In May, we shared our Journey To 1,000 YouTube Subscribers. We were so humbled to have reached our 2023 goal on May 2, a full seven months ahead of schedule! At that time, we decided to set a “wild stretch goal” of 2,500 Subscribers by the end of the year and I’m so excited to share that we just crossed that threshold today, December 17, 2023!

The Struggle Is Real

While the photos and videos we share have a certain “vacation glow” about them, it’s not always easy. There were several times we’ve had to have a pep talk with ourselves about keeping going and not losing focus of our goals. It’s a lot more work than either Rocky or I realized to maintain Twitter, Instagram, TikTok while still keeping a consistent YouTube upload schedule.

There have been some four-letter word days and tears along the way (mostly when something we’ve been working on doesn’t save and days worth of edits are lost). But the joy we feel on the other days – like milestones on one of our social media platforms, a message from someone we met on a previous cruise, or a comment like, “I booked this cruise because of your review!” – it’s the joy from those that keep us going.

It sounds trite, but we truly do work to bring the joy and excitement of cruise travel to the masses – and those comments and messages and milestones mean so much to Rocky and me. Trust me, our text messages to each other are mostly “Did you see we gained another follower today?” LOL

A Big Thank You

Thank you to everyone that has joined us along the way. You have literally kept us going. For those that have been along since the very beginning (you know who you are), we love you so much. And for those that have joined along the way, we hope we’ve brought you some smiles, some good insights, and a lot of fun through our adventures.

What’s Next?

We’re going to see how the year ends as we embark on Carnival Jubilee’s inaugural sailing in less than a week, but we’re thinking of setting a stretch goal of 5,000 Subscribers on YouTube for 2024. It’s daunting and overwhelming considering the fact it’s taken a year and a half to reach this milestone, but with so many new ships and experiences in 2024 – and the friends we’ve made along the way who continue to be our advocates – we think it just might be possible.

If you are just discovering This Cruise Life today in this post, please head on over and check out some of our content. Watch some videos, share your comments, and don’t forget to click that Subscribe button – it’s the big red one, you can’t miss it. 😉

Cheers to the adventure ahead. -Mark and Rocky