If you are as starved for positive cruise news and something other than more shuffling of the deck when it comes to schedules then you're going to love this update. Norwegian Cruise Line, our hands-down favorite large-ship cruise line for guys looking for a great experience is back at what it does best - great entertainment and having fun.

Today we're talking with Australia roots rock artist, Hamish Anderson about one of his favorite cities - Los Angeles. 

We're headed off on another amazing tour, this time to visit the Arkansas Delta for a music and BBQ tour that is sure to rank up there with my best trips ever. The awesome folks at Arkansas Tourism who have sponsored this trip have been nice enough to even create a playlist for this road trip. So... instead of keeping it all to myself, I want to share it with you guys as well! 

In the old days (not even 10 years ago!) it was simple, grab a pair of earbuds and you were set for listening to music. Today though, the options are limitless and major brands have dominated the market with audio products that are good, but frankly look and sound as if they were churned out of a corporate machine - rather than expressing the individual style of the wearer. That's where V-Moda comes in - and was designed by Val Kolton, a Chicago DJ who was inspired by the unique vibe found in Ibiza and the haute couture he found in LA.

Today, V-Moda products are designed to match both the discriminating style of the fashionista as well as the audiophile. Instead plastic parts, these headphones use industrial strength metal.

Most of you probably remember Jewel from the mid/late 90s - yeah, that’s Alaskan folk singer-songwriter and many of you probably even still are aware of her for some of her later music but what I didn't realize until this week was how utterly amazing she is in concert. Jewel is a true artist and that means you are going to see and hear things you weren't expecting such as yodeling, opera, and requests by the audience that were so obscure (even to her) that she had to flip through a book the size of an encyclopedia to get the lyrics.

In a market that is nearly saturated but at the same time working feverishly to expand its reach, the cruise lines are in a fight to find a way to fill their ships and bring in new cruisers. While other lines are building ever bigger boats with features unheard of at sea, Carnival decided to focus on entertainment and creating once-in-a-lifetime experiences that are surprisingly affordable. Earlier this month we had the opportunity to spend a week on the brand new Carnival Breeze and experience it for ourselves.

Unlike "themed cruises" the band isn't actually on the ship during the voyage, so that means that you can still have a "normal" cruise experience but on concert night things turn up a notch. On this cruise, we started in Miami followed by stops in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, Georgetown, Grand Cayman, and then during our stop at Cozumel, Mexico the band loaded their equipment on the ship and we stayed in port till about 1 a.m.