Viking TV - Hosting A Tour

 Viking TV Part 2

In September of 2023 I hosted my first Viking TV episode, "shooting it" remotely from my laptop while Viking TV director James Prismal coordinated the filming and episode from his London office.  At the conclusion of the episode James remarked about how smoothly it had gone.  The episode aired on Monday November 6 and I watched it from my Mom's living room in Columbus.  The reaction to the episode was very positive and in a series of emails between myself and the two Viking TV staffers I'd "met" virtually - James & Ciara Cassidy - they gave me strong indication that perhaps there would be more episodes to come.  I was excited and as the early steps unfolded I shared the news with my social media gal-pals in the TV business.....

By the time we got past the holidays had passed I had suggested a few options to James and Ciara without anything substantial being developed.  But then James pitched the idea that when Kim and I arrived in London in late August to begin our "British Isles Explorer" itinerary on Viking Oceans, that the Viking TV crew meet us and have me give a guided tour of the ship from a guest's perspective.  I was "all in" on the idea and quickly shared the news with Karli Barnett who has been an avid follower of our adventures, to the point of talking about them / promoting them on her Facebook "LIVE" chats on the weekends. 

And so after a couple of email exchanges I began working on a "script" for how I thought the episode might unfold.  After I'd sent a couple of drafts to the Viking TV office I thought if I were going to be filmed "live" on camera I could use some professional guidance.  So I emailed both of the girls who anchor their own newscasts and asked if they would be interested in looking it over for me....

Both, as you can see were positive about the script but didn't give a lot of specific suggestions.  Still I was oh-so-appreciative that they took the time to look it over.  The next step in my preparation was when Kim and I wen on the "Empires of the Mediterranean" itinerary on Viking Oceans in late April, I had Kim film me as I did a "rehearsal" video.  Here's the result:

Viking TV Rehearsal

After I watched the video I shared with Viking TV that I thought it was perhaps too short and I also felt that the stories I told were a bit "forced" into the episode and didn't really add to the content.  I exchanged several emails with James about the logistics of our "shoot" upon our arrival onboard the Viking Neptune prior to our departure.  Finally we were ready to head out and had an uneventful flight to London and soon were on board the Neptune.  There we met up with our great friends Pam & Bob Murray from the St. Louis area; and Claudia & Gary Wanlin from the San Francisco area.  Here's how I described the evening prior to the shoot and then the day of the shoot in my journal for the trip....

Day 2:  London - Viking TV Episode Shoot

For those of you who really know me, you KNOW how much I enjoy travel and especially to learn about new lands, and visit new places.  But today was one of THE BEST days of our traveling adventures, because today the Viking TV crew of James & Ciara came on board this morning and we spent the entire day filming for an upcoming episode of Viking TV.  In the episode which is tentatively set to air on Monday November 11 (mark your calendars!) I provide a guided tour from a guest's perspective of what it's like to come on board a Viking Oceans vessel and the various places you can enjoy on the ship while you are traveling.  Not only was this exciting to be a part of, but last night at dinner James had told me that "everyone on board knows about you, what you're going to be doing, and are very appreciative that you're doing it."  I wondered just how serious he was, but as we left the restaurant James pulled Kim and I aside and told us he'd added on the drink package (at a cost of $350 per person!) in appreciation for our efforts.  WOW.  Then this morning when I was downstairs right after breakfast I walked by an office where a Viking staff person was working and he called out "Good morning!"  I replied, thinking it is so typical of Viking staff to be so friendly.  When I returned and walked by and was several steps past the office I heard, "Mr. Love!"  I turned and the staff member came out and was walking towards me.  He stuck out his hand and I read on his badge he was the General Manager of the ship!  He said, "We are so happy you are on board with us and filming this episode.  Thank you!  And.....we added on the "silver spirits drink package for you" and if a larger suite opens up we will upgrade your stateroom - but we are nearly full so I'm not sure that will happen.  But thank you so much."  I was so impressed that he even offered to upgrade us.  Once Kim and I met with James and Ciara I asked again about what would be the plan, and they said "how ever you want to do it," so I suggested we follow the "script" I'd laid out earlier for them and we began shooting.  Nearly every scene led to multiple "takes" as a guest would walk into the frame or more often the lighting was bad as I walked around talking.  But throughout the shooting both of them kept remarking "you're a natural at this" and "that was brilliant Mark!"  I was very flattered.  Near noon we were filming on the upper deck where the World Cafe is so they wanted to film us sitting down to eat, and then we all had a leisurely lunch together.  We resumed filming and for the episode's finale they had Kim and I order drinks and then go out on the upper deck.  James went to the top deck and launched a drone which filmed us toasting one another and then soared off to take a panoramic view of London.  THAT will be cool.  As we did one last scene in the living room where I closed the episode down I thanked both James and Ciara for spending so much time with us and giving me the opportunity to do another episode.  Both then remarked they were "sure there will be more episodes" and said what they wanted to do next was to arrange for me to join them on a cruise and film an episode throughout the cruise.  I LIKE THAT idea :)  It was just a great day.  Big thanks to my wife Kim for being so supportive (and making several "cameo appearances" in the shoot, and for taking the action shots below!  This evening we depart from London and will sail to Dover for tomorrow's adventure!

NOTE our attire....I went back and forth several times about which of my Viking shirts to wear, and wouldn't you know it, I picked the same one James had on.  And Kim had randomly picked this blue striped top, only to see when Ciara showed up that she had on a very similarly looking top!

Discussing the shooting schedule

Getting sound test and ready to go

The opening sequence on the big staircase

Takes #2, #3, #4, and #5 to get the angles & the lighting right!

Walking the outer deck shot

Setting up the lunch on the Aquavit Terrace shot

And "ACTION!"

More outside deck shots

Talking about the pool grill with THE BEST hamburgers & hot dogs

And pointing out the salad options

Interior discussions of the art work and restaurants

Pointing out the Viking tapestries on the walls in the stairwells

We were home for only two weeks before Kim and I took off for another river cruise through France for two weeks and upon our return, less than two weeks after that I was off to Ohio to visit my family.  On the day before I was set to fly home from Ohio I reached out to James & Ciara asking if the November 11th date was still a go.  Within an hour James had replied that he'd forwarded my email to "Paul" who was doing the final editing.  Then the morning prior to my afternoon departure I got a "Final Cut" version of the episode and a "reel" which could be used as a "trailer" for the episode.  Here's that short video:

Viking TV "Teaser"

I had a lot of cool reactions to the video

And that brings us to the "release" of the actual "live" video on November 11th.  I was in front of the big screen TV (with the laptop connected) to watch the presentation and even though I'd seen it numerous times I still watched with great interest.  Again, I thought the presentation was slick and I was made to look like a real pro TV host.  It didn't take long for friends and family to begin reacting.  The first comments online were typical of what kept rolling in.....

But the highlight of the reactions came later when our son Brad sent me the photo below.  Our grandson, Oliver had come home from school and was immediately interested in watching his Grandpa on TV.  And what made this even cooler was that this evening he was being featured at the Orlando Solar Bears hockey game where he and his teammates were playing in between periods.  For any "normal" 8yo THAT would be the highlight of the day for them, but no he wanted to watch me and my presentation.  And even better than this, immediately after he finished watching he called me via FaceTime and as I answered the call he's got a big grin on his face and is applauding while saying, "GREAT job Gradpa, you were great!"  THAT was the best!

When I shared the link with gal-pal, CBS-Miami evening news anchor Lauren Pastrana, she replied right away with her congratulations and promised to watch it later.....and hopefully give me some constructive feedback.

And so as of this writing, just three days past the release of the episode, it has been very well received and now I'm hopeful that another episode will be in the works soon!

Viking TV Story

 September 4, 2023:  Viking TV Episode

This is the story of how I came to become a host of a Viking TV episode, and IF you are reading this - because I believe this is probably a story that few other than myself would be interested in, I truly appreciate you checking out the back story.  This all started back in mid-March.  For the last few years Viking TV has highlighted an itinerary each week and every Wednesday the program is a walk-through of the trip followed by questions and answers.  You could either post your questions ahead of time or try to send one during the broadcast.  When I'd get an email alerting me to these presentations I'd typically tune in if the itinerary was one we'd book for the future.  Prior to this March presentation I'd done this for presentations on Egypt, the Italian Lakes, Antarctica (twice), and the Elbe Christmas Markets cruise.  On this particular day the presentation was on the British Isles itinerary which we are booked for in August of 2024 with our great friends Sue & Dan Reynolds AND Claudia & Gary Wanlin.  

March 15 Episode:  The British Isles

In the previous episodes when I posted a question I'd taken great pride in the fact that when my question was read - and they were read every time - that I'd get a reaction from the expert answering the question.  I considered what part of our trip I wanted to inquire about which would be likely to get that kind of reaction and I finally decided that the question I'd ask would be about our post-extension which included a scenic train ride from Bergen to Oslo, Norway which was billed as "arguably the most scenic train ride in the world."  And to add to the probability that my question would elicit a response as I was looking for I prefaced the question by saying, "...We are booked on an August 2024 British Isles itinerary which will be our SEVENTEENTH Viking Adventure....."

