Lido Loop Podcast
Lido Loop is a podcast dedicated to the joy of cruising and theme parks, hosted by Jack and Jesse, blending travel insight, industry news, and personal stories to inspire your next adventure.
Lido Loop Podcast
The Lido Loop: Let's Go on a Cruise - Planning a Cruise and Breaking Down Costs.
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Jack and Jesse are back with a brand new episode of The Lido Loop Podcast!
In cruise news, the guys break down a new paid experience from Norwegian Cruise Line that might feel a bit overpriced, while Carnival rolls out a brand-new express dining option. Plus, it looks like Tampa may no longer be getting its long-anticipated second cruise port.
Over on the theme park side, Six Flags Over Texas introduces a new chaperone policy while also dealing with heavy spring break crowds, and SeaWorld makes headlines for both positive developments and ongoing controversies involving a lawsuit from Elmo himself.
Finally, the debut of a brand-new segment, “Let’s Go on a Cruise,” has Jack and Jesse diving into the essentials—when to go, what to expect (including those hidden fees), and which onboard experiences are actually worth your money… and which ones you can skip.
Welcome to this week's episode of the Leto Loop. I am your host, Jack McCraw. With me as always, my good friend, Jesse Barboza. How are we doing today? I'm doing good. Glad to be back. Hey, glad to be back again as well. It's been a long week for all of us, but tell us what's on the show today.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so the first thing is that it looks like Norwegians charging a ridiculous amount to watch a show. And uh Carnival Cruise Line rolls out express dining. And it looks like there's not gonna be a new cruise port in the port of Tampa.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's gonna be wild when we talk about the cruise news and for the theme park side. Six Flags is introducing a brand new chaperone policy because kids can't behave. SeaWorld has some good news for fans, but some bad news for their investors and potential lawsuits on their hands. That when we start a new series, let's go on a cruise where we talk about all of the hidden costs of booking a cruise. That and much more on this week's episode of the Lido Loop. So kicking off the show, we're gonna talk about a certain cruise line. Jesse, they're charging people to go to shows. Now, normally, when you go on any sort of cruise ship, most of the entertainment is free, especially the shows. So, what makes this particular show worthy of being an upcharge?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so apparently on the Norwegian Luna, which is their newest ship that just came out, uh, they're gonna be having a show called Lunatique, which go figure, I think you gotta be Lunatic, but they're gonna be charging $45 per person to watch this show. Yes, it is gonna include four specialty cocktails, a souvenir glass, and of course gratuities included. It's very like interactive show, like a cabernet style circus show.
SPEAKER_01But what makes it worth the $45 attraction? And honestly, what if you have the drink package? Why do you have to pay for more drinks if you already have the drink package?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's definitely the biggest complaint because if you have the free Etsy or the more Etsy, depending on what package you got, you already got the drinks included. So you're technically you're getting paying $45 for a souvenir glass and the show that a lot of people probably don't like. It is a uh it's gonna be in a smaller venue show, and you have to be 21 plus to see. But me personally, I don't think it's worth it at all. I as a person who really doesn't like seeing shows at all. I don't know. Do you like seeing shows, Jack?
SPEAKER_01I do, but I'm certainly not gonna pay $45. That's Vegas level comedian, you know, Piff the Magic Dragon, Jeff Dunham in Las Vegas. I don't think I could ever spend that much money on a show. I would rather spend that $45 playing blackjack or something else or getting more drinks after my drink package is done. Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Like for a family of four be $180. Yeah, like I said, yeah, we did talk about it, like it does include drinks, but if you have a drink package, it's definitely not worth it.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say this m has to be some sort of like Cirque de Soleil level show for even charge that amount. I it's very ridiculous that cruises already nickel and dime you, and I we're gonna talk about this when our booking a cruise later on in the show, but that's just absurd that to upcharge someone for that. I'd I'd rather go spend that money at the steakhouse or something or something nicer than just seeing a regular show. Yeah, absolutely. At least you get food out of it. And speaking of dining, I'm hearing Carnival is rolling out a brand new express dining package. Jesse, you want to break that down a little bit for us?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so basically Carnival knows that you're busy on a cruise ship, you want to see shows and all that. So they have rolled out this option of express dining, which is only available for your time dining guests. So before you book a cruise, you make sure you select the option your time dining. Uh basically, it's a fast version of the main dining room dinner. You know, of course, the same type of vibe and all that. It's a full course meal just like normal, but it's done in over an hour. So it's right now it's only available for groups of six or fewer. I'm guessing if there's a bunch of people, it's still of course it's gonna take a long time, so that makes sense. Uh, of course, it's in the same dining room as you normally do it. Do it, you basically just go on that hub app and uh you select the time you want to go and then uh choose the express dining option, and then when you get to it, they'll get you in and out other hour. There are a few things that a lot of people might not like. One thing is that it's a shorter menu, so they're just gonna have like about four appetizers, four options on the entrees, and I think there's like two desserts, but they are still gonna have the carnival malt and cake, which definitely is the option. But Jack, is this something you think you might do?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and to kind of piggyback off your point a little bit, this happened to me about almost two years ago when all of us went on the Carnival Breeze. I really wanted to watch the NBA finals, but we had our dining started at six, so I was trying to get in and out as quickly as possible. And I remember leaving before the dining ended so I can go catch the Mavericks and Celtics. And most of y'all know I'm a big sports fan, so did not want to miss that game. So having that option to have Express Dining when let's say there's a game on, or let's say you just want to go to the casino a little earlier than normal, or even catch multiple shows, because you know sometimes shows coincide with your dining time. I like that it gives us and Carnival's patrons an option to have a shorter diner, a shorting dining experience and do multiple things. Personally, I kind of like the longer dining experience just because I do like the show aspect and I do love the service that they give at their dining restaurants, but it's nice that they do offer this option.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. And and I definitely like that too. But honestly, most of the time I do cruise in groups more than six, so most of the time this option would not be for me. But uh it is nice that they do give us the option. Of course, you can still eat at the buffet, which I'm not a big buffet person, I'd rather eat the dining room. I don't know about you, Jack, but but I mean I like Guys burgers in the day and the dining at night.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's that's living the dream right there for sure. And sometimes from Guys Barbecue, depending on the ship. And kind of piggybacking off that point, there might be some people upset they won't be able to try any Guy's burgers or guys barbecue in the new cruise port that they're not gonna build in Tampa anymore, Jesse. What's the latest on Tampa's no longer building that cruise port?
