007 Disney started the Disney parks Moms Panel, and I had basically been doing what the Moms Panel does on my own for several years. So I pursued it. To get the first round of panelists, Disney ran a contest. Several rounds of written questions and then phone interviews. I answered their questions, made it through the interviews, and of the more than 10,000 people who applied, I was one of the 12 who were selected.” “Over the years I have answered over 11,000 guest questions about literally every aspect of planning a Disney World vacation. Anything from ‘my kids are afraid of bugs; my child has an allergy; what ride should I not go on; where should we stay; I am on a limited budget, what are some cost savings tips—really anything. Over time, I became more and more aware of things and enhanced my expertise and got quite adept at explaining how to do Disney......” ***** ....The Unofficial Guide to the Disney Cruise Line by Erin Foster with Len Testa and Ritchey Halphen describes Disney’s ships and itineraries, restaurants, children’s activities, and Castaway Cay, Disney’s private island. Erin has sailed over 20 ocean cruises, all on Disney Cruise Line, and has done two river cruises on AmaWaterways through Adventures by Disney. Erin’s first cruise was in 2003 on the Disney Wonder, a four-night Bahamas cruise stopping at Nassau and Castaway Cay, Disney Cruise Line’s private island. I asked Erin if anything in particularly prompted her to go on a Disney cruise since she hadn’t cruised before and had not yet begun working with the Walt Disney Parks Moms Panel. “We were just fans of Disney and were looking to do something different with our kids. At the time my twins were about three and my older daughter was six. Disney seemed like the logical place to start cruising.” I asked if she had any apprehension leading up to her first cruise, like fear of seasickness, concern that she wouldn’t like it, worry that it might be boring. Erin replied, “Honestly, I didn’t love it. I wish that I had more apprehension about seasickness leading up to the cruise. I was very sick on my first cruise, like clutching the bed seasick. One of the reasons we chose a Disney cruise is because it had a great reputation for little kids. One of my daughters happened to be in a phase of separation anxiety. So, she would be clutching to my leg while I was seasick. She didn’t want to go to the kids club and I hadn’t considered that and brought any toys or other things for us to do, and I was not feeling well anyway. So, the first cruise was kind of a disaster. That’s one of the reasons I didn’t cruise again for eight years.” Who would have predicted—if you were a fly on the wall in that Disney cruise ship cabin observing this deathly seasick mom, dragging her toddler clamped around her leg—that years later that mom would be the author of The Unofficial Guide to the Disney Cruise Line. “Exactly! When I look back on it it’s really actually pretty amusing. I didn’t go on my second cruise until 2011. Had a much better time then and have been cruising regularly since.” I was curious what prompted Erin to try cruising again given the unfortunate circumstances of the first one. Read about Erin’s follow-up Disney cruise and the rest of Erin’s story in Cruising Interrupted, available now!.....Erin went to Disney World once as a child, and then several times as a young adult, and when her first daughter was a toddler, Erin wanted to introduce her to Disney. She told me, “I was in elementary school when Disney World opened. A lot of my friends’ parents were taking them to the park and they would come back to school and tell me these incredible stories. I was fascinated, and remember thinking, ‘How do you make a world?’ I was totally sucked in by those stories, The Wonderful World of Disney on TV, the gorgeous commercials. I was so freaking jealous. I vowed, even as a 10-year old kid, when I grew up I would take my children to Disney World as often as possible.” “So, while I was staying home raising my daughter, I wanted to introduce her to Disney World, and we started going on Disney vacations. I had a research background and I started doing copious amounts of research on how to plan the best possible Disney vacation. The other moms in the neighborhood would tap my expertise. I was a go-to resource, and over coffee or lunch we would just talk for hours about how to plan a Disney trip. In 2007 Disney started the Disney parks Moms Panel, and I had basically been doing what the Moms Panel does on my own for several years. So I pursued it. To get the first round of panelists, Disney ran a contest. Several rounds of written questions and then phone interviews. I answered their questions, made it through the interviews, and of the more than 10,000 people who applied, I was one of the 12 who were selected.” “Over the years I have answered over 11,000 guest questions about literally every aspect of planning a Disney World vacation. Anything from ‘my kids are afraid of bugs; my child has an allergy; what ride should I not go on; where should we stay; I am on a limited budget, what are some cost savings tips—really anything. Over time, I became more and more aware of things and enhanced my expertise and got quite adept at explaining how to do Disney......” ***** ....The Unofficial Guide to the Disney Cruise Line by Erin Foster with Len Testa and Ritchey Halphen describes Disney’s ships and itineraries, restaurants, children’s activities, and Castaway Cay, Disney’s private island. Erin has sailed over 20 ocean cruises, all on Disney Cruise Line, and has done two river cruises on AmaWaterways through Adventures by Disney. Erin’s first cruise was in 2003 on the Disney Wonder, a four-night Bahamas cruise stopping at Nassau and Castaway Cay, Disney Cruise Line’s private island. I