The Lido Loop: Cruise FAQ'S & Listener Questions Part Two

This week on Lido Loop, Jack and Jesse break down the latest cruise and theme park news before diving into a special Cruise FAQ’s and Listener Questions segment.

Cruise News

• Carnival rolls out new drink package options for kids and teens. We’ll compare the available beverage packages and discuss whether the new offering provides real value for families.
• Fights and disruptive behavior continue making headlines across the cruise industry. Should cruise lines create a permanent no-sail list similar to the airline industry’s no-fly list?
• A look at what major cruise lines have planned for the Fourth of July, including fireworks, patriotic celebrations, special entertainment, and holiday sailings.

Theme Park News

• Universal continues teasing future expansion plans for Epic Universe. We discuss the latest permits, rumors, and what could be coming next for the resort.
• Media previews have taken place at Universal Kids Resort, and early reactions have been mixed. We’ll break down what visitors liked, what concerns were raised, and whether the park can meet expectations when it officially opens.
• Six Flags Over Texas has announced an opening date for Tormenta Rampaging Run. We discuss the timeline, what riders can expect, and what this addition means for the park.

Main Topic: Cruise FAQ’s and Listener Questions

We’re answering your cruise questions and tackling topics submitted by listeners. Whether you’re planning your first cruise or you’re a seasoned cruiser, we’ll cover tips, advice, and common questions to help you make the most of your next sailing.

Follow Lido Loop for weekly cruise and theme park news, trip planning tips, industry updates, and listener discussions.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to this week's episode of the Leto Loop, where we talk about cruising, theme parks, and all things related to travel. I'm your host, Jack McCraw. With me as long as my good friend, Jesse Barboza. And hey, did you see that Six Flags Fiesta Texas completed their agreement to color their park blue and orange? What do you think about that, Jesse? Um, we looked at the video. It seems like it's more uh red and blue. What do you think? I I thought the same thing too. Uh the park president had an orange shirt on, and that was orange, but it had an iron rattler logo. But it looked as if they had you know red, white, and blue on their quarry wall, and not just red blue and orange. Maybe they're trying to say, like, hey, it's blue and orange for you, and hope that Six Flags Great Adventure wouldn't notice. And of course, they donated their $500 check to Project Purple. Now, is that a very Six Flags thing to do? Just donate $500 to a charity. I mean, it's a donation, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

Yeah, like you said, yeah, they didn't have to do anything, but I mean, $500 for a multi-million dollar corporation, it's like a couple pennies.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Yeah, and of course, you know, with Six Flags owning both these parks, they're probably just six flags giving money to themselves. But also, Jesse, we're recording on Father's Day, and this episode will come out the day after, so happy Father's Day to you. Did you do anything fun with the kids? Uh I pretty much is at the softball park all weekend.

SPEAKER_02 1:23

Um, but hey, I know all fathers would like a seven-day cruise to the Bahamas.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

What do you think? Absolutely. And speaking of cruises, what's the latest and greatest in the cruise world?

SPEAKER_02 1:34

Yeah, so Carnival rolls out a kids and team drink package. Uh, and we're gonna talk about fights on cruise ships and also what the cruise lines are doing for 4th of July.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

And also in the theme park side of things, we're gonna talk about what other theme parks are doing in preparation for the 4th of July. We're gonna talk about Epic Universe filing new expansion permits and what that could mean for the future of that park. We're also gonna break down the latest news coming out of the Universal Kids Resort in Frisco, Texas, and the uh not so good news as far as first looks go for that park. And of course, Six Flags Over Texas has finally announced an opening date for the record-breaking Tormenta rampaging run roller coaster. That, and then we continue our series where we talk about cruise frequently asked questions and guest listener questions as well. That and much more on this week's episode of the Leader Loop. So kicking off the show, we always like to start with the cruise news. And Jesse, I hear that Carnival is unveiling a drink package that's specifically made for kids and teens in addition to other kind of value packages. Want to tell us a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_02 2:50

Yeah, so this new kids and teen value package uh comes with bottomless bubbles, uh, it comes with a souvenir cup that's supposed to be delivered to your stateroom. Uh a the social wi-fi plan, which is the lowest, is just enough to get to like Facebook or you know, Snapchat, whatever. Uh comes with a thousand tokens, which is a $200 value in tokens, uh, 50% off bulk candy, and a free lanyard that would be also delivered to your stateroom. Um, I don't know. What do you think?

SPEAKER_01 3:21

Do you think it's a good value, Jack? So it also says it's gonna be $25 per person per night. So I don't know, I don't know. It depends on if your kid really wants to go to the arcade. I would say that yeah, it is a good value because that's $200 that you otherwise would have spent that you're spending on this. In addition, the kid can have Wi-Fi and of course bottomless soda. So I would say overall, if your kid needs soda, wants to go to the arcade, and needs Wi-Fi, I mean it's a pretty good package overall. If you go on a seven-day cruise, you know, 25 times 7, that's you know, $175 that you're spending versus, you know, buying everything all a cart, which might have been a little bit more expensive, especially when you consider the arcade. And hey, even some adults might even like this because I don't see anything here that says that it's only for kids, right?

SPEAKER_02 4:07

Yeah, I mean, I I mean it does say kids and teen value package, but I'm not sure if like if you go to purchase it and if it goes in your cart, if it will actually only go to your your kids and teens, like anyone you know, under you know 18 or actually it seemed like it should be under 21, right? Yeah, but I mean, I guess we can try and try it out and see.

SPEAKER_01 4:30

Yeah, I mean, what's to stop us? You know, I guess maybe if because we put our age in in carnival, maybe that option won't be available, but we wouldn't know until we're actually booking. But you know, perfect person I thought to use this would be your mom. You know, she doesn't drink alcohol, and especially if she brings her husband, uh, they're definitely gonna spend a lot of time in the arcade. Yeah, yeah. Like I said, they they both don't drink at all.

SPEAKER_02 4:51

Um, they do play in the arcade a lot, and uh, I'm sure they'll like the free candy, a free souvenir cup, because they get souvenirs everywhere they go, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:00

Yeah, I mean, um gosh, they get photos of any sort of place that they go to. Imagine the carnival, the wall of photos that you walk by on deck five, you're gonna they're gonna get every single one of them.

SPEAKER_02 5:12

So um looking at all the there's actually a couple other packages that some of y'all might not know. There's a ultimate value package. This is gonna be $90 per person, but this one includes the cheers, which is the unlimited uh alcohol, which or 15 drinks, uh premium Wi-Fi, it also has a 50% discount on short excursions, uh, a 25% discount on specialty dining, uh, 50% off spa treatments, that seems pretty good, 50% off photo packages and dream studios, which I think the photos are rip off. That's a story from another day, though. Uh there's also an essential value package, which is fifty dollars per person, which is the cheer zero proof, value Wi-Fi plan, uh $550 discount on short excursions, and $25 discount on specialty dying. I uh one thing though, the cheer, the zero-proof, you're you cannot you have to be tw- I don't know why this is on Carnival, but even though it's like a virgin drink or with zero proof, which means no alcohol in it, kids still aren't allowed to purchase that. I I I know like on MSE, they can get it all the time as long as it doesn't have alcohol. I don't know why Carnival doesn't allow that.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

Do you think it could be some sort of legal reason as to that? You know, maybe the kids because I was thinking that maybe because they're in the bar area that they can't be over there. But I mean you've gotten specialty coffees with your you know drink package that's would that can be under the quote zero proof? Uh the that actually is under the zero-proof package, yes. Um and that's not in the bars, so that's just at the coffee shop.

