The Best & Worst Cruises For First Time Cruisers | Cruise Cast Ep.11

Ever wondered what makes or breaks a first-time cruise experience? You're about to find out! Join us on this episode as Ant and Glen from Escape with Ant and Glen share their firsthand insights and inspiring stories. 

Explore the pros and cons of various cruise lines as we dissect cabin choices, affordability, and the balance between formality and relaxation. From budget-friendly inside cabins to the plush suites, we'll guide you through the labyrinth of options. We’ll highlight why Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line are perfect for newcomers, while sharing personal anecdotes about luxurious voyages on Cunard’s Queen Mary 2. Dive into the bustling vibes of major ports, the importance of amenities, and how first impressions of new ships can make or break future cruise decisions.

Navigate through the complexities of cruise ship amenities, environmental concerns, and unpredictable weather patterns with us. Learn about the flexibility and safety measures when cruising during hurricane season and the importance of supportive communities for new cruisers on social media. Plus, discover how cruise ships are adapting to environmental challenges and how our special guests, Ant and Glenn, provide invaluable tips to ensure your first-time cruise is nothing short of spectacular. Don't miss out on this treasure trove of practical advice and captivating stories that will have you booking your next cruise with confidence!

Transcript

Linzi: 0:00

Welcome to episode 11 of the Suite Natured Podcast. Hi, it's Linz. As always, I'm joined by Mark, hello, hello. And today we're talking the best and worst cruises for first-timers and we're joined by some very special guests. But first a like that music. That's the lift to hell music. I do not like that lift music, that music at all.

Ant: 0:40

That music reminds me of the Trafford Centre.

Linzi: 0:42

Oh.

Mark: 0:43

It was called Cruise Ship Nostalgia.

Glen: 0:47

Cruise Ship Nostalgia, obviously.

Mark: 0:48

Ooh.

Linzi: 0:48

No, no, no, we keep going, we keep going.

Mark: 0:52

Well, we'd better introduce the voice, but there's a walk-in video that we'll now be able to see that we're joined by Ant and Glenn of Escape with Ant and Glenn. Yes, hi guys, welcome to the CruiseCast. Thank you so much for having us.

Linzi: 1:07

You're very welcome, hello, hello. And today we're talking best and worst cruises for first-timers, and you guys were actually the inspiration for this, because we saw that you'd been speaking to a lady I think she's called Carol on one of your videos who was her first cruise. Is that right?

Ant: 1:24

Yes.

Linzi: 1:25

Yes.

Ant: 1:26

Yeah, she had never do you know what, and she lives near Southampton.

Linzi: 1:32

Oh, my goodness.

Ant: 1:34

She said I'm five minutes from the port and I was like, are you serious, this is your first cruise. And she was like, yeah, and I've always she goes, I've always wanted to go on one, but she was. She was in awe of the whole cruising experience. Yeah, it was. I think I said this on the video. I said it was to absorb that energy of a first time cruiser who was in that element was just amazing. Yeah, she was great.

Linzi: 2:01

Yeah, it's almost like when you've watched a show and someone else and you've, you've gone at it episode weekly and then somebody else you introduce it to can just box set it. You get that excited that, that feeling that like, oh, I'm jealous of how you're gonna experience this time on the first time.

Glen: 2:20

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember a couple of cruises ago we had lunch. It was like a sushi kind of lunch thing and we sat at a long bench and as we sat down I think the couple to my left were busy telling the people opposite there and this was like a 54th cruise or something. I must admit a part of me died inside. I just thought I can't listen to this for an entire lunch. But luckily, immediately opposite us, a young couple sat down and they said this is our first cruise and the first time we're dining with kind of strangers and stuff. It's like, oh, and we had the most amazing conversation over lunch with them.

Ant: 2:58

Yeah, and they, they were. You know how like you're cruising sometimes I said you get a bit, you get a bit almost numb to it because you see it so many times over, yeah but they were literally, you know, going through the, you know they were going through the cruise compass, the way we go through the radio times, the highlighter at christmas christmas yeah and um whereas we sit there goes. Do you want to go to that quiz?

Mark: 3:20

you're like yeah maybe you lose that bit, don't you? Once you've done it a little. While it's that going through every line of that cruise compass that pattern. But we need to do that. We need to do that. Once you've done so many, it's like we'll just turn somewhere, and if something's happening, it'll be fine yeah yeah, before we sort of carry on with with this, um should we let? And then just introduce oh yes yes, and tell everyone a little bit about yourself, terrence.

Ant: 3:48

Well.

Linzi: 3:51

Age before beauty oh.

Ant: 3:54

We're playing that game, aren't we?

Glen: 3:57

I'm Glenn and I'm I don't know what to say now, actually.

Glen: 4:03

I've been cruising for a little while, maybe 20-odd years In fact. I'm sure you'll ask me what my first cruise was at some stage, because we're talking about first cruises. I'll keep that until a little bit later, but I work in learning and development Not massively interesting, but it, you know it, pays the bills and keeps me busy. I travel quite a bit with work, which is kind of nice, nicer, for you, though, isn't it when you have a little bit of peace and quiet?

Ant: 4:35

Oh, yeah, definitely, I really enjoy not having you around.

Linzi: 4:39

Oh.

Glen: 4:42

Yeah, perhaps you should go next.

Ant: 4:55

I'm Ant and I'm Glenn's husband and we are happily married, um, and I am the other half of Anne and Glenn. We um. So, yeah, I've been doing. I started a YouTube channel about two and a half years ago and it started off as a channel called the Diet Diaries and essentially what happened was, during lockdown, we spent probably most of the time just watching cruise videos and watching travel content on YouTube.

Ant: 5:17

And I think I kind of got the bug and I was like I think I could do this, because I've always just loved media and editing and all of that side of things and just creating content. And so we went to Mexico right to do and we were going to film our first travel video. We bought all this equipment and everything, took it all out there and as I filmed myself, I was like I couldn't't. I hated the way I looked, I was so big, I was like on and on camera. I was like, oh my gosh, I was embarrassed. And so we decided to go on a diet. And after that it was quite funny because Glenn said I can't believe you brought all this equipment, you're not going to use it. And then by the end of the holiday I said I'm going to start a dieting YouTube channel and I'm going to vlog the entire journey as almost as if to keep myself accountable. Yeah and um. So we I did that for about six, seven months and it was quite funny. We still we had, we were watching like people you guys were watching Paul and Carol and we were, and it was quite funny. In one of the episodes I wrote I said I guess paul and carol don't have to deal with this obscenity word that I'm not going to repeat on for in case there's children in the audience and um, and she commented, carol commented so, and I couldn't believe that they were watching our channel because it was completely different niches. And then, after we dropped the weight well, I dropped the weight, I'm joking After we dropped the weight, we went on Sky Princess and did our first cruise vlog and suddenly we went from, you know, getting a couple of hundred views to a couple of thousand views and it was like it was meant to be, and um, and so, yeah, we've, uh, we.

Ant: 7:12

We then became Ant and Glenn and then it just became Escape with Ant and Glenn, because I wanted to put a bit more travel in it, so it's less about us at home really, and uh and yeah. So it's just gone from I say strength to strength. We're still babies, we're baby youtubers, you know we're. We're still building our, our audience and our style and, um, trying to. I think I wouldn't say it was a crowded niche. There's quite a few people that are doing the same thing and we're just trying to do something slightly different. Yeah, with our content out there.

Mark: 7:43

It's just finding doing something that you enjoy doing that you oh I love it.

