If you binge-watch HGTV like I do, you’re most likely familiar with Jonathan and Drew Scott. The duo best known for helping couples find, buy and flip fixer-uppers into their dream homes in “Property Brothers” will be hosting Sailing With the Scotts: Ultimate Design Cruise this November 16 – 20.
The four-night theme cruise on Carnival Ecstasy will offer a chance to get to know the guys, soak up some sun over umbrella drinks and participate in a variety of games, competitions and fun informative sessions. And in typical Scott brother fashion, there will be a ton of surprises.
Jonathan and Drew — who I was excited to learn share a cruising addiction — also will be joined by fellow home design-savvy TV stars such as Jason Cameron, Jillian Harris, their brother JD Scott and the Junk Gypsy Company as well as singer and songwriter Adam Hambrick.
I caught up with the two Scott brothers (yes, they’re twins) to chat about what’s in store for the cruise. See what they’re most excited about, what fans onboard can expect and more, below.
What made you guys decide to host a theme cruise?
Jonathan: It mainly came out of the demand from fans. They love getting together with us and seeing us live. It’s very fun — we spend half the time educating people and the other half making fun of Drew, which everybody can get onboard with. So the fans were saying, “Why don’t we think of doing a big meet and greet?” That’s when we said, “Well wait a sec, what about doing these cruises?” Friends of ours like Lady Antebellum and KISS and New Kids on the Block — they’ve all done these celebrity-themed cruises, and they said it’s just been an absolute joy.
Have either of you ever been on a cruise before?
Drew: We don’t just cruise for our fans — we are die-hard cruisers. Jonathan and I are about the same; I think we’re onto our 14th cruise. If you need any tips for what to do on your cruise, we’re your peeps!
Jonathan: I started cruising way back in the day. My first girlfriend and I thought we’d try something a little different, and a deal popped up that was like, seven days for $300. I was like, “Holy smokes; this is incredible!” So we went and tested it out, and sort of became addicted.
Which themed activities would get fans of the show excited?
Drew: There are so many things that Jonathan and I want to do. We have lectures and informative sessions, which fans always love, because they want to know how we can help them over and above what we already do through the show — get into their dream homes, tips and tricks… But over that, they are going to love the karaoke, because everyone who follows us on social knows that we’re karaoke freaks.
We’re also making sure that it’s not just a Brothers-themed cruise where there are posters of us around and we do one or two lectures. It’s immersive. We’re basically going to be the cruise directors, we’re going to be in there with the announcements, excursions and things like that, and all the different hosts will be doing different activities so people will have an endless supply of things that they can do. Or, they can just kick back, enjoy the sun and come to the major events.
How might someone who’s not an avid watcher of the show enjoy this cruise?
Jonathan: You don’t have to be an avid fan of the show to enjoy the cruise on its own, the activities that are there or the information that we’re giving out, because it’s more about people who want to be inspired about their own home. Everyone can be inspired about their own home, whether it’s a home they own or a place they’re renting that they want to spruce up.
Will fans have a chance to mingle with you guys outside the activities?
Drew: We are on this cruise to hang out with fans, so we’re going to be floating around during dinner, we’re going to have a lot of activities, and it’s not just us. People are going to see a lot of Jason Cameron, Kim Myles, Jillian Harris, JD, the Junk Gypsies… everybody. You’re going to be sick of us!
Jonathan: Basically, we’ll be all over the ship. We’ll be everywhere except in their cabins. We’ll be doing a bunch of surprise stuff, too.
What are you most looking forward to on the cruise?
Drew: It’s the fans. We do a lot of lectures around the country, but this is actually giving us more nights to hang out with fans. We have full days to see them, give them some of the information about the shows and about what we do … and just to hang out and have fun. It’s just a great way for us to say thank you, ’cause the fans have been amazing. We wouldn’t have the highest-rated series or the most opportunities for all the things that we do if it wasn’t for our fans.
If you could spend most of your time in any part of the ship, where would it be?
Jonathan: I’d have to say the theater, because I miss performing live. A lot of people don’t realize that I’m a magician and I performed in Vegas, so my goal is to dust off some illusions and some magic and give a bit of a performance.
Drew: For me, it’s tough, because I like being active. So you’re probably going to see me at the basketball court and the Ping-Pong area quite a bit.
It’s karaoke time — who’s singing?
Jonathan: We’re probably singing Julio Iglesias and Willie Nelson’s “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before.” We do a lot of duets — or, actually sometimes we’ll do “Summer Nights” from Grease and Drew plays the lady parts.
Let’s pretend: You’ve been asked to team up and design a new cruise ship. What would be the signature feature?
Jonathan: If I was asked to design a cruise ship, I would have a lazy river going all the way around the top deck.
Drew: There must be some way that you could have something that goes off the back of the ship — some sort of a sport-type thing or water sport.
Could you see yourself hosting another theme cruise in the future?
Jonathan: I could definitely see us doing this again, especially since we love cruises so much. I think it’s going to be this cruise that we do year after year and constantly bring other hosts and other celebrities with us just to make sure we’re meeting that demand.
And a lot of our fans are in states that are freezing cold in November — why would they not want to hit the Caribbean? Warm weather, fun times, and they get to hang out with us face to face. We absolutely love that face-to-face time with fans. The only thing that I thought was a little off was Drew said that the next cruise he wants to do is a nudist cruise. So it’d be a Brothers’ nudist cruise, and I thought that was over the top.
Originally posted on Cruise Critic
http://www.cruisecritic.com/v-2/articles.cfm?ID=2072