Months Of Preparation For 15 Minutes Of Cruise Retirement Fame

Day 65, 2025 Grand World Voyage

Monday, March 10, 2025; Indian Ocean.

We knew something was up when we started getting texts from a few friends back home. I was sitting in the Ocean Bar around 5 p.m. with my friends Tom and Monika, streaming a live feed of CBS’s morning news program via my sister’s cable service. But I had forgotten that the show airs first on the U.S. east coast, and my central time zone feed was delayed an hour.

“I just saw you on CBS Mornings!!!”

“I saw you on TV! Great story!! So funny to look up and see you there!”

“It was great seeing your smiling face on CBS New today!”

In a few minutes, the segment appeared on our screen and we could see what our friends were reporting. I must admit, it was a bit of a thrill.

There’s always a back story. When we boarded the Zuiderdam at the beginning of this world cruise, a team from CBS News boarded as well. They were here to report on the feasibility of retiring on a cruise ship, and the public relations group at Holland America had asked me last fall if I would consent to being a part of the story.

Even that request was the culmination of relationships that go back years. When the pandemic cut our 2020 world voyage in half, my news background kicked in. A former coworker was the chief communications officer at Carnival Corp., (owner of Holland America and several other cruise lines), and I offered to talk to any reporters interested in our plight. Again, when drone attacks closed shipping through the Red Sea and caused our 2024 world voyage to deviate around Africa, I made the same offer to the woman now in the job (another acquaintance from the public relations world and a former neighbor).

Subsequently, as I recounted in a September blog post, Holland America wrote about my sisters and me, who after sailing the world together opted for separate grand cruises this year. Since then, the company has referred other travel writers to me when they are writing about selling everything to live on a cruise ship.

And that led to CBS reaching out last fall. While I was sailing through the Mediterranean Sea, I video-chatted a couple of times with the story’s producer Carlos Beltran and subsequently with reporter Nancy Chen.

There’s a reason I went into print – not broadcast – journalism. During my public relations career, I prepared corporate executives to go before the camera, but my interviews generally were with national print publications. The CBS producer asked to make a video blog of packing for a long cruise. It was horrible. You won’t see me blogging on Tik-Tok or Reels.

Nonetheless, I prepared for the news team’s arrival by visiting the ship’s salon and trying to think of witty things to say about the cruising life. To my delight, Nancy made it easy by asking thoughtful questions.

Their first request was to video me walking my suitcases to my cabin. It’s one of the few things I think they got wrong – we are spoiled and the crew delivers our luggage. But that’s just quibbling.

As the world cruise passengers boarded the ship, Nancy and I sat by the Lido pool to talk about my journey to a cruising lifestyle and tips for others who might consider the same. Next was the sail-away party on the Sea View deck.

The next day, friends Tom, Monika and Deb joined me for lunch in the quiet Pinnacle Grill, where we talked with Nancy about the friendships that develop among world cruise regulars.

Otherwise, much of the news team’s time was spent filming various activities and people around the ship. Of course, they caught me in my favorite morning place, the Crow’s Nest.

By the second morning, they were heading home from our first port in Grand Cayman. We had 122 days left.

And then the waiting began. I believe their original target was the CBS Evening News, but this is what we always called an “evergreen” story, a feature that could run on a slow news day. I guess the network got tired of waiting for one of those, so they chose the first hour on their national morning show (click to watch):

My initial reactions? I hate the sound of my recorded voice, and I can assure you that the extra 10 pounds is caused by the camera and not my overindulgence in the ship’s excellent food (wink). I’m also glad I didn’t say anything totally stupid. But boy, the Zuiderdam looks great!

Meanwhile, after my 15 minutes of fame, I’m happy to be back to the written word.