The Lido Loop: Let's Go on a Cruise - Everything You Need to Book Before Your Cruise - Plus Packing Tips and Tricks

Jack and Jesse are back with a brand new episode of The Lido Loop Podcast!

In this week's episode, the guys break down Elliott Investment Management's shake-up of Norwegian Cruise Line and what could come with those changes, including adjusting their drink package policy. Also, the Carnival Dream is back after being in a dry dock for a 16-day refurbishment, and the guys react to a crazy fake overboard story that happened on a Royal Caribbean ship.

In theme park news, Disney closed one of its parks in Paris and reopened it as "Disney Adventure World". "The Happiest Place on Earth" also announced the closure of one of its most beloved attractions, along with its plans to reopen another fan-favorite attraction. Finally, Six Flags has expanded its chaperone policy to include Fiesta Texas. 

Jack and Jesse finish the show with part two of their "Let's Go on a Cruise" series, where they break down what you need to book prior to boarding your ship and what the necessary things are that one should pack for their cruise. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

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 great. How are you doing, Jack? Doing alright. A little underweather with these allergies, but you know, we're gonna make it through. You know, like they say, the show must go on. And tell us, Jesse, what's on the show today?

SPEAKER_00 0:18

So in the cruise news today, Elliot Management Group does a shakedown of NCL. Uh, Carnival Dreag comes out dry dock, and there's a fake overborn incident on a Royal Caribbean ship.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Yeah, I can't wait to talk about that fake overboard incident. And on the theme park side of things, Disney has both closed a park and opened a brand new park in Paris. We'll get more into that. Disneyland closes a beloved ride, and Disney World opens a beloved ride. That, and we're talking about that darn chaperone policy at Six Flags again. Plus, it'll be part two of our series Let's Go on a Cruise. All that and much more on this week's episode of the Lido Loop. So kicking off the show today, we're gonna talk about what's become a fan favorite topic on the show, Norwegian Cruise Line. Jesse, doesn't it seem like every week NCL is in some kind of news, good or bad?

SPEAKER_00 1:26

Yeah, it definitely seems like that. I think this week, though, I think this might be good news. I know recently, in the past couple episodes, we did talk about Elliott Management Group taking a 10% share in stock of uh NCL, and they have now shown what the they plan on doing. The first thing they did is get five new directors, which included four of them were was proposed by Elliot Elliott Management Group. Uh they actually do support the new CEO, John Chisde leadership, and they said the main focus is Elliott's gonna be pushing for better guest experience and improved financial results, which I definitely can see them doing that. The big thing that I like that they just started doing is now allowing the drink package to go on their private destinations.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Yeah, because even cruises like Carnival don't allow that, especially when we went to Celebration Key or really any other ports. So that's a good step in the right direction for someone that wants a better guest experience, is letting them utilize that drink package, not just on the ship, but in their ports as well.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

Yeah, and me and you were kind of talking about it off air, but why should you pay for a drink package like on a three-day cruise? Say you're three-day cruise, you're already paying for that day on the cruise ship, and when you get off the island, you gotta pay for another one to the exact same company. It doesn't make sense. I understand if it's a different company you're paying for, but no, it's going to the exact same company.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Yeah, like if you get off in Cozumel or something and you go to a restaurant that's not owned by any of the ports, or excuse me, any of the ships, okay, you're paying a different restaurant and giving them business. But yes, if like you said, if NCL owns things and doesn't allow you to use that drink package, that's just not fair. And I think that this could be a game changer in the industry because I think more cruises realize that people don't want to be nickel and dime like this, and they can increase their guest experience by letting them use this drink package, not just on the ship, but also at their ports as well.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

Yeah, I 100% agree with it. With uh all the new decisions NCL doing, we'll look forward to seeing, and hopefully we book a cruise with them soon.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

Yeah, just you know, don't charge us $45 for a show. Then we'll really consider it. Otherwise, I'll stick with Carnival and their free shows. But speaking of Carnival, the Carnival Dream has come out of the dry dock, Jesse. You want to tell us a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_00 3:51

Yes. So since our home port is here in Texas, which is Galveston, uh, we definitely like to talk about the ships that are related to this home port. And one of them is Carnival Dream, which just got back from a 16-day dry dock. And some of the things that they did add were the new Dream Studio, uh, the photo studio. Uh it's kind of like professional photography uh space for crews and portraits and sessions. Uh, they also added a Carnival Adventures store. It's a pretty much a dedicated spot for onboard um to book short excursions, a lot more easier easier. They did revamp the casino. They have a new layout, added a host station for better service, and they did a retail retail area refresh. The shops updated and monetized, including jewelry and onboard stores. And of course, they definitely did some like minor maintenance stuff like updating carpet, uh, they did maintenance and systems upgrade, and they did some minor improvements to public spaces and the guest flow. But one thing I did when talking to people that they did not update is anything to do with the estate rooms, which I think that in the state rooms they definitely should have updated because that ship was built in 2008, so they have no USB outlets in the whole ship, which is definitely something that they should have added during the dry dock. And they actually added no new attractions. And me personally, since their sister ship is the Carnival Breeze, I felt like they should have the same stuff. And Carnival Breeze does have a ropes course, so I think they should have tried to add that to the Carnival Dream. So to me, it seems like they just added stuff to make more money instead of thinking about the guest experience. I don't know what you think.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

They prioritize profit over the guest experience. So it seems like everything here is cosmetic more than anything, you know, like you said, adding the photo booth, adding the shore excursions. The one I kind of like is the casino because you and I have been on multiple carnival ships, and the casino can be really small depending on which ship you go on. So any sort of expansion is good news for that. It is kind of in a confined space where there isn't a whole lot of room to expand. Maybe they took a little bit out of a sports bar or something. But I agree with you. If you're gonna take a ship and take it off its course and then try to, you know, make it better. I think adding another slide or ropes course would be a lot of fun. I think even a roller coaster would, but I know those are usually safe for the bigger ships, so I understand that. Um, it does really feel like they didn't prioritize the quote guest experience here. They just kind of looking after themselves and seeing how they can maximize their profits more efficiently.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