Ant: 7:50

I love it. In fact, I literally, right up until about half an hour before we got into this podcast, I've been editing and, yeah, and it's. I've got a video that's about 45 minutes long and I'm trying to cut it in half.

Mark: 8:03

How far are you trying to cut it down to?

Ant: 8:09

I'm just taking out all the bits with.

Mark: 8:14

Glenn in Nice. Well, I mean, let's move on to sort of that first cruise which you've touched on, sort of your first cruise vlogging on it, but I'm assuming that probably wasn't your first cruise. No, no how did you decide on what? Your first cruise line, your first cruise ship? That's one of the questions we get asked most I'm sure it is for you guys of how do I choose what ship's right for me, how do I choose which line's right for me?

Ant: 8:40

So, how did you guys go about it Well? Glenn, you're more of an expert on this than I have, because you took me on my first cruise yeah.

Glen: 8:49

So I'd been cruising for a while before and went on his first one, um, my first cruise. Um, I was working for a travel company in london at the time and, um, we did predominantly kind of florida holidays and things and the boss decided to open a cruise division and so he brought one lady in. She was called jill and she was the cruise department and she used to sit next to me and I'd hear her on the phone with her clients talking about. It just sounded so alien to me that the you know which dining sitting do you want? And like what earth are you talking about? So it was all very strange.

Glen: 9:26

But we struck up a friendship and after a few months she said I've got a feminization trip coming up and I can take a guest. Would you like to come along? And I said okay, yeah. And she said you'd have to dress smart because it was a dressed down office and I'm quite a casual kind of guy. So I remember it was a dressed down office and I'm quite a casual kind of guy. So I remember it was quite a big deal for me dressing up and it was.

Glen: 9:52

I don't remember the ship, but it was Holland America and it was in I think it was Harwich, uh, in wherever, that is, essex, I think and we went for lunch and, uh, excuse me, um, uh, a tour around the ship. And all I remember thinking was how posh everything was and how sumptuous the dinner was, amazing, and they put on a show in the theatre for us and things like that and I just thought, oh, this is really really nice. So, anyway, the following few days, jill and I were kind of chatting about cruising and I said, look, I loved the idea and the feel of it, but I'm not dressing up for dinner. It's not my cup of tea. I've certainly never dreamed about going on vacation with a suit or anything like that. And she said, in that case, royal Caribbean is your line. And she booked me onto was Navigator of the Seas. I think it was early 2000s, I think it had just started sailing.

Linzi: 10:44

Yeah.

Glen: 10:44

And I took my mum because you know you do, and it was just the right fit for me at that time. Yeah, because it wasn't too formal, it was a lot of fun, but I still had that kind of feeling of you know, you can go for dinner, go to a show and stuff like that, yeah, yeah. So I got bitten by the bug, like that, and then I brought you in to the cruising world after a year or two of dating, right?

Ant: 11:13

Yes, yeah, it was NCL Epic. Ooh, she was a new ship at the time. I think she had only been sailing less than a year, I think it was 2012,. And sailing less than a year, I think it was. It was 2012 when and it was in the Haven, so I was spoiled rotten. My first cruise yeah.

Mark: 11:34

And do you think that sort of then set that level of expectation, then going forward?

Ant: 11:40

Yeah, I'm, yeah, it's quite funny because, uh, we talked about this when we were on um anthem of the seas recently about different like, because we obviously cruising has changed so much in even in the short time 12 years I've been cruising and, um, I think people I mean we could talk about the economics of cruising until the cows come home I think that there's a common, known issue across the board that cruising has got more expensive over the years. Um and um for us, you know you have to ask yourself what are you willing to pay for this? What do you perceive as value? And there's a lot of things in that and what I'm trying to dance around. The point is that I've never stayed in a standard cabin.

Glen: 12:32

Then just say it. I don't want to come across as a snob. There's no shame attached. I don't want to come across as a snob. I have.

Ant: 12:39

Yeah.

Linzi: 12:41

I haven't stayed in an inside before, but I have stayed in a, a porthole one, whatever that sea view one or a regular balcony as well, so I'll just follow on that, because there's a lot of similarities there.

Mark: 12:55

Do you want to just explain what our first cruise was?

Linzi: 12:57

It was Navigator of the Seas.

Ant: 12:59

It was Navigator of the Seas there we go. Oh, my goodness.

Glen: 13:03

A coincidence. Do you want to explain?

Mark: 13:04

how we decided on that the big thought process.

Linzi: 13:04

Oh my goodness.

Mark: 13:05

Yes, a coincidence, it's so, and do you want to explain how we decided on that? You know the big thought process and everything that we did for selecting it.

Linzi: 13:13

It was a bargain and my family were already booked onto it and you didn't want to go. Yeah, but it was a bargain.

Mark: 13:21

And the Yorkshire in me went okay, it's cheap, oh no.

Ant: 13:25

Did you? Have to be convinced to actually go on it.

Mark: 13:30

Massively. I used to get seasick going across the ferry on Mersey, so the thought of spending four, five, six, seven days, however long, on a cruise ship was horrendous. Plus, I had the preconceived ideas, um, much like you guys, that I don't like getting dressed up in my day-to-day work. I'm sort of dressed down a lot. Um. So the thought of going where I had to get dressed up and what your preconceived ideas of a cruise are, um, I had all them. So the the seasick sickness having to get dressed up, it was just like not appealing. But because your family were going, yeah, and we, we genuinely did get a last minute thing.

Linzi: 14:10

You were like about five, six week out yeah, and we got a grand suite and, um, and our family like don't get an inside room and we're like we haven't got a grand suite and they're like you've got a grand suite, no like you've got a lot see obviously I was gonna come across like a snob.

Mark: 14:29

There were five of them sharing a balcony no two, they had two two balconies, yeah, uh, for five of them, and they came up there. Why don't we swap? Yeah, we're like, no, why do we not? No, no. So yeah, our first, quite a lot of our first cruises. I think up until we went on Disney for the first time, we were saying we stayed in a suite each time because I'm like, okay, if I'm going on one, this is what I want.

Mark: 14:52

This isn't me yeah, and, as you said, we still haven't got to the bit where we stayed on an inside cabin yet, no, which, if we had, we probably could have done three, four times as many cruises as we have at this point. Yeah, that's the thing.

Ant: 15:04

It's quite funny because obviously we watch a lot of cruising YouTubers. Yes, us too, yeah, and we've always asked ourselves, first of all, how on earth can they afford it? Because they all seem to be on a different cruise every two weeks, yeah. And then it's how do they get the time off work? Yeah, and we find that it is a lot of people.

Ant: 15:24

They stand inside, they stay in, they get deals or they go on three or four nighters yeah and it is possible to have a really good value cruise where, if you are the sort of person to not spend a lot of time in your room and we but we spend a awful lot of time in the cabin, we love the cabin and spend a lot of time on the balcony you know, if we weren't those sort of people and we're out doing all the activities, staying in inside, yeah, would actually be a probably a better choice for someone like us, and I always say that you can just put the extra money into a drinks package and, all of a sudden, you're in an all-inclusive and you don't have to worry about any sort of like bills at the end of it yeah and yeah, I think that um for us.

Ant: 16:09

But talking about what you mentioned earlier about the formality and dressing up, I remember when, glenn, you were talking about ncm, we talked about the epic. One of the key reasons we chose the epic was because it wasn't too formal, because it was a case of he didn't want to dress up. I love dressing up, I want to be the center of attention, but um, but yeah, he, we, when we did it, it was that was a very key um deciding factor for us.