At the 0:34 mark as the video starts, you'll notice that the expert commentator, Neil Barclay is read my question.  The female host reading the question makes note of my comment and emphasizes that it will be our 17th trip.  When hearing this, Neil's expression got the wanted response, and he says, "WOW."  But at the 4:20 mark, following his reply (which, for the record he said we made a great choice to book this scenic train ride!), the female host AGAIN notes, "Seventeen Viking cruises...." to which Neil replies, "....that's amazing, seventeen Viking cruises is just phenomenal.  We should get YOU on Viking TV and maybe you can tell us about your experiences."  Well THAT was unexpected, and you don't have to suggest that twice to me so I searched for the proper email to send them a note that I would INDEED be interested in doing my own Viking TV episode.  I found an email, fired it off and really thought I'd be lucky to get a reply.  Two weeks later we left on our "Viking Tulips & Windmills" adventure with Gary & Claudia and I shared with them what had happened, and concluded by saying I didn't think I'd hear from them.....but hey, you never know.

We returned from the Netherlands on April 12, nearly a month from when I'd sent the initial email and still now word.  Then out of the blue, on April 26 I saw an email in my "inbox" from a Ciara Cassidy, from Viking TV.  WHAT????  And so I immediately responded to Ciara and then sent a follow-up email with a suggested story-board for the kind of presentation I had in mind.

I did not hear back from "my Viking TV girl" for a couple days, which became a couple of weeks, and eventually as I said to Kim, "I'm sure I'm not a priority for Viking TV and to have just maybe have been considered I'm happy.  And if they truly are interested, at some point perhaps they will reach out to me."  Well, as the saying goes, "patience is a virtue" and some six weeks later, when like the first time, I was again surprised to see an email from Ciara Cassidy in my inbox on June 7.......

Her comments about how much "they" liked my ideas and enthusiasm made me smile broadly and her suggestion that we MEET via a video conference was downright exciting.  Of course I wrote back immediately.  And so we agreed to meet on June 15th - the following week - in a mid morning video chat to talk about ideas and how it might all work.  With a few days until the meeting I sent over a few more ideas

And then finally, the big day arrived and I was so very excited.  I set up my computer on the back porch and made sure to have my Viking shirt on :)  Ciara was sitting at her desk in the Viking TV office and I'm sure so that my voice would not disturb her co-workers she had a set of headphones with a microphone attached.  Immediately we hit it off and were smiling and exchanging stories about our backgrounds.  We'd only been talking for about ten minutes, without going over any specifics when Ciara noted that she so enjoyed my genuine enthusiasm and thought that should this episode go well, that the Viking TV people were wondering would I be interested in doing a series of episodes?  Well of course I said!  

We chatted for nearly forty minutes and I promised to have a preliminary power point presentation to her by the following Monday.  Shortly after getting off the video chat I sent her an email expressing just how appreciative I was and reiterating that I'd have my preliminary presentation ready for her to look over soon.

Three weeks went by without anything from "my girl," and again I remarked that certainly I'm not a priority, they have other things to do at Viking TV and I was pretty sure I'd hear back from Ciara eventually.  On July 11, the day before Kim and I were going to fly to Paris for a river cruise to Normandy with our good friends Pam & Bob Murray, I finally heard from Ciara - who you can see in the email, apologized for the delay as she'd not been well.

We then agreed we'd try to connect upon our return from France and our visit to London.  I did mention to Ciara that we would be in London for three nights and I'd be willing to visit the Viking TV offices if they'd like, but she told me she too would be on "holiday" and wished me well on our adventure promising to get back together later in August.  We returned to So Florida on August 20th and within a week Ciara and I were back in touch.  

We agreed to meet prior to the presentation and at the end of August we re-connected.

We exchanged emails two days later to finalize plans and we set the video meeting for planning purposes for Tuesday morning the 29th of August.

Again, what a great visit we had.  Ciara immediately noted my Viking shirt, and asked if it would be possible to wear it for the presentation.  I explained I'd already thought of that and had worn this RED one today because I planned to wear my BLUE one for the presentation.  Then I had her tell me all about her "holiday" and she explained that she'd taken all three weeks of her annual leave and went with a couple friends to travel the Viking River cruise itinerary from Marsailles to Avignon BY BIKE, and camped each night.  I expressed my amazement that she was able to do all that cycling and camping.  Then we got down to the business of the presentation.  The first thing Ciara mentioned a couple of minor adjustments to the presentation and I asked about inserting some video clips which she thought was a great idea.  She then explained I'd be meeting with James from the start at 10 am until about 10:15 am and then I'd share my computer screen with him and go through the presentation.

