Last Minute Cruises - Are They Worth It? - Audio Only 🎧 | Cruise Cast Ep.13

Ever wondered if booking a last-minute cruise could be the ticket to your dream cruise or a travel nightmare? Linzi and Mark dive into the thrill and challenges of spontaneous cruise planning in our latest episode. With a free week in September and no prior plan, they weigh the flexibility of hopping on a cruise at the last minute against potential pitfalls like skyrocketing flight prices and limited dining options. Listen to our personal stories, including a memorable last-minute adventure on the Ventura, and get practical advice on setting budgets and finding the best deals. Whether you're a seasoned planner or an impulsive traveler, you'll gain insights into making the most of a spontaneous getaway.

But that's not all! We also explore the latest buzz in the cruising world, from Disney's innovative new ship, Disney Destiny, to exciting renovations on Norwegian Encore. Linzi and Mark share their excitement for an upcoming Virgin Voyages trip with friends, underlining the sheer joy and relaxation that comes with cruising. Don't miss out on this episode packed with useful tips, personal anecdotes, and the latest updates on cruise ship innovations—it's your all-in-one guide to last-minute cruising and beyond.

Transcript

Last Minute Cruise Booking Pros/Cons

Speaker 1 0:00

Welcome to episode 13 of the Sweet Nature Cruisecast . Hi , it's Lynse . As always , I'm joined by Marky .

Speaker 2 0:08

Hello .

Speaker 1 0:08

Hello , and today we're talking the pros and cons of booking a last minute cruise . But first a little mood music . What did you think of today's music ?

Speaker 2 0:35

Well , I will take it for the audio listeners that that face isn't impressed . So the quest continues for more mood music .

Speaker 1 0:43

That was the worst one , yet that was the worst one yet .

Speaker 2 0:45

That was the worst one yet . I would try to go with something , because last week's one were quite a dark one yes , but at least I had something to say .

Speaker 1 0:54

That was like you've been trapped in a lift okay , I'll keep working on it .

Speaker 2 1:00

Maybe we should just employ a professional to do as the theme .

Speaker 1 1:03

I just no , no .

Speaker 2 1:06

No to the theme or no to the professional . I just no .

Speaker 1 1:11

No .

Speaker 2 1:12

Anyway , let's move on to the topic , Because as usual , we've got a topic of the episode and then three news stories that you don't know about yet , but you do know about the topic because you picked this week's one .

Speaker 1 1:24

I did pick this one and I feel it might be helpful and it is to me , it might be helpful to you .

Speaker 2 1:32

So we're doing the . We'll flip this around a little bit . Okay , we're doing the pros and cons of booking our last minute cruise , yes , which normally you introduce that , and then I started , but it's your you do it , you do it no , so now I'm passing , passing over to you , for you to sort of kick it off .

Speaker 1 1:47

Okay . So usually we are very organized in our cruises .

Speaker 2 1:53

Yeah , I would agree , yeah , we book them years in advance . Sometimes years in advance . Normally at least a year .

Speaker 1 2:00

Yeah , to get the best pricing on release and things like that yeah , absolutely . Apologies , if you can hear the dishwasher . I would say that at the minute we've got a free week in september we have yeah and we've not got a cruise booked for that no so we will be , as we're in august , booking what's considered a last minute cruise cruise .

Speaker 2 2:23

Did you just do quotation marks ?

Speaker 1 2:26

Yes .

Speaker 2 2:27

Good , well , yeah , I think , if you're within sort of two months of going on the cruise , is that what you would class as last minute ? At what point does it become last minute ?

Speaker 1 2:38

I would say like we are booked this time next month off , so that's kind of last minute . It's within five weeks ?

Speaker 2 2:45

Yeah , because we currently don't have anything to go on . We've got the time book , but we haven't got a cruise yet .

Speaker 1 2:50

Now , one of the pros of this is that we can be quite open to where we go . The con is , if you see a really good price out of Barcelona or Rome or somewhere like that , the flights are going to screw you over .

