A Commercial Coincidence

As our December wedding approached, I told Gayle, my wife-to-be, that I would take care of planning our honeymoon. Shockingly she was fine with that, given all the details she was busy taking care of with the wedding. The only condition I was given was that it had to be a warm weather vacation.

It was 1991 so I turned to the family travel agent. “What are you thinking of for your honeymoon” she asked? I really didn’t know. It had to be warm and I’d seen this American Express commercial on tv where this young couple struggles to operate the rigging of a small boat. In the distance, a large sailing vessel comes into view. The lady says to the man as they stare at the ship in the distance, “Don’t even think about it!” The next shot is of them dancing on the deck of the ship and having a blast - all because they had American Express.

I told the travel agent that it looked interesting. She agreed and after researching said there were several companies that offered smaller cruise experiences. Her favorite was this company called Windjammer Cruises, and they had several ships all over the world. The only one that’s worked for us and our schedule was a ship called the Mandalay. We booked.

The first evening we were celebrating the start of the cruise and we’re talking to the captain, a gentleman from Scotland with an affinity for the bagpiper versions of Amazing Grace. He asked how we choose Windjammer. We told him the American Express story and his face dropped. “You won’t believe this” the captain said. “They shot that commercial on this ship. When the captain twirls the lady on the deck of the ship, that captain was me” he said.

We love telling this story. A good story, even after 35 years of happy marriage.

Here are some videos from our Honeymoon: