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 new ports of call and
suggesting to guests what they may want to
see upon arriving to new port cities. She
enjoys buying exotic jewelry from around
the world.
Cynthia, reporting for
the El Paso Times 10 years,
also wrote radio editorials for Fred Hervey
in El Paso during the '70s and 80s. Fred Hervey was
founder and creator of the Circle K Corporation.
By the late 80s, before CNN existed,
Cynthia planned with El Paso NBC TV News anchor Peter
Heinline to create a television news bureau
in Washington, D.C. that would satellite news
reports back to TV stations out west covering issues
important to America's western towns. When Cynthia
also became a local TV CBS News anchor
they convinced Mr. Hervey to help them build Sun
World Satellite TV News in Washington, D.C. Over
the next 10 years, their independently owned and
operated TV news bureau on Capital Hill broadcast
daily reports back to 365 ABC, NBC and CBS TV affiliates
across the Southwest. Peter Heinlein later joined
the Voice
Of America.
By 1990 Cynthia was on her way to the Soviet
Union to open a second TV News bureau in Moscow.
It sent back TV reports via satellite on Soviet
matters affecting those same western cities in the
USA. Oil and military issues were major stories
in Russia then, just as they are today. President
Mikhail Gorbachav's Soviet government permitted Ms.
Neu to do this because another Hervey business, 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 published in Moscow was Nezavisamaya
Gazetta. It means the Independent
Newspaper. It advocated Russia be democratic
and independent with free press, free speech
and free enterprise available to all.
It became world famous in
1991 as..."the
first media ever to rally Russians to bring down
Communism," wrote the Wall
Street Journal Aug. 21, 1991 on its front page.
That 26 inch news story described 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 media working courageously to print
and distribute itself throughout the city until
dawn calling for Russians to stand up and defeat
Communism. It is still published weekly in Moscow.
While working for this same newspaper in Moscow,
and trying to help it to find paid advertising, Cynthia
learned about the incredibly popular cruise industry.
After returning to the USA she met Jim Seeley who
was a travel agent teaching water aerobics. Together
they decided to promote exercise cruises as the     "Jim
taught me water aerobics,"
says Cynthia. "And I showed him how we could
promote our new idea for fitness travel through the
media. The rest is history. Each day we say our prayers
of thanks. Jim and I cannot believe our good luck!"
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
three children.
Shortly after creating the     Cynthia
became certified by Aquatic Alliance International
(AAI). "I wanted to understand what our Fitness
Hosts must 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 preschool- ers 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.
In 2008 Cynthia
was named Top Aquatics Instructor at
Spring Hill RECenter in McLean, VA. |
|
Jim
Seeley, who is Program Director and co-founder of
the     ,
is also a certified
water fitness instructor and pool guard trainer
in Fairfax County, VA where he's been employed
more than 20 years. He specializes in water aerobics,
yoga and tai chi. Jim'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), the Arthritis Foundation and the American
Red Cross. He's taught fitness classes in
all 9 Fairfax County Recreation Centers in Virginia.
"My exercise philosophy
comes from a song I heard as a child," says
Jim. " 'A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine
go down.' We've been blessed with club members
who agree with this philosophy. We strive to make
all our exercise cruises fun
and they are!" As the travel club has
grown it's added even more fun activities...such
as ball room dancing. Jim is now certified
to teach his popular Ballroom Dance Classes too on
all his cruises. Zumba will be introduced
by a new instructor from Maryland who cruises with
the club for the first time in October, 2010.
As Program Director
for   , Jim
created a bank of 200 certified water exercise teachers
who take their own students on fitness cruises.     is
today a registered trade mark with more than 3,500
club members nationwide. Just as the travel club has
grown and gained in popularity, so has Jim.
For 5 years he's actively promoted the Ms.
Virginia Senior America Pagent. In 2009 and 2010 he
was invited by pageant officials to serve as its Master
of Ceremonies. Click here to watch
a slide show of pictures from this year's Ms.
Virginia Senior America Pageant. "Incredible," is
how Jim describes the pageant's participants. "Both
marvelous and incredible," he says. "The
most beautiful thing about all of them is their smiles.
I love women who smile!"
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
promote good health and social activities for active
seniors. His TV show is a top rated program
in both Fairfax and Arlington Counties in Virginia
and in Montgomery County in Maryland.
During the past 12 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
the travel club boards. He shares his knowledge
with guests by taking them on walking tours of each
ship the first day a new cruise begins.
"This makes it easier for our
guests to find their way around," he
says. "No other travel agency
adds this touch.
It's part of our promise to take you on a cruise
with us and not just send you on a trip 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.,
in Falls Church, VA where the company has been in
business more than 30 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. Bonnie Burroughs
serves as its top designer. Andrea Dickerson of
Annandale, VA and Matt Hilferty of Herndon, VA are
Assistant Travel Coordinators.
Fairfax County Park Authority,
for which both Jim and Cynthia teach,
was named Best Park Authority in the nation in 2006.
Their travel club was named
by Royal
Caribbean in 2007 as
its #1 Business
Partner in the mid-Atlantic states of Virginia,
Maryland, Delaware and in Washington,
D.C. The award winning     was
given this honor above
104 other travel agencies on the East Coast.
|