Yeah, I definitely agree. So uh, I mean, I definitely think that they can hopefully do another smaller dry dock. And I've actually have heard people say that while they were on board, they were still fixing stuff. So that 16 days, I guess, wasn't enough. Um, another thing that they did do, I forgot to mention, is they did repaint the hole, which is they kind of do that almost every sailing, they paint over the rest and all that. If you ever go to a uh port ahead of time, you'll see them constantly cleaning and trying to maintain the hole to make it look nice. I was gonna see how many layers of paint do you think are on cruise ships? Oh man, there's gotta be 50 at least before each dry dock.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

Yeah, 16 days doesn't really seem like a whole lot of time to you know enhance the ship and like add more to it, if that makes sense. Because I get a ship is a can isn't you can't really expand, make the ship bigger. You almost have to start from scratch and build a whole new ship. But these little improvements, I guess, could be good in the long run, but I don't think guests are really gonna notice a big difference next time they go on the carnival dream. Yeah, absolutely. And then our final cruise topic is there was a fake overboard incident on a Royal Caribbean ship. I've never heard this happen on any kind of cruise, Jesse. Can you go ahead and break down a little bit as to what happened and what consequences these people could be facing?

SPEAKER_00 8:14

Yeah, so this incident actually happened on Oasis of the Seas during a spring break Caribbean cruise. It was uh March 20th, uh 2026 selling. Uh yeah, so apparently a group of teenagers, they falsely reported that someone had gone overboard. Uh in some accounts they told a family member, which is looks like a grandmother, that girl had fallen over the ship, which triggered an alarm. I'm sure the grandmother went and told someone for rural Caribbean. Which started as a joke, it immediately escalated into a full emergency. So the cruise ships they treated like a man overboard, you know, which is like the highest level. The captain issued emergency code, Oscar Os Oscar Oscar. The ship turned around like mid-route near Cuba. Uh the crews launched a full search and rescue response. Uh they even threw life rings. The US Coast Guard was alerted. This actually lasted 90 minutes before they found out that it was just a prank when they found the girl that they said was overboard. Um, I don't know. What do you think, Jack? What do you think about this story?

SPEAKER_01 9:23

It's the boy who cried wolf, but in cruise form. Kids are dumb, and we're gonna talk about that a little bit later on in the show as well. But I mean, what what point does a prank no longer become funny? Because I think this one could have been stopped after the grandmother went and told someone, hey, there's a lady overboard. Now, maybe the kids didn't know, they just told grandma and they just thought it was funny. So grandma did tell them, and then that's what happened. So the kids were unaware that that was told. But poor grandma is just trying to do the right thing and report someone overboard. I I can't imagine what's gonna happen to these kids. I mean, what have you seen any of the consequences as to what happens when you do a false overboard?

SPEAKER_00 10:08

So, I mean, there's I haven't heard for this case specifically, but they did say stuff like there could be up to $250,000 fines, prison time. I think they said what, six years, up to six years. Uh, they could also be paying back the search and rescue cost. I'm sure uh which I'm sure they did this, Royal Caribbean did. I'm sure they gave them a lifetime ban for the parents. Uh let's just say I would hate to be those kids right now. I'm sure they are grounded for life until they're 18.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

Not to mention they probably have a criminal record at this point.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

Yeah, I mean, they could have definitely got criminal records. I'm sure the parents are paying for something. I haven't heard anything specifically, like what they they are, but I'm sure it's not good.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

Yeah, like I said, kids, if you think a prank is funny, let it go a certain amount, but a man overboard is definitely not something to joke about because the Coast Guard was right on it, and I imagine everyone was upset. The crews got halted, Coast Guard had to leave their job to find this not person that's not there, and the whole ship was disrupted, all because some kids wanted to have fun. Yeah, good luck and court kids.

SPEAKER_00 11:19

Y'all are gonna need it. So, Jack, in theme park news now, uh Disney Studios in Paris closed down. Can you tell us about that?

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Sure. So this has been a long time coming for the Disney Studios park in Paris. It opened in 2002 as the Hollywood Studios version of Disneyland Paris' second gate. Kind of like how in Florida we have Hollywood Studios with Galaxy's Edge, Soy Storyland, all that stuff. Uh it did not do well at first because there were not a whole lot of rides. Uh it felt dated already in 2002, and everything was a look behind the movie scenes that was, you know, a popular thing in the 80s and 90s. So this was during the Eisner years at Disney, and this kind of led to Eisner eventually being replaced by Bob Iger, but that's a story for another day. So Disney Studios park in Paris has been retransformed now into Disney Adventure World, which will feature new intellectual properties going into the park. So it's like a second Disneyland, but with more themed areas. There's one to Tangled, there's already a frozen land that's open, and there's a brand new Lion King land opening as well. So, Jesse, would these new openings and new lands ever make you want to go to Paris to go to Disney?

SPEAKER_00 12:43

Uh, not me personally. I mean, I'm really not super interested in going to Disney here in the States, so I definitely would not go to Paris.

SPEAKER_01 12:53

No, I totally understand that, but it's definitely something that Disney wants to do with their parks going forward, is God are the days of rides themed to mountains. Everything has to have an intellectual property. So the most recent rides, you know, Toy Story, like we mentioned earlier, in Star Wars, big properties, Disney put in Hollywood Studios, the park's never been more popular. You know, Rock and Roller Coaster, as we talked about, is getting re-themed to the Muppets, not Aerosmith anymore. They're opening a Monsters Inc. land in Hollywood Studios as well, and Cars Land is opening in Magic Kingdom in the near future. So everything's gonna have a Disney brand into the new parks, which I understand. That's what kids will came to see. They want to see Lightning McQueen, they want to see Chewbacca, they want to see all their favorite Disney characters. And, you know, kind of going forward a little bit more Disney news, there's one major ride closing for a refurbishment of Disneyland, and that's Pirates of the Caribbean. Now, that's one of my favorite rides to ride at Disney Parks. Jesse, I kind of want to ask you as a theme park enthusiast, if a ride that you really liked was not going to be open and you knew it, would that affect your experience at a theme park or even affect you wanting to go to that theme park?