SPEAKER_00So technically it's definitely not off the bull off the books of getting a new cruise ship in Tampa, but it's basically shut down. Because apparently uh there's they signed DeSantis actually signed a bill, which DeSantis is the governor of Florida. They s he signed a bill saying that there is gonna be no dredging allowed, which is basically where they go and they take all the soil and sand from the bottom of the ocean where the ports are where the ships are supposed to be, and so that the bigger ships can come in and out without, you know, of course, going like hitting the sand.
SPEAKER_01Like they're taking the sand out of those beaches areas and then so the ships can go in and out of it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yes, yeah. Basically they're uh they're expecting a lot of environmental impact. And I in a way, I kinda in a way I'm not a big environmentalist, but they do I mean what what DeSantis did say is that there are plenty of cruise ports in in Florida, and this extra one, which is not needed absolutely, is just a waste of money.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because I feel like it would actually be a luxury to have an extra cruise port because as we talked about in previous episodes, there are seven cruise ports with Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Port Canaveral, Tampa already has one, Jacksonville, Palm Beach, and then there's a smaller one, of course, in Key West. So that's already seven cruise ports in Florida, and this would add another one. I think here in Texas we only have the one, and if we do have smaller ones, like Carnival definitely doesn't go to like Corpus Christi or Brownsville or anything like that. So it's a luxury to have as many cruise ports as Florida does, and most of their headquarters are in Florida anyway. So having I I like the idea on paper where you can have these bigger ships go to the Tampa area so they don't have to go to Cape Canaveral or drive all the way down to Miami or other ports to go be on these icon class ships. But in theory, it's it was a good idea, but in practicality, I don't it seems more like a luxury than a necessity.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I definitely agree. I mean, wherever you're at in Florida, you're within three to four hours of any cruise port. So I definitely don't think it's necessarily needed. I guess it was been nice to have, but uh to me it looks like it's not gonna happen.
SPEAKER_01I mean, realistically, if you live in the Tampa area and you want to go to Cape Canaveral, I mean Tampa to Orlando is about an hour and a half, and then Orlando to Cape Canaveral is an additional 30, 45 minutes. So realistically, you could just drive across the state in two and a half hours. You know, giving traffic, give or take, that's a big variable, but realistically speaking, they're not too, too far away from if they want to get on a bigger ship to go to Cape Canaveral. And of course, the Tampa port already has tons of ships that come in and out. So, like we said, this would just be a little bit more of a luxury than a necessity.
SPEAKER_00So that covers all of our cruise news. Uh, we are now going to be talking about theme park news. So, Jack, what's the Six Flags new chaperone policy?
SPEAKER_01So, this isn't something directly new with Six Flags, because this has been around in other parks, but it's the first time it's being implemented in Six Flags over Texas. So, in the past, kids would run around, run amok, especially at late at night, and just be unsupervised, get into fights, and just do dumb kid stuff. And I think it was Magic Mountain and Knott's Berry Farm that first implemented these chaperone policies either a year or two ago. Other parks have, you know, taken up on this policy, but now Six Flags Over Texas has introduced one where anyone who's under the age of 17 must be accompanied by someone who's 21 years or older. And I think this is at all times of the day. And this kind of coincides with the craziness that happened at the rodeo. So in here in Houston, we have the world's largest rodeo. There's a big fair. Uh, kids started getting into a fight, a lot of people started running and screaming, people sneaking into the rodeo. So now they have implemented a chaperone policy. So I kind of see this being the new norm for you know, not only just theme parks, but any kind of like entertainment experience where, hey, 17 year older, you gotta have an adult with you. What do you think, Jesse?
SPEAKER_00I mean, I I do remember as a kid as my parents would drop us off at Splashtown here in uh in Houston area, uh, and we would be probably 14, 15. We'd just be running all over the place and all that. And honestly, we we were pretty good kids and all that, but I don't know. I mean, because I I still think that that's 17 and under. Like, I think I think it should be like 15 and under.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say if you're uh illegally allowed to drive, I think you should know how to behave yourself at a theme park, but then again, that's just the you know society and world that we live in now where you just can't trust these kids because they do dumb things and getting in fights is a big problem. You know, there there it goes so much deeper into that, and then of course, in other you know, Six Flags Over Texas news, there have been videos about the lack of staff right now for spring break at Six Flags Over Texas, making lines just astronomically long. Now, you and I have talked about this in a previous episode, but the best time to go, honestly, to theme parks is during the summer when it's fully staffed and they have multiple trains running. Here at Six Flags Over Texas, they were having one train operation. There were lines as long as two to three hours for roller coasters. At that point, I might have just left and said, never mind, I'm gonna do something else.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, basically. So you think it's mainly like college kids that aren't out of school yet, or what do you think?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think that predominant Six Flag staff is college and high school kids that you know, this is their summer job. Of course, Six Flags does have their list of full-time employees and you know, much more work, much more workers during the that summertime. But I remember going to Fiesta, Texas a couple years ago during winter, like their winter nights, and they were running things at half staff just because they didn't have the staff to run everything at full capacity. Whereas when you and I and you know your family go to Fiesta, Texas in the summertime, it's completely full. We can walk on to most rides, I think, with the exception of Iron Rattler. That's the only one that usually has a line, but we've walked on several rides during the summertime.
SPEAKER_00So basically, Six Flags trust a 16-year-old to run a ride, but they cannot be by theirself in the park. That is the Six Flags way.
