The Avid Cruiser

A familiar face greeted me as I boarded the Wind Surf on a recent sailing from Venice to Malta. Jerry Zape remembered me from five years ago when he worked as a bartender on the Wind Song.

I remembered him too. I had talked with him about his family in the Philippines and about how he supported his wife and three children on the salary and tips he earned at sea. In his early 40s then, he had managed to pay off his home and even buy a small convenience store.

When I met Jerry five years later, life was treating him even better. He told me that two of his children had just finished college and that a third will graduate soon. How Jerry managed his family from afar is a remarkable story, but first let me tell you about Jerry.

Jerry started work with Holland America Line in 1987, five years into his marriage. He and his wife agonized over whether Jerry should go to sea, but they knew they could not make the life they wanted for their family on Filipino wages. “I could earn double on a ship what I could earn at home,” he told me.

Continue Reading »

In 1999, I talked with three Windstar Cruises’ staff members about their dreams and ambitions. Five years later, I caught up with two of those ship staff, Jerry Zape, who put his three kids through university, and Bagus Gunawan. Following is the original story from 1999.

Continue Reading »

Marigot, Saint Marten, 6 a.m. — The engines are quietly rumbling as Wind Surf makes her way into the snug harbor on the French side of St. Martin. Rising from my bed, I pull back the curtains to peer out of the portholes, only a few feet above the waterline. Across the rippling water are sailboats bobbing in the harbor, and behind them, layers of verdant hills and the rosy tint of the morning sky. Morning has broken in Marigot. Continue Reading »

Across the luxury cruise segment, suppliers are ordering new ships, marshaling additional capacity for world cruises and gearing up their ships in ways that appeal to those who previously never had the time for extended luxury cruises. Continue Reading »