Mark: 16:38

If I remember right, didn't epic want that, one of the first ones to do, like the Freedom Many Time Dining as well. So there were none of that sittings at X and Y.

Linzi: 16:47

It was just more relaxed, I mean when it comes to picking for your first time cruise, I think at one of the unless it's a celebration, and that's a different thing. Again, I think one of the less formal cruise lines is a way to ease yourself into it.

Mark: 17:07

Yeah, unless you very much enjoy the formality. Yeah, if you're someone who likes going to the opera and the theatre a lot and you like putting on the tuxedos, then something like Cunard is probably a great first-time one, because it's going to be that very similar thing yeah.

Mark: 17:21

But the number of people that we've spoke to… who are not, who are not, and, like you guys have just said, ones like Royal Caribbean are a good gateway introduction and NCL would be as well to cruising, yeah, because there's that formality there if you want it, and they have. I mean a lot less so nowadays on Royal Caribbean compared to where we walk, but they still have formal-ish nights so you can still get dressed up and go on a date, but it is a lot different to when we first went on which isn't that?

Mark: 17:54

long ago. When was that 2007?

Linzi: 17:56

That's nearly 20 years ago, darling.

Ant: 17:59

Right. Yeah, I also find that the formality of some of them take cunard, for example is it can be very intimidating to first-time cruisers, um, if you're not used to actually um that environment or you feel that how dressy is dressy, yes, you know, and how smart is smart, and I think that you do. You can get the best of both worlds with royal caribbean, because people do dress up and they really make an effort and um I've never felt uncomfortable in any of the cruises I've been on.

Glen: 18:36

I've so predominant with princess, actually more than royal.

Glen: 18:39

But yeah even though, princess, if you had to compare them, you possibly say they're a little bit more formal than royal, but I have never once dressed up for dinner on Princess other than a you know, a short-sleeved shirt and a pair of slacks or something, Never more than that. I've never worn a tie and I've never, ever felt out of my depth. And if I did if you know, it's the first formal night, for example. If it's the first formal night, for example, Read the room If literally 80%, 90% of the whole ship's in tuxedos and you're not, I'll just go and sit in the buffet that night. There's other things you can do and I would never discount a line based purely on the level of dress code or anything like that.

Mark: 19:22

No, I wouldn't now, but I discount coon out for a long time, oh you did.

Glen: 19:27

Yeah, what changed your mind actually, mark?

Linzi: 19:29

lindsay yeah um we watched paul and carol, because paul and carol went on it and they were like um, this is not what we expected, it's real, the atmosphere we've watched a lot of videos over years on it.

Mark: 19:43

And sort of earlier ones seem to reiterate my fear of it, that it's just too stuffy for me and that I wouldn't enjoy it. And then they say watch. Paul and Carol watched a few other people and all of a sudden they were like okay, maybe we give this a go.

Linzi: 19:59

Yeah.

Mark: 20:01

And I'm very glad we did. It is a very different environment, but Queen Mary 2 remains one of my favourite cruises that we've ever done and it's one of the few cruise ships that I do want to do again. Normally I want to, purely from creating videos and stuff. I don't want to do the same one over and over, but QM2, I kind of go, I don't care, I just want to do that ship again and in particular, a transatlantic on that. Yeah, amazing, but yeah, I if. Just if we take the forgetting about sort of the navigator one that you went on much earlier, if we look at the one that you both went on together as the first one, what were the things that you loved or hated about that cruise? More than you expected, it's a very strong word, but there were were much more positive than you expected or maybe a little bit more negative I think for me.

Ant: 20:54

I had never been waited on in that kind of environment before, like people putting the the napkin across your lap and things like that. I found that to be very awkward to begin with because I just wasn't used to it. It was a very plush environment, although the haven on the epic before they had all the muted colors. After the redesign looked more like studio 54 it was a lot of chrome.

Ant: 21:24

Honestly it was like vegas it was. It was all kinds of tacky, but in the best possible way. But one of the things I really loved was there was a lift that took you up to the haven and only your card would get you in this lift and at the bottom of the lift was the hot dogs and I would come down to get hot dogs and go straight back up and I was 50 hot dog by the end of it um it, it was.

Ant: 21:51

I, yeah, I, I think that for me was it. It was. It was hard for me to get used to that. Yeah, um, particularly in the haven restaurant, it was because it was. It wasn't formal, no, it was just elevated.

Glen: 22:04

I think, yes, yeah, it was a struggle to keep him in the restaurant actually. He kept wanting to go to the buffet because he felt more comfortable there I said we have paid a lot of money for this we're sitting in this restaurant.

Linzi: 22:17

It's so true.

Ant: 22:18

It's so true. And now, and I think I said it, on the video that went out the other week was, if you're in a sweet and they have a sweet restaurant, eating that restaurant as much as you possibly can like. Coastal Kitchen on Anthem of the Seas is an outstanding restaurant, as is the restaurant in the Haven on Epic. I can still taste the crab cakes, Eggs Benedict, it was a crab Eggs.

Ant: 22:47

Benedict with hollandaise sauce and I had it every single day, and I know that if I ever get back on an ncl ship which I hope I will one day um, that's the first thing I'm gonna eat, yeah yeah, how far did you travel to to get on epic, like for your first cruise, was it quite?

Linzi: 23:03

did you do it on the same day, did you? You go in the day before?

Ant: 23:08

uh, we have, I. I can tell you now, and this is my big tip for first-time cruisers never drive down to southampton on the day you're going to embark, or or, if you're flying out, don't fly in on the day. Always go the day before, if you can go a couple of days before and enjoy the the city, because you're just asking for trouble it's so stressful.

Linzi: 23:32

It's so stressful we I. I can't believe so many people do it, though, and so many cruise lines. If you buy pno, do it, um morella, yeah, they will fly you out on the day. I'd have anxiety the whole time if we did that.

Ant: 23:51

I just couldn't do it. Also, I think as well, because it's eating into your day.

Linzi: 23:56

Yeah.

Ant: 23:57

We are very much, you know, as soon as check-in opens. Well, I don't you're the travel agent in the family, but you're straight there at two o'clock in the morning with an alarm set so we can get the the earliest um check-in and boarding time so we can utilize as much of the ship as possible. Yeah, and I think that would also be if you're a first-time cruiser. Do that, because it's that electric atmosphere. If you're first on as well, it's a bit quieter before it starts getting quite busy, because the embarkation day is always a bit mental.

Linzi: 24:31

But what time do you normally wake up? Because for me it's almost like Christmas Day on cruise day you don't sleep. You're checking the clock Like is it time?

Mark: 24:41

You have me set like three different alarms and we're always up about four hours before any of them.

Linzi: 24:47

Yeah, it's yeah, and I don't think any other holiday does that to you, though.

Mark: 24:53

I don't know. I think anytime you're sort of excited to get away, you do that. But cruising is special for that as well.

Glen: 25:01

I wonder if because I've thought about that as well because when you think about because we do a lot of land holidays, I think, yeah, so many cruise youtubers seem to only do cruise then maybe they just don't film their land holidays.

Glen: 25:12

I don't know, but we're very much kind of 50 50 in fact I think we've got just as many land holidays booked in the next 18 months as cruise, yeah. But one thing I think that does differentiate them is when you're on a cruise unless you're on kind of a European MSC itinerary, everyone's getting on at the same time. Yes, so you've got 3, 4, 5, 6,000 people I don't know however many, it is all going on holiday at the same time, yeah, and all arriving there pretty much at the same time. So I wonder if that adds to the kind of group energy. Whereas you turn up at a hotel, you're possibly the only ones checking in at that time, or you know a handful. And I also wonder because we haven't done an msc cruise as yet if it's on one of those kind of open itineraries, open loops, where you can get on and off, yeah, at any stop. I wonder if it's more like a hotel holiday if you're the only people arriving it's not if you're getting on at one of the main ports.