I felt a lot MORE comfortable, because after I'd rehearsed it a few times I was already comfortable with my stories and slides, when Ciara explained that at any time I'd be able to stop and ask to re-do a segment and they could edit out the "first take."  I set up my "studio" on Monday September 4th and by 9:30 am I was ready for the meeting to begin.  My email dinged and it was Ciara asking if I was ready to go.  I said that I was and just from the way she'd worded the email I wondered if there was a mix-up on times - yes, she'd thought we said 9:30 am so I told her I was ready and I logged in to meet Ciara's boss, James.

We chatted for the first ten minutes about my background, about all my trips, and he wanted to see my website, so I shared it.  He noted the Antarctica picture in the background and he also noted our Disney ceramics so I explained about my "Mickonomics" course I taught to the seniors at Cypress Bay High.  James then reviewed how they would share my screen; I'd run the power point and deliver my presentation.  It was a little unclear to me as we chatted if I'd be on screen in a small box (after being full screen for the introduction) or if I would only "pop in and out" as they edited me in.  He asked if I was ready and I said yes and launched into it.  Can't explain why, but the delivery of the presentation went even smoother than any of the rehearsals I'd done and it felt oh-so like a classroom presentation as I told one story after another from our previous Viking adventures.  After nearly an hour the presentation was over and after a pause James came back on and commented, "Wow, that was REALLY engaging - I must say I was surprised at just HOW engaging that was!  And all in a one-off without having to redo any parts!"  I thanked him and said I had really enjoyed it.  He then said, "If you have time we have a special guest who wants to pop in and say hello."  I was sure he was referring to Ciara who said she'd be watching but when the screen changed it was not Ciara, but was the Executive Vice President of Viking, Karine Hagen - daughter of the owner & founder of the company - who is all over TV promoting the company and at all their events.  I was STUNNED.  I immediately started thinking "don't act like a school boy, try to act normal :)"  One of the first things Karine said was "I wanted to say hello to you, we've been talking about you and I can't wait to see the presentation and hear all your stories!"  Again, stunned - don't act like a school boy I thought.  She asked about things I really enjoyed, and we chatted about how much we enjoyed Viking especially the staff and guides.  Then Karine said she'd like to meet in the future and talk in detail about my thoughts about how Viking could improve and ideas for the future.  WOW.  She then noted our trip to the British Isles next August which starts in London and remarked that perhaps we could meet then.  OF COURSE I said.  

She then asked about when was our next trip and I explained in ONE WEEK we were heading to Egypt with Viking and what that was so cool to me.  She told me she'd been there for the christening of the Osiris ship and told me "on the sly - don't tell anyone I said this" that the Viking ship designer believed the Osiris is the BEST ship in the fleet.  Then she asked if I'd ready Lady Carnarvon's book about Egypt and the discovery of King Tut's tomb.  I said, no I hadn't.  She then said to James, who was still online with us, "James, be sure to get Mark's address and reach out to Highclere Castle and have them send him a copy of that book."  OH MY.  He said, "Sure thing!"  Karine signed off and promised we'd talk again.  WOW that was cool.  James asked for my address and a couple days later, the book arrived.

On Friday November 3rd Ciara reached out to me again to let me know that the site for my episode had launched.....

I was so very excited and sent out emails, text messages and posted it on both my Facebook and Twitter pages.  Here's the presentation which remains "on demand"......

I was so SO pleased that the staff at Viking TV didn't edit a single word or second from my live presentation; and I was happy that I remained on screen in the lower left corner throughout.  This, not because I wanted to be on camera but because when I tell stories I'm very animated.  And, in my opinion, seeing my facial expressions and body movement added to the stories.  Immediately following the conclusion of the program - which I was so very happy to watch with my Mom on her TV - hooked to my laptop - I began receiving text messages and emails (and in fact during for a couple) congratulating me on a job well done.  Below are some of the comments and pics of some of my best social media pals that reached out to me......

Some comments

Adult friends we've made on Viking who  reached out to me

Always find it interesting that nearly all my social media friends are girls :)

Karli Barnett Comments On FaceBook Live Chat Re: My Hosting

It was also cool that early in the day of the presentation on their Facebook page, Viking announced that this week's theme on Viking TV was to hear from guests who'd travelled with them.  But what was cool about the post was that the BIG picture on the post was of Kim and I!

Following the presentation I wrote to Ciara expressing how happy I was, the comments I received you see above,  and I asked about the form available on the web page for questions to be posed to me.  She wrote back the next day and she shared some of the feedback they had received at Viking TV.....

And I ask you to re-read the last paragraph if you didn't catch THE KEY phrase, at least to me:  "....I'm sure you'll make an appearance on Viking TV again....." I wrote back to Ciara and indicated how happy I was with the responses she shared and that I would be delighted to partake in another episode (duh!); and then I answered the questions......

WOW - really an awesome experience from start to finish!