Speaker 2 3:08

They are yeah .

Speaker 1 3:09

That's the problem . You might see a wonderful cruise out of Miami and the flight will be more money .

Speaker 2 3:14

Well , we had that challenge when we went on Sun Princess , because we got invited on Sun Princess after the original one was cancelled on Sun Princess after the original one was cancelled , but we only found out about that within a two-week period , by which point the flights out there for us to book were crazy expensive compared to what they would have been .

Speaker 1 3:31

That's for us darling .

Speaker 2 3:32

Well , no , because we originally had the flights booked , yeah .

Speaker 1 3:35

I know , but I don't feel that's a good example .

Speaker 2 3:38

No , but I'm saying that when you're in that last couple of week period we've seen it this year alone . Oh , the flights are mental that the flight were massively more expensive and we're going to have that challenge , which then means , if we're not , if we have to take the flight element out of it .

Speaker 1 3:54

So now we're looking at Southampton .

Speaker 2 3:56

Which then limits it a lot more .

Speaker 1 3:59

We've got Southampton , we've got a week .

Speaker 2 4:01

Yep . So we can only play with a week yeah , plus or minus probably a couple of days yeah , so we massive issue well , no , it would , because I haven't got the holidays booked .

Speaker 1 4:13

And then I go into the people's holiday time and that's the reason that we're not going on the monkeys cruise , because then it'll be clashing with my colleagues holiday .

Speaker 2 4:22

We've had this conversation at least six times I'm not saying that we've not , but not on the podcast .

Speaker 1 4:27

Well , when having it now for prosperity ?

Speaker 2 4:30

Okay , Is this so you can pull up the podcast next time you say I told you that ?

Speaker 1 4:36

We can't do it .

Speaker 2 4:37

No .

Speaker 1 4:38

So that's out of the question . So we've got a week to play with and a lot of people will be the same They'll book a cheeky week off .

Speaker 2 4:44

It is because that's specifically us .

Speaker 1 4:46

Yes .

Speaker 2 4:47

I'm sure other people can go back and say can I change my holiday by plus or minus a couple of days ? Maybe they can , but either way a lot of people book a cheeky week off and then try and make a holiday fit ? Yeah , they do , and we've done that in the past past , not for a long time , I think . The last time we did sort of a last minute cruise was that ventura , yes , um , which , coincidentally , is actually going out during that week .

Speaker 1 5:12

It's going out during that week and that's something I've got my eye on now . If you remember , back when we booked venture , we booked it on the friday , we were going on the sund .

Speaker 2 5:23

Yeah , we booked it for a couple of days , yeah .

Speaker 1 5:25

And when we got down there we had no luggage tags or anything like that .

Speaker 2 5:30

No , because it was too close .

Speaker 1 5:31

Because the agent hadn't paid the bill , so there was an outstanding balance .

Speaker 2 5:38

Yeah , just to be clear , this isn't Martin Travel , stewart and Canada we use now . No , it's a different place .

Speaker 1 5:45

No , it was just a large cruise warehouse , cruise deal company and they'd not settled up . So we were told , oh , it's not been settled . And we were like , but we've paid for it .

Speaker 2 6:00

And then they did a bit of To be fair , they figured it out very quickly .

Speaker 1 6:03

Yeah , yeah , that it was one of their big .

Speaker 2 6:06

Partners . Yes , one of their big last-minute partners .

Speaker 1 6:09

Yes , but even so that was a little bit hairy .

Speaker 2 6:12

It was . It wasn't something that we'd encountered before and not something that we'd thought about . No , yeah .

Speaker 1 6:18

but having said that , we probably would have booked it with just three days to go . No , again , I'm not saying we never would . What is the optimum then for booking the last minute that you feel comfortable with ?

