March 2024 Resident Update: Meet Corporate Partner, Grant Holmes
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Summary
In the March 2024 Resident Update, hosted by Katie Jensen from Storylines At Sea, Grant Holmes, the VP of Global Cruise and Super Yachts at Inchcape Shipping Services, shares his remarkable journey and insights. Holmes, who has lived in over 30 countries and visited 160, talks about his early career as a master craftsman and footballer, his unexpected path through monastic life in Thailand, and his eventual rise as a key player in the cruise industry. With extensive experience in hospitality and port operations, Holmes is now a crucial partner for Storylines, responsible for managing cruise itineraries and consulting on global port developments. His engaging storytelling and unique background make this update a fascinating and informative listen.
Highlights
Grant Holmes's career has taken him from the UK to Thailand, where he lived as a monk, and eventually to various leadership roles in the cruise industry 🚢.
Holmes is responsible for coordinating complex cruise itineraries that emphasize cultural immersion and sustainable travel 🌱.
The video highlights how unique life experiences, such as Holmes's time in Venezuela and the Amazon, contribute to his expertise in the cruise business 🌎.
Holmes's storytelling and diverse background make him an invaluable asset to Storylines and their unique venture 🗺️.
Residents are excited about the upcoming itineraries, which will offer longer stays and in-depth cultural interactions at various ports 🛤️.
Key Takeaways
Grant Holmes has had an incredibly diverse career journey from being a craftsman and footballer to becoming a monk in Thailand 🧘.
Holmes is a key figure in the global cruise industry, managing thousands of cruise calls annually and consulting for numerous countries 🌍.
The complexities of planning cruise itineraries for Storylines involve global coordination, extensive port negotiations, and environmental considerations 🔄.
The narrative emphasizes the unique and personalized cruising experience that Storylines offers, focusing on in-depth cultural exchanges and extended stays in ports 🛳️.
Holmes shares intriguing insights into the intersection of life experiences and professional opportunities in the maritime industry 🌟.
Overview
Grant Holmes has led a life that could be a movie, transitioning from a master craftsman and footballer in the UK to a monk in Thailand. His fascinating journey didn't stop there. After a stint in the Amazon and becoming a millionaire in Venezuela, he found his true calling in the cruise industry, where he now plays a pivotal role in crafting unforgettable journeys for travelers worldwide.
In the lively March 2024 Resident Update hosted by Katie Jensen, Grant Holmes captivates listeners with stories of his adventurous life and career. Holmes is now the VP of Global Cruise and Super Yachts at Inchcape Shipping Services and a critical partner for Storylines. He oversees thousands of cruise calls and consults on port operations, using his wealth of experience to enhance the cruising experience for Storylines residents.
Holmes's work involves intricate planning and negotiations with ports all over the globe. He focuses on creating a unique cruise experience that allows for deeper cultural exchanges and extended stays, setting Storylines apart from traditional cruises. The updates provide a glimpse into the complexities of this endeavor and highlight the benefits of Holmes's diverse life experiences in making Storylines' innovative vision a reality.
March 2024 Resident Update: Meet Corporate Partner, Grant Holmes Transcription
00:00 - 00:30 [Music] hello storylines residents and welcome to March 2024 resident update if we have not met my name is Katie Jensen I am the executive BP of operations here at story lines now this month you are in for a treat it was my absolute pleasure to sit down with our corporate partner Grant homes he is the VP of global cruise and super Yachts at inscape shipping Services now I was honor to meet Grant
00:30 - 01:00 last year and it was a hoot and it was so much fun to catch up with him again today we literally could have talked for hours but as you're going to see Grant is incredibly well respected in the Marine industry and we are so thrilled that he is handling our itineraries working with Port Authorities assisting with excursions around the world and so much more now while we don't have the finalized itinerary quite yet trust me they are working behind the scenes and this conversation we're going to share those complexities of enormous this
01:00 - 01:30 project really is again we could not have chosen a better partner now Beyond Grant's incredible resume he has the most fascinating background that led him to where he is now as you're going to see Grant is quite the Storyteller and has fascinating and insightful tales as I mentioned in this interview I'm pretty sure he has at least nine lives maybe 10 11 I'm not even sure but I'm not going to give any spoilers just take the time to get to know Grant sit back grab a tea
01:30 - 02:00 coffee whatever beverage of your choice and just Buckle in for this fascinating conversation now before we get started I wanted to give just a couple of announcements I know many of you have been curious and asking about the delivery of the purchase agreements so just a quick update as announced last month we were thrilled to share that that ship building contract has now been remove or renewed and we have resum sending out those agreement packages now so again as we've shared just keep in mind that we're trickling them out for
02:00 - 02:30 quality control just keep an eye out for yours we are also very excited and busy preparing for another curated experience trip this time to bise we're headed there in May with a couple of our representatives and we're bringing of course a small group of our storylines ambassadors now we also have a couple new website Pages if you haven't seen them just go to the top under the lifestyle tab scroll on down you're going to see the story lines escapes and
02:30 - 03:00 our curated experience trips now you can always find these trips on our event page there are past upcoming and future events all right back to Grant he's based in Dubai he currently spearheads the inchcape global Cruise Solutions team he oversees 10,000 plus Cruise calls per year serving cruise ships across the world's largest port agency network with 300 plus offices extending coverage to 500 plus ports with his business Partners now under his
03:00 - 03:30 leadership inscape also provides consultancy shore excursions ground handling ship surveying crew blah blah blah all of it he does everything now look I hope you enjoy watching this as much as I enjoyed my conversation with Grant well we're here with Grant Holmes with inchcape and I cannot wait to have this conversation Grant has been a partner of on many different levels with storylines for some time but I'm going
