You're listening to the Cruise Tips TV Unplugged podcast.
Every once in a while we devote an entire episode to one ship.
And today we're talking all about Carnival Jubilee.
Welcome to Cruise Tips TV Unplugged.
I'm your host Sherry and we invite you to join our Cruise Loving family as we travel
the world creating Cruise videos and vlogs.
In this podcast we talk tips, tactics and strategies to help you make every Cruise your dream
Cruise.
Well you're talking all about Carnival Jubilee.
I'm talking all about Carnival Jubilee but-
Because I don't know anything about it.
Well we're going to talk about it today but first Mr. Cruise Tips TV, Happy Birthday.
Well there's that.
I love you.
And I love you too.
I'm glad you married me.
Me too.
And you didn't expect me to say this.
I'm throwing you off but Happy Birthday.
It is podcast day, it is your birthday.
This is a big decade birthday.
We don't have to tell everybody which one but I know a lot of people already know.
Old.
But- Very old.
It's shocking.
I don't know.
I don't think anyone grows up thinking you know I'm going to be this old at some point.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You just suddenly look in the mirror and go oh my gosh what happened?
Well I have never ever been more proud to be your wife.
Wow.
And I wanted to publicly embarrass you and also just tell you that I'm very lucky.
And we were apart for a little while.
Junior and Mr. Cruise Tips TV working on a project.
And we didn't see each other for two and a half weeks.
That's so funny it sounds like we're in a band or something.
You're in a band or something.
They're off on a side project.
The Cruise Tips TV project.
They're off on a side project.
But nonetheless we were apart for two and a half weeks which is the longest we've ever
been apart.
And I tell you you know there's some truth to that whole distance makes the heart grow
fonder thing but also I think that just gratitude for the fact that we have one another.
And I just want to tell you I love you and happy birthday.
Well I feel the same way you know not the birthday part but I'm happy that we're married
and I feel incredibly fortunate.
Let's go on a cruise.
I would like that.
Wouldn't that be fun?
It would be.
It's on Carnival Jubilee.
That's our topic today.
It's a good segue.
You never know.
You've got to tell me about it.
Okay so this is so exciting Mr. Cruise Tips TV.
So Carnival Jubilee is the next Excel class ship from Carnival.
So the first two Excel class ships were.
Do you know what they are?
Probably you're like I don't know don't put me on the spot.
I don't know.
I mean I know it kind of looks like Panorama.
Yeah exactly.
So celebration and Mardi Gras right.
Next in the family of ships.
And it's going to be an LNG ship.
So we love that.
That's very exciting.
And it's going to be sailing out of one of the hotter more hot and I don't mean like
you know hot weather but like up and coming cruise ports in the United States and that
is Galveston Texas.
She's really exciting.
I feel like Galveston is really getting some good cruise love and a brand new ship coming
December 23rd 2023 is their first official sailing from what I understand.
It sounds like a Christmas cruise for an inaugural.
I don't know how I feel about that.
It sounds a little bit.
That sounds like a recipe for a fully booked ship.
So did I hear right it's Mardi Gras and celebration.
Celebration and Jubilee.
I think so.
I think so.
I said Panorama and you said yeah.
Well it's similar.
It's not I mean it's not into Panorama I think wasn't Panorama the final of the VISTA
class ships.
I think it was.
No no no but it's okay because Panorama's newer it's one of the newer ones.
It's the same kind of design.
It's kind of similar.
I shouldn't say same kind of design.
The paint job is.
Okay well there you go.
Yeah and then they and then they took a pretty big departure though because then you have
things like bold and you have the new neighborhoods or the new zones I guess they call them zones.
So it's I mean I shouldn't have said yes when you said is it like Panorama because
you're it actually.
Yeah I just want to be clear.
I know.
No you're right.
Good call.
But we'll back it up.
I want to know.
So yes so we we know that it's the next Excel class ship right and here's what Carnival has
just released in the last few weeks they've said that there's going to be some new zones.
So where this ship will be a lot like the other Excel class ships in some ways.
These two new kind of unique and see themed venues are going to be special to Carnival
Jubilee.
So let's talk about what they are the new ones because that's kind of the breaking news
right now.
The first one is called currents.
So this is one of the two new zones right and currents is going to be on deck six and
seven so this is like you know one of the main thoroughfares and it's going to be one
of those spaces that can change one of those transformative spaces and they're going to
have new a new bar and new dining venues with live music in there right.
So when you get in there it's going to feel like an underwater world they said it'll
be both realistic and fantastical a beautiful space that changes from day to night and throughout
the cruise right so it's going to have six of these really big LED windows and a big
old wave shaped LED ceiling.
