Sail away with Laura and Bill

Since you can't go out on a luxury cruise, Laura Sable and Bill Wiemuth are bringing the cruise to you.

The Coeur d'Alene husband and wife, who work in the entertainment industry, have created the "Virtual Cruise with Laura Sable and Bill Wiemuth" experience to deliver adventure, history, entertainment and more to audience members who want to be whisked away without having to leave their homes.

The first "cruises" launched in August.

"We've had so many people email us. I've been in tears so many times," Sable said Wednesday. "We’ll get an email from people who are completely homebound who said that the cruise was such a blessing to them. People have said, 'This is so wonderful,' and they can watch it again."

Here's how it works: After guests register for a cruise through the website, www.historyhighlights.com, they receive a "departure" date. When the cruise begins, they will start receiving the seven-day online experience of daily emails. Each email will include multiple links to videos and other content that recreates the onboard cruise experience of the region, port by port. For example: Alaska Virtual Cruise DAY ONE - Juneau, Ala. will include a talk highlighting the port and sites around the area, a wildlife talk on whales, a mixology class to create a "glacier cocktail," a musical performance and a reading of a Robert W. Service poem. Plus, each email includes a preview of the next day and links to further exploration websites. And each day, each port of call has completely new and different programs.

"The great thing is that all of the programs are available to enjoy any time," Sable said. "We had some guests who played along and did the events daily and some that took the slow boat and watched the videos over several weeks."

So many travelers who have had to cancel cruises and other travel plans this year have really appreciated the virtual cruise, she said.

"We even had guests who 'took the cruise' with family members and friends in other parts of the country," she said. "Those stories have made all of the hard work worthwhile."

Sable and Wiemuth refer to this type of immersive, well-rounded experience as "infotainment."

“It’s not your dry, boring lecture, I promise you,” Sable said. "Some of it we do together, and my husband is a genius about it, and about telling all the juicy history stories."

Each cruise is just $39 and the content never expires.

A special holiday departure for virtual cruises on the Columbia and Snake rivers and to Alaska will be Dec. 19. It will include all of the regular content plus a bonus holiday musical performance, a caroling sing-along and a Christmas trivia. The experience can be given as a gift as well.

"We love using music and storytelling to share some fun and inspiration," Wiemuth said.