03:30 - 04:00 to have him kind of tell the story but before we get into inscape I really have to know about your background so what brought you into the shipping you know services and how did you get here well in my background was originally in the UK I was a master Craftsman in Portsmouth in HMS dockyard and I won awards for the uh for the government in order to support The
04:00 - 04:30 Fleets going to the Faulkland um I finished my full craftsmanship apprenticeship in porw dockyard and left I was a professional semi-professional footballer and I was going to going to be a coach for Southampton football club because my skills were in the coaching area more so than playing and at 21 I got a very bad injury and
04:30 - 05:00 and I had three operations and never really recovered so one doctor suggested to me to to go to the Sun and swim and train and with a warmer climate May heal my ligaments and my knee you know but I actually went to the Sun and never returned and I ended up in Thailand for a two we holiday um I stayed there for a year and ended up becoming a monk at the end of that part just to survive for for for 6
05:00 - 05:30 weeks longer and so for a monk you know I remember being on my last penny and taking a coffee and try to figure out what I've got to do I've got six weeks left on the last ticket to survive or I have to call Dad and say I failed and I need to go home which I wasn't going to do uh so well I'm gonna so then I I was thinking about it taking a coffee and I saw these young men in Orange robes with
05:30 - 06:00 no hair uh walking by and I say well who are these to the to the restaurant waiter he said oh they are monks I said I know they're monks but they're all very young you know how how come they be so young they're like my age and younger and he said oh yes they're doing the initiation oh I said how long is initiation he saids 6 weeks and it's exactly the time that I needed so I said to to them just out of
06:00 - 06:30 curiosity do you think you know they would accept anybody and they said yes Lord Buddha is open to everybody so I said um well how do you eat or they provide the food and how do you how what about the accommodation oh no he in the monastery so I thought to myself you know free board free food I learn Tha I can maybe learn something about myself and what what could go
06:30 - 07:00 wrong well things were not as I thought you know because you as a monk you have to learn humility you have to you had to sleep on the floor there was no bed uh that was difficult when I said where's the food and and the mess or something like that no no you have to go to the park and beg for food to show humility oh you know so this was difficult you know but it was really good for me as a young person as a teaching it changed my
07:00 - 07:30 life you know so I was fortunate I was the only only fully white monk in that Village so of course all the children used to look at me in the park with the families and I feeding me first you know I was like the 60 pound gorilla in the park and that was attracting everybody so I was actually helping the other months get food and I negotiated my way with the mattress to the pillow and I started to figure things out out in the
07:30 - 08:00 monastery but then after a while they told me very something very interesting that that I had to learn how to leave my body and I thought excuse me I had to leave my body he said yes yes and so they put me next to a wall it has to be stone wall or wooden wall and you have to imagine stepping out of your body and I was there for two weeks just not you know sleeping in the same position and just having rice
08:00 - 08:30 boiled rice and water each day and then it happened you know I managed to asttr travel you you go up to your crown chakra and you click out and then you see the world from a very different perspective and life changes you know once you've done that and not everybody on the initiation could do that it's a challenge so I think that travel really was inside me and i' lived in Hong Kong
08:30 - 09:00 and Singapore and in my life I've lived in 30 countries wow all continents So and I've traveled to 160 so travel was inside me but it all happened circumstantially and my own travel as an adult young adult started because of that so from Thailand I ended up going all around Asia and then I became a holiday rep in in he baa I was a DJ comedian and a
09:00 - 09:30 holiday rap what done crazy to to make men ends meet and so I was DJing in the weekends and M I was MC of a show at the abisa casino with the Four Tops and these different acts and a holiday rap in between times I did this for two years and then ended up they closed the program and they they
09:30 - 10:00 told me I could go anywhere in the world I'd want it because I had the best results as holiday rep and I ended up in in Florida and the first flights from the UK to Orlando I was helping to organize as one of the managers so we did that for a year and then then I decided I would leave and travel I traveled to Mexico City I decided I was going to live in aquapulco cuz I saw the film Buster and
10:00 - 10:30 it really fancy agabo so I went there but it didn't work out they had El Nino that year so I I went to Mexico City then Guatemala City I was stuck in Guatemala City uh because the Britain didn't really know it but the Guatemalans declared war on the UK because they said they there was a conflict with the lands in B somehow I managed to get get in the
10:30 - 11:00 country but then you know I was made a prisoner of war um but for an hour oh it's it's wasn't so bad with a friend that never traveled before so I had all these strange counters then I went to riro to live and then and then peniles went came back to the UK and I managed to get the best job of managing the Caribbean for a top holiday operator so I was located in
11:00 - 11:30 Venezuela and that was in 1990 and I opened magarita Island to British tourism but I was also managing the mainland and Aruba Tobago Grenada and Dominican Republic and many locations in in the Caribbean this went really well for two years but then they closed the program and offered me a job in Spain but I decided to stay and I had
11:30 - 12:00 built all these connections to the Amazon rainforest because we were flying small planes Cessnas daia 228s from Margarita Island to the Amazon to Cana kak we would fly over the world's highest waterfall in Devil's Canyon and then land on a grass Verge and I was creating these tours I was going every week so when they closed the program I had all the slots and I took
12:00 - 12:30 those slots and I also took the slots or Aruba and Tobago and Kaku and over years I became millionaire in Venezuela and things went very well I bought a hotel I was investing in the casino uh deep Safari company I had two bands the life was crazy because vene was a a very exciting place they knew
12:30 - 13:00 was wonderful country and but then Hugo shabis came in they had the the bolivarian Revolution and I was one of the casualties of that Revolution they sequestered my hotel and to they nationalized it basically took my house CU was some government land money my properties businesses went and the country was
