You're listening to the Cruise Tips TV Unplugged podcast.
Today, we're sharing some of the top Cruise news and Cruise industry stories that have
been going on in the past few weeks.
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.
It's time for our Cruise News Roundup.
It's been a while since we've done this, but there were some really cool things that
have been going on that I wanted to share.
It just felt like the right thing to do today.
Well, let's get into it.
Let me get into it.
It's not going to be a bunch of bad news.
No, it's not a bunch of bad news.
And it's also not super up to the moment and timely.
This is just more like you said, it's a roundup.
It's a review.
Over honestly, the last few weeks to a month of kind of a top news stories that we think
our audience would appreciate hearing about.
Okay.
Let's start it off though with a five star review.
Sandy Garrison, thank you so much for shouting us out on iTunes.
Sandy titled her review so helpful.
And then she proceeded to praise us and say, Sherry is entertaining and super professional
when I've reached out to her for specific recommendations for ports.
She has responded with options that work for our family that are kid friendly.
Getting firsthand recommendations is better than reading online reviews and is much appreciated.
Thanks for always taking the high road and sharing the facts with us.
Keep sharing your family cruise reports.
I love to hear about your adventures.
You know, that is a very nice review.
It is.
But I want to point out that we do try to take the high road.
Yes.
And not only that, but she's right because what you usually give is tailored advice.
You are not above drilling into the personality of the person asking the question and saying,
this is what it will be good for you.
Absolutely.
You betcha.
That's what we live for.
We love it.
We love, love, love people creating their own awesome experiences and we're happy to
help them research.
All right, Mr. Cruz, it's TV.
Time for the new.
Did you hear about this first news story?
Did you know that Norwegian switched back to E-Muster?
Did you hear about the big kind of debacle?
They went back to traditional muster drills and it did not go so well.
I heard about the kerfuffle.
Are they sticking to their guns?
No, they're moving back to E-Muster.
So they kind of, I think that they sent some kind of a letter to travel agents.
And most news outlets who reported on this said that Norwegian is quietly switching back
to E-Muster, right?
So they basically sent an email out to travel advisors and said, and an effort to enhance
the onboard guest experience while keeping the safety of our guests and crew.
Top priority will reinstate the muster drills throughout our online check-in for sailings
beginning April 1st.
Well, let's talk about this.
So, because obviously they went back to the traditional because they were thinking it
was more safe.
Some people say that it was a resources move as well because if you think about it, if
you have one big muster drill in a theater or something, it requires the resources of
a bunch of people, but then it's over in an hour, right?
But some people argued that they actually wanted to do that because it didn't take so
many people being spread out all over the ship and that it was actually a money-saving
tactic, but I don't think anyone truly knows.
We, you know, innocence, the innocent approach would be to assume that, yes, they were doing
it for safety.
But other folks say, no, you know, it's guest satisfaction, A, people were ticked off about
being herded into a public room again after being spoiled and not having to do that anymore,
but the decision reversal, we'll never really know why it happened, but they did, they reversed
their decision.
Well, it was a crazy decision.
It's one of those things.
You can't go back on something like that because I don't know.
I mean, I would almost avoid Norwegian just for that reason.
Yeah, especially after the feedback that people gave, but good for them for listening to their
guests, it's very likely that they are listening to what people said and they're trying to
make sure people are happy.
So good for them.
Well, it's a hassle for sure.
But not only that, but the reason they stopped it was because, you know, it's a perfect way
to spread germs, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, I mean, I don't want to be in there the first day.
Right.
Yeah.
And this theater packed up against everyone.
Let's make sure we get exposed the first day.
Right.
And a lot of times those rooms aren't super well ventilated.
If you're sitting at the dock, like if you're still docked, sometimes the air flows through
the ships isn't as wonderful.
And sometimes there's like an exhaust smell going on in there.
So good for them for listening to their guests though and reversing that decision.
And they did it pretty quickly too.
It was only a matter of maybe, I don't know, I would say it's probably less than a few
months of them having done the, the gone back to the old way.
