The holiday season is winding down, and the winter season is upon us as enter a new year dreaming of warm ports of call and relaxing days at sea. I cannot think of a better time to take a deeper dive into The Joy of Cruising by Paul C. Thornton, an award-winning book profiling passionate cruisers sailing through its inaugural year on bookshelves.

Thornton’s The Joy of Cruising offers a new angle on cruising by chronicling the perspective of passionate cruisers ranging in ages cruising the World on ships large and small. The book’s chapters are dedicated to individual cruisers who each shared their passion for cruising with Paul through a series of interviews. Each person interviewed provides a unique experience or a perspective that intrigued Thornton, whether it be a cruise line-specific blogger like myself and Matt Hochberg from the Royal Caribbean Blog, or a marathon cruiser set out to run a marathon onboard each cruise ship he sails.

The book is not your typical vacation planning guide one would devour after booking a cruise vacation, The Joy of Cruising focuses on sharing why cruisers cruise, and attempts to uncover what drivers those set out for unique adventures, or sparked cruise centric travel websites.

Paul’s book was a fun, and insightful read during a recent cruise, and poolside back on land. You can find the book a number of online retailers (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books), or ask your local bookstore to special order a few copies, one for you and a couple more for the store’s bookshelf.

The back of the book reads as follows:

The Joy of Cruising is about passion. Award-winning author Paul C. Thornton profiles travelers from all over the world with a passion for cruising and who act on that passion in creative and fascinating ways. From a Grammy award winner, Poker Hall of Famer, winner of the TV series Last Comic Standing, to “ordinary” cruisers doing extraordinary things, The Joy of Cruising will fascinate anyone who has ever cruised, aspires to take a cruise, or just loves travel.

The Joy of Cruising won a 2019 medal from the Florida Authors & Publishers Association President’s Book Awards. You can read more about Paul on his website, The Joy of Cruising.

In 2021, Paul released Cruising Interrupted: The follow-up to The Joy Of Cruising, formerly known as More Joy Of Cruising.