13:00 - 13:30 struggling I managed to sell a a few apartments and I had to go back to work properly and then I had to figure out what to do and I got I remember sitting on the beach and I got a phone call from a friend say gr gr gr I need you to manage a cruise ship okay and I said well I've never been on a cruise ship before and this was in 1999 so he said yes but you running a hotel you running restaurants Spas you
13:30 - 14:00 know Spa business you know shops you have uh you were running a casino you know there's nobody more qualified to do it so I said well I you know give me a ticket to the ship I'll check the ship out and I'll let you know so they got me the ticket I went to the ship and they had a very high Target you know to to make for get satisfaction and uh and the
14:00 - 14:30 revenue you generate on casinos and and the management of this but um I told them they could double the target after I was on for two weeks because I felt that they didn't know what they were doing they didn't understand their guests properly and they didn't have the right processes in place I felt that I could change them make a big difference so that year we we we made the T tget that we set which was much higher and
14:30 - 15:00 the following year there were two ships then the company we were Charing from asked me to run the fleet of eight ships and so then I was the director of Festival cruises managing all the onboard services and the shore excursions and uh the port operations for eight F of eight so I just have to interject really quickly all these different experiences
15:00 - 15:30 you know because life is not just business it's personal it's you know development self-development from a footballer to a monk to like you know having nothing having everything traveling around the world I mean all those experience are so rich and that's what we need to get us to where we are today right that's all of it so so much more so go back to where you were and tell me kind of as you're going through this process how this you know
15:30 - 16:00 these experiences sort of helped Propel you know Propel you to the next I'm really curious yes so so I was then in charge of these eight ships for four years I was initially based in Greece uh and then we moved after two years to Italy as the headquarters of the company moved and it was hugely successful we were the second largest in Europe at the
16:00 - 16:30 time second only to the to the cost cruises and the product was particularly stressful this is what went really well we work hard on the product on board you know it was a university for me because the speed of the growth of the company we started with just a few ships and we had eight ships before we know where you are and this went really then um there was uh some issue isues with the company
16:30 - 17:00 and with the banks and something that was completely out control and the with the chairman and it unfortunately the company uh was liquidated went into Administration after those four years despite being the the most profitable of its time in that in the onboard area the area that we were managing and after this I did some soul searching and went to
17:00 - 17:30 Switzerland uh for a year and I started because I I was own as representative working on board and I wanted to learn every single area of the cruise ship so in order to learn I assigned myself to every Department in those first two years so I knew exactly what every crew member has to face whether they're making cabins or they're serving in the restaurant or they're working in the
17:30 - 18:00 galley to prepare the food they're working in the deck and engine security wherever I assigned myself to I knew how it worked and this was so I could represent the ship in the right way and that went from one ship to two ships to eight but after that I realized I was holding all the best training material in the industry because I knew everywhere and I could build training courses so I made a training
18:00 - 18:30 company which is still alive today and we focused mostly on the hospitality side of the training and we became the biggest training company for the cruise industry in the world we trained 75,000 crew and developed 250 courses training courses and we did and I opened 15 schools there for companies such as Costa Cruisers who I was Consulting in
18:30 - 19:00 not a but in other areas Aida Cruisers Tue Cruisers sea shfs that were present on 66 ships including River ships we were helping silver sea or Caribbean and Celestial cruises and a number of of others so this was a fantastic education for me to put all that knowledge or Hospitality that I
19:00 - 19:30 gained over the years and specifically for cruise ships and we helped the companies build schools all around the world and this was going very successfully in Cyprus where I am in my Cyprus home at the moment although I live in Dubai and uh this was very good and then Cyprus had a bailin I'm not sure if you know what the bailin is in Greece they had a bail out the banks and the European Union bailed
19:30 - 20:00 out the banks but in Cyprus they had to bail in which means that all of your all of your funds over 100,000 Euro are are taken they're confiscated they had a good bank and a bad bank if he was in the good bank They confiscated the money and gave you shares okay you had no choice if you was in the bad Bank you just lost the money I can't believe but also money controls as well this is a European country so
20:00 - 20:30 they we were affected by this because with money controls only could withdraw 100 EUR a day to run a company of magnitude so it just wasn't possible so I I kept the company name and I moved things to Dubai but in Dubai I I got a special offer from the company I'm working for today which is that incap uh in capap is the world's largest port
20:30 - 21:00 agency we are present in nearly 70 countries and we for cruise we have operations in 850 ports which covers the entire world for world cruises we're doing world cruises for companies prestigious companies like virgin voyages for Mystic cruises uh and and there are there's a
21:00 - 21:30 large portfolio of cruise lines we work with every Cruise Line in the world and we cover about 12,000 cruise ship calls every time a cruise ship births to a a peer in a port or anchors in the harbor outside the port that is called a cruise call and we handle 12,000 of those per year globally so you can imagine the scale of that and the the organization
21:30 - 22:00 but when I started it was only 3,000 so we built in gape from the cruise perspective and there were only 100,000 calls in the whole Cruise industry and there were only 4 91 cruise ships those 491 cruise ships generate around 100,000 course so from those 100,000 we're managing 12,000 so now Port agency was an area that I used