So that's how they're going to probably make it look unique all the time is like they can
change all that LED stuff which is kind of a trendy thing to do in the industry.
Age from the MSC.
Yeah and Royal Caribbean too right well yeah but you're right MSC does it more like on
there.
They do the ceiling the LED ceiling and it's fun.
I like it.
It's really cool.
Yeah so they're going to have a lot of different theatrical show lighting in there too and
then like sound designs and stuff like that and here's what you can expect like the venue
wise here's what's going to be inside of currents.
So this is again this is the first of two new zones.
We're going to have a place called Dr. Inks PhD.
I've heard of that.
Have you heard of this one?
Yes.
So this is a bar and they're going to have color changing cocktails jellyfish and layered
weight.
What does it say?
Unique ocean themed drinks such as color changing cocktails jellyfish and layered shots
and playful items featuring sea foam, boba pearls and unique garnishes.
It sounds kind of fun kind of whimsical kind of like I don't know I don't know yeah I
don't really know if you can compare it to anything but it sounds like they're kind
of going to take this Dr. Inks PhD and bring that personality into the center of the experience.
So you get the drinks and then you get this Dr. Inks situation.
Sounds fun.
So I'm still back on the LED ceilings.
Yeah it sounds really cool.
I'm wondering why we can't have one in our house.
Maybe we will have one in our house.
Wouldn't that be cool.
You look into that.
Well it's probably just a matter of time.
I'd like my marble countertop first please.
Well yeah no it's a matter of time.
You're right we'll probably all have like digital things in our homes.
I mean think about how our homes are like smart homes now.
LED walls probably.
LED walls would be so cool.
I mean would you have thought 30 years ago that we would have things controlling our
lights and all of that stuff in our homes now.
Like some people have full smart homes right.
Everything from your thermostat to turning on your lights to controlling your blinds.
For us that's an Alexa thing.
We've done it like the really low budget way by having Alexa turn on our lights.
But there are people who have everything programmed up in their house to be a totally
smart house.
You know I would love the blinds.
That would be dope.
That would be so good.
Yeah and one of the reasons why I think we need those is because I break blinds.
Over time I like I've somehow destroyed them.
Yeah.
That is really a departure from talking about the zones on carnival ships but that's okay.
That's why I'm here.
Okay so within currents we know we've got this Dr. Inks thing right.
Now we have a lounge called the Golden Mermaid.
And this lounge is home to a mysterious golden mermaid who swims to the depths of the oceans
to find long lost treasures of ancient civilizations and uncovers secret cocktail recipes.
So is this another bar?
Is this bar number two?
Everybody loves a good bar.
So the Golden Mermaid.
So this is interesting.
So this is where you're going to have like really pretty glassware and more fun garnishes
and things but they're also going to have a live band on stage at this venue.
So it sounds pretty interesting.
And then they're going to have fan favorite Emeralds Bistro 717 which is really super popular
on carnival ships and is supposedly delicious.
We actually haven't tried an Emeralds one but there's a question.
Yeah.
Throw you off.
Okay.
What's more important to you?
The drinks or the ambiance?
What do you think?
The drinks.
Heck yeah, man.
Although I do like the ambiance.
If you think about it a place like alchemy bar combines both, right?
You have a really cool ambiance and a cool concept and that combined with a really great
drink menu make it a special place.
So it'll be interesting to see how this doctor inks and Golden Mermaid thing like kind of
measure up conceptually because carnival set the bar really high with something like
alchemy bar.
Yeah.
Right.
Or even the red frog rum bar.
Yeah.
Like they really have good concepts so we'll have to leave it to them to hopefully do something
pretty cool.
I'm not seeing the mermaid thing.
Yeah.
I'm not sure either.
It'll probably be cool but it's just not something I would have thought of.
Yeah.
I wouldn't have said you know what they need.
You know what they need?
A Golden Mermaid.
Yeah.
I wouldn't have done that.
Oh.
I wonder how the Golden Mermaid is going to manifest itself if it's like an LED thing
or if it's just in the decor.
Maybe.
I don't know.
I don't know.
We'll find out.
It could be one of those crazy hologram things too.
Yeah.
It might be.
You know I was reading about Emeralds, Bistro, 717 and one thing that kind of struck me that
I didn't really think about is that the Emeralds Bistro 717 is also going to have breakfast
dishes.
I always think of these restaurants and I think about dinner but this one's going to
have breakfast, lunch and dinner and you can get some really cool like creole favorites.
They're going to have shrimp and grits, poached eggs, venees, yummy stuff and even at dinner
you can get boiled shrimp oysters, seasonally you can get stone crab.
