We have a personal message to share regarding CruiseTipsTV
Hey Cruisers,
Sheri & Mr. CTTV here…
We’ve been giving a lot of thought to how to share this news, and it seems there’s no easy way. So, we’ll get right to the point.
We’ve come to the conclusion as a family that Group Cruises are not a good fit for us.
There are a number of reasons we’ve come to this decision
As we approach our 100k subscriber milestone on YouTube, we feel it’s important to share this now, because we know some of you may be disappointed that we won’t be celebrating that milestone with the Group Cruise that we’d discussed for quite some time. We hope that you’ll understand this very personal decision and despite our decision, you’ll wish to continue to follow along on our travel adventures and enjoy our content.
We think it’s important to share our reasoning, as many of you have become our friends over the years, and it wouldn’t be fair to simply say “sorry, we’re not doing this” with no explanation. We also realize that despite our explanation, some of you may remain disappointed or upset with us.
In short, these are the contributing factors
- Stress
- Scheduling (aka “can’t please everybody”)
- Uncertainty with COVID
- Anxiety
Here’s the long version
Stress
Most of you know that CruiseTipsTV is not our only job. I have a full time job in the corporate world. I’m very happy with my job, but it is often demanding, and requires the majority of my attention. Over the past few months I have been trying to figure out how we can make a group cruise work. Mr. CTTV and I have had countless discussions about how to make this happen, and truthfully it has been causing quite a bit of stress for both of us for quite some time now.
We both have been looking at ways to reduce stress in our daily lives, and have identified this topic as a major contributing factor. I had discussions with our travel agent about putting together a group cruise, and it’s process that can take a lot of time to arrange. Taking this event off of the table now will eliminate a source of stress for the year, and let us focus more on our family, and doing what’s best for our channel.
Scheduling
As I mentioned above, Mr. CTTV and I have been discussing this topic literally for years now, and we always encounter the problem of scheduling. We have so many wonderful people supporting us, and we continually try to find ways to reward that support. With a group cruise we have determined that no matter when we schedule it, or where we chose to go, a vast majority will be disappointed. There is just no way we can please everyone with this.
For me this is a particularly devastating reality. I’m a “People Pleaser” – it’s a big part of who I am. With that said, the thought of disappointing so many is difficult for me to handle. Yes, the decision to not have a group cruise will also disappoint many of our supporters, but to me it seems like it would be less disappointing than the feeling of being left out of the event if we did plan the cruise.
Uncertainty with COVID
I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this one because it’s an ever evolving topic, and could be completely different when you are reading this message. If you have been following us for a while then you know are a “travel family.” Up until COVID hit we always traveled as family – no matter what. During the most extreme times of COVID we were forced to make some difficult decisions, and I took a few solo trips. This is not my preference, and the boys always want us traveling together. Mr. CTTV and Junior are always very supportive, but I know it makes them sad when I travel alone.
We are a team, and we have always worked best that way. Nevertheless, with the 100,000 milestone looming large we discussed the idea of me doing the group cruise solo. Why? Well, this is where we start to get into a hot topic that may be unsettling for some. Mr. CTTV and I have both been vaccinated, and boosted, but we have not made that decision for Junior.
We don’t want this to be a debate about vaccinations, but we simply have not made up our minds about the vaccine for Junior. So this simple reality is Junior is not able to cruise on the majority of cruise lines. We have hoped this would change soon, but it is currently not heading in that direction.
Anxiety
As you know, Mr. CTTV and I have different personalities, skill sets and motivators. It’s what has made CruiseTipsTV, and our marriage and family life, work so beautifully for the last 9 years. If we’re being honest, we chose one another because we love the balance those differences provide.
Part of those differences is the way we approach our interactions with people.
While I was shy as a kid, I’ve grown to be outgoing and enjoy the company of others. I gain energy from people, and interactions, as many extroverts do.
Mr. CruiseTipsTV, as many of you know (and have shared with us that you can relate to) is more introverted. He loves the company of his family and closest friends, however, those external interactions that give some extroverts a dose of energy, tend to drain his energy and cause anxiety for him. Sometimes, pretty serious anxiety.
The idea of a Group Cruise would be to bring the community together – joyfully. But, the fact that is, the idea was causing Mr. CTTV anxiety and fear, which for us, is reason enough that we need to look at other ways to celebrate our 100k milestone.
This doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about, or appreciate our community. This doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to meet you. This doesn’t mean he doesn’t like people.
It just means that for our family, it doesn’t seem right to do something that causes fear and worry for any of us.
While it’s important as humans that we have social networks and communities to lead healthy lives, we don’t believe there is a right or wrong way to approach social relationships. Society loves to stigmatize introverts and categorize them as “anti social”. That’s not okay with me. For years, I’ve studied the Enneagram, and other resources on how the world views introversion like the book Quiet. Our differences make us beautiful, nuanced, complex and wonderful humans.
We hope you’ll understand this announcement and decision were difficult. That’s because we don’t want to let you down.
We hope you’ll continue to “hang out” with us on livestreams.
We hope that if you do see us on a cruise, you will say hello and not be afraid to interact with us.
We hope that if you are an introvert, and still love cruising, we can always provide a safe space for you to do so within our community and know that cruising can still be amazing for introverts!
When the time comes, we will be celebrating 100K on YouTube in a big, beautiful and meaningful way. Stay tuned…
Thank you for your understanding.
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