111: Johan Esteve and Paloma Pelaez of The Norwegian Star

A little about our guests. What do you do when you’re on vacation and meet an interesting couple that is together 24/7, but doesn’t quite fit the usual requirement of owning a business together? You interview them anyway for the Thursday after vacation show. Johan and Paloma work for Norwegian Cruise Line and they are the Cruise Next team on board the beautiful NCL Star. We met them at the Latitudes welcome party and we thought, wow, 24/7 and no place to hide. This should be good. Paloma is from Mexico City, Mexico and Johan is from France. They met on an NCL cruise they worked together when Paloma was still on the Cruise Next team and Johan was in food and beverage. They dated, fell in love, had to work together to stay on the same ship and got married. Although they are not the founders of NCL or even the Cruise Next program, they are beyond 24/7. When you work with your sweetheart and are sweethearts with your working partner, as these two are, that’s one kind of together all the time. But when you live on a ship, you can’t just jump in the car and have a guys’ night out, and you communicate in a third language (Johan speaks French, Paloma speak Spanish, so they communication in English) it can put added stress on any relationship. This is 24/7 like you can’t imagine and they are making it work well. Get in Touch with Our Guests Paloma and Johan work on Deck 7, mid-ship on the Norwegian Star at the moment. They can be reached through Norwegian Cruise Line’s corporate offices at 305-436-4000. Or just take a cruise and stop by their office.