In this episode of B2B Creator Spotlight, host Michael Bernzweig interviews Monica Marlatt, a puzzle enthusiast who has turned her passion into a unique cruise ship experience. Monica shares her journey from being an empty nester to becoming a puzzle influencer on Instagram, where she engages with a growing community. She discusses her creative process, the therapeutic benefits of puzzling, and how she organizes puzzle sessions on cruise ships, bringing people of all ages together. Monica also talks about her collaboration with Royal Caribbean and her plans for expanding her puzzling adventures.
In this episode of B2B Creator Spotlight, host Michael Bernzweig interviews Monica Marlatt, a puzzle enthusiast who has turned her passion into a unique cruise ship experience. Monica shares her journey from being an empty nester to becoming a puzzle influencer on Instagram, where she engages with a growing community. She discusses her creative process, the therapeutic benefits of puzzling, and how she organizes puzzle sessions on cruise ships, bringing people of all ages together. Monica also talks about her collaboration with Royal Caribbean and her plans for expanding her puzzling adventures.
Takeaways
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Michael Bernzweig (00:00.908)
I'd like to welcome everyone to this week's edition of the B2B Creator Spotlight. I'm your host, Michael Bernzweig This week, we're joined by a creator in a very unique space. We're joined by Monica Marlatt. She's joining us from Toronto, but she is actually just about to hop on her next cruise and...
bringing with her just a tremendous amount of luggage, which includes close to 200 different puzzles. So with that, Monica, tell us a little bit about what you do on these cruise ships and a little bit about your journey getting to where you are.
Monica Marlatt (00:47.45)
Hello and thank you for having me, Michael. My journey, am a, I'm retired, I'm an empty nester. And when my kids left, I started to puzzle. And my puzzle journey is now taking me on cruises. I work with Royal Caribbean and I do about anywhere between two to four cruises a year. My husband helps me.
And when we go cruising, we take about 200 different puzzles, anywhere from 30 to 40 different puzzle brands. And on the longer cruise ships, we do puzzling during the sea days. So when I'm on a cruise doing puzzling sessions, the cruise has to have at least six or more sea days. So we're sort of helping filling in that long gap between ports.
host like a two hour puzzling session and someone will come down to the room that we're in, usually the dining room, and I set them up with a puzzle and off they go. And they love it so much they come down the next day and the next day and the next day.
Michael Bernzweig (02:00.728)
No, I don't want to bury the lead. I know a lot of individuals listening are themselves creators. And if I heard correctly, when we originally spoke, it sounds like your Instagram is on fire. If I heard correctly, it sounds like you're approaching close to 20,000 followers on your puzzled about everything Instagram account.
Monica (02:28.249)
Yes, yes I am. I started posting. My kids recommended that I open up an Instagram account to highlight the puzzles that I do. And it was just before the pandemic. And I did that. And then the pandemic happened. And I continued with puzzling. during the pandemic, puzzles really trended. They were very popular because people had to stay at home. A lot of people lost their jobs during the pandemic.
So some people took their little nest egg and they built a puzzle company. However, they couldn't get their puzzles out on store shelves because stores were closed. So often what they would do, they would look and find somebody that had a good following, a puzzle accountant had a good following, and they would send you the puzzle so that you could feature the puzzle, post about it, and hopefully your followers would buy the puzzle. So how I got started?
and it just grew and grew. I personally, when I finished a puzzle, I felt sad because they're pretty, you invest a lot of time, it's very satisfying to finish the puzzle, but I wanted to do something more. I felt a lot of puzzles were sent to the same puzzle influencers and we take the same pictures. So on my personal puzzle feed, I would go, I just did that puzzle. I have to find another way to present it.
So in my feed, I would always say when I would be scrolling, why did I stop? And often I stopped when somebody did something creative with whatever they were marketing. And I like the stop motion. So I started to do stop motion reels, one picture at a time, moving a puzzle piece at a time. And that really caught on. Again, watching my feed, I watch what's trending and I try and do a silly video with my husband.
just sort of making it more puzzle in line with what I do. I take my puzzles. My husband and I live in a big city. We go out for walks. I like art. If I see a nice art installation, I'll hold up a puzzle beside it, trying to highlight my city, as well as showcasing the puzzle in a different way. just that organic and creative tone has made it so I have a lot of followers.
Monica (04:53.986)
puzzle brands, look at that and they're like, would you build a puzzle for us? So I get a lot of puzzles sent to me and that's how my Instagram account grew and it still grows.
