Lido Loop Podcast
Lido Loop is a podcast dedicated to the joy of cruising, theme parks and travel. Hosted by Jack and Jesse, these two blend travel insight, industry news and personal stories to inspire your next adventure.
Lido Loop Podcast
The Lido Loop: How to Budget & Save For Your Next Cruise.
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This week on The Lido Loop, we discuss several major stories from the cruise industry, including upgrades coming to Relax Away, Half Moon Cay, MSC Cruises’ quiet removal of drink package limits, and the possibility that a mile-long cruise ship could one day become a reality.
We also cover the latest theme park news, including new details about Universal’s upcoming theme park in the United Kingdom, additional information surrounding the extended stoppage of the Iron Shark roller coaster, and a friendly NBA Finals wager between Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Six Flags Great Adventure.
For our main topic, we’re focusing on practical ways to save for your next cruise vacation. We take a look at Carnival’s payment plan options, discuss cashback and rewards apps such as Upside, GasBuddy, Fetch, and MyVegas Slots, and explain how credit card rewards can help reduce travel costs. We also break down how saving just $58 per week can add up to $3,000 in a year and share several side hustle ideas that can help turn your cruise goals into reality. Whether you’re planning your next sailing or just starting to budget for one, this episode offers tips and strategies to help you get there sooner.
Welcome to this week's episode of The Leto Loop. I'm your host, Jack McCraw. With me as always, my good friend, Jesse Barboza. Well, we normally start with previewing what we're going to talk about, but Jesse, I think we need to start with some immediate housekeeping. And uh let's say I made a pretty big mistake last episode. We were talking about Six Flags Fiesta Texas new roller coaster Werewolf George. Well, apparently my University of Houston education means I can't read, and it's actually Werewolf Gorge.
SPEAKER_00There's not an extra E in it. And and we definitely look up the definition of it. It makes a lot more sense. What's the definition of it?
SPEAKER_01So a gorge is a narrow valley between hills or mountains, typically with steep rocky walls and a stream running through it. So it makes a lot more sense to call it Werewolf Gorge because it goes through the quarry wall in Fiesta, Texas.
SPEAKER_00It was definitely funny because you were looking up the whole lore of it and trying to figure out the why they're naming it uh werewolf George.
SPEAKER_01And I came up with like a French author's pseudonym was George, and he you know made werewolf stories. I thought, oh, that's really cool, that's really unique. But no, I just apparently can't read. So the roller coaster coming in 2027 to Fiesta, Texas, is Werewolf Gorge, not Werewolf George. Even though Werewolf George would also kind of have a nice ring to it. You will definitely not let me live this down. But in other news, sir, what is the latest and greatest in the cruise world?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so uh the first thing is uh Laxaway gets an upgrade, uh, MSC quietly gets rid of their drink limits, and a mile-long cruise ship could be a reality.
SPEAKER_01A mile-long cruise ship sounds insane on paper, but we're gonna break it down and see how this is actually could be plausible. And on the theme park side of things, Universal has announced new details about their new theme park coming to the United Kingdom. More details have come out about the Iron Shark roller coaster getting stuck at Galveston's pleasure historic pleasure pier. And speaking of Fiesta Texas, Fiesta Texas and Six Flags Great Adventure have a little bit of a beef, or you could say a gentleman's bet in regards to the NBA finals. In our final topic, Justin and I will break down what are the best ways to save for a cruise, including payment plans, apps that could give you money back towards your cruise, credit card rewards, weekly saving tips, and of course, having a nice side hustle. That and much more on this week's episode of the Alito Loop. So starting off the show, we always like to start with the cruise news, and we're gonna start at Relax Away, where Jesse, the upgrade is complete, I hear.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, actually, for someone who follows cruise news like I do, I honestly didn't even know this was happening. And the upgrades are actually great.
