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I am delighted to welcome this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, Kate Smith aka A Girl in Every Port. Kate Smith is a writer and nurse who has lived and worked all over the world, both on land and at sea. When she’s not writing, she and her husband are chasing two small boys and various animals across their small farm in Maine.

Kate, when in her 20s, went on a few cruises to the Caribbean and Mexico with her family and really enjoyed them, but remained focused on her life as a nurse. By her early 30s, Kate was getting pretty burned out from her job and was coming off a failed relationship and was looking for a big change. So, she applied for a job as a cruise ship nurse and was hired by Princess Cruises. Kate spent the next couple years as a shipboard nurse and absolutely loved it. She recently released a book, "The Unsinkable Aly Brown, RN: A Girl in Every Port cruise ship mystery." Part mystery, part romance, and all heart, “The Unsinkable Aly Brown, RN” is a story about staying open to adventure and the possibility of love. It's very family friendly and is the sort of book that's perfect to read on vacation. The book is based (loosely) on some of Kate’s experiences.”

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Thoughtful in The Dark began as a blog composed of material I wrote during my junior...

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This week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, I am delighted to welcome Flavia Gray, creator of Ships and Champagne, A Luxury Cruise and Lifestyle Blog. I wrote about Flavia’s story in my first cruising book, The Joy of Cruising amzn.to/2EAMddF, in a section called The Influencers, which focuses on individuals like Flavia who epitomize what The Joy of Cruising is about: individuals moved by their passion for cruising who choose to manifest that passion in an engaging way when not sailing. Flavia hails from the UK; as you’ve likely heard me point out before fully a third of the passionate cruisers profiled in The Joy of Cruising were from UK, and that proportion has held up through the subsequent books, Cruising Interrupted amzn.to/3seFU8y and The Joy of Cruising Again amzn.to/3lAfyON, as well as The Joy of Cruising Podcast. I feel a connection with my new friends from UK—and I hope to meet a few of them when I finally cruise out of Southampton in 2025. What’s different about Flavia is unlike my other UK friends with whom I have interacted with via email, Zoom, or Skype, I have met Flavia in person twice in Florida on visits she made to see friends in the US. Flavia was also one of the first passionate cruisers—UK or elsewhere in the world to agree to be in The Joy of Cruising. I vividly remember writing her feature—with a great deal of assistance from Flavia—with a smile on my face as it was my first foray into kind of, sort of, travel writing.

Flavia’s feature in The Joy of Cruising, Ships and Champagne was at times quite poignant. A single mother of two saw her singing hobby turn into a full-time career, singing in bands performing at weddings, pubs and clubs. Though Flavia was quite good at her craft—it was not going to provide enough of a reliably constant income. This need led her to a position with Royal Caribbean as a Cruise Specialist—telephone sales.

Flavia progressed in her cruise career and went on to create an award-winning cruise blog, Ships and Champagne—named a top 50 cruise blogger and nominated for UK’s Wave Award in 2017 and 2018.

Flavia loves cruising and remains a cruis

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Thoughtful in The Dark began as a blog composed of material I wrote during my junior...

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I am delighted to welcome back to The Joy of Cruising Podcast Mikkel & Dan, creators of the Sometimes Sailing cruise website and Instagram. I got to know Mikkel and Dan when I wrote about Sometimes Sailing in my new release The Joy of Cruising Again http://amzn.to/3lAfyONwhere I wrote about their penchant for small ship cruising as well as “ship-within-a-ship” spaces, for instance, Celebrity Cruises The Retreat, Norwegian Haven, and Princess Cruises Medallion Class.

I hosted Sometimes Sailing on The Joy of Cruising Podcast Episode 28 last year and mentioned how Mikkel & Dan were instrumental in motivating me to pursue my bucket list aspiration to sail a river cruise. The river cruise we chose is the AmaWaterways Soulful Epicurean French River Cruise 2024 on AmaKristina. The river cruise is rapidly approaching—we embark in August—and, since Mikkel & Dan have sailed AmaKristina, I thought it fitting to welcome them back to share with the listeners what we can expect this summer.

Here are the links Sometimes Sailing mentioned:

• https://sometimessailing.com/why-are-river-cruises-so-expensive/
• https://sometimessailing.com/river-cruise-versus-ocean-cruise/
• https://sometimessailing.com/amakristina-cruise-review-amawaterways/
• https://sometimessailing.com/amawaterways-food-review-with-drinks-on-amakristina/
• https://sometimessailing.com/amawaterways-provence-excursions-during-a-rhone-river-cruise/
• https://sometimessailing.com/amawaterways-colors-of-provence

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I am delighted to welcome back to The Joy of Cruising Podcast, Matt, creator of Cruise Life Matt. I first “met” Matt on Instagram, mainly due to the prevalence of stunning cruise ship drone photos on his feed that caught my eye—leading me to dub him the best cruise ship drone photographer on the internet. Last summer it was my pleasure to host Matt on The Joy of Cruising Podcast Ep 32 Cruise Life Matt.

I follow Matt on social media and recently started seeing both some stunning Icon of the Seas drone photos from Matt as well as his mouthwatering food photos from Icon. As you know Icon is the new largest ship in the world which launched just a few months ago. I have had a number of passionate cruisers on the podcast to share reflections of Icon, and I thought it was timely to invite Matt back to provide his perspective—with a special emphasis on Icon’s food.

