The Lido Loop: Let's Book a Cruise - Food/Entertainment Offerings and Disembarkation Process.

Jack and Jesse are back with a brand new episode of The Lido Loop, bringing you the latest updates from the world of cruising and theme parks.

In cruise news, Carnival has unveiled a brand-new adults-only cruise concept that’s already generating mixed guest feedback. Meanwhile, several cruise lines are canceling visits to Alaska’s Tracy Arm Fjord, and Carnival reports a seemingly impressive 85% booking rate through the rest of 2026, but could those number be deceiving?

Over in theme park news, Magic Kingdom has reopened Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin and announced an official reopening date for Big Thunder Mountain. Dollywood is rolling out discounted admission for military personnel and select professions and NBA star Kevin Durant is now part of an ownership group that has purchased Six Flags America.

To wrap up the show, Jack and Jesse conclude their “Let’s Go on a Cruise” series by breaking down what to do once you’re onboard and everything you need to know about the disembarkation process.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to this week's episode of The Lido Loop. I'm your host, Jack McCraw. With me as always, my good friend and also broke buddy because we just went to the casino, Jesse Barboza. How are you feeling after being cleaned out of the casino? Um, it wasn't real cleaned out.

SPEAKER_01 0:15

I'm just down a little bit of money, not too much, but uh yeah, we definitely have fun playing blackjack together for sure.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Yeah, absolutely. It was Jesse and your family, everyone was having a good time until we started losing money, and it kind of made us miss being on a cruise ship and gambling in the casinos there. But speaking of cruises, what's in the cruise news for today?

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Yeah, so it looks like uh Carnival's gonna be expanding their adult sellings. And uh Tracy Armforge is looks like it's gonna be closed from major cruise cruise lines, and Carnival has almost booked all their sellings for this year.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Yeah, can't wait to get talking about that glaze and greatest in the Carnival news. And on the theme park side of things, Magic Kingdom will be opening all of their rides here very soon for the first time in what seems to be forever. Dollywood has announced discounted tickets for a bunch of different people who qualify, although they have already angered a lot of fans with certain refill policies. And of course, the late great Six Flags America has been bought by a certain famous NBA player. That, and then we break down part four of Let's Go on a Cruise, where we talk about what to do on board and the disembarkation process, that and much more on this week's episode of the Alito Loop. So kicking off the show, we are going to talk about the latest and greatest in the cruise world. And starting off today, Jesse, let's talk about Carnival's expansion to its adults only sailing.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Yeah, so uh so Carnival now have canceled their sellings from October to later this year for all which is equivalent to 11 sellings, and now they have replaced those to adult sellings on the Carnival Frenzy, which is coming out of Long Beach in California. So apparently what a lot of people are upset about is that they booked these with their family and um they expect to go on these cruises, and then they end up canceling it, and then they end up remaking these bookings into adult only sellings. Carnival is definitely focusing on adult entertainment and stuff like different shows. Uh there's some stuff that a lot of people think is definitely controversial, like they're supposed to be expanding, like having drag shows on board and stuff like that. Uh whether you like it or not, I guess uh people I guess some people do like that. Sellings are is are invite only, so I'm guessing that they're mainly inviting like casino players and stuff like that. They're probably getting them on board almost for free so that they can start gambling and stuff like that. I'm sure they're gonna expand. I've seen some past uh adult-only sellings, and they're like in the main atrium, they've actually put slot machines in there in order to have uh enough slots. Because I mean, if you're if you have adult-only sellings, what do you think the casino would look like?

SPEAKER_00 3:16

Uh it would be huge, massive, bigger than your current casino. So I understand why they want to put more slot machines like in the atrium in the lobby, like you mentioned. And it kind of makes me think of Vegas, you know, I think it's the Red Rocks, they have a swim up bar where you can play blackjack and order a drink. Maybe they could have something like that, except it's the tides bar. Just have a blackjack dealer come up to the hot tubs and have you then play blackjack with you. That sounds like fun.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

Yeah, um, so apparently a lot of people are looking forward to this, and some people are upset because they got their shoe cruise ship canceled. So I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

We'll we'll see how it goes, though. I mean, if I did have something previously booked with a you know family, I would be a little upset too. I mean, hopefully they got some credit or maybe they can use this for a different sailing. Um, it would feel weird that Carnival would want to kick these people out instead of just starting a brand new ship and say, hey, this is gonna be the adults-only cruise. Maybe that cruise wasn't doing too well, and the amount of people that kicked off wasn't necessarily a lot by comparison. But I mean, there is certainly a lot of online chatter in regards to you know these families being booted off this ship. Uh, another cruise topic we want to get to is the closure of the Tracy Arm Fjord in Alaska. Now, this is a very popular cruising destination for Alaskan cruise ships, Jesse. Uh, can you tell us a little bit more about that? And do you think this will impact some people's sailings in the future?

SPEAKER_01 4:41

Yeah, absolutely. So, anyone that goes to Alaska, this is one of those inside passages that you want to go to because the beautiful is a beautiful landscape and all that. I me personally have not seen it. This is definitely on my bucket list to go to. But back in 2025 of August, actually, uh, there was a huge ant landslide that created like a huge tsunami type wave, and pretty much the the water I I saw a picture of this, and the water went way up high in the mountain. And they're right now scientists and like the US Geological Survey, they say that it is very unstable. They're there's still ongoing risk of like rock falls, more landslides, and another localized tsunami could happen for sure. Uh, so cruise lines like Carnival, Rural Caribbean, Holland America, they have completely cut it out of their itinerary for all of 2026. They're officially they're they're saying that it's not safe for large ships to transit right now. To me, it seems like with all the landslide and stuff like that, they don't know how I don't know if they know exactly how deep it is, too. Like if it's too shallow because all the rocks have fallen down into it. So I'm thinking that they're trying to play it safe this year, and the next year they'll see if if it will be back open because they may have to do some work in order to get it back open too.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