I think in fact that they, they went back to the old muster in January was when they
did that.
So we shall see how that goes.
Crazy.
But I'm glad that they, I'm glad that they made the decision.
Also more news from Norwegian.
Did you know Frank Del Rio has actually stepped down the CEO?
So end of June, he's going to be wrapping things up.
He's had a great career with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and Goodall Harry Summer, the
acting president and CEO will be succeeding him.
So.
Do you expect big changes?
No, I don't think so.
No, just maintain the course.
Yeah, maintain the course.
You know, they've been obviously when you have a successor like Harry who's kind of,
you know, standing in the wings, waiting in the wings.
This is all probably been planned for quite some time.
And I'm sure that David Herrera, who's going to be the new president, I'm sure he's, you
know, this has all been planned and, and that everything will go smoothly.
So I feel like a newscaster.
This is like very serious, very serious topic.
Yes, I'm moving and shaking, right?
And so, you know, he'll, he sounds like he'll be at sea trade cruise global this year.
He'll probably be hitting that conference at least this, this one last time in that
role of CEO.
And then I'm sure he'll attend in the future as just a guest.
All right, let's switch gears and talk about carnival cruise line.
Carnival actually had a cool milestone this past week.
And that is that they welcomed their 1 millionth cruise guest.
Isn't that crazy, Mr. Cruise, Steve E.
You know, it, it is crazy, but it seems, I don't know, it seems like they would have
already hit that milestone to me.
Because it feels like there's a million people on every cruise.
100 millionth.
Did I say that right?
It's 100 million.
Not 100.
Did I say one 100 millionth cruise guest?
But still it feels like there's a million on every cruise.
So 100 cruises in, you know, you're done.
What do you, do you know when carnival was founded?
What year?
Any guesses?
Let me ask you this.
Is carnival older than me?
Okay.
Yes, you are correct.
So what year in the 70s would you guess that carnival was founded?
Oh, let's just go with 1973.
You're very close.
That was the year I was born.
So good safe bet.
It was actually, they were founded in 1972.
Oh, very close.
Pretty cool.
So to kind of mark the occasion, Christine Duffy jumped onto the carnival sunrise and a
couple of passengers from Ohio were recognized as the 100 millionth guests.
So apparently carnival is actually the first cruise line in the world to reach 100 million
guests, which is crazy to think about.
But it makes sense.
Now, I don't know if this is carnival cruise line or carnival corp.
I'm actually assuming it's carnival cruise line.
So neat stuff.
I love that.
Now, some not so great news from rural Caribbean.
Unfortunately, there was a cruise that was canceled on Mariner of the Seas because of
an extended dry dock and they had to cancel this April 1st sailing.
Letters were sent out to guests.
Hearts were broken, but the dry dock had to take place and people were really bummed.
They were really bummed.
But the guests were able to rebook on another rural Caribbean cruise or get a full refund
and they also could have a 50% future cruise credit.
So hopefully those folks feel like they're being taken care of.
But it does look like Mariner of the Seas will be back on track as of April 6th.
So just that one sailing.
50% cruise credit is pretty good.
Oh, pretty good.
Yeah, absolutely, especially on rural Caribbean, right?
So more carnival corp news coming at you this week.
Carnival Corporation's brand Seaborn, one of their luxury lines, sold one of their ships.
They sold Seaborn Odyssey, which was very interesting.
They sold it to Japanese shipping company called Mitsui OSK Lines.
Isn't that interesting?
And I guess that they, you're supposed to answer that question by the way.
Well, you started talking before I could because you were looking off in the corner and that
I wasn't going to get anything so I kept going.
Well, that's standard for me.
But I don't know how it's going to affect anything.
So I don't know if it's interesting or not.
Okay, that's fair enough.
What do you think?
I think that it's probably a smart move.
I know that Seaborn is doing well and they have a lot of beautiful ships.
It sounds like they're going to, even after the sale, they're going to continue to operate
through all the way through next August under a charter agreement with Mitsui, Mitsui OSK,
which is interesting is like they can keep the ship going even though it's owned by someone
else.