Mark: 26:07

So if you're getting on at southampton, for instance on virtuosa, then that'll still be pretty much the same as normal. Yeah, you'll have two and a half thousand people getting on that day, um, and then the other sort of two thousand ish that are on there will be scattered across the other destinations um that you're going to, but any of the main ports MSC still seems to be. You have that buzz on boarding day and you have the placards up everywhere. I mean to be fair on MSC, every day seems to be a boarding day and placards everywhere.

Linzi: 26:39

Yeah, the pop-up banners and everything. Yeah, that's the only downside to it.

Mark: 26:43

Every day, there's a muster everything, yeah, so that's the only downside to it Every day. There's a muster drill.

Ant: 26:46

Yeah, oh God, I didn't think about that.

Linzi: 26:48

Yeah.

Ant: 26:48

Imagine like every evening you're walking around and there's suitcases. Yeah, it just feels a bit yeah.

Linzi: 26:57

It's different?

Ant: 26:58

Yeah, we are, we've. We have got MSC books for February next year. Are you doing yacht club? We are doing yacht club and, uh, we're doing a back-to-back as well, nice on the msc seascape oh and uh from from miami so it's uh, oh, fantastic caribbean I'm, I can't wait. I, as I think we said this we haven't got, we actually haven't booked anything with Royal and we've got MSC. We have Explorer and some Princess coming up, some Princess in 10 weeks.

Mark: 27:33

Nice.

Glen: 27:35

And we watched your videos avidly when they came out, because I think we just booked or we were just about to book when your videos hit and I'm sure I messaged one. One added a comment to one of them saying I was a bit disappointed with the location of a couple of the paid restaurants that were sitting in the buffet area and I thought I I'm not sure how I keen I am on paying all that extra money just to sit there and now they've moved them. And now they've have, they moved them?

Mark: 28:05

We don't know where they've moved.

Glen: 28:06

Oh, I had heard, yeah.

Mark: 28:08

So, if I remember right from I think we talked about this on another podcast before, so it does mean that I researched it a bit at some point. I'll admit, my brain's getting old now, so I forget One of them, I think.

Linzi: 28:23

It's going where the Crown Grill is.

Mark: 28:24

Dario's yes, butcher's Cup by Dario is going into where the Crown Grill was. So if you watch the video that we cover the Crown Grill on, you'll see what that's going to be like. It's going to have to have a fairly major refurbishment because the Crown Grill as it was wouldn't work for Dario. You would have to change it. I guess you could just rip out every table and put in a couple of really big, long ones so will that be when it next goes into dry dock?

Ant: 28:51

I assume they're doing it now. Oh wow, some princess seems to have been. I know it's an inauguration season. Everybody knows it's going to have problems and there's going to be teething problems, and I think I messaged you at the time because I wanted to know, because a lot of content creators were invited on board.

Ant: 29:13

Yeah, about the terms of the contracts, and the reason for that was not because I was jealous, but it was but it was because I just wanted to know about how much control over what it was saying, because, um, when people say I'm going to be honest with you, I feel like if you have to say it, it means that you're hiding something. Yeah, and the. The problem with some princess was it was became very, very clear that it wasn't ready even in the state it was in, and I think princesses recognize that because they've delayed the. Really the is it star? Princess has been delayed now by a couple is it a couple of months.

Ant: 29:53

It's not even just a couple of savings or is it?

Mark: 29:55

I think, if I remember, was it to october. Yeah, I think so. Um, yeah, they were originally going to be um someone's uh, like a full season in the med one yeah and now I think there's just two cruises in the med. If I remember right, there's the maiden and then another. Yeah, then it's coming around to southampton to do the transatlantic.

Ant: 30:15

I think I might have got that wrong well, as I said, I'm glad that I'm actually really happy about that, because I'm glad that princess have learned their lesson, because you'd think that they'd know what they were doing after all these years but like um, because it impacts on the, on the passenger experience, and I think that, again, when we we've mentioned earlier about finances and and value, if I was going on my first cruise and I was like I want to go on a brand new ship, so I go on some princess, and I'm there in the first month of it going out, and then no shows are running and half the restaurants aren't running and things aren't, and then you're going to a specialty dining restaurant and you're sat in the buffet, you know all of these things and you're going.

Ant: 30:58

If this is what cruising is like, and I've spent four figures on this trip, I'm probably not going to want to go back and I'm going to go back to my all-inclusive in Mexico or Rhodes or somewhere, as opposed to, um, want to go back onto a cruise ship. So, um, because when we think about like you know what cruise line and things like that and what ship, I always I you are playing with fire in an inaugural season, I think because, things can, because things can be not as good, not as seasoned.

Ant: 31:29

And we learned that on Wonder of the Seas because we were very, very excited to go on Wonder in her first year and it had many, many problems. What?

Glen: 31:41

are you talking about?

Ant: 31:42

Wonder of the Seas, the Windjammer, for example. Oh yeah, they couldn't cook. No, I'm joking, they, yeah, they couldn't cook. No, I'm joking, they could cook, just not very well. You know, you had a biryani and they gave you beef, beef sauce or something that's your sauce for your biryani. It was all it felt.

Glen: 32:00

I did, I did. The guy was from India as well and I said that's not biryani, mate, and he just said it is. I said no, you know that.

Mark: 32:10

And I know, that yeah.

Glen: 32:11

So yeah, that was a bit odd. Yeah, I mean just moving on slightly to what you're talking about there. But I think if it's your first cruise and I was guilty of this because when I went on the Navigator, that was pretty much the newest one in the fleet, one of the largest ships in the world, etc. And I wonder if, having done that for my first one, then I kind of felt that every cruise I went on I had to go on something bigger and better and newer and smarter, whereas maybe if I'd kind of started on a smaller, older ship, I could have, like you said earlier, mark, about kind of like starting off with something you're comfortable with. I don't know if it's necessarily the best idea for your first cruise to say, right, what's the biggest, fanciest ship out there and let's go for that, because then if you do love it, and you start trying others.

Glen: 33:00

Yeah, it's almost like oh, this is not good as the first one is it, and I wonder if you know that's a trap that quite a few people fall into with all the marketing. Everybody I've spoken to who hasn't cruised they might not know a lot of the ships, but they've all heard of Icon of the Seas because the marketing campaign was huge right.

Ant: 33:17

A friend of mine and his husband went on their very first cruise and they went on.

Glen: 33:22

Icon, they did. Yeah, oh, the cruise.

Ant: 33:24

And there was some stories about Icon that I they did. Yeah. Oh, good grief, and there was some stories about Icon that I the pool was closed four times in the week cruise. That they did due to children not being able to hold themselves in, I guess, is one of the bare words, and there was a lot of issues around hygiene on that cruise. Yeah, I think it was in the adults pool.

Glen: 33:49

I think they've got I can't remember the name of it They've got like a bar pool and apparently a lot of people were writing on Facebook that there was a group of people on one of the cruises who literally went in that pool first thing in the morning and didn't leave Because as soon as you gave up your space in the pool, someone else got it. So literally people would kind of get down there and not move for hours and of course then there's like, well, what are they doing for the bathroom?

Mark: 34:15

um, one of the things I was going to ask about there was about about sort of best and worst cruise lines for um first time cruisers and Icon of the Seas. I think is that perfect example of there's so much hype around it that non-cruisers know about it. But it's probably, I would say personally, absolutely not.