Yeah, and I know that there are certain people online that say that this is one of the best parts of an Alaskan cruise. You know, me like I you said, I personally have never been on Alaskan cruise either, but I feel like there's certain definitely a lot of other things to do on those ships besides that particular fjord. No, yeah, if it's like if you went on a carnival ship and like, you know, when we went on, we were supposed to go to Progresso. We didn't end up going to Progreso, we just stayed in Cozumel an extra day because there was a hurricane in the Gulf. But, you know, I imagine that this will disappoint some people, but I think that there's still a good amount of other places to visit and see in Alaska. I mean, go whale watching. I think that's probably the number one thing to do on Alaskan cruise. But yeah, I certainly people will be upset and disappointed with this, but it's for a good reason and it's for the safety not only of the people but of the natural landscape itself. So switching back to Carnival, Jesse, I hear that Carnival has an 85% booking rate between now and the end of the year. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_01 7:07

Yeah, that is correct. And that's for in the cruise industry, that is crazy, because just think about it, it is what April right now, and a lot of people will book their cruise a lot of people book their cruise last minute. So considering that 85% of the bookings have sp are completely sold out right now is ridiculous. So but me personally, I think it's definitely a artificial inflation because of course a lot of people know about Carnival changing their VIFP program instead of it being a rewards program, it's uh like a paid for rewards program, I guess. So whoever pays the most, you know, you get you know, better rewards and all that, which whether you like it or not, I'm definitely disagree with this. I think it's gonna hurt them. And a lot of people say, well, it's not hurting them because hey, they got 85% of the bookings, but I think it's artificial uh inflation because I'm getting constantly getting emails and all that saying, hey, book this cruise, you get 3x points so you get closer to the you know platinum or the gold status so that you're not I mean not gold status, platinum or diamond status, so you're locked in so you they won't change your status for lifetime because it right now if you're diamond, you're diamond for life. And a lot of people are working towards that goal. So I think definitely it's definitely gonna affect them later.

SPEAKER_00 8:34

Yeah, that was gonna be my next question. Is that instead of seeing the numbers affected this year, do you think that would carry over into 2027 where we could see people turning away from Carnival and going to other ships like MSc Royal or whomever just because of the bad you know rewards that Carnival is offering now?

SPEAKER_01 8:53

Yeah, I definitely can see that, and I can definitely see Carnival starting to try and figure out something else that they're gonna do. They're probably gonna be like, hey, we'll push it back even more, because originally it was supposed to be end of July, then they pushed it back to uh the beginning of September pretty much. So they keep pushing it back. You never know, they may even push it back till next year, and then they're just trying to, I feel like they're just trying to get as much money out of this in it as they can right now, and then next year they'll they'll find another way to make more money.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

I was gonna say like the easiest way is make the cruises cheaper, but you know, with rising costs of everything, that might not be the most feasible option. Uh it was really interesting to see what Carnival will do, especially with its consumer base, not only this year, but the following year, because you know, they have not been very popular online right now, and certainly when that rewards program actually finally does hit, only time will tell what it'll do to their overall business. Yeah, so switching over to Theme Park News, Jack.

SPEAKER_01 9:54

So is this the first time Magic Kingdom has all the rides open?

SPEAKER_00 9:59

It feels like it, yes. We have talked about how a lot of Disneyland rides will be closed from it starting in May, and I think we did the percentage was like 14% of you know all Disneyland rides are going to be closed at some point this summer, which that's terrible. Magic Kingdom has the opposite, not issue, but good thing where every single ride will be open. Now, at some point the Carousel of Progress will be closing in 2026 for a refurbishment opening in 2027, but the two main rides that were closed, Buzz Light Your Space Ranger Spin, opened on April 8th, and then they announced that Big Thunder Mountain will open on May 3rd with enhanced in features, including more special effects, a new ride track to make it a little bit smoother. And it's I would say it's one of, if not the best coasters in Magic Kingdom, besides Tron and Space Mountain. So it's certainly a great people pleaser, and the Magic Kingdom is now operating at 100% capacity, and with the new Cars Land potentially opening in 2027 or more likely 2028, and then the villains land opening in sometime in after 2029. Magic Kingdom is clicking on all cylinders, and you know, now is the best time to visit a park. Jesse, wouldn't this make you excited if you knew every single ride you wanted to ride was going to be open?

SPEAKER_01 11:26

Yeah, absolutely. Because I'm definitely big on like not parks being super busy where you can only ride a couple rides or and you're just waiting hot lines all day. If the more rides are open, that means the lesser the lines are gonna be for sure, right?

SPEAKER_00 11:41

Absolutely. And yeah, like I'm I was saying in you know previous episodes, my last trip to Disney World, we were able to ride most things with a little to no weight. You know, with Big Thunder Mountain and now Buzz Light, your Space Ranger spin open, these will you know alleviate that crowd capacity just in time for the summertime. And now that Disney is offering these discounted tickets this summer, like the half day passes, I think Disney is getting their staff back up. I think Disney is you know making sure these rides are in good shape, because I think that they expect a record-breaking crowd this year. So talking about discounted tickets, how about Dollywood offering discount tickets? So this is the first time that we have talked about Dollywood on our podcast, and it's been one of my bucket list parks. There just hasn't really been a lot of Dollywood news to talk about. But you know, they're in the news right now because they're offering $59 tickets for those who qualify, and those who do qualify include first responders, military members, teachers, government employees, and medical employees. Currently, an average ticket to Dollywood costs around $94.99. That's you know, a pretty steep price to pay for Dollywood, considering six flags is usually around fifty dollars for a day pass, depending on the park. Season pass, $70 there. SeaWorld Bush Gardens, somewhere between $70 to $90 a day. So Dollywood is more expensive than uh almost every other park besides Universal and Disney. And, you know, it is a very nice themed park. It's always been rated as one of the top five most beautiful parks. You know, Dolly herself and then, you know, uh the Hershen Company do a very good job maintaining it and making it a worthwhile destination, especially in the you know, Tennessee Mountains. Pigeon Forge is a great fun place to visit for a lot of families that live in that area. So I I understand wanting to give the customers a little bit more of a value to come in and you know check out their parks. Because it is a world-class park that is worth at least visiting one time in your lifetime. Unlike a certain Six Flags park we visited a few years ago, right, Jesse?