SPEAKER_02 6:51

Well, they do offer it at bars too, but they also at the coffee shop. But at the coffee shop shop, you can get like shots of like you know, Bailey's creamer if you want. Um, but the only thing that really makes me mad about the carnival, all the drink packages is that the the bottomless bubbles doesn't include bottled water. It seems like that would be simple like to include bottled water water. But if you so if you want water, you have to either get the the Cheers package or you have to just get you know a little bit like tap water from the bar. Yeah, not necessarily tap water, but yeah. I mean they do have multiple stations throughout the ship that you can refill your your a Stanley or whatever you care around, or they get little yellow cups which hold like um a couple tablespoons of water.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

And that you find all over the ship. Oh man, you just kind of brought back some PTSD on that one. Uh but yeah, I think some of these packages could be a decent value. I mean, the $90 one it by the way, it's uh per person per day.

SPEAKER_02 7:51

Yeah, yeah, that's per yeah, so it definitely get up there. I think we did the math, the the $90 one for our if we our next cruise, which is an eight day, it was like seven hundred and twenty dollars just for one person, and you have to get everyone on board.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

So you better be using that Wi-Fi if you're gonna spend an extra $720 times four.

SPEAKER_02 8:11

Yeah, so this is this next one, this next cruise we got, we just got the uh cheers package for me and my wife, and then uh we did get the bottomless bubbles package for uh the kids.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

I mean it will go a long way because even if you you know in on Carnival, especially you're allowed to bring, you know, uh 12 pack of sodas, but you know, if you're going on an eight-day cruise, you're you gotta, you know, have find a way to ration it. I mean, I've under the five-day cruise that we went on a while back, me and you know, Maddie, who we'll talk about later in the show, brought each brought a 12-pack, and we didn't even end up finishing it. So I think you know, the longer cruise stays, like it's definitely worth it to get the bottomless bubbles, in my opinion, especially because the the lemonade is okay, and the sweet tea, it's well first off, I shouldn't call it sweet tea. The tea of Carnival, it's the worst tea you've ever had.

SPEAKER_02 9:02

Yeah, don't like I think we I I cannot say enough how bad their tea is. It seemed like they would know, like, like no one drinks this tea.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

I wonder why. I I mean, do they not know we're Texans here, just pour like as many packets of sugar in there as possible and then make that tea that much better. I want to taste these sugar, you know, cubes when I'm drinking iced tea. And of course, Carnival doesn't do that. Uh yeah, I think these are some good value packages, of course. Uh you know, I would say like me personally, I might go with the uh I would go with more the essentials value package, where you know, it does the value Wi-Fi is pretty good, and then I I would say that I would be more inclined to do a shore excursion if I do get a $50 discount, but of course, depending on what excursion you do, it could be $50 off, you know, four or five hundred dollars. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So I know we don't necessarily like to talk about the negative side of cruising or theme parks or vacations for that matter. But Jesse, what's up with all these fights that are going on on cruise ships? I I don't know. Maybe it's just the time of the year.

SPEAKER_02 10:07

It seems like every, you know, a couple of months, uh we always hear about a bunch of fights. The latest one we saw, we actually were just looking up uh in Nassau where a bunch of people are fighting, and after they got arrested, they went to the police station, they started fighting again, they broke a bunch of windows and stuff in the police station, they then they were arrested, and they were gonna jail or pay, I think it was like $54,000 per person.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

I would rather go to jail than pay fifty-four thousand. Depends on how much how long in jail, but and plus you don't know, but you don't know how bad these these prisons are in a different country, right? Oh yeah, I didn't even consider that. At least Bahamas you would think is like somewhat Americanized. So I I don't know how the prison system would be, but uh the fact that it escalated to that point where you fought and then fought again at the police station. I mean, we don't know the whole story as to behind the why it happened, but I mean fighting on cruises is nothing new. I mean, we haven't seen any kind of altercations when we've been on, but we've seen people, you know, like get escorted out by security. Uh it happened when we were at a dodgeball game. There's a kid that wouldn't get off the court, so security had to come get him. Uh, you know, and crews have that security for that reason to try to keep everyone safe and mitigate as much, you know, physical altercations as possible. Yeah, I mean, it seems like I mean, out of all places, why are you gonna fight on a cruise ship? You know, like people fight on vacations. That's just American, that's an any one thing to do. Yeah, so I mean, this kind of begs the question. Should there be a no-sell list, kind of like a no-fly list? What do you think? I would say yes, especially if you're a repeat offender. I mean, it it could be circumstantial as to why the altercation happened. So let's say, you know, two people get an altercation, one person the is the victim, one person is the abuser. Abuser should be ban. The victim shouldn't be, but if there's a trail of like, you know, constant, you know, domestic debutes on a cruise ship, I would say, yeah, eventually they could be put on a no-sale list. Now airports regulate the no-fly list or TSA, because you know, no matter what airline you fly, you go through the same TSA at airports. You know, different terminals maybe, but TSA is all you know one government-owned entity. Now, Carnival, you do have to go through, you know, immigrations and customs. So if you're put on a list for that, then potentially you could be put on a no-sale list. Why'd you particularly say Carnival though? I'm you know, actually that's funny you say that because this particular fight did not happen on Carnival, but you know, we kind of associate Carnival as the the fun cruise. So you could uh we've seen fights on Carnival before online, so it's not surprised that they're one of them, but in this particular case it was Royal Caribbean.

SPEAKER_02 12:54

But I mean it seems like all cruise lines, they should definitely come up with a no-cell line no cell list. Because I mean, honestly, if there's a if these people are causing trouble on Carnival, do you think Royal Caribbean's gonna want them on board?

SPEAKER_01 13:06

No, I mean, if anything, it's it's probably gonna be the same thing happening or or in NCL or MSC or really any kind of cruise line. Heck, even a Virgin Cruise line or Margaritaville cruise line. Actually, Margaritaville might take them because you know they just need people on their ships. Yeah. No disrespect to Margaritaville. We love you and we want a free cruise. But in all seriousness, I know there already is a way for people to be banned from cruise lines for fighting or breaking any sort of rules on a cruise line by cruise line basis. Now, nothing stopping them from booking a different cruise line and just going, you know, under a I mean, they would have to give their government ID, so they couldn't go under a different name, but if there's a way to have all these cruise lines connected, they could better enforce that lifetime ban for sailing. But on a happier note, there are cruise lines preparing for the Fourth of July, Jesse. So what cruise lines are doing what for the upcoming Fourth of July holiday?

SPEAKER_02 14:02

Yeah, this is of course definitely a special 4th of July. It's a 250-year anniversary. Um, I when doing the research for this, there weren't really big cruise lines other than one. And that was definitely Carnival. Because Carnival they they're actually gonna have a seven cruise ship sailings from the East Coast ports. They will meet near Celebration Key in the Grand Bahamas for a special Fourth of July event. Um man, I what do you think? I mean, that's gonna I bet the the pick the video of this, the um they gotta have uh drones out there and they're supposed to do like a fireworks show. That's gotta be amazing.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

No, they're staying on the boat, they're not all getting off port to go watch the show, correct?

SPEAKER_02 14:44

No, they're supposed to just be like a meetup, and I'm sure there's probably gonna have like fireworks on Celebration Key or something, and the ships are around like you know, around the around the private destination.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

Uh that sounds like a really cool carnival thing to do. Just, you know, hey, all the sheets are all the ships go over to Celebration Key and watch the fireworks show, just like you would at you know a Disney park. So yeah, that's something that guests can experience. And I mean, I kind of worry about crowding unless you they're kind of angled to you know on the side to where you can view it that way to have more people be able to experience it instead of everyone crowding like at the front of the nose of the ship. But I would say that that's a really unique idea, especially considering having seven ships full of thousands of people watch the same fireworks show. And it's nice that Carnival is you know going the extra mile to you know make this guest experience well, especially during the 4th of July weekend.

