Why Does Cruise Travel Fascinate So Many of Us?

How a passionate fan of The Love Boat still could never see herself on a cruise. Ever. And then....

If, 20-some years ago you would have told me that my favorite beat, as a travel journalist, would be cruise, I'd have suggested a brain scan. I love travel, all kinds of travel, no question, but I am in a long line of ancestors, mostly on my mother's side, who have very little tolerance for the motion of the ocean.

There was my grandfather, who was a captain in the U.S. Navy, and got seasick on anything that moves (including on his honeymoon voyage to Bermuda, where my grandparents’ ships ran into a fog outside New York Harbor, hit another ship, and sank; all were rescued save for my grandmother's trousseau, which was a contribution to Davy Jones Locker).

Just out of college, there was an awkward first date on a sailboat off Miami's Key Biscayne, where I spent more time hanging off the side of the boat than enjoying the wind rifling through my hair; no surprise that there was no second date. And there was the family friend, a captain of a U.S. Naval Destroyer, who invited us to family day in Virginia's Norfolk; the massive vessel never even left the dock, but I wound up, flat out queasy, on a bed in his quarters (the fact that my mom joined me there, feeling the same, tells you everything you need to know about this branch of our family tree).

And on my first official cruise assignment, a New York to Bermuda sailing on Celebrity Cruises in September, which I now know is the peak of hurricane season in that part of the Atlantic, we ran into the remnants of some tropical storm and it wasn't pretty.

And yet, with the help of seasick potions, I have come to love traveling by cruise, and if I'm being honest, I loved it even on that first hurricane-season voyage. When I talk to new-to-cruise travelers, I gush over the obvious virtues; you get to see the world as a tapas menu, with forays into places to see if you want to come back for longer visits. You meet wonderful people who hail from all over the world, and by that, I mean crew members as well as fellow travelers. And you can wake up every morning with a different view outside your porthole -- or rather, these days you're more likely to gaze via balcony sliders -- without ever packing and unpacking.

But here's the thing that you'll never know until you try a cruise: It's the magic of being out on the water, whether it's a river or an ocean. Somehow it lifts you out of your everyday life into something quite special (sort of like the way you don't really understand how planes fly but you love being above the clouds). Care to join our merry band of enthusiasts?

Here's my background in what's hopefully a nutshell: As a reporter for The Washington Post's travel section and a freelance travel contributor to publications ranging from Conde Nast Traveler to Town & Country, I've been telling cruise stories for just shy of 25 years. At Cruise Critic, as editor in chief, we created a team that produced award-winning content. I've loved being one of travel media's most quotable cruise experts; it's simply a by-product of my passion for cruise travel.

And ultimately, I moved on, creating Cruise Critic's first-ever Content Studio, where, we partnered with cruise line and hotel clients such as Silversea Cruises, Princess, Hilton Hotels, Carnival Corporation, Viking Ocean Cruises, Crystal Cruises, American Queen Steamboat Company, Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, Ponant, Viking River Cruises, Cunard, AmaWaterways, and Azamara. With our clients, we created authentically inspirational content that both educate and enlighten consumers and travelers about what cruise is all about.

Phew. It's been great.

In January 2020, the opportunity to be chief content officer for Cruise Media LLC was too alluring to ignore. Taking a page out of the sponsored content rulebook, we serve as consultants on an even-wider wide variety of projects. We work directly with cruise lines and travel companies. For instance? We presented a digital travel transformation workshop for AAA magazines, re-created on-site content possibilities, including blogs and social media for a pair of cruise lines, served as an expedition cruise expert alongside Viking Expedition Cruises on a media satellite tour, and participated in a national radio press effort with Holland America Line and Princess Cruises to talk about Alaska. We moderate panels, ranging in themes from cruise marketing to expedition and luxury trends, for Seatrade's global cruise conventions and, more recently, for its virtual conversations.

What's next? We'll keep you posted. --CSB