Sandra Blivens asked Karin Bishop:

Having read Port of Departure and Port of Arrival at least three times each, and being something of a pianist myself, I wonder if you are as well?

Karin Bishop I have been on cruise ships, but that was many years ago and I'm sure the industry has changed, although it was correct at the time I wrote the Ports books. On my very first cruise, I quickly grew tired of the obligatory and repetitive chatting among the strangers I was seated with at meals (are there really that many insurance salesmen and Mary Kay reps?) and found the musicians/entertainers and staff far more delightful to talk with--once I showed my genuine interest. They were filled with wonderful stories from ships around the world.

To answer your question: Yes, I have played piano for years, but I'm more of a 'piano player' than 'pianist' (struggled with guitar, but that's another book series) and only wish I could play at the level of Taylor! And thank you for reading my books!

(PS: The 'crew culture' varies from line to line, even those owned by the same conglomerate, and will determine how freely the staff will chat with you. Cunard is stuffier than Carnival, for instance. Within any given line, the itinerary largely determines the age; Alaska will have older passengers than the Bahamas, and so on. Cruise length is a big indicator, obviously; everything's different on a 9-day transatlantic cruise, compared to a 3-day run to Cabo.

To determine the type of passenger and staff I wanted to spend time with, I learned to study the brochures and websites, not just for itineraries, room size and prices, but to look for formal dressing while dining, whether children were in the photos, did they promote lectures or waterslides, historical tours or ziplining, and so on--and one travel agent even advised me to look for the color of passenger hair!)

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