Linzi: 34:39

And you'll have paid double. You'll have paid double.

Ant: 34:41

Yeah, we were Day one. As soon as those sailings opened, I was straight on.

Glen: 34:48

We were ready to book, we were literally logging on.

Ant: 34:51

I have not been more excited for a cruise ship in all my life, because I think with Wonder, what they did with Wonder is they took what went really really well with Oasis Class.

Ant: 35:02

They lifted up because Icon Class and Oasis class are not dissimilar in size but the way they've designed it is, it makes it look a lot bigger than what it really really is yeah and um, and I think what they've done is they've really elevated that kind of experience and I was ready to book um, and then I saw the prices and I said to myself I was like we really needed to, we could. We're going for two weeks on MSC in the Yacht Club in one of the best suites for less than what we would have paid for one week on Icon of the Seas in the same month, and that I just think that I mean Royal Caribbean come on, they're taking the mick. You know I just that I mean Royal Caribbean, come on, they're taking the mic. You know I just something's got to change or, if people are willing, if that's just the way it's going and people are paying all that.

Glen: 35:57

Well, the ships are sailing full every week, so yeah, I mean it's crazy, but it is what it is.

Ant: 36:03

If people have been on Icon and they loved it, then awesome. You know I'm happy for them. I really, really am. And I say my friend and his husband. The first thing they did was message me and say do you want to come on Allure of the Seas in 2026?

Glen: 36:21

Yeah, they went on Icon first and their second cruise is the Allure, which hasn't been refurbished in I don't know how long. I'd be interested to hear what their comparison is like Allure, which hasn't been refurbished in I don't know how long, so I'd be interested to hear what their comparison is like yeah.

Mark: 36:33

What do you think about the mega ships being not necessarily Icon, because there's a lot of big ships being that first one, one of my fears when I went on it I don't know if it's the same for anyone else was that I might be bored or I might feel a bit claustrophobic, and the attraction to the bigger ones is that you know there's more open space. You just talked about the Oasis class, which is my favourite class of ship because you've got things like the Central Park and you get that sort of airflow coming through, and I think Royal Caribbean did an amazing job of how they navigate people around Oasis and it doesn't feel crowded. Caribbean did an amazing job of how they navigate people around Oasis and it doesn't feel crowded. But there are big ships, there are a lot of people on them. Is a megaship right for first-timers? What do you think?

Linzi: 37:15

I think a ship that's easy to navigate is probably the best kind of ship for a first-timer, and I would say Oasis is pretty easy to navigate, unlike some that are higgledy-piggledy where you have to go up to go down, to go backwards, to go forwards. I think I'm going to include some princess in that category as well.

Mark: 37:40

Well, being a bit higgledy-piggledy.

Linzi: 37:42

Yeah, and also QM2, but in respect of a bigger. I don't think they should fear one of the bigger ships because they are easy to get your way around. It just takes you longer.

Mark: 37:56

Yeah, so would you be more favourable to recommending the bigger ship compared to one of the older, smaller ones, like a Radiance-class ship on Royal?

Linzi: 38:07

I think it depends on the itinerary, if I'm honest, right. Um, where do they want to go? What do they want to see and do they want the resort feel and you know, and something? It there's so many factors. That's the thing you can't.

Ant: 38:23

I feel this podcast could go on forever if yeah, it also depends on the type of holiday you want as well. Because I always say there's a do-something holiday and then there's a do-nothing holiday. So for us as YouTubers and I'm using that term as loosely- as I possibly can.

Ant: 38:43

I find that when I go on a cruise holiday, it's a do-something holiday because we're constantly making content and my brain is going going 10 to the dozen the entire time because I'm always thinking have we got everything we need and all this, that and the other before I can then relax and then, before I know it, I'm just embarking and then I go into a hotel holiday where I don't take a camera and that's my do nothing holiday and I can lay by the pool the entire day with a cocktail in my hand and not even think, um, but, and you might be the sort of person that wants to lay by a pool the whole time.

Ant: 39:16

So a transatlantic or something like, which has a lot of sea days, you're going to still get that experience, but it's going to be crowded. Um, like being on anthem recently and we said this in our top tips video which is, if you want to be in the solarium, you need to be an early riser, because it's just, it gets very, very busy. But once you're in there and you've got your base and you're happy and you're sat down, it doesn't feel.

Glen: 39:43

But I'm not sure first time people actually care about that. When you look at the way that people book, say, all-inclusive holidays, majority of people choose a hotel not based on the resort or the country. It's based on the facilities that are in the hotel. Because if you've got kids or you know you're bringing your parents along or whatever, you want to make sure that it's got the right number of restaurants or the right play areas or how many pools it's got or how close to the beach it is. That will typically drive how you choose an all-inclusive holiday. So when season cruises, I think so many of us talk about itineraries and you know I'm I've chosen that one because it's a very unusual itinerary which sounds great but I think for new cruisers I don't think they're as bothered about that.

Glen: 40:24

I think they would look at what facilities has this ship got? And you know you mentioned oasis class and you can't really get a longer list of facilities than one of those ships, right? So I wonder if for new, for first timers, that it's actually a really good bet to have a look at the facility list and say does that tick all your boxes? If it does, yeah don't worry where it's going. You'll be on the ship enjoying the facility as well.

Ant: 40:49

Yeah, and that's the funny thing about Utopia of the Seas, which is about to have its first year. That seems to be marketed as a three, four-night cruise, and I'm thinking this is an Oasis-class ship. They've put Ozumi in the park, by the way. That looks amazing.

Ant: 41:08

And where was it before it was? Do you remember? It was in the bowels of the ship. We even said it was in, like it felt like it was in the basement, on wonder of the seas, because it was all really dark, do you not remember? You've spent ages complaining about it. Um, anyway, they've moved it to the so but the thing is they've got this three, four night vacation party weekend. The way they're marketing it and I'm like this is a huge ship with a lot on there four nights is just not even gonna is. I don't think it's enough to be able to appreciate all the work that they've put into that ship. Um, and I wouldn't want to do a back-to-back with a three and a four nighter, but do you think that's what I'm trying to?

Mark: 41:46

get more local return bookings, so people in that area coming back and doing it.

Ant: 41:51

Two, three times A hundred percent. Do you know where is it going from? Is it Florida?

Mark: 41:59

Port Canaveral. The maiden's going out of Port Canaveral. I don't know about where his home base is.

Linzi: 42:04

Well, then that would be. That's almost the Disney market then, isn't it? Yeah? Which is your three, four night? Oh, I see what they've done there, yeah.

Ant: 42:12

Because Disney do the three, four nighters from there as well, yeah, and it might be oh, we want to do a cruise, we can't get on a Disney ship. Oh, there's this Utopia of the Sheets that might be quite clever.

Mark: 42:23

Yeah, yeah, so we, we all agree.

Linzi: 42:27

Look at the facilities, regardless of where it's going.

Mark: 42:30

Yeah.

Linzi: 42:31

And.

Mark: 42:33

Go with it.

Linzi: 42:34

Yes, just go with it.

Mark: 42:36

Yeah, yeah.

Ant: 42:37

Cause enjoy it. Yeah, can we know preconceived ideas either no, no Because is to say, like we, you thought about it being too formal and realised it isn't that. I thought it was a little bit stuffy and it turned out that was just me. It wasn't like that at all and also, everyone is so lovely. Like I have spoken to… Crew we're talking about. No, I'm talking about people as well. I mean he spends way too much time on cruise critic to to believe this thing, but um, yeah, my, my view on humankind has been tainted but um, but I, I, everyone I've ever spoken to on a cruise has been absolutely lovely and they are there.