SPEAKER_01 13:56

Yeah, definitely. Uh so Six Flags of America, uh, which has now been bought by a NBA player, and it's definitely not Shaq this time.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

Well, he's a little busy. He's, you know, has a Shaq's big chicken that's on you know the Carnival Jubilee.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

And he's definitely got his money in his hand in everything, it seems like at this time.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

If you go on TV, you can see Shaq in some kind of commercial. That's a drinking game. Watch a show until you see Shaq on a commercial. But no, the NBA player in question who purchased Six Flags America is Kevin Durant. Now, it seems kind of odd, you know, us being in Houston, we know him as a Houston Rocket, and he used to play on Oklahoma City Thunder, Golden State Warriors, Brooklyn Nets, Phoenix Suns. What in the world does Kevin Durant have to do with Six Flags America, you ask? Well, he is a DC native and a Prince George County native, so I'm sure he grew up going to Six Flags America. So the story goes, Kevin Durant and his investment group, 35 Ventures, as part of a group, has purchased Six Flags America site, and you know, they plan to turn it into some sort of mixed-use development. What that entails is you know yet to be determined, and also didn't say how much you know money they spent to acquire this land, but it seems to me that they want to put a little bit of investment back into that area, and it kind of made Jesse and I reminisce about our you know, let's just say fun time at Six Flags America. Um, what was your favorite part of visiting Six Flags America, sir? Uh it's probably the leaving part.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

No, and all honestly, that park was definitely doomed. As soon as we went through there, we realized that that was by far the worst Six Flags park that had to be out there.

SPEAKER_00 15:39

I mean, when we were watching videos on it, it looked like there was a lot of fun. They had, you know, the Superman Ride of Steel, which, you know, was by far and away their best roller coaster. When we walked in, we saw the nice theming to, you know, colonial America, but once you got past that park, it became just your typical Six Flags, you know, a DC area, Looney Tunes area, and some pretty bad roller coasters. Uh, there was one Roar, uh the first wooden roller coaster we rode, and that was the roughest, toughest, worst roller coaster I think we've ever been on.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

Yeah, I think that roller coaster set the bar, you know, because honestly, that was by far the worst one. So Superman definitely was way better compared to that. That was that you're I agree with you, Jack. The Superman was definitely the best coaster there for sure. But what what kind of made me think is like how many of these rides do you think will be saved towards this new adventure that Kevin Durant's gonna be opening?

SPEAKER_00 16:31

Uh to be honest, I'm not too sure because their latest investment they got was in their water park. They haven't actually gotten a new roller coaster in nearly a decade. So these coasters are just getting older and older. Like the Ride of Steel that we mentioned earlier opened, I believe, in 2000. So the that at that point the roller coaster is over 25 years old, and you know, most roller coasters' life cycles without significant work is about 20 to 25 years. So it's possible these rides just get scrapped, and maybe they use some sort of this land for some sporting complex or you know, maybe it's just you know shopping center. The Six Lags America really was just kind of in the middle of nowhere. We had to, you know, go out of our way from the Baltimore area to get there, and it was still like 30 minutes uh east of DC. I remember it was really close to the Washington Commanders, you know, football stadium, and that's something that could be considered if the Commanders don't get their new stadium built in Washington, D.C. like they want to, they could go to this land, but it's kind of I don't know what they would do with this land, to be honest, but it's certainly certain something to watch. And it's sad to see a theme park go, especially if you grew up in the DC area that was the closest and quote best theme park near you. But you know, hopefully something good will come about this. And you know, transitioning to the final topic of the show is let's go on a cruise. This is part four of our series, where Jesse and I will talk about what to do when on board that includes food, drinks, certain ports, and of course the entertainment and you know the least favorite part of a cruise ship, which is the disembarkation process. But let's talk about our favorite part about cruises besides casinos, is the food. So, what is the cost for food on once you're on a ship, Jesse?

SPEAKER_01 18:22

Yeah, so I've definitely seen many people post in like Facebook groups saying, Hey, what is the cost to eat on board at the restaurants on board and all that? And to be honest, most of them is all included in the original affair. I mean, yes, there are gonna be special dining, like on Carnival, you know, they got the uh 555 Steakhouse, uh, and then they got like Rudy Sea Grill, uh, and then they got different other places that may be extra, but you can literally go on a whole cruise ship and not spend a penny after their initial cost and still have a blast. You know, you have all your food in the main dining room, which is 100% included, uh, and you can also go to the buffet. And that's what one thing I do like about Carnival, uh, especially the newer ships, there's so many places to eat that are included. Like on the Jubilee, there's got you know Shaq's Baked Chicken, they got Guy's Burger, they got Street Eats, they have, of course, the main dining room, they got blue iguana, they have fresh creations, and then of course the buffet. Man, there are so many places to eat, so you'll that's one thing you will not do on a cruise ship. You will not starve on a cruise ship at all.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

I was gonna say, I think there's plenty of places for you to go eat, and even if you're not a big fan of the dining, which I don't know why you would be, but you could be, uh, there's plenty of buffets to choose from. And another question we have is is food available all the time?