SPEAKER_01Before we break down the new upgrades to Relax Away, you want to tell our audience a little bit about Relax Away, Jesse?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so uh Relax Away half at Half Moon K is actually one of Carnival's private destinations. The biggest issue with this island was it was always a tender port because they didn't have they didn't have a pier that docks, I mean ships could dock at, so that means a lot of people couldn't get off the ship that were like handicapped or um or they had to use a wheelchair at all, they couldn't use it. But now with this new big upgrade, they have added a big pier which actually handle uh XL class Carnival ships. This is also shared with uh the Holland America, which is a Carnival brand, but they're on the other side of the island and they still will be tendering, they will not be using Carnival's pier. Um but other than other than just the uh pier being um like bigger, the biggest aim was to allow, you know, larger carnival ships to visit. Of course, they want to increase the capacity because you know, and if they increase guest capacity, more money, right? Uh they also wanted to improve the food, the transportations, and the beach facilities. So the new amenities they added also include an expanded beachfront area, uh complementary loungers and umbrellas. I heard that they added like four thousand uh loungers with umbrellas, so which is nice because umbrella you don't have to pay anything extra and you still get an umbrella while you're relaxing on the beach. And Valaxaway is also known for like having white beaches, like the sand are like white, they're beautiful beaches. Uh a lot of people say they're better than Celebration Keys uh beaches. That I completely agree with. Uh they also have new cabanas and daybeds, they have uh new beach bars and restaurants. They actually have an island tram transportation, it's actually really long, so it's definitely recommended to uh get on the tram because it's like takes 30 minutes to walk around the whole area if you don't. Uh they actually have a scenic walking path called Papaya Pathway, and they have added refresh refresh facilities throughout the island. Uh some of the new food and drink venues include Orchard Beach Bar, Hibiscus Beach Grill, Lunatide Beach Bar, Stay A While Beach Shack. Um, I don't know. I will I will be going to this island here in what September? September 08, I think is what you said. No, I think it'd be like in September, later September, we will be visiting. So I'm definitely looking forward to seeing these upgrades. The biggest issue was I did not want it to be a Tinder port because I mean with kids and all that, I hate having to go back and forth. You know, I like to be able to whenever I want to go back to ship, I can go.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that was gonna bring up my next question. Was in regards to a tender port versus just a standard, you know, pier, you would say a pier is significantly more efficient to get on and off, and you don't have to deal with you know getting on these smaller boats. Because I mean, when I went to the Cayman Islands, that's what I had to do was get on these tender ports, and you know, sometimes those waters can be really rough in those small boats. So I much prefer the pier. Are you of the same agreement?
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, definitely, absolutely, because I mean, first off, usually there's a long line people trying to get on and off the boat. And only so many people can get on these boats at a time, so you have to wait for them to keep coming back. Exactly. Typically, they do have enough, like as soon as it fills, there's annual right behind it, so they kind of rotate pretty fast. But it's the fact that I like to be able to get on and off like like Cozumel or any other destination that has a pier that whenever I want and get back on whenever I want without having to like sit and wait for a new boat to come.
SPEAKER_01But going back on topic to the relax away, it seems like there is a little bit of similarities between that and Celebration Key because I do remember Celebration Key having trams to go all over the uh that destination as well. And you know, with these upgrades, do you think it could rival Celebration Key at some point or even you know make it look bigger by comparison?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, actually, a lot of people are saying right now that they like Laxaway Half MK better because they kind of Laxaway kind of kept a lot more of the plants that like the nat the the uh natural plants that are on the island, stuff like that. So it seems a lot more like uh you're in the Bahamas, other than like Celebration Key just look like we were like at a beach resort. It could have been in wherever in across the United States, anywhere. You would never know.
SPEAKER_01There was absolutely nothing Bahaman about Celebration Key except for maybe some little shops that said, hey, Bahamas. Like I got a magnet, and then I mean you you could have blindfolded me, put me on the island. I thought we were still in you know the Florida Keys, not at a private beach destination in the Bahamas.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And the one thing about this, there's plenty of beaches access. There, I think the beach is over a mile long, so you have plenty of areas to hang out, enjoy the beach, and do whatever you want on the island.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we can't wait to look forward to your review of that here in the future. And you know, switching topics a little bit, I'm hearing MSc is quietly getting rid of their drink limits, Jesse. Now, you went on MSc. Uh, is this different from when you went in January versus what they're ruling out right now?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so actually I kind of stumbled upon this news because throughout the year I like to like price different cruises just to see, you know, what it's gonna take to get us on the next cruise. And I was pricing out on MSc Seascape, and it asked if you want to add the drink package to it. I was like, yeah, let's price it out that way. And then underneath it said no drink limit. I was like, oh, that's crazy. Because whenever I was on it, it was 15 limits. And that's the standard for most cruise lines, right? Well, a lot of them, yes. I know Royal Caribbean doesn't have it, but uh, you know, Carnival does, uh, MSC did, uh Margaritaville does, and most NCLs, I think, does too. So most cruise lines do have a limit because, first off, I mean, like what happened in Royal Caribbean, that guy had like 30 something and ended up dying because of it, because he drank so much, and it was a lot, a lot, a lot to the story. But anyways, get back on topic. Yeah, I think honestly, me personally, I can never heat hit 15. I mean, I understand some people think 15's low or limit. I think honestly, if you're consuming more than 15 a day, anyways, I think that's kind of ridiculous.
SPEAKER_01I think the max in like any sort, not just cruise, but like any sort of like drinking, I I think 10 was like my absolute limit. And you know, by that point you're gone. So I can't imagine what 15 does in this unlimited. Do you feel like people would not only take advantage of this, but you know, this could potentially be hazardous to people's health?