Ant: 43:26

Everyone seems to be just open to having a conversation, particularly with like seasons cruisers and new and also like we. We were. We met a few pinnacles on the last cruise as well, and it got. I'm speaking to people who have been on. Who are pinnacles. Who are pinnacles? Oh, pinnacles. For the listeners that do not know it, people that have 700 crown and anchor points know what people that have 700 crown and anchor points you get one point per night out of on a royal caribbean cruise, or two points?

Glen: 43:51

if you stay in a suite. They are the biggest royal caribbean fans. You, yeah, yeah, you have to spend an awful lot of money.

Ant: 43:56

Someone said it's about a quarter of a million dollars wow you would have to spend on cruises to become pinnacle and um, but I got. I got tier match to glenn on the last cruise to Diamond Plus and he was really happy about that, weren't you, Glenn? I earned my membership I married into mine. That's the best way to get a status man. So I got my five free drinks every day.

Mark: 44:27

We're one step behind that on miles. We're at diamond yeah.

Ant: 44:33

Do you know how we did it? It was during after COVID and they started sailing again. They did. We didn't. We had already booked a cruise, so we weren't aware of the offer at the time. But they gave four crown and anchor points per night and we did a transatlantic.

Linzi: 44:50

Wow.

Ant: 44:51

So we got 14 times four and that shot me from platinum to diamond and then and then I married into diamond plus and now he's like we're saying we're not going to book on raw for the foreseeable future.

Mark: 45:07

Now you've got there.

Glen: 45:11

We kind of levelled up in the game.

Mark: 45:12

We're over it now. We're like we're just, but they are now at least going back to letting your status match across the brand.

Ant: 45:18

Yes, if you've got.

Mark: 45:20

Celebrity. And what's the other one? Silversea, silversea, of course you can carry that Diamond plus level across to and I am keen to try celebrity.

Ant: 45:32

I am I'm very, very keen to try celebrity. Um, I think the edge class, like edge beyond apex, all look beautiful, yeah and um, the the just the aesthetic inside just feels very. It feels like a very calm environment. You know how? Because, like Carnival, for example, is very kind of loud in your face and they're very kind of they were really behind their marketing and the way that they design their ships. And there are people who are purists when it comes to Carnival and then that is the complete antithesis of something like Celebrity. So when we talk about the type of cruise you want to go on as a first time cruiser, if you are a party person, then don't be afraid of carnival. If you are someone who likes things to be calm and you've got maybe a little, a few extra quid in your back pocket, then celebrity could be something that you would enjoy. And in fact that was what I recommended to my friend who took her mum on her first cruise. I recommended celebrity and they went on the edge, oh lovely and loved it.

Mark: 46:39

And I think it's such a great point because one of the questions that I had in my head about today, what I thought we should be considering, I don't think is actually a relevant question, because I don't think there is a right and a wrong answer to it which is the best cruise island? Which is the worst cruise for a first-timer? And I don't think there is an answer to that. It's really down to the individual in terms of what do they want out of that cruise. As I said, if the partnership is what you want, then Carnival, virgin, virgin, something like that. Um, if you want something more relaxed, or something on market.

Linzi: 47:13

Yeah, there is literally a cruise. You just have to do, you just have to do, just watch all the videos just watch youtube live vicariously on youtube yeah

Mark: 47:26

absolutely the best thing to do. We watch so many cruising podcasts Sorry, cruising videos. During pandemic we watch a lot. We can't go anywhere. We're just going to cruise by a sofa.

Linzi: 47:37

Yeah, but we do watch cruise videos all the time.

Mark: 47:41

I would say that that is the thing that we watch the most out of any media. Yeah, which is probably quite sad.

Ant: 47:51

We watch YouTube more than any other streaming service. It's not even a close race and, yeah, one of the things I love is finding new content creators.

Ant: 48:05

Because, I think it's quite funny, cause when we did we did a video about Odyssey and we stole your idea the way, linz, you never have seen the footage before. You see it for the first time and you get that raw reaction and you're kind of recollecting all the stuff that happened when it was shot. And I find that that's such a unique way of of creating content, because people, a lot of people, sort of find themselves in their comfort zone and doing the same thing, and so when you watch, like a lot of different content creators, you've seen the same vlog a million times and all of this and the other, and it was so refreshing to see what you guys are doing, and imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Mark: 48:46

We watch them so we enjoy them. I wish I'd kind of thought of that. A lot of people think that we were being really creative about that and it was predominantly being lazy. Uh, it was. I don't have to do any scripts before and we don't have to do any rehearsals. We don't have to be speaking much when we're on the ship, because until you did your practical ship tips first one of them, which I think one I own we never did any commentary on the ship. We filmed and we did everything afterwards. But it was more in terms of well, that'll just work for us, it fits into our sort of lifestyle and work and we can just get around to it. Yeah, but then when we watch yours back.

Glen: 49:22

We're like oh, that's a nice way yeah, except I think we left too long a gap between filming and doing the commentary and I'd forgotten most of what we're doing and I I couldn't even remember being in some of those.

Ant: 49:35

That video is only what we're recording. This in july. That video is a month old and we went in september last year and um that's why these videos that we're doing on anthem are going out now and they go before we, before we forget, before we forget, yeah.

Ant: 49:49

We, we yeah, we always have. We've kind of found like this thing where you have, like you start with the tips. So one of the things I've learned about YouTube is it's a search engine. It's it's there are two things that YouTube is designed to. It's a search engine, the second most popular search engine after Google, and even though it's owned by Google, and also, though it's a great video platform, it's there to do one thing, which is to serve people advertising. So it's about making content that people want to watch, so YouTube can serve them more adverts, and that's how they make their money, Unless you've got premium, which is the best thing ever, honestly, and I think that for us I mean as as youtubers when you get that kind of mindset, when you're looking at it, you go okay, what are people searching for?

Ant: 50:33

yeah and what questions are we trying to answer? And, um, and that's where we started, like and you'll notice this in anthem, it's all it feels we've structured everything a lot better this time around, as opposed to going out and filming everything and not really know and trying to cobble it all together in the end. And I found that where, yeah, we what you're trying to do is is answer a question. So that's why we have, like, the top tips, videos and things like that. These are the tips that we've learned, and it's actually always the last thing we shoot and the first video to go out.

Glen: 51:07

But it's actually always the last thing we shoot and the first video to go out. But I think, for first-timers as well, I think YouTube is one of the best kind of social media platforms because when you look at some of the alternatives, when you look at Cruise Critique, when you look at various Facebook groups, which most sailings seem to have a specific Facebook group, what I've found in there is somebody will come on, they'll post a question they're clearly a first-time cruiser and they'll get a barrage of really negative kind of comments back. And you know, sometimes I really cringe and I think you know what to you it might sound a stupid question, because I guess, you've cruised before.

Glen: 51:42

but why on earth do you have to belittle this person who's come on and wants some support, needs some help, needs a bit of guidance, and instead they just get trashed. And I do kind of I understand that some people are keyboard warriors or whatever they're called when they can't help themselves, but I wonder what damage they're giving because if that new person is coming in going, ah, this is the cruise community. Oh, they're actually not that nice.

Linzi: 52:08

I don't think I want to go on a shoot with them, yeah.