SPEAKER_01It's like you can't run around by yourself, but you can operate a ride that you know you put these people's lives in danger. So good luck, kids. So now talking about SeaWorld, what's up with SeaWorld not being able to pay their bills? So, yeah, they're being sued for multiple things, but the one I really want to talk about is the epic legal battle between Shamu and Elmo. And apparently SeaWorld has not been paying Sesame Street Workshop, which is the company, of course, that owns Sesame Street since 2022. And they Sesame Street Workshop is now suing SeaWorld for unpaid royalties, and they are quote damaging the brand by not keeping up with with their Sesame Street parts of the park. And that's that's a fair point. When we went to Busch Gardens, it's not necessarily the cleanest part of the park when you walk through Sesame Street to you know try to get to Iron Gwazi. It's almost like an area you have to walk through, and it's it's not the best part of the park, let's put it that way. But SeaWorld has had this partnership with Sesame Street for decades, and this isn't the first time that they've been in, you know, legal trouble, it's just the most recent one. So what could happen is that the court could award Sesame Street damages and more importantly, end the partnership entirely. So there is a lot of Sesame Street theming in SeaWorld Parks, and to see that all go away, and then SeaWorld would no longer have an intellectual property, with the exception of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. Now, no offense to Rudolph and friends, but I don't think they're exactly bringing in you know kids like Sesame Street would.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. Um, I definitely think that they just need to pay the bills. It seems like they would have by now pulled the partnership as it is because they're not getting paid for it. Uh, but I'm thinking the Sesame Street's just kind of hanging on for one last hope, I'm guessing. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01I mean, are they just being too nice to SeaWorld? I understand that most theme parks couldn't pay their bills during the COVID times, and you and I talked off air that SeaWorld wasn't even paying the city of San Diego during that time. So SeaWorld already has a questionable reputation because of, you know, the animals, and this just adds on top of that with you know not being able to pay their bills to not only the city, but also their licensing agreements. And you know, if I'm anyone with an intellectual property that wants to give it to SeaWorld theme park, I would really, really think twice, especially if they're not paying Sesame Street, which let's be honest, how much could they really be spending for that?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that that you do have a point there. Like, if I was trying to get sponsored if I had a big, I don't know, whatever it is, and I wanted it to be in Sea World, I would definitely like, are these people gonna pay or what? Because apparently they're they're not paying. So basically, Jack, what do you think the options are if they go away with Sesame Street?
SPEAKER_01I mean, they would have to have a family-focused intellectual property. Some things that come to mind are Nickelodeon or even Dreamworks, but those are both really highly connected with Universal. I doubt Universal would want that. Same with Bluey, that's probably the most popular kids show right now, and that's owned by Disney. So I think other options could be, you know, SeaWorld could have original characters. They already do have like a whale and dolphin, seal, walk-around mascots, and add that. But another one that's kind of out there is Peppa Pig, My Little Pony. Like, I think those could be good ways to bring kids into the park. I mean, I think Peppa Pig already has their own theme park somewhere in Orlando, or it's like connected to Legoland, something like that. It's that intellectual property would be great for SeaWorld to obtain, but again, if they're not paying their bills, I would encourage Peppa Pig to stay away from SeaWorld. By the way, question for you, Jesse. Did you know that Groupon is still a thing?
SPEAKER_00Honestly, I think I still do have the app in, but it has not been open in a couple years.
SPEAKER_01So, yes, Groupon is still out there and still prevalent for any kind of vacation. Like when I went to Orlando, we went to this place called Gator Golf where there were five of us that went and we paid $25 for an 18-round of mini golf. Five bucks a person. I think that's a great deal. And now SeaWorld has tickets available on Groupon starting as low as $42.21. That's after taxes and fees for SeaWorld San or excuse me, San Antonio, and that does come with a single-day ticket and a free meal. Obviously, if you live in San Diego, San Antonio, or Orlando, this probably isn't that great of a deal because you probably have a season pass. But for those that don't live in those markets, it's a that's a fairly cheap way to go to the parks and eat. Because you and I both know eating at theme parks gets incredibly expensive. So this could be a good way for you know a family to take their kids to SeaWorld and save a little bit of money. Would you do something like this, Jesse?
SPEAKER_00Uh yeah, I mean definitely. I mean, I mean any any way to save money, because you know how it is. Some day park tickets are really outrageous, I think. Uh it's and SeaWorld, to be honest, they don't have a lot of rides. Uh, I definitely think that I definitely prefer going to Six Flags, Universal, or Disney over SeaWorld, to be honest, any day.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I know SeaWorld is trying to improve their brand, kind of like we were talking about earlier, but also make it more of a coaster theme park. The one in Orlando is the best of the three as far as attractions, because they have the biggest coaster in Florida. You know, they have Mansa, which is a BM flyer, Kraken's a great coaster. The one in San Antonio, closer to us, is getting a little bit more love and attention. I know you and I talked off air about their new Barracuda, which is a quote, family ride, but that that's one of the most intense family coasters I've ever seen. So, yeah, I mean, I would give SeaWorld another chance. I know this has been a very SeaWorld focused episode, but you know, stop getting in the new SeaWorld and we'll stop talking about you. So now we're gonna be starting a new series called Let's Book a Cruise. Jesse, why don't you tell the audience a little bit about this?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so basically we're gonna have a multiple episode we're going through everything talking about the start of looking at booking a cruise to the very end of uh disembarking a cruise and going home. So the our first episode is gonna be booking and then also the hidden costs of cruising. So basically, if you're going on a cruise, the first thing you gotta do is figure out when to book, right? When would you say is the best time to go on a cruise? So there's of course there's many options. If you have family, if you have kids and all that, you of course you're probably gonna be trying to book in during the summer or spring break and all that, but those do have definitely some limitations, of course, because they're definitely gonna be a lot more expensive. And it is gonna be a lot hotter too. That is true. But for me personally, I like to go from anywhere from like late April to early June or like September to early December. So I kind of avoid the summer months because first off it's hot, and those ships you're definitely gonna be spending at least twice as much during the summer. So of course during those months I was talking about, you of course got good weather, of course, you got lower prices, definitely fewer crowds. I love kids, but you're definitely gonna see a lot less kids on the off season. So it just depends on what cruise line you choose as well.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I do like that point because the only times I've ever been on cruises is in the summertime and in the wintertime. I also went on one recently in October, which was that was really nice. But you know, with summer you also run the risk of you know tropical storms and hurricanes. So that's a factor you have to think about as well. Personally, I really like the January, February, maybe even early March time frame because it's still cooler, you know, and but once you get to the tropical islands, it's a lot more warmer. So it's like you bring jackets onto the ship and then you spend the rest of your day. In like tank top and swim shorts. So for me personally, that's my favorite time to book. But aside from the time of year, Jesse, what kind of cruise lines do you like to book? And you know, what kind of ships do you like to go on?
