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Deanne Moses-Wright, Founder, Wheelie on The Waves

  1. Deanne Moses-Wright, Founder, Wheelie on The Waves Paul C. Thornton 54:16

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Hello, passionate cruisers! This is Paul and this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast; I am delighted to welcome Deanne Moses-Wright, Founder, Wheelie on The Waves, an accessible Travel and cruise consulting brand.

 

Deanne Moses-Wright is an accessibility-focused cruise and travel specialist, disability advocate, and founder of Wheelie on the Waves, one of the UK’s leading platforms dedicated to accessible cruising. Her journey began long before she entered the travel industry. At the age of 11, Deanne was diagnosed with scoliosis and spent much of her teenage years wearing a full body brace before undergoing major corrective surgery at 19. The operation resulted in severe complications and was almost fatal. Today, she lives with multiple Health conditions and primarily uses a powerchair, although she also uses crutches when able. Despite the challenges she has faced, Deanne has never allowed disability to define her ambitions. Her Love of cruising began 26 years ago when she joined her parents on a cruise to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary while pregnant with her first child. The ship was small, and at the time she had no idea that cruising would later become such a significant part of her life.

 

After a long break from cruising, she returned to sea in 2017 and quickly discovered the freedom and independence that cruise travel could offer disabled travelers when done correctly. Since then, she has completed more than 20 cruises, spent over 160 days at sea, and has several more voyages booked over the coming months. Wanting to share her experiences and help others travel with confidence, Deanne created Wheelie on the Waves. What began as a platform documenting her own adventures has grown into a trusted source of information for disabled travelers seeking honest, practical advice about accessible cruising.

Following changes to accessibility policies within the cruise industry, Deanne became increasingly aware that many disabled guests were not being booked correctly and, in some cases, were being denied travel at the point of embarkation. Determined to help, she became a travel agent specializing in accessible cruise travel. Over the past two years, Deanne has built Relationships with cruise lines and accessibility teams across the industry, collaborating to improve understanding of disabled travelers’ needs while providing independent guidance to the disability community. Her work helps people make informed decisions about which ships, cabins, and itineraries are genuinely suitable for their individual requirements.

 

She has since helped hundreds of people plan and book their own cruise adventures, arranging every aspect of their journey to ensure a safe, enjoyable, and Stress-free experience. Deanne’s expertise and advocacy have led to appearances in travel publications, television travel program, industry panels, and award ceremonies. She has been recognized as a finalist in both accessibility and travel awards and has become a respected voice within the accessible travel sector. In September, Deanne will host her own event, The Accessible Cruise Show, bringing together cruise lines, industry professionals, and travelers. The show will provide attendees with the opportunity to speak directly with cruise operators, ask questions, and take part in live Q&A panels focused on making cruise travel more accessible for everyone.

 

Through Wheelie on the Waves, Deanne continues to champion the belief that everyone deserves the opportunity to explore the world with confidence, dignity, and independence.

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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.