Glen: 52:11

You know they're quite mean, whereas I think YouTube, even on the YouTube videos which might be a bit clickbaity or might come across with an overall negative connotation, at least the format, the long video format, allows more of a balanced view than specific comments in other platforms. So I think there's a new, there's a new person.

Ant: 52:32

I would say watch youtube, avoid some of those and avoid the clickbait stuff.

Ant: 52:38

Oh, my god and the negativity around it. It's I know that negativity sells, yes, and it's quite funny. There was the video that we did of our embarkation on anthem. Glenn was working abroad at the time, so I I'd edited the video, I'd uploaded it as a private video to youtube and I sent it to him to watch. And he rings me at six o'clock in the morning and says you need to take that entire section out because you come across really arrogant and I'm like. I'm like a proper snob.

Ant: 53:07

But it's said about never being in a standard cabin before. And it's all about kind of balance and things like that, because you want to be able to. Some things aren't always brilliant on a cruise, things do go wrong and stuff like that, but it all has to be balanced, but it also shouldn't be sugar-coated because you're trying to please someone. And I think that if you can get that balance right, and what upsets me, I would say, well, not upsets me. What irritates me is what I see on a lot of youtubers not a lot of them, some, not all of them, but a few of them when they go in on the negative and that click baity thumbnail and all of this. This was the worst thing ever. And then when you actually watch the video and you get through eight or nine minutes of them rambling about nothing to do with the actual topic, and then when they finally find out what the problem was, it was, you know, it's something so mild that you're just like oh my gosh, I've just wasted 10 minutes of my life on this.

Linzi: 54:03

That's it.

Mark: 54:04

That's it. We've always wanted to I mean what we've sort of created our videos to and you said this is how you wanted to do it, which was to be a resource for people, in the same way that we wanted to. We used YouTube, and use YouTube now, as a resource for finding answers to questions that we don't know, and it's what we want to see, but we want it to be I'm going to use the term honest there, but, as you said earlier, it's just massively overused.

Mark: 54:36

On that, it's balanced, I think. Yeah, you just want to know that the person is giving an accurate portrayal of what it is.

Ant: 54:40

Yeah, um exactly yeah let's take sky princess, for example, and I got a lot. This is our most downvoted video in um, which was the last chapter on our sky princess, which our first cruise vlog zero. So we were still finding our finding our feet on what how to create this kind of content, but I went on a massive rant about the app, which was horrendous. It's not as bad now.

Mark: 55:05

It's not as bad now.

Linzi: 55:06

No it's not as bad, but it was terrible.

Glen: 55:09

Do you actually get what you ordered? I'd like a gin and tonic here.

Ant: 55:14

I'd like a gin and tonic, they actually arise. Yeah, honestly, we were disembarking when they came running up to me with my gin and tonic on day two.

Ant: 55:24

But yeah, it was and I did. I went on a bit of a ramp and even then it was. It wasn't edited out. I didn't edit it down, which is something I've learned, so it wasn't. It felt like this barrage of almost hatred and it wasn't. I was just really irritated by the fact that what I was sold but not just by princess and and its marketing, but by YouTubers who had been on Sky Princess and sung its praises called it a game changer and all of this and the other, and it was none of those things.

Ant: 55:55

But then these people who had been on the ship went during COVID, where there was half the people on the ship and everything was at 50% capacity capacity, of course it's going to work perfectly yeah um, and it just didn't for us, but we were also on a full ship, the first full ship coming out of lockdown and lockdown number two or three, I've I lost count at that point and um, we, they still had covid levels of staff yes and so everything was so.

Ant: 56:31

We had half the staff for a full ship and so you could go to a bar and it would. You'd be stood there for like 10-15 minutes just trying to get served. But we felt they should have just turned the app off, just say it's not going to work, manage everyone's expectations and redeploy the staff that would be running around giving people drinks to the bars and try and do it that way, and I felt that it was completely mismanaged by Princess. Lots of learning from them. But everyone said that the app and the network on there is so much stronger than what it was, and so I'm excited to go on Skype on some Princess, but I am cautiously optimistic, shall we say.

Mark: 57:13

we some princess, when we went on it and I don't think it was quite a capacity, but like 95 percent they were pretty much there because it sold out but then because of the issues that persuaded some people to move and some people had cancelled. But it worked close to full and we didn't have any issues at all there with medallion glass.

Linzi: 57:32

But we didn't use it Because we'd been burnt before we went to a bar. We had bar service.

Mark: 57:40

We didn't try and get clever with it. No, we used it in its most basic form. On Ruby Princess, which we've just come back from, we ordered drinks and food. We used it in its most basic format. On Ruby Princess, which we've just come back from, we ordered drinks and food. The drinks arrived really quick, like five minutes. The food never turned up and it was on the same order and it was just complete.

Mark: 57:58

So I think what I've learned from that is you order the drinks, click complete, then you do a separate order for the food and that will probably work, but I think it's one of those things you've got to be completely transparent about what does and doesn't work and not set those expectations we, we, I just want, I just talk, tell, just talk as though you're talking to a friend.

Linzi: 58:19

That's how we. What would you tell your friend? And that's what that's how we do it.

Mark: 58:24

Yes, yes, so we move on to some new stories. Oh, okay, one of them fits in perfectly to what we've actually been talking about a little bit, um, not intentionally, because I didn't know that you guys were going to mention it, but utopia of the seas, um, which they've just announced, their godmother, which is megan trainer, um, and they she's going to be performing on board from glenn doesn't know who megan trainer is and so she's well, that was.

Mark: 59:01

I'm completely with you. Whilst I know who megan trainer is, it seemed a strange choice for a godmother, and that's kind of what I'm interested in people's takes. Is it someone from that sort of background in terms of art and pop that you would expect to see in there?

Linzi: 59:22

No, I think the godmother should be a similar age to the key demographic of the people going on the ship, so they know who it is. Yeah, that's a good shout.

Ant: 59:34

Or the kind of culture that they're trying to attract to that ship. So Hannah Waddingham, who is the godmother for some princess, perfect, perfect choice. Absolutely perfect, but maybe Meghan Trainor is a pop star yeah um, or was a pop star. Maybe that's because you know they say it's the biggest weekend ever and you know the great.

Mark: 59:55

Maybe that's because they're trying to get some of that kind of party crowd and then yeah, I mean it should have been taylor swift, but they probably couldn't afford it.

Ant: 1:00:03

I can imagine the cost on it yeah, no no, that would be an interesting one, I'm sure they would have sold out the.

Mark: 1:00:11

Yeah, that cruise record. Yeah, she's doing a concert on board on the 15th of july, okay. And then it's going up to, uh, port canaveral, which I sounded knowledgeable, I knew where it was sailing from, but in truth, because I read a new story about three hours- ago and that's still within my goldfish-like memory ability to recall it back three hours.

Mark: 1:00:31

Story number two Okay, this ties into something we've just done and we heard them talk about it when we were there. The municipal clerk of Sitka in Alaska has rejected the proposals to cap cruise ship numbers because there'd been a lot of campaigns in Alaska to restrict the number of cruise ships that's going in and we saw the first time when we were there that when the cruise ships were ready to depart, those towns closed. Yes, you know Ketchikan. They were like a ghost town, weren't they?

Mark: 1:01:00

as we were the last ones about to come out and I'd thought how are these cruise ships sorry, how are these ports going to survive if the numbers really diminish? So I'm interested to sort of get people's thoughts on that, because obviously there is an environmental impact to it and it shouldn't be done. But on the other side of it, amsterdam, which is going to be the next port that we visit, have just agreed that they're going to cut cruise ship visits in half from 2026.