SPEAKER_00So it I guess it definitely depends on your options, what you have. Me personally, I like bigger ships. I like the mega ships. I like the Jubilees and the icons, the bigger ships. Um, and depends on what you're into. Uh definitely more family-friendly would definitely be Carnival and uh Royal Caribbean. More older crowds, definitely gonna be Norwegian. Um yeah, because they're charging $45 for their shows and only they can afford it. Yeah, maybe that is the option, but definitely Norwegians definitely have older clout uh older clientele. Um MSC, I I think that was it was very family friendly too. It definitely was more uh of a foreign influence, like there's more foreigners on that compared to uh like Carnival or Royal Caribbean. Um I think definitely think the sweet spot's probably Carnival or Royal Caribbean, but some people might not hate, some people may hate on it. But it also depends on your price point, of course. So, you know, Carnival's gonna be on the cheaper side, MSC could be on the cheaper side. Um, the probably cheapest is probably Margaritaville, but we've I've honestly never sell definitely on my list of to sell Margaritaville. I don't know, what do you think, Jack? Would you go on Margaritaville?
SPEAKER_01I think I need to at least try it once. I've seen videos about how people started saying it was the worst cruise ship they've ever been on, too. It's really not that bad. I know there's a little bit less to do on a Margaritaville ship than there is on a carnival ship. So it it kind of gives me a little bit of hesitation. And then of course, making the trip all the way to Florida just to go on Margaritaville, assuming they don't come to Texas here in the next few years, like we talked about.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and if you definitely have a like a bigger budget, you can even go on like the silver seas. There's also Princess Cruises, which is definitely more of an older crowd. Uh, even and if you've really got a ton of money, you go on the Ritz-Carlton cruise line, which you're talking about at least $25,000 to $50,000 to go on a cruise. I think that's just a step foot on the ship before you do anything else. Yeah, definitely. Uh I mean you do definitely have a more elegant and a lot fewer people. But there's also other ones like uh Virgin Voyage, which is apparently I've never been on them, but it's definitely more for adult only. Uh they were definitely started off as like a I'm pretty much like a sex cruise line. That's how it started off as. Yeah, they really put the name Virgin in that ship, and that's very misleading. Like when you first when they first came out, they like became every room came with adult toys in them. So it I mean now they've definitely become more not about that life, they're just more hidden, more than out in the open, I guess. But yeah, you don't see the upside-down pineapple stickers on the doors anymore. Oh no, you definitely will see those on on a virgin. You can't you may not see it on Carnival, they banned them on Carnival, but you will see it on Virgin still.
SPEAKER_01I need to remind you, this is a family show, but we apologize. But yes, Virgin is not so much the Virgin cruises anymore.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so um, so now you kind of figuring out like what type of cruise line, you can also need to figure out the size ship. So, of course, the bigger ships are usually gonna cost more money, but there are also a lot more stuff to do. Like uh on the Jubilee, which we were we're gonna Jubilee in September, um, there's a lot more places to eat, there's a lot more activities, a lot more shows, a lot more bars, there's a lot more, it is gonna cost more, but you're a lot less likely to get bored because compared to you know, we went on a smaller ship, we went on Glory, there wasn't really a lot of stuff to do on that ship, right?
SPEAKER_01No, and even the shows, like I don't even remember seeing any nighttime shows, it was just all during the day. Granted, it was a three-day sailing with just a quick trip to Celebration Key and back, but there was not a whole lot to do. I mean, of course it had slides like every other ship does, but I feel like it had the bare minimum to do on a cruise ship.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. And then another thing, the smaller ships definitely you can honestly I like to on the small ships. Uh, one thing I do like about the small ships is you can literally walk everywhere. You don't have to worry about elevators, you can just walk up or down depending on what where you're at. On the big ships, you have to take the elevators, that means you definitely have to wait in the long lines. And some of the bigger cruise ships, you're definitely gonna be a lot feel more crowded. Some of the newer ships are kind of building them to kind of disperse the crowd so that there's multiple pools in different parts of the ship so that the crowds aren't on it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I do feel like I know my experience with carnival, most of the time the pools are gonna be on the upper deck, and every all the fun activities are gonna be on the top of the ship, and that's where you can have the most crowd disbursement because those upper decks are built for crowd congestion, whereas the hallways in the interior are not. And then the newer ships are having more spacious casinos. Those are the two things I've really noticed. And if those are the two things that you're looking for, is just you know, have that smaller crowd, definitely uh going on the newer ships would probably be a better way to not feel as crowded, even though you're on a floating ship in the middle of nowhere with thousands of other people.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and then the next thing you gotta really look at when booking a ship is the itinerary. Like, what do you want to do? Like when I first booked, I was like, you know what, I want to see every I want to see the world. So I would book it, I would try to book Cozumel, Cosamaya, Roatan, and then I was like, wow, I've I've been to these ports many times now, and then I was like, let's go to the Eastern Caribbean and try to go to you know Celebration Key, Nassau, Jamaica, uh uh Cayman Islands. We've been I've been in all all those ports, and uh now honestly I'm a big ship person, so I like to hang there's some of the there's been many times I just stay on the ship the whole time because I like to ship. That's why I focus on ship days, having ship days, because or sea days, I should say, not ship days. Uh, because I'm a big ship person and I like to stay on the ship most of the time.
