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Hello, passionate cruisers! This is Paul. I am delighted to welcome back this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast, Dixie Krystals, of Virgin Voyages. I met Dixie on my first cruise on Virgin Voyages, a transatlantic cruise from Miami to Barcelona, Spain aboard Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady a couple of years ago. Dixie was “The Diva,” on Scarlet Lady. I experienced Dixie in several settings and always enjoyed her. She was funny and can she ever sing! I was delighted when Dixie agreed to be on The Joy of Cruising Podcast shortly after that sailing. Ep 104 I was very pleasantly surprised when her episode became a runaway hit—the fifth most popular episode of my 230+ episodes!
Dixie has a website, is on all major social media platforms, and has a podcast, Spill’n The Tea with Dixie where she chats about her work in the Colorado LGBTQ+ community, her work in theater, reading and baking.
From www.dixiekrystals.com:
Dixie Krystals has been dazzling audiences for 27 years. She grew up in the small town in Pennsylvania and always dreamed of having her name in lights. See where that got her?! You can catch Dixie on Discovery+ in Generation Drag(34TH Annual GLAAD Award Nominee, Outstanding Reality) as well as performing around Denver and beyond.
Her live vocals and tremendous comedic talents are undeniable! She was trained in Musical Theatre and has worked for Walt Disney World, Princess Cruise Lines, Busch Gardens, and various regional theatres.
Her passion for community is what drives her to excellence. She is an ordained minister, bingo queen, emcee, and fabulous hostess with the mostess. She’s won an award for her Podcast; Spill’n The Tea with Dixie where she spills the tea on her life and worldly events! Dixie is currently entertaining on the high seas as The Diva for Virgin Voyages!
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Paul C. Thornton started writing at 58 years old incited by the task of delivering a father-of-the-bride speech at his daughter’s wedding. Told to talk about memories of Kina growing up; among Disney trips, high school sports, proms, and first boyfriends, Paul divulged the most powerful memory of all, when Kina was six and his life changed forever. At the end of the talk—as they say—"there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.” It was both liberating and cathartic to release secrets that had tortured Paul for 30 years. Needing to hold on to that feeling of release and empowerment, when he returned to his hotel Paul started his memoir, provocatively titled White Man’s Disease.
Paul’s just completed book, The Joy of Cruising Again, is his fourth; the third in The Joy of Cruising trilogy, and follow-up to the fun, upbeat, award-winning The Joy of Cruising, and Cruising Interrupted. The Joy of Cruising Again is the finale of the series but Paul won’t give up his passion. Besides continuing to cruise as much as possible, Paul hosts The Joy of Cruising Podcast, a weekly conversation with one of the dozens of passionate cruisers featured in the books and other global cruise personalities.
The cruise-themed books are a stark departure from Paul’s debut: White Man’s Disease, a memoir described as “gripping and inspiring” in the press release announcing it as the winner of the North Street Book Prize for Memoir and Creative Nonfiction about Paul’s harrowing brush with death, the journey of recovery from trauma, resilience and ultimately transformation. White Man’s Disease is at once poignant, sad, tragic, funny, and compelling. (And, if I could get a dollar for everyone who asks what White Man’s Disease means, I would be a wealthy man!) Despite their very different subjects, at the heart of White Man’s Disease and The Joy of Cruising Trilogy is passion and how passionate people do wondrous things. Paul just started a sequel to White Man’s Disease; a fun, and hopefully inspirational tale called Gracefully. In addition, he is planning a podcast series that deconstructs White Man’s Disease.
Paul is originally from Brooklyn and Long Island, New York. After serving in the US Army and simultaneously earning a bachelor's degree in business, he attained his MBA and then spent concurrently, 17 years in corporate management, and 23 years in small business ownership. After leaving corporate, he started a career in higher ed. He earned a doctorate, attained tenure as a business professor, and subsequently moved into administration in Dean or Executive Director positions before retiring in 2021.
Paul lives in Mooresville, North Carolina with his wife Cheryl and considers cruising with their children and grandchildren life’s ultimate escape. Paul longs to cruise as much as the people he writes about in The Joy of Cruising Trilogy.