SPEAKER_00 14:13

Yeah, definitely. Like I love Fiesta, Texas, and I love the Iron Rattler there. If that was shut down, I would definitely think about changing my dates of when I go to that park. Because I mean, if if that ride shut down and say multiple rides are shut down, it's just gonna be a lot busier on all the other rides. Um, I don't know what you think.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

Yeah, at least with Disney Universal, I think even SeaWorld and Bush Gardens, they will let you know when their rides are gonna be down for refurbishment. Six Flags is very hit or miss. Sometimes they do, but you could also could get to the park and oh hey, we're only running one train operations, and oh, by the way, Iron Rattler is closed after 10 a.m. Some of those things you can't predict, but here's more news as far as Disneyland goes. So there's could be potential five attractions closed in May with Jungle Cruise, which has already been closed since February 17th. Roger Rabbit's cartoon spin closes within the next few days, and so does the monorail. Buzz Lightyear light excuse me, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters is closing April 13th, and Pirates of the Caribbean is closing on May 4th. So five attractions down. I mean, I wouldn't even go to Disneyland at that point.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it like what I said earlier, I guarantee you all the rides that are gonna be open, they're just gonna be more packed.

SPEAKER_01 15:32

In my most recent trip to Disney World, there was Big Thunder Mountain and Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin that were closed at Magic Kingdom, and those two rides are giant people eaters that every other ride became longer lines. I mean, that's why we waited an hour to ride Winnie the Pooh. You never need to wait an hour to ride Winnie the Pooh. But it's crazy how one like two rides can totally affect a park with five attractions. Good luck. And on more positive news, the Buzz Lightyear ride at Magic Kingdom, Space Ranger Spin, will be opening on April 8th. So that'll alleviate some of the crowds.

SPEAKER_00 16:12

Yeah, so last week we talked about uh six flag chaperone policy. What's the newest thing with that?

SPEAKER_01 16:18

So now it's come to Fiesta, Texas as well, and I do believe it is going to be company wide, but Fiesta Texas came up with a statement saying that there will be a chaperone policy for the weekend of March 28th and 29th, so this previous weekend. They didn't specify if that's going to be the continued thing. So maybe there will be days where it's not enforced versus days that it is going to be infer enforced because maybe they think it's gonna be high traffic days or something. But yeah, Six Flags essentially is gonna go around and monitor these kids and say, hey, you can't be here unless you're with an adult. But you and I kind of brought up a good topic off air. What if a kid does not want to ride a ride and wants to wait out while his friends or his family rides the ride? Because you know, your your son has done this and he's perfectly fine. He sits on a bench, plays on his phone, and waits for us to get off the ride. Do you think Fiesta Texas or any Six Flags Park for that matter would be strict on these rules or would they maybe let it slide?

SPEAKER_00 17:21

It seems like that they're main mainly making this rule so for bad kids. So they have this rule, they're gonna enforce it when they can. That's what I think.

SPEAKER_01 17:30

Yeah, because if a kid is misbehaving, running around the park, starting fights, they can kick him out for being unsupervised. But if some kid is just sitting on a bench waiting for his family to get done with Iron Rattler or whatever ride, they would be able I think they would let that slide a little bit more because a kid is not being disruptive. He's just waiting for his family.

SPEAKER_00 17:49

Yeah, definitely. I definitely can see Six Flags like making exceptions for stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

I mean, yeah, I mean, you can't help that the kid is afraid to ride a ride or doesn't want to ride a particular ride. You could have someone in your party wait with the kid, but I think you're right in the sense that they have this rule to enforce when they need to, not they're going to be the occupancy chaperone police, say, hey, you're not with a parent, you need to leave the park. But you know where kids can run amok is on a cruise, and this is gonna set up part two of our series, Let's Go on a cruise. So on last week's show, we talked about when is the best time to book a cruise, time frames, seasons, you know, what to expect cost-wise. But now we're gonna talk about what do you need in order to get on a ship and everything leading up to your cruise. So let's go ahead and get started with the travel documentations, Jesse. Uh, you do need a passport, yes, but what are some other necessary things you may need in order to get on a cruise ship?

SPEAKER_00 18:51

Yeah, absolutely. So you actually only need a passport if uh the cruise uh the cruise goes from American port to a other destination, if it's not a closed loop is the what they call it. Um you can actually, if you're American citizen, you can actually use your birth certificate and a state ID instead of having to get a passport. Um me personally, I highly recommend a passport, especially if you know, God forbid you get left out of port or left out of port, and it would be almost impossible getting home without having to talk to someone so you can easily travel on an airplane. Uh and also when it comes to lines and all that, once you get off the boat, it's way easier if you have a passport to go through the uh security lines because usually a birth certificate line, you're spending almost an hour getting off the ship sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 19:47

Yeah, because they have to go through those one at a time and really look over those. Whereas a passport, you show it, they stamp it, and then you're on your way. I mean, you and I have gone through these screening lines and cruise ships easily because we have the passports.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

Yeah, so like I said, in theory, it's way better getting a passport. You can also get a passport card that will work on the cruise ships. Um, so that is definitely another thing you can do. It works just like a passport does.

SPEAKER_01 20:14

By the way, I said they stamp it, they don't actually stamp your passport, they just kind of review it. I kind of miss when they used to, but uh all the cruise we went on, they do don't do that anymore. But how about checking into your cruise? You are a very big, prominent person as far as getting checked in as soon as possible. To me, it's very similar like checking into a flight. You have to do it, and the sooner you do it, the sooner you don't have to worry about it. Is that pretty much the same as on a cruise ship?

