Send us a text

This week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, I am proud to welcome Josh Christina, Recording Artist, scene-stealing, piano-wielding frontman, and veteran headliner of several cruise lines. Listeners know I am as passionate about music and comedy as I am about cruising so when I get a chance to have a conversation with someone who has performed on cruise ships, I am in my glory.

Josh Christina is a dynamic and passionate musician whose love for piano rock has taken him on an incredible journey. His musical story began at the age of 7, inspired by the iconic sounds of Elvis Presley in Disney’s Lilo & Stitch. It wasn’t until age 15, after seeing the Broadway show Million Dollar Quartet and discovering the electrifying Jerry Lee Lewis, that Josh began playing piano, igniting his path as a pianist and performer. Josh’s talents caught the attention of Grammy-nominated producer Kent Wells, who has worked with legends like Dolly Parton and Reba McIntire. Kent describes Josh as “such an old soul,” praising the way “the music just pours out of him.” This connection led to Josh recording in Nashville, creating music that resonates with the soul of classic rock and boogie-woogie.

His single “Kayla Ann” topped several independent radio charts, and Josh’s album Instincts (recorded at the historic Sam Phillips Recording in Memphis, TN) was a testament to his mastery. Produced by Josh and Grammy-winning pianist Jon Carroll, Instincts received high praise, with Jon calling Josh a performer who “does it real well and means every note.” Josh’s high-energy performances have taken him across the globe, including a UK tour where he graced the stage of Ireland's Late Late Show. He’s headlined major cruise lines, bringing his piano rock show to fans of all ages worldwide. He’s also shared the stage with some of the world’s top boogie-woogie and rock ‘n’ roll pianists, earning admiration from both peers and fans for keeping the genre alive.

His latest album, UFO’s Over Phoenix, recorded live at Stages Music and Arts in Maryland, has already captured attention for its unique sound. Daryl Davis, former bandleader and pianist for Chuck Berry, describes the album as striking “the perfect balance of a scent of the familiar while being creatively and refreshingly new.” Josh Christina’s infectious energy, undeniable talent, and deep respect for rock and roll history have earned him a dedicated following. His music is a celebration of the past, present, and future of piano rock.

Support the show

Support thejoyofcruisingpodcast https://www.buzzsprout.com/2113608/supporters/new
Support Me https://www.buymeacoffee.com/drpaulth
Contact Me https://www.thejoyofcruising.net/contact-me.html
Book Cruises http://www.thejoyofvacation.com/
US Orders (coupon code joyofcruisingpodcast)
The Joy of Cruising https://bit.ly/TheJoyOfCruising
Cruising Interrupted https://bit.ly/CruisingInterrupted
The Joy of Cruising Again https://bit.ly/TheJoyOfCruisingAgain

Intl Orders via Amazon

Send us a text

This is Paul and this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast I am delighted to welcome Gian and Angie, two cruisers living out two amazing stories on a cruise ship. That’s right, two amazing stories. The first is living on a cruise ship, Villa Vie Odyssey for the next three years, circumnavigating the globe and in the process visiting 147 countries across all seven continents—425 port stops in all. Anyone who is a regular listener of The Joy of Cruising Podcast knows I wouldn’t hesitate to host Gian & Angie on the show at some point during their dream voyage. There’s a second amazing story Gian & Angie are a part of—it became world news—and it is how they came to my attention.

For background, Villa Vie Odyssey was originally due to sail from Belfast, Ireland in May 2024. Two passengers, who did not know each other, Angela Harsanyi from Colorado, and Gian Perroni, from Canada were awaiting sail away day when shortly before, an urgent need for some major repairs were uncovered, that would take several months. Some of the passengers chose discounted vacations around Europe; others remained in Belfast and worked remotely—including both Gian and Angie, who still had not met. Some time during the ensuing months Gian and Angie found each other; then they found love. Villa Vie Odyssey finally sailed in September 2024. When the ship stopped at Costa Rica, a couple of dozen friends and family members joined the several hundred passengers aboard the Villa Vie Odyssey for Gian and Angie wedding.