Ant: 1:01:31

Oh, oh, interesting Alaska Because.

Glen: 1:01:35

Venice did the same.

Ant: 1:01:37

Yes, yeah, venice. And is Lisbon doing something similar as well? I read the same very recently. Yeah, because we just sailed out of lisbon and, uh, we were the only large ship in actually at the time, and it do you know what the way I feel is that. So one of the things I say, like, so if you do a greek isles cruise yes, and I love the greek isles and you go to, like mykonos or oya, then the the worst. The best thing about it is the place where you are.

Ant: 1:02:11

the worst thing about it is the cruise ships, because when you've got like three or four in, yeah you've got 10, 000, 15, 000, 20, 000 people all going to these towns that are not designed to cater for that number of people, and so your experience of being there, though it's great for the local economy you can pick up your overpriced beads but I do find that the whole, the actual experience of being there, is not as good as it would be in your head yes and um like, I think, for non-cruisers if you see a huge cruise ship sitting at the dock and it's spewing out whatever out of the funnels

Glen: 1:02:54

that's not a good look, right? No, absolutely not. So I can totally understand why, from an environmental perspective, they're asking for this, but on the flip side, I don't imagine um, local traders and etc would be behind any bill that restricted the amount of customers that were going to come in through their door. But also, I was reading, and I don't know where this was miami or somewhere where recently they've successfully done a test where cruise ships can actually plug into the land grid instead of keeping their turbines or whatever going, and I assume. Well obviously there's a carbon footprint somewhere even for grid electricity, but that must be a much better option for cruise ships that are docked.

Mark: 1:03:42

Plus the newer ships are using the natural gas thing, aren't they?

Ant: 1:03:46

Yes, yeah.

Mark: 1:03:48

It's that balance, isn't it?

Linzi: 1:03:49

Yeah, oh, balance is the word of the show.

Ant: 1:03:51

I feel it is it is Balanced with Ant and Glenn.

Glen: 1:03:57

Don't change the channel name again.

Mark: 1:04:01

Final news story, but again a little bit environmental as well. You got a bigger gulp than you thought.

Ant: 1:04:06

Yes, I feel like I should be on the gin as well. Actually now I'm totally regretting having just a bottle of water.

Mark: 1:04:17

The hurricanes that have happened are the big new hurricane in the Caribbean. The Caribbean is one of the go-to destinations, especially for first-time cruisers Pretty much guaranteed weather all year round in terms of sun. But there's been a huge number of itinerary changes this week whilst the hurricane's going on, but also quite a lot of them have changed in advance of expectation of damage and not being able to go to the ports in the next two, three, four, maybe even longer weeks and those itineraries, which is obviously a concern for the same reason that we just talked about there, that a lot of these smaller ports depend on the cruise ships coming in.

Mark: 1:04:58

We saw the impact and the struggle financially on them during the pandemic and they're only just sort of coming out the other side of that. But from a cruiser's point of view, would you risk currently going on a caribbean cruise in the summer? Well, never, not a chance it's normally september.

Linzi: 1:05:20

September is when june, july it's not normally too bad it's not normally too bad and the pricing is still up there.

Mark: 1:05:28

But, September.

Linzi: 1:05:28

The pricing is very reasonable but the chances of a hurricane are very high. But now the season's obviously getting wider.

Mark: 1:05:36

Well, they're now saying they expect it this year to be somewhere from now July through to November.

Linzi: 1:05:43

Wow.

Mark: 1:05:44

Which that takes a huge number. If you're saying we're not gonna go, it's not just about it's a safety reason.

Ant: 1:05:53

It's a safety thing as well. Um had a comment on a video recently regarding it was about anthem of the seas in 2016. They sailed in through a storm and I wasn't aware of this I at the time I I was completely I wasn't aware at all, and so I sort of searched anthony's 2016 and saw what happened and the thought that they could navigate this storm and it was. It just destroyed like deck 14.

Ant: 1:06:19

You couldn't really recognize it half the scenes were coming down and everything and um, and I was like oh wow, I can imagine why you wouldn't go on rock, harry.

Ant: 1:06:27

And after seeing something, like that but I think it is a safety concern I want. We talked we've talked a lot today about first-time cruisers and things like that, and I'm going my. If I was to say something to a first-time cruiser, it's you have to have the flexibility of change, because things can change at the last minute. A port that you may have banked on you may not get to. On our last cruise they literally mirrored the entire itinerary. Three days before we left. They swapped the whole thing around, which meant some ports, so we were supposed to be there late. We had to leave early and vice versa. We had excursions moving and you just have to go with it. And I think that with the caribbean having been to saint thomas after a hurricane and to seeing the absolute devastation of what happened, you know it's not going to be a tropical paradise that you expect, but you just have to as cruiser, you just have to be willing to take the changes as and when they come and understand they're done with the best of intentions.

Glen: 1:07:33

I would be all right travelling during the summer if I was a first-time cruiser, as long as Linz, like what you said, as long as you get a good deal, and I think if you're going after schools have kind of gone back in, but before the kind of high season, in kind of November, december, I think if you can get a good deal, I would trust that the captain will, you know, redirect the ship as is necessary, right To avoid any of those rough seas. But also there's a lot of Caribbean destinations which are outside of the cyclone belt as well. I think if you look at kind of Antigua or Barbados and ABCs and stuff, they all, I think, outside um, the, the, the kind of um hurricane zone, so you might be able to find an itinerary which does avoid it anyway. So I would. I think it was a good deal.

Mark: 1:08:21

And as you said the, you said the, the cruise lines and the captains, they never want to cancel a cruise. They will always just try.

Ant: 1:08:29

And the second that ship isn't sailing, it's losing money yeah so they, they, they have to have that ship sailing all the time, and you know, but I, I can. I've seen a lot of things online of people complaining and they're unhappy rightfully so, rightfully so. They're unhappy that their itineraries are changing, that things are changing and and. But they also chose to go during this season. Yes, you know, it's um. I understand you're trying to save a few quid. I understand what you just have to. You still get to go on an amazing cruise and guess what? You're not going to sail through a hurricane, which is even better. So, you know, isn't it nice that royal caribbean are actually flexible enough to say, do you know what? Rather, go this way. We're going to go this way just for your own safety and for the safety of our ship as well, and, um, and to be able to keep cruising because, as I say, the minute it's not cruising, it's losing a lot of money for them. These are billion dollar, you know.

Glen: 1:09:26

And even when you're paying to go high season. I mean, look at all the people that are paying to leave from the UK right now.

Linzi: 1:09:33

Look at the weather.

Glen: 1:09:33

Look at the weather yeah, you know, you can't guarantee it any time. So I would go for it, yeah.

Ant: 1:09:41

Yeah, we were sailing back through the Bay of Biscay. Yeah, the rain was going horizontal, it was just hot. I've never seen anything. I have seen stuff like it because I'm British, but not in the ocean and that was in June.

Glen: 1:09:57

That was in June. Yeah, you wouldn't typically kind of picture that kind of weather. That was like February weather.

Mark: 1:10:03

We were watching on the weather map this morning, weren't we? Because there was a storm coming up through there at the moment and you're like I would not just this morning, you're like I would not want to be on baby skates today, but yeah, we've gone through that in sort of middle of winter and it's been like a lake. So you just, you never know, you just take it and what happens happens.

Mark: 1:10:23

Always take a raincoat always, and that's the top tip of the episode. Well, that brings us up to the end of the cruise cast. Uh, it just remains for me to say thank you to aunt and glenn for joining us. Thank you, and you're very welcome and we will play out with out.