SPEAKER_00 20:40

Yeah, yeah, it is. But usually typically you check in. I know with Carnival and Rural Caribbean, it's 30 days before you cruise. Uh MSE, they actually just started on MSE where as soon as you book the cruise, you can check in. So the reason you want to check in is first off, you import all your travel information in there, your actual real name, whatever uh you're making sure your dining time, and then the big thing that I check is the uh the boarding time. So if you want to board it early, you need to wake up 30 minut 30 days exactly. We I usually go at midnight, 30 days prior, and select the time that we plan on boarding. Usually it's like a 10 30 or 11 o'clock time because they fill it fast, and you're gonna end up getting one of the latest times, which is like one or two o'clock, and you're the last one on the ship. But I've heard some people they actually do like it because if they get board at 1 or 1 30, they go pretty much directly right to the room, and they don't have to worry about uh all the people in the terminal, so just your preference. But me personally, I like to start my vacation as early as possible. What do you think, Jack?

SPEAKER_01 21:50

So I'm kind of the opposite. I don't mind lit boarding late just for that reason that you mentioned that the room will be done a little bit sooner, and you know, we kind of talked about. This is in the last episode where it's just very chaotic when everyone's just sitting around waiting for the room to be open, everyone goes to Guy's Burgers, or they try to go to get a good seat for the sail away party. The casino's not open yet. So I don't mind getting there a little bit later. And also, let's say if I'm going out of Galveston, it gives me a little bit more time to get everything I need in the morning instead of trying to get to Galveston, leaving at 6 a.m. fighting downtown traffic to get there. So that's just me personally. But but what I am on top of is booking dining and excursions as soon as possible. Jesse, are you very much the same way on in that regard?

SPEAKER_00 22:40

Uh me personally, honestly, I'm kind of cheap, so I don't do a lot of the dining stuff, but it is definitely recommended. Like if you plan on going to like the hibachi place or uh the steakhouse and you want a specific day to eat, uh, you definitely want to book that as soon as possible because those time slots will fill up. Because I know certain days like um like the elegant night, I definitely would not book this book a steakhouse or anything because the elegant night you actually get like the lobster and the prime rib. So I'd rather be in the main dining room at that time because it's free. And so I'm not gonna waste waste that. Um same thing goes for excursions. Um some of the popular cruise port excursions, they fill up really fast, and once they've they fill up, you're not you can't book that anymore. It won't even pop up on there. Um but some of the other stuff, like if you go to Cozumel and you book like Mr. Sancho's or Paradise Beach or any of those other beach resorts, you shouldn't you shouldn't have to worry about it. You you won't build be able to book those through the cruise line, but you can book them on third party. It's definitely recommended to book it ahead of time because especially during the busy months when there's a bunch of ships there, it will sell out for sure.

SPEAKER_01 23:57

Yeah, absolutely. And with excursions, I've done some and the cruises that I've gone on, we try to get the excursions booked as soon as possible. Like in the Caribbean, excuse me, in the Cayman Islands, we did, you know, swimming with Stingrays, and I think that booked up pretty quickly. And then Jamaica, we did zip lining through the mountains. And you know, like you said with Mr. Sancho's, that's something you kind of can plan day of. And there was, you know, my first ever cruise, we went to the Cozumel Palace. We just got a taxi from the port to the palace, and that you could do that day of as well. So booking excursions through the cruise directly is probably the most efficient. And you know, the sooner you get that done, this the easier it is. And of course, it's kind of with any kind of traveling plans. Once you start booking things you want to do, you don't have to worry about it. Like you can just worry about it once you actually get to the port and get to the excursion. Uh, so what about other things such as the drink package, Wi-Fi, spa appointments? Do you try to book those in advance as well, Jesse?

SPEAKER_00 25:01

Yeah, you definitely want to try to book those in advance. Not that this stuff is like gonna sell out, like they don't sell out on the drink package. Uh, I guess potentially they could sell out on the spa appointments, but usually, typically, there's plenty of people, you know, that want to go on the uh massages, so that you have plenty of different times you can do that. Uh, but the Wi-Fi and all that, you definitely want to pre-book it because it's definitely cheaper. Because if you once you get on the ship, you can still buy all that stuff, but it's gonna not be at a discount as if you bought it beforehand.

SPEAKER_01 25:35

Because that way they can plan accordingly when if you pre-pay for the drink package or the Wi-Fi, and then if you do it afterwards, they're adding to it. It's almost like when you're bringing luggage on a flight, and if you don't pay for your luggage online, you pay the however much it is fee at the airport, which is sometimes can be double what it is online. And speaking of flights, so there's something that you and I have kind of talked about in the past. When you book flights, you always like to arrive at least one day early. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_00 26:05

Yeah, absolutely. So you definitely when you book a flight, first off, before we uh book it for one day early, we gotta find the best flight to go on. Of course, I'm not gonna get on like they talk about the individual airlines and which is the best and all that. Um, but it's definitely recommended to book between one and three months for domestic flights. Um, I don't know, Jack. You you definitely buy the flights for us every time we go in there. What do you feel like is the best time to book them?

SPEAKER_01 26:33

I'd say at least within two months. Now that is kind of gambling because we also booked a cruise like 10 months out because it was such a good deal. That's why we went on the Carnival Glory to Celebration Key. We booked that back in February and our cruise was October, but we didn't actually buy the flights until I believe it was late August, early September, because that's when the lower budget flights become more on sale. Now, if you want to plan it all at once and you're comfortable seeing a price, and let's say you're flying to Houston or Florida to go on the cruise, I think it's better to do it all at once so that way you can get a price point ahead of time. But just know that flights can go down the closer you book to it. If you book something three, four plus months out, you're likely going to pay the highest possible fee to fly from wherever you're going to to these cruise port destinations. And kind of going back to the original point of go going a day early, flights are unpredictable, you know, especially with this climate we have right now with the TSAs. Luckily, that's getting better. But you know, you how many times have our flights been delayed? Sometimes hours. So having that buffer day is beneficial to going on a cruise. When we went to Florida, we had two-day buffer because, well, one, we want to go to Universal, but two, that gave us a free day to do whatever we wanted in the city versus you know flying in and getting on a cruise immediately. That's just such a risk that you shouldn't have to take.