Gian Perroni is from Vancouver, Canada, and prior to embarking on the Odyssey spent the previous 6 years living in Costa Rica. He is still working full time in the online marketing space and has a dedicated office with a great view onboard the ship. Gian has 2 adult children from a previous marriage, both of whom were in the wedding party. Angie Harsanyi, now Perroni, is from Colorado, and was a successful salon owner for more than three decades. She’s an avid outdoors person that loves to spend winters snow-biking, and summers exploring nature, including living for a time in both Yellowstone and Alaska. Neither Gian or Angie were cruisers in the past, and neither joined the Odyssey expecting to find love, but rather simply looking for an exciting change in their lives. As it turned out, the delayed launch of the ship gave them the time to explore Belfast together and become great friends before they became a couple. Their back-to-back weddings onboard couldn’t have been more perfect!

Support the show

Support thejoyofcruisingpodcast https://www.buzzsprout.com/2113608/supporters/new
Support Me https://www.buymeacoffee.com/drpaulth
Contact Me https://www.thejoyofcruising.net/contact-me.html
Book Cruises http://www.thejoyofvacation.com/
US Orders (coupon code joyofcruisingpodcast)
The Joy of Cruising https://bit.ly/TheJoyOfCruising
Cruising Interrupted https://bit.ly/CruisingInterrupted
The Joy of Cruising Again https://bit.ly/TheJoyOfCruisingAgain

Intl Orders via Amazon

Send us a text

This week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, I am delighted to welcome Jodi Murphy, Director, Strategic Partnerships,Regent Seven Seas Cruises. I have long had desire a desire to sail Regent Seven Seas, stemming from my research in my first cruising book, The Joy of Cruising amzn.to/3lAfyON, where I research an organization, Friends of Festival at Seawhich organizes very high-end group cruises to exotic locations, many on Regent, which at the time I wasn’t very familiar with. Since then, Regent Seven Seas has been on my bucket list.

Jodi Murphy is a seasoned travel industry professional with 25 years of experience at Regent Seven Seas Cruises, where she currently serves as Director, Strategic Accounts. In her role, she collaborates with travel advisors to bring Regent’s ultra-luxury, all-inclusive experiences to discerning travelers. Regent Seven Seas Cruises is truly Unrivaled at Sea, offering immersive exploration, world-class hospitality, luxurious space, and exceptional cuisine—qualities that define its new brand campaign, Nobody Does It Better.

Jodi is passionate about luxury cruising and believes in the transformative power of travel. One of her most memorable Regent experiences was sailing to Alaska aboard Seven Seas Explorer with her children in July 2024, an adventure that deepened her love for exploration and the unparalleled service Regent provides.

Find Jodi, Regent Seven Seas online

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@RegentSevenSeasCruises

TikTok: @regentsevenseascruises

Instagram: @regentcruises

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/regentsevenseascruises

Support the show

Support thejoyofcruisingpodcast https://www.buzzsprout.com/2113608/supporters/new
Support Me https://www.buymeacoffee.com/drpaulth
Contact Me https://www.thejoyofcruising.net/contact-me.html
Book Cruises http://www.thejoyofvacation.com/
US Orders (coupon code joyofcruisingpodcast)
The Joy of Cruising https://bit.ly/TheJoyOfCruising
Cruising Interrupted https://bit.ly/CruisingInterrupted
The Joy of Cruising Again https://bit.ly/TheJoyOfCruisingAgain

Intl Orders via Amazon

Send us a text

This is Paul and this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast I am delighted to welcome back again to The Joy of Cruising Podcast Rich and Jazzy, creators of the amazing A Rich and Jazzy Life brand. A Rich and Jazzy Life is comprised of their top ten 110K cruise channel on YouTube; Melanin at Sea (MAS), their 115K Facebook affinity to group known for its legendary group cruises and, in my opinion the most influential cruise croup on Facebook; companion Instagram accounts and more.

You can learn more about why I think so highly of Rich and Jazzy in my latest book release, The Joy of Cruising Again http://amzn.to/3lAfyON where I wrote a feature about them, or listen to their two previous podcast episodes, Ep 15 and Ep 80. We love A Rich and Jazzy Life. You can count on three fingers the The Joy of Cruising Podcast guests to appear on the podcast three times! And I am confident there will be more!