Speaker 2 6:30

That I would feel comfortable with Mm-hmm . Knowing what we do Probably two weeks out . I would feel quite comfortable booking something a couple of weeks out .

Speaker 1 6:38

So we're booking something two weeks from now .

Speaker 2 6:40

Within two weeks from now . Okay , two weeks from now would be like the end point of me feeling quite comfortable .

Speaker 1 6:47

yeah , because then anything beyond that is a little bit getting close yeah , now do we look , when you're booking a last minute , if we could get a deal on a cruise line that we'd not been on before ? Do we risk it and go last minute for something I'm talking like Fred Olsen or Ambassador or something like that because we've already established we can't fly because we might look like we can get an amazing price on a cruise .

Speaker 2 7:18

Out of somewhere , but the flight might be just too probably Probably I'll put my teeth back in . Have a drink expensive , let's go with that be too expensive . So and then you've got your overnights in a hotel as well it is , and I think this is one of the big sort of cons to the last minute one , which is the incidental costs are probably going to be much more .

Speaker 1 7:49

Than what you thought about .

Speaker 2 7:51

Yeah , having said that , you can get some cheaper hotels at the last minute .

Speaker 1 7:56

You can .

Speaker 2 7:57

We had a look at the hotel that we're staying at when we're going Virgin and I rebooked that again last night Because that had come down . Stuart had messaged me that his had come down and I rebooked that again last night Because that had come down . Stuart had messaged me that his had come down , so I went on and checked . Ours were completely refundable . We didn't pay anything until we went in there , so I just cancelled it , rebooked it and it came down £34 .

Speaker 1 8:16

Yeah , which is not an insignificant amount of money .

Speaker 2 8:18

It's not because the hotel was only £130 to start with , so it came down significantly . Yeah , so you can get elements . I think the only real one that's an expense last minute is the sort of flight .

Speaker 1 8:34

And the car parking at the airport can be pricey as well .

Speaker 2 8:38

Well , if we use Virgin again as that example , the Virgin car park at the port sold out .

Speaker 1 8:42

Yeah .

Speaker 2 8:43

So you would have to find somewhere else to park .

Speaker 1 8:46

Or an alternative .

Speaker 2 8:48

Or get a train down there .

Speaker 1 8:50

Which , again , is going to be pricey .

Speaker 2 8:51

Yeah , a couple of weeks out , a month out , you're probably okay . Still , it's within that first week where it gets sort of expensive . So when we're talking about pros and cons because that's what we're talking about in this- video .

Speaker 1 9:05

I'm still concerned about the dishwasher .

Speaker 2 9:08

I don't think people can hear the dishwasher .

Speaker 1 9:09

If you can hear a weird whooshing noise .

Speaker 2 9:11

Let us know in the comments . You shouldn't be able to because the mics are designed not to .

Speaker 1 9:16

But when you say it's not going to pick it open , and I can hear it .

Speaker 2 9:19

Well , I'm not saying you can't hear it , I can hear it as well . But let's move back onto the topic , the cons we're saying . One of the biggest cons , then , is price increases .

Speaker 1 9:35

On flights .

Speaker 2 9:36

On flights .

Speaker 1 9:37

So the cruise may look really good yeah .

Speaker 2 9:42

But the flights might be really bad about um clothing and what to wear and is two week out . Except we're saying two week for us would be the optimal last minute . Yeah , we wouldn't really feel comfortable doing it sort of any closer than that I just think it depends on which cruise line you're going on well , let's assume that you needed to buy some clothes . Is that enough time to get them if you needed them ?

Speaker 1 10:07

Well , I don't know what I'd like to think that we'd go on a cruise that we had the appropriate attire for .

Speaker 2 10:13

Okay , so you're saying that you've taken that into account .

Speaker 1 10:17

Yes , okay , yeah .

Speaker 2 10:19

So the pros then , because we've talked a lot about the cons to it there .

Speaker 1 10:23

Yeah , I had another con .

