You are listening to this is Cruise Radio Rewind. Real reviews from real cruisers.

Welcome to this weekend's episode of Cruise Radio Rewind. My name is Doug Parker. Thank you so much for making us a part of your day. Happy to have you here.

Continuing our series on, I guess we'll call them cruise personalities. I don't want to say movers and shakers. That seems so

like egotistical, but people who have made an impact within the cruise industry over the past

years. And today's guest is Bill Panoff. He's the editor-in-chief of Port Hole Cruise magazine,

but he has an interesting past because he started out in the entertainment department on a

carnival cruise ship, and he now has the largest cruise magazine in the world. I'm telling you that because he's too humble to say it. And he joins us on the line right now. Hey, Bill. Hi, Doug. How are you? Question before we get started here. When did you first get into the cruise industry? What year was it? You know, it was 1984. It was the first time I stepped put on a cruise ship. And back then I had

hair, of course. You know, I was in my mid-20s. And yeah, that was my first experience working

on a cruise ship. It was the TSS Carnival, which was owned by Carnival cruise lines back then.

This is what fascinates me.

Like, what made you want to become a cruise ship entertainer?

So for many, many years, I had a love for magic.

And I developed an act.

I used to perform parties and associations and gatherings in the associations and gatherings, you know, in the States.

But I always wanted to take the act on the road. And there was a show on television during those

years called The Love Boat. And I just gained such a fascination to working on board a cruise ship

from that show. So I started calling cruise lines and saying, hey, you know, I have a magic act. I love to perform on your ship. And the only cruise line actually called me back was Carnival cruise lines. So as a result of that, I worked on board ships for, oh, my goodness, a total of 13 years. The first couple of years, I was just a magician. And then years later, they promoted me to cruise director. And I just, I fell in love with the life at sea and I never really wanted to leave it.

You clearly had a love for cruising.

So what do you remember most about your first contract on a cruise ship?

I remember the camaraderie among the crew was just, it was almost like a surrogate family.

You know, I would meet these total strangers from Korea, Honduras, Jamaica, all of those like the United Nations at sea. And they all became my best friends after the first month. So the friendships that I made in the beginning, some of them I even still have today, that's the one thing that really stands out in my mind. And then the memories that we were able to make for the cruise guests who would sail on board these ships, you know, the way we affected their holiday and made them, you know, want to cruise over and over again.

And they did.

...