SPEAKER_02 15:36

Yeah, so the seven ships are actually gonna be Carnival Celebration, Carnival Conquest, uh Carnaval Elation, Carnival Glory, Carnival Sunrise, Carnivencia, and Carnival Vista. Um I've been on a couple of these, but not all of them. Um I definitely, like I said, I can't say enough, but I it's just gotta be a a big sight to see all these ships near each other. Fireworks going off. But there also are doing other stuff on there's gonna be three carnival ships on the west coast that will gather off San Diego to to w watch, you know, uh the Big Bay Boom fireworks show. Uh there's also gonna be fleet-wise celebrations include patriotic deck parties, themed food and drinks, games, trivia line, uh youth activities, independence day themed entertainment. Uh Carnival's also promoting a special America's 250th birthday sellings under from under the Sea, the Shining Sea campaign, which is that new crest that they're putting on all the boats on the all the ships. Um and other cruise lines, like they're not they're just doing like normal, like I guess Independence Day stuff, like trivia, and you know, and they might have a couple fireworks on them. One that I was surprised was not in it was Royal Caribbean.

SPEAKER_01 16:58

Yeah, you would think that they're one of, if not the most popular, you know, cruise line in America, that why wouldn't they want to be celebrating, you know, Fourth of July? Are you implying that Norwegian cruise line and MSC, the European-owned cruise line, they're doing a little bit more for 4th of July than Royal Caribbean?

SPEAKER_02 17:14

I mean, yeah, they're the only ones who hasn't released anything like what they're gonna do. So it begs the question does Royal Caribbean like America?

SPEAKER_01 17:22

I don't know. I think they're worried about cleaning up all those fights, you know, on their ships and at their ports instead of like worrying about what's gonna happen on the 4th of July. Um maybe they just haven't announced it yet, maybe they'll announce it later, closer to the date, but you would think that they would do something.

SPEAKER_02 17:34

Even yeah, being two weeks out from 4th of July, it seems like they would plan something. Uh unlike Carnival right now, if you go to the bookings, it actually has a day blocked out, says uh Carnville meetup, you know, it talks about the ships. That's like one of your you know, days at sea, you know, which is pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

I mean, especially if you have a day at sea and you're not going to a port, I think it makes it even better just simply for the fact that you know you're on the boat anyway, you can't really go anywhere. It's nice that they give you something to look forward to other than you know, dining or a show that's or the casino that's on the ship, you know. Yeah. Uh and well, talk about Fourth of July. What are theme parks doing, Jack? So most Six Flags and SeaWorlds parks, you know, over the summer have some sort of fireworks show, and you know, most of them are just gonna do the same thing with just a little bit more American symbolism, because you know, it is the 1250th anniversary, so Six Flags is also gonna have some sort of limited edition foods. Um, SeaWorld Parks, they're announcing discounted tickets and free admission for active duty military and veterans during the the 4th of July weekend. Now, they they do this already, but it's just another way in case you know you are active duty or a veteran, if you want to go to a SeaWorld park, you know, gives you one more opportunity to do so. The main theme park that's celebrating, you know, America, and Disney would be proud, is you know, of course, the Walt Disney World. So they have extended hours with theme fireworks and patriotic entertainment. So Magic Kingdom, for example, they're gonna have the Celebrate America 4th of July concert in the sky. It's gonna run on June 3rd and June 4th, featuring a 360-degree firework display over Cinderella Castle in red, white, and blue, along with DJ dance parties throughout the park. And Epcot, of course, has Luminous Symphony of Us, followed by a 4th of July 4th only Heartbeat of Freedom finale. So, and of course, you know, Mickey, Goofy, and other characters are gonna be in their patriotic uh attire through the American Adventure Pavilion. So it's nice that Disney is, you know, doing something to celebrate America's 250th birthday, because back in when they had the 200th anniversary in you know 1976, which that's crazy, that's how long ago that was, but they you know pulled out all the stops. So it's not as much as they were doing in the past, but it's still nice that they're doing something patriotic considering you know Disney's love for America when he was, you know, building the parks. There's one part that I actually did not hear you mention.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

Was it Universal?

SPEAKER_01 20:03

Yes, as of right now, Universal is pulling the Royal Caribbean route and just hasn't announced anything. Now they have announced a new fireworks show at Epic Universe and adding a nighttime show there, but there's nothing to indicate that it's going to be any sort of like patriotism or symbolic of the 4th of July. But speaking of Epic Universe, they are now teasing uh expansion there as three new permits have been filed. So for those of you that don't know, Epic Universe has four lands, and that's of course Super Nintendo World, How to Train Your Dragon Isle of Burke, Dark Universe, so you know, monster like Frankenstein, the werewolf, uh mummy, and creature from the black lagoon, amongst others, Dracula, don't wish to mention him, but yes, him, and then of course the Harry Potter world. So they are their permits to build a new Harry Potter attraction in the Wizarding World, Harry Potter at Epic Universe, a new potential dark ride over at you know Dark Monsters Universe, and then there's a big spot of land in between Super Nintendo World and Celestial Park that could be either a mini expansion land or a brand new attraction. Now, is there something in particular you're hoping to see in that new land? And I think they're actually going to be building some new dark rides, and which we've talked about in the past. This park desperately needs it because when the when it rains, everything shuts down.

SPEAKER_02 21:24

Yeah, like I said, I could definitely see like a Pokemon themed, or I don't know, you you kind of mentioned this earlier, but like a Zelda theme, it would definitely m match the Super Nintendo world. So it wouldn't not focus so on like Mario like it is right now.

SPEAKER_01 21:38

Correct. And yes, there is another land there that's themed to Donkey Kong, but like that's pretty much the same thing. But yeah, I would think that a Legend of Zelda world, especially with the popularity of that video game, would work well in that Super Nintendo world, and you know, kind of ear or like we were saying, Epic Universe needs more to do because there's only 11 rides, and only two of them, excuse me, three of them. Them are indoors. So Mario Kart ride, the Dark Monsters ride, and of course a Harry Potter ride. So it's good to see that Universal is listening to its fans, and you know, we're giving them the feedback they need to expand this park because this park was built with expansion in mind. So having the opportunity to uh already be in the process of expanding on a brand new park and just keep people coming back is you know definitely worthwhile. But uh, you know, they should have listened to us when it comes to building their other new park in uh Frisco, Texas. Now, Jesse, you and I have seen the initial videos of the park, especially the Shrek ride. Um, what did you think of that Shrek ride that they were building at the Universal Park in Frisco, Texas?

SPEAKER_02 22:47

How I will explain exactly how I saw the comments. Uh one of the comments actually said, I didn't know Universal makes making a Timu ride.

SPEAKER_01 22:59

Yeah, I mean the so if you missed it, earlier this week they were having media previews of Universal Kids in Frisco, Texas. So there's a hotel that's there. The hotel's actually really nice. I'll give it that. It definitely looks like a kid-friendly hotel. There's bunk beds, and then everything has like sticker art of the character. It looks a lot if you mean this dates us a little bit of the Nickelodeon hotel that they used to have in Orlando back 20 years ago. So yes, this park was built with kids in mind, but it looks very bare bones. The SpongeBob land might be the quote most themed land, and they have cardboard cutouts of the characters. They have, you know, a splash pad that looks like it look I wouldn't even say a six flags level attraction, it looks like something you would see in like a zoo that happens to have a Spongebob, you know, theming to it.