asked Erin if anything in particularly prompted her to go on a Disney cruise since she hadn’t cruised before and had not yet begun working with the Walt Disney Parks Moms Panel. “We were just fans of Disney and were looking to do something different with our kids. At the time my twins were about three and my older daughter was six. Disney seemed like the logical place to start cruising.” I asked if she had any apprehension leading up to her first cruise, like fear of seasickness, concern that she wouldn’t like it, worry that it might be boring. Erin replied, “Honestly, I didn’t love it. I wish that I had more apprehension about seasickness leading up to the cruise. I was very sick on my first cruise, like clutching the bed seasick. One of the reasons we chose a Disney cruise is because it had a great reputation for little kids. One of my daughters happened to be in a phase of separation anxiety. So, she would be clutching to my leg while I was seasick. She didn’t want to go to the kids club and I hadn’t considered that and brought any toys or other things for us to do, and I was not feeling well anyway. So, the first cruise was kind of a disaster. That’s one of the reasons I didn’t cruise again for eight years.” Who would have predicted—if you were a fly on the wall in that Disney cruise ship cabin observing this deathly seasick mom, dragging her toddler clamped around her leg—that years later that mom would be the author of The Unofficial Guide to the Disney Cruise Line. “Exactly! When I look back on it it’s really actually pretty amusing. I didn’t go on my second cruise until 2011. Had a much better time then and have been cruising regularly since.” I was curious what prompted Erin to try cruising again given the unfortunate circumstances of the first one. Read about Erin’s follow-up Disney cruise and the rest of Erin’s story in Cruising Interrupted, available now! Read about Erin’s follow-up Disney cruise and the rest of Erin’s story in Cruising Interrupted, available now!.....Erin went to Disney World once as a child, and then several times as a young adult, and when her first daughter was a toddler, Erin wanted to introduce her to Disney. She told me, “I was in elementary school when Disney World opened. A lot of my friends’ parents were taking them to the park and they would come back to school and tell me these incredible stories. I was fascinated, and remember thinking, ‘How do you make a world?’ I was totally sucked in by those stories, The Wonderful World of Disney on TV, the gorgeous commercials. I was so freaking jealous. I vowed, even as a 10-year old kid, when I grew up I would take my children to Disney World as often as possible.” “So, while I was staying home raising my daughter, I wanted to introduce her to Disney World, and we started going on Disney vacations. I had a research background and I started doing copious amounts of research on how to plan the best possible Disney vacation. The other moms in the neighborhood would tap my expertise. I was a go-to resource, and over coffee or lunch we would just talk for hours about how to plan a Disney trip. In 2007 Disney started the Disney parks Moms Panel, and I had basically been doing what the Moms Panel does on my own for several years. So I pursued it. To get the first round of panelists, Disney ran a contest. Several rounds of written questions and then phone interviews. I answered their questions, made it through the interviews, and of the more than 10,000 people who applied, I was one of the 12 who were selected.” “Over the years I have answered over 11,000 guest questions about literally every aspect of planning a Disney World vacation. Anything from ‘my kids are afraid of bugs; my child has an allergy; what ride should I not go on; where should we stay; I am on a limited budget, what are some cost savings tips—really anything. Over time, I became more and more aware of things and enhanced my expertise and got quite adept at explaining how to do Disney......” ***** ....The Unofficial Guide to the Disney Cruise Line by Erin Foster with Len Testa and Ritchey Halphen describes Disney’s ships and itineraries, restaurants, children’s activities, and Castaway Cay, Disney’s private island. Erin has sailed over 20 ocean cruises, all on Disney Cruise Line, and has done two river cruises on AmaWaterways through Adventures by Disney. Erin’s first cruise was in 2003 on the Disney Wonder, a four-night Bahamas cruise stopping at Nassau and Castaway Cay, Disney Cruise Line’s private island. I asked Erin if anything in particularly prompted her to go on a Disney cruise since she hadn’t cruised before and had not yet begun working with the Walt Disney Parks Moms Panel. “We were just fans of Disney and were looking to do something different with our kids. At the time my twins were about three and my older daughter was six. Disney seemed like the logical place to start cruising.” I asked if she had any apprehension leading up to her first cruise, like fear of seasickness, concern that she wouldn’t like it, worry that it might be boring. Erin replied, “Honestly, I didn’t love it. I wish that I had more apprehension about seasickness leading up to the cruise. I was very sick on my first cruise, like clutching the bed seasick. One of the reasons we chose a Disney cruise is because it had a great reputation for little kids. One of my daughters happened to be in a phase of separation anxiety. So, she would be clutching to my leg while I was seasick. She didn’t want to go to the kids club and I hadn’t considered that and brought any toys or other things for us to do, and I was not feeling well anyway. So, the first cruise was kind of a disaster. That’s one of the reasons I didn’t cruise again for eight years.” Who would have predicted—if you were a fly on the wall in that Disney cruise ship cabin observing this deathly seasick mom, dragging her toddler clamped around her leg—that years later that mom would be the author of The Unofficial Guide to the Disney Cruise Line. “Exactly! When I look back on it it’s really actually pretty amusing. I didn’t go on my second cruise until 2011. Had a much better time then and have been cruising regularly since.” I was curious what prompted Erin to try cruising again given the unfortunate circumstances of the first one. Read about Erin’s follow-up Disney cruise and the rest of Erin’s story in Cruising Interrupted, available now!  