Michael Bernzweig (05:04.701)
Now I'll tell you what's amazing and I think the
the real story behind behind, you know, your creativity and what you're doing is the fact and I think anyone that's listening to the podcast can resonate with the idea of you as a mom. You know, at the end of the day, you you're you expressed to me that the kids kids were were out the door and off off to the next phase in their life and out the door. It feels like the
they said to you, mom, by the way, if you're gonna do that, you should get on Instagram and good luck. And it doesn't sound like they gave you a whole lot of guidance, but you've absolutely found your way. And I think that is amazing. I think anyone that was out there can say to themselves, if Monica can do it.
Anyone can do it, right? I mean, just that is amazing. What is it about you and your attitude that's made that possible?
Monica (06:15.659)
Well, thank you for acknowledging that. It has been intimidating, all the apps that they have there, the new technology, the introduction of AI. When my kids told me about Instagram, my first reaction was, what is that? I don't know what that is. And they laughed at me. They're very kind. I don't want to be mean. They have been very kind.
Michael Bernzweig (06:37.206)
Right.
Michael Bernzweig (06:42.84)
Sure.
Monica (06:42.999)
but they have full-time careers and it's not as if they come home from school and you ask them, can you show me how to do this? They're not around. So they're like, mom, there's tons of tutorials, start there. And I'm like, OK, so I start there. And I'm very slow. I'll have to watch a tutorial three, four times. I might have to do it in slow motion. A lot of people that post, especially on YouTube,
They talk fast, they show you how to do it, but they do it very, very fast. I just don't connect. For me to process something like that takes a little bit longer. You find a few apps that you like on the individual apps that you might choose to, let's say, make a reel. A lot of them have tutorials inside the app, which is very useful, so people shouldn't be intimidated. I think if people want to learn and if...
they have some hobby or some creative outlet, don't be afraid to ask. If they see something on Instagram, I have a lot of people reaching out to me and go, how did you do that? Or can you tell me what app you use? I absolutely share. Just ask the question. And if you're in an app and you don't know how to use it, go on YouTube. I guarantee you there is a tutorial on how to use it properly. Just don't be afraid.
Try it. And from there, you'll see recommendations. The algorithm is always listening to us. They'll send you other apps that are similar and you can learn from there. And just because you're in one app and you use one app to do a reel, that doesn't mean there's not a better app or a more friendly app. I see new apps coming out all the time. I try to investigate. Most of the time I go back.
to my original one. stick with that. If I'm comfortable in that space, I know how to manipulate it. And when I see new ones, I try to do something. I'm like, no, that's not working for me. And I go back. But always explore.
Michael Bernzweig (08:51.662)
So tell me about the tie-in with cruising. How did that all come together? And I'm just trying to wrap my head around a couple hundred puzzles. It almost feels like you might need another cabin just for all those puzzles.
Monica (09:04.618)
you
Well, sometimes we do. We do cruise a lot and I would always bring a puzzle to do on a sea day and we sit in the solarium, we puzzle and we often had so many people come, go, can we help? Can we help? And I said to my husband, you know what, we should bring more puzzles and, you know, sit in the conference room or the dining room and try and get a few people to puzzle with us.
At this time, there is speed puzzling. It's trending. It's very popular with younger people or with a large part of the puzzle community. And I thought we could do speed puzzling. They're always having activities on cruises. go, speed puzzling would be fun. And with all the brands that I work with, I'm sure I could get sponsored and get some puzzles. So that was my pitch to Royal Caribbean is to do
speed puzzling. And we did. We went, it was our first cruise, we were in Australia and we came back to North America. everyone was skeptical about the speed puzzling and we did it. And what I can say is from the people attending, everyone had that moment when finally someone said,
And then everyone took a sigh and went, now can we just puzzle for fun? That was too tense. I didn't come on this cruise to get all stressed out. And I took that lead and I said, you know what, maybe we shouldn't do the speed puzzling. Let's just bring a whole bunch of different puzzles. my audience group that came from the passengers that came down, my audience group, I bring something for everyone. If you do want to speed puzzle, let's say you come with your wife or your family.
Michael Bernzweig (10:39.882)
That's funny
Monica (11:00.113)
I will give you four of the same puzzles and the four of you can have a race against each other. But as the whole room puzzling against each other, we don't do that. It's just I'm limited to how many puzzles I can bring. So if I had six days and we're all doing the same puzzle and I need at least 30 puzzles, my suitcase is full right away. So now I get to bring a huge variety of puzzles.
Michael Bernzweig (11:16.824)
Sure.
