Award-Winning Princess Cruises Blog Hits the Bookshelves

The inspirational travel stories featured on Princess Cruises' award-winning blog "50 Essential Experiences -- The Travel Bucket List" have been gathered into a just-published collectors' book. The beautifully-produced volume takes readers to some of the most fascinating places around the globe, following in the footsteps of some worldly travelers as they share their favorite travel memories and "must see" places.

The book recounts each of the Essential Experiences from one to 50, just as they were featured on the line's year-long blog. The site, which became one of the most popular blogs in the cruise industry, attracted millions of views and thousands of comments. Each of the 50 featured stories focuses on a notable travel destination, and each is told by one of the line's own destination experts -- well-traveled employees from both the shipboard and shoreside teams.

"Because of this reader enthusiasm, we decided to turn 50 Essential Experiences into a book to continue inspiring people to build their own bucket list of travel destinations," said Jan Swartz, Princess Cruises executive vice president.

"50 Essential Experiences -- The Travel Bucket List" is a 328-page softcover coffee table book, filled with dramatic photographs of each destination. The book is available for $18.95 on Amazon.com and in shipboard boutiques throughout the Princess fleet.

"Few people have seen more of the world than our own destination experts," noted Swartz. "In the more than four decades that we've been sailing the globe, many of our longest-serving shipboard and shoreside employees have logged thousands of sea and air miles visiting hundreds of countries, cities and sites. And now their experiences and recommendations will live on in this new book."

Along with each author's story, readers can learn more about each Destination Expert through the "Five Revealing Questions" in which they tell more about favorite souvenirs and most memorable travel meals.

The blog has won several awards including a Gold Magellan Award from Travel Weekly magazine, a PRism Award from the Public Relations Society of America and a Platinum Marcom award from the Association of Marketing and Communications Professionals. The entire blog can be found at www.50EssentialExperiences.com.