22:00 - 22:30 to oversee but I left it often to the captains to do the Minor Details but now I'm heavily involved in it because you know I'm overseeing the inate portfolio and we we have built these networks we're also Consulting 25 countries was consulting or engaging with to build destinations around the world I can tell you many places that we
22:30 - 23:00 started from almost Z and today the household places like um Qatar when I started with Qatar in 2016 there were three calls a year and then we brought them to the World Cup and we had 36 cruise ships and super yotts during the World Cup and we managed and today you have 140 calls a year um and uh a large number of passengers and they even are home reporting with a large
23:00 - 23:30 cruise terminal in Dubai we started with 12,000 calls and we went up 12,000 passengers sorry and we went up to 1 million in 2019 before Co and we're expecting to match these numbers now you know now the co is over and then the market is returning so also I'm Consulting currently on man um on the the um it's called the high level advisory
23:30 - 24:00 committee of India which reports to Modi the chairman jalota from the Mumbai Port is overseeing that and I'm in that group and we're also Consulting all of the vanilla Islands maias SE shells comos mayot Madagascar and Reunion Island and we're engaging with Mambi Tanzania and Kenya we also are in
24:00 - 24:30 discussions with Saudi with Egypt and Greece we're Consulting the south ofan from Greece which is 75 Islands including the famous ones mikos Santorini where we're helping solve the port congestion Challenge and this work goes all the way to the the prime minister so it's I created a a port development plan for for the
24:30 - 25:00 southan and this this is now moving into action then we are helping the region of the Amazon in in manow is the Home Port of the Amazon but we're helping most of the cruise ships that go into the Amazon and we're trying to reduce the cost and improve the port and improve the functions we help with regulations Customs
25:00 - 25:30 immigration and help structure the destination and even help with the short excursions and Port development and we create the right conditions to allow Cruise tourismspace think that we consult you
25:30 - 26:00 know in terms of the sustainability the economic impact of the cruise ships to the local communities in fact we created an economic impact study model for Qatar and we've now replicated that in many countries around the world and this was also checked by Oxford economics and there was something that I I developed and so we could tangibly prove how well the the cruise ship calls
26:00 - 26:30 generate and support the local communities in the Amazon is going to go beyond that we want to take sh the guests of ships to deeper into the Amazon to see the Indian communities and generate you know some understanding and knowledge of how they can interact with those communities and we're also helping in the galapagus: ships of 100 people to be able to the
26:30 - 27:00 internationally flagged to be able to go to the galapagus: I started in 2015 and you know so I've been working
27:00 - 27:30 ever since then and we've been growing and growing and it's a fascinating job because one minute you're talking about the the Amazon and the gapas then the Congo and the Middle East and Asia and australasia South America to to the Arctic Circle you know and even before the conflict between Russia and Ukraine
27:30 - 28:00 we had developed an entire network of the whole of Russia and because we were anticipating that that it was possible in the future future future to be able to go across the top of Russia from mman to vad Doo and then down to Japan and across Asia that way because M had already done this and we wanted to see how it was possible but you need ice breakers to lead the ship and you need
28:00 - 28:30 also to figure out how you're going to get the water and there's a lot of there's a lot of complexities with that so you know anyway that's how I got into shipping that's the story and it's like this job was made for me because everywhere I've been in my life I am now going back to and organizing it from a port and a government perspective you know and we're engaging with many of the government on the from the ministry of Tourism to the ministry of shipping and
28:30 - 29:00 the Ministry of Transport levels normally and sometimes even to the Prime Minister because they consider Cruz that and Paul wow you know it's interesting I've been with story lines for three years and I think your name was one of the first that came up and I knew from all the conversations what great hands that you know were in and and I know you've had years of conversations with storylines at this point too so we absolutely so lucky with all your Rich
29:00 - 29:30 experience that we that we have you doing what we're doing and I know the residents are always curious of course we don't have the itinerary yet but it's even now being worked on and there's a lot of consideration it's not a twoe cruise I mean this is a continual you know circumnavigating journey I can't even imagine the complexity that you have to deal with how many people are on your team that would work on just our itinerary well just on the iery there
29:30 - 30:00 would be about 10 people directly involved but then you've got all the representatives of all the ports so it's hundreds of people working together to make it happen you but this centralized team is coordinating everything so we will we will talk because we have boots on the ground in most countries of the world where there's a port and we have exclusive business partners
30:00 - 30:30 you where we don't have our own boots on the ground or well established business partners so we have a centralized team that coordinate with all of those all of those ports but we love the storylines itinery challenge because it's it's different to a normal World Cruise a normal World Cruise spends only one day in each Port maximum one overnight and to be honest that's far
30:30 - 31:00 too rushed I mean we would accommodate the the cruise line you know but when you want to see the whole world in three months you you you're going to have to move you know whereas slow cruising and spending time to know the destination is completely different but then of course it it generates its own complexities because you know often a peer can be
31:00 - 31:30 used for a cruise ship or cargo ship and in many destinations the the cargo business is the lifeline of that destination so being there for a certain number of days is something we have to negotiate and and and Challenge and all around the world every port has a different pricing structure it's not all the say you know and when
31:30 - 32:00 you're organizing a call you know you have to think about the immigration the Customs the health declaration you have to think about the technical feasibility of it the from a length perspective and from a depth perspective and from a height perspective because you may have a bridge involved right you have to think about the Environmental requirements of the