Monica (11:29.177)
an exposure to more puzzle brands, you'd be surprised how many people can only think of one or two puzzle brands. I'm sure there's over three, four hundred puzzle brands now. They're not big, but they're small boutique brands. Not necessarily getting their puzzles on the store shelf, but you'll see them at a craft market, at a fair, at an artisan fair.
So I like helping those individual people out, even the bigger brands, and just let people know, don't limit yourself to the one or two brands that you know. There's so much out there. And the puzzle community has grown so much. Remember doing the red barn with the cows in the field? Puzzles have just elevated. We have new illustrations, new artists. Some of them, they resonate themes, like political themes.
Michael Bernzweig (12:12.248)
Sure.
Monica (12:22.932)
and like times that are happening right now. They're so exciting, they're so fun, they're beyond the red barn. And they're still classical images. But I'm looking at the new images that I get and I'm like, gosh, that's gorgeous. I wanna hang that on my wall. Like these puzzles are so great. So I'm excited. I'm that connector between the puzzle brands and people that like the puzzles. I'm bringing them together because a lot of people don't know.
Michael Bernzweig (12:51.948)
Yeah, and I love it. you know, for anyone listening in the audience, one of the things that I found really unique is the fact that this is the next phase in your life. It's not something that you've done as a career or a business or anything like that. Can you speak to your goals in puzzling and what you're doing? I think that that's probably a very creative and interesting story right there.
Monica (13:21.918)
My goals, I want to continue with what I'm doing. I really like the idea of being creative on my Instagram platform. As I'm getting older, it's very important with Alzheimer's and dementia. It is in my family history, so I'm always being mindful of that. When I started the jigsaw puzzling, I didn't realize how good it was for my brain. But as we get older, there are two things that are very important.
is to keep learning. So I'm learning new skills. When I talk about technology in the apps, I'm always learning new skills. You can learn a new language, you can learn a new instrument, but we have to keep learning, all right? It's very important for our brain to keep learning, so I feel I'm doing that. And the other thing that is important as we get older is to be active.
We can become very isolated. feel that we, as you get older, you can't contribute. I know when my children come in, we're around the table for Thanksgiving, the conversations go and I'm like, how did I get to be such a dinosaur? I'm trying to keep up with them with whatever the trends are. And I'm doing well. I am doing well. They're like, mom, like, you're so cool. You know that and you know this. And I'm like, yeah, I guess I am.
Michael Bernzweig (14:36.046)
Yeah.
Monica (14:48.913)
But it's important not to be isolated. now I feel when I'm on a cruise ship, I have something to contribute with new people that I meet. And when we do puzzling on the cruise ship, we're always meeting new people. And I say to my husband, this is really good for us that we're getting out. It's just so easy to stay home, watch TV and puzzle. And it's the worst thing that we can do as we get older.
Michael Bernzweig (15:16.802)
Yeah, no, I love it. And so what was it that originally inspired this journey? What was it that clicked to get you to the point where you decided to embark on this puzzling journey?
Monica (15:34.063)
It just sort of presented itself. Again, like when my kids left, the last one left, I have three daughters, when she left to go to university, I was fully prepared for it. I did not realize how hard it was to have an empty house. And I remember somebody saying something to me when I got, when I was first pregnant, we had a book that went around, they gave out little tips. And this older woman wrote,
Michael Bernzweig (15:53.038)
Sure.
Monica (16:02.79)
better to have a messy room than an empty room. And I really didn't get it until after. You're always after your kids. Clean your room, pick up after yourself. You know, I walk around the corner and their shoes aren't there anymore. I open their bedroom door, the bed is made. You're right, I missed them a lot and I wasn't prepared for that. That extra time I had, I thought, I can do this, this and that. It just didn't feel right without
my family there. So the jigsaw puzzling, I had to really think, what did I like to do before I had kids? That was like 30 years ago. What did I like to do? And I was like, okay, I did like jigsaw puzzling. I puzzled a lot before we had kids. So I picked up one and I did it. And I said, I still like jigsaw puzzling. And that's the thing about the cruise. A lot of people come down, I haven't built a puzzle in 20 years.
this could be fun and they come, they build it and they go Monica, I forgot I like puzzling. I go, I know exactly what you're saying. And then they say, when I get off this cruise ship, I'm buying a puzzle and I'm going to continue up with the puzzling. I say, good for you. So that was the wow moment for me. I started liking puzzling again and then we started doing the Instagram, but it was finding a hobby or something to keep me busy with my new found.
Michael Bernzweig (17:18.542)
That's amazing. Yeah, you've...
