One of my all-time favorite charter brokers, Ann Landry, has left her position with Merrill-Stevens Yachts and will now be booking charters through the Fort Lauderdale office of Northrop & Johnson.

“We’re very excited. We’re thrilled,” Charlie Petosa, Northrop & Johnson’s chief operating officer, told me by telephone a few minutes ago. He added that an official press release will go out this afternoon, including Ann’s new contact information: alandry@njyachts.com.

I also spoke briefly with Ann, whom I caught on her cell phone as she drove to her new office for her first morning with the company. She, too, is excited about joining Northrop & Johnson–where she will continue to book crewed yacht charters just as she always has.

If you want to learn more about Ann’s experience as a reputable charter broker, you can read this interview that I did with her for the CharterWave Brokers section. Petosa told me he sent a link to that CharterWave page to all of Northrop & Johnson’s employees, as well, so you know the information you’re getting is as up to date as what industry insiders are seeing this morning.

The Los Angeles Times posted an interesting article a few days ago about newly proposed state legislation in California that would require cruise ships to have “peace officers” onboard.

The idea is that the peace officer would function as an air marshal does on airplanes, serving as an independent authority who is not on the cruise ship company’s payroll. The officers would ensure that cruise ships follow environmental regulations, and they would oversee investigations in cases of crimes committed against passengers.

“Onboard security works for the cruise line–not for the passengers and not for the public,” the Times quotes Senator Joe Simitian, the bill’s sponsor, as saying. “There’s an inherent conflict of interest between the public relations goals of the employer and the public safety requirements of the passenger.”

I bring this to your attention here on CharterWave because it is just the latest in a long line of examples of the cruise ship industry facing ever-tougher scrutiny about its safety record regarding crimes against passengers. You’ve read my earlier posts about the U.S. Congress trying to develop some oversight, and now even state lawmakers are getting into the mix to try to ensure that cruise ship passengers are safe.

That so much energy is being spent by lawmakers trying to solve the cruise ship crime problem–and that so much energy is being spent by the cruise ship industry to block regulatory efforts–should be a huge red flag if you’re considering a cruise ship vacation. There are serious concerns about passenger safety onboard these ships, as well as serious concerns about environmental damage.

The yacht charter industry, by contrast, faces no such demand for change. Charter is, quite simply, a safer and more environmentally friendly way to enjoy a cruise vacation.

It’s time for a straw poll, my valued readers: How many of you would be interested in listening to radio interviews with the reputable charter brokers, captains, chefs, and other boating professionals who are featured regularly here on CharterWave?

I’m trying to gauge interest, as I have been offered an opportunity to create a new radio talk show about the charter and cruising lifestyle.

It seems that one of the radio interviews I did for the new edition of my charter book, Dream Cruises, caught the attention of a programming director at a national syndication company. He thinks there might be an audience for a weekend afternoon travel talk show that focuses on boating, and on charter vacations in particular, and he has asked me to consider being the host.

So I now am trying to determine how many of CharterWave’s existing 50,000 annual readers would be interested in listening to charter news and information in addition to reading about it. My hope is that at least some of the audience will carry over to the new medium, to form a base of listeners from which the show can build worldwide.

I would do interviews with chefs and captains, interviews from boat shows and actual charters, interviews with brokers, and the like. The radio show would start out online (you could download each weekly edition here on CharterWave, in libraries, and elsewhere), and as the audience builds, the show would hopefully move into what they call “terrestrial radio”–the kind people listen to in their cars and homes.

Does this sound like something that would appeal to you? Please let me know either way, as I am trying to decide whether to pursue the opportunity. You can reply to this blog’s comments section, or e-mail me directly at kim@charterwave.com.