SPEAKER_01 19:50

Yeah, for the most part it is. So uh a lot of times pizza is open a long time. I know on Carnival and MSc, they have really it open really late. The buffets open on MSc, the buffet is open except for like two or three hours, so basically all the time you can eat there. Uh on Carnival, they do like close the buffet and like the pizza place around midnight, but then they open what they call the late night buffet, which I'm not gonna lie, the food does not look appetizing at all.

SPEAKER_00 20:22

Because it's the leftovers throughout the rest of the day that they have to throw away otherwise.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

I that's what it seems like. I and me personally, the pizza that is there is like deep dish, and I I don't know about you, I hate I don't like deep dish at all. Unless it's actually from a Chicago deep dish pizza place, I don't want it. Yeah, it's like the almost like cafeteria squares like that you would get like in a cafeteria. So it's definitely not that great. Um, but yeah, there's there's definitely like the type of food you would expect on board, like is some of it is very fast casual, like you know, burgers, you know, hot dogs and stuff like that. Buffet, you can kind of find anything. Honestly, the dining experience is actually I would I I don't know, I would what would you call it? Would be kind of like I wouldn't say necessarily fine dining, but it's definitely nicer than like if you just went to like uh any old restaurant, right?

SPEAKER_00 21:15

Oh, absolutely. I mean, there's nothing to say that you call it fine dining because if you really think about it, you can get a gourmet steak or a freshly prepared chicken every single night that you're on board. And then of course there's a rotating menu of stuff that would otherwise be incredibly expensive on land, like escargot or frogs legs. So, yes, the dining experience is fine dining, in my opinion. Uh, and you know, kind of going to what I was talking about earlier with unique items at the dining, what other kind of food would you expect on board, Jesse?

SPEAKER_01 21:47

Yeah, it's definitely it's gonna be like very international food, you know. So there I know like Carnival, how Carnival does it is like a lot of times they do pork focus. So if you're just now leaving Carnival. They'll have like I guess Mexican theme meals and stuff like that. And they do have the standard like steak every single night. You can get a steak every single night if you want to. Me personally, if I there's nothing on the menu, that's my that's my go-to is the steak. Because me, I don't know what it is, but the steak in the main dining room is is actually pretty good. And they'll cook it however you want it. Yeah, exactly. I always but and I always get the Caesar salad. I don't know why, but the Caesar salad on the cruise ship, it was on Carnival's really good. And MSE, it was amazing. It was way better on MSE. And I thought Carnival was the best.

SPEAKER_00 22:36

So one thing note about the salad, they actually put a good amount of croutons on there. And I'm a if I want a salad, I want a lot of croutons. I've been croutoned out by many, many restaurants. Texas Roadhouse. Yeah, as long as they don't fall to the bottom, I think we're good. Honestly, I hate when that happens too, because it gets messed up with the Caesar dressing. But on another note, you know, what other things could people expect to eat there that's not fine dining? Like what could you expect to see at the buffet or certain other restaurants that are on board?

SPEAKER_01 23:07

Yeah, so the buffet is it's kind of rotational. I know Carnival, me personally, I think a carnival buffet is not good at all. MSC is definitely definitely they rotate it out and they MSE they definitely have like a theme night every single night. So uh they have like a main special, I guess you can say. Like one night they had a lamb leg, and they literally had a huge leg, a lamb, and they were just cutting it off. And they I think they have prime rib one night, and they were freshly cut, they'll cut it for you and then put it on your plate immediately. Um it's definitely MSC's buffets way better than Carnival's. Um but Carnival definitely has a lot more places to eat and like burgers, uh they have uh hot dogs, or they have a blue blue guan and cantina where you get tacos and burritos, uh shack's big chicken. Um so it's literally pretty much everything you can think of they're gonna have on that ship. My favorite, especially late night, pizza. I love getting the pizza there.

SPEAKER_00 24:03

I don't know what do you think. So I used to despise the pizza, and I can compared it to school cafeteria pizza, but they got significantly better over the years because even when we went on the breeze in 24, I it was the pizza was cardboard. But the last one we went on the glory, that pizza was phenomenal. It's it was night and day for how much that pizza has improved. Maybe not being open 24 hours, you know, but they they use better ingredients, better quality. And I I would say that the pizza is you know worthwhile, especially the chicken Alfredo pizza. Definitely a recommend if you go to the Pizza Pirate on Carnival. But we can go on and on about the food. Let's talk about the drinks. So, where are the best places to get drinks on the ship?

SPEAKER_01 24:48

Yeah, so there are many bars. You're not gonna be short, there's not gonna be a short supply of bars on a cruise ship. I know on Carnival, pretty much every corner you turn, there's another bar. Depends on what you like, too. Of course, you know, if you're by the pool, they're gonna be servers that are walking around, or you just hang up at the bar. Typically, depending on what area you are at, there's got theme menu, and there's usually all the like their, I guess that bar specialty drinks, I guess, those are the main drinks that that bar is known for, or that you can order. Doesn't mean you can't still order your whiskey and cokes or your you know cranberry vodka or whatever, whatever type of drinks you want, but they typically like specialize in certain amount of drinks at special bars. So and you'll you'll kind of learn the bartenders and how they work because some of the bartenders they kind of do this like rotational bar service where they'll be working on one bar and then they work on the inside bar too. So you'll see one, and then there's a couple times we'll be hanging out with this one bartender talking and have a good conversation, like, oh I'm gonna I gotta go to another bar, so we'll go over there and and then have a good conversation with the bartenders because it's very entertaining because all these people, I know we haven't really talked about this, but all the people on a cruise ship are like from almost all of them are non-American, they're almost all from international countries. And I know Carnival they have a name tag like what country they're from, and which is really cool, and it's really cool to understand their culture and how they talk, and it's very cool interacting with them and learning about their families and stuff like that. And honestly, I think the best spot to learn about people is the bar, me personally.