32:00 - 32:30 ship and and then of course the cost because we we need to keep the cost to a to you know a susceptable and sustainable level and then of course all the port restrictions themselves you know and then how we manage the authorities in each location and of course the port is a gateway to many destinations where the guests will be the residents will be able to visit and
32:30 - 33:00 we want to make sure that that those gateways can offer fascinating and interesting you know land experiences and we have to combine with that as well and then on top of that you you have the extra complexity of the storing irons vessel is with a LNG fuel there are not so many LG locations around the world where you can actually receive and bunker the the allergy so we
33:00 - 33:30 have to figure that out on the itinery also with nautical miles and fuel consumption you know and you don't go normally in a straight line to one place you know you you often have to take a certain because there are different environmental restrictions in different Waters as well to consider so and we also want to travel at a more slow cruising you know like 12 knots or this
33:30 - 34:00 minimum minimum impact on the environment and that has to be factored in as well so there were a lot of calculations to make and the most the biggest challenge is dealing with each destination you know and and the changing tariffs of the ports and the changing immigration procedures and the changing customer procedures so we have
34:00 - 34:30 to keep that updated but that's our job and we as the world's biggest Network we have that information and we're able to you know share that and get that straight um into the system so we we plan on building an itinerary that we'll be able to share live as we're building it to to story lines once we have a critical mass of destinations you know so and then well in advance we'll be able
34:30 - 35:00 to provide the immigration details and the Customs details and you know because you have to think do you need a visa to go there exactly yeah and and where which nationality are you from what are the regulations you know what if I don't have a Visa so all these things we we have to calculate and and consider and and we have to make it you know sustainable and make it work but
35:00 - 35:30 it's a beautiful Challenge and one thing I really enjoy doing is discussing with the founders that there and Shannon because they're very passionate and they really have a vision that's completely different and that's very refreshing for the for the industry and for me in particular because handled every type of but there's nothing quite like the MV narrative it's completely different
35:30 - 36:00 the way you want to operate and that's more challenging but it's more interesting yeah for for us to to do so we we're really you know looking forward that and and using a lot of the knowledge that we have and the the contacts and resources especially to the governments and to the local communities we want to give experiences that not the average not the ordinary average visitor will ever be able to do yeah and many of
36:00 - 36:30 them are not possible unless you spend several days in the location and you know many of them we want them to be authentic as possible as well so you can you can meet you know real communities and real people and go to their houses or where they live and see what life is like from their perspective and how they see the world you know I have lived personally in the Amazon wow you know and uh it was
36:30 - 37:00 fantastic experience in fact once I was a translator in the Amazon and the had tell a funny story and and this story is important to tell because it gives you the perspective of what we really don't know that we think we know so I was just translating for the English community on a live broadcast from Vish in the Amazon in the Amazon there
37:00 - 37:30 are hundreds of tribes and there's one tribe which is many people have seen on television before called the Yanomami and the Yanomami are the ones with the bottom lip that's very large and they have a plate in the lip and the xano Mami in Brazil there were they had a slash and burn technique from the Farms which which was driving out the Yanomami
37:30 - 38:00 homelands and Venezuela in the '90s said 1990s said to the Anam Mami tribe through their interpreters that it's okay for the Anam Mami to live safely in the lands of Venezuela they can come and they can live without fear of the sash B because they would not adapt that that technique in Venezuela so they were helping this tribe live in the traditional way in the Amazon but the part of in Rima in
38:00 - 38:30 Venezuela and this is where you have the big tabletop Mountains from which flows the highest waterfall in the world Angel Force so we went there with the film crew and I'm just translating for the English community so you've got a y a y Yanomami translator from Spanish to yamy and then the Anam mamy Chief would speak back to the translator who would say in Spanish then I would translate it to the
38:30 - 39:00 English Community because it was being broadcasted in some english- speaking countries and this was live you know so we were not prepared for this in live television I was just told to translate straight so I did so and I was very well known in Venezuela that time from tourism that's why they they they asked me because it was the face on television they knew so the the Spanish um reporter
39:00 - 39:30 asked The Interpreter please what does the Yanomami people think of Venezuela for allowing the Yanomami tribe to live in the lands of Venezuela without fear of losing the lands because we will not adopt the this technique of Slash and bur so The Interpreter went on for a long time everybody was shocked about the length of time it took you
39:30 - 40:00 know and the you know the plates were going and everybody was fascinated you know he was what is he saying because it was so much longer than the the Spanish version Spanish is longer than the English and then the yanami he finished and the yanami chief answered which took even longer and everybody is waiting with baty Beth we didn't realize there would be such a delay you know and then The
40:00 - 40:30 Interpreter said and I'll translate in English he said what is Venezuela so you know and of course this and it took so long to say that but he actually said what is Venezuela what is Venezuela and of course that at that point it dawned on the entire nation
40:30 - 41:00 that we didn't know what we were dealing with right why would they know what Venezuela is exactly it's all free lands yeah you know for their world it's all free land it's land what is Venezuela country what is a country and that is the moment of pure you know genius from the chief to to say that because we all realize we don't know and we are so wrapped in our own world that we have no
