Why We've Been Avoiding River Cruises - Audio Only 🎧 | Cruise Cast Ep.14

Imagine immersing yourself in an intimate voyage along some of the world's most beautiful rivers. What makes river cruising so different from traditional ocean voyages? In this episode, we dissect our trepidations about embarking on a river cruise, from the smaller vessel size and fewer onboard activities to the financial considerations. We also tackle how river cruising is more akin to a land holiday, given the emphasis on off-ship adventures. Our conversation spans specific river journeys, including the allure of the Nile, while we weigh safety and security concerns.

Thinking about a festive getaway? We turn our attention to planning a Christmas market river cruise, evaluating a £1,200 per person deal with TUI. We discuss the pros and cons of various room types, the social dynamics of shared dining, and our preference for private tables. Comparing top river cruise lines like Viking, Riviera, Emerald, and TUI, we debate the worth of each and discuss the convenience of flying into major airports. The magic of holiday markets, seasonal foods, and festive beverages makes us ponder whether such a trip is worth the investment.

Lastly, we bring a touch of humor as we discuss "riverboat envy" and how to stay entertained on smaller vessels. Future travel aspirations include the dream of cruising the Nile and exploring the Mekong River, all while considering the feasibility of a Christmas market cruise. We share a laugh over a cheesy sausage incident at a German Christmas market before wrapping up with an update on the Princess Premier package and our hopes for moon-themed activities on an upcoming Panama cruise. This episode is a delightful blend of thoughtful travel tips and lighthearted stories sure to entertain and inform.

Transcript

Exploring River Cruising Options

Linzi 0:00

Welcome to episode 14 of the S Nature Cruisecast. Hi, I'm Linz. As always, I'm joined by Marky. Hello, Hello. And today we're talking about why we haven't tried river cruising. And should we try river cruising? But first a little mood music. Ooh.

Mark 0:35

Did you like this week's mood music?

Linzi 0:36

Maybe it's because I've drank most of my wine and I've not eaten, but I didn't mind it.

Mark 0:43

Ooh, I'm taking that as a win. The snare I had a little snare at the end I loved the snare.

Linzi 0:49

I'm glad about that. Thank you, that's made my day.

Mark 0:53

So, as you said, we're talking all things river cruising today and why we haven't done it. Once we've done that, we'll cover the news stories as usual, but let's kick it off River cruising. The news stories as usual, um, but let's kick it off river cruising. Yes, why haven't we done river cruising before? What? What is it that we're?

Linzi 1:12

worried about. On it, it's small what the river no, well, also, I think you sat with who you you're not. They don't have a lot of tables for twos okay, you're getting into very specific. Yeah, I guess so. And the price, and it's on a river and it's not a cruise ship.

Mark 1:30

And we'll break into all of these things. I think they're all relevant For me. The biggest fear that I've had with it is that it's much smaller. In my head I'm going back to where I was pre-cruising. Which is one of the fears that I had about cruising is that I'd be bored, and obviously that's not true.

Linzi 1:52

No.

Mark 1:53

But that fear raises itself again to me for river cruising because it's so much smaller. It's smaller but you're doing. There's not that much on the ship but you are off it more and therefore You're doing things. Is it more of a land holiday than a cruise? And again, I think that is one of the things why it's sort of got me a little bit A land holiday.

Linzi 2:13

I know what you mean.

Mark 2:14

You spend it If you're not doing that much on the river cruise.

Linzi 2:18

Yeah.

Mark 2:19

Because, relatively speaking, compared to a cruise ship, there's not as much to do.

Linzi 2:23

No.

Mark 2:26

The main source of your sort of activities, your fun, your entertainment are going to be off of the ship and that's sort of a big fear for me when you're spending so much money to go on it.

Linzi 2:37

To start, with yeah, because they're not. It's not an insignificant amount of money because you have to fly to where you're getting to because we have a river near us. But we'd end up in Hull if we.

Mark 2:51

We have the city cruises that go down the river in York. Yeah, I think it goes about sort of a mile in each direction, so that's not a massive holiday, that one.

Linzi 3:00

No.

Mark 3:01

And it's a bit boisterous where it pulls in at night.

Linzi 3:04

Yeah, but no, not all rivers are equal.

Mark 3:07

No, they're not. I don't think we actually have any river cruising in the UK, do we?

Linzi 3:12

I think you can go on the Norfolk Boards.

Mark 3:12

Well, no, you can go on the Norfolk Boards and Stratford-upon-Avon and you can hire a boat and that sort of.

Linzi 3:16

Thing.

Mark 3:18

Yