Nearly 30 years ago Norwegian Cruise Line (“NCL”) sponsored an annual jazz cruise on the old SS Norway. This program was a special "group", meaning that it shared the ship with other passengers. Though this form of jazz cruise had its limitations, it was very successful and provided the foundation for the growth of Jazz Cruises, LLC.

During those early years of NCL’s Jazz Cruise, Anita E. Berry quickly became the largest group leader in terms of the number of guests she produced for the cruise. Eventually her group was so large that NCL asked her to become involved in the production of the cruise, the selection of the artists, the ports-of-call and other aspects of the cruise’s development.

But all of this came to a stop in 2000, when NCL decided to terminate their theme cruises. This setback did not stop Anita, who decided that she had the resources (guest list, cruise expertise, relationships with musicians and finances) to go it on her own. More than that, she had always wanted the “holy grail” of theme cruises, a full ship charter. What ensued was the beginning of Jazz Cruises, LLC.