Cynthia Neu McCluskey is the Travel Coordinator and co-founder of the . She's a former newspaper and television reporter, TV News anchor and bureau chief based in El Paso, TX; Washington, DC; and Moscow, Russia for 33 years prior to creating this new concept for fitness cruises. Cynthia enjoys visiting ports of call and recommending to guests what they may want to see upon arriving to new port cities.

Cynthia worked for the Fred Hervey Foundation in El Paso in the 1980s as a speech writer. Before CNN ever existed, Cynthia had brain stormed with fellow TV anchor Peter Heinline about one day creating a news bureau in Washington, D.C. that would satellite reports back to TV stations out west covering issues important to America's western towns. The two TV anchors at the CBS and NBC affiliates in El Paso convinced Mr. Hervey to invest in creating Sun World Satellite News. Within 10 years their independently owned and operated TV News Bureau on Capital Hill broadcast daily reports to 365 ABC, NBC and CBS TV affiliates across the Southwest. Peter Heinlein later joined the Voice Of America. And by 1990 Cynthia was on her way to the Soviet Union to open a second TV News bureau in Moscow. It too sent back reports via satellite on Soviet matters affecting those same western towns in the USA. Oil and military actions were major stories in Russia then, just as they are today. President Mikhail Gorbachav's Soviet government permitted Ms. Neu to do this because Mr. Hervey's corporation, the Sun World Corporation, agreed to publish in English, and distribute in the USA, the first ever Soviet free-press newspaper. That brave, underground weekly newspaper printed in Moscow was called Nezavisamaya Gazetta. It means, the Independent Newspaper. It advocated Russia become a democratic, independent country with free press, free speech and free enterprise for all Russians.

It became world famous in 1991 as, "the first media ever to rally Russians to bring down Communism." So reported the Wall Street Journal Aug. 21, 1991 in its front page story describing the "late night heroic deeds led by Russia's only Independent Newspaper." When military tanks rolled into Moscow after midnight Aug. 19, 1991, determined to destroy any free press in Russia, Nezavisamaya Gazetta was the only press that continued to illegally print and distribute itself throughout the city until dawn calling for citizens to stand up and fight Communism. This famous Russian newspaper is still published weekly in Moscow. It was while working for the newspaper in Moscow helping it to develop advertising that Cynthia first learned about the cruise industry's impact on travel. She decided then to leave TV News and start to cruise!

Cynthia is a 1975 graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso where she attended on journalism scholarships and grants. She was married to the late Ron McCluskey, an El Paso attorney, who had also served as Chief of Staff in Washington, D.C. to the late Congresswoman Gladys Noon Spellman of Maryland. Ron and Cynthia's son, Patrick McCluskey, lives in Austin, TX with his wife Shannon and their two children. They soon will have three.

Upon creating the popular Cynthia became certified by Aquatic Alliance International (AAI). "I wanted to understand what all our Fitness Hosts go through to create water exercise programs," she says. Today Cynthia is also certified by the Arthritis Foundation and is a Red Cross Certified Water Safety Instructor who teaches preschoolers how to swim. Spring Hill, where Cynthia teaches, was named Best RECenter in the nation in 2006. That same year Fairfax County's Park Authority was named the Best Park Authority in America. The in 2007 was named Royal Caribbean's #1 Business Partner in the Mid-Atlantic states of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and Washington, D.C. That same year Cynthia was named Top Aquatics Instructor at Spring Hill RECenter in McLean, VA.

Jim Seeley, who is Program Director and co-founder of the , has been a certified fitness instructor in Fairfax County, VA for 20 years. He specializes in water aerobics, yoga and tai chi. He's been certified by the American Council on Exercise (ACE), Aerobics Fitness Association of America (AFAA), Aquatic Exercise Association (AEA), American Aerobics Association International (AAAI) and the Arthritis Foundation. Jim has taught exercise classes at all nine Fairfax County Recreation Centers in Virginia.

"My exercise philosophy comes from a song I heard as a child," says Jim. "It says that 'a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.' We've been truly blessed with club members who agree with this philosophy. We strive to make all our exercise classes great fun when we cruise, and they are!"

While serving as Program Director for Jim has created a bank of nearly 200 certified water exercise teachers who qualify to take their own students on fitness cruises. The is a registered trade mark with more than 3,500 club members nationwide.

Jim is a 1986 graduate of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA. He is fluent in Spanish, having worked 7 years in customer service for American Airlines in Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Miami. Jim is single, but keeps very busy with his parents, 10 brothers and sisters and their families. In 2005 he began producing and hosting a new TV show he created for Cox Cable TV in Fairfax County. His bi-weekly show is "Forever Young." Guests are members of the , as well as other popular retirees in the Washington, DC metro area, who participate in volunteer projects promoting good health and social activities for active seniors. His television show is a top rated program in both Fairfax and Arlington Counties in Virginia and in Montgomery County in Maryland.

During the past 11 years, while escorting fitness cruises, Jim has become an expert on the design and history of cruise ships. He knows all the deck plans and layouts of each ship his travel club cruises. He shares this knowledge with guests by taking them on walking tours of each ship the first day a new cruise begins. "Doing this makes it much easier for our guests to find their way around our cruise ships," he says. "No other travel agency adds this touch. It is part of our promise to take you on a cruise with us and not just send you on a cruise somewhere by yourself."

Jim and Cynthia are the co-founders of Ventures in Travel, (DBA) doing business as the . Ventures in Travel is a subsidiary of Ventures in Video, Inc., located in Falls Church, VA where the company has been in business more than 27 years. It is owned and operated by Michael Williams of McLean, VA. Chief Accounting Officer for both companies is Rick Bynaker, CPA, also of McLean. The club's Fitness Host Coordinator is Barb Batson of Nashville, TN. Chief Photographer and Webmaster is Cliff Crittenden, assisted by Huy Do and Evan Hambrick. Innovative Projects, Inc., in Fairfax, VA is the club's ad agency where Bonnie Burroughs serves as top designer. Andrea Dickerson of Annandale, VA and Matt Hilferty of Herndon, VA are Assistant Travel Coordinators.

The Fairfax County Park Authority, for which both Cynthia and Jim teach, was named Best Park Authority in the nation in 2006. Their fitness travel club, created in 1998, was named by Royal Caribbean in 2008 as its #1 Business Partner in the mid-Atlantic states of Virginia, Maryland and Delaware and Washington, D.C. The award winning was given this honor after being selected from among 104 other travel agencies on the east coast.

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