Monica (17:28.945)
free time. My husband was still working so I was by myself and I couldn't go around and go, you're still working, I was waiting for you, I wanted to have a... Yeah, so you know, you have to find something that you like but there are so many things like that. You just have to find what it is that your passion is about and then work through that.
Michael Bernzweig (17:33.88)
Sure.
That's even more isolating, right? Yeah.
Michael Bernzweig (17:51.619)
And I think there are so many people listening to this episode that can identify with that.
stage in life. mean, there's, you know, you go through life with a family and a significant other and, and then, you know, you have this somewhat abrupt change and it can be very disorienting and it can really be something that if I think they say if you don't fill in what you've lost with with something new, you know, it's very easy to, head in a negative direction and to easily get depressed.
Monica (18:26.865)
True. Yeah.
Michael Bernzweig (18:27.792)
So that makes a lot of sense. And I think a lot of people listening to this podcast and a lot of the people that you meet on these different events, you're really igniting.
that possibility to, you know, either double back to something you had started at an earlier phase in life or find a new hobby, whether it is puzzling or just something completely different. So the other angle that I wanted to make sure we had a little bit of time to talk about. So you've connected with the team over at Royal Caribbean and it sounds like they've been very gracious in terms of
you welcoming you into the community there. Can you talk a little bit to that for others that may be into either other types of creative pursuits or areas that they want to explore? How did all of that come together? How did the pieces come together?
Monica (19:32.43)
That is a great question because I think a lot of people have something that they can share with other people. And Royal Caribbean, that's just one cruise line. There are many cruise lines. So we'll just talk in general. If there is a specific cruise that, say, you're going through Alaska, the cruises that I've had, often get a ranger that comes on board. And as you're going along,
They'll talk about the wildlife, about the history, about the glaciers, which is very interesting. We've done Panama Canal. Again, we have guest speakers that come on and they talk about the history of making the canal, the politics behind the canal. Again, you're going through it and at the same time someone is speaking about it and it's just wonderful. It's like, wow, wow.
So a lot of cruise ships try to get guest speakers specific to wherever they are cruising. And an example would be, let's say you're going around South America. You could have a person who does the study of bugs or the monarchs, a monarch butterfly. And during those sea days, they will speak about it. It's very relevant to where you are and what you're seeing at the moment.
So if you're a person that has something that you could offer, that's great. Again, when we do the transatlantic, there are six, seven sea days and you're just going across the ocean. You don't have to be specific to where you're traveling to. You can talk about something in general. we had Don Knott's nephew on board and he talked about Don Knott's life. He had like six...
Michael Bernzweig (21:26.812)
I love it.
Monica (21:29.52)
prepared six, seven speeches. Well, you know, lot of the people that cruise and do the transatlantic, they are older and they knew who Don Knotts was. They loved it. You know, he had 500 people coming out and I was like, that's great. Then, you know, we've had someone who's a retired detective and he talked all about cold cases and DNA and breaking the story and stuff. Well, we all watch CSI and stuff like that. Like, obviously you have somebody who's there. We've had somebody
Michael Bernzweig (21:39.982)
Sure.
Monica (21:59.085)
be a guest speaker, was a stuntman. He put a few slides together and he talked about his injuries, what movie he's been on. We're just sitting there like, this is so interesting. People have interesting stories. if you feel that you're one of those people and you can put together a presentation, like 10 different presentations of whatever field that you're passionate about, I would recommend you
The way to go about is find an agent. There's many agents and the agents solicit the cruise lines. So it could be Celebrity, could be Royal Caribbean, it could be Holland America. It's the same with their entertainment. They go through an agency and they'll look at the list and if your name's on the list, the Royal Caribbean or Celebrity will go, this could be a good match for this cruise. And I would highly recommend somebody, especially if you're retired,
Michael Bernzweig (22:54.478)
Where are you?
Monica (22:58.508)
because you have the flexibility with the time and you could easily pick up a few nice cruises to do with your partner, your spouse.
Michael Bernzweig (23:01.006)
Thank
Michael Bernzweig (23:07.49)
That's fun, now...
mentioning partner or spouse. I know that behind the scenes, Ray, your husband has been very supportive. Can you talk a little bit to that? What areas has he found interesting? What areas does he not want to be involved in? know, like I'm sure a lot of people listening to this have a significant other and that plays a role in all of this. How does it come together in your situation?
Monica (23:27.528)
it's a.