Last-Minute Cruise Booking Considerations

Speaker 1 10:26

Go for it all the speciality dining are gone , you're going to get the worst room because you're only going to get what's left . These are cons yeah , I mean for for the dining you're not going to be able to book anything like that . All the nice excursions are probably gone that you can book online .

Speaker 2 10:46

Depending where you're going . You're definitely in that latter part of getting what's left .

Speaker 1 10:53

You're in what we call state room roulette when we book something like this and you don't know what you're getting .

Speaker 2 11:00

No , whenever we booked relatively last minute , it's only them being a guaranteed room available . Now , that's not to say that that's same for everyone on every cruise line and every instance . That's just our personal well , that's been the best pricing but , having said that , when we did it on ventrila , yeah , we didn't have an issue , we got a good room it was pretty central it was a balcony , it was nice so it's where we would have picked it I guess , yeah , we've been very lucky touchwood , we'd be lucky again so I don't see that as being a massive issue .

Speaker 2 11:32

I do take in what you've said , though , in terms of , um , the availability of things such as excursions . If you're going somewhere , you know , when we're looking at southampton , for instance , if you're going to the fjords , some of the sort , the more famous excursions and the really popular ones may have already gone . Yeah , and that might be a reason then not to potentially do that cruise . If that's something that you really want to do , yeah . Having said that , there's always plenty to do in ports anyway , and you can always stay on ship .

Speaker 1 12:04

Yeah , you can .

Speaker 2 12:04

I don't think that's necessarily a massive issue , but I think speciality dining if that is something that you really want to do might be a problem .

Speaker 1 12:15

Well , we'll see when we come to book it . In two weeks we can be the guinea pigs .

Speaker 2 12:20

Well , we've been guinea pigs before . When we went on Ventura , did we have an issue booking Speciality Dining ?

Speaker 1 12:26

No , because we well , we did book it . I think we booked it on the ship on the first day .

Speaker 2 12:31

Is that our first P&R experience ?

Speaker 1 12:33

It was yes yeah , I think we booked it before we got on .

Speaker 2 12:37

We couldn't book anything in advance because we were too close and it didn't update on the system .

Speaker 1 12:40

We booked it when we got on because they did us a . It was one of those all first night , first night half price jobbys .

Speaker 2 12:51

I don't know if it was anymore . And I think we bought the drinks package when we got on as well we did . And I think we bought the drinks package when we got on as well , didn't we ? Because we couldn't get any of that in . I imagine we were too close to it for that yeah , yeah and again . I think that's why , if you're looking at that two week period , that's probably optimum .

Speaker 2 13:05

Yeah , in terms of we'll see , we'll see , we'll see there is that chance of sort of last minute cancellations . Okay , let's talk about the pros then . Okay , we spent a lot of time sort of on the downside to doing it . Okay , what's the big pluses to it ?

Speaker 1 13:20

you might get to do something that you didn't think you're going to get to try such as such as we might be able , we could look at fred olsen out in newcastle yeah , if there was good pricing , you mean if there's good pricing , that's it . You have a budget in mind and then see what that gets you , because that's what will happen with us . We don't , we won't look at the cruise and go oh well , we'll know how much we've got to spend .

Speaker 2 13:44

Yeah , and take it from there yeah , and that's a fair thing when you're talking about that last minute positives though you feel you get more value for money . Yeah , okay , I see where you're going from there . Thank you , it's not always . Our very , very first cruise was a hot deal . It was a very last minute , not within two weeks , but I think about four , five , six weeks out . It wasn't far out .

Speaker 1 14:12

No , it wasn't , it was certainly within two months .

Speaker 2 14:16

It was certainly within two months , it was certainly within two months , and at that time that was Royal Caribbean . They used to do hot deals . Yeah , and that was the last minute .

Speaker 1 14:24

Yeah , they don't even touch those anymore .