That's cool.
I thought that was pretty neat.
All right, now I love this next news story, Mr. Cruise Subsiby.
More from Carnival.
Carnival is, they have announced a new partnership where they can introduce non-alcoholic spirits
for alchemy bar cocktails.
So they are going to be making basically a whole new mocktail line with alcohol-free
alternatives.
Now this isn't going to be them just saying, okay, well, here's a juice drink for you.
No, no, no, no.
They have actually teamed up with a distiller called Liars, I believe it's pronounced, L-Y-R-E-S.
And they are going to make things like the martini seduction, the spicy chipotle pineapple
martini, the remedy, hearts on fire.
They're going to be making them with these Liars concoctions instead.
So they're probably going to taste a little bit more like a craft cocktail.
So you're going to be able to get some of their traditional items from their bar, but
non-alcoholic and it's going to taste more like the alcoholic versions of those drinks.
That's kind of the way I read this.
That's how I'm reading it too.
Like they're going to have stand-ins.
Yes, you guys.
So that's kind of a-
That's a little bit more interesting than the trading of the ship there.
Yeah, you weren't so excited about the sale.
All right, well, that's okay.
But here's an example.
They're going to take for the spicy chipotle pineapple martini.
They're going to use Liars agave blanco to stand in for the vodka.
So it's kind of fun.
I'd be interested in trying some of those.
I'd love to see if the hearts on fire with Liars dry London instead of gin would be
good.
Sounds fantastic.
I think you probably even enjoy some of these mocktails.
Maybe so.
So I don't know how that's going to work with a drink package.
It will be interesting to see if you can purchase these.
If you have a non-alcoholic drink package, if you can get them, or if you have to buy
the full drink package, or if it's a cash only type of a situation, I'm curious to hear
if anybody knows how this new non-alcoholic partnership is going to work.
When it comes to the actual drink package, I would love to hear from you.
I'd love to know.
What's your bet?
My bet is that they're going to be something you have to purchase.
If you don't have the alcohol drink package, if you have the full drink package, you can
get them.
If not, I don't see them incorporating into a drink package, but maybe they'll add a
new drink package at Carnival.
It's not going to be part of a soda package or something like that.
No.
I don't think that Carnival has the equivalent of Royal Caribbean's Royal Refreshment package
where everything is included.
It'll be interesting to see what happens with that one.
It sounds really good.
This one sounds delicious to me.
Listen to this one, the perfect storm.
Strawberry puree, fresh lime, a hint of rosemary, and Liars dry London instead of vodka.
It's fantastic.
People will have to pick up a bottle of this Liars stuff.
I feel like I'm saying Liar, like Liar Liar Pants on Fire.
I don't know if it's Liar Liar.
Is it something that you think is readily available here?
I don't know.
Or is it going to be exclusive to the cruise line?
Because I'm thinking...
You think it's exclusive partnership of some sort?
I'm thinking it might be.
Maybe.
I just Google Liars' white cane because that's one of the things that they...
It's this non-alcoholic spirit and you can buy it.
It looks like you can buy it at Bevmo.
Well, there you go.
There you go.
But maybe...
But the cocktail recipes themselves are exclusive to this partnership.
It sounds like.
Just super cool.
All right.
Let's see, Mr. Cruz, do you want to shift gears and talk about MSC for a moment?
Go.
You will remember this one because I know that you put out a press release at cruzedipstv.com
and that is that MSC is joining forces with Formula One.
So you can actually go on MSC Virtuosa during one of these interesting grand pre-cruises.
So it's basically like a race weekend.
I think it's in...
I want to say that it's in Abu Dhabi.
Isn't that cool?
It's going to be super cool for people who are big formula fans.
Yeah.
They have already had...
They have their little virtual formula car there.
So they have a little bit of that going for them already.
But I think big fans of Formula are really going to appreciate this.
They're going to be excited about it.
I think so.
So it looks like if you book on the sailing that is on MSC Virtuosa from November 24th
to 26th, 2023, you actually can get packages from MSC where you're going to get like your
cruise ship accommodations.
