Since 2016, every Saturday morning subscribers have received their weekly “jazz fix” in the form of The Weekender. Our purpose is to present what is going on in the world of jazz, where our favorite musicians are performing and various musings about jazz that range from “on the ball” to “off the wall.” Read by nearly 40,000 fans each week, The Weekender has become Signature Cruise Experiences’ voice to Jazz fans worldwide.
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THE WEEKENDER ARCHIVE
May 23, 2026
Our Take: Memorial Day Weekend
April is Jazz Appreciation Month. The official start of summer is June 21, 2026, the summer solstice. But, for my money, summer jazz season starts on Memorial Day Weekend. From…
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May 16, 2026
Our Take: A Few Days in the Big Apple
I’m home from a few days in New York City. I know that New Orleans is the epicenter of jazz, but when I am in NYC, I feel the jazz…
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May 9, 2026
Our Take: Mothers of Achievement
The title of this Our Take is a bit misleading. After all, by definition, all mothers have achieved. They are all mothers, a heroic achievement by any measure. When a…
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May 2, 2026
Our Take: The Name is Jazz
When someone says, “you know who it is after hearing one name,” they generally mean a first name. On Chris Botti at Sea III (’26), the headliners joining Chris for…
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April 25, 2026
Our Take: Signature Cruise Experiences Foundation LLC
From its inception, our company, now named Signature Cruise Experiences (SCE), has contributed to funds and foundations that promote jazz education and those who provide relief and assistance to jazz…
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April 18, 2026
Our Take: Excursions…or Experiences?
Recently, we added land-based excursions to our programming on several cruises. Sometimes words are used to describe something without regard to their true meaning. I wondered if “excursion” was one…
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April 11, 2026
Our Take: Livestreams…Our Newest Connection
It was the Summer of 2000 when we began to advertise our first cruise program, The Jazz Cruise 2001. We went to some office supply store and used their mimeograph…
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April 4, 2026
Our Take: I’m Putting All My Eggs in One Basket
Tomorrow is Easter Sunday. I spent some time this week researching jazz tunes that have an Easter theme or connection. Irving Berlin’s “I’m Putting All My Eggs in One Basket”…
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March 28, 2026
Our Take: An April to Remember
There are times in the year when there is so much going on that you are overwhelmed with choices and the dreaded Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) takes control of…
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March 21, 2026
Our Take: It’s the People Almost More Than the Jazz
Having attended a few jazz programs in the past weeks and on the heels of weeks at sea with jazz fans, I have come to realize that while I love the…
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March 14, 2026
Our Take: Charlie Puth
Everyone should have a musical guilty pleasure. Mine is Charlie Puth. On the surface, you could say that he is a pop singer and songwriter who rose to prominence by…
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March 7, 2026
Our Take: Music by Any Name is Music
I am home today, in St. Louis, having spent last week on the inaugural sailing of Top Shelf Country Cruise, our first country music cruise in over 10 years The…
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February 28, 2026
Our Take: Four Letter Words that Matter
When we talk about four-letter words, we are usually talking about profanity. Eliminating four-letter words from your vocabulary is often a New Year’s resolution or even a suggestion by others. Of course,…
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February 21, 2026
Our Take: Home, Sort Of!
The Signature Cruise Experiences team members are at their various homes today, with many having completed over 30 days at sea (and some nearly 40!). If our experience were like…
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February 14, 2026
Our Take: Happy Valentine’s Day from the Sea!
It is Day 31 at sea for the Signature Cruise Experiences production team. On Tuesday, The Smooth Jazz Cruise ’26.2 returns to port and the team will head home for a…
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