It sounds really good and of course they'll have like their normal New Orleans style barbecue
shrimp and the duck and sausage gumbo.
It sounds really good.
I think they're going to put some of the underwater dining LEDs, the underwater like visual LED
stuff in this venue too, the Emeralds menu.
So that whole area in currents is going to be really very much like focused on the underwater
which is cool.
I guess.
I think it's a good idea to have other options for breakfast.
Totally.
Yeah, mix it up.
Yeah, kind of a bummer if you're thinking hey the only thing I can do is go to the buffet
because I'm too late to go to the main.
Yeah, right.
Yeah.
Or you miss like the breakfast burrito at Blue Guana.
Yeah, I would do that.
I go to Emeralds and get some venees, poached eggs.
So they do also have a few other fan faves in currents in that area and that's going
to be alchemy bar and carnival kitchen.
So we know alchemy bar, love it.
It's kind of that cool, you know, it has that sort of doctor making your drinks kind
of a vibe and carnival kitchen is really great.
It's kind of like a interactive test kitchen type approach where you can go and you can
take classes and do interactive cooking and stuff.
You know, we never actually have tried carnival kitchen.
We've been in there several times but never actually went through with it.
But I'd like to.
I'd like to do that.
Okay, so let's move on to the next zone.
There's another one and this one's called the shores.
So again, we kind of have that like, you know, nautical theming there and they're saying
that this one is inspired.
I love this.
It's actually really cool.
This zone is inspired by the ways that people enjoy the seaside.
So they're going to have like peers, boardwalks, beaches.
That's kind of part of it.
And this listen to this though, they're going to have a three deck high fish school art
installation that goes from deck six all the way up to deck eight to bring guests up from
currents, the zone that we just talked about up to the surface below the surface.
I'm sorry.
Um, currents is like below the surface.
They're going to be bringing you like up.
It's your visually be looking up.
So you're hard to picture this whole thing.
I'm confused.
You're looking at art.
Is that what you're using?
Yes.
Okay.
Yeah.
A three deck high fish school art installation.
I have no idea what a fish school.
Like a school of fish.
I miss it made it.
It's like this stuff is so hard.
You need the visuals and here we are on the podcast.
It's hard to like communicate the visuals.
But it sounds nice.
Sounds very.
Cruzy, right?
So then you can kind of stroll along a boardwalk.
So they're going to have like a ferris wheel inspired ceiling feature.
So not an actual ferris wheel, but a ferris wheel inspired ceiling feature.
They're going to have some seating in this area and this is what's going to go indoor
outdoor.
So you can sit inside or outside so it'll kind of like you can transition in.
They're going to have the pizza place in there.
So they're going to place called coastal slice or you can get a sandwich or hot dog
at a venue called are you ready?
Ready beach buns.
That's kind of cute.
Like beach mom only beach buns.
That's cute.
Yeah.
I think the boardwalk thing is a good idea.
Yeah.
It's you know, kind of a royal Caribbean thing, but yeah, we'll see how kind of a outdoor
outdoor.
Oh yeah, you're you're thinking of like the boardwalk being its own neighborhood.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
It will be interesting to see how they do that.
Okay.
So they're also going to have a bar in there.
It's going to be called Marina bar.
There's going to be nautical designs and lounge seating and it sounds like you can do
like coffees and cocktails and all of that stuff and you can do all of that inside and
outside.
So they have they actually have the boardwalk inside says inside by the boardwalk or outside
by the seat and they're also going to have Rudy's sea grill and kuchino del capitano with
indoor and al fresco seating.
Just cool.
So Mr. Chris, those are the two new zones and then what they're going to do is they're
going to bring back the other four zones from the other ships from Marty, Graw and carnival
celebration are going to be coming back.
So grand central, the ultimate playground, summer landing and the Lido deck are all going
to be kind of borrowed from those two previous ships.
So if you're not familiar with grand central, right?
It's kind of like the heart of the ship.
That's the area that spans decks six, seven and eight and it's like during the day you
go have coffee, a Java blue and there's bars in there and then at night, the led street
screens kind of come to life and all of that.
So grand central is big and it also has places like the piano bar 88 punch liner comedy, even
has the cloud nine fitness center cherry on top, bonsai sushi, the tepanyaki place and
then shopping casino theater.
So it's all that kind of like total thoroughfare gathering place.
And then of course the ultimate playground is like the top deck stuff.
So that's where you're going to find bolt, which they don't call it a roller coaster.
They call it a sea coaster, by the way.
And all of the other top deck stuff like the track up there, which bolt is on.