Monica (23:38.638)
Good question. He is my rock. Thank you for asking about him. My husband is older than I am and I just want to disclose he's 75 years old. So when I started puzzling, like I said, he still had his business. So I probably did it for about three years before he sold his business. And then with his free time, he started to help me a little bit more. My husband does not like the traditional 1000 piece puzzle. The pieces are small. You can't necessarily see them.
Michael Bernzweig (23:44.302)
Sure.
Michael Bernzweig (23:50.667)
Sure.
Monica (24:08.056)
So he has his preference of a 300 piece or maybe a 500 piece puzzle. And so he'll puzzle by himself and I'll puzzle in my room. He'll come out and he'll help me a little bit on a thousand piece, but he's never invested in a thousand piece puzzle like I am. I'll sit down with him and help him with his hundred piece, 300 piece puzzle. As a married couple, we've been married 42 years now. We...
Michael Bernzweig (24:08.206)
Sure.
Michael Bernzweig (24:25.688)
Sure.
Monica (24:36.353)
We love each other and we raised three beautiful daughters, but we did do our own thing. He worked, I raised the kids, I'd help him with the business a little bit. And now all of a sudden, we are together. We had to reconnect again. We are together all the time. And it's a strange phase as a couple. You have to get to know each other again. You talk about somebody working nine to five,
Michael Bernzweig (24:36.43)
Congratulations.
Michael Bernzweig (24:54.872)
Sure.
Monica (25:06.136)
Well, no, he's home night to five. It's like he's in my space all the time. So the puzzling has been a great bond for us that we have been able to connect again and talk. It's wonderful that we can actually puzzle and we don't have to talk. We feel comfortable just sitting in that quiet space. So the puzzling has brought, has helped us, you know, get closer together again. And as for how he helps me with the puzzles.
Michael Bernzweig (25:10.882)
Sure.
Monica (25:34.657)
Well, when I do my stop motions, I'm up, down, up, down in that move the puzzle piece, take a picture. Get down, move the puzzle piece, take a picture. Like I know I can do the remote, but I can't always hear the click and people go, you don't have to do that. No, if I don't hear the click, I don't know that I took the picture. And then I've wrecked the whole thing that I've done. I want to make sure I take the picture. So I want to touch the button. So.
Michael Bernzweig (25:48.92)
Right.
Michael Bernzweig (26:00.111)
Sure.
Monica (26:01.345)
He's been very kind and he helps and he takes the picture for me. We love doing our location. Well, all he does is take the picture. All right, when we talk about the editing, he does not want to do anything like that. He's just like, nope, I'm out. That's too much for me. But he does help me. We like taking a finished puzzle and standing. by the CN Tower. I like to stand by the CN Tower and take a picture there.
Michael Bernzweig (26:06.887)
so he's been your tech assistant in a way.
Ha ha ha!
Monica (26:29.482)
Well, I can't hold the puzzle and take the picture. And for me to take a tripod and put it out there, well, I'm worried someone might steal my phone. All right, there's a lot of people always around. So I need someone to take the picture. So he's always wonderful. He goes, let's go for a walk. Let's find a new place to take a puzzle. And you know, let's an hour or two. And I'm like, this is so nice that we go walking together. We never did walks together when we had our family. We just didn't have the time. But as a couple,
Michael Bernzweig (26:33.73)
Right.
Michael Bernzweig (26:39.597)
Yeah.
Monica (26:59.552)
Just rekindling that relationship. Again, it's the puzzles that have brought us together and I'm grateful for that.
Michael Bernzweig (27:08.236)
I love it and you know it sounds like you've helped other people and it's been helpful.
you as well. Now I noticed you you referred to yourself with a Disney term there, a puzzle imagineer, which is very creative. And I'm wondering, as a puzzle imagineer, you know, when you're creating these reels that you mentioned, you know, what is it that kind of, I guess, inspired you to create
these unique reels instead of just finishing up a puzzle, snapping a picture and boxing up the puzzle. What is it that went off in your head that made you say, wow, this is a different way to be creative?
Monica (27:55.574)
like that you like my name. That was my daughter. All my daughters are very creative and I had something written there and they're like, no mom, you should say this. go, ooh, I do like that term. It just resonated well with me. I found when I placed the last piece of the puzzle for everyone, it's very satisfying. You're like, yay, look at this. And you're like, it's wonderful. Well, some puzzles are so beautiful.