41:00 - 41:30 idea of how to deal with these people and you know and I think that's a great learning moment for me my perspective that I have to think outside of myself in a different way and you know that was an extreme situation to learn that live on television and you know oh gosh and I didn't know how to say it how can I say what is Venezuela you know I'm sure you he did just fine but
41:30 - 42:00 my good and that's the whole thing about travel and like you said staying in ports for so long you know that's what appealed to me I'm a traveler myself and I like to just put on a backpack and get lost and meet locals and see where I end up you know that's the most fun but that is the beauty and it's it really is a trickle out effect in the world when you open your perspective and realize there's so much more than your little bubble and that that's such an extreme story it's a great story by way of Love
42:00 - 42:30 really soaking that in you know it's not just my world this is a very big world you know wow that's so cool it's one of those Ure eure moments of life you know when you realize this is the essence of trouble it is you know when you you find out you know something you just have no about and the more I travel and I put things together you know I realize you
42:30 - 43:00 know what an amazing place that we live oh yeah and and I see so many people with mobile phones today you know and and if we live in a simulation you know a mobile phone is a simulation within the simulation yes you and you know God gave us these great gifts of communication telepathy we can leave our bodies we can communicate without saying or word and and even the spoken word was
43:00 - 43:30 something that was like forced on humanity and when you look at the epiology of words you see that things are not the way you think they are you know just simple words you and so I studied that a lot epidemology in in the recent years to to understand it first oned me when I learned Spanish because when I got the job in Venezuela I could speak a little Spanish Spanish for Spain but not so much you know and the person that that tested me
43:30 - 44:00 in the UK didn't really speak Spanish himself so I got the job thinking it would be no problem because the Caribbean everyone would speak English nobody's you know I had two choices learn Spanish or die okay and and that's the best that's when you get the right motivation to learn you know and then when you learned another language you realize the words are you know are playing and they mean different things in our psyche but what they really mean
44:00 - 44:30 is something else you know and and that's the same with these Indian tribes they like you take the the people in in Australia the aboriginally when when we look at time for example we see that the the future is ahead of us in front of us that that where we are now is the
44:30 - 45:00 present and what is behind us is the past but the aborigin say no it's the other way around that the future is behind you because you're not actually walking forward and if few and they say well why is it behind you you question them I say because you can't see the future see it I was just thinking that yeah yeah whereas you can see your past yeah and
45:00 - 45:30 you know we want to and and they are so right yet everybody in the west thinks the other way yeah and when you have these amazing pieces of wisdom that you're given and and I look at things so differently now because of the the work of ancient shamans in Africa for example if you listen to them you you can learn learned so much and I and I will like to
45:30 - 46:00 share with you a story about something that I developed um over time and this this is um about it's called The Law of water okay I call it the law of water and it's epy and it's the concept of water is money and most people don't realize that and that's how shipping all came about the water is money and money is
46:00 - 46:30 water that's why we have cash flow oh okay money cannot flow water flows if you have money in your bank account and you have lots of it you have liquid assets because water is a liquid now if you if I gave you $100,000 in cash which is good liquidity where would you put the
46:30 - 47:00 money and most people will reply that well before you figure out what to spend it where would you put the money you put the money in a bank but where did the word Bank come from the bank comes from the two banks of the river because the two banks of the river control the flow of the water okay two Banks control the flow of the
47:00 - 47:30 money because money is water water is money and when you have transactions between Banks you're controlling the flow of the water or the money now the other thing is is what you call a flow of water have you ever thought about that what is a flow of water hypocrates said that no man can ever cross no man can ever cross the same
47:30 - 48:00 river twice for he is not the same man and it's is not the same river because the river is always flowing and changing and your body is flow is changing with the you know they see every cell is changed in your body after three months and they have 90 million cells always changing always moving so we're not the same people right cross the river and when you cross
48:00 - 48:30 the river when you where you are in the water at that moment you're in the current moment and the energy that pushes the water is called the current it's a current and the and in your bank you have an account what do you call it the current account yeah or the currency yeah well the currency are coming in that's another level oh okay already yeah you've already got to the next level so your current account is the
48:30 - 49:00 energy of the money in your account now think about the two banks of the river control the flow of the current to the Sea currency okay and the currency of the planet is the water because 2/3 of the planet is water and 2/3 of your body is water so there's a symbiotic relation ship between us and the Sea yeah now
49:00 - 49:30 your body has a pH fat of 84 and sea water as a pH F of 84 that's why when you go into sea water you feel so good when you're in the beach and and the salt water the salt cleanses you know so all these things you're connected to the Sea and then carrying on with the money is water water is money every ship you see the lady behind you we call every ship a lady because every ship is a
49:30 - 50:00 she and that's why you have a brilliant lady like for Virgin voyages Princess Cruises Oriana orian queen Queen Elizabeth Queen Victoria they're all she and the reason for this is to do with the law of water again so a ship is a vessel floating on water and who is in charge of the
50:00 - 50:30 ship it's the the captain right yes it's the captain yeah and where did the word Captain come from it's a Greek word and it comes the word capitolio and capitolio means Capital because the Capitals in charge of the capital of the ship and the capital of the ship is people passengers and crew and cargo and the asset