SPEAKER_00I really don't think so, honestly, because I mean it once you get close to 15 anyways, it's already becomes hazardous, honestly. I mean, and the bartenders can cut you off, say no, you've had too much a drink. Yeah, this doesn't limit that at all. This just pretty much says that you're not getting you're you can get as much as you want, but if they do see like you're drunk or anything, they will cut you off immediately. Me personally, I think the drinks on like Carnival are better than MSc. For some reason, I don't know what it was about the drinks on MSc. It didn't really they weren't really as good as the ones on Carnival. So I don't really see a lot of people hitting the 15, you know, drink limit, regardless if they had it or not. But um I definitely think this is a good stuff for MSc. Um, but I just don't know why they didn't make it public, honestly.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm not too sure either. Maybe there's some rule against promoting all you can drink. I I have no clue. But yeah, this definitely doesn't nothing but help MSc as far as you know wanting people to come over there because not only are they, you know, pricing their cruises, you know, fairly similar to Royal Caribbean and Carnival, but now they're offering incentives like we we talked about off-air, kids you know, can get on for free for certain cruises, and you know that they have they have a much more of a big advertising budget where you see uh Orlando Bloom and Drew Barrymore, which that's funny that we forgot Drew Barrymore was a girl, but we absolutely remember Orlando Bloom, so make the jokes if you will. Hey, Carnival, they do have Shaquille O'Neal. I mean, I feel like he's more of a rememberable person than Hey, he's the chief fun officer. Chief Fun Officer. That's that's what they call him. So I mean that if you want something to your product to sell, put Shaq in it. He he's in everything, so this would be a fun going back to the MSc drinking. This is a fun MSc drinking game. You have unlimited drinks. Every time you see Shaq in a commercial for anything, uh you're gonna hit that 15 plus limit in a heartbeat. That's why they have the unlimited drink package. But going back over to you know, the reason why I think this could be good for MSc is that it's nothing but free publicity and essentially one more incentive to try MSc in America, wouldn't you agree?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. Especially like you're more willing to try a new drink because you're like, oh, I I'm not I want to waste the new drink if you got unlimited, right? So and there's actually no limit, like Carnival has a 10-minute limit between drinks. MSC doesn't have that limit. You can get two drinks if you want, four drinks at the same time.
SPEAKER_01So, not to be that guy, but theoretically, you could buy everyone a bunch of drinks and just go crazy if you wanted to. Well, I know they they do make it so that you can't like um be buying for other people.
SPEAKER_00Other people, but they're how well they're gonna crack like they might do two drinks, but if you say, Oh, I want 10 drinks, you know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that they know that they're like, Yeah, we're not gonna be able to do that. So probably there's like a two-drink minimum, maybe even four if you just have like everything, everyone right there with you. But if you're just getting, you know, like a round of shots for an entire craps table, I I think they'll catch on to that pretty quickly.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, definitely. Um, but like I said, if there's a new drink you want to try, hey, try it out on MSE, because you don't have to worry about if you don't like it, you can just honestly just toss it back and just get a new one.
SPEAKER_01And speaking of trying new things, now there is this is more of a hypothetical story, but have you heard about a mile-long cruise ship that could soon become a reality? That sounds absolutely insane, but why don't you break it down for us a little bit, Jesse?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so uh Freedom Ship International, they have made a proposal called this new ship's gonna be called the Freedom Ship. Uh the ship is expected to be nearly a mile long, which is massive, which is about what we say, about four times the size of the Yeah, it's 4.4 times the size of an icon class ship. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Because icon class is you know, dummy math is about twelve hundred feet long. Which is the largest cruise ship right now in in the world. I mean, the dry dock for an icon class ship is massive. Can you imagine how big the dry dock would have to be for a mile-long ship?
SPEAKER_00They would definitely have to make uh uh its own individual dry dock and all that just for this ship. But uh, anyways, it's it's gonna be about 30 decks high. Uh, it's gonna be more than two million gross tons, is designed to carry up to 80,000 people, including residents, tourists, and crew. Uh, for comparison, icon class icon of seas currently among the largest ships afloat, it carries about 10,000 people, uh, including the crew. Uh so Freedom Ship would definitely be many times larger than than this ship. Uh some of the plans, it's really not I wouldn't even call this a ship. It's more to be like a floating city. Would you wouldn't you say the same?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, this sounds so sci-fi, like, you know, like the land is unhabitable anymore, so we have to live out in the ocean just because there's so much of it. Yeah, this is what happened when the zombies take over. I see that. Yeah, so that's what they're ultimately preparing for. But I mean, it sounds like a good idea on paper, but I mean, the feasibility of it and the realistic aspect of putting a literal mile-long ship out in the ocean, that just sounds insane. I don't I don't think it couldn't be done, but more so, like, one, the budget is gonna be massive. I heard it was gonna be upwards of like 16 billion dollars just to construct this. And my thing is, you know, what's the point? I guess it could go to many more destinations internationally, and I think people are actually going to live here instead of just, you know, come here on vacation, which they could do both, from my understanding.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly. Because this is like, like I said, it's gonna be like a city. The plans include apartments and homes, they have plans, schools and colleges, a hospital, shopping district, restaurants and bars, they have museums. I don't know how you put a museum on it. Oh, you gotta find a way to put a dinosaur on that ship.