I was like, I don't want to put it back in the box. I would leave it out in my dining room table for two or three days, but eventually it has to go back in the box. And I would do my one post with, you know, taking a picture of the completed puzzle. And I felt I can do something else with this. And like I said, I was watching in my feed a lot of stop motion. And I thought there's no reason why I can't move a puzzle piece around and come up with some
beautiful way of displaying this puzzle coming together differently in a stop motion. If I take a color patch or a specific image, if it's a guitar or something, and move it around, do something abstract, and I started playing around with it, and again, I felt very satisfied that I finally figured out how to do that. My husband and I, after I would put it together, we would sit and have a glass of wine, and I'd sit all
proud as a peacock. I'm so proud of myself. That turned out so good. That took me like four hours on my knees, but it looks really good. And we would talk, what music do you think would go well with it? So we'd have a glass of wine and then we started talking about all these great bands and what we think is a good fit for the puzzle. I just loved where that conversation went. And we still do that. We still, when I finished editing, I go, what type of music you think would go with this, with this because
It's not just about visually what you see, it's what you hear as well. It has to match up. So I'm happy I have these wonderful conversations with my husband about music.
Michael Bernzweig (30:03.618)
So let me ask you, for your daughters, as your Instagram has taken on a life of its own and just grown virally, what type of reaction do they have?
Monica (30:16.178)
That's so funny because somewhere along the line, you don't become the parent anymore. Your children parent you. They'll call you, Mom, you okay? I don't feel I'm that old, they call me every day, Mom, you okay? Did you get out today? Did you walk around? And I'm like, yeah, I did. I'm fine. But they're always checking up on us. then something might come up, I was like, oh, I don't know how to do that, how to navigate that.
Michael Bernzweig (30:35.118)
Checking you
Monica (30:45.034)
this is what you have to do, mom. I'm like, okay. So somewhere the roles reversed in that our kids call us and they check up, are you guys okay? Everyone good? And that happens, check up. I'm like, yeah, we're fine. And what makes me laugh is if I don't post once a day, my kids worry about me. It's just like, if mom posts today,
Michael Bernzweig (30:50.174)
you
Monica (31:12.458)
They're okay. Like if there's a lull in my post, something's wrong with mom and dad. So I think that's quite hilarious. They're always watching my feed. mom didn't post today. What's wrong? What's wrong with her? So that's always funny. But the other thing that cracks me up with my children is when they go out, let's say it's a team meeting and they're always talking about some icebreaker thing or they might go to somebody's house and there's new people, their go-to is
Michael Bernzweig (31:14.592)
Yo, I love it.
Michael Bernzweig (31:21.496)
That's cute.
Monica (31:41.515)
you know what my mother does these days? they're like, no, what? She's a puzzle influencer on Instagram. people go, no way, that's so cool. So I am the icebreaker when they go out. And I was just like, oh, you guys crack me up.
Michael Bernzweig (31:49.193)
That's great!
Michael Bernzweig (31:58.061)
I love it. I love it. So, you know, the other portion of what you're doing with with traveling and seeing the world, I think is something that anybody listening to the podcast can identify with. But is there something specifically about cruising that that you found really appealing? And is it something you were doing before or is it something that you've grown into along with the puzzling?
Monica (32:27.178)
Well, we've always liked cruising. And like I said, we'd always bring a puzzle with us. So I just love how it's just morphed into puzzling sessions. I would love to see us on different cruise lines doing more. Because it's not a lot of cruise lines. They have a community puzzle somewhere on the cruise ship. I've experienced.
Michael Bernzweig (32:49.453)
Right.
Monica (32:52.958)
Different people, sometimes people don't like working on a puzzle with other people. There's like five hands in the way that they want to do their own project. Often there's pieces missing. It's horrible to work on a puzzle and you finish it and there's a piece missing. Maybe it fell on the floor. I know there's always a joker that, I'm going to take that piece and I'm going to come back and I'm going to have the victory last piece in. That's not funny. But people do that.
Michael Bernzweig (33:01.037)
Right.
Monica (33:21.043)
So what I bring is that everyone, I can guarantee you my puzzles are complete. Because when you finish it, you call me over to the table, I look at it, all the pieces are there, and we put it back in the bag together. And so I know the next person has a complete puzzle. It is 100 % guaranteed that the puzzle's there. And on the cruise, I always like to talk to the individual coming, because I have a lot of people that say, I puzzle. I can do a thousand piece puzzle.
Michael Bernzweig (33:21.922)
Yeah.
Monica (33:51.305)
but when they do their thousand piece puzzle, it's over three weeks. I have two hours. You're not going to finish the two, unless you're a speed puzzler and you got a group of three other people there, you're really not going to finish that in the two hour time span that we have. So it's a matter of listening to them and figuring out their puzzle skills. So I might start off a little bit easy with them and say, let's just try maybe this 100 piece puzzle.
