'Seeing the world changed me forever': Drew Barrymore talks MSC Cruises ad, travel tips

Drew Barrymore has added a new role to her lengthy resume. The actress and talk show host is adding cruise ship singer to her CV - sort of.

Barrymore will star alongside Orlando Bloom in MSC Cruises’ first-ever Super Bowl commercial, set to air on Feb. 9. In a teaser released Thursday, the pair can be seen hanging out by a piano on an MSC ship while Barrymore fittingly belts out a rendition of Madonna’s “Holiday.”

The ad will air in the midst of a major U.S. expansion for the Europe-based company. Following the debut of its forthcoming MSC World America ship in April, the line will add a new homeport in Galveston, Texas, this fall and launch Alaska cruises next year.

Barrymore spoke with USA TODAY about working with MSC, her favorite cruise memories and her love of RV travel. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Question: What made you want to work with MSC on this commercial?

Answer: I am a voracious and avid traveler. Ever since I was 7 years old, we got lucky enough to be sent around the world on the press tour for “E.T.” and that was my first time traveling. I literally had only gone to Palm Springs, which – I lived in Los Angeles, so it was like a drive – and I'd never been anywhere, and seeing the world changed me forever.

And I'm self-educated. I didn't go to a proper school, and books and travel were my education. For me, personally, I've had such a better understanding of the differences in how we all approach things, and it's made me a far less judgmental person. It's made me a much more open-minded person. I don't know who I would be without it.

I also am usually the planner of a lot of the trips I take. I don't know if it's my age or I'm just working a lot, but lately, for the first time in my whole life I don't want to be the aggregator. And this is so new, because I'm like, “No, no, I'm going to pick all the restaurants, the hotel, the activities, I want to do it,” because I've enjoyed that. But for the first time in my life, I'm having some type of wish that someone else would take care of it and show me things that I'm not picking … And so, I think if someone can take you somewhere and plan the trip, you can let go, you can feel relaxed and know that things are taken care of – and you can see a lot of places. And so, with all of that in mind, when this came my way, I looked immediately at their prices, and I looked immediately at their routes, and I was like, “Sign me up.”

Q: What was the process like?

A: I think the sort of impetus for the commercial is, like, European and America and how they're coming here. This is how a European would represent and approach it and say it and do it and reference it, and this is how an American would do it and approach it and reference it.

And I got lucky: they told me it would be Orlando Bloom. I have not really met him or know him. It turns out we have friends in common, but we don't know each other. So, I sort of looked at (the ad) very pragmatically. I was like, OK, maybe we could make it sort of mini rom-coms, but that isn't super in the romantic (category), more like companion because he's married with a family and I know that. And I'm single, so if you're telling me (the cruise is) only for couples, that's not going to be for me.

So we're not a couple (in the commercial). We're like two companions who are giving two different perspectives. And I just was hoping it would come out a certain way, and it did. I really liked Orlando from the moment I heard he wanted to talk beforehand because not everybody does that. And you kind of show up, and you're like, “Hi, we're supposed to pretend to have chemistry and like to know each other.” And the second I heard that, I was like, I'm safe. I'm with a good person.

Q: The teaser has a really fun energy.

A: And then our director was like, “Throw it away more.” And I was like, Oh my God. Like, I'm such a ham. And I always hear from directors, like, “Less.” And so I was nervous because I was, like, I don't want to seem flippant. And it all came out perfect. And we loved the director. … It was a good little triangle we created.

Q: Do you have any favorite memories from cruises?

A: Yes, I have cruised, and I really love it. And so I knew going into this that I was all for it. I'm a Pisces. I love the ocean. I'm a water girl, a California girl who grew up right near the beach. I mean, not right near the beach, but 40 minutes from the beach. And so I love the feeling of being on a boat. Sleeping on a boat is a magical experience. And so I just went into it with, like, I love travel. I love boats. This is so fun. And it all just kind of lined up for me.

Q: Are there any particular parts of the world or cities that you love to visit when you're on vacation?

A: I try to go everywhere. It's rare that I repeat places because I think I'm trying to, like, read every book or go to every place. My kids and I, we just went to Vietnam, and we went to Singapore and Australia over the summer. And we're gonna go to Tokyo for spring break. So I think somehow we're like, “Where's the farthest place that we're going to cram into a short period of time and rock a bunch of jet lag?” We seem to be picking those places lately.

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But I also really love traveling in an RV. Like, if an RV commercial ever comes my way, hold me back. Wild horses couldn't stop me from doing that. I think I really started to appreciate travel that's not the traditional airplane travel, also, like cars, RVs, trains, boats. Sometimes you have to take planes to get there, even, but sort of like, what's going to make you feel the least tethered and the most free? And, like, live out of your bag and see things? So, I think something like a cruise actually feels like traveling light because you're seeing all these places, but you're not doing that airport shuffle, which can get tough.

I just drove an RV from New York to Miami through the Carolinas, and that was awesome. I can't wait to do that again. I like to find weird places all over the country – and I don't mean to say weird, but I like to research, like, a hotel in the middle of nowhere and just go there and see what it's like. But I'm not an avoider of tourist stuff, too. I kind of want to do everything.

One of the things that has always been something that I've done, that I love recommending to people, is ask people when you get there. It could be a fellow traveler, it could be a local, but start asking questions to people, and you're going to find things you just wouldn't find in a magazine or on a website.

Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at ndiller@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Drew Barrymore talks MSC Cruises commercial, RV trips and more