SPEAKER_01Of course, they have to have a water park, a 15,000-seat sports stadium, which I don't know. So, so wait, wait, they're gonna have a university here, University at seas, and they're gonna play, you know, University of Houston on the ship. I mean, that's trying to get tickets for that.
SPEAKER_00That would. Uh, they are gonna have parks and green spaces and an international tram system for transportation. This literally would be like a city, right?
SPEAKER_01I mean, this is water world, but in reality, that I mean it's it's such a crazy concept, and you know, we've it it kind of harkens back to like the time of you know, oh float it flying cars will never be a thing. Well, you know, that's something being worked on. Even going back to cars all being electrical, you know, that's almost become the almost become the standard at this point. So the innovation is there, the technology is probably there, the feasibility and the realistic aspect of this happening could, but I think people get so worked up of just because we could doesn't mean we should. I think it's certainly a very unique concept, and I think that this would serve like the rich rich and luxurious of the world that they could go in this like floating city, but I mean I guess it just gives one people one more destination.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I feel like the um we're definitely like the technology really isn't there for this yet. Because I mean I know they can build a cruise ship, but building a cruise ship in a a floating city is kind of two different things, I think. Because first off, they don't have a dock for this. You'd have to make a dry dock big enough so that this can you know get maintained the ship because you can't like work on ships all the time out in the sea. Uh sometimes you have to have a dry dock. And trying to get people off the ship to do a dry dock is gonna be really crazy too, because these people are living here, you know, so it's not like you can just like say, Hey, by the way, you gotta find a new place to live for a whole month, you know. Uh, which they probably go on another cruise for a month.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, I was gonna say, yeah, they'll they'll go to Carnival at that point. But I mean it just sounds like a good idea in in theory, but I I feel like the more realistic aspect of this is this a city being built out in the middle of the ocean, which that could probably could be it. If like what happens if the ship breaks down and you're in the middle of the Pacific, it just gets stuck there. How many tugboats does it take to get that thing to a safe place?
SPEAKER_00I don't even think that's possible because whenever uh yeah, so like remember the Carnival Triumph? Like they had like three tugboats and they it was struggling, and that class of ship is actually a pretty small ship compared to I mean especially compared to this, it'd be like a hundred times bigger. It would require a special tugboat just for this. It'd be like a a cruise size tugboat just to pull this.
SPEAKER_01I think you would need the Carnival Triumph, which I think is now the sunshine, but the that size ship just to pull the other one and maybe like an icon two icon seas to help pull it too. Like this is such a fun, you know, hypothetical for a giant, luxurious, floating city at seas. And I'm sure it's got it gonna have his clientele, but I think realistically we're about 10, maybe 20 plus years away from even like getting this thing like any sort of uh off of pen to paper into reality, don't you think?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. And like just powering the thing in general. I know we kind of talked it would have to be nuclear, right? I mean, there's no other way of it. I mean, there's no way they're gonna using LNG or diesel to power something like this.
SPEAKER_01Not unless Elon Musk, you know, finds a way to you know make whole cruises electrical.
SPEAKER_00Hey, one day maybe one day. I think so too. And then let's yeah, so that kind of covers all of the uh cruise news. So in theme park news, Jack, uh what's going on with Universal? And I heard they announced some details about the new theme park in UK.
SPEAKER_01Yes, so this will be the first of either Universal or Disney in the United Kingdom, and this is the biggest uh announcement this year as far as theme park goes. So Universal announced the official name, it's Universal United Kingdom Resort. And you know, the it's still a little ways away because this project got cleared in last year in 2025, and they're projecting an opening date of 2031. So construction is already underway. So I mean yeah, they are moving pretty quickly, but this you know just keeps Universal in them in the big market as far as you know expanding, because you know, they have two now about to be three parks here in the United States with Universal Kids opening on July 1st, like we talked about. They have the permanent Halloween horror night show in Las Vegas, and then they also have parks in Japan and Singapore. So Universal is slowly adding more and more parks internationally to compete with Disney. And I mean, I was gonna say, when are we gonna get our our real Texas one, Jesse?