As a 737 Captain for Alaska Airlines, Steven Kriese sees the world. As creator and host of DCL Podcast, Steve and guests talk about seeing the world from the perspective of a Disney Cruise. Steve is relatively new to cruising. His first cruise was in 2014—a seven day cruise out of Venice, Italy aboard the Norwegian Jade. It helped that his first cruise was a Mediterranean cruise; certainly a wonderful way for cruising to make a first impression. The seasoned traveler was hooked right away. I asked Steve what influenced him to try a cruise. “So, our friends had cruised several times before and they really enjoyed it. They kind of talked us into doing it. Like many others I never had a huge desire to go cruising. I didn’t know what to expect, but when we sailed on our first cruise from Venice and were able to experience so many exotic ports and sites, it was amazing and I was hooked right away. We stopped in Croatia, Greece, and Turkey. I learned that nothing beats a relaxing day at sea with friends and family, and good food. As an airline pilot, I also have become fascinated with the navigation and logistics of sailing a ship from one port to the next. Jade was originally built to sail out of Hawaii, but after the economic downturn in the late 2000’s, demand dropped there, so they sent her to the Med. It was kind of humorous sailing around the Med in this over-the-top Hawaiian themed ship. The ship had artwork and statues themed for the Hawaiian Islands; there was a large statue of King Kamehmeha in the main dining room. They have since re-themed her.” A Mediterranean cruise as the first cruise! That’s on my bucket list. While a Mediterranean cruise contains a lifetime of memories for many, perhaps one memory of that first cruise Steve holds on to the most is his encounter on the water with George Clooney. Yes, that George Clooney. Steve told me, “Our ship cut off George Clooney’s wedding party as they were taking motor boats out of the grand canal to their wedding reception. We departed Venice around four. We sat out on our balcony as Jade sailed past the Grand Canal. We saw a bunch of small boats and commotion coming in and out of the Grand Canal.” Flying back home, Steve sees this story online about how some giant cruise ship had cut off George Clooney’s wedding party. Clooney and his wife Amal had the wedding and they had all gotten in these small boats, trailed by paparazzi, headed to the reception. Accompanying the story was a photo of the Norwegian Jade juxtaposed against the small boats containing the wedding party and paparazzi—with Steve’s balcony in the shot. Less than a year later Steve introduced his sons to cruising and tried his first Disney Cruise. They cruised on Disney Wonder to Alaska. “My wife wanted to try a Disney cruise, and my parents wanted to go to Alaska. Our kids were five and nine at the time. We had heard good things about the Disney kids club; we knew on a Disney cruise the kids would be entertained.” Almost all of Steve’s cruises subsequent to that first one on Jade have been on Disney Cruise Line. Steve has cruised on each of the ships in Disney’s fleet: Disney Magic, Wonder, Dream, and Fantasy. I asked Steve if that first Disney cruise to Alaska on Wonder made Steve and his family loyal to the Disney brand. “I think it did. Disney had this thing called rotational dining where you meet your servers and then they go with you to the three dining rooms on the ship. Our head waiter started giving my mom a hard time but in a playful way. She’s sort of a ‘stick in the mud’ about food but he could see he could play with her, and it was fun for us to watch. Then he started doing magic tricks with the kids. The kids were just enthralled. I have a video with my youngest son and his eyes get so big; he can’t believe what he saw. And this was only the first night. And it just went from there. Another server, his name is Tiger Tom—he’s now the head waiter on the Magic—but at the time he worked in the Cabanas which is the buffet on Disney, he came up to my son and started playing a game with him with the back of my son’s hoodie. And my son who was a little tired at the time just totally turned his spirits around. We’ve since seen Tiger Tom a couple of times on subsequent cruises and he remembers us. It’s those little touches like that. I think you could probably find that at other cruise lines too, but those are the kinds of things that hooked us to Disney.” After three consecutive Disney cruises following Jade, Steve returned to Norwegian Cruise Line in 2017. He and Ahnawake, with friends and no kids, did a nine-day Baltic Cruise on Norwegian Getaway highlighted by St. Petersburg, Russia which Steve recalls as amazing. “We visited the Amber Room and palaces of the Czars in St Petersburg. Some of the most over the top wealth I’ve ever seen.” After Getaway Steve returned to Disney Cruise Lines and has gone on all Disney cruises since. After 10 cruises, Steve has seemingly experienced enough cruise highlights and memories to last a lifetime. It helps that his very first cruise was to the Mediterranean. Beside disrupting the George Clooney wedding party, I ask Steve for a few highlights. “Oh man; there’s