SPEAKER_02 23:50

Yeah, I mean, and it took them three years to come up with something like this. Uh I I'm actually like very like disappointed in what I saw Universal. This does not seem like a universal park at all. Other than the characters in C Dai, you would think that this was like a pop-up uh carnival that you would get, you know, for a 4th of July celebration or something like that.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

I would say that Six Flags has shown better theming. Now, kind of circling back to the Shrek ride where we saw there's five cardboard cutouts of Shrek characters, and it tells a story of Shrek where you know he goes to rescue Fiona, fights a dragon, she turns into an ogre, they get married. It looks so cheap that Six Flags Over Texas has like an antique taxi ride with actual animatronic dinosaurs that's more immersive than the Shrek ride that's owned by Universal.

SPEAKER_02 24:42

Yeah, I mean, did I don't know if you heard in the video, was there any like voice that was going on while you're done?

SPEAKER_01 24:47

Yeah, there was a little bit of audio, so you hear you hear the story progress, but I mean, uh kids are not gonna find this entertaining. There's there's five cardboard cutouts, and you know, these kids will be on their iPads watching on this ride.

SPEAKER_02 25:00

It looked like it just like kind of went in a a circle for the most part, like, but it didn't really it didn't seem like there was any big hills or anything like that. I mean, I know it's the kids and all that, but they you gotta have at least one little small hill or something, right?

SPEAKER_01 25:12

I mean, even Pirates of the Caribbean at Disney has a drop. I mean, I wouldn't necessarily say that's a quote kids' ride, but I mean families can enjoy it. This park was definitely built for kids in mind, but there's not much for adults to do here. I don't even know if they serve alcohol, which they probably shouldn't at a kid's park.

SPEAKER_02 25:30

Yeah, and like I said, another thing we noticed too, I think we talked about a few the past episodes, there's not a lot of shade. You know, I mean, I know I know as a as a parent, I would want to there'd be a lot of shade so that my kids aren't burning up or I'm not burning up while I'm waiting in line for these attractions.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

Oh, see, that's when you have to go back to the hotel to cool off and come back. See, that's where they get you there. Yeah, that that you caught them. That's exactly what they plan on doing. Uh, I mean, the one thing I've seen about the cooling aspect, there are a lot of water rides. So, I mean, the one thing I will say that was kind of impressive was the the river raft ride that's themed to I think it's minions versus minions, so you have the yellow minions fighting the purple minions, and it it looks like a pretty decent, you know, raft ride that you would see at any other you know theme park. I would say, but if that's your anchor attraction, you know, that's I don't think that that's worth the $50 admission, in my opinion. Would would you agree with that? Definitely not, definitely not.

SPEAKER_02 26:26

This, like I said, um, I'm hoping that maybe that this is just like hey, uh April Fool's Day joke, you know, that Kim's in July, but how it looks like it, I don't know. I think they're just trying to show off a park that no one thought was good.

SPEAKER_01 26:41

I mean, if this is certainly Universal's test to get into the Texas market, they should have just done an actual theme park. I mean, if they put any sort of immersion like they do at the Florida or Hollywood parks into Texas, or even made this not so focused on young kids, and I mean I understand I'm an adult and I have no kids, so you know I'm not exactly first in line to run to go to this, but I feel like with Universal, how their other parks look, they could have made it look significantly better, or maybe their budget was just that small. That that's all the best that they could do.

SPEAKER_02 27:15

Yeah, yeah, that's the only thing I could think of. But in other news, so Six Flags over Texas, they have announced the opening date for Tormenta Rampage Run. Isn't that correct?

SPEAKER_01 27:26

Yes, it's going to be this upcoming Friday, June 26th. So we've been following uh Tormenta's progress since the start of this channel. And I was up in you know Arlington over the weekend, so I got some photos and I put on the Facebook page. But the record-breaking coaster is going to have it's going excuse me, it's going to be the tallest dive coaster at 309 feet, the fastest dive coaster at 87 miles an hour, the longest dive coaster at 4,199 feet, have the highest 95 beyond vertical drop at 285 feet, tallest Immelman version 218 feet, and tallest vertical loop. So it's going to break a record, six records, and you know, it definitely changed the skyline of Six Flags over Texas, where you just see this behemoth of a roller coaster now. So I love dive coasters. Uh when we went to Busch Gardens, unfortunately, Sheikra was closed. So I didn't get a chance, you didn't get a chance to see that. But you know, you've roden Dr. Diabolical at Six Flags Fiesta, Texas, and you would say that's a pretty good roller coaster, correct?

SPEAKER_02 28:28

Oh yeah, I think that was definitely probably the third best coaster at that park. I mean, you gotta go with Iron Ratley the best.

SPEAKER_01 28:35

Oh, of course. I think at Six Flags over Texas, this would probably be in their top four, because you I would say New Texas Giant, Titan, Mr. Freeze is probably their top three, and you can change the order up, but that's the order I would go in. Tormenta, I mean, with being the tallest dive coaster, it's certainly going to be four, and I think I could increase it. Now, the big question: are you finally going to give Six Flags over Texas a chance, Mr. I Love Fiesta, Texas?

SPEAKER_02 29:05

Um, I definitely will with this new one. We definitely we're actually planning on going somewhere this summer, uh, by the end of summer before my kids start school. So this is definitely one of them that we're looking at going to.

SPEAKER_01 29:17

Hey, the Astros play the Rangers in July. Maybe you can do what I normally do, make it a six flags and baseball trip, after all. And switching over to now our main topic, which we're continuing on the frequently asked cruise questions. And of course, we gotta start with the Maddie question, Jesse. Now, now she writes Dear Leto Loop, and of course that she wrote it by hand, you know, with a stamp and everything. How nice of her. I am trying to fast spin on slot machines, and it's not working. Do you have any other tips and tricks as far as to making the slot machines work? Now, um, I think you have a good response to this, don't you, Jesse? Yes.

SPEAKER_02 29:52

First, you have to hit the 15 drink limit. And then it doesn't matter if you lose or win.

SPEAKER_01 29:58

You will because you're having fun, because you had 15 drinks.

SPEAKER_02 30:01

You will become a winner because you have 15 drinks.

SPEAKER_01 30:03

You know, it's funny because after you hit the 15 drink limit, you know, there's guys that are dressed in all black, they're going to, you know, take you to your room to celebrate. That's so crazy. They may lock your doors too. And that that's how fights happen, guys. So, you know, watch out for that drink limit. Now, how do you feel about fast spinners?

SPEAKER_02 30:22

Fast spinners, man. That's like like I can we kind of talked about this earlier, but that's like going to you know a you know, lottery machine or a gas station, getting the scratch off tickets, and then just scanning the scratching the bottom and scanning it to see if that's no fun in that. No, there's not.

SPEAKER_01 30:39

It it's like you want to see instantly if you won or not, but I don't know, there's enjoy the game. I I've you know worked in a place that did sell lottery tickets before where that's all I saw people do was just spend their money, scan. Oh hey, I won, yay. And these people don't even like to celebrate. They're it's like they're expecting to lose money with these things. And I guess the same could be said about a casino. I mean, fast spin, it's fun if you see on a YouTube video, it's like hurry up and get to the win. But I mean, if you're sitting there enjoying it, I like seeing the numbers come down and the pictures and the sound effects. Some people just gamble too much and they don't want all the bells and whistles that come with it. Yeah, exactly. Like I mainly play just to hear the buffalo sound.

unknown 31:18

Buffalo!

SPEAKER_01 31:20

Just like that. Now, we did have some questions. Uh our favorite listener, Jen, has asked two different questions. And Jesse, go ahead and ask the cruise question, and then I'll go ahead and ask the theme park one.