SPEAKER_00 26:26

And also, I think it depends on what time of day you go to these bars because if you go kind of during the daytime, especially if the weather's nice, the tides bar will definitely be packed, especially closer to by the pool. And also if it's you know, especially if a day that you you know disembark and go to a you know different port, uh, it'll be vacant, or you can have easy service if you just want to stay on board the ship. Uh but late at night, the casino bar is probably is packed to the brim. You know, any of the interior bars, I think the alchemy bar is you know very you know popular. They have special events that happen over there on ships as well. Of course, the club bar is always gonna be popping, especially after midnight. So it depends on the time you go, but like Jesse, you were saying earlier, there is not a single area where you don't have access to get alcohol, especially after the drink package. I think they won't really want you to utilize it. The one place I think they could use, you know, a bar is in the theater. I I think you have to, you know, go far away to the casino, get a bar, then go to the theater. Why don't they make it closer? Have bartenders actually, you know, give you beers inside the theater shows.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

Yeah, it depends on like the the ship, honestly, because when we were in Jubilee, the the main atrium is actually a bar too. I mean, not bar, a theater. So there were people uh asking drinks while we're there, and then also an MSc is the same thing. When we went to a show, they were actually offering drinks or stuff like that. So I guess it kind of just depends on the ship and it depends on the bar. Um, but like I said, you can still get pretty much any drink you want. Mine one thing I I I learned that with a drink package is so how it works is every time you order like a margarita, they're gonna use like bottom shelf tequila. You can get the more premium tequila and it'll still fall on your your drink package. Like instead of getting the uh instead of ordering a m just saying the margarita, I say, Oh, I want a patron margarita, and they'll have patron, and which is a lot higher quality uh tequila, and it tastes way better. That's like the only margaritas I'll drink nowadays.

SPEAKER_00 28:31

And the and avoids the headache for sure, especially drinking that bottom shelf one. Uh let's go ahead and transition over to ports. So, you know, a big question people have is about tendering. Can you explain how tendering works?

SPEAKER_01 28:43

Yeah, so some of these uh ports, they actually the it's too shallow for them to actually dock at an individual dock because of either like coral reefs or something like that, or it's just too low that it hasn't been like cleaned out so that you can actually dock there. So what the ships have to do is they have to go off shore, it could be a mile, it could be less than that, and they have to anchor literally actually set their anchor down, and then they usually get some uh like a I guess a trolley type boat, I guess you can say, and that will load people on. I've even seen them use their rescue boats to get people on shore, but that just takes a lot longer. So it's usually they got specific boats going in. And actually our next cruise on the Jubilee this uh September, one of the ports is Half Moon K or Key, however there's I don't know, everyone wants to call it either Key or K. But uh it's actually a Tinder port, and so that's another experience that we have. We also had did a tender port, and I think it was in uh the Cayman Islands when we did on Carnival Freedom. Uh it's definitely more hectic process, I think, because you don't really have the free roll just going on and off. You have to wait and wait and wait and wait, but it's really not too bad, honestly. Usually usually get on in and off the ship still pretty fast.

SPEAKER_00 30:05

The one thing I'll say about tender ports, because I was, you know, did that in the Cayman Islands as well when we went you know swimming with the stingrays. Um the water can be rough and unpredictable. So if you're on a smaller boat, you're more susceptible to you know the waves, which you know could then cause motion sickness. So if you're prone to that, definitely recommend taking some dramamine before you get on or probably afterwards once you've already consumed a bunch of alcohol, uh, like what happened to me when we were had to get back on the ship. That was probably one of the worst times I ever had on a cruise ship, especially with me already being prone to motion sickness that made it uh a bunch of times worse.

SPEAKER_01 30:42

Speak speaking of that though, Jack, so the like the motion sickness, have you used anything else other than the dremamine? Have you used like I have you seen those people like the pressure bands and stuff like that and the stuff that goes beyond that? Have you used it in? I mean personally, I haven't, because I don't know if it works at all, but I've heard people say it does work. But I've always stuck with the dremamine, and honestly, I never get motion sickness, but I kind of like pre-do it.

SPEAKER_00 31:04

So if you are susceptible, dramamine is probably the number one thing you can do. They do make these things called C bands, which is a it's a uh you know, mesh wristband with a little bit of a pressure point that goes right on your wrist. And what it does is supposed to alleviate that like nausea, nauseating feeling by just putting that pressure right there. I use it for when I fly, and I usually have to wear the C bands on the first day of a cruise ship, and usually I do get kind of seasick, especially if it's you know rougher waters. But after a day, your body gets used to it, and then you're usually good to go. I know there's people that suffer from extreme motion sickness, which number one, maybe a cruise isn't for you, but you know, there are other ways around it. I think, and then as easy something as easy as peptobismol can you know alleviate nausea as well. We kind of talk about this in a previous episode, but it's always good to bring a first aid kid with any kind of medication for allergy, stomach ache, you know, even advil or tylenol in case you have a headache or hungover. But let's talk about ship time, Jesse. What does that mean and why is it important, especially when you are off the ship?

SPEAKER_01 32:16

Yeah, so whatever port you originally leave from, so like of course we mainly leave from Galveston because we're from the Houston area, um that's gonna be your ship time. So it's gonna be that time no matter what. The reason that matters is because say you go to the Eastern Caribbean out of Galveston, you're gonna have a one to two hour time difference. And what happens is your phone is going to adjust that time. So if you're supposed to be back on board at four o'clock and your time adjusted one hour ahead, and you say, Oh, I still got extra hours, so let me see what I can do at at 3 30. You're like, Oh, I still got 30 minutes, let me see what I can do extra. You're actually late, you're 30 minutes late on board, and they're gonna leave without you. And don't think they don't think they will, because I've definitely seen people. I don't know if anyone has seen any of the videos.

