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Volunteer Princess Cruises is a small, family owned and operated business consisting of four full-time employees and several part time employees that work as crew. Each family member works year-round and performs multiple duties on an everyday basis to make sure the Volunteer Princess offers a unique and memorable experience for its guests.
The captains of the Volunteer Princess are Coast Guard certified and licensed professionals whose highest priority is the safety and security of our passengers. Each possess a 100 Ton Masters Coast Guard License.
All ship employees and wait staff are professionally trained by our captain to perform all necessary safety drills. Nowhere else will you find a staff and crew so dedicated to both your safety and enjoyment on-board.
Walter LeMasurier, President Walter, our English boss man, has lived around the world! Coming from London, he has shared his English quirks with Ontario, Peru, Miami and Kuwait. How he ended up in Knoxville is a mystery, but we’re glad to have him! You can find Walter in three different places: greeting each and every guest that arrives, washing dishes in the galley with his wife, Beverly, or taking a nap in one of our leather chairs. If you discover him sleeping, make all the noise you want, he won’t wake up. He is a successful business man, with his experiences in finance and property taxes. Walter would also say he is successful at bugging one of our crew members, Madelyn. His favorite yacht cuisines are the shrimp and cheesecake, though not necessarily together (we hope). Walter is determined to keep the Princess operationally sound, as well as meet every person on board.
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| Beverly LeMasurier, Vice PresidentIf there is one person on the Princess that you should get to know, it’s Beverly. She is our cooking, cleaning and event planning extraordinaire. The crew knows not to mess with her; I mean, she IS the one that feeds the poor college crew members! Heads up crew: she’s wanting to introduce new menu items! Coming from Chicago, San Francisco and Ft. Lauderdale. Beverly knows her way around. She has also worked in Pigeon Forge before finally settling in Knoxville with her hubby, Walter. Her hobbies are volunteering, shopping and spending time with friends, but you’ll most likely find her in the galley cooking up a storm! Guests should stop by and peak their head in to say hello. This friendly lady is all about talking and meeting new people. She might even give you an extra bite of her gourmet meals!
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Chris LeMasurier, Captain and VP Operations and Webmaster Chris is our all-American, southern-bred captain, wake-boarder and professional water tuber. He graduated at University of Tennessee in 2006 with a Business Management degree, but decided to attain his US Coast Guard 100 Ton Master Captain’s license in 2007. Who could blame him? He works on the river everyday with his wife, Nikki, and parents. Chris is always ready for a challenge, whether that be docking the boat in windy weather, working on our yacht’s engines in the 100-degree engine room or being the coach of the unruly VPC softball team. Though his short-term goal is a bit unattainable (wakeboarding behind the Princess... yeah right), his plan to keep the yacht in ideal condition is quite successful.
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Nikki LeMasurier, Cruise Coordinator Nikki was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee and moved to Knoxville in May 2003 to work towards her degree in Early Childhood Education. She has worked at VPC for over five years, after marrying her captain charming, Chris LeMasurier. She plans to become a kindergarten or first grade teacher, but for now, she has her hands tied with teaching and looking after Chris, Walter and Beverly in the office... and sometimes her two dogs! Nikki is our events coordinator on board and loves to plan events, interact with our guests and give her mother-in-law, “Chef Bev” as Nikki likes to say, a helping hand in the galley. When asked about working with clients, Nikki says, “By the time their event rolls around, they have become my friend and literally a part of our family.” She likes to evaluate a cruise based on the number of hugs she gets as people disembark. So please, give her a big bear hug before you journey home!
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| Max ArcheyBeing from the outdoorsy town of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Max loves anything to do with water and athletics. Seeing as though he’s worked on VPC since last December, he’s put in his sweat time on the Princess’s stairs and working on the water (perfect fit!). Max’s major is kinesiology and when asked his short-term goals, he responds, “Right now I’m just kind of in college and going with the flow.” What does that even mean? Don’t you worry, though. Max has a good head on his shoulders; that’s the only reason Captain Chris lets him drive our stretch golf cart to take out the trash.
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Neil Johnson Local Knoxvillian, Neil is a biology grad, but isn’t the stereotypical glasses-wearing, book worm. He loves spending time on the lake and singing karaoke. Thankfully, we will spare you from listening to his… ahem... unique sound, though he does enjoy requesting songs to our DJs. He’s been working for VPC since Cinco de Mayo in 2011 and if that didn’t make him want to run away, then this power man is here to stay! Neil is also on our softball team and dreams to hit a walk off homer to win the championship. The season starts this August, so we at least know we have our positive go-getter team member!
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| Madelyn MartinMadelyn is also from Knoxville and has been working at VPC since October of 2010. You’ll find her on the ship talking to everybody, but she mainly loves giving our beloved Walter a hard time. She attends The University of Tennessee, while majoring in Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management; and no, she doesn’t abbreviate it when asked. Other than playing tennis and socializing with her sorority sisters, Madelyn is learning how to cook. Side note: You will not find her in the galley with Beverly, if you know what we mean.
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| Kevin NowellTo put it shortly, Kevin is our personal comedic relief. Brother to our events coordinator, Nikki, Kevin has worked for VPC for five years. By day, he’s an insurance producer, training to be an actuary. By night, he is one of our master bartenders. His social hobbies include tennis, camping and paddling. His solo-hobbies include reading and going to the movie theatre by himself, really! He loves enjoying films with his own, unshared popcorn and coke. Kevin is great at posing for camera pictures (check out our Facebook albums), discussing the latest pop culture and getting everybody to enjoy their time on the yacht! He also wants to make sure you choose the cheesecake.
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| Ashley ParkerAs a Communication Studies major, it is no surprise that Ashley is a talkative one! Not only can she talk for hours, but she is also a very talented singer. We are hoping that she will give us all signed copies if she records an album because we know they will be worth millions one day. Speaking of millions, when asked what her favorite thing to do is on the yacht, she smiles and, without hesitation, answers that she loves making money (such a typical response from a college student). Ashley also loves to travel and one day plans on moving back to her hometown of Orlando, FL. With a family of Gator fans, we are thankful that Ashley still decided to come to the University Tennessee and cheer on the Vols!
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| Devon SwansonEven though Devon is from the mountains out west in Colorado, she is a southern girl at heart. A junior and a Marketing major at the University of Tennessee, she loves country music and Volunteer football (more specifically the dreamy Derek Dooley). She is an event-planning guru, always scrolling through wedding and party-planning blogs. We're just hoping she doesn't faint from excitement every time we have a wedding on board! When she isn't navigating through Pinterest (her admitted addiction), she loves to spend time with her sorority sisters and has recently taken up hiking. Maybe the Smokies remind her a little of those Rocky Mountains she calls home.
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| Matt BurkhartMatt, our talkative and tech-savvy crew member, has been working for us since December 2011. He is currently working on getting his associates degree in video production and film making so you will most likely find him trying to capture the perfect Kodak moment for our guest! While film making is his first love native Knoxvillian Matt also loves everything about being on the water. He spends his spare time boating, wakeboarding and wakesurffing, and jokingly plans to challenge Captain Chris to a wakeboarding competition behind the Volunteer Princess (we’ll see how that works out!). All around Matt is a great guy, but keep an eye out if you order the queso dip (it is his favorite!), because he may try to distract you with a funny story and steal your appetizer.
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