So it's kind of like a, it's kind of a visual piece though.
The track like goes all the way around it, right?
Goes up to 40 miles an hour if you're not familiar with bold, so super cool.
And then also up there with bolt, the sea coaster, you're going to have waterworks,
the aqua park, you know, and then the sport square and the sport square is the one where
you have like the, the mini golf, the basketball and then one of my faves, the rope course,
ropes course.
So anyway, ultimate playground top deck, same as essentially both Mardi Gras and celebration.
And then also they're going to have summer landing.
They're bringing that back.
Like that's probably been working on those ships.
So that's going to have like more of some of the guest favorites, like, you know, guys
pick and anchor and the parched pig with their craft beers and all that stuff.
And then they're also going to have the heroes tribute lounge, which I personally love one
of my favorite newer venues on carnival.
And then they're also going to have the patio, which has a pool and whirlpools.
So that'll be kind of cool.
It's called the patio.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's like a little area that has pools and a whirlpool and it also has a bar.
I think the bar is called the watering hole out there at that one.
And then they have the traditional Lido area, right?
Like just like the other ships.
So up on deck 16 and 17, you're going to have the carnival seaside theater.
And then it's also going to have the two story red frog teaky bar out there, which is really
cool.
And I love that it's two story.
That's really neat.
It reminds me of Royal Caribbean ships where they have like the lime and coconut on several
stories.
And then you'll have blue iguana guys burgers.
And then of course, Shacks restaurant, the big chicken.
And it's not the big chicken.
It's Shacks big chicken, the big chicken.
Just small correction.
They'll also have a little seafood shack out there where you can get some seafood faves
for a little upcharge and they've got street eats and the Lido marketplace.
And then of course, like things like Circle C, Club O2 and the arcade.
So again, lots packed into like that Lido, those Lido deck areas.
Pretty exciting stuff, huh?
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
It's very, very cool.
So yeah, Jubilee is setting sail December 23rd.
And now this is going to be the third ship sailing out of Galveston year round.
I didn't really realize that, but they do.
You've got carnival breeze and dream already operating from Galveston year round.
And Jubilee is going to be going down to the Western Caribbean.
So kind of alternating.
There's a few different alternating itineraries.
Most of them are exactly the same, but yeah, it's pretty crazy.
And then in addition to that, in 2024, there's going to be a fourth ship, Mr.
Subscevie coming from carnival to Galveston.
Do you know what the fourth carnival ship is?
Any guesses?
No.
I'll give you a hint.
It's the last carnival ship we sailed on.
Miracle?
Yes.
Yeah.
Miracle's heading over there.
Isn't that interesting?
So in 2024, they're going to have four ships in Texas.
So for our Texas friends, you'll have to let me know kind of what you think about this.
And know too that if you're cruising out of Galveston, typically your choices really
for the most part are going to be those Western Caribbean sailings, right?
So the itinerary, most of the itineraries that are for sale on this one are hitting
those Western Caribbean ports.
I'm trying to pull it up really quickly on the website because I want to make sure I
understand which ports they are.
Let's see here.
Where is that one going?
I know that it's going to coast to Maya Cosmo.
I'm assuming maybe I don't know if they're doing Rowatan, but for some reason, they're
going to Mo Bay.
Okay, good.
I'm glad you can see it because my internet just stopped working on my computer.
Did you notice that?
Look, I got a 404 error.
You don't have to show them, really.
I don't have to show you.
You got it on yours too.
So where are they going?
Is it Rowatan, coast to Maya Cosmo?
Yeah.
It's Western Caribbean, so Cosmo, coast to Maya, Mahogany Bay, Honduras.
Nice.
Nice.
Obviously, just geographically, if you're cruising out of Texas, if you're cruising out of the
Gulf, those are the easiest places to access.
You're not going to be going and doing like most likely, you're not going to be going
and doing Eastern Caribbean runs from Galveston.
You have to do that from Florida.
So this is pretty standard for Carnival.
Did you know that this is the first ship that was built in Germany?
The first Carnival ship that is?
Was it at Maya Rovort, Shipyard?
Maya Worft?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Sweet.
Yeah.
That is a fun fact, Mr. Cruise,
and they put in really cool models of cruise ships, and I got to tell you, it is the one
thing where I know you would love it.
There's a lot of things I know you wouldn't love about a conference like that, but you
would love that.
You would love visiting the shipyards.
It's so neat.
It's really cool.
So yeah, Jubilee is going to be bringing it soon, you guys.
It's going to be next level.
I think it's really important to talk a little bit about the history.