Speaker 2 14:27

No , but what do they tend to ? I'm not talking about Caribbean , I'm talking about cruise lines generally , because they don't advertise these last minute ones discounted in that way anymore . No , and some cruise lines , such as Princess , say that you'll never get cheaper than when it first comes on sale through them . Is that where you have to then go through an agent to get that last minute deal ?

Speaker 1 14:50

Now what I've found is , when we've booked last minute and gone direct , we've ended up with a nicer room than if we've booked and used one of the big outlets .

Speaker 2 15:08

When did we book it last minute again , apart from Ventura ? I want to say Obviously I know Navigator , but that's a long time .

Speaker 1 15:15

Cunard Queen .

Speaker 2 15:17

Elizabeth , queen Elizabeth . Queen Elizabeth , we booked that late direct okay , and that worked out we got a really lovely room yeah , we did get an ice cream on there for what was not that price ? Yeah , now I can't say that's because we booked it direct . But then again .

Speaker 1 15:37

This was just coming out of COVID . Are we now going to find out what we think we're going to get and what we actually get are two different things .

Speaker 2 15:44

What I think is , when we did both of those ones cruising had just restarted .

Speaker 1 15:50

Now do we talk to our agent and say what can we get , or do we just scour the ?

Speaker 2 15:57

Well , well , I think there's a bit of both . We'll be scouring over the next couple of weeks and going what , what have we got on there ? But it's . We'll definitely be speaking to stuart and karen and going you know what ? What is this ?

Speaker 1 16:08

do we look at one of the us discount houses ?

Speaker 2 16:12

give me like vacations to go . Yeah , you see , when you're talking last minute ones , that's what a lot of people they're coming to their own , don't they Think of ? I mean , you do get it with some of the big sort of European travel agents as well , but I don't think there's an equivalent of vacations to go , not in that sense . Not that I can think of .

Speaker 1 16:31

It just gives me a bit of anxiety .

Speaker 2 16:38

Well , you don't have the same protections . If you're listening to this and you're not in the uk , then it's have you're not bothered , but within the uk we have the sort of abternatal protection , depending whether you need it to fly or not fly and whether you take that package and stuff . Yeah , and yeah , certainly with you know , just recently we had the it problem where a lot of planes were cancelled within the last couple of weeks .

Speaker 1 16:57

Yeah .

Speaker 2 16:58

If you bought that separately .

Speaker 1 17:00

Oh dear .

Speaker 2 17:01

You can't get your cruise , your cruise , you won't get your money back on .

Speaker 1 17:03

No . So I feel we've gone a little bit hardcore there . So let's go back , let's dial it back . So we're going to use , we're going to do a little bit of research to book this cruise , we're going to speak to his agent and we're going to find a cruise two weeks out to book . We've got a budget in mind . We should get something that we like .

Speaker 2 17:27

Well , it'll be a cruise , which means I'll get to deliver .

Speaker 1 17:29

Yeah , but would we be happy to go on a ship that we've done before ? Are we going for a new ship ? What's the deal ?

Speaker 2 17:35

Well , if you're talking about us or you're talking about for the people , but when you talk about from our perspective , then I'd personally prefer to do a ship that I've not done before okay , or a ship that's had a massive renovation yes so , for instance , um , navigator of the sea I know it's not over here , no , it's not but we've done navigator three times , yeah .

Speaker 2 17:55

Well , I've done it twice . You've done it three times , yeah , but that had a massive overall sort of four years or so ago . So it's almost unrecognizable in a lot of what it's gone there now compared to last time . Yeah . So I'd be quite a bit of ownership . That , um , I've done before , but it's changed a lot . But I don't know if I'd want to do one that I'd done like maybe six months ago , okay , but that's changed a lot . But I don't know if I'd want to do one that I'd done maybe six months ago , okay , but that's for us specifically , yeah .