SPEAKER_02 31:32

Yeah, so what's your response to someone who's afraid to cruise because they've seen uh stories about ships sinking, fires, or the famous poop cruise incident.

SPEAKER_01 31:43

Now, as a poop cruise survivor myself, not a poop cruise survivor, I was on the ship a year before it happened. So basically the same thing. Yeah, exactly. I was there with you guys, you know, share, you know, share trauma. Um you know, I you the easiest way to answer that question would be no matter where you go, you do kind of put yourself in somewhat of a situation that could be bad. Now, cruises I would say cruises are safer than like most theme parks nowadays, honestly, because your guest safety is their number one priority. Number one, they don't want a lawsuit, they don't want to spend millions of dollars, especially if something really bad happens. So keep that in mind, but also uh cruises are there to make sure that you have the best experience possible and that you're taken care of.

SPEAKER_02 32:31

Yeah, I mean, I'm sure, I mean, we don't know the exact percentage, but I'm sure it's less than one percent chance that anything bad would happen to this detail on a cruise ship. Like, yeah, the whole poop cruise incident was horrible, and I would hate to have been on that ship at that time, especially after watching the video on uh on Netflix.

SPEAKER_01 32:53

That's a really good documentary. I definitely recommend you guys checking it out.

SPEAKER_02 32:57

Yeah, because yeah, I didn't realize one of the funny things actually happened on it was like they thought that one day they're like, huh, let's try and make everyone happy while they're going through this, and let's open the bar up for free. And it just people started getting drunk and throwing stuff off the ship.

SPEAKER_01 33:11

I mean, that's how you celebrate when you're just stranded in the middle of seas. And it wasn't it the ship that didn't have any power, so these people like it was a hundred plus degrees in their room, so they had to go outside in the sun and bake because it was just cooler there than it was in their room. Like they were bringing mattresses out, yeah, and they made like a tent city up there and all that.

SPEAKER_02 33:30

But hey, I mean, I guarantee you that would not that first off, that would never happen today. I honestly believe it wouldn't, but I'm sure at that same time they said the same thing, right? I mean, they said the same thing about the Titanic too. But that was back in like 1912.

SPEAKER_01 33:43

They said that was unsinkable. So, I mean, yes, cruises I would say are very safe, and I think your chances of something bad happening because of the cruise's fault is almost slim to none.

SPEAKER_02 33:55

And it seems like all the people who who I talk about cruising with, because I I literally talked about cruising with everybody, uh, they always bring the same stuff up like this. Like, oh, what what about a poop cruise? I was like, man, like these people like must live their life thinking that they're everything, every single day you go, something bad's gonna happen to them. Like, like just enjoy your life. Yes, there are gonna be tragedies in life no matter where you're at, whether you're at home, where you're you know, at the store, or you're on vacation. I mean, there's so many incidents that happen on vacation. Like, I just saw in the Dominican Republic a whole resort just caught on fire, and like, and no, I mean, just have fun in life. Like, you know, you don't live once and just have fun and enjoy it.

SPEAKER_01 34:40

Yeah, I think there's could be fear with really anything you do. Um, you know, for someone who's never been on a cruise, I would say experience it once. You know, if you're really scared, I would say even go on a shorter cruise. It's kind of, you know, people, someone who's afraid of flying, I would recommend going on a shorter flight. Just, you know, get that fear out of the way and then you know progressively go on, you know, longer cruises and longer flights in both aspects. Uh Jen also asks about theme parks. So this one kind of has to do with a little bit what we were talking about previously where the rides were breaking down. She asks if guests uh if a guest is concerned about riding a roller coaster because they have had a previous incident or mechanical issue, who should they talk to at the park? And then she goes on to ask, can employees explain what happened and how the park makes sure the rides are safe before it reopens? Now, I'll answer the second question first. I don't know if employees can explain everything because there might be a you know cease and desist that the park has said that, hey, let's not talk about the previous issues. But I mean it's a good question to ask. I know New Texas Giant, there was a fatality uh on it 13 years ago, but that has operated since with you know no problem. You know, I'm sure employees don't like talking about it, but yeah, it is the reality of the nature is that you do similar to a cruise, anytime you get on a roller coaster, you do have that risk. And you know, if you are scared to ride rhymes with a history, the best advice I would say is just don't ride them. If you're uncomfortable, don't do it.

SPEAKER_02 36:09

Yeah, it kind of goes back to kind of even the cruise like cruising relay. What's the chances of something happened? How many, how many, how many times have that coaster, you know, gone up or you know, gone through the whole complete ride without any incidents? 99.9% of the times, I guarantee you. Am I correct?

SPEAKER_01 36:26

Yeah, it I mean, you can even have like theme parks like Fiesa, Texas that have a spotless record. You know, maybe there was a guest injury, but no fatalities ever occurred. And uh, you know, the older parks, you know, they're gonna have a little bit more of a history. I mean, you know, with the let's take, for example, the Iron Shark incident that happened over here in Galveston. Um, you know, I've been on that coaster for years, and that's a crazy what happened with those people, and you know, I don't think it's open to this day, but these roller coasters do go through these tests and they they have these safety fish safety features in place. So a one, no one gets hurt. Now, if you get stuck, that means there are safety features working, it's just a pain to get them down. And you know, you know, it's sad to see that happen just because it's a very big inconvenience, but at least the guests are safe.

SPEAKER_02 37:11

Yeah, exactly. You'd rather them get stuck than fall off or something break down so that they someone gets injured.

SPEAKER_01 37:18

And I would so to kind of answer the f the last question of like who should they talk to at the park in regards to any kind of issues, guest services or even the ride operator. I mean, sometimes it could be a teenager that says, Oh, it's fine, dude. But I would say if you have any concerns about the ride, just talk to the guest services and they'll answer the questions as best they can.

SPEAKER_02 37:36

Or you can be directed to like some type of the manager of the park. I'm sure their number one priority, like you said, just like on cruises, is guest safety. Am I correct?

SPEAKER_01 37:44

Yeah, because theme parks and cruises are both here to make guests happy. They don't want to see injuries, they don't want to see people get hurt. Their guest safety is the number one priority in any sort of you know, cruising in theme park entertainment. And let's go ahead and transition back over to cruise frequently asked questions. Now, last week we answered a couple of questions, including, you know, travel insurance, you know, travel documents. So we're gonna continue that series. And a good question I found is how can I find out where the theme nights are on my cruise? Now, you and I kind of talked about a little bit with this with the 4th of July, and you know how they have the Fourth of July celebration. Yeah, would you say that there is a 4th of July theme dinner or two for those type of cruises?

SPEAKER_02 38:29

There's not I I doubt there's gonna be a dinner. I mean, if there is, it's probably gonna be hot dogs and hamburgers, you know, or something like that. I mean, that's very American right there. But uh, so the theme nights, so cruise lines actually, for most part, are not really big on I don't know why all of them Royal, MSc, uh Carnival Carnival's probably the worst about explaining what the theme nights are for that cruise. The way I was able to figure it out the best was to first get on all the Facebook group. I think we mentioned last week or a couple weeks ago about getting on the Facebook group for the individual selling. And this every single time there's a people ask, you know, hey, what's you know, what is when if is there white night, you know, is there 80s night?

SPEAKER_01 39:12

Uh is there, you know, um, I can't even think of other other nights, but yeah, because like when we went on the glory, there was an 80s party, and it was like during Halloween time, there was like a whole costume party, and none of us thought to bring a costume on the ship. I mean, I didn't first of all I didn't want to bring one on the plane, so I'm we we're backpacked, we like to backpack trips. Yeah, yeah. I literally wore a cowboy's polo and I said, Oh, I'm a sad fan. So, I mean, they bought it.