50:30 - 51:00 itself so the ship is a vessel floating on water where the captain drives the ship and when the ship gets close to the haror because the ship is be deeper than the water so you have to go through a special Channel they call it the deep water canal and the pilot meets the ship guides the ship through
51:00 - 51:30 baby's in a woman's stomach in water
51:30 - 52:00 mhm and when the water
52:00 - 52:30 breaks the child Guided by the Midwife who is the pilot the child is born through the birth canal yeah it's actually called the birth canal yeah and then the child manifests the baby manifests on the land so you give the baby a certificate of manifest which they call a birth certificate was the child birthed on the
52:30 - 53:00 land and with a birth certificate what do you give the child a passport because you pass by the port that's where the word came from and with a passport what do you get citizenship yeah because you're on the ship of citizens wow and this all goes back to the the law of water you know and what I say to the governments around the world because I
53:00 - 53:30 tell them the story of the Lord what's a most well I've never met anybody fting and I say to them look once again the the the riches will come from the sea and they will manifest great things for you on the land and the we will bring a community at Sea to to meet with a community on the land and we will and we know we would exchange uh knowledge we would exchange
53:30 - 54:00 gifts we would exchange uh memories you know and and that's what it's all about and Once Upon a Time the the what manifested on the land was cargo but with Crews it's people yeah and you know and it's back to how things were you know um I just want to go back to the realization and the people the residents that I have gotten to know we're all in that same camp we are
54:00 - 54:30 really on this vessel to get off the ship and to enrich our lives in the culture and the communities and the people that we're meeting and that's the beauty I mean there's nothing wrong with cruising it's a lot of fun and it's beautiful and it's it's it's just it's great time but this is different and the people we attract are very different and the people who are watching this are going to really resonate with everything that you have shared today because it's just so in line with what how they want to live their life the lifestyle that
54:30 - 55:00 we're actually we're actually offering which really no one else does you know this is so unique and it's just and we have to partner with someone like yourself with all of your Rich experiences I had no idea they were so long and interesting and fascinating because that all you know all together brought you to um this enormous task and if you hadn't had all those experiences how would you be able to do it there's just no way yeah all of those experiences well you know and it's I
55:00 - 55:30 never thought it would come in useful that all the places that that I've been you know but this job was like made for me because when you talk about any country in the world the ports you know I know them you know I've been there and either on a ship or from the land perspective but you know I've always I I the only countries I don't normally go to are land locked yeah those are the ones that that
55:30 - 56:00 scary I think I always say that if I go more than 10 or toal miles away from the sea I get a nose bleed yeah because you know I was born right in front of the city in Portsmouth you know so it's it's my my Heritage you know it's it's in my blood and my bones and I was born in a naval hospital in front of the sea and my my great grand I was I was born in ports the city
56:00 - 56:30 of ports south of England and my great-grandfather was the first elected Lord mayor of bsouth oh well and you know he did a lot for the city if you go to the city today and I I definitely want to go Portsmouth onto the schedule so I can show the city to to the residents uh because it's a beautiful city and the council will do something special when we go there that day I've already spoken to the port about it yeah and they're very excited by it and my
56:30 - 57:00 great-grandfather has a great story because he was he was a he was from Dundee originally and he was a drunk and he went to pouth and he was drinking and he stayed and he slept outside under the arches in front of the Sea and the Salvation Army picked him up in the morning said look fellow let's get you a cup of tea and let's so you up and as that as they
57:00 - 57:30 came they're like angels to him he saw a ship go by and the ship said in the back of the ship let Heaven slides our guide and he saw that and he took the cup of tea and he never drank a drop of alcohol again and within three years he put the first coal Merchant in portsman and he became the head of the Salvation Army and the first elected Lord mayor wow and you know so going
57:30 - 58:00 back and recently we opened inchcape the first Port agency in ports and that was a very proud moment for me of course we the history in involved and I'm working and and this is a promise to all the residents listening I'm going to be developing my own G for my great grandfather and it's going to be called the the mayor's gin and it's going to be
58:00 - 58:30 made by Portsmouth gin Distillery oh that's exciting so I've got this disy so when we sail away from pouth we will all be drinking Jin That's so exciting Grant I love that and and we would have made the gin and it will be gamble bza that'll be a reflection of my great-grandfather and he his image will be on the inside of the Gin botle oh my gosh I love that my wife Sharon's creating the logo and you know because
58:30 - 59:00 this is something we wanted to do also for our family still in the UK that wanted to get the the Gin butle to commemorate my great grandpa that is in this in the city you can still see lamp poost with with the with the original Power message and even the logo and the slogan everything oh that's going to be so wonderful that just gave me chill love it yeah you have had like nine lives I mean I'm just thinking about everything and all
59:00 - 59:30 the the interesting Parts here like I have to ask a couple of questions and I'm so grateful for your time I know how busy you are kind of going back to the itinerary I know some of the things that the residents have been curious about the one of the first things is how long in advance do you have to negotiate with the ports so they would know and they can plan their lives okay so cruise ship itinerary plan planning is normally two to three years in advance okay it's longer than that so
59:30 - 60:00 if you're doing it two years in advance you take a small risk of some of the births not to be booked if you need three years in advance you're sure that you get the birth bookings okay but having said that some ports don't give you the confirmation to six months before but that's not the best practice you know but and and so of course some ports are more in demand than others MH so it depends where in the world you