so many good memories…” I could sense his hesitation to pick one great cruise over another. (All cruises are wonderful!) I suspect he was “fast forwarding” through scenes from various cruises in his head. I said, “Pick a single day. If I could write only about one experience you got the opportunity to realize on a cruise, what should It be? Ahnawake and Steve at one of the most beautiful places they have ever been, Geiranger Norway. “In 2016, when we sailed to Norway on Disney Magic, the northernmost port we sailed to, Geiranger. Sailing along the coast of Norway—my mother’s home country—and exploring the amazing coastal towns we stopped at. Sailing to the head of Geiranger Fjord—a UNESCO Heritage site—and visiting a small farm which sat above an adjacent fjord. We met this Norwegian farmer and his wife. They raised sheep but couldn’t make a living on that alone so he also brewed beer and made cheese. So Ahnawake, my parents and I had some beer and cheese with him and while we were doing that the kids went with his wife. She had a business where she made metal stamps you ink and make impressions onto fabric; she sold these stamps all over the world. The kids each got a piece of fabric stamped and my mom made them into pillow when we got home. Just that whole day; the farmers, the beauty of this fjord, the beauty of the view from this farm. You walk out their door and you look out over the mountains and down into the fjords with the ocean and everything below you. Probably the most beautiful place I’ve ever been.” As a 737 Captain for Alaska Airlines, Steven Kriese sees the world. As creator and host of DCL Podcast, Steve and guests talk about seeing the world from the perspective of a Disney Cruise. Steve is relatively new to cruising. His first cruise was in 2014—a seven day cruise out of Venice, Italy aboard the Norwegian Jade. It helped that his first cruise was a Mediterranean cruise; certainly a wonderful way for cruising to make a first impression. The seasoned traveler was hooked right away. I asked Steve what influenced him to try a cruise. “So, our friends had cruised several times before and they really enjoyed it. They kind of talked us into doing it. Like many others I never had a huge desire to go cruising. I didn’t know what to expect, but when we sailed on our first cruise from Venice and were able to experience so many exotic ports and sites, it was amazing and I was hooked right away. We stopped in Croatia, Greece, and Turkey. I learned that nothing beats a relaxing day at sea with friends and family, and good food. As an airline pilot, I also have become fascinated with the navigation and logistics of sailing a ship from one port to the next. Jade was originally built to sail out of Hawaii, but after the economic downturn in the late 2000’s, demand dropped there, so they sent her to the Med. It was kind of humorous sailing around the Med in this over-the-top Hawaiian themed ship. The ship had artwork and statues themed for the Hawaiian Islands; there was a large statue of King Kamehmeha in the main dining room. They have since re-themed her.” A Mediterranean cruise as the first cruise! That’s on my bucket list. While a Mediterranean cruise contains a lifetime of memories for many, perhaps one memory of that first cruise Steve holds on to the most is his encounter on the water with George Clooney. Yes, that George Clooney. Steve told me, “Our ship cut off George Clooney’s wedding party as they were taking motor boats out of the grand canal to their wedding reception. We departed Venice around four. We sat out on our balcony as Jade sailed past the Grand Canal. We saw a bunch of small boats and commotion coming in and out of the Grand Canal.” Flying back home, Steve sees this story online about how some giant cruise ship had cut off George Clooney’s wedding party. Clooney and his wife Amal had the wedding and they had all gotten in these small boats, trailed by paparazzi, headed to the reception. Accompanying the story was a photo of the Norwegian Jade juxtaposed against the small boats containing the wedding party and paparazzi—with Steve’s balcony in the shot. Less than a year later Steve introduced his sons to cruising and tried his first Disney Cruise. They cruised on Disney Wonder to Alaska. “My wife wanted to try a Disney cruise, and my parents wanted to go to Alaska. Our kids were five and nine at the time. We had heard good things about the Disney kids club; we knew on a Disney cruise the kids would be entertained.” Almost all of Steve’s cruises subsequent to that first one on Jade have been on Disney Cruise Line. Steve has cruised on each of the ships in Disney’s fleet: Disney Magic, Wonder, Dream, and Fantasy. I asked Steve if that first Disney cruise to Alaska on Wonder made Steve and his family loyal to the Disney brand. “I think it did. Disney had this thing called rotational dining where you meet your servers and then they go with you to the three dining rooms on the ship. Our head waiter started giving my mom a hard time but in a playful way. She’s sort of a ‘stick in the mud’ about food but he could see he could play with her, and it was fun for us to watch. Then he started doing magic tricks with the kids. The kids were just enthralled. I have a video with my youngest son and his eyes get so big; he can’t believe what he saw. And this was only the first night. And it just went from there. Another server, his name is Tiger Tom—he’s now the head waiter on the Magic—but at the time he worked in the Cabanas which is the buffet on Disney, he came up to my son and started playing a game with him with the back of my son’s hoodie. And my son who was a little tired at the time just totally turned his spirits around. We’ve since seen Tiger Tom a couple of times on subsequent cruises and he