SPEAKER_00Um I I think we did say this was it last episode. It was last episode, yeah. Yeah, last episode, like hey, we're central United States, Texas. We're having a massive economy. There's so many people who want a universal here. If Universal is listening, please give us a park for adults or and teenagers.
SPEAKER_01Yes, please. Not just I mean, we talked about it a little bit last week and in previous episodes, but I think that the Universal Kids is the testing ground. You know, if it's successful, then maybe an actual Universal Park could be built here in Texas. And you know, some of the going back to the United Kingdom, though, some of the rumored lands include, you know, you you gotta have these four, if for any universal park Jurassic World, Harry Potter, Minions, and Super Nintendo World.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, I I mean you definitely got a Harry Potter, first of all. It was like pretty much Harry Potter lives in UK.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, about to say, imagine how big Harry Potter is here. The UK, it's ten times as much. Some other, I mean, it's still very early on, but some other rumored, you know, lands that could be in the park are Paddington Bear and James Bond, which those are you know bigger properties of the UK as well. Jesse, this is kind of funny. I actually didn't know who Paddington Bear was, did you?
SPEAKER_00Uh I actually did. I'm not off air, I actually kind of told you who Paddington was, and you're like, who's Paddington? I'm like, that's a bear.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, he's a bear, he wears a hat, he's from Peru. I I I've I vaguely remember this from my childhood, I guess. I mean, I know you have you know kids who probably Probably did read Paddington what ten plus years ago.
SPEAKER_00Honestly, yeah, I do remember the books, but I do remember they had like two movies that came out too with the I mean they're definitely mainly for kids, but uh I do remember I did watch both the movies.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, I mean I've learned something new about Paddington Bear today. So but yes, it's uh still a uh park that's in the works, so I mean I eventually do want to go to the United Kingdom. Uh you know, there's always NFL games over there, and you know, there's from not only just a sports perspective, but they also have, you know, uh Alton Towers, which I hear is one of the best theme parks in the world. So this could give me one more reason to go over across the pond, as you will, to the UK. Yeah, uh you definitely have to wait until 2031, I guess. Yeah, I I got time to save up for then. It's you know, hey, jet fuel is getting more and more expensive. Maybe Spirit will be back by then, and then they'll start flying to the UK.
SPEAKER_00So uh speaking of theme parks, we did talk about the uh Iron Shark roller coaster uh that had a breakdown at uh Pleasure Pier here in Galveston. Um what's the new details on this?
SPEAKER_01So new details have emerged, and it was actually due to a failed sensor. So the roller coaster was working perfectly before, but on that initial descent, as it was part of the rides, you know, if something doesn't happen, it automatically just shuts the ride off. And I guess because it was already on the chainlift hill, like they couldn't just like just bring it backwards, so it got stuck there. And you know, of course, firefighters you know spent hours trying to get those eight people off of the ride, and luckily no one was hurt, and some people were just treated for dehydration. But it was essentially just a failed sensor, and right now the ride is still closed and undergoing test. Uh, would this does this give you any sort of like peace of mind if you ever go to Pleasure Pier or want to ride this ride again?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, I I know every I mean every coaster is gonna have the issues like this. You know, it's the ones that don't have sensors is the ones I will worry about, right? I mean, because you know that sensor is there for a reason.
SPEAKER_01Yes, that sensor is there for the guest safety in mind. And of course, you know, tragically, we've seen incidences where you know workers have overrode the sensor, like what happened on the new Texas Giant at Six Lags Over Texas over a decade ago when the lap bar didn't go all the way down, they overrode it and that lady fell off. Same with that kid on the drop tower over in Orlando. So it's the safe the safety mechanisms are there for a reason, and I'm glad that they went off in instead of something more tragic happening. Like I said, luckily no one was hurt, and you know, at this point in time, Iron Shark will still be closed. So if you're trying to go to Galveston and you want to go to Pleasure Pier, I mean that's probably not the best idea because they're the park will be very busy with the especially the main roller coaster being out.
SPEAKER_00So in other news, uh, so how is Six Flags and NBA related?
SPEAKER_01So for those of you that don't know, the San Antonio Spurs and the New York Knicks are playing in the NBA finals now for the first time since 1999. And a lot of times theme parks, zoos, aquariums, you know, people place that people go, touristy places, they'll have a little bit of a gentleman's agreement between each other. So Six Flags Fiesta, Texas, you know, which is in San Antonio, and Six Flags Great Adventure, which is in New Jersey, pretty close to New York, and I'm sure New York claims that park, made a little bit of a bet in regards to what the outcome of the NBA Finals. So the losing park must change its frontgate marquee to honor the winning city. So if the the Knicks win, Fiesta Texas will say go Knicks, and vice versa for Six Flags Great Adventure for the Spurs. The losing park must also display the winning city's colors around the park. So Fies Texas, orange and blue, great adventure, black and silver. The losing park must also donate $500 to a charity of uh chosen by the winning park. So, I mean, it's all in good fun, and it's a good way for you know Six Flags just you know increase their marketing and show a little bit of a sense of community backing up their you know NBA teams. I definitely think this is definitely a Six Flags cheap thing for sure.