SPEAKER_01I am the exact opposite of you. I look forward to getting off of the boat and I look forward to exploring new areas. But yes, granted, because you've been to most of these ports before, you've kind of already seen it done it. You know, our f the last time we went to Celebration Key, that was new. The weather kind of sucked, so we weren't there long, so we were back on the ship relatively soon. Uh, but I mean, there's new ports I've seen, Jamaica, Cayman Islands. Those were really unique ports to me. Cozumel, I feel like is the most popular cruise port to go to, and I've seen it several times. You kind of know what to expect, but I feel like it's always a good time. Um, yeah, depending on where you want to go is key for a ship, and also the length for how long you want to be on a ship. You prefer longer cruises. I prefer shorter cruises. For example, we you know, closest cruise port to us is Gallaston, the smaller ones just go to Cozumel and back. And you know, the one we went on the breeze a few years ago was supposed to go to Progresso as well, but that didn't happen. And I think that that is something to look at look into as well is where do you want to go and how long do you want to be at sea?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, definitely. Like the the the shorter cruises are definitely gonna be party atmosphere, so you're gonna be looking a lot more of the ratchetness of people on the three and four days. I feel like that the seven days are more family friendly and they're a lot less what how you would say, ratchetness, I guess we can say, but that's just me personally. So I would I like going on seven days plus. This one in September we got coming up, uh, is an eight-day cruise. So that's I that's actually gonna be the longest cruise I've been on.
SPEAKER_01That is an awful long time to be at sea, but I mean I know you enjoy it, and at least with these bigger ships that have these longer itineraries, there is more to do. There's more rides, there's more slides, there's more entertainment options because this carnival crew knows that they have to entertain these people for eight days. And you know, you can get bored very easily if there's not a lot to do. Because, you know, pool's great, hot tub's great, bars are great, but I think these bigger ships also have more shows, and that's something I like. I mean, we I enjoy doing on cruise ships. Of course, the casino usually is bigger on these bigger ships as well, with more games to play, and you know, the some of them have like trivia nights, they have certain mixers, so there is a lot of stuff to do. It's just I would recommend looking at a cruiser's itinerary and see what they do on a day-to-day basis to really give you that kind of judgment of what you really want to do.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I definitely think that the sweet spot, probably, for if you're first time booking, is like getting a middle-sized ship in about five days. I think that's probably the best. Because a lot of people, like I said, they go on three days and like, wow, there's that was really rowdy, that cruise. And then they go on seven or eight days the first time, like, wow, I got bored or whatever. Honestly, when if you get bored on a cruise ship, it's kind of your own doing in a way. You just want to like sit and relax sometimes. Um, but there's many times I'm like, man, I'm bored, but then I think to myself, I got all this stuff going on board, I just don't want to do all that any of that stuff. So then I just sit there and relax.
SPEAKER_01And one thing I do whenever I get to that bored point is I just go sit on a chair outside and listen to music or listen to a podcast. And I think that is to me, that's very relaxing, especially if we listen to the Lido Loop podcast while you're on the phone. On the Lido deck. On the Lido deck, there you go. Um, so yeah, there are there are many ways to keep yourself entertained and just also don't run out of money when you go to the casino. Uh so let's talk about getting to the cruise port. So as most of us that live in the country, not everyone lives near a cruise port like we do. So book planning a true uh cruise also depends on the flights that you take and you know the rental car or the Uber that you take from the airport to the cruise terminal. So, for example, here in Houston, they do offer you know rides from IAH, which is our Houston International Airport, to Galveston. And Cape Canaveral also, you fly into MCO, I think it's for 30 bucks a person, you can take a you can take a bus to the cruise port. So a lot of cruise ports do have that option, but you know, when we went on the glory, we won an extra day in Orlando, so we just bought a rental car and paid for cruise parking. So, Jesse, question for you What advice would you give our listeners as to how to help them pick out which cruise terminal is best for them?
SPEAKER_00Of course, if your home port is within three, four hours, like like we're what hour and a half away from Galveston here in Houston. So it's an easy drive. It's definitely always cheaper to be able to just drive to the cruise port than flying to a cruise port. Because there are actually a lot of hidden costs that once people book a cruise, they they don't realize all the hidden costs. So we're gonna kind of cover a little hidden cost. The first one is definitely flights to get to the airport. Yeah, not everyone is cheap like us and fly spirit to Orlando.
SPEAKER_01Hey, we get there cheap though. We get there in one piece every single time. I mean, with Spirit, you get from point A to point B, and you know what, they have a great safety record. So when in doubt, fly Spirit. Yeah, I I I recommend that.
SPEAKER_00And then after you figure out the flight, you you definitely have to make sure you book the flight at least one day early. Don't ever try to go in the morning because you're gonna you're definitely gonna get delayed. You're gonna there's stuff could happen that you're not gonna make it in time. So I highly recommend get at least one day early on the cruise port. Anyway, so after you get you booked the cruise, you definitely gotta find a rental car or you got an Uber. And you did mention about like how they do offer buses from the cruise port to uh I mean from the uh airport to the cruise line. I found it's cheaper just to rent an Uber or to rent a car because if you're talking about family of fours, I think it's actually more than I think it's a $30. I think it's more like $45. So you're talking for a family of four, you're talking what, $180?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, just to get from the airport to the cruise terminal, which that doesn't really make sense mathematically wise when you can just get a rental car in Orlando and then pave for parking, which we'll go into here in a little bit, because in everywhere's different, really, because you know, we're only speaking from experience with Houston and Orlando. I rented a car in Miami once. There it's plenty of cheap rental car options in Florida, which would benefit you if you're trying to travel out of any really of the seven cruise ports out of Florida. But yeah, let's go ahead and since we kind of brought up, let's talk about parking because unless you have someone to drop you off at the cruise terminal, you're gonna have to pay to park. And we'll just be honest, it it is an expensive endeavor at times.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's definitely expensive for a seven-day cruise. You're usually looking at close to $200 for uh close parking, or especially if you want covered, it's even more than that. Usually I just try to get the cheapest. Um, I tough definitely try to recommend trying to book through like the port itself because they actually have port parking that's run by the port, like the port of Houston's got port of Miami's got their own, port of uh Everglades, port of uh Canaveral, they all got their own or organizations. You can book cheaper through like third party and all that, but you might come back and your car not be there, so you never know.