remembers us. It’s those little touches like that. I think you could probably find that at other cruise lines too, but those are the kinds of things that hooked us to Disney.” After three consecutive Disney cruises following Jade, Steve returned to Norwegian Cruise Line in 2017. He and Ahnawake, with friends and no kids, did a nine-day Baltic Cruise on Norwegian Getaway highlighted by St. Petersburg, Russia which Steve recalls as amazing. “We visited the Amber Room and palaces of the Czars in St Petersburg. Some of the most over the top wealth I’ve ever seen.” After Getaway Steve returned to Disney Cruise Lines and has gone on all Disney cruises since. After 10 cruises, Steve has seemingly experienced enough cruise highlights and memories to last a lifetime. It helps that his very first cruise was to the Mediterranean. Beside disrupting the George Clooney wedding party, I ask Steve for a few highlights. “Oh man; there’s so many good memories…” I could sense his hesitation to pick one great cruise over another. (All cruises are wonderful!) I suspect he was “fast forwarding” through scenes from various cruises in his head. I said, “Pick a single day. If I could write only about one experience you got the opportunity to realize on a cruise, what should It be? Ahnawake and Steve at one of the most beautiful places they have ever been, Geiranger Norway. “In 2016, when we sailed to Norway on Disney Magic, the northernmost port we sailed to, Geiranger. Sailing along the coast of Norway—my mother’s home country—and exploring the amazing coastal towns we stopped at. Sailing to the head of Geiranger Fjord—a UNESCO Heritage site—and visiting a small farm which sat above an adjacent fjord. We met this Norwegian farmer and his wife. They raised sheep but couldn’t make a living on that alone so he also brewed beer and made cheese. So Ahnawake, my parents and I had some beer and cheese with him and while we were doing that the kids went with his wife. She had a business where she made metal stamps you ink and make impressions onto fabric; she sold these stamps all over the world. The kids each got a piece of fabric stamped and my mom made them into pillow when we got home. Just that whole day; the farmers, the beauty of this fjord, the beauty of the view from this farm. You walk out their door and you look out over the mountains and down into the fjords with the ocean and everything below you. Probably the most beautiful place I’ve ever been.” As a 737 Captain for Alaska Airlines, Steven Kriese sees the world. As creator and host of DCL Podcast, Steve and guests talk about seeing the world from the perspective of a Disney Cruise. Steve is relatively new to cruising. His first cruise was in 2014—a seven day cruise out of Venice, Italy aboard the Norwegian Jade. It helped that his first cruise was a Mediterranean cruise; certainly a wonderful way for cruising to make a first impression. The seasoned traveler was hooked right away. I asked Steve what influenced him to try a cruise. “So, our friends had cruised several times before and they really enjoyed it. They kind of talked us into doing it. Like many others I never had a huge desire to go cruising. I didn’t know what to expect, but when we sailed on our first cruise from Venice and were able to experience so many exotic ports and sites, it was amazing and I was hooked right away. We stopped in Croatia, Greece, and Turkey. I learned that nothing beats a relaxing day at sea with friends and family, and good food. As an airline pilot, I also have become fascinated with the navigation and logistics of sailing a ship from one port to the next. Jade was originally built to sail out of Hawaii, but after the economic downturn in the late 2000’s, demand dropped there, so they sent her to the Med. It was kind of humorous sailing around the Med in this over-the-top Hawaiian themed ship. The ship had artwork and statues themed for the Hawaiian Islands; there was a large statue of King Kamehmeha in the main dining room. They have since re-themed her.” A Mediterranean cruise as the first cruise! That’s on my bucket list. While a Mediterranean cruise contains a lifetime of memories for many, perhaps one memory of that first cruise Steve holds on to the most is his encounter on the water with George Clooney. Yes, that George Clooney. Steve told me, “Our ship cut off George Clooney’s wedding party as they were taking motor boats out of the grand canal to their wedding reception. We departed Venice around four. We sat out on our balcony as Jade sailed past the Grand Canal. We saw a bunch of small boats and commotion coming in and out of the Grand Canal.” Flying back home, Steve sees this story online about how some giant cruise ship had cut off George Clooney’s wedding party. Clooney and his wife Amal had the wedding and they had all gotten in these small boats, trailed by paparazzi, headed to the reception. Accompanying the story was a photo of the Norwegian Jade juxtaposed against the small boats containing the wedding party and paparazzi—with Steve’s balcony in the shot. Less than a year later Steve introduced his sons to cruising and tried his first Disney Cruise. They cruised on Disney Wonder to Alaska. “My wife wanted to try a Disney cruise, and my parents wanted to go to Alaska. Our kids were five and nine at the time. We had heard good things about the Disney kids club; we knew on a Disney cruise the kids would be entertained.” Almost all of Steve’s cruises subsequent to that first one on Jade have been on Disney Cruise Line. Steve has cruised on each of the ships in Disney’s fleet: Disney Magic, Wonder, Dream, and Fantasy. I asked Steve if that first Disney cruise to Alaska on Wonder made Steve and his family loyal to the Disney brand. “I think it did. Disney had this thing called rotational