SPEAKER_02 39:36

Yeah, honestly, but you can also actually, a lot of people don't realize this, you can actually call Carnival itself and ask, hey, I'm on this cruise, what are my theme nights? And they will actually break it down exactly what's gonna happen on your cruise.

SPEAKER_01 39:46

So correct me if I'm wrong, they do announce when the you know dress-up night is like fancy night.

SPEAKER_02 39:52

No, no, they they don't. Usually, typically, I know because I've been on so many cruises, it's always like this like on long sellings, it's always gonna be your second day, then it's I think it's like your fifth or sixth day on a cruise, uh, depending on how long your selling is. Like this eight day is gonna be the second, and then it's the sixth day of the cruise.

SPEAKER_01 40:10

So kind of transitioning to a that next question, and I'll come skipping ahead. Do you have to dress up for formal nights? Now, uh, we've seen uh people in their finest suits, but also people walking in wearing swim shorts. So I I would say no, you don't necessarily have to, but I I think it'd be encouraged to do so. Would you agree?

SPEAKER_02 40:29

Yeah, I mean me, I don't really go too fancy. Uh, you know, usually I just wear like a button-up shirt and uh shorts. Um, and I know some people like what like the NCL commercial said flippy floppies. They like to wear their flippy floppies, which was funny because NCL they first said they came out the commercial, then they we talked about them uh making it more strict in the dining room while they still had that same commercial out, and then they flip-flopped again. They flippy floppy again, yeah. They flippy floppy again, yeah. Flipped floppy again, and they pretty much kind of said, Hey, they they kind of most of the cruise lines they're not really gonna tell you, like force you to goes by any standard. There's actually uh a TikToker I saw, they actually wore their nightgown, like uh like their a robe to the dining room just to see if they said anyone said anything, and no one said anything. Like I I me personally, they says no ball caps. I always wear my ball, my uh ball cap because I don't like people seeing my bald head.

SPEAKER_01 41:31

Uh yeah, it kind of becomes a solar flare, especially when the sun shines in. It's uh it's a uh occupational hazard. So yes, I would say that it's encouraged. I mean, you don't have to necessarily. I like you kind of said earlier, I I wore a polo. Like my first couple cruises, I brought I did bring a whole suit just because I wanted the whole aspect of it, and then going to the casino with the suit on, it makes me feel like a little bit more of a high roller.

SPEAKER_02 41:55

So here's a question: why do you think they have formal night on cruise ship, Jack?

SPEAKER_01 41:59

I know the answer. Let me see if you okay. So m my understanding is that that's just how it was in olden times. Like, I I think because cruises were a little bit nicer, you were supposed to dress up in the tire, kind of like in planes, like in the 50s, you wore a suit and tie on a plane because it was a luxury. Would you agree?

SPEAKER_02 42:18

Actually, well, up to a point, I guess I kind of agree. But what is something that they do only on that night they go really big on when you dress up? Is there a certain show or am I missing it? But photographers. Oh, okay, makes sense. So they make they take all these pictures. Guess what who's gonna they they see all you dress nice and all that? Who's gonna want to they're gonna try to sell these pictures, right? So it's a marketing gimmick. It's a marketing gimmick. That's all it is. They really don't care, but so they just want you to take pictures and they want to buy it. And we can kind of talk about that later, but how how how waste that it wasteful that is just buying the pictures on any cruise.

SPEAKER_01 42:57

We never buy any pictures, by the way. No, there was a photo, I think, of me and my family, like that we did in like 2011. But since I've been an adult, I've we've never gotten photos before.

SPEAKER_02 43:07

Especially since your phone is as as good, if not better, camera than the ones they have.

SPEAKER_01 43:12

And honestly, if you ask the waiters, they'll take a photo of you and then you could just save it and you could put it on your wall. You could do whatever you want with that photo as well.

SPEAKER_02 43:19

And uh actually, even the theme like where you dress up, a lot of them will allow you to just take a picture right then and there with them. They'll probably take it for you. Uh, you know, they don't they really don't care. They just that's just their job to take pictures.

SPEAKER_01 43:29

Uh, I mean, some people just have a little bit more of a you know spending habit than we do, Jesse. So that's probably why we don't buy the photos. Uh same thing that people that do prepay for gratuities. Now, you and I do both prepay for gratuities, but is it better to prepay gratuities overall or pay certain people you interact with, like your housekeepers and bartenders and wait staff?

SPEAKER_02 43:50

So, yeah, so prepaying gratuities, you don't actually have to prepay your gratuities, you can actually pay all of them at the end, they'll automatically add it to your bill. Um, but me personally, I I like to first prepay the gratuities going in, especially if I got a cruise booked out like six to a year out. I like to prepay because it on Carnival at least, you can break down all your your payments into smaller increments. So you know, when you got like this next cruise, we it's like five hundred and twelve dollars for eight day for the family for it breaks it all down within like all the months, so it's uh it seems a lot smaller. Uh and second of all, so paying like the people you interact with isn't really a good idea. Yes, it's good to show appreciation, but there's so many people involved that you don't see, you know, you know what I mean? Like there's people cooking your food that you don't see that you're not giving any money to them, or the people that are in the back were washing all your clothes or washing the bedding and doing all the the work. The but the people you see, if you only give them money, then it takes it out of the pockets of the people who helping them do it. You know, like the housekeeper can't go back there and wash all the bedding by himself and then put it on your on your stuff. You know, there's a lot more people involved than just what you see.

SPEAKER_01 45:06

Or even something like maintenance people that you know keep the ship clean, you know, pick up the trash and especially the cups that are left everywhere and trays.

SPEAKER_02 45:13

Exactly. And you would never if you saw that, if you just if you didn't see the work of those people, like if you just saw trash everywhere, you probably wouldn't tip anybody. You'd be like the people the last night of the cruise, right? This trying to go wait in there to take off their gratuities.

SPEAKER_01 45:27

Yes, and uh, you know, hopefully you're not you know people that do that, you know, because these workers, like they rely on those tips, you know, just to make a living. Yes, I understand that they're they live on these ships, and you know, they're probably honestly probably not paid that much, so they really need these gratuities paid. Me personally, I just like the prepaid gratuities, and you know, there are certain people that I do like the tip more, so like the housekeepers I always leave like a 20 on the bed, you know, depending or if you know if it's multiple people, we all each leave a 20. The wait staff does a phenomenal job, and of course the bartenders, especially if you uh you know don't get the drink package and you have to sign the receipt, usually I leave you know a couple bucks. So yes, I do agree that you know prepaying is probably the best way to go because it makes sure that everyone gets paid, and then you know, for certain people that you do like or you that do go above and beyond that you would see, you'll give them a little extra something as well.

SPEAKER_02 46:18

Yeah, I I definitely agree with that. Um, but like I said, me personally, prepaid gratuities.

SPEAKER_01 46:24

It keeps things nice and simple. It's kind of like your uh your status on the cruise line. So another question is should you chase status on a cruise line, Jesse?

SPEAKER_02 46:34

So I I've looked at all the different cruise lines and their status, and I think we did talk about this uh quite a few episodes ago, but we talked about how I felt like Royal Caribbean's got the best status. But honestly, when you chase status, I feel like that it's it it makes some decisions that you wouldn't normally do. Like what I mean is like if you go to the if you want to go to this destination but you say hey but it's on a different cruise line, you're like it's gonna hold you back from going seeing that destination because you want to chase status on another, or same with saving money, like oh, I'll go to you know Royal Caribbean, it has the same same destinations, but I'm gonna go carnival because it's cheaper, and I got my status there. And you know, so I don't know, because I I I feel like that's not worth chasing status in the long run.