SPEAKER_00 28:06

Another thing that uh you talk about is yes, it may be cheaper booking close to it, but if there's an individual time that like I have to I need to sell out by 5 a.m. or you want you don't want the book the early, you want to book a later one, you you may be paying more, but you can book that as far as what six months out. So if you're willing to pay that money and you just want that actual you know flight, do you don't care about the price, then then book it as soon as possible for sure.

SPEAKER_01 28:34

Yeah, another thing that we kind of talked about is printing out boarding passes. So that's always a good idea just to have the boarding passes printed out ready to go, correct, Jesse?

SPEAKER_00 28:44

Yeah, well, so Carnivals is like the only cruise line, which I don't know why, that you have to have the paper boarding pass. Everyone else is all digital now, like MSE, Royal Caribbean is. Uh, I honestly do not know about Margaritaville, but NCL is the same way. You don't have to have a physical copy of it. But me personally, it doesn't matter what cruise line it is, I'm printing that pass out because unless you trust technology not to mess up that morning, like your phone dies, you drop it in water, like crap. How are you gonna how do you expect to print this stuff out? So I'm very uh I definitely have an anxiety when it comes to traveling like that. So I print out everything.

SPEAKER_01 29:20

It's like printing out a flight ticket uh, you know, the day of your airport or the day of you flying out. Uh it is a good backup to have. And at least you can just you know easily put it in your wallet and then never have to worry about it once you're actually on board. That is really weird that Carnival is the only one that does that. Because, you know, nowadays you can go to most sporting events, concerts, flights, check into a hotel, everything can be done on your phone, and then you just add the ticket to Apple Wallet or you know, Android if you have that. But that is a very outdated policy that I think Carnival should consider changing here in the near future. But like you said, that's a good backup to have. It's like if you lose your paper ticket, you have it on your phone, or vice versa. Uh, how about travel insurance? So I'm just gonna say this real quick. Personally, I've normally don't buy this. I don't really cancel trips once they're already booked. And I understand things happen, and some people do buy into travel insurance, but what is your opinion on travel insurance?

SPEAKER_00 30:24

Um, to be honest, Jack, actually, most of the time you do have travel insurance, you just don't realize it. Because every time we book them for you, we put travel insurance in there with you just in case.

SPEAKER_01 30:33

So that's why I have to pay you an extra, you know, couple hundred bucks.

SPEAKER_00 30:36

That's exactly. But so it's always good to have a travel insurance because you don't know what can happen. If you have to get airlifted from a ship because, you know, God forbid something bad happens, it's minimum ten thousand dollars that you're paying for. If you get hurt and you have to go to the met the medical down there, it's thousands of dollars. It's not like the same prices on land, it's way more expensive on the cruise ship. And plus, with travel insurance, if say your flight gets canceled or you know, you get sick the day of, or you never know what could happen, it's really good to have it. So you have a backup plan to get reimbursed for that. Um, also, you can another idea is like through your credit card. Like my credit card actually offers travel, it's a traveling credit card, so actually a carnival credit card, and they offer travel insurance through through that credit card. The only thing is you have to book everything on that card. So if you book your flights, you have to pay with your that card. If you book the cruise, you have to book it everything through that. You can't like get a gift card and like half of it's on this or whatever. It has to be completely booked through that card. So I definitely recommend getting travel insurance. But I know you you may like to live on the edge, Jack, but I definitely don't.

SPEAKER_01 31:50

I too like to live life dangerously. Um, I mean, when it's not a cruise, so if I'm going to a theme park or I'm going, you know, traveling for you know a baseball game or something, I've never booked any kind of travel insurance. Uh, you know, flights, rental car, hotel, they do all offer that option. I guess cruising is a little bit different because if it does come with your fare, you know, that's I'm finding this out for the first time. But then I would say that, you know, if you're already paying for it, then sure, you might as well utilize it. But me personally, with other forms of vacation, I don't do it. But cruises, I'll make the exception for. Uh, and also something to make note of is learning the ship's layout beforehand, Jesse. You are definitely more on point with that than I am. I do kind of like exploring the ship and learning new things, but you're very much uh I want to know where everything is before I even get on the ship. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_00 32:46

Yeah, absolutely. And the of course, the easiest and bit the best way of doing it is just watching YouTube videos. I'm pretty sure I've watched every YouTube video on the new ship that's coming out. Like right now, I've been watching, even though I've been on Carnival Jubilee, we're going on Carnival Jubilee here soon. I've pretty much watched everything about Carnival Jubilee if there's anything new that comes up. And I actually have learned a lot of stuff about like how the elevators work or how um the different dining options, what's free and what's not free. Because there's so many times I go on a cruise ship and people are like, where's this at? They're like, Oh, is that included? And I'm like, I always say, Oh, yeah, this this is an included restaurant. And so there's so many people who don't find that out until like day four or day five of a cruise, and when they could have easily known if they just watched a YouTube video and kind of kept up to date with what's going on on that ship.

SPEAKER_01 33:36

I mean, you are definitely the map when it comes to cruise ships. I remember asking you where's the casino is like, oh yeah, it's you know, fifth floor right next to the sports bar, and you know, you're right on the money. And generally speaking, if you are an avid cruiser, especially with Carnival, most layouts are fairly similar. I would say that there's some you know changes here and there, uh just speaking between the breeze and the glory, they one didn't have a sports bar, but you know, the the theater's always on the same deck, you know, the casino for the most part is always on the same deck. It's when you go on a different cruise ship that it could be a little bit different, but for the most part, they are kind of arranged in a way that makes sense. Like I said, for the most part, there's some outliers there that are not. But you know, learning the ship's layout is good beforehand, just that way you know where your dining is, where the shows are gonna be for us casinos, and you know, where the pools, hot tubs, and and there's plenty of bars. And another thing we kind of wanted to talk about was paying for the cruise. So you want to make sure that your cruise is paid off three months prior to sailing, is that correct?

