Kay Showker is a veteran writer, photographer and lecturer on travel. Her assignments have taken her to more than one hundred countries in the Caribbean and around the world. She has authored several guidebooks including, Caribbean Ports of Call: Western Region; Caribbean Ports of Call: Eastern and Southern Regions (winner of the Best Guidebook Award by the Caribbean Tourism Organization); and the Unofficial Guide to Cruises (named Best Travel Guidebook of the Year in 1996). She served as a senior editor at Travel Weekly and has written for such leading travel publications as National Geographic Traveler, Travel and Leisure, and Caribbean Travel among others. She was a member of America Online’s creative team for “Cruise Critic,” for which she wrote the “Ports of Call” segment. A native of Kingsport, Tennessee, Ms. Showker received a master’s degree in international affairs from the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C., and a B.A. from Mary Washington University; she also studied at the American University at Cairo, Cairo University and Georgetown University. She is the recipient of numerous awards for her travel writing and was the first travel writer to receive the Sucrier d’Or –– a professional achievement award given by the government of Martinique. She has served as a consultant to government and private organizations on travel and tourism. Ms. Showker lives in New York City.