SPEAKER_01 47:24

I I would agree, especially because like you said, you went to MSc and you had an incredible experience, so you're able to go to you know similar ports, and I believe ports that you haven't been to as well, and it gives you a chance to try something new. Now, if you go down Carnival Ship, I'd say 90% of the ship is the same as most other Carnival ships. Now, I understand the Jubilee is much bigger than the glory or the breeze, but you know, Carnival is gonna have the same things for the most part. Some will have a sports bar, some won't, some will be able to, you know, they'll have they all have an event venue, they all have a casino, they all have an arcade, they all have a Lido deck and a pool. So trying it chase or chasing status could prevent you from exploring new ships and new destinations. So I would agree with that. Now, how about the people on the ship? Are they packed with people besides the first day?

SPEAKER_02 48:12

Yeah, exactly. If if you just see one vision of a a cruise ship and you you you walk on a cruise ship the first day and say, is this gonna be the whole cruise? You would you would not like the cruise if it was like that every single day, you know, on embarkation day. Because um honestly, no. It depends on the ship too. Like I know like the uh XL on Carnival in MSC, there's multiple, especially Carnival, because there's they put the food venues around the ship, they put the bars around the ship, so it kind of disperses the people throughout the ships. Yeah, there are gonna be certain areas that may be more packed, like you know, you know, the try going to the comedy club at night.

SPEAKER_01 48:51

Like that thing gets packed like an hour before.

SPEAKER_02 48:53

And like the first night of the piano bar, too, it it is crazy.

SPEAKER_01 48:57

You know, all the people singing sweet, uh sweet caroline, bum bum bum. No copyright there. But yes, I mean, yeah, the the bars, the casinos, those are gonna be the most packed, like the first you know, night of the ship, because that's when people like, I want to drink, I want to party. And especially on sale, like sale days, like there's kind of not much else to do. So they're gonna be in the buffets, they're gonna be, you know, dining is always gonna be you know crowded, but it's well dispersed, especially you know, if you have uh like anytime dining, or should be you have early dining or late dining, anytime you get kind of helps as well. Uh so I would say don't let the first day or the sail away party, you know, fool you to think it like this this cruise ship is massive, it's gonna be people to people.

SPEAKER_02 49:40

Like cruises are good at dispersing people, and then yeah, like I said, like the Lido deck on Carnival, yeah, it is, it gets packed sometimes with the big parties and stuff like that. But I honestly uh the big parties kind of make it fun when you got a bunch of people like that. And if you don't want to, if you're not that type of vibe, but sometimes I'm not like that's not my vibe. Sometimes I just hang out in the tides pool or whatever the back of the ship is.

SPEAKER_01 50:04

Yeah, I know. I guess kind of sad that we when we went on the glory, we didn't get to see the sail away party because of the weather. Yeah, they literally just canceled it on that cruise. That was crazy. Yeah, they didn't have like a celebration in the lobby or anything.

SPEAKER_02 50:13

They're like, nope, we're not gonna happen. I know typically every ship I've had that had rain, they would go to like the atrium, and that's where the sail away party, but they just said sail away party canceled, and that's it.

SPEAKER_01 50:23

That's probably because it was a three-day cruise. Like, yeah, we're not gonna entertain it. You'll find some sort of entertainment somewhere else. Uh so kind of just a bonus question I'm throwing out there, you know, with the World Cup going on. Uh we've watched sporting events uh on cruise ships. You know, there's most of the bars only have ESPN or Fox. So do you enjoy watching sports on a cruise ship or you know, seeing it on the main TV as well?

SPEAKER_02 50:48

Yeah, definitely. I know, like I know like when we were in uh Port Canaveral, then we see we saw the Tampa Bay Buccaneers repl on the group screen.

SPEAKER_01 50:59

Yes, they were because that's technically the closest team to Cape Canaveral. So I had my Geis Burger and I was sitting in the lounge chair watching. And fun fact, that was the only sunny day on that whole cruise ship, and it was too hot to be out there. I wasn't out there long.

SPEAKER_02 51:12

I definitely see like I one reason I do like the Carnival Jubilee and all the XL class ship is that in the back of the ship they have uh by Pig's Anchor, they have a Heroes Tribute Lounge, which is kind of like the you know, the sports bar there. They have TVs of all the big games. I remember uh man, I've seen I think the one of the sellings I was on, it was uh Alabama was there, and they had so many Alabama fans. I was surprised how many Alabama fans coming out of uh Galveston.

SPEAKER_01 51:43

And I that's what happens when you have a dynasty. You have a lot of you know, quote, Alabama fans coming out of the woodwork.

SPEAKER_02 51:49

But yeah, I definitely think I mean I mean, you do you when you're in a cruise ship, you know. I mean, you don't have to worry about driving if you want to watch sports. Me personally, I'm not a huge sports guy. I will watch Astros if it's like you know, playoffs or World Series time or something like that. But uh, I mean, it's definitely fun to watch sports.

SPEAKER_01 52:06

Yeah, if you're a football fan, they're gonna have most. I mean, if you go to any of the sports bars, they have a whole list of TVs of you know what time the games come on. They are very busy. Um, you know, there's TVs in the casino with a bunch of different sports on. Um we went on the summertime one time, so the NBA finals and you know Stanley Cup Finals were both on. So, you know, we were able to catch those as well. So there is plenty of stuff to you know watch. If you're a sports fan, you could definitely not miss games at the bar, especially if they're big magnitude games. Now, let's talk about medication. Uh so do you does it need to be in the original container in order to bring it, or can you bring like a little pill pack? Or is it what is you know, not just carnival but other sailings rules about that?

SPEAKER_02 52:47

So carnival, they really don't have a big thing. If you're bringing a lot of a medication, I would, especially if it's a controlled medication, I would recommend putting it in the original container. But typically, if it's just like small quantities, just enough to get you through that selling, which I recommend first off, have a little bit more than what you expect because you never know if you get caught like an extra couple days because of weather or anything like that. Uh, but they don't really none of them really require it. You can put it in like we have a little like a it's called pocket pharmacy, it's like a mini. I know you've you've taken stuff out of it.

SPEAKER_01 53:17

Yeah, I've had Advil, I've had Dramamine, like Tums before this. Oh my goodness. Like, yeah, your wife had definitely has she's like a mini pharmaceutical, she could sell that on the side then on cruise ships.

SPEAKER_02 53:27

Yeah, but uh you don't have to have an original container. This is actually one of the most popular questions that we've gotten uh that I've actually seen in Facebook groups too. Is do they need to be original containers? No, you don't have any um immigration officer checking and asking, you know, what pill this is, you know. So um, yeah, as long as it's not large quantities, you should be fine.

SPEAKER_01 53:48

Another question we see. So, what kind of luggage do you bring? Hard shell or soft shell? Now, I don't think neither are necessarily wrong options, but for me, if you're gonna do hard shell, make sure it's not cheap hard shell because I mean those things do get thrown around. If you have a cheap shell, that thing will get cracked very easily.

SPEAKER_02 54:05

Yeah, I I 100% agree. I see it because not all hard shells are the same. There's some hard shells that, you know, because let's be honest, these people aren't, you know, gently, you know, putting your stuff on board, you know. So get good quality hard shell that's gonna not crack when it gets hit. Um me, I I definitely prefer hard shell over uh over um soft shell because first off, you never know if it's gonna rain, and just from you know, going from you know, where you drop off your luggage to the ship, it can definitely get tredential downpours on your luggage. So it's probably a lot better if you get hard shell. The cruise lines, none of them actually require it. They say that they're it can only be a certain size, but pretty much the biggest size that you can get, they do allow for the most part.

