We're two teachers who fell in love with cruising the smart way.
Three generations of cruising. Two teacher salaries. One philosophy: travel is one of the great gifts of life, and getting it right doesn't require a luxury budget.
Cruising's been in our family for three generations.
One of us grew up on Holland America ships. My dad was a Coast Guard officer who became a medical officer for HAL—and because of that, I was literally listed as crew on board with him as a kid. I have somewhere around 49 nights on Holland America from those years. The ships were home. The crew were family.
My wife and I started cruising together right after we got married. Royal Caribbean won us over almost immediately, and we haven't looked back. 138 nights between us on Royal Caribbean since 2023—8 sailings, with 2 more booked this year, and we're accelerating to 4 a year going forward.
We're full-time teachers. Both of us. On teacher salaries. So when we tell you we know how to cruise smart, what we mean is: we've had to. Every dollar matters. Every "is this worth it?" gets asked, and answered honestly.
Stewardship, not cheapness.
We believe in being thoughtful with money—not because we don't have it, but because we think it's wise. We're not going to pay $10,000 for a suite on the same ship where the balcony cabin is $700 and gets us to the same ports, the same dining rooms, and the same destinations. That math just doesn't work, no matter how comfortable life gets.
So that's the lens we bring to every article on this site. Not "what's the cheapest option," but "what's actually worth it?" Sometimes the answer is the upgrade. Often it's not. Either way, we'll show you the math and let you decide.
That mindset is how two teachers cruise four times a year on Royal Caribbean. And it's the whole reason this site exists—because the internet is full of cruise advice from people who've never had to think this way, and we figured someone else might appreciate hearing from people who do.