SPEAKER_00 34:41

Yeah, so typically that's what the cruise lines do. They once they get all the sellings, they get all the people booked and all that, then they realize the amount of no, of course, they need to know the amount of uh stuff that they need to bring on board. Because if there's a guy ship that's half full, they don't need to bring enough items for a full ship. So typically what they do is they want to make sure the whole thing is paid for three months prior. So if you book anything within three months of a ship, so say, you know, in January, you're going to cruise in April, they're gonna make you pay for everything um at one time. So I definitely highly recommend, like, hey, if you plan on, if you want to go next summer, book it now through Carnival. And you can Carnival's really good about making it so you can split the payments up, so it's equal number of payments up until three months prior to the cruise. So instead of paying, you know, $2,000 or $4,000, whatever it is for your cruise, you break them into small and individual payments, which makes it a lot more affordable for the average American.

SPEAKER_01 35:41

Yeah, that's whenever we went on the breeze, that's how I was able to you know do that one. And then of course they do offer you know cheaper sailings as well, like we did with the glory. And is it possible that if you don't pay it off in before the three-month mark, would they say something to you?

SPEAKER_00 35:57

Could they potentially cancel your booking? Yeah, technically in the contract, it's it has to be paid off by then, or they can cancel your booking without refund, because usually technically it's a non-refundable deposit you put down. So it's definitely recommended to have it all paid off by then. If anything happens, then um you you don't have to worry about it.

SPEAKER_01 36:19

So, what about downloading the cruise ship apps? You know, you we actually do have a video about how to work the Carnival Hub app if you want to check that on our YouTube channel. But utilizing the Carnival, or in your case, you did the MSc as well. The app is very beneficial to us going forward, just because I mean you could use it even without the Wi-Fi package, correct?

SPEAKER_00 36:42

Yeah, so typically all the cruise lines they all have an app for that individual cruise line. It most of them will only work prior to getting on the board. I know the rural Caribbean app actually you can book stuff ahead of time using the app and stuff like that. MSC, you kind of can, but it doesn't unlock everything and a lot changes on MSc. Uh Carnival, on the other hand, is pretty much pointless until you get on the ship. You can't do anything with it until you get on the ship. But it's definitely recommended to go ahead and download it so you don't have to worry about it. So as soon as you get on ship, you just gotta type your folio number in, and then you can log into your account so it has all your information on there for you so that whenever you buy something or you know want to know what's happening on the cruise ship, everything goes through that. As of right now, Carnival, they still have like a pamphlet that shows with everything uh that goes on on the cruise ship. They put it in your your cabin the night before, so you know exactly what's happening on the cruise ship. I and me personally, I still like to have that pamphlet. Honestly, I think I use it more for a souvenir than actually using it. It's a lot easier just going through the app and finding what you want to do.

SPEAKER_01 37:49

Yeah, and that's kind of what I normally use the app for is just you know see what's happening. And you know, there is tight uh texting feature as well. You pay five dollars and everyone in your family can text each other if you don't have the Wi-Fi package. Uh we did kind of mention that last week's show where you don't necessarily need that if you do have iPhones because iMessage does work, uh, or if you get the Wi-Fi package. But I mean that's a good option to have if you don't want to pay for the Wi-Fi package. Uh and finally, we want to talk about getting into a group on Facebook. So there are plenty of Facebook groups out there, but what's becoming more and more popular is these cruising Facebook groups that give these little tips and tricks. You know, we have the podcast here, so we can help you book your cruise, but it's also nice to go on these Facebook groups and like learn things that you otherwise wouldn't know about these cruise ships.

SPEAKER_00 38:44

Yeah, so they so every cruise typically they someone makes an individual for that individual cruise Facebook page for the individual selling. So um if you go on a selling, say a June 1st Carnival selling, I don't know, just whatever ship, Carnival Dream, Jubilee, I don't know, Magic, whatever ship you're going on, uh, they'll have a a individual Facebook page that you can first off you can meet new people in there. So you say you're a solo, you can kind of meet new people because you find people you're hanging out with. It's also really good for know a lot of people start posting like what the theme nights are because I don't know what it is, but cruise lines are horrible about releasing what theme nights are going to be on that selling. So a lot of people go on there and they'll kind of talk about like hey, this selling, you know, what the cruise director is, how they are, and all that. Um they also it also works really good on board. If you're on board and you're in these Facebook groups and say, Oh wow, I forgot this medication, can I go? I'll put in the group chat, hey, I can does anyone have Tylenol, and then someone more than likely someone pop them and say, Hey, I got Tylenol, and then they'll they can bring them to you. So it's definitely good to keep up to date with what's happening on your ship by going on creating a Facebook page. If you don't have if if that selling doesn't exist, you can make your own selling uh on Facebook page, but it's definitely highly recommended.

SPEAKER_01 40:09

So I kind of you brought up a point of theme nights. I kind of want to talk about that a little bit. When we went on the glory, you know, it was October, so there were certain Halloween themes out there, giant pumpkins and you know, the main foyer, but there was a costume party that night that we had no idea about that we I guess was on the Carnival Glory's Facebook page, but I'm not thinking about bringing a costume on a cruise ship without knowing that kind of knowledge of, oh hey, I there's a costume party, you might as well bring it.

SPEAKER_00 40:42

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. And a lot of people don't know that. It seems like they should email you ahead of time, like, hey, by the way, this selling a month out, or whenever you after you pay is like, by the way, this selling's gonna have these theme nights, so plan accordingly. Like, if they're you I know like MSE has white night, they have uh man, they've uh costumes, they have so many different things that you can go on. Uh, Carnival's kind of the same way, you know, they have different theme nights. Uh, they have white night, they have an 80s night so people dress up in 80s characters. Um, but I definitely think that they need communicate a lot better.

SPEAKER_01 41:15

Yeah, because the average person is not gonna know these things. I mean, that is what the Facebook groups are for, but without doing extensive research. And if you're just packing for your cruise, you're gonna bring shirts, shorts, and whatever else. You're not thinking about bringing a costume or I'm gonna dress in like in an 80s theme because it's gonna be 80s night or even wearing a suit. Because the first time I ever went on a cruise, I didn't know that that existed. I was a teenager at the time, but luckily I had a dress shirt because my parents made me take at least one nice shirt for a one nice night. Happened to work out. But that's all about prepping for the cruise. Let's talk about packing for the cruise. Jesse, what are some of the essential things you like to bring whenever you go on a cruise?