You're going to get race tickets and you'll also get insider access with an F1 experience.
So cool.
It looks like you can book that right now too.
That sounds really, really fun.
Abu Dhabi.
How fun would that be?
So I wonder if this is actually combined with a cruise or if they're literally just
docking the Virtuosa alongside and then you just experience the race?
I'm not sure.
It doesn't actually say a whole lot about the cruise itself.
It just talks about kind of the Grand Prix portion of it.
I think it's just a weekend.
I think it's like an F1 package, an F1 weekend.
But we'll have to check out the press release and learn a little bit more about that.
And that's on our website if you guys want to learn a little bit more about it.
It looks like they have four different packages available.
You can do just the cruise cabin.
You can do a cabin plus the F1 ticket.
You can get the cabin plus the F1 experience or you can get the cabin plus F1 premium hospitality
which puts you in MSC's yacht club, which is amazing by the way.
We're big yacht club fans.
Okay.
So Mr. Cruise Sub-TV, next news story is kind of interesting.
This has to do with Vancouver, Canada.
It looks like Cruise Radio and Daily Hive have both reported on this story that the port
of Vancouver, which is in Western Canada, for those of you who don't know, is looking
forward to a very, very wild cruise year.
They're going to be looking forward to 331 cruise ship visits this year.
That's up by 8% over last year, which brought 815,000 passengers into the port.
It's awesome for Vancouver, right?
I sure would love to go to Vancouver.
I can't believe in all these years of cruising and even visiting Canada, we've been to Victoria.
We've never been to really never spent any time on the mainland there.
I remember taking a plane from Vancouver to Vancouver Island, but never got to spend some
time.
So we'll have to check that out.
So their cruise season basically starts in early April when Sapphire Princess calls on
Canada Place and then Holland America starts to file in and Norwegian starts to file in
behind them.
It's going to be a busy year for them.
So congrats to Vancouver.
Very exciting.
That season will go all the way through October 24th when Holland America's Coney's Dam is
scheduled to close it out.
Now that is a very late season for Alaska.
October 24th, it's probably pretty chilly at that point in Alaska.
I don't know how I feel about October sailings.
We did a sailing in Alaska cruise the last week of August and first week of September.
And even that was a little bit too drizzly and cool for me.
I think I'm more of a May, June kind of Alaska cruiser.
Just a little too wet at that point.
Okay.
On to one of our favorite cruise lines, Sun Princess.
Oh, so exciting.
You saw all of the pictures Mr. Cruise would see.
They had the float out ceremony and they named the Madrina, which was the hotel general
manager, Simone Stumberger.
She was honored as the Madrina and this happened on March 8th.
This is very, very exciting.
So they had the float out at FinCantery in Montfaukone, Italy.
And then following that, they had a special ceremony where the Madrina was named and blessed
the vessel and all that good stuff that we know about.
Very exciting stuff.
There is some great content on the Princess website and on our website about Sun Princess.
We also have a video about Sun Princess and how it's going to be different.
This ship is going to be so groundbreaking and so different.
A completely new class of ships.
So check out our video if you haven't seen that yet.
So excited to see how she turns out and how these different public areas are.
They've got a new dining room concept on Sun Princess that sounds really exciting.
So that's pretty neat.
If you want to get an advanced look at this ship, swing by our website and just search
Sun Princess because we've got the video and we've got a lot of photos.
Yeah, pretty crazy stuff.
A completely different design.
And they also have some new state room categories that are being added to that ship that are
going to be pretty cool.
Speaking of Princess, Mr. Cruise Tips TV.
This is what really prompted me to do this podcast today is that Princess changed their
packages recently and we really never talked about it on YouTube or on the podcast.
So I wanted to talk about these new cruise packages that Princess has put into effect.
All of you are probably at this point familiar with the names of them.
So we still have the standard fare Princess, which is like their base level where you get
your state room and you get them a Italian class experience and that's it.
But they also for the last little while have also had Princess Plus and Princess Premier.