Support the show

Support thejoyofcruisingpodcast https://www.buzzsprout.com/2113608/supporters/new
Support Me https://www.buymeacoffee.com/drpaulth
Contact Me https://www.thejoyofcruising.net/contact-me.html
Book Cruises http://www.thejoyofvacation.com/
US Orders (coupon code joyofcruisingpodcast)
The Joy of Cruising https://bit.ly/TheJoyOfCruising
Cruising Interrupted https://bit.ly/CruisingInterrupted
The Joy of Cruising Again https://bit.ly/TheJoyOfCruisingAgain

Intl Orders via Amazon

Send us a text

Hello, passionate cruisers! This is Paul. I am delighted to welcome back to The Joy of Cruising Podcast Paul and Carole, creators of one of the top cruise brands in the world, Paul and Carole Love to Travel. They are dominant on every social medium platform they are on, and whether you classify them as cruise influencers or cruise content creators they are among the world’s leader as either. Most importantly to me is that Paul and Carole are passionate cruisers, and just about every time I read about them on social or see them on YouTube, they are cruising to one of my bucket list destinations! Like the topic of this podcast; we’ll be checking off Dubai from our bucket list in a few weeks, and when I found out Paul and Carole had recently cruised there, I had to get them back on the show. They are no strangers to The Joy of Cruising Podcast—you can count on a few fingers the number of guests appearing on the podcast for the third time. Ep 27 Paul and Carole Love to Travel, and Ep 99 Paul & Carole Love To Travel, Mekong River Cruise, AmaWaterways, AmaDara, Japan!

By the way, you can count on a couple of fingers the passionate cruisers who have been in more than one of my books, and Paul and Carole Love to Travel was featured in both The Joy of Cruising amzn.to/2EAMddF, and Cruising Interrupted amzn.to/3seFU8y.

It's been over a year, so I wanted to catch up with Paul and Carole, and especially to get their thoughts on their cruise to Dubai and the Emirates, which Cheryl and I will be visiting in a couple of weeks.

Support the show

Support thejoyofcruisingpodcast https://www.buzzsprout.com/2113608/supporters/new
Support Me https://www.buymeacoffee.com/drpaulth
Contact Me https://www.thejoyofcruising.net/contact-me.html
Book Cruises http://www.thejoyofvacation.com/
US Orders (coupon code joyofcruisingpodcast)
The Joy of Cruising https://bit.ly/TheJoyOfCruising
Cruising Interrupted https://bit.ly/CruisingInterrupted
The Joy of Cruising Again https://bit.ly/TheJoyOfCruisingAgain

Intl Orders via Amazon

Send us a text

Hello, passionate cruisers! This is Paul and this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, I am delighted to welcome back Linzi and Mark Cowgill, creator of the UK-based Suite Natured blog, YouTube channel, and Instagram platform. Over a year ago, I reached out to Linzi and Mark to come on the podcast to talk about transatlantics, in advanced of our first transatlantic cruise around this time last year on Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady Ep 91. Suite Natured, Transatlantics. It was a fun conservation which ended with a hilarious anecdote. (Sure enough, I included it in my second annual end-of-the-year episode of the The Joy of Cruising Podcast year's "most memorable, funniest, and most embarrassing stories.” It won!)

Linzi and Mark are back to share with the cruise community their reflections on their recent bucket list on Windstar Star Legend.

Support the show

Support thejoyofcruisingpodcast https://www.buzzsprout.com/2113608/supporters/new
Support Me https://www.buymeacoffee.com/drpaulth
Contact Me https://www.thejoyofcruising.net/contact-me.html
Book Cruises http://www.thejoyofvacation.com/
US Orders (coupon code joyofcruisingpodcast)
The Joy of Cruising https://bit.ly/TheJoyOfCruising
Cruising Interrupted https://bit.ly/CruisingInterrupted
The Joy of Cruising Again https://bit.ly/TheJoyOfCruisingAgain

Intl Orders via Amazon

Send us a text

Hello, passionate cruisers! This is Paul and this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, I am delighted to welcome Presley Pfereka, a crew member for Azamara luxury cruise line. I have long observed with awe and fascination cruise ship crew from the Captain to entry-level crew members and have hosted on The Joy of Cruising Podcast a cross-section of ship crew, both former as well as active over the past years. I would love to delve into their lives in an in-depth manner both on the home front as well as at sea. I have often noted that if I had the resources this is a book project I would love to pursue. While I can’t begin to do justice to that in an hour or so podcast episode, my discussion with Presley affords us a brief, unique look at ship life through her eyes. The variety of crew, staff, officers, and guest performers who have guested on the podcast range from childcare associates to maitre d’ to Captains, acrobats, magicians, to guest singers and comedians from all over the world. Presley is my first guest from Zimbabwe, in the Southeastern part of Africa. I first found out about Presley by way of an article I read in Conde Nast Traveler, “What It's Like to Be a Waitress on a Cruise Ship,” by Ashlea Halpern.

