Press play
Listen to this episode
Plays here stream straight from our feed. Prefer your own app? Hit “Listen on Spotify,” or find us wherever you get your podcasts.In this episode
Cheryl “SIG Cruiser” Cooper pulls up a chair to unpack what SIG really means — Solo, Introvert, Gluten-free — and shares genuinely practical depth on each. From solo pricing strategy and dining alone to buffet cross-contamination and the gluten-free chocolate melting cake, it's warm, useful, and full of real cruiser wisdom. It's also the birthplace of Trevor's melting-cake taste test.
What they covered
Topics on deck
Solo cruising
Solo pricing strategy
Cruising as an introvert
Gluten-free cruising
Buffet cross-contamination
Gluten-free melting cake
Mardi Gras staterooms
Dining solo vs. shared tables
Don’t miss
Moments worth the wait
- Background lives — Cheryl reveals her work-from-home secret, which explains why she's in every creator's livestream.
“A lot of people have background music when they're working — I have background lives that I listen to.”
- The solo origin — a 2016 four-day cruise booked to do nothing turned into an addiction.
“I did not relax because I ended up having a great time, and I just got addicted from cruising solo from that point on.”
- Bread that tastes like bread — Cheryl on gluten-free joy, and the melting cake that needs no advance order.
“Day one I can get on the ship and get gluten-free melting cake.”
- The taste test is born — Cheryl hands Trevor the idea he'll actually execute: order the gluten-free and regular melting cakes side by side and compare.
- Not good enough — the hosts learn their place when Cheryl, booking into 2024, reveals she's not on the Family Reunion Cruise.
“So we're not good enough, okay... it is the small creator cruise.”
In the guest chair
Special guest
🎤
Cheryl Cooper (SIG Cruiser) — a solo, introvert, gluten-free cruiser and creator on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok (~1,000 subscribers). She sails four to five times a year solo and brought real, practical depth on pricing, dining, and navigating a gluten-free diet at sea.
Golden nuggets
Running bits & lore born here
- Melting-cake taste test — the plan is born here and gets executed and credited to Cheryl for episodes to come.
- Email ghosting continues — Trevor's apology tour rolls on: “he still hasn't answered an email of mine, and I'm his best friend.”
- Banana campaign's first hit — the harassment bit lands its first result: “I asked about banana splits in Have Luggage's live.”
- Cruise mojo — Tom's on-a-cruise personality gets named and air-quoted (“He's a different person on a cruise”), even as he insists he's an introvert too.
- Tom's food legends — the 16-meals-a-day legend and his inexplicable hatred of ice cream resurface.