About Us
Hi, we are Ken and Lindsey a married couple from Bridgwater in Somerset, who took early retirement in 2019 with a view to travelling more.
Our first cruise was in 1995 when we took a fly cruise on the SS Olympic, an experience we shall never forget. Some 3 years went by until our next cruise when we went aboard P&O Oriana celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary.
More than 25 years later we are still enjoying our cruise life and have recently branched out to sample other cruise lines.
The end of 2023 saw us complete 50 cruises in total with 500 nights on board P&O ships alone.
We enjoy the chance to meet like-minded people, to make so many new friends, explore new places, taste new dishes and enjoy accompanying drinks. On board we are able to partake in activities that dovetail into our hobbies at home – particularly joining ship choirs.
Lindsey
I was born in Dorset, living my early years in West Lulworth (Lulworth Cove). My dad worked as a dairyman on a farm in the village and mum worked part time as a dinner lady at the local school.
By my early 20’s I was living and working at the Dorset College of Agriculture at Kingston Maurward just outside of Dorchester. It was there that I furthered my studies to gain qualifications in Farm Accounts and then Farm Management.
From the age of 10 I was a member of my local Young Farmers Club and throughout my time in the organisation I competed in stockjudging, sports, handicrafts, public speaking, drama and gained a National travel scholarship to Finland.
Young Farmers also brought Ken and I together as a couple, we married in 1988 and I moved to Somerset. That brought with it a change of career and I worked as an administrator for Avon and Somerset Constabulary for the next 30 years!
Our hobbies then evolved with us. We joined the Bridgwater Pantomime Society and also a local Carnival Club. Whilst the latter has now folded, the Pantomime Society keeps us occupied through the winter months. It’s not that often that there are good character roles for women but I have been lucky enough to have undertaken some – largely either ‘mad’ or ‘bad’!
I’m the other half of the team. I was fortunate enough to have been born and raised in a small village on the Quantock Hills in Somerset. I enjoyed my school life especially the sport, playing rugby, football, hockey and cricket. My other love from an early age was fly fishing which I still enjoy today. As Lindsey mentioned we met through the YFC movement where I enjoyed sports, public speaking and performing on stage. I was alos privileged to be a club and group chairman, also a committee representative covering the South West area of the UK.
With regards to work I did my apprenticeship in electrical and electronic engineering straight from school at the age of 16 and gradually progressed with the same company until I became Manufacturing Director. After 30 years with the same company I was made redundant. For the last 9 years of my working life I joined another company as a supervisor but within a short space of time I was promoted to a manufacturing unit manager. I have always worked in manufacturing and my entire career has been related to the automotive industry – perhaps a nod to my father who was a mechanic.
Ken
We started cruising in 1995 and haven’t stopped since. Cruising has changed quite dramatically over that period of time, has become much more popular and is now open to a much wider cross section of the community.
I have always had a love of meeting and chatting to different people from all walks of life, as I find people fascinating and intriguing and this is what I love about cruising.
Why did we create a YouTube channel?
During the pandemic one of our outlets was to watch cruise videos and go back over some of our footage. We also took part in a Channel 4 documentary about the cruising industry at that time. We suddenly realised that we had experiences to share with others – and so began our YouTube Channel – “Ken Goes Cruising – Lindsey and Ken Travel Again”. Little did we know what we were unleashing!
Back Home
We have various hobbies back at home in Somerset apart from the more mundane running of the house and garden. Ken enjoys gardening, the odd 9 holes of golf and is a keen trout fisherman. He is the mainstay of the YouTube channel spending hours producing the videos and updating social media.
Lindsey is happy pottering in the garden (usually accompanied by Dax), updating our Website and running her own small YouTube channel as the Virtual Gardener. Handicrafts play a large part in her life and she creates crochet blankets and knits Cruising Ducks.
We have been involved in amateur theatre for most of our lives in various ways. We are actively involved in the Bridgwater Pantomime Society and have performed on stage with them for over 30 years.
Making up the team
Dax
We cannot talk about our homelife without mentioning the cutest member of the family, our Jack Russell Terrier, Dax. He is very tolerant of us going on holiday as it means he stays with one of his `aunties’.
He has also become a valued part of the YouTube community with his guest appearances on monthly our livestreams.