Presley is a 37-year young lady from Easten Zimbabwe, Manicaland Province. She finished high school and started working at a young age as an organizing secretary for a non-governmental organization). This was after her parents passed on. Presley has two daughters aged 17 and 6. She moved to South Africa in search of greener pastures and worked a variety of jobs. In 2012 Presley met a fellow Zimbabwean who introduced her to Open Distance Learning with the University of South Africa. She enrolled with the University and attained a Higher Certificate in Business Management and then Registered for Bachelor of Commerce In Business Management which she is still pursuing. After coming across an advertisement on LinkedIn regarding cruise ship job interviews to take place in Cape Town in 2023, Presley applied as it was her wish to travel and work on cruise ships. This led to her being hired by Azamara January 2024 as Assistant Waitress. In November 2024 she got promoted to Administration as a Payroll Purser.

Find Presley online

YouTube: presleypfereka3174
TikTok: @Presley Pee
Instagram: presley_pee87
Facebook: Presley Pee
Email: pee.pfereka@gmail.com

Support the show

Support thejoyofcruisingpodcast https://www.buzzsprout.com/2113608/supporters/new
Support Me https://www.buymeacoffee.com/drpaulth
Contact Me https://www.thejoyofcruising.net/contact-me.html
Book Cruises http://www.thejoyofvacation.com/
US Orders (coupon code joyofcruisingpodcast)
The Joy of Cruising https://bit.ly/TheJoyOfCruising
Cruising Interrupted https://bit.ly/CruisingInterrupted
The Joy of Cruising Again https://bit.ly/TheJoyOfCruisingAgain

Intl Orders via Amazon

Send us a text

Hello, passionate cruisers! This is Paul. I am delighted to welcome this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, a special group of guests, The Chefs: Jerome Brown aka Chef Rome, the chef to the stars with over 35 years of professional cooking, the go-to chef for celebrities worldwide; Chicago Chef George Outlaw specializing in elevated soul food with bold and unusual food combinations; Chef Sondra (Dra) Rhodes bringing creole and southern country cuisine to your table; and, Chef Ricky Simpson, Jr., an Atlanta resident whose credo is “To enlighten people to a healthier way to make their favorite foods.”

We were introduced to The Chefs on our recent bucket list cruise, the Soul Train Cruise, which we raved about in our reflections of the cruise several weeks ago on Ep 165 The Soul Train Cruise. It was our first Soul Train Cruise; we enjoyed it so much that we booked for 2026. Immediately after we boarded the Holland America Line Nieuw Amsterdamwe became aware of The Chefs albeit in an indirect way. In the buffet we noticed some soul food items; for instance, there was Rick’s Ribs. Then at the main dining room, throughout the menu was soul food and New Orleans favorites. Things came into perspective when we read the tent card on our table mentioning The Chefs return to the Soul Train Cruise (for the third year) along with short bios of each.

I have hosted several fascinating celebrity chefs on The Joy of Cruising Podcast. This is the first time I get to host a team—each a celebrity chef in their own right.

Support the show

Support thejoyofcruisingpodcast https://www.buzzsprout.com/2113608/supporters/new
Support Me https://www.buymeacoffee.com/drpaulth
Contact Me https://www.thejoyofcruising.net/contact-me.html
Book Cruises http://www.thejoyofvacation.com/
US Orders (coupon code joyofcruisingpodcast)
The Joy of Cruising https://bit.ly/TheJoyOfCruising
Cruising Interrupted https://bit.ly/CruisingInterrupted
The Joy of Cruising Again https://bit.ly/TheJoyOfCruisingAgain

Intl Orders via Amazon