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I am delighted to welcome this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, my second special guest in a row that I met on my recent cruise on Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady. Nadeen Manuel. I met Nadeen on my first cruise ever on Virgin Voyages, a transatlantic cruise from Miami to Barcelona, Spain. Nadeen is a global hypnosis authority, and Virgin Voyages sailors got to experience Nadeen in several settings: comedy theater, where I met her as the featured performer; a lecture called Hypnosis Revealed; and several health and wellness presentations like Hypnosis Weight Loss with Nadeen and, Pain Management. When we got to see her—I’ll admit I walked into the venue kind of dubious of hypnosis. Nadeen knocked me off my feet!

From https://www.nadeenmanuel.com

Over the past two decades Nadeen Manuel has hypnotized over a million people into an incredible hypnotic experience in over 30 countries around the world. This edgy family friendly event is the one people wait for all year. Nadeen’s interactive show is hilarious, fascinating and most of all will make you feel good! You will laugh and scream with joyful enchantment as you watch Nadeen hypnotize people in seconds into a deep trance, laughing harder than you have in years, and creating memories for life. Come see for yourself why they call Nadeen the Undisputed Queen of Hypnosis!

Nadeen is at the top of her field, making her a world authority on hypnotism, and I am honored to host her on The Joy of Cruising Podcast.

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I am delighted to welcome this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, a special guest. Dixie Krystals, The Diva, Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady. I just met Dixie on my first cruise on Virgin Voyages, a transatlantic cruise from Miami to Barcelona, Spain. I experienced Dixie in several settings and always enjoyed her. What I didn’t expect is--can she ever sing! Dixie has a website, is on all major social media platforms, and has a podcast, Spill’n The Tea with Dixie where her About Me says, Dixie has been dazzling audiences for 20 years. Dixie chats about her work in the Colorado LGBTQ+ community, her work in theater, reading and baking.

From www.dixiekrystals.com:

Dixie Krystals has been dazzling audiences for 25 years. She grew up in the small town in Pennsylvania and always dreamed of having her name in lights. See where that got her?! You can catch Dixie on Discovery+ in Generation Drag(34TH Annual GLAAD Award Nominee, Outstanding Reality) as well as performing around Denver and beyond.

Her live vocals and tremendous comedic talents are undeniable! She was trained in Musical Theatre and has worked for Walt Disney World, Princess Cruise Lines, Busch Gardens, and various regional theatres.

Her passion for community is what drives her to excellence. She is an ordained minister, bingo queen, emcee, and fabulous hostess with the mostess. She’s won an award for her Podcast; Spill’n The Tea with Dixie where she spills the tea on her life and worldly events! Dixie is currently entertaining on the high seas as The Diva aboard Virgin Voyages, Scarlet Lady!

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Thoughtful in The Dark began as a blog composed of material I wrote during my junior...

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This week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, I am delighted to welcome Cindy Williams. I wrote about Cindy in my first cruising book, The Joy of Cruising amzn.to/2EAMddF, in a feature called, A Cruising Ministry. I have known Cindy, the epitome of a passionate cruiser, for virtually my entire life—we are related. However, when I started writing my first book about passionate cruisers five years ago, I hadn’t seen or communicated regularly with Cindy in decades. She moved away from New York City in her teens, and our interactions became minimal, and then when Cindy embarked on a career with the United States Army, I completely lost contact with her. It was during Cindy’s military career that her world traveler exploits began. During those years, Cindy and her husband Ken created an amazing cruising story spanning nearly the entire world. I found out about it by happenstance while I was writing The Joy of Cruising, and Cindy and Ken fit perfectly as prolific cruisers with fascinating stories, and I gladly asked them to be in the book.

Funny story…when I told Cindy of my plan to write a cruising-oriented book, Cindy sent me, unsolicited, an itemized list of hundreds of destinations around the world that she and Ken had visited. Virtually every corner of the planet was represented: every major island in the Caribbean; China; Australia; New Zealand; Iceland; Sweden; Russia; France; UK; Scotland; New Guinea; Chili; Peru; Ecuador; Dubai; Egypt; Israel; Alaska; Hawaii; Cuba; and more!

Today I am excited to share with The Joy of Cruising Podcast listeners, Cindy’s reflections on an amazing cruise. An Africa journey is at the very top of my bucket list. It won’t match Cindy and Ken’s though—a 73-Day Grand Africa Voyage onboard Holland America Line Zuiderdam! The cruise departed from Fort Lauderdale; the entire itinerary is too lengthy to detail, but I can highlight a few stops: Canary Islands; Casablanca, Morocco; Petra, Jordan; the Seychelles; Zanzibar, Tanzania; Mozambique; Capetown, South Africa; Namibia; Ghana; the Ivory Coast; Gambia; Dakar, Senegal. I’ll post the complete itinerary in the show notes.

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I am delighted to welcome this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, Jared and Jordan, creators of the popular JJ Cruise 60k member YouTube channel, blog, Facebook Page and Instagram.

From JJ Cruise https://lovelandandsea.com: Jordan and Jared are a married couple who LOVES CRUISES! They are the co-founders of the popular YouTube channel, JJ Cruise where they give tips, tricks, and insider information on the cruise industry. Collectively they have spent more than 400 nights at sea on over 75 cruises. They have cruised around the world exploring destinations including Australia, New Zealand, Greenland, French Polynesia, Alaska, Iceland, Europe and the Caribbean. Some of their favorite itineraries include our time spent on repositioning cruises such as transatlantic and transpacific cruises.

I have long enjoyed watching JJ Cruise videos. They told me they are on ships 75% of the year—I can’t wait to chat about that! It is now my pleasure to bring their story to the listeners of The Joy of Cruising Podcast.

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Thoughtful in The Dark began as a blog composed of material I wrote during my junior...

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