dining where you meet your servers and then they go with you to the three dining rooms on the ship. Our head waiter started giving my mom a hard time but in a playful way. She’s sort of a ‘stick in the mud’ about food but he could see he could play with her, and it was fun for us to watch. Then he started doing magic tricks with the kids. The kids were just enthralled. I have a video with my youngest son and his eyes get so big; he can’t believe what he saw. And this was only the first night. And it just went from there. Another server, his name is Tiger Tom—he’s now the head waiter on the Magic—but at the time he worked in the Cabanas which is the buffet on Disney, he came up to my son and started playing a game with him with the back of my son’s hoodie. And my son who was a little tired at the time just totally turned his spirits around. We’ve since seen Tiger Tom a couple of times on subsequent cruises and he remembers us. It’s those little touches like that. I think you could probably find that at other cruise lines too, but those are the kinds of things that hooked us to Disney.” After three consecutive Disney cruises following Jade, Steve returned to Norwegian Cruise Line in 2017. He and Ahnawake, with friends and no kids, did a nine-day Baltic Cruise on Norwegian Getaway highlighted by St. Petersburg, Russia which Steve recalls as amazing. “We visited the Amber Room and palaces of the Czars in St Petersburg. Some of the most over the top wealth I’ve ever seen.” After Getaway Steve returned to Disney Cruise Lines and has gone on all Disney cruises since. After 10 cruises, Steve has seemingly experienced enough cruise highlights and memories to last a lifetime. It helps that his very first cruise was to the Mediterranean. Beside disrupting the George Clooney wedding party, I ask Steve for a few highlights. “Oh man; there’s so many good memories…” I could sense his hesitation to pick one great cruise over another. (All cruises are wonderful!) I suspect he was “fast forwarding” through scenes from various cruises in his head. I said, “Pick a single day. If I could write only about one experience you got the opportunity to realize on a cruise, what should It be? Ahnawake and Steve at one of the most beautiful places they have ever been, Geiranger Norway. “In 2016, when we sailed to Norway on Disney Magic, the northernmost port we sailed to, Geiranger. Sailing along the coast of Norway—my mother’s home country—and exploring the amazing coastal towns we stopped at. Sailing to the head of Geiranger Fjord—a UNESCO Heritage site—and visiting a small farm which sat above an adjacent fjord. We met this Norwegian farmer and his wife. They raised sheep but couldn’t make a living on that alone so he also brewed beer and made cheese. So Ahnawake, my parents and I had some beer and cheese with him and while we were doing that the kids went with his wife. She had a business where she made metal stamps you ink and make impressions onto fabric; she sold these stamps all over the world. The kids each got a piece of fabric stamped and my mom made them into pillow when we got home. Just that whole day; the farmers, the beauty of this fjord, the beauty of the view from this farm. You walk out their door and you look out over the mountains and down into the fjords with the ocean and everything below you. Probably the most beautiful place I’ve ever been.”  Sarah enjoying the swimming with the pigs excursion in the Bahamas. (Courtesy @thestelios) “What are some of your standout memories and experiences,” I ask. “So many! Sitting in the jacuzzi on my balcony with a drink in hand watching the sea pass by and listening to music; swimming with stingrays and swimming with pigs in the Bahamas; cruising down the Nile on the MS Mayflower; crossing the Drake Passage to Antarctica while cruising on the expedition ship Vavilov; watching the sea lions bathe their pups in the Galapagos; seeing the hanging coffins in the cliff faces as we drifted down the Yangtze on the Victoria Jenna–there are literally coffins from ancient times, cliffside cemeteries, very unique, very interesting. I’ve seen nothing like that elsewhere in the world. And the whole experience of filming the commercials...” Sarah was featured in a series of destination excursions commercials to be shown on the ship’s television for a major cruise line. I asked Sarah to elaborate on what made the filming incredible. “So as part of the process of filming, I got the opportunity to do every excursion available in the Eastern and Western Caribbean: from swimming with the stingrays in Grand Cayman, to bobsledding in Jamaica [4000-foot sled coaster ride down a mountain and through a rainforest], to snorkeling in Cozumel, to the Flying Dutchman in St. Maarten [the world’s steepest zip line, from the top of St. Maarten’s highest mountain.]” All sounds wonderful but no thanks on the Flying Dutchman; loved looking at the mountains in St. Maarten but that’s where it ends for me! I was fascinated about the Jamaica Bobsled ride; I remember the famous Jamaican Olympic Bobsled team and the fun movie based on their story, “Cool Runnings.” “It’s really fun; kind of feels like a wooden roller coaster, but you get to guide yourself and control your own speed. I did it three times and I thought it was so much fun.” Prior to the pandemic, I interviewed Sarah about her near-term cruising plans. Notably, while still planning to see the world, Sarah emphasized she is focusing more on experiencing it via the seas. “Ideally, I’d love to reach my next seven countries via cruise, bringing me to 120 countries. I’m working on transitioning from overland travel to cruise travel, as I prefer the leisure and luxury of it all.” Of course, the pandemic derailed those plans. It would take several pages to chronicle the