SPEAKER_00What do you think?
SPEAKER_01Are you telling me you won't see uh Disney or Universal, you know, doing this if the Orlando magic and the Lakers or Clippers were playing against each other?
SPEAKER_00I mean, these these big corporations they got $500. You can you can tell they purposely did stuff that doesn't cost any money, like changing lights. Like it's usually just like a button, you know. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01There's probably already orange and blue LEDs built in. They're like, oh, they'll just change it real quick. 500. Yeah, I mean, you and I could donate $500 to charity, no one would say anything.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, $500 is nothing. I think it should be more like at least $5,000. But hey, I'm it's not my money, but it's just definitely how cheap Six Flags really is, I guess.
SPEAKER_01So there are other team-specific uh rules. So if the Spurs win, Great Adventure in New Jersey will light its giant green wheel, which is you know their their Ferris wheel, in Spurs colors to and make a charitable donation, like I said earlier, which that kind of goes in line with just changing the light colors. Uh, I guess the best thing is if the Knicks win, Fiesta Texas President Robert Butzel agreed to wear Knicks, blue, and orange, decorate parts of the park in Knicks colors, and also make that $500 donation. So I mean, I I don't know. This is like if you go to school, like, hey, I bet this team is gonna win, and if they do, you have to wear a shirt. It's it's a yeah, you're right. It's a very cheap bet, but I mean I guess at the end of the day, it's just all marketing for Six Flags. Do you have any uh any bets on who's gonna win? Initially, when the series started, I thought San Antonio would win in six. As we are currently recording, the Knicks are up two games to nothing, and they won both games in San Antonio. It's gonna be a long uphill battle, but after beating San Antonio twice at home, I think the Knicks are gonna win probably in five games. That city of New York is gonna burn to the ground, by the way, if they do. So as we alluded to a little bit earlier, Jesse and I have some you know saving tips to go on a cruise. And the first thing you and I talked about was payment plans. I mean, this specifically applies to Carnival, so can you break down a little bit as to how Carnival's payment plans actually work?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so how carnival plans work is that first off, your cruise has to be paid off three months in advance. So if you book a cruise three months out, it's got paid off immediately. So you kind of got time on your side. If you say, hey, next year, next summer or whatever, I want to go on a cruise, that means it gives you, you know, if you got a year, it gives you like eight, eight or nine months to pay off that cruise. So what what Carnival does is say your cruise is three thousand dollars. You first gotta put a deposit. Sometimes the deposits are only a hundred dollars per person. And and then every month they break that whatever you owe left into those months, so the eight or nine months. So it makes a lot smaller payment. So usually if you book a cruise a year out, it's only gonna be like two, maybe three hundred dollars for a family of four to go on a cruise each month you're paying. So it makes it a lot more affordable. Uh Carnival's the only cruise line that I know that actually does this, which is I definitely give props to Carnival because it kind of it helps you s realize that a cruise is a lot more affordable for you know people who can't afford to go multiple times a year. Like I'm I've been blessed to be able to go multiple times a year. Um, but for other people, once is hard enough. So I definitely like I said, gives them a little help.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because when we went on the breeze a couple years ago, you when you initially asked me to go on this cruise with you and your family and everyone else, I thought there's no way I would be able to afford a cruise. And then when you actually just broke down the prices, I I believe it came out to somewhere around like a hundred and eight or a hundred ten dollars a month for me alone. I was like, oh, well that's you know, that that's like even less than a car payment or like, you know, rent or any sort of bill nowadays. So, you know, luckily we were able to, you know, I was able to finance that up until that point and you know was able to go on that cruise. And when we went on the breeze, that one was a lot easier because that was significantly cheaper. So I'm glad that Carnival does have this option because it does make it a lot more affordable for more people that can't drop, you know, the $3,000 or sometimes what five or six thousand dollars.
SPEAKER_00And it's definitely not like any extra to do this, by the way. It doesn't like cost is it's not like they're you're really not financing it, it just breaks your payments down. So you're not like gonna end up with the interest, they're not adding any interest, it's just breaking it to even payment, so it's a lot more affordable.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. And so, how about some other tips that get you a little bit of extra money for cruises? Uh, I know you have certain apps you want to tell us a little bit about what you use is to make earn a little bit extra money before your vacation. So the the the number one app that I use is definitely upside.