And those packages have changed a little bit.
So not only has the price changed on Princess Plus and Princess Premier, but the offerings
have changed.
So let's start with Princess Plus, which is like the first level of add on.
That is now going to be $60 per day per guest.
And it has gone through a few iterations of pricing.
We actually, when we bought Princess Plus back on Sapphire Princess, we got it for $40
a day and then it had gone up again after that to 50.
And then I think now it's up to 60.
So the price has definitely changed, but there's a lot of inclusion.
So here's what you're getting if you do Princess Plus, if you upgrade to Princess Plus, you're
getting the the state room and the medallion class experience just like we talked about
for standard booking.
You're also getting a plus beverage package with that.
And those drinks on the plus beverage package can be up to $15 each.
Now Princess offers a lot of cocktails guys up to 15.
So don't worry too much about that.
One Wi-Fi, well I guess you could say Wi-Fi on one device per guest.
Crew appreciation, which means tips, gratuities, right?
Now they've added two premium desserts per day, which whoa, holy calories Batman.
I don't know if you've seen these things, but they are very indulgent.
Now to combat or I don't know how counter perhaps the premium desserts, they're also
offering two fitness classes per cruise, not per day.
You can have two desserts per day, but you only get two fitness classes per cruise and
you're also getting the new unlimited juice bar on Princess Plus.
So how attractive do you think the desserts addition is to people?
I don't think it's very attractive because there's already so much abundance of food
and you're getting a drink package.
So I just don't know.
I mean, how good could the desserts really be?
I'm not surprised for a while.
Well, they're probably good.
They're probably good, but I'm just not, I'm just thinking it's not worth it.
Right.
It's not like, I don't feel like it's a big value add.
Yeah, exactly what you said.
There's such an abundance in it.
Like I said, it may be better, but it probably is not going to attract a lot of people.
They're probably not going to say, yeah, I definitely want that.
Right.
Maybe a few.
Yeah.
And so if you're a couple and you're paying $120 extra per day for this, really, the way
you have to look at it guys is if you were going to buy the drink package, this is still
cheaper because the drink package on Princess was always more than $60 per person per day.
So that's the no brainer part of Princess Plus.
Where it gets tricky and where you have to really make the decision is if Princess Premier
is worth it for you.
And here's how Princess Premier is different.
So all of the things that you get with Princess Plus are still there, but the additions or
changes are that with the beverage package, your drink can be up to $20 each.
Oh, and by the way, Princess Premier costs $80 per day per guest.
So if you're a couple, that's $160 per day extra on your cruise.
Okay.
So you're getting that Premier beverage package and your drink stock to $20 each.
The Wi-Fi is going up to four devices per guest instead of one.
You're now adding on two specialty dining meals per guest per cruise.
You're getting an unlimited digital photo package plus three prints.
You're also qualifying for Princess Prizes, which is this cool kind of like, it's almost
like gambling, but it's more like when every time you open your state room door, you're
entered into wind stuff like shore excursions and on-board credit and things like that.
You're also getting all the other stuff.
So the desserts, the juice bar and all that, but you get two more things.
The medallion accessory, a complimentary medallion accessory and get this reserved theater seating
for production shows.
Very cool.
Yeah.
I have a question for you.
Okay.
Do you know any of our listeners that have actually won anything?
I haven't asked them, but I would love to hear about that if you have won something.
Let me post on Facebook about it and see if people have won anything.
And if so, what they won.
Yeah, exactly.
That's a great, I don't know.
We'll see the only thing is I don't know for many people who buy Princess Premier.
I know a lot of people who have purchased Princess Plus.
Well we did encounter a couple of couples, a couple of couples on the cruise that we were
on and they kept telling me every time I passed them nothing.
Really?
We've none, one, one nothing yet.
Okay.
So I'm just curious.
I'm wondering what the odds are.
Wouldn't you just like leave your state room 50 times a day?
If you're eligible to win every time you open your door, wouldn't you just be like,
I'm going to get a go.
I'm going to get a muffin.
Like, yeah.
Maybe.