60:00 - 60:30 you're booking the the ports but as a as a golden rule two to three years in advance and with story lines at least three yeah because we want to get the the bass birs and we want to also negotiate with the with the ports because we are having an extended stay so instead of just booking the birth in the port we're going to speak to the local tourist all the tourism Ministry the federal level depending on the
60:30 - 61:00 country and because we're engaging with so many of them we're going to highlight the the great engagement we can and connection and Synergy we can have between the the residents on board and and the local communities yeah and once we get certain destinations to understand that concept then that would help us bring down the cost and also if this ship is willing then we could also have some visitors on the ship like the mayor and
61:00 - 61:30 some top officials government officials you know to see the ship you know and and in and that will also help with the community as well so this is what we're we're trying to plan oh another question um you know you were talking about like visas and and the complexities of different countries and that sort of thing as you know we're going to have a few pets on board so that's a whole other dynamic to the plans yes yeah and well the the the pets
61:30 - 62:00 this has never happened before so it's it's new territory even for us and rules and regulations are often changing we've looked at it and I think in some countries that there just won't be an issue providing there a pet passport right in other countries there will be restrictions and they'll be quite they'll be quite uh strict and AR and may not even allow the pets to go the ship and in other countries we can
62:00 - 62:30 negotiate and it's important that we do that I think we may have to consider some sort of quarantine Center on board uh for the countries that are not so supportive to to that but at the moment it's it's quite a way out so it's a little early to negotiate because things could change a lot before you get there and so we want to do it systematically the negotiations with the
62:30 - 63:00 the health authorities is normally what you have to deal with for the pets right and and we need to work out in advance but I can tell you what's interesting I know a lot of captains that have pets of their own on board you know I've met captains with a dog or a cat I do you follow uh oh gosh what's her name she has the hairless cat yes so fabulous I can't think of her name right now um it's on the roal Caribbean ship I yes
63:00 - 63:30 she's great oh my God wonderful she's that's the name done a fantastic job of um you know promoting uh women in the business and you know they have an entire uh entire officer um crew of of women and and they do such a great job as well yeah so and and they have that cat that cat's been promoted like oh well that would also
63:30 - 64:00 help our case to be honest yeah oh I think it's great I think it's great and again that's making it more personalized in life right it's not so you know and maybe maybe from Co that I think we've changed a bit you know we've come into these Zoom meetings with our pajamas on and our child behind us or whatever and it's just a real world you know and um I know my dog before he he passed used to come up during my meetings and kind of just like sit there you know on my shoulder you know it it just made it more um human I guess it's a human I'm
64:00 - 64:30 Pro pets I mean we have a a shih tzu in in our home in in Dubai yeah and you know I've been fallen in love with my Shih Tzu you know she's such a gorgeous little dog her name is Pearl and uh you know hope to bring her on board one day yeah I can't wait to meet her yeah because I can't even tell you I have taken so much of your time and I'm just so thrilled that we've had this opportunity I mean if there's anything
64:30 - 65:00 else that you think that the residents should know at this stage I mean we're still a few years out but um you know the itinerary is of course something that they talk about all the time they're super excited um you've shared so much but if there's anything else um that you can think of well I I think in terms of the residents planning the most you know there needs a certain level of discipline when it comes to the Visas depending for which country of and so forth the Visas uh you know it's a big world out
65:00 - 65:30 there and there's a lot of Regulation there's a lot of things to go into so fortunately most countries of the world are allowing applications for visas online now so that that helps a lot that is one thing and and also sometimes when you go to a to a port you know we will try to choose the ports most gracious and great salings but some of them you know have a commercial element to it but there's
65:30 - 66:00 life beyond the port you know to reach out and and go and discover you know and and you know keep a really open mind but we will also try to organize the experiences to to support that you know things that are completely outside the box and and lead to many my past experiences when I was running festival cruises with we created we we didn't like calling them tour so we called them Shor side
66:00 - 66:30 experiences and we did that in 101 destinations you know and the feedback we got from them was was wonderful we we tried to make them lasting memories you know so because that's what this is all about you know having new experiences and engaging with people and learning and growing and sharing and you know understanding life itself you and I'm sure that the I love the name story
66:30 - 67:00 lines because I've tried to tell you lots of stories today but I can assure you there are many many more and I would love to meet the residents and and talk about some of them oh you are going to be their favorite I can already tell so and you know speaking of experiences that's why as you know you know we create these curated experience trips and you know we've been to jalter We've Been to Spain Philippines we're going to bise in May um with a small group of residents and um you know that's these
67:00 - 67:30 ambassadors of you know the narrative they are you know truly speaking on our behalf and they're meeting people on our behalf and it's just bonding where we're going to return to on the ship you know so it's very exciting to be a part of that um and I know that that's very important to you as well um so I can't wait to get on and off the narrative so I will be you know on there myself with with our residents and um it's it's going to be amazing you know it can't happen soon enough thank you so much I appreciate
67:30 - 68:00 your time today pleas oh my goodness thank you yes good to see you again we we had the pleasure of meeting uh was it last year I think it was last year yes in Miami yes yeah I'm actually flying to Miami next week oh you're gonna go to Sea trade okay yeah very cool all right all right why and there's a big storyline ship on the side of the stand have that oh wonderful fly in say hi okay you're more than welcome oh thanks Grant have a wonderful day thank you very much Katie