Michael Bernzweig (33:56.44)
You're right.
Monica (34:17.98)
And I'm always walking around the room and I'm talking to the people and I can see, gosh, they're fast. Like I got to give them a harder project next time. Or this is probably their strengths right here. This is the best that they're going to get. So let's stick with these, this piece count. So I'm always watching. And then if there are, and a lot of people, again, when I say they only know one or two puzzle names, they'll come, I only do this brand. I'm like, okay, I have one from this brand. Here you go.
Well, they'll sit there, they finish it, and quite possibly the next day they'll ask for the same brand. And then by the third day, they're looking over their shoulders what other people are building. And then they'll say, well, what is that puzzle? Oh, well, that's a shape puzzle from this brand, but you said you only wanted to do this. But that looks so pretty. Happy to give it to you. Would you like to try it? So now they're trying different brands. But it's important for me to listen what they want because I would
I do hate when I get it wrong. And I get it wrong probably one person every cruise. And out of a hundred people coming down, I think that's pretty good. And I want to make sure that their puzzle experience is a positive experience because it's so terrible for them to come down. They don't finish it. They're frustrated. I'm not going to see them again. And I love puzzles so much. I don't want them to walk away negative. I want them to walk away, go up to the bar,
talk to their dining room table guests and say, there's a lady down there, she brought 200 puzzles, you should check her out next, like tomorrow when you see her on the compass. It's really fun. That's what I want.
Michael Bernzweig (35:59.587)
Now, just a little behind the scenes because I think a lot of creators are probably at different stages in their careers, but when you're doing an event like this for an organization like Royal Caribbean, are there any special perks behind the scenes or anything special that they do to make sure you are treated well as a member of the team?
Monica (36:31.174)
No, I'm on level two. My husband and I like the balcony, so there's no upgrades. We're on level two, so we're just like, No, no, no.
Michael Bernzweig (36:34.558)
Hahaha
Yeah.
I love it, I love it. Not even an extra mint on the pillow, huh? So, so, so, I love it. So, so out of curiosity, do you typically see over the course of a cruise, and I'm not sure how long most of these cruises are, do you see people coming back several times working on puzzles or trying different puzzles or coming back to different sessions?
Monica (37:11.963)
Yeah, so when we start, we usually maybe start with 40, 50 people and then by the end, whatever room we have, it's full. Like we're at 100 or 120 people, it grows. And again, people talk about it on the cruise. it always grows, it always grows. What I love about it, like I'm just so excited when I see this happen, we have a big age mix.
Michael Bernzweig (37:24.201)
wow, so it grows over the course of the cruise. Yeah.
Monica (37:39.847)
So I get small children and I bring, I'll bring a 15 piece puzzle, wood puzzle for a three year old to bring, to build. And you'd be surprised, I might have an 80 year old build that same puzzle because that is all that they're able to do. Their hands might be, have too much arthritis. So the pieces have to be bigger. I have, and they can't see them. They literally bring them up to their eye to look at it. Is this the Fox eye?
Michael Bernzweig (37:45.784)
Sure.
Michael Bernzweig (37:57.24)
Sure.
Monica (38:07.815)
So they're like, I haven't puzzled in a long time, they don't care it's 15 pieces. They're just happy they got to do it. So they'll come down again. I love families. A lot of families that come on the cruise, they have their dad's attention. Dad did not bring his phone. Dad is sitting down at the puzzle table with his wife and their two kids, and they may be doing a project together. They may be racing each other. Often these guys race each other.
or they divide, you know, the father is with one child and the mother is with another child, they do different projects, but they come down every single day because that is their family time. Then the children go to maybe the children's program and the parents do their other thing, but that puzzling is their puzzling time. And I often have the fathers come up and say, thank you, we're gonna continue doing this as a family once a month. We're gonna do a Friday night puzzle.
And I bring family style puzzle. it's so rewarding. It's so gratifying. I bring specific puzzles. called family style puzzles. And what they are, they have, it's 300 pieces. And there's each third. So one third is regular size piece. Another third is a little bit bigger. And the third quarter of the puzzle pieces are huge, gigantic pieces.
Michael Bernzweig (39:08.246)
Isn't that rewarding?
Monica (39:33.008)
So a child can work on the huge gigantic pieces all by themselves. The parents will work on the small pieces and then they meet in the middle. So you you're sort of working independently. The child can sort those big pieces. Even if they're not capable of puzzling, they can sort, they can see the difference in sizing. And the parents are like, my God, this would be great for my grandparents, not just my kids. I was like, yes.