SPEAKER_00 33:16

Have you seen any of the pure runner videos? I think that's one of my favorite parts about like coming back from an excursion or just getting off the boat in general, seeing those people just run and hope they pray they make the ship on time. I think one episode we actually need to break down what happens when you don't get back on the ship because that's a a crazy, crazy process that I don't wish upon anybody.

SPEAKER_01 33:37

Yeah, absolutely. And there is a thing that when you do get back on the ship from ports and stuff like that, they will have people up on the top deck, on the Leto deck, watching you, or whoever else from Pier Runners, and they just start cheering you on to make sure that you get on the on the ship.

SPEAKER_00 33:54

It's it is kind of funny, I think. I mean, you're at that point taking bets to see if they make it or not. Some of these how close they cut it.

SPEAKER_01 34:00

Yeah, me personally, I have super high anxiety about getting on. Like, if I'm supposed to be on by three or four, I'm back by like one at the latest. I just do not want to be late. I because I always think uh, hey, maybe back from excursion, a guy, you know, has a uh a problem with a vehicle that taking you back to the port, and then it might be an hour or two delay or something like that. So it's very important to stay on ship time because of that reason.

SPEAKER_00 34:27

And also it's really important that if you do an excursion to book it through the cruise, that way they have the communication of, hey, this is happening, and you know, they could help you get back on the ship, or you know, god forbid, worst case scenario, get you to the next port and then get back on the ship. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 34:44

If you're definitely have a high anxiety or a first-time cruiser, or you don't even have a lot of experience at that particular port in general, it's definitely recommended just book their cruise line because they're almost like walking your hand to and from the excursion.

SPEAKER_00 34:59

And you know, kind of bringing up excursions, what is that process like? You know, we kind of went over how to book it. And you know, there's our excursion exclusive people in on ships that can, you know, help you book your excursions, but you know, is it easier just to book it online before you get there? I'm assuming it's cheaper as well.

SPEAKER_01 35:16

Yes, it's definitely better to book the excursion uh pre uh boarding the ship. Because it's definitely first off, you don't have to worry about it like selling out or anything like that. And uh also it's definitely cheaper. Because once you get on board and you're like, hey, we're not doing anything this day, and you go to the excursion desk, they're definitely going to make that price a lot higher for sure. Uh but anyway, so once you do actually have your booked excursion, it's this I'm talking about through the cruise line itself is what's gonna happen the night before they're gonna give you the tickets and they're gonna have a a paper pretty much telling you exactly where to meet up once you get off the ship.

SPEAKER_00 35:57

And this is usually left in your mailbox or like it's in your room when you once you get these tickets, correct? Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 36:03

Yeah, you typically like right outside your room, there's like a little mailbox, I guess you can say you can call it that they put you like they also put like the little planner in. They put different things in it, but they one of the big things like we're just talking about is the tickets and all and all the information pretty much. So pr basically the next morning they'll say, Hey, this is the meeting time on that paper. And so you will go down, get off the ship, make sure you have your selling sign card or your they say also you should have a picture ID at all these ports. Just make sure you have a picture ID and selling sign card and you'll go to a certain meeting area. The only thing you really need to bring off the ship, unless it's like for the excursion, is just a little bit of cash and stuff for like souvenirs and all that type of stuff. And ID, your room key to your room and uh, you know, of course, like sunscreen and maybe a hat and all that, of course, your kids. Don't you can't leave your kids there. Also don't leave them with the stingrays, you know, because you know it's a pain to go back and get them.

SPEAKER_00 37:06

Yeah, so um so Jack, what type of excursions have you done and what do you feel like is like the best thing you you would like for I've done snorkeling twice, once in Belize and once in the Cayman Islands. Um, you know, I we've done zip lining in Jamaica. I think that was probably my favorite one. And of course, you know, when when we go to Cozumel, we usually go to Mr. Sancho's. I mean, that's not exactly a quote excursion, but it's certainly a fun, all-inclusive beach where you just you can party and have fun. So I think excursions are worth it, especially if you haven't done many cruises. But the more recent cruises I've been on, we we haven't done the excursions, which you know that's not necessarily a bad thing because you can have fun just hanging out in the ports or you know, even have a day at the ship with no one else is there. That's a lot of fun. The only thing is you just can't gamble once you're you know in uh uh uh in port, so so I should I say. But you know, that kind of brings up another question is uh if you don't have an excursion, what would you do, Jesse?

SPEAKER_01 38:05

Yeah, so it like I said, it definitely depends on what port you're at too. Some of them like Costa Maya actually which just recently been bought by Royal Caribbean, they're gonna be building their private destination there. Uh which they I know we're not didn't talk about, but they just got the approval. Maybe I talked about next episode. Uh they got their approval to continue building the the Mexican resort there. Uh but anyways, in Costa Maya they have many things like once you get off the ship, they have a bunch of like little lagoons and all that. Yeah, they're gonna make you buy a drink to use their loungers in the pool, but it is something you can do just hang out around the lagoon. Me personally, they used to have like dolphins and stuff like that. And like birds, and they kind of went away with all that, especially when Royal Caribbean bought it. I'm thinking that they're kind of going away with that image because not everyone likes to have dolphins locked up and not be able to see the ocean, even though they're right next to the ocean.

SPEAKER_00 39:00

Yeah, it's you know, and the whole animal cruelty aspect of it. But kind of going to the point of the no excursions, it like you said, it just really just depends. I think you should do an excursion at least once. And you know, there are certain excursions that are better than others. Like I said, I love the zip lining in the mountains. I 100% recommend that.