travel opportunities—cruise and overland—that Sarah had to forgo due to the pandemic. Her plans to increase her focus on cruising in 2020, following her Top 10 Cruise Influencers of 2019 accolade was thwarted by Covid-19 and the suspension of cruising and will have to be deferred. Her last trip before the pandemic was the kind of grand, sweeping, multi-country excursion that has characterized the growth of The Five Foot Traveler. Unfortunately it ran into the realities of a global pandemic and winding down the trip and returning home became an adventure that just adds to The Five Foot Traveler lore. Sarah had been invited to tour the Arctic and parts of Sweden and Norway by a couple of tourism boards many months prior. Her flight took off March 2, a week-and-a-half before the global pandemic declaration. “When I left for the Arctic there was this vague talk about a virus in China—supposedly it was like the flu. I wasn’t really stressing about it, but I always take some extra precautions when anything is going around, and I actually had an N99 mask with me. I’m a germaphobe by nature, so I always travel with a mask, wipe down my airplane seat and tray table and things like that. So the trip itself really wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for me. For the first part of the trip my photographer and I weren’t paying much attention to the news and we were just having this unbelievably unreal experience in the Arctic. Then, my photographer, David Rocaberti, received a call from his family in Madrid and was told the virus was getting really bad there and that they had shut down schools; he has two girls. We were like ‘there’s nothing we can do and it will get under wraps soon.’ We weren’t stressing…yet. The next day we took a train into Norway and as soon as we got there the country was going on lock-down and we were going to be quarantined in a cabin in Norway that we had originally planned to stay in for just one night. So all of sudden it went from a bad flu to being caught up in a global pandemic and things got really scary. My family is in the states and my brother is high risk and my dad had to go to work every day. My photographer’s family is in Madrid which was already an epicenter before New York was. We couldn’t figure out how to get home to our families; all the information we were receiving was contradictory.” “So the cabin in Norway, did you have to rough it, or was it decent accommodations for you to spend this difficult time?” I asked. “Oh my gosh it was stunning. It was like the greatest place I could ever possibly be quarantined,” Sarah laughed. “The views were amazing; we were isolated; under normal circumstances it would have been spectacular. Even still we’re incredibly grateful for where we ended up. We were in a big, luxurious cabin called Dyrøy Holiday in the middle of nowhere; we saw the Northern Lights dancing overhead. It was spectacular.The only issue was the changing news every day, so we didn’t know when we would be allowed out of the country. So, we weren’t able to appreciate the luxurious accommodations because we were glued to our phones keeping up with the rapidly evolving news......”  I imagine that for many cruisers, the notion of “living the life” on the ocean--being personally served virtually around the clock filet mignon, lobster, and chocolatecovered strawberries, drinking martinis, fine wine, and champagne, relaxing and luxuriating in suite accommodations with an unparalleled view of the ocean from your veranda on a six-star cruise line—is an occasional fantasy. A relatively small percentage of cruisers get to experience some aspects of this on their luxury cruises. That was Doris Vasconcellos-Bernstein and Doug Bernstein’s experience around the clock for 12 straight days. Sounds glorious, except Doris and Doug had no input to this real life fantasy except whether to order Lemongrass Beef Nam Tok Nua, or Lobster Thermidor, or Milk Fed Veal Escalope. And, it took place at a time that outside of Doris and Doug’s suite on Silversea Cruises Silver Shadow—from which they could not leave—the world was grappling with a raging pandemic.
***** .......We came back to the ship to have lunch. Before we left the cabin to go to a restaurant, the Captain made an announcement over the PA system: someone had been taken off the ship sick and they had to follow some international protocols and asked us to stay for the moment in our cabins.” That “for the moment” became 12 days. It became obvious that the “moment” was going to turn into something longer when shortly thereafter Silver Shadow Captain Gennaro Arma directed all guests to immediately return to their room and not leave. Doris and Doug never again saw any part of the Silver Shadow beyond their cabin until they were led off to be flown home. At that point, little did the guests realize that not only were they confined to their cabins, but that the Silver Shadow would not be departing Recife that night en route to their next destination of Fortaleza, Brazil. Pending test results for the passenger who was taken off the ship with a cough, fever, and respiratory symptoms, Silver Shadow was held at Recife Port. Port management even prohibited discharge of Silver Shadow’s garbage. Furthermore, the pier that the ship was docked on was ordered isolated. Two days later, Royal Caribbean, Silversea Cruises parent company, released a statement to the media: "Two guests aboard the Silver Shadow have been medically disembarked in Recife, Brazil, and one has tested positive for COVID-19." The 79-year-old man who tested positive died a couple of weeks later in a Brazil hospital. The second person removed tested negative. It was not clear to the Silver Shadow guests when Captain Arma made his directive, of the extent to which the Brazilian authorities had exerted control over the situation. At the time, Brazil had reported 37 cases of COVID-19 and zero deaths since the outbreak began. It would become a lot clearer in the ensuing couple of days..... Read the full story of Trapped In Paradise in Cruising Interrupted  There is no one better to lead off this section, The Globetrotters, than @MrScottEddy, as he is known on social media where he is the world’s most popular travel personality. Scott epitomizes a Globetrotter. In fact, he is the star of the new Lifetime television series VideoGlobetrotter, which premiered May 2020.