Speaker 2 18:23

So in respect of pros , it's… it should be cheaper , it should be cheaper , theoretically , yeah you should get a little bit more choice in your price range to what you normally have yeah , and certainly if you will take a little bit more of a risk , yeah and use yeah , I'm not saying there's anything wrong with vacations to go at all .

Speaker 1 18:47

Oh no , they've been around for a long time .

Speaker 2 18:49

But you're coming out of your comfort zone of how you would normally book something that you've got a little bit more sort of open to you no , I I think they're a great resource because they list every cruise going in , whatever month and whatever oh they're fantastic .

Speaker 1 19:03

They're a great resource for that . So yeah , we've got to when we go . We don't know . No .

Speaker 2 19:13

But I think really you're only the only pro unless you can think of something else is that it will probably be cheaper .

Speaker 1 19:22

And it'll be a nice surprise . That's the pro . You don't know where you're going .

Speaker 2 19:29

I'll give you an even better pro what your cruise countdown is going to be really short .

Speaker 1 19:33

That's great , that's true . To be really short , that's great , that's true , that's really true because we've got like that .

Speaker 2 19:38

We've got a cruise booked for 2026 yeah which , as of now , is like 20 months away yeah , will they do it well ?

Speaker 2 19:44

yeah and that sounds a long way away . You immediately book it and you're in close to being single figures . Yeah , we'll book it and have somewhere between 28 and 14 days when we book it , which makes it come around very quickly . Then yeah , you , you then gotta got what do I need ? A pack wash . I know a lot of stuff , um , but I think , yeah , getting straight into that cruise countdowns , that is a huge pro . So , yeah , price probably cheaper , hopefully cheaper .

Speaker 1 20:17

I hope it's cheaper .

Speaker 2 20:18

It should be cheaper well , I wouldn't expect it to be more expensive but it may be more expensive than , for instance , when , um it first went on sale . Yeah , we have seen . Yeah , you know , certainly , cunard of lately , princess of lately , their direct pricing is definitely more than what it was when the first one sell .

Speaker 1 20:38

Yeah , okay , we will report back yes on that sort of and then we can do a full like summary of what it was like and whether we'll do it again and whether we did go out of his comfort zone and whether it was a nightmare well , we will report back , but it brings us nicely into the new story okay lovely because the first one that I'm going to touch on , um , and they're all happier new stories , because last episode they're a bit darker new story .

Speaker 2 21:07

Okay , um , not dark but um , but one of the ships that we've looked at has been Disney .

Speaker 1 21:17

Yes .

Speaker 2 21:18

So the first news story is about Disney . Oh lovely , not about the one we're looking at , but it's still about Disney , and that is about Disney Treasure .

Speaker 1 21:26

Disney Treasure .

Speaker 2 21:27

Which is the Wish size . So this is not Adventure .

Speaker 1 21:33

No , that's Singapore .

Speaker 2 21:34

It's not the Disney massive one , okayney okay yeah , that one's still being done . I think that comes out in 26 in singapore . It's definitely not this year . No , might be 25 , um , but disney treasure floated out this weekend , oh , lovely on I think it's more pricey so , yeah , it's already got more expensive .

Speaker 2 21:52

Um , and it's having its maiden on the 21st of December . Wow , the Christmas one , yeah . So we'll come back to that in a sec , don't forget that . Oh , okay , port Canaveral . And as they moved that out of the I think it's like Port Hall 6 or Port 6 or something that it's called , because it made me think of Hall H at Comic-Con . As they moved it out , they literally moved Disney Destiny's block in .

Speaker 1 22:19

Wow .

Speaker 2 22:20

So Disney Destiny is the next one in the Wish size . Yeah , so again , not Adventure size , no , no . Well , that sounded right .

Cruise Ship Renovations and Innovations

Speaker 2 22:28

But when it first came out , I think Capcom , or when they were first announced , they were buying Gensing , yes , jensing .

Speaker 1 22:35

Yes , Genting .

Speaker 2 22:36

Genting , when they were buying that which will be the biggest Disney ship ever .