SPEAKER_00Um real quick, we're not sponsored by them, we're just telling you about this. Yeah, none of yeah, none of these app sponsors. I am willing to accept sponsorships. But Upside if you're listening, you shoot us an email. But uh no, no, we're not sponsored by any of these, these are just great apps that you can use to help you save money for a cruise. So the first one is upside, it's definitely good for like gas, and they have some restaurants that you get money back. Some restaurants are like 36% money back, which are great, you know, that you can use towards a cruise. And it's easy to cash out and you can get a gift card or whatever. Um, some other ones I haven't used these yet, but I did a little bit of research. Uh Gas Buddy, uh Gas Buddy is pretty popular. Uh it kind of shows you the cheapest gas around and it helps you get um like points off or gas or um it kind of helps you to save money on gas so you can save money up elsewhere. Uh fetch is actually really good. You can play games to get uh points, and you can also uh scan your receipts, and there's multiple other things you can do to get rewards, so you can kind of use that money for, you know.
SPEAKER_01And it's everyday purchases, stuff you already need like food and gas.
SPEAKER_00Exactly, yeah. And they do have certain items that I there's so many items and I'm like, man, we buy this every week. Like, why not, you know, scan the receipt and then just get these points for it, and then at the end of the year you can use that towards your cruise. And one thing that actually me and you both use is a is a Vegas, my Vegas slot app, and you've actually used the points. I have so many I have like 1.2 million points on it right now. And I haven't even I've never used it, but the amount of points I have, it actually allows me to book a cruise for free or Norwegian. Like a seven, it's like a seven-day comp cruise I can get for like half the points I have right now. I just haven't used it yet, but because the reason I haven't used it is because usually you gotta like sell within like the next three months. And usually I already got my PTO planned off with my normal job and also have like other cruises booked by that by that time, so I can't really use it as soon as that. But eventually one day I will. Um but and you've used it, Jack, right? What how how have you used it?
SPEAKER_01So I used it actually in Las Vegas, so I've used it to go to the Mandalay Bay Shark Reef Aquarium. Uh I've used it for you know most of the time I use it for dining just because you know eating in Vegas is pretty expensive nowadays. So a two for one Vegas buffet, uh took my friend there, and we just paid the price for one buffet, and it ended up being like $17 a person, which is much more reasonable than like $30 to, or I think it was close to $40 now per person for buffets. Uh they have like two for one drink specials. There, there's the Las Vegas roller coaster at the New York-New York Hotel. Don't recommend it, by the way, but you can do that as well on the app. So there's a bunch of little things, and you could also even get some sort of free play in the slot machines. And you know, I'm glad they're incorporating cruises in it as well, because you know, cruising is a big gambling destination as well, as you know, our listener Maddie and all of you know. So having not only you don't have to go to Vegas to use the points, but also on a cruise ship is you know, it just makes the app much more popular. And yeah, that's eventually something I would like to do as well, is utilize those points in order to book a cruise ship eventually, or cruise eventually.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the two cruise lines that are actually on there right now are Norwegian and Royal actually on there too. Royal never really offers cruises on it. It seems like they just offer like uh money in the casino, like they'll offer $100, $200 uh you can use in the casino, which makes sense because if you're gonna play uh you know a slot machine app, you're more likely going play the slot machines on cruise, right? And and by the way, this this crew this app doesn't cost you any money, it's not like using real money to gamble with. This is just like fake money, but as you play, you get points towards to actually.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and they do offer, you know, you can you can buy more coins, but I mean the these the machines on the phone are designed to pay out more, so you don't really have to unless you're just you know very done with your money. But I mean if you're done with your money on the app, you probably are gonna be done with your money in real life. So maybe that's not the best idea to go on a uh Vegas style vacation at sea. But yes, the the My Vegas app is definitely very beneficial, not only for a trip to Las Vegas, but also on cruise lining as well. Um, another thing that we could talk about here is credit card rewards. Now, you know, with some of the credit cards I have, some of them they do offer specific cashback if you use it for Carnival, but you can also get cash back on other things that you can use towards a cruise, correct?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. Like I actually do have the the Barclays, which is a Carnival's credit card. I use that uh and I got a bunch of rewards. I've had it for about three years, and I I'm pr pretty much what I got it for was I was like, I'm gonna give free cruise out this one day. And I'm almost there. I'm probably about three months away of my normal spending I use on my credit card to um to actually like be able to book a cruise and all that. Um so my goal is to that's my ultimate goal. But anyways, um this only works though if you actually pay your balance off, you know, because a lot of people will get they'll get points of benefits, but they're paying so much in interest and all that. So the best way to do is just use the credit card like a debit card and then pay it off every month. Um but it's definitely recommended. And the thing about Carnival's credit card is they actually have a six months financing free. So if you book a cruise that's three thousand dollars, you have six months to pay it off for for uh completely free, which is nice too.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's like they do a little bit of a deferred payment right there because you know, like we talked about earlier, not everyone can drop that kind of money for a cruise right away. So, I mean, it's nice that Carnival does offer these, you know, I would call it incentives to try to pay off the balance, you know, over a certain amount of allotted time versus all at once. And of course, you know, having good credit cards with rewards like that do help as well. Uh, another tip we have is you know, weekly savings. So something like if your cruise is three thousand dollars, you think saving something like fifty-eight dollars a week would definitely go a long way as to helping you save that money for your cruise?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. I that's why I did the math. So three thousand dollars, fifty-eight dollars a week sounds a lot more reasonable, right? If you look at a whole three thousand, you're like, man, three thousand dollars is kind of a lot. But I still tell everyone if you're spending three thousand dollars on a cruise, that's way more cheaper than going to Disney, Universal, or any land-based vacation, wouldn't you agree?
