Episode 40: Christine La Vonna; How A Cruise Ship Creator Built Her Global Travel Community

Send us Fan MailA cruise ship can be a vacation, a workplace, and sometimes a lifeline. From a room next to an aeroponics grow at Skagway Brewing Company, we talk with Christine Kessler, a former cruise director turned full-time travel creator, about the real story behind “getting paid to travel” and what it costs to build a life that never sits still.Christine takes us from Iowa to pageants, Oprah, and VH1, then into the cruise industry where she’s expected to move serious luxury sales in port. We dig into the moments that shaped her values: surviving HELLP syndrome and a premature birth, navigating postpartum depression, enduring the brutal pile-on of 2008, and finally leaving an abusive relationship by walking away from everything she owned. Her honesty is raw and practical, especially for anyone who’s ever felt trapped by money, fear, or a lack of options.Then the cruise ship stories get even wilder: a bowel rupture and sepsis that lands her in a New Zealand hospital for two months, and the COVID shutdown where she’s stuck onboard for 55 days on a repatriation ship, managing rules, uncertainty, and crew needs across dozens of nationalities. On the other side of that, she builds a massive Facebook-first Alaska cruise community, sets clear creator boundaries (no filming strangers), and grows a business ecosystem that includes travel groups and jewelry partnerships.If you love cruise ship life, Alaska cruise travel tips, behind-the-scenes maritime work, and social media strategy that’s actually human, you’ll want this one. Subscribe, share this with a friend planning a cruise, and leave a review with the biggest takeaway you’re using next.Doug Has Questions is based out of Haines, AlaskaFind Us on Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61580983432868Find Us on Instagraminstagram.com/doughasquestionsFind Us on Apple Podcastspodcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/doug-has-questions/id1856422429Find Us on Spotify Podcastsopen.spotify.com/show/3ZFknRuvVNbMzH6Pkr5EPx?si=83c4178dde204f1cFind us on YouTubeyoutube.com/@DougHasQuestions