Cruising is all about friendship, renewing old ones and making new ones … including one that was quite a surprise for us.

My wife, Jo Ann, and I discovered cruise vacations when we took our first one on Regal Princess in 1995.  That was it — we were hooked. We promptly booked a cruise for the following January, and that’s when we met the fabulous entertainers, Jana and Danny, fellow Canadians who play the kind of dance music we love. We attended so many of their performances, we made an impression on them.  

Five years and as many cruises later, we ran into Jana and Danny again, this time on Sea Princess. Reading in the Patter that they were on board, we rushed to the Horizon Court for a few dances before our second-sitting dinner. Jana and Dana took a break and came over to chat. How they recognized us is one of those Princess Cruises hospitality secrets that never fail to impress. Read More

My first cruise was the beginning of a summer European adventure when I was 18.  At the time, it just seemed like a fun way to get to the continent, but little was I to know that the real life-changing part of this trip was to come 35 years later.

It was 1969, and I was sailing aboard P&O’s Canberra, on a 26-day trip down the coast from Vancouver to Southampton traveling through the Panama Canal and across the Atlantic. It was an exciting time, made especially fun because there was a group of young people like myself aboard, heading to Europe and beyond for continuing travels. When we docked in Southampton, I was sorry to say goodbye to all the friends I’d made.

Decades after those carefree days, I was divorced and living alone. I found myself wondering about whatever happened to that cast of characters I’d had so much fun with on that cruise. I brought out my pictures and memorabilia to reminisce about that time. As I looked at them, for some strange reason, I decided to see if I could contact some of the people I had met on that cruise so many years ago. Read More

When I was 12 years old, my teacher asked the students in my class to choose a country in the world to write a report about. I chose Argentina!  Little did I know then that 40 years later I’d be residing half of the year in that country with a husband I met on a Princess cruise.

I was on Star Princess, taking an 18-day cruisetour of South America with my grown daughter Gina.  We were walking by the pool when Gina did something she’dnever done before. She pointed to a man seated at a table along the pool and said, “Mom, I think he’s perfect for you. Should I ask him if we can sit with him?”

That’s when I broke character and did a 180-degree turn on my usual self and said OK. Read More

When I married Jim, we had to hunt around city hall to find a clerk to witness it. Fifty years later, it must have been that lingering memory that provoked me to volunteer my husband and me as witnesses at the vow renewal of two complete strangers.

We were having lunch with a few couples, when Drena and Robert Douglass asked if they could join the table. It was a few days into a 15-day cruise to Hawaii. Drena said she and Bob would be renewing their vows for their 47^th anniversary, but alas, they had no one to witness it.

The thought of this happy occasion not being shared with a few friendly faces resonated with me. So, in a moment thoroughly out of character with my usually quite reserved personality, I volunteered my speechless husband and myself to stand alongside them at their vow renewal. I could feel Jim’s eyes boring into me, but it was too late. The Douglasses happily accepted the offer. Read More

Like many passengers, reading the Princess Patter to find out who’s performing the following evening is part of my nightly ritual during a cruise. But this time when I grabbed the next day’s paper from my stateroom mailbox, I was in for a big surprise.  I was instantly intrigued when I saw that a “Zach Winningham” would be singing the next night in the Princess Theater.

This was exciting news to me, even though I’d never met Zach Winningham or even heard of him before. Winningham is my maiden name, and I’ve spent the past 40 years tracking down other Winninghams, in a quest that any genealogist would find familiar.  

My husband, Donald, who doesn’t share my enthusiasm, has good-naturedly spent many a weekend with me visiting small-town city halls and cemeteries. He couldn’t believe that I’d found a new lead to pursue, during a Hawaii cruise aboard Golden Princess. The trip was supposed to be a break from our everyday lives. But when I am on the hunt for a new branch for the family tree, I get a little obsessed. Read More