SPEAKER_01I I was gonna say I know from my car didn't get stolen per se, but I went on a carnival ship about 10 years ago. We parked in some someone's garage. I mean, the car luckily the car was still there, but yeah, I wouldn't trust other people like hey, you could park here for a hundred bucks. Definitely go through the cruise port and the cruise terminal itself. Another thing to say is whenever we had a rental car, we that's when we had to pay for parking there because that's when they get the license plate. So rental car or excuse me, parking prices don't really fluctuate, they kind of stay the same. So that's something that we can you know consider. You can do it almost day of. You know, probably not recommended, it's probably just better to get the parking ahead of time. But let's say you fly and then you get the rental car, as soon as you get that rental car license plate number, you can then book your parking that way.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for most cruise ports, I think Gallison is definitely a little different. It's definitely recommended to book ahead of time because they do book up fast, and once they book up, they do not sell anymore. So then you're just scrambling to try to find parking. But like uh when we were in uh Port Canaveral, it was pay as soon as you get there, and it was the easiest experience ever when it comes to parking. I've never I've never felt felt like it was that easy in any other port.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I know Gallison has had their port for a very long time, and they've had cruises go in and out for decades really, but yeah, I feel like Cape Canaveral definitely a little bit more experienced, a little bit more polished as far as the parking aspect and getting you from the parking lot to the cruise terminal. But let's go ahead and talk about buying onboard experiences. So the drink package, excursions, specialty dining. What do you personally like to purchase and what do you think is not worth the money?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so honestly, maybe it's because I'm kind of cheap, but I don't buy a lot. I definitely buy the drink package every time. I like knowing that going on a cruise ship, you you don't have to worry about spending any money. I still end up spending a couple hundred dollars in the casino, or I should say donating to the casino every time I'm there.
SPEAKER_01But that's how you earn your rewards points though.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that is true. I like this next cruise. I got uh like $500 off, and plus I got like $500 on board credit, which I just turn around and use that towards my drink package. So I got me and my wife, we got a drink package for like $400 for an eight-day cruise, which is not bad.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say you're you're losing your money so you can get more drinks, and that's your coping mechanism for losing that money at the casino.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that that's that's like uh boy math, I guess.
SPEAKER_01They call it you know girl math. That's boy math. I love how gambling and drinking is boy math, but girl math is just anything else. Um for me personally, I don't do the drink package. I'm not the biggest drinker. Uh, I will you know share the drink package with others, but you you could also buy alcohol on the ships, and it's relatively priced. That was something that was a little surprising to me when I last went on the Carnival Glory. Is that you know, a bottle of beer, 10 bucks. A shot, depending on what you want, 10 to 15 dollars. So normal bar prices. I thought it was gonna be overly expensive because we're on a cruise ship, but I mean it's cheaper to get beer on a cruise ship than it is at a baseball game.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and then uh some cruise lines like they do allow you to gr bring like a bottle of wine per per legal drinking adult, and they also some of them allow you to bring like a 12-pack of soda because I know you brought Dr. Pepper, right, last time?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because if you go on a carnival ship outside of Texas, they don't have Dr. Pepper. Fun fact.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they did actually they did switch over last year to have to coke products, but here in Galveston they still have Dr. Pepper. I think it's Dr. Pepper products are in Galveston and uh New Orleans. So if you're cruising out there, you will have Dr. Pepper. Us in Texas, we love our Dr. Pepper. Yeah, and our waffles too.
SPEAKER_01And shame there's not Texas Shade waffles on the cruise ships, though.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I believe me, I I asked. Um, but another thing is like specialty dining. So a lot of almost every cruise line, they always have like a hibachi grill, they always have like a sushi, they have sometimes they have like these little taco places, they have um uh seafood, and they always got a steakhouse. Uh I know on Jubilee, which is this is one another big reason why I like the big ships on Jubilee, they do have two specialty restaurants, which is Chebang, and they also have the I can't even say the Italian restaurant. Uh Chow, I forgot, I don't know. I don't even know.
SPEAKER_01It's that good that you just forgot it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they do have the option where you get one free meal in there, free dinner meal in there per cruise. And then it's actually really cheap though. Like if you want to go a second time, it's only eight dollars per person. So I mean eight dollars per person is nothing. But I will be probably this next cruise, I will probably be going on either the hibachi grill or the steakhouse on the Jubilee, because I really want to try a steakhouse, and I'm a big steak, I'm big meat eater. So I'm definitely gonna try that. But there are a few things that I feel like are a waste of money. I think the biggest thing is a photo package. What do you think, Jack?
SPEAKER_01I have never purchased a photo package. Uh so no, I and for the most part, I just take photos of my my phone, and I feel like that's good enough. I mean, yeah, there's some cute photos you could take at dinner, like with a parrot on your shoulder or with uh one of the mascots that people will you know walk around with and take for your photo. To me, it's kind of like buying the theme park photo package, it's just not worth it in my opinion. And I'm sure it's a relatively expensive cost. I would rather just take photos on my phone instead of have nice fancy ones I can you know hang on the wall.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I I definitely 100% agree with you. Actually, I was actually reading an article about when the you know photos, getting photos on a cruise ship was a thing. Is it all started before you could even anyone had like a digital phone and all that nowadays? Your phone can take just as good, if not better, picture than what they have on the cruise ship.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but you don't get the little frame where it says you know carnival or MSc next to it.