SPEAKER_01Yes, and especially because when we went to Disney, even though we went had a shorter time, I mean, the the the park tickets alone were like $150 each, and that doesn't include food, hotel, rental car, flights, especially now with Spirit being gone, it's even more expensive. So, yes, cruising has definitely become more of the alternative way to travel on a budget, especially because once you get on board, everything's included, and whatever you want to spend, you can, but you don't have to budget for your food, your place where you're gonna stay, or even certain activities you want to do.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. And I tell everyone this too, because the first time we went on a cruise, me and my wife, we we really didn't have a lot of money at all, and we pretty much didn't spend any money on board, and we had a blast. Once you get on a cruise ship, you don't have to spend any money on alcohol. Everything's pretty much included. Yeah, if you want sodas, that is included. But honestly, the water they do have free water and juices and tea and stuff like that on board that most of them were pretty good that you can literally go on board and spend not a penny and still have a blast.
SPEAKER_01Do what I do. Bring Dr. Pepper on the ship so that way you have some and you don't have to spend pay for the soda.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's definitely a tip. Yeah, you can bring a 12-pack, and then you also can bring like a bottle of wine too per person. So that kind of helps as well. You're telling me you don't have to put you know alcohol and mouthwash anymore and just diet green? Yeah, do not definitely do not do that. They will ban you now. Carnival does say he they will ban you, so if you want to risk it, go ahead. Put alcohol and mouthwash. No, no, no.
SPEAKER_01You gotta put it in water now and then just put it in individual water bottles. See? Smart, don't listen to me though for that. Uh the last thing we kind of wanted to talk about for tips to save money is a side hustle. Now, your brother turned his side hustle into an actual business buying and reselling on eBay. And that's you know, a certain side hustle I've seen people do come up recently just buying and reselling in order to make a little bit more money. And I've done a little bit on the side, not nearly as much as your brother, but what are other some side hustles that they could do?
SPEAKER_00So definitely, I mean, of course, you can do all like what everyone does with the Uber Eats or DoorDash Lyft, DoorDash, all that type of stuff. And like I said, $58 a week. If you just do what is that? That's maybe like a few deliveries, maybe three deliveries, maybe four deliveries max, and you get fifty-eight bucks, like if you did that every week, you know, you could easily save up for a cruise, you know. And like I said, I just want to make sure that this is all reachable goals for everyone. Like, I know going on one cruise, like I said, it could be really difficult for some people. And I'm just like I said, I've been blessed where I don't I don't have to w I can go multiple years and um still have a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. And you have some other things I thought about, maybe in a part-time job. I mean, remember you and I talking about this, you know, in your earlier days that you when you did have two jobs, you only use one job as fun money, and your other job was, you know, for bills and everything else around the house. We you know, you were flipping burgers, you know, not for fun, but to pay for vacations.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. I did that. And then also just thinking about like if they have overtime opportunities at your job, you know, just think, hey, I use this overtime money for you know fun money, or you know, if you get bonuses at work, just try to use that for fun money, you know. That that's that's that's uh also a good tip to just work extra hours. You know, if you work a few extra, you know, if you work an extra day out of the week, like if you work extra Saturday or whatever your schedule is, you can easily pay for a cruise.
SPEAKER_01Yep, and I'm glad that we have this little TED talk for you guys about how to save up for a cruise. I'm glad we motivated you to start saving that money. That'll do it for this week's episode of the Lido Loop. As always, you can find us on our YouTube channel. We are the Lido Loop. We also have a Facebook page. You can find our podcasts anywhere on Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon, and wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jack, that's Jesse, and we will see you on the Lido deck or on MSE ship enjoying that unlimited drink package.