So I love introducing that type of a puzzle to a family. Again, I have so many different puzzles, so many different ranges, and I'm happy when I see those moments. I think I've seen on three separate cruises, I've had a father and a daughter, and the daughter's usually college age. And they come down, and it's just the father and daughter.
And they do hard puzzles. usually do the hard wood puzzles together. And that is a special time. Like usually you think about somebody at college age, they're sleeping until one o'clock on the cruise. They're out till three o'clock in the morning, partying, doing the disco and stuff like that. They get up early to spend that quality time just with their dad to do that one puzzle. And I'm like, wow, it's just like such a beautiful thing to witness.
Michael Bernzweig (40:56.472)
I love it and it sounds like it is an activity that touches every age and brings people together. So for anybody listening to B2B Creator Spotlight, what is amazing with the B2B Creator Spotlight is that there are so many different individuals from different walks of life listening to the episodes. We have been very, very fortunate that as the...
podcast is growing, we're reaching close to 75,000 listeners every month, so it's really grown. But we're to next on your journey in terms of ships, we're at the early part of 2026, what is on the horizon for you? Because I'm sure that you may meet some people that heard about you on the B2B Creator Spotlight that may
end up on one of those ships.
Monica (41:58.243)
That would be cool. I can tell you, which is extremely flattering for us, we do have a small following where people specifically book our cruise that we're on just so that they can do the puzzling. They love it so much. I've had maybe one person on three of our cruises, so we probably have done about 10 cruises now. I'm it's you again. was like, it's just so flattering.
Michael Bernzweig (42:15.086)
Sure.
Michael Bernzweig (42:23.714)
That was great.
Monica (42:25.317)
And you know, it might be a fluke that we see somebody again and they're like, you're on this cruise and they're so excited. I know a fun story. I've had a few, again, they're not necessarily college, like I'm going to say high school. Children, I shouldn't say they're children, people on the cruise and the parents were so worried.
What are they going to do on a transatlantic? It's going to be so boring for them. They found the puzzling. These guys come down every day. And again, the parents come and they go, we are so glad you were on this cruise because we were so worried. What is this? What is our child going to do? So that is a fun, rewarding thing. And just going back to what we have coming up. So in March, we're on the Odyssey of the Seas.
and we're leaving from New Jersey, it's a transatlantic, and we're going to Barcelona. So I think there's probably eight sea days, so we'll have eight puzzling sessions on there. And then in the fall, we're doing the Liberty of the Seas, and we're starting in the UK, Southampton, and we are going to end up in Galveston, Texas. Which is sort of cool because I know in the area, in Texas,
Michael Bernzweig (43:25.144)
Sure.
Monica (43:46.766)
There is a puzzle brand, and that is something that I like to do as well. If I'm sort of in the area, we travel a lot, and there's a puzzle brand, I like to do a visit and do a behind the scenes, look at this brand, and this is how a puzzle's made. Or I meet the owner, and we do a, just like this, we do a little interview. you, mine's like, the little reel I make is like a minute or two minute.
just to give them some exposure. if I know if I'm traveling somewhere and there's a puzzle brand there, or even if it's a puzzle follower, if it's someone that's following me and they really love puzzles, I'll reach out to them and I'll say, hey, I'm in town. Do you want to meet for a coffee and we'll chat puzzles? I do that a lot.
Michael Bernzweig (44:14.424)
Sure.
Michael Bernzweig (44:36.206)
That's a lot of fun, that's a lot of fun. So for anybody that's listening that would like to get in touch, what's the best channel to reach out to you on?
Monica (44:45.379)
Instagram is really good, puzzled about everything. If you just did a Google search, puzzled about everything, my website would come up. You'd see that I'm on YouTube, I'm on TikTok, but Instagram is what I like to do. We sort of touched about technology. I sort of went along the path on YouTube and TikTok. It's not my forte. A lot of work for me. And I said, no, I'm following Instagram. That's where I do good. That's what I want to do. I don't want to over...
exposed myself like work too hard because it is a hobby. This is fun and you could get caught up in it and be on all these different platforms. All of a sudden it's not fun anymore and you are working and that's something we decided a long time ago. This is still fun and as long as it's fun we're going to continue with this.
Michael Bernzweig (45:36.054)
I love it. Well, on that note, I really appreciate your taking out the time to join us on the B2B Creator Spotlight this week. And one never knows who you will encounter at that next puzzling event. So Monica, thank you so much for joining us this week.
Monica (45:55.149)
Thank you so much, Michael. Have a great day.