SPEAKER_00You don't have the effects like that. Hey, chat GPT it when you get home, I guess. But it's definitely I definitely think that then the photo package is definitely not worth the money at all. I think our first cruises we did fall for it and we did end up get buying some photos. I think we bought this big portrait. I think we rolled is it we got this big portrait of me and my wife, and we rolled it up and they gave you like a tube. Once we put it in a tube, that was probably over 10 years ago. We still have never opened it out of the tube, and it's still at the top of my closet. I'm about to say it's a time capsule at this point. Yeah, it is. When I open it up, people were like, Who's these old people? You know, it was me when I was young. Uh, but then uh another thing is excursions and stuff like that. So as a new person booking a cruise and someone that if you have anxiety or anything like that, definitely book it through the cruise line because I highly recommend booking through a cruise line. They're it's because first off a lot of people say they will the ship won't leave without you, but they will still leave without you, but they will pay for if you have to go to the next port because the cruise the excursion was late, they will pay for all expenses to get you to the next port. They'll make it right. It's like a guarantee thing. Um but however a lot of times the excursions are definitely overpriced. You're talking, you know, usually you're talking averaging probably eight. To a hundred dollars per person to go on like a basic excursion like you know, snorkeling or a beach day. Uh I know a lot of them they don't include drinks included. Depending on the cruise port, it's definitely usually cheaper to do a third party once you're definitely a seasonal cruiser. Like in Cozumel, we always go to either Paradise Beach or Mr. Sancho's. And uh man, those are awesome. They have as soon as you get off in Cozumel, they have like a taxi, which which is another tip, is always make sure you know you tell the taxi they you tell the taxi what price it is. Because sometimes they'll go in there and they'll get them you'll get in the taxi, then they say, Oh, it's two hundred dollars. You're like, you should have asked the price, you know. So definitely confirm what price it is before you go to any uh excursion, like Mr. Sancho's at Paradise Beach. But anyways, I'm kind of getting off topic, but uh definitely uh book it through the excru uh the cruise line if you're going to if you're a new new cruiser for sure.
SPEAKER_01I would say at least try an excursion, like at least once or twice, especially if you don't normally go on cruises. Uh when I went on one carnival ship, we did zip lining in Jamaica, and then we swam with Stingrays in Cayman Islands. You know, I'm I'm sure that those were fairly expensive. I didn't pay for them, but it were definitely very memorable experiences. So, yes, you know, through the ship, Carnival does offer a lot of fun excursions. Whether or not it's a waste of money, it's just depending on what you really want to do. If you really want to zipline through the mountains of Jamaica, go for it. If you really want to sit swim with Stingrays, I mean I would say I would highly recommend that. Also, there's always free things to do at the ports. With Kozumel, you can go to a restaurant, you know, you gotta pay for it, obviously, but there's beaches you can go to. We went to Celebration Key. We didn't spend a dime. Well, you had to pay for the slides, but you can just go sit on a chair or you can just go sit on the beach completely for free. And if that's all you need, then that's perfect. So would I say excursions are a waste of money? No, not necessarily, but there are other alternatives if you don't want to spend that kind of money.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it definitely like the definitely depends on the cruise port. Like Costa Maya, uh, they actually at the cruise port, they actually have a like a little lagoon that you can just hang out and port all day. Yes, they are gonna make you like pay for a drink or pay for food in order to use their pool and use their uh like loungers and stuff like that. But it's in a way, it's like a free thing to do. But then the smaller cruise ports, you can look at excursions because a lot of the let's be honest, a lot of these ports are definitely built for tourists. They're not you're not you're not when you go to Cozumel, you're not getting the Mexican experience, you're getting the American version of a Mexican experience.
SPEAKER_01It's the equivalent of going to a Mexican restaurant here in America. Yeah, exactly. Here in same prices too, by the way.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly. And here in uh Texas, of course, Mexican restaurants are everywhere. Every corner, you there's a Mexican restaurant. Uh, but anyways, so I definitely think that excursions are definitely a nice thing, but if you book it through a cruise line, it's definitely going to be a lot more expensive. I would recommend booking it through third parties. Like I think Viter does one. I don't can you think of any other ones?
SPEAKER_01No, Viter is the only one that I've ever used. Um, you usually if I do excursions, I book it directly through the carnival like app and everything. Um, another thing that we kind of wanted to hit on was gratuities. So you and I always pre-pay for our gratuities ahead of time. What gratuities are is just the cert that your tips are already included for you know the wait staff or the housekeeper and just for the bartenders. You can always option leave more money, and I think it's expected that you do, but a lot of people pay for their gratuities up front. Do you think that's a good idea?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I me personally, I like paying it up up front, especially with Carnival, because what Carnival does is say you book a cruise a year out, you can put all that stuff in there, and then it will break you after you put your down payment, it will break your payment up by the month. So if you owe $500 in gratuities, it breaks it up between say 12 months, whatever it is, until you book your cruise. But your whole cruise does have to be paid for within three months of the cruise. So if you pay prepay everything, like gratuities, all that, you don't have to worry about it once you're on board. Usually you can have so much fun without paying another penny if you don't want to. Me personally, uh, like I said, I get the drink package too. The drink package the same way, it includes prepaid gratuities, so you could tip more. Usually, like if I'm sitting at a lounger and they bring me a drink, I usually tip a you know a couple bucks because they came all this way to get my drink order, and I didn't walk up to the bar and get it. Usually, if I just go to the bar, hey, I paid my gratuities, I think it's like 18 to 20 percent. So I already paid that, but if they brought it to me, I definitely think that I should be given a little extra tip. What do you think?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because you go they went above and beyond for that particular service, and you know, I think that's a good idea to prepay the gratuities as well, just that way that's something you don't have to think about until the end of the day. I mean, you can always just get your gratuities back at the end of the day. There are tips and tricks to do that. We're not going to discuss them, but you can look that up too. Yeah, recommend that.
SPEAKER_00I definitely I mean, if you absolutely did have a bad experience on cruise, and I I'm not I'm definitely don't think that they should require you to pay tips, but I highly recommend you do pay. I've never taken tips off at all. If anything, I live in I live more than what I pre-pay and all that. Usually I pay cash. I think I think it's fun giving them extra money.
SPEAKER_01I'm the same way. At the end of the trip, I like to leave a little bit of cash in the room for the you know, room attendant. You know, in the last dinner, we usually leave a little bit of cash on the table for them. Just because carnival does go above and beyond to serve you, and I believe that's the case for most cruise ships as well, because at the end of the day, you are on a customer-focused experience where they want to give you the best time possible, and they will go out of their way to accommodate you. So leaving a little bit of tips for them is certainly the nice and respectable thing to do. And to kind of in wrap up this topic, what it all is included on a cruise, Jesse.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. So a lot of people ask, like, what's like the biggest question I think people really ask is what's included in my cruise fair? And they uh some people ask, hey, do I gotta pay for food and all that? I'm like, no, that's in that's included. So like typical cruises, your dine your dining room at night is gonna be included. Usually they have a buffet almost 24 hours a day. You usually they might have like a pizza place too. I know Carnival has min Carnival has definitely has the most amount of options that are free, which is like Guy's burger, pizza pirate, um, um they got a sandwich shop. I know they got shack's big chicken, they got street eats. There's tons of different options for free when it comes to Carnival. That's why I like Carnival, because I like to eat. So and I think that to me, I like to eat and I like to drink on a cruise. I'm relaxing. That's my thing to do. But I don't know. What do you think, Jack?