SPEAKER_01 54:57

Yeah, I was gonna say it's not like an airline where if it doesn't fit into the container, like they're gonna charge you extra for it because they they accommodate like the weight of passengers in the ships, and it they'll be fine.

SPEAKER_02 55:08

So And also, and also like you don't that kind of another question is like you don't have to buy travel size. A lot of people think they can get like travel size shampoo or travel size listrain. You don't have to buy by those getting on the ship. Yeah, you may have to buy by those on your flight to you know to the destination, but on the cruise ship, you don't you can get you know the biggest shampoo bottles, the biggest, you know, mouthwash, uh biggest, you know.

SPEAKER_01 55:33

Well, the mouthwash, that's how you you know sneak your alcohol on, just paint it green. Don't do that because then we'll get caught. But you know, and then it's warning you for then people will be like, oh, we heard on Lito Loop, you can do this. No, no, we're the other podcasts, you know. Uh yeah, not the Leto Loop, that's not us. Uh so speaking of you know, stuff to bring on the ship, how about stuff to buy on the ship? What is a waste of money on a cruise ship? You and I are in agreement on photos, just because I just think that's kind of a dated thing with you know cameras as well. What would you say is another thing that could be a waste of money on a cruise ship?

SPEAKER_02 56:08

So it depends on what some people send. Some if you if you don't drink a lot, the drink package is not worth it. It's a waste of money. Me personally, I don't honestly, I'm not I ain't gonna lie, I don't really drink like a crazy amount. When I'm on vacation, I definitely drink more than I would at home, but hey, you're on vacation, do whatever you want.

SPEAKER_01 56:25

Um, I don't think you've ever hit your 15 drink minimum.

SPEAKER_02 56:28

There was one there was one day that was on Jubilee, and let's say I didn't remember hitting the 15 drink.

SPEAKER_01 56:34

Yeah, yeah. You you're the one who got escorted, you know, from the casino. You're the one hit fast spinning. Exactly. That was me, it wasn't Maddie. And they locked your door.

SPEAKER_02 56:42

No. Uh, but yeah, it depends on like you said, a lot of people, I know you may think, Jack, like the cheers package, because you didn't feel like that you were it was worth it to you. So you bought, you know, just a 12-pack, you know. That's kind of like you can save money that way. And actually, a lot of people don't realize if you do bring a 12-pack, if you stop at a destination, they do allow you to bring another one on board. So if it's a long selling, you can have that's how you get multiple 12 packs.

SPEAKER_01 57:05

Yeah, and correct me if I'm wrong, but you're also allowed to bring a Dr. Pepper to dinner, and they can give you a cup and you just pour it in.

SPEAKER_02 57:12

Yeah, exactly. Nothing holding you back, which is that's nice that Carnival does that. They you can also have, I think it's up to 750 milliliter of wine. So if you don't drink a lot and just you want a bottle of wine, I mean you can do that too. So, Jack, what do you think are some waste of money on cruise chips? To me, there's two. I would say the spa, particularly because I just don't really use it. And plus, I mean, yeah, exactly. I agree. Is like especially them trying to upsell you on every single thing, and then of course, in Cozumel, you get way cheaper this like a 30-minute massage for like 30 bucks. You know.

SPEAKER_01 57:50

I would also say, yeah, I would completely agree with you. And you know, if you're a type of person that wants to go to a spa and have that kind of luxury, maybe carnival's not the best idea for you. If you have that kind of budget, maybe go with a nicer cruise line that gives you a more enhanced spa experience, or you even save your money on land. Um, I would say the other thing this one's kind of a hot take, but the gift shop, I would say that you know, most of the clothing is, you know, they do have some clearance stuff, and I can't remember the last time I actually bought a cruise shirt, but they they do have like you know, like the $15 like t-shirts that say the cruise ship's name and stuff like that. And also if you want to get souvenirs, I would say go to the port, especially if you're in Cozumel. Yeah, everything's so cheap. You're right. Yeah, I mean, I bought a you know, they have any kind of sports teams in there. Like I bought the Cowboys backpack and an Astros Cup for like three dollars and twenty bucks for the backpack.

SPEAKER_02 58:43

Just don't get the name like they gave me Cheapo Gringo. Cheapo gringo by trying to talk them out, you know, talk down on price.

SPEAKER_01 58:50

Yeah, the sticker was a dollar, and you're saying, do you take 50 cents? Hey, that's 50 more cents I can spend at the casino. Oh, yeah, you that's a 50 cent spin on you know any kind of Dragon League. Not Buffalo, because that's 60 cents. Yeah, it shows how much I gamble. But um another thing, of course, gambling on the cruise, I wouldn't say is a rip-off, it just depends on how much money you want to spend. It's only a rip-off if you lose. That is true. Which I always went. Yeah, I mean, I don't know how that works out. Like in any kind of gambling trip you go on, one of your friends is gonna walk away with something, except that one time we went to Lake Charles, which you know, we'll maybe we could do a breakdown of the Lake Charles casinos here on the little loop.

SPEAKER_02 59:30

And there's one other what do you feel? How about how do you feel about the games that you play on on the ship, like bingo and rip off? Don't do it, especially especially especially bingo.

SPEAKER_01 59:40

No, bingo is the tell us the story about that. So this was I believe it was the yeah, it was the breeze. You know, me, your brother, and of course Maddie, it was her idea, the gambling addict she was. Go figure. But sh we all went to play bingo. You know, you get you only get three games, number one. It's not like a bingo hall where you get like nine plus games and pull tabs. Each dauber, I believe, was about five dollars. And think, come to think of it, you could probably just share a dauber. So we ended up spending about $35 a person for three games of bingo, and then the prizes weren't even that great. One was a free drink package, and and some was a free Wi-Fi package. I think the grand prize was like maybe five hundred dollars. So all that money they spent the people, you know, getting this, they only gave $500 back and two things that they could give out for free. And then like someone went in like seven calls, they called it like seven times, they won. Yes, that was the final game. They called seven numbers and someone yelled bingo. We looked at each other like there's no way this person actually just won. Sure enough, they had a good bingo. So it was a waste of money, time. I wish I would have just like put that 40 bucks in Buffalo instead and had a better time that way.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:52

Yeah, I've definitely I know we did play on Jubilee deal or no deal. It was fun, don't get me wrong, it was fun playing the game. Uh we actually did win. I think it was I mean, I think we paid what sixty dollars or seventy-five dollars or something like that to play. We ended up getting, I think, twenty-five or thirty dollars in uh casino credit, so we were forced to gamble.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:13

Yeah, go figure.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:14

Darn darn, I hate when I'm forced to gamble.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:16

Don't tell Maddie. I mean, she'll be on playing deal or no-deal over a whole whole lot more. But yeah, I would say that certain like games that you have to have an upcharge to play, I don't think they're necessarily worth it unless you know you just don't have anything else to do. And you know, I guess kind of a last thing to put a bow on it would be shows you have to pay for. That doesn't really apply to Carnival, but you know how Norwegian Cruise Line was unveiling that you might have to pay for certain Cirque de Soleil shows.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:43

Oh yeah, on Norwegian Luna.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:45

Yeah. Yeah, that's I I would say like if you have to pay for a show, it's it can't be worth it. But that'll do it for this week's episode of The Little Loop. As always, you can find our podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, wherever you get your podcasts. We have a Facebook page. Now, I have heard criticism of me putting too much theme park news on there. I will do my best to do cruise and theme park news on there as well. Thank you, Jack. Yeah, you're welcome, sir. And of course, you can always find us on the YouTube channel. We are the Lido Loop. I'm Jack. That's Jesse, and we will see you on the Lido deck or at the casino using those feet free credits.