Advertise on podcast: My Ship Story

Paula leaves the most haunted town in South Australia to join the R4 in Papeete, French Polynesia as a bar waiter. She then goes on to bring the R8 out of the shipyard in France. She tells the story of the crazy aftermath on ships after the bankruptcy of Renaissance, a stint with Celebrity, an "Around the World" competition, an affair with the Executive Chef, the overboard of the NZ crew members, and a freak injury that ends her career.

Roger graduates from Notre Dame and decides to go to work on cruise ships. He leaves Texas and joins Renaissance Cruise lines as a Purser where he becomes cabin mates with Brad. He tells the story of the two crew members that jumped overboard on the R4 in Tahiti, going to the bank in Papeete, the pros and cons of Kusadasi Turkey, and the fun side of ship life.    

Shane leaves the Gold Coast of Australia in 2003 to join Princess as a Casino Slot Tech without actually being a slot machine technician. He has a very long sleepless journey getting to the Carnival Glory - and then has even worse first week onboard. He tells the story about being selected for a random drug test after a crew party on the Diamond Princess.

After practicing on prisoners in jail, Stu leaves the NYCPD to become a comedian. He goes to work for Royal Caribbean in the early nineties and then on to many other cruise lines. He tells about encounters with other comedians and celebrities, working on the old Love Boat, Bingo Money, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, that time he missed the ship, and starting up a talent agency.  www.stumoss.com 

Sami starts his career on ships in 1990 with Cunard on the QE2 as a sommelier. He then goes to work for Royal Viking and Crystal Cruises as a Food and Beverage manager. With Renaissance he opens and closes all eight of the R-ships. He tells about working for Apollo Cruise Ship Chandlers, a Japanese charter company, a favor for a captain, good times in Australia, and crossing the equator.

From a very young age, Gabrielle wants to be a dancer. After becoming a professional dancer she gets a contract on the AIDAmar in 2019. Gabrielle packs a lot of adventure into one year before the pandemic shut things down. She tell about the culture shock on her first ship, meets a nice boy, dancing on a moving ship, German party game, Denmark is the Las Vegas of Europe, and escape from Ukraine.

From a long line of seafarers in Sweden, Lars first starts working on cargo ships. By chance he gets an engineer position with Commodore Cruise Lines working on the re-fit of the Caribe I in 1983.  He goes on to have a long career working for many different cruise lines such as: Windstar, Royal Caribbean, and the Renaissance R-ships.  He tells stories about having an incredible whale encounter, the disastrous christening of the R4, gives us a pig roast confirmation, two crew jump overboard, a ship fire, a woman scorned, and stripes make a difference. 

Former cruise ship employee, writer, actor, blogger, and social media star, Sharon worked for Carnival and Norwegian Cruise Lines. She tells about a collision between two ships in Cozumel, the trials and tribulations of a Grope Coordinator, an incident with a fire screen door, Fountains, and her transition from ships into a social media creator. https://www.instagram.com/rodrigoflamingo/  https://www.instagram.com/thesharonicles/

From a young age Linda dreamed about going to sea. Finally in 1996 she joined the Nieuw Amsterdam with Holland America as a fitness instructor working for Steiner. She was on many different lines on 40 ships in many positions over her 15 year career. She tells stories about being fired from Steiner, getting back onboard as Social Host with Carnival, an epic birthday celebration and aftermath, a rogue wave, the reasons for leaving ships, karaoke blackmail, and deciding to write a book.        For more stories check out her new book: https://www.amazon.com/Through-Porthole-Linda-Carol-Woodward-ebook/dp/B0BMC3QZZ7

Bas goes from working in Hotels to working for Royal Caribbean on the Brilliance of the Seas in 2012 as Cruise Staff. He tells about being on an arrested ship, ship pranks played on the Cruise Director, cleans guest staterooms during a norovirus outbreak, meets a passenger, and leaves ships after the pandemic hit. 

In 2002 Brian falls in love with a woman and follows her to the Carnival Conquest.  He tells about the trials and tribulations of being the only U.S. waiter to finish a full contract with Carnival. On his second contract, has a chance encounter that lands him a position as an Art Auctioneer, and ends up happily with a different Romanian woman. After ships Brian becomes a best-selling author with a series of books about his life on ships.   https://www.amazon.com/Cruise-Confidential-4-book-series/dp/B074CFCNF5

In 1995 Kerem leaves hotels in Istanbul to join the Nordic Empress as Assistant Food & Beverage Manager with Royal Caribbean. He tells about getting forgotten on the Legend of the Seas, going to the Monarch to improve USPH inspections, a fire in the galley, life in the Windjammer buffet, the comment card mobile app idea, the melting pot of ships, and the evolution of work life onboard.