I think a lot of people know that there was a former Carnival ship named Jubilee, right?
So the first Carnival Jubilee actually launched in 1985.
It was called the MS Jubilee.
And back in the day, this cutie-pottootie little OG Carnival ship was a holiday class
cruise ship.
And it was the second out of three ships to be built in, back in the day they called
the holiday class of cruise ships.
And the length of the ship was 733 feet, so the original Jubilee.
It was launched October 26, 1985, so I was 12 years old.
She carried 1,486 passengers.
She was built for $134 million, only had nine passenger decks, right?
Now we're talking about a Carnival ship that has more than 17 decks.
I mean, we went up to deck 17, but I bet you there's like a sun or something up there
on deck 18.
And though yet she was this small humble ship, did you know that their original Jubilee actually
served for 30 years?
She sailed from 1986 to 2016.
Did I get that right?
Is that 30 years?
Or 40 years.
Yes, 96, 2006, yes it's 30 years.
I did think about it for a second.
But isn't that cool to think that a ship that was built in 1985 could put in a full
30 years of service?
Yeah, that's great.
It's amazing.
So I love that they kind of did like a throwback name.
Not really.
It wasn't a huge surprise to people that they named her that.
But it will be interesting to see with the future of Carnival ships if they'll continue
to kind of do tributes to past ships.
So we'll see.
We'll see what happens.
Imagination.
Mmm.
Spirit.
Aww, inspiration.
Yes.
Yeah.
Wait, have they already redone spirit?
I don't know what's going on with spirit.
I can't remember.
I'm not sure if I could check that out though.
But yeah, imagination and inspiration.
Those are the two I actually meant to think of.
I don't know why I said spirit.
Oh, that's okay.
I feel like Carnival Spirit is still sailing, isn't she?
I think so.
I think that I think she is.
Oh yeah, she is.
Let's see here.
Here we go.
Sales to the Alaska, to the Alaska.
Sales to Alaska.
Bahamas.
Caribbean, Hawaii, Panama Canal.
Show all kinds of sailings you can do on Carnival Spirit.
Spirit's a great ship, by the way.
We've been on Spirit and it's awesome.
So Spirit's the one that's doing the sailings out of Mobile, Alabama.
Correct.
And then.
In fact, that's why it came to my mind because I just did a press release on it and I was
thinking about it.
So cool.
Oh, there's even some nice eight-day itineraries on Carnival Spirit out of Mobile.
That would be a really good choice.
Nice pricing too.
You can book all the way into 2025.
I'm looking at a balcony cabin.
Eight-night sailing, $939 per person, March 2025.
It's not too shabby.
Not too shabby.
So for two people, that would be $2,000 in a balcony.
I think that's a really good deal for an eight-day cruise.
They all need to book it, especially if you're within driving distance of Mobile, Alabama.
All right, Mr. Cruise, it's TV.
So I think that wraps up what we wanted to talk about with Jubilee for the most part.
You know, the state rooms are pretty standard on Jubilee.
From what I understand, we're talking the usual areas that you can book into.
You have the Cloud Nine cabins.
You have the Havana cabins.
You have standard balconies.
You have the family harbor.
You know your usual ocean views and interiors and balconies and things, but they do have
some great suites on these ships that they're going to be bringing back to this ship.
I think that they're bringing back the Excel suites and they have access to the Loft 19,
which other people can have access to Loft 19 and pay to rent cabanas.
So if you book an Excel suite, you get some cool, I think you get some priority access
to those cabanas in the Loft 19.
So it looks cool.
I like that Carnival's kind of ventured into the suite department and, oh man, the balconies
on those Excel suites are looking pretty amazing.
They're really gorgeous.
So you never know, maybe we'll have to book an Excel suite on Carnival Jubilee out of Texas.
Sounds fun to me.
I'll eat my cowboy hat ready.
Cool stuff.
It's not required.
It's not required.
No, you don't have to wear boots or a cowboy hat.
To cruise out of Galveston?
No.
I wonder how many people actually do though.
I think probably very few.
Okay.
Well, we'll find out.
All right, friends, thank you so much for sharing in our excitement about this new ship.
If you like this type of episode where we talk about and highlight a single ship, be
sure to let me know.
We certainly appreciate it.
And until next time, we'll see you on the high seas.
Thanks for listening to CruiseTipsTV Unplugged.
If you like our show and want to know more, check us out at cruzetipstv.com.
You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram by searching CruiseTipsTV.
We'd love if you'd leave us a review wherever you're listening to this podcast.
Subscribe to the show and tune in next week.
Until next time, we'll see you on the high seas.
♪♪♪♪