Speaker 1 22:39

Yes .

Speaker 2 22:40

I said they should call it Disney Marvel . You did Because obviously the Marvel interaction of the comics and it's big and it's big , it's Marvel . Yeah , and I was like that's just a slam dunk . I and I was like that's just a slam dunk . I was so confident . Oh yeah , I was wrong . They called it Adventure . Yes , but what they're doing on Disney Destiny , not Adventure , is they're putting Marvel characters front and centre in it .

Speaker 1 23:03

Oh lovely .

Speaker 2 23:04

So when you go in there , apparently the one that you're going to have is T'Challa the Black Panther statue in the main entry .

Speaker 1 23:13

Other than like Cinderella right .

Speaker 2 23:14

Yeah , and they're going to have a lot more Marvel heroes and villains around there .

Speaker 1 23:21

Oh , lovely .

Speaker 2 23:21

But they're also going to have a lot of hero and villain and villain , especially inspired bars and lounges . Love it , which I thought were a great idea .

Speaker 1 23:32

Yeah , I love that .

Speaker 2 23:34

Does that appeal ? Do you think that'll appeal a little bit morees love it , which I thought were a great idea . Yeah , I love that they can keep that . Does that appeal ? Do you think that'll appeal a little bit more ? I love it , I was . Do you think it'll appeal a little bit more to an audience outside of just sort of those going on with families , that maybe those that are into the comic a little bit more on the movies ?

Speaker 2 23:47

and maybe that's what they're hoping , but maybe yeah , slightly different audience yeah um , and what do you think about the maiden being 21st december ? How confident would you be I just thinking about , because that's your christmas holiday when- avia got moved to that one and that was going on there with your family and then you have to tell them two days before it's not on no , you're just thinking about how there's always teething troubles .

Speaker 1 24:13

good , good luck , disney , good luck .

Speaker 2 24:15

Well , I'm sure Disney will nail it and it'll all be perfect . Yeah , and everyone is on it . I'm sure , no matter , even if there are some teething troubles , we'll have a fantastic time because it's Christmas and it's a Disney ship , yeah , anyway , story two yes , norwegian Onko Mm Norwegian Onco , which is one of their Breakaway Plus vessels . Okay , that came out in 2019 . Yes , and they've said that it's now going into dry dock very , very shortly to have extensive work done .

Speaker 1 24:47

Okay .

Speaker 2 24:47

So it's five years old . It's about right when they normally do that , the first go , yeah , but it's having quite a lot done , so it's having dining venues changed . Okay , I'll come back into these in a second with one menu uh , adding an adult only area , nice um repurposing more spaces in the state rooms , okay , no , I'm always less sure on that element , so we'll come back and expanding suites in the um heaven area okay so with one menu maybe with two menus .

Speaker 2 25:16

Oh , that'd be good . Now , one of the bits that they're changing um is the ? Um it's called spice hitch tour , yeah , and that's the adults only outdoor lounge , nice , which um has hot tubs , it has pools and a bar . Um the dining venues , they're getting rid of two dining venues , okay , which we haven't been into either of these no , los Lobos and Coco's Mm-hmm . They're being removed and their former spaces are being used to expand Cagney's Steakhouse and the Tapaniaki .

Speaker 1 25:47

Okay , so they must have the .

Speaker 2 25:48

Well , that would suggest that Cagney's and Tapaniaki demand in demand and the others weren't . Yeah , but it seems strange that they're going from four specialty down and down to two but they must be the two most popular yeah , there's obviously the data must be there the data absolutely must be there , but you thought maybe they might have potential look to put in different ones that are working on another one I mean it's less , more .

Speaker 1 26:12

I think that NCL are looking at everything at the minute and if they know that they could book that restaurant , those two restaurants up twice over every night , then of course , compared to the others .