SPEAKER_00 42:02

So, yeah, so absolutely. So, first thing is your carry-on bag. Typically, you're gonna have multiple luggages. So, you can typically have like a suitcase and a carry-on bag. The your carry-on bag, let's talk about that first. The number one thing is, of course, you definitely won't have your travel documents. A lot of people end up putting their travel documents in a suitcase and then they give it to the porter when they arrive, then they have to, then they have no travel documents. So make sure you're all your travel documents are in your carry-on bag. Uh, another thing is if you get early, you definitely want your swimsuit. Because if you want to go swimming immediately when you get on board or even the first day, because typically your luggage will not get to your room until later that evening, even sometimes after dinner. And if it gets lost, it could be multiple days until you they actually receive your luggage. Uh sunscreen, of course, uh, any cash. You don't want to leave cash in your um your main suitcase. Uh any any medical equipment, like a CPAP machine or any medication you may need, um, you definitely want to make sure that's on your um carry-on bag.

SPEAKER_01 43:06

Yeah, other things that I was thinking about was attire. We kind of hit on that whenever we were talking about theme nights and you know what to wear, what not to wear. But for me, I like to bring enough clothes to last me, you know, the complete cruise. You know, now knowing now that there's theme there is elegant nights, I like to bring at least one dress shirt in one I say khakis. That's the minimum I'll go for a theme night. I mean, depending also where I'm coming out of. If we're going out of Galveston, I can I've packed a whole suit before in the suitcase. But you know, when we went to Florida, we kind of backpacked it, so I had to be a little creative. And that's something else we can kind of mention is w how much do you need to pack? I guess it depends on the length of your cruise. Because we went on the three day one, a backpack could be fine. I mean, suitcase would probably be more beneficial, but we made it work. The other, you know, if you know it's a home port, we don't have to pay for all the luggage on the plane. How many suitcases are you allowed to bring?

SPEAKER_00 44:08

It on the on Carroll website at least it says at least two per person, which me personally, I just bring one suitcase and one carry-on. I think that's enough. But I seen some people they push the limits. Like they'll put three. They really don't say anything, but you gotta realize that all this luggage is going to be in your room in the small little cabin. And you have to be able to store the suitcase somewhere even after you empty it out. So a lot of times you can shove it underneath the bed or shove it in a corner but if you if you have a family of four and everyone brought three you're talking what 16 suitcases in your room it's not going to be practical in there with 16 suitcases. You can essentially make another bed with all those suitcases.

SPEAKER_01 44:48

Yeah absolutely some of the other essentials you know we kind of mentioned you know medical equipment so you know definitely I like to bring Venadrill for because I get because of my allergies I need dramamine because usually that first day at sea I don't get my sea legs in. Afterwards I'm perfectly fine. You know Pepto, any kind of medication you take that you mentioned put in your carry-on advil. Some other things I like to bring my own body wash shampoo because the ones I do have on the cruise ship I mean it's just like generic hotel shampoo conditioner body wash I don't even think they have body wash I think it's just a a soap. So that's better for me to get more clean especially because let's be honest the showers there are not the best the low water pressure and at least that's a way for me to get clean. Some of the other things you know shoes I'll bring one pair of shoes and usually one pair of flip-flops or crocs. You know are you the kind of the same way?

SPEAKER_00 45:51

Yeah I mean I d I this is what I bring I usually bring my crocs some tennis shoes like if you're going on if you're walking a lot you definitely want tennis shoes. And then the elegant shoes uh for like elegant night um and then um watershoes because a lot of a lot people are very surprised that a lot of the ports in Mexico and Honduras even Celebration Key they're super rocky and if you don't have water shoes you can easily get cut or you know you can hurt your foot just by walking in the ocean. So it's definitely recommended for that. Another thing that a lot of people even in the middle of summer I bring a jacket because a lot of the shows that you go to or the lot of the indoors it can get really cold on on the ship itself. I know we did kind of talk about the theme clothes we're we don't really need to talk too much about that. Another thing is also two sets of swimsuits. So I don't know about you but I always bring two because there's really no way of drying your clothes on the ship. So usually typically what I do is one day I'll use one swimsuit and then when that gets wet I hang it to dry usually there's like a little I guess hook in your uh bathroom that the wire that goes across the shower. Yeah exactly I let that to dry while the next day I'll use another one and usually by the time I'm done with that the other one's dried so typically so I honestly recommend probably three but two for most part what you can make it work. Um but yeah like kind of what you're saying Jack yeah it's this all depends on if you want to backpack it or if you want to use suitcase. And then another thing is first aid kits. So I'm we're definitely the first aid kit family because if you have to go to the medical just to get a band-aid you're talking over a hundred dollars for like just a band aid it's ridiculous. So don't get sick on cruises people. Yeah so it's definitely recommended to have like a small first aid kit that has band-aids you know burn cream or anything that potentially could happen so you don't have to worry about going to medical and then we actually have this little it's kind of like a it's I think it's called a pocket pharmacy from Amazon. It has like non-essential medications but it has like we put tylenol in it seasickness medicine anti-gas diarrhea medication tomes. I know Jack I know you borrowed tomes from us multiple times uh vinadry uh avvil uh a lot of like drinking recovery medication um like uh like liquid IV those are definitely good because let's let's be honest we drink a lot more we're on vacation than on land well let's hope uh and then we also do uh Pepto too so those are some and then there are specific medications one thing like I we did talk about Benadryl is a lot of people don't realize that they eat a lot of new stuff on cruise ships and that they may not realize that they're allergic to until they try it for the first time. So it's definitely recommended to have Benadryl there just in case something does happen so you're not having to go to the medical and pay hundreds of dollars to give you a small little pill Benadryl because every time you go down there they give you a full look look over they'll make sure everything's good with you and that costs a lot more money when easily you just need to take one pill and been good.