SPEAKER_01 39:18

And and and also you can go to when you go to like the private beaches, like the Celebration Key and the Half Moon K that the cruise line owns, those honestly, they're you can deck tech decontively get an excursion on those, but honestly, it's not worth it. I mean, because you got pools, you got bars, you got slides, you got they usually got entertainment, they got like basketball courts, like different things you can do, or you just hang out by the beach.

SPEAKER_00 39:45

Look, I mean that's what I did at Celebration Key, and I think that was the you know best aspect of it was just it was a really nice beach. And yeah, it just depends on what you're in the mood for. If you're an adventure thrill seeker, definitely do an excursion. If you just want to, you know, hey, get off the ship, relax, you know, go see some something a little bit local where you're going. There's nothing wrong with just getting off the ship. You know, Cozumel's a good example, plenty of nice, you know, authentic Mexican shops that you could shop for, and you you can get off the port and then go, you know, to the following port eat a margaritaville, which that's a great tradition. Um, it there's just there's something for everybody, I'll say, as far as in excursions or not excursions.

SPEAKER_01 40:24

Yeah, definitely just watch out because I know like in Mexico now, they don't allow vapes, so you're not allowed to buy order vapes. And same thing with buying stuff at port. Be careful what you buy at port, especially when you get out like Cozumel in Mexico. I remember getting out of port and they're they're offering me drugs and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00 40:42

And it's definitely uh yes, just say you can't bring in that stuff back on the ship because they do have dogs on the ships now. I mean, I was gonna say, I what about that cowboys backpack I bought, you know, in Cozumel? They stopped me and they like gave me they actually gave me another backpack because no one actually wanted it.

SPEAKER_01 40:57

Yeah, I mean they were about to throw in the trash.

SPEAKER_00 40:59

They didn't want to litter in the ocean, they don't want to make the ocean worse by throwing the cowboys in there. What about the different in events on port days and sea days, Jesse?

SPEAKER_01 41:09

Yeah, so of course, when you're at port, the believe it or not, that's actually a lot of times when a lot of the people that have been working so hard to make your uh cruise, you know, good, that that's a lot of times when they rest. So they don't really have a lot of stuff going on. They still will have like trivia, but they're not gonna have any theater shows because why would they? Because most of the people are gonna be off the ship. Me personally, I'm a big ship person, so those some of the if I've been in that port before, I like to stay on the ship and I love to enjoy the ship all by myself. All the bars are typically still open, so you're still gonna be getting all the drinks and the slides. If you want to go to bar slides, they're just gonna be open, so it's definitely less crowded, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 41:53

And I I do like that aspect of it. I personally like to get off the ship, you know. It sometimes it does make me feel a little claustrophobic, especially if it's a longer, you know, you know, longer cruise. But I also agree with it's nice to be on the ship when no one else is there. Sometimes I actually get off the ship a little bit later. I get it's my chance to sleep in. And you know, if I if I don't have any excursions planned, I know I'm just gonna go, you know, let's say Cozumel, go to the shops, go eat at one of the local restaurants, or you know, go to my there's a favorite little s swing bar that's right over the Gulf of Mexico. It's very, very nice. I highly recommend it. It's a nice change of pace to just stay on the ship and you know enjoy it at the the least capacity that you will see it, you know, for the duration of the whole ship. And it's cool because like once everyone gets back on board, then that's when the events start. Like the dining, you know, comes back, and then usually some of the better shows are on port days as well. I mean, we've seen you know musicals, and they usually save the best shows for the last C Day, like the Love and Marriage show, or I think that there was like this one 80s musical that we saw. And you know, of course, there's comedy acts all throughout the duration of the cruise, and I think the the late nights are when the best times to see the comedy, especially the adults only one.

SPEAKER_01 43:13

Oh, yeah, absolutely. And another thing is that there's also a difference because some of the restaurants, like the like I know on uh Carnival, like the guys pick an anchor will not be open on port days because I I'm guessing it's not busy enough to keep it open. So some so just just think about some restaurants that they might have, they may be closed the whole day. Um, so just definitely look at the planner and look at the hours that they're open to figure out where you want to do eat and where you want to do for that day.

SPEAKER_00 43:45

Yeah, there's definitely more to do on sea days versus port days, just because you're kind of stuck on the ship it with not much else to do. So they want to try to fill it with as many activities as possible. Like sometimes they'll have, you know, ping pong or like the foosball tournaments, you know, the the top deck, you know, they'll have like certain spa discounts where you can come in there and get a you know your couple's massages and they'll have a lot more staffing as far as like the pool and water parks go. And you know, kind of what are there some other entertainments differentials differentials between you know a C day and a port day, Jesse.

SPEAKER_01 44:18

Yeah, um definitely like we kind of mainly what you talked about, yeah, definitely in the evening when you get back on the ship, is it's just gonna be like normal for sure. Uh but during the day they're just gonna have the basic stuff. They're not gonna have, of course, the biggest thing the casino's gonna be closed, of course. So all the people are going to be disappointed, but there you you know you never know I know as soon as like two hours before it opens I know people like Maddie are going to be sitting at the at the casino waiting for it to open to player to play with Huff and Puff.

SPEAKER_00 44:49

For those that don't know Maddie is one of our good friends and one of our loyal listeners but you know she does have the gambling problem. She was actually the reason why we went to the casino not because she had a fishing trip and the casino happened to be there. She was one that said hey let's all go to the casino but you know I think it's time we talk about the saddest part of a cruise ship and that's a disembarkation process. Now it can be incredibly easy or it can be you know a little bit hectic. You know we've seen it both ways. The last couple times that we've had to disembark isn't you don't you have to essentially check out or what's a disembarkation process with that Jesse and how do you make it so easy?