SPEAKER_01I think the food aspect is probably one of the best things about a cruise ship. And you know, we kind of talk about what it all comes with it. Most of the entertainment also is free. So, like the shows, unless you're on a Norwegian cruise line, but that's besides the point. Uh, you know, you for you know, gambling, you only have to bring what you want to bring. I mean, they do have ATMs as well if you want to be really daring, but for the most part, food, entertainment are the really included. All the water slides are included if you want to the pools, the hot tubs.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there's definitely many things like that. And then, of course, you could see the sea. I don't know. One of my favorite things is just sitting by the the edge and just like looking out at the sea. I don't know why. I just love the hearing the water, especially at night and the sun seeing the sunrise, sunset. You literally will not have the best views until you get on a cruise ship. They're amazing views for sure.
SPEAKER_01And to kind of put a bow on all this, carnival or like any kind of cruise ship, you can theoretically just pay to get on the ship and then eat for free and do all the entertainment and not spend another penny. And that's what some people like to do. You just have the option to do more if you want to, but you're not forced to. And I think that's one of the best things about cruising is if you don't want to gamble, you don't have to. If you don't want to drink, you don't have to. If you don't want to spend money on souvenirs or just go to the port, walk around, come back, you don't have to.
SPEAKER_00And another thing that we didn't, I we should have covered earlier, but it was Wi-Fi. So me and you are probably both mixed on this topic, Wi-Fi. Like a lot of times, which I think it's to me, I think it's like old school now, but on cruise ships, they require you to pay Wi-Fi. And it depends on the cruise line. Some cruise line, I think it's Disney. If you get the highest package, it's like $40 a day per person. That is ridiculous. I still think it's old school that you're having to pay for Wi-Fi. I think every hotel you go to, no one makes you pay for it, right?
SPEAKER_01That's correct. And I've paid for the Wi-Fi on the previous on the breeze, but I didn't pay for it on the glory. It just depends on how long I'm gonna be at sea. Usually I just do the bare minimum package so I can send a text message on iMessage, but now iMessage can work depending on how close you are. I mean, that's something that you know you I would definitely do my research on, but we went to the Bahamas, iMessage would still work perfectly fine.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so apparently the cruise line with the service they use that they it's impossible for them to filter out iMessages or like WhatsApp messages, so you can still get those while you're on cruise ship. But the only thing is you have to text, of course, only iPhone related. So it still works when you're in airplane mode, too. So you can still text between so we normally there on Carnival, there's like a five-dollar chat plan. We never get that anymore because we just chat through iMessage, but then there's always that one person in your group that has an Android, so then they ruined it all, so you have to get the chat.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you spend five bucks so you give you know your friend that green message guy. Shame on him. But yeah, I think that there are a lot of tips and tricks to make cruises affordable because when I first started cruising, I thought there's no way I could afford to do this year after year. But to be honest, there are times where going on a cruise is cheaper than going to a theme park. And even, you know, we live in Texas, going to Fiesta, Texas or Six Flags Over Texas without a season pass, it's the same cost as going on a cruise ship out of Galveston, depending on the day in the ship. So the last thing I would say is cruises can be more affordable than you think, and you just have the option to spend more money if you would like to.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, definitely, absolutely. There's no place that would be cheaper than on a cruise for paying for seven days worth of hotel stays, seven days of breakfast, lunch, dinners, and seven days of entertainment. And that's all included in that your cruise fare. You're talking anywhere, you know. I mean, it depends on you know what type of room and all that. You can spend two, three thousand. But if you book a hotel for seven days, eat breakfast, lunch, dinner at a place, it's definitely gonna be way over two thousand dollars.
SPEAKER_01Last point I'll make you and I are differentiating opinions on this. You like interior rooms. I like at least a room with a porthole. Do you what do you see the value in an interior room versus a room with a porthole or a balcony room?
SPEAKER_00So, of course, the interior room is definitely gonna be cheaper. But there are some things that I mean, I am kind of cheap, but also I like interior rooms because during the summer months, if you're cruising, it stays nice and cold. Especially, I like to get the bottom of the ship and middle of the ship, it's always cold your room. You don't have to worry about it. People with balconies, it's definitely gonna be more expensive. Yes, you do wake up and you got the ocean right outside, but it's definitely gonna be warmer. And I yes, I do like looking at the ocean, but if I I'm honestly just use the room just to change and then leave and change and sleep pretty much. That's it. Um, so I don't really care what type of room, I just usually go with the cheapest room, me personally.
SPEAKER_01If I have more than two people in my party, I definitely like the at least the porthole room because I feel it's definitely more spacious than the interior room. The interior room is essentially a closet. But you know, I know you make it work with you and your family because you know, you guys can all fit in that room. I like a little bit more extra space, but if it was just me and another person, yeah, interior would be perfectly fine because at the end of the day, you're just on the ship to you know have fun, and that's just a place to sleep.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, definitely like one of the negative things about having an interior room is when you wake up, you have no clue what time of time it is. So with a porthole, you can at least look up at the at the window and be like, oh, it's still day or it's morning or it's nighttime still, I'm going back to sleep, or whatever it is. So I've I guess the sweet spot from balcony and interior room is definitely a porthole.
SPEAKER_01The one word of advice I would say about interior rooms, try not to get them at the bottom and the front of the ship. There was when we went on the breeze, we had the rough waters, and I have never been more seasick. So try to, if you can pick a room, do that and don't pick it there. But that'll do it for this week's episode of the Leto Loop. As always, you can find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcast, and of course, check out the loop YouTube channel. We are the Leto Loop. I'm Jack, that's Jesse, and we will see you on the Lido Day. Or not on the NS, but not at any of the NCL shows because we're not paying $45 per show.