SPEAKER_01 49:08

Yeah you eat lobster but you have high blood pressure so they're trying to sell you high blood pressure medication but all you do is eat some lobster and you just need Benadryl.

SPEAKER_00 49:16

So that yeah watch what you eat over there guys uh you know of course you know this is more talking to our you know female audience but you know a lot of girls bring their makeup hair straightener you know maybe sometimes magnet hooks for dresses of course you need to bring deodorant if if you want to shave on the ship you can bring shaving cream I think that has to go a razor has to go in your check bag if I'm not mistaken it's kind of like a a flight no honestly no it's not a lot of people think that and and that actually goes on to all this stuff you don't have to get travel size for any of this stuff as long as it's in your suitcase because you can get a big bottle of shampoo or you can get a big thing toothpaste mouthwash whatever it is because it a cruise is not a flight so they really don't care what size it is a lot of people showed up with travel size but a travel size for a seven day cruise really isn't gonna last you for a seven day cruise um but uh like sunscreen too a lot of people and then when you forget to put the sunscreen on you definitely want sun after sun care too I know uh my wife always got this little spray that you spray on yourself after after you've been in the sun so you don't like burn as as easy. Of course if you wear glasses or contacts make sure you bring contact solutions and glasses.

SPEAKER_01 50:32

For your clothes get the wrinkle release spray because you you can't really iron your clothes on the ship so it's definitely good to have the wrinkle release especially if you're elegant so you you don't look like you're uh homeless uh in the main dining room and you don't have to wear your pajama pants in public into the fancy night which we've seen before so there is no rules for fancy night you can essentially do whatever you want one of the things I didn't realize when I went on my first cruise is that it's good to bring a you know reusable bottle of water. I had a coffee cup and you know I dumped it out because and I just end up using that as my refillable because you can get the water the tea the lemonade anything for free you can just fill it up and bring it back to your room because there is no bottles of water in your room well there is but you you know charge you extra and you know that's kind of goes on with saying bringing drinks as well you can bring you know a case of a 12 pack of soda I believe you can bring bottles as well it's you can't bring bottles of soda no you no you can't bring bottles of soda you can only bring cans uh 12 pack of cans per person and you can bring uh you can bring canned water but you can't bring bottles because there's too many people that were taking the cap off and then filling up with like vodka or something and then putting it back on the bottle.

SPEAKER_00 51:51

So they went away with the bottle everyone's ruins it for everybody.

SPEAKER_01 51:54

I know we got to use mouthwash now and that's even being cracked down on now too but yeah having that reusable water bottle or just reusable cup is very beneficial especially when you're trying to just have water at night you can just go fill it up get plenty of ice especially yeah especially if you don't have the drink package because if you have a drink package at least for carnival and MSc you can just get bottles of water they give it to you with the drink package and I know in NCL for some reason they do not include bottled water in the drink package which is kind of weird but um maybe that's something else that they're going to change.

SPEAKER_00 52:25

But it's definitely recommended to get that especially when you get off the ship on an excursion is really good to have that just so you fill it up with um you know water or hey if you want margarita fill it up and take it off the ship too whatever whatever you want to is good to have that option. Speaking of getting off the ship it's also really good to have like a small little collapsible beach bag or I think you Jack you normally have like a little backpack like a drawstring backpack is that right yeah that's my normal carry-on that I bring to my theme parks or just in the cruiser in general just so I can have the little essentials and I don't have to put everything in a bunch of pockets. Yeah then of course you definitely want to bring your a sun hat or just a regular ball cap some sunglasses of course uh a lot of people don't realize that a lot of these ports are more south of where you normally stay so you're definitely gonna get closer to the sun which means you're definitely gonna get sunburned a lot easier so uh it's definitely good to be ready for that um of course a cruise lanyard I know like Disney you can actually get like a little wrist and I know MSE you can get a wristband too so you can just touch it but it's definitely good to have a cruise lanyard for your cruise your selling sign card um so any payments you make or anything it's just right there. Some people don't like it.

SPEAKER_01 53:40

I know my wife she wears one on her wrist it's like a wrist wrist uh one uh but me personally I like the um lanyard myself what do you think Jack well it's easier for you to take off and put in the slot machines of course can't put it on your wrist uh no I like the lanyard as well and it's all it's like wearing a necklace and it's always on you at all times and it's very easy to it's very easy to forget those. At least it's on the lanyard around your neck then it's a little bit more a little bit more in your possession where you don't lose it as easily. So kind of our last couple things you need to bring non-surge power strips you know in case you need to plug in multiple things I personally can't go on any cruise without headphones especially when you just want to detox listen to music and sit on the deck a book to read you know just some entertainment some optional stuff you know snorkel gear if you have an excursion or you know you're gonna go to a beach and you know swim that could be a good thing to bring trash bag for wet clothes and you know of course you kind of mentioned this earlier bring cash having at least small bills you know tip a bartender tip you know the wait staff when you eat and tip the house attendance those are just you know nice gestures yes your gratuity is already included in your expenses but it's just nice to give that little bit of money and is there anything else that you would think that we would need just to bring on this cruise yeah one thing that actually we brought last time which was really helpful was actually like board games it's fun especially when you're with a group of people you got tons of people it's really good to bring like different games like uh we played phase 10 we just played uh Yahtzee last cruise um uh we play Skippo those are some of the top ones I know when we were in MSc I still don't know what it was but all the there's a bunch of Asians that were on the MSc and they were playing this domino game and I don't even know I don't know if you've ever seen them play it but it's weird this dom it looked like they were having fun playing I kind of wish I knew how to play it but they were having so much fun every single night you go through the buffet area and they were sitting there they're playing dominoes they're having the best life I think that's pie gow because I think that there is a game that you can play at casinos where you know you it's dice and dominoes so yeah yeah I I think that's pie gau. So yeah we'll we'll do a live stream of us playing pie gal learning it as well but that'll do it for this week's episode of the Leto loop as always you can follow us on YouTube and you can find our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon and wherever you get your podcast as always I'm Jack that's Jesse and we will see you on the Leto deck or on NCL's private island enjoying the drink package