SPEAKER_01 45:27

Yeah so typically the night before you disembark the ship they're gonna send something on the app saying fill out this as this disembarkation. So on the app they're gonna ask if you're going to self-disembark like which means you're gonna take the luggage off yourself or you're gonna leave the luggage out the night before and they'll pick it up and then they'll set it into the disembarkation terminal like wherever you're home port or wherever you're disembarking. They're gonna set it there for you. So after you fill out the information on the app, you go to sleep you gotta be usually usually what I do is I usually have a late disembarkation, especially if I got a late flight to disembark late. Because I want to make sure I can l get breakfast before I leave. That's just me. Uh and they usually tell you hey you gotta be out of your room by like eight nine o'clock or something like that. And then usually you go to a place it's a waiting area after you of course cleaned up your whole room. Usually the night before we're throwing stuff and yell I'm yelling at the kids to pick up their stuff or whatever like that. But you get all your stuff out of your room, make sure it's clean and then you go down to the area that you're waiting. Usually it's like a lounge area like the atrium or I think last time we hung around like the the casino area that had like um chairs and stuff like that. Yeah and then they'll usually call a number out like um you know or number or a time that you're supposed to get off and then you just make your way to the area that they tell you to get off the ship. And that's usually over the intercom correct uh yeah intercom or they also have it on the app on Alpha Carnival where it will like pop up in your app say hey it's time to get off you know and stuff like that. One thing we didn't talk about though is I definitely want to talk about if you bought liquor and stuff like that. So if you did buy liquor on the ship and all that they will not let you take it back to room and usually the morning of you have to go go to a a designated place to pick it up that morning of which makes sense because they don't want you to buy liquor on the ship and then consume it in the whole bottle form when they can sell it sell it to you a lot more expensive. But anyways yeah once you once you start making your way is is might be a little hectic sometimes the lines are long they have to make sure they sell they they scan your selling sign card and then you just kind of pretty much make your way out and then you have to go through customs so this is the time that is definitely the best time to have a passport because Jack did you have a passport?

SPEAKER_00 47:59

Yes I've always had a passport every time I've gone through it and going through customs is a breeze when you have a passport but what are the alternatives if you don't have a passport?

SPEAKER_01 48:07

So if you don't have a passport you're going to be waiting in line to actually you have to see a custom agent so he's gonna have a paper he's gonna see your birth certificate and make sure that you're actually here legally and all that and then he's just gonna ask you hey do you have anything illegal you bring back there have did you bring a liquor back or whatever to make sure it's almost like an interrogation process. Yeah it kind of is 99% of the time they're just gonna say okay and then let you go through but they do do randoms and they may pull you out of line to search your stuff to make sure that it is safe what you bring into the country. But if you don't if you have a passport usually you never stop walking you walk through they do this facial recognition nowadays and as long as you you get the green light you're good and you get disembark the ship and then whatever you get off the ship from there you know I know it's hard to get an Uber because usually there's like hundreds of people trying to get an Uber. So it's I definitely recommended to either get a rental car ahead of time or schedule someone to pick you up or you know pay parking of course if you live close enough that you can just drive to the port. Or there is another thing you can do is get a private driver. Some people do get private drivers it's actually not that much more expensive than getting an Uber. They just kind of have to schedule it with them and then they'll just pick you up that designated time.

SPEAKER_00 49:31

Yeah which is surprising because you when you say private driver you think of like an ultra elite status people you chauffeuring you around but I mean technically like an Uber driver is like a a private driver right? Yeah you're just paying them through an app.

SPEAKER_01 49:44

Yeah you're just pretty much paying them through a a a third party app that's not as popular as Uber or Lyft you know that's basically what you're doing.

SPEAKER_00 49:55

And I do like that idea of parking because then you are in control of your own vehicle you know especially like when we went to Cape Canaveral it was parking was a breeze and you know getting off the ship was incredibly quick. Usually when we go out of Galveston yeah we have to walk a little bit to the the lot then in which we parked in I think there's sometimes a little shuttle that'll take you close enough to your car uh but you know that's that's always like the easiest route is just the pay for parking you know like you said Uber hit or miss lift hit or miss and you know I know in our the Cape Canaveral if you are going directly from Cape Canaveral to the airport they do offer a shuttle and I think Iah here in Houston International Airport does the same thing as well.

SPEAKER_01 50:42

Of course you got to pay for those but that's another option especially you have a flight out uh you know we did mention flights like isn't it possible that you can get an early disembarkation especially if you do have an earlier flight it is is definitely not recommended to get a flight before two o'clock because it anything before that you could be getting into port late like on Seascape we got in port two hours late because of the weather and so that slowed everything up so any I remember people talking like hey my flights at 11am I was like I don't know why you schedule a flight at 11 a.m that's just too close and a lot of moving part especially from Galveston to Ioh isn't close at all.

SPEAKER_00 51:21

A lot of people don't realize it's over 45 minutes away at least yeah like we when we went to Cape Canaveral we we got everything off in time but I think our flight was you know closer to like four or five o'clock because we didn't end up back in Houston till late as well so we did allow ourselves that extra time that we could go get some lunch you know we could go hang out in Orlando and then you know go leave through MCO.

SPEAKER_01 51:44

One tip I definitely do give everyone is that after you disembark and even maybe on your way home make a list of stuff that you wish you brought on board because every time I get off the ship I'm like oh I wish I did this I wish I brought this I wish I brought this so make a note and like a look almost like a little checklist so you know hey I brought this this this and then I always like to write on those notes like things I did not like or things I didn't didn't want to bring either so I make sure I don't bring those things again.

SPEAKER_00 52:10

Like a pros and cons list but except in cruising form. Exactly. And that'll do it for this week's episode of the Lido Loop. As always you can find us on Apple Podcasts Spotify Amazon wherever you get your podcast you can also check out our YouTube channel we are the Lido Loop. I'm Jack that's Jesse and we will see you on the Lido deck or in the parking lot because disembarkation was a breeze.