"Why I love cruising" by Ken Bruce

As told to David Stephenson

Ken Bruce, 74, is a broadcasting legend. With a famously dry wit and his trademark Scottish burr, he has commanded the airwaves for four decades, first on BBC Radio 2 and now on Greatest Hits Radio. His signature quiz, PopMaster, is more popular than ever. He lives in Oxfordshire and has six children aged 15 to 43 from his three marriages, as well as three grandchildren.

It’s one of those holidays that just has everything

I’m very fond of cruises. I think they’re a fine way to holiday. I’ve been on two Saga ocean cruises in the last couple of months, not full cruises because of my weekday commitment to radio shows, but I popped on for a weekend.

I’m always very happy to be back on board. There’s a certain serenity about it when you’re at sea, and just the proximity of everything is great. You don’t have to walk far to get your food, to get a drink, to have a nice sitting place and to get back to bed. It’s all within easy reach, lots of fresh air. And then, on the port calls, you’ve got a day out. It’s one of those holidays that just has everything.

I found my sea legs as a child – on the North Sea

It was a bad ship crossing when I was nine years of age, from Newcastle to Bergen in Norway with my family. It was a force eight gale across the North Sea. It wasn’t good. On the way back, it was a force eight again, maybe even got to a force nine.

But it didn’t bother me at all. So maybe that was when I got my sea legs. I’ve been a good sailor ever since, certainly on ships of a decent size, like car ferries. I enjoy being on the open sea and especially during the two Saga short cruises.

I once enlisted my entire family to do a cruise

A couple of years ago, I took the family on a cruise to Spain and Portugal, taking in Bilbao, Lisbon and Cadiz. At the time, I think the kids were between 15 and 20. My wife and I weren’t sure that it would work for everybody, but thought it was worth a try for a short cruise. Actually, the whole family did enjoy it, everybody. It quite surprised me.

I enjoyed fielding questions from radio fans during my recent Saga cruises

People are very respectful, generally speaking. If I sit in a bar, then for about 10 minutes, I’m left on my own. But after about 10 minutes, people will come up. “Excuse me, I don’t mean to interrupt.” And that’s fine. That’s lovely. And they get a selfie or something like that. That’s fine, too. I’m there to be talked to and I do genuinely like meeting people who listen to the show. There’s no downside. I really enjoy it.

The one question everyone asks about PopMaster?

A common query that comes up is asking about people who cheat at PopMaster: “How do you stop people cheating?” Well, I can’t. But it’s like the game of golf – you’re trusted to be honest about it.

Sometimes I’m aware that people are getting help from somewhere, but I can’t do anything because I’m not there. We’re not like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and have somebody in their house watching them. I can’t say “You’re getting help or you are cheating”. So I just have to allow it, and I have certain strategies that I can employ, which I’m not going to give away, which can mitigate the effects of cheating. I have ways of cutting down the opportunities of cheating.

I can pack in about 20 minutes

I do my own packing. I have a suitcase of my own and a packing list on my iPhone. It’s just a reminder – passport, medications, phone chargers, but also the number of clothes that I need to take for particular places. I can pack in about 20 minutes. I’m the fastest.

My favourite travel destination

My wife and I went to Mauritius in 2000 when we got married. It was absolutely beautiful. We had a lovely, lovely time.

As well as the fabulous food and quiet beaches, we went walking on the seabed, wearing a kind of oxygen hood. My wife is very, very nervous about such things, and I’m not 100% either, but we were well looked after, and we were able to walk on the seabed. We couldn’t talk, but we made little signs to each other. I could tell the level of her stress by the tightness of the grip on my arm. I think I’ve still got the scars.

I’m well-travelled thanks to radio broadcasting

I’ve been very lucky at work, because I’ve been to some places I would never have normally gone to, such as Eurovision Song contests. So, I’ve seen most of the countries of Europe at least once and attended the broadcast from the Olympics in South Korea in 1988. That was a really interesting place.

I mean, I was stuck in a basement with no window for quite a lot of the time broadcasting. But we did get to enjoy the nightlife of Seoul and managed at the end of the trip to take an excursion out into the countryside and go on a river boat and eat the local cuisine.

I’ve no plans to retire

A round-the-world trip would be absolutely fascinating. Three months or something might be about the maximum. I do run into the problems of still doing a daily radio show. I would also like to go to Australia, and New Zealand. But I’ve got no plans to retire. I intend to keep going for as long as I can and as long as I’m wanted. I’ll still be on Greatest Hits radio, planning to do three more years, with a new contract from next year.

Join Ken on our Celestial Canary Islands cruise, departing January 5, 2026.