Mikkel went looking for a podcast about small ship cruising and discovered something surprising: the show she wanted to listen to didn’t exist.
So she and her husband created it.
Small Ship Cruise Talk focuses specifically on cruises with 1,000 passengers or fewer—and often ships carrying fewer than 200 people. Built on years of experience as travel writers and content creators, the podcast has become another way for Mikkel and her husband to educate travelers, share their experiences, and introduce more people to a type of cruising many don’t even realize exists.
In this episode of My Podcast Story, Mikkel shares why they waited several years before finally starting the podcast, what producing a weekly video and audio show actually looks like behind the scenes, why batching isn’t always as easy as people make it sound, and how AI tools have made podcast production far less overwhelming.
We also talk about building in an extremely specific niche, growing the podcast through an existing audience, turning episodes into a larger content ecosystem, securing their first sponsor as a relatively new show, and why sometimes you have to start moving before you can figure out where to course-correct.
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Connect with Mikkel
Website: https://smallshipcruisetalk.com
Travel Website: https://sometimessailing.com
Instagram & Threads: @sometimessailing
YouTube: @sometimes-sailing
Podcast: Small Ship Cruise Talk
Chapters
00:00 Creating the Podcast She Couldn't Find
00:44 Meet Mikkel
01:04 What Small Ship Cruise Talk Is About
01:18 Why Such a Specific Podcast Niche Works
01:52 How They Chose the Podcast Name
02:36 Building on an Existing Travel Audience
04:16 Why Their First Attempt at Podcasting Didn't Happen
04:34 Why 2021 Wasn't the Right Time
05:03 Waiting Until the Business and Technology Were Ready
06:15 Why Podcasting Finally Became Less Overwhelming
06:38 The Difference Between Sometimes Sailing and Small Ship Cruise Talk
07:11 Launching the Podcast in March 2025
08:13 Why So Many Podcasts Struggle With Consistency
11:22 Publishing One Podcast Episode Every Week
12:34 The Biggest Challenge in the First Six Months
12:52 The Never-Ending Podcast Production Flywheel
14:18 Why Batching Episodes Isn't Always Easy
16:24 How They Initially Promoted the Podcast
17:14 Growing Through Email and Social Media
18:23 Why Mikkel Loves Small Ship Cruising
19:10 Helping Travelers Discover a Different Kind of Cruise
20:45 Why the Small Ship Cruise Market Is Growing
21:42 The Dream of Having a Podcast Production Team
23:26 Why You Have to Start Before You Can Course-Correct
25:13 The AI Tools Behind the Podcast
25:41 Using Buzzsprout to Publish Everywhere
27:04 Using AI for Titles, Descriptions, and Thumbnail Ideas
28:10 Google Docs and Sheets for Podcast Organization
29:03 Using Canva for Podcast Graphics
29:53 Creating Podcast Clips With Riverside
33:26 Podcasting Tools Mikkel Wants to Explore
33:39 Learning From Podcasting Communities
34:24 How Adobe Enhance Saved a Bad Recording
35:58 More Tools Behind the Production Workflow
36:09 Using PodMatch as a Podcast Guest
38:25 Guesting on Other Podcasts to Expand Their Reach
40:35 How the Podcast Fits Into the Travel Business
41:01 Landing Their First Podcast Sponsor
41:42 Why You Don't Need 10,000 Downloads to Get Sponsored
41:51 How Their First Sponsorship Happened
42:49 Growing the Podcast on YouTube
43:35 Applying to Speak About Podcast Sponsorship
45:22 What's Next for Small Ship Cruise Talk
45:32 Expanding Successful Podcast Topics Into Video
46:31 Integrating Podcast Episodes More Deeply With the Website
47:43 Finding More Sponsors and Growing the Show
48:09 Where to Find Small Ship Cruise Talk