Scott Eddy has taken somewhat of a circuitous route to arrive at his current designation as one of the top travel influencers in the world. A Forbes Magazine profile stated that Scott Eddy “is consistently rated as one of the top five luxury travel influencers in the world.” Yet, travel wasn’t even Scott’s first career, although he traveled quite a bit with his family in his youth. I asked Scott to take me back to the route he took that culminated in his current standing in the industry and his own television show. Scott was born in Michigan. Scott’s father’s side of the family was American. His mother’s parents were from Lebanon, and then moved to Jamaica to be entrepreneurs, and Scott’s mom was raised in Jamaica. Scott’s father, who was in law enforcement, first raised the family in Michigan where he was a state trooper for 11 years, and then moved them to Florida where he was a Fort Lauderdale police officer for 11 years. So, growing up all of Scott’s travels were either to Michigan, or in the Caribbean to see his family on his mother’s side. Consequently, the Caribbean travel enabled Scott to do a fair amount of cruising as a child. “Back in the old days when Carnival Celebration, SeaScape, and NCL were all leaving out of Fort Lauderdale, it was super easy to do cruising to the Bahamas, Jamaica, Mexico; those three or four days, sometimes we would do a week—it was very cost-effective travel for a family. It wasn’t a big family—my sister, parents and me—we weren’t a big family but costs add up and we weren’t wealthy; we only had one salary. My dad was a cop and my mom didn’t work. So affordable cruising was a good way to go.” While certainly those experiences cruising beginning at about 10 years old perhaps laid the foundation for this globetrotter to see the world, they did not spark a motivation in Scott to pursue a travel career as he entered the work force. In fact, a travel career was nowhere on the horizon for Scott. The script for Scott’s life was that he was supposed to follow in his dad’s footsteps. “My middle school and high school was familiarity with the police station. I went on ride-a-longs, learned to administer a polygraph exam when I was 12. I took my driver’s license test in a police car. I was destined to graduate from high school, enter the police academy, become a cop, and retire as one. That was the life plan. Three weeks before my graduation from high school, my father was killed in the line of duty. He was a detective, and was flying to Tallahassee to get a confession from a suspect who was already in jail. On the way back to Fort Lauderdale, there were some fires in the Everglades, a lot of smoke, and as the plane turned towards the commuter airport, it went down in a tailspin. Changed my life forever; went from having a perfect childhood, about to become a cop, to not knowing what I wanted to do but not wanting to be a cop anymore.” ********** On somewhat of a whim Scott moved overseas. He ended up living in Europe and Asia for the ensuing 17 years. Scott made the move with about as much forethought as he did when starting a career as a stockbroker. And, just as he learned sales as a stockbroker, a skill that would serve him well, the move abroad was a fateful one that introduced Scott to a new skill set that would change his life. “My friend’s friend was an ex-pat living in Thailand. My friend said to me. ‘Bro you’re 29; you’ve never been to Europe, never been to Asia. What’s wrong with you?’ So, I bought a two-week ticket to Bangkok, and after four days I just could not imagine leaving there. The people were like the finest people in the world. I couldn’t imagine coming back to the US where everybody is so…entitled. I just…it really changed my life. I ended up living in Bangkok for 11 years. While living in Bangkok, I started one of the first digital travel and tourism marketing agencies in Southeast Asia, and it remained one of the biggest ones in the region for five years. After selling the agency and spending some time in Europe while building my personal brand, I now travel full-time, while building digital strategies, speaking at conferences, creating video packages and consulting for the world of luxury travel.” ***** Between Asia and then Europe after that, Scott lived abroad over 17 years. Today Scott lives—well, everywhere. I ask Scott, “where are you based?” Before he could answer, I said facetiously, “the world, right?” He told me, “That’s actually accurate! I technically don’t have a home. I rent a room from a friend to keep my clothes, but I literally travel full-time. And I love it this way. Most people they want a house. I just want to keep going; I love it. I think it is the greatest thing in the world. It’s fuel for me. I got rid of my things a long time ago. I own nothing…I don’t have a bed, couch, TV.” I responded incredulously, “No television, and you are about to launch a television show?” Read the rest of Scott’s story in Cruising Interrupted, |
AuthorA common interview question by the author, Paul C. Thornton is “what did you do during the cruising lockdown?” Writing Cruising Interrupted is how Paul spent his. ArchivesCategories |
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