I don't know.
I mean, I don't know how it works.
Yeah.
But it would be nice to know that there are people out there who are actually winning.
Actually winning.
Actually winning.
Because generally, I mean, when you say it's like gambling.
Yeah, it kind of is.
I can't speak for the rest of the world, but I don't win at gambling.
No.
Oh, we're going to be talking about not winning at gambling and an upcoming YouTube video too
soon here.
Okay.
So I'm going to answer some frequently, frequently asked questions about Princess Plus and Princess
Premier because I think that there's something in here people like, wait, how does this work?
I'm not going to do all of the FAQs because if you go to the Princess website and you
go to the packages, there are 44 FAQs.
I'm not going to do that, but I'm going to cover some of the highlights where I think
people might be like, well, how do I do this?
Like, how do I book it?
Well, you can book it through your travel agent, your travel advisor, or you can book
it online.
So you can like upgrade your cruise after you've booked it if you'd like to do that,
right?
Okay.
So that's one of the things.
Now, if you are booking like some people are like, well, can I get it if I'm booking
an inside state room or an outside state room or do I have to be in a suite?
You can book Princess Plus and Premier on all state room types.
So they are capacity controlled, but you can book them with any state room type.
So that's good.
I already kind of touched on the upgrading, but yes, if you purchase your cruise and you
want to add it on, you can absolutely upgrade.
Not a problem.
That's something you can totally do.
You just have to go to the, you have to contact them through their contact center or have
your travel advisor add the package for you.
So that's totally fine.
Okay.
What about third and fourth guests?
Like what about other people in the state room?
So third and fourth guests in the state room are not required or defaulted to select the
package if the first and second guests get it in the state room.
So if the third and fourth guests are of age and they want to get it, they can, then
that leads us to, this is interesting, that leads us to what if you don't drink and you
want to buy Princess Premier?
Like what do you do?
Right?
What about non drinkers?
Well, this is where it gets kind of tricky because Princess is basically saying, well,
if you don't drink, it's still a great value.
Now I can understand that to a certain degree because you're still getting fountain sodas.
You're still getting the juice bar, bottled water, you're getting specialty coffees, teas,
frappes, milkshakes, you can get red bowls.
So if you can sort of maximize it with those types of drinks, it might still be a good
thing, but they're not going to be like, oh, no problem, you don't drink, we're going
to charge you less.
No, you still do pay for the package.
Now I can tell you, we booked it on Princess and you took full advantage of it as a non
drinker.
We had mocktails, we had sodas, we had all kinds of different things.
And I think we did a pretty good job of maximizing it.
Now would I feel comfortable with you having it for $60 a day?
And not the 40?
That might be a little bit different.
But I thought these are some interesting FAQs that people might be interested in knowing
about.
There's lots more questions that are answered on their website too about specialty dining
and how that works and how you make the reservations for them.
They also talk a little bit more about Princess Prizes and the limitations on that and the
range of Prizes and all of that good stuff is in there.
There's probably a dozen FAQs on that.
They also talk about the fitness classes and the desserts and how you order them and all
of that good stuff.
So you can get your FAQs on the website.
But I think Mr. Crucibs' TV that wraps up our little news roundup today, that those
are nice cross section of the industry and what's been going on some of the top stories
over the last few weeks is kind of nice to just recap.
Yeah, it's a lot better than when we were in the heart of the pandemic and it was bad
news every day.
Oh man, you're so right.
And we would be doing these bad news stories and it was like, oh my gosh, this is so depressing,
right?
More bad news.
More bad news.
Well, we're all all about the good news now and I appreciate everyone listening.
Go check out our latest video on YouTube.
It was just released today and it's all about packing for Alaska, including a free downloadable
packing list.
You cannot miss it.
You'll see the thumbnail.
I promise, just type in Alaska packing on our channel.
And until next time, friends, we'll see you on the high seas.
Thanks for listening to Crucibs' TV Unplugged.
If you like our show and want to know more, check us out at crucetipstv.com.
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Until next time, we'll see you on the high seas.
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