Speaker 2 26:24

Well , we've covered the NCL cost cutting on a previous podcast and definitely getting rid of two restaurants and then having it all go into those two , yeah , yeah , makes sense . Hopefully don't just go into one menu for the main dining room which you talked about . On that , oh , nostradamus at the side of us , um , but it's also getting 24 more balcony bedrooms . Okay , so that must mean they're taking out a lot of space that we use for other things . Yes , they haven't said what , um , a couple of club balcony ones and repurposing part of a lounge for that , but it's going to increase occupancy by about 50 people . Okay , so not massive , but from 4,004 to 4,052 . You would have been right for the figure I rounded up . Okay , so it wasn't quite 50 .

Speaker 1 27:13

Okay , I know I was , was looking at maths there .

Speaker 2 27:15

You were doing really well at maths there I was , but it'll be interesting to see what happens with that . And then the final story . Okay , it seemed right that we had a virgin story . Mm-hmm , we'd gone virgin Very soon , 18 days at the time of recording it's going to sound really morning now , aren't we ?

Speaker 1 27:33

Because I know we need to sort out another late availability one and we're going on one .

Speaker 2 27:38

Yeah , but that's a four-day one and we've had that booked for a long time .

Speaker 1 27:41

Yeah , and we're going with friends this one just booked on this one . Yeah , we're only going on a recovery . We need a recovery .

Speaker 2 27:49

Yeah , maybe it's all like the Fred Olsen or a Saga . One might be a feeling after this . Just give us a chance for the liver to recover a little bit . Now I'm not convinced that you're . You love Virgin . I do love Virgin and you're really looking forward to this cruise . I do . I'm looking forward to this . Okay , I think the new thing that they're launching on board you're not going to be as into . Okay , they're launching a onboard running club . No , it's called the 8LRC , which is the 8 Legs Running Club .

Speaker 1 28:26

Okay , sounds like my initials .

Speaker 2 28:29

It just almost sounds like your initials , apart from , there's no R in your initial .

Speaker 1 28:40

Vagina . Oh , I know your plans .

Speaker 2 28:48

That apparently came about when they had someone on board recently who ? Ran a marathon on the running track . Okay , and then has anybody noticed ?

Speaker 2 28:54

that no , a marathon on the running track okay , um , and then if everybody knows that , no , I've practically I've never seen anyone on the running track , but everyone talks about virgin being a partnership , but it's actually a mega fitness ship as well . There's people taking really serious on that , far more than I've seen on any other crew . Um , but then they had another gentleman who ran for you . Look to have a smirk on your face .

Speaker 1 29:16

No , I'm not smirking .

Speaker 2 29:18

It looks like there's a laugh bill . Oh , another gentleman ran solid for 24 hours for charity on it .

Speaker 1 29:26

Okay , that's very good .

Speaker 2 29:28

And ran 630 and a half , which was the equivalent of 160 miles .

Speaker 1 29:35

Wow .

Speaker 2 29:36

And so , off of the back of that , they thought let's build a running club .

Speaker 1 29:39

Okay , that's nice .

Speaker 2 29:40

So , from what I can gather , it's the first running club at sea .

Speaker 1 29:43

Okay .

Speaker 2 29:44

So again , it's just Virgin doubling down on the fitness one that you can come on board , enjoy all this fantastic food but still have your fitness regime that you add on . And well done for Virgin , that . Continue to do that . We will continue to , um , enjoy the food and the cocktails more . The last story , the running club , um , but that sort of brings us up to the end of the cruise cast well .

Speaker 1 30:10

Thank you , darling . I've finished my wine . I I made it last week . I made a small one .

Speaker 2 30:14

Well , you had a bigger one than me because you finished most of this yesterday .

Speaker 1 30:18

Oh yeah , it was ironing wine .

Speaker 2 30:21

Is that an official thing now ? Ironing wine ?

Speaker 1 30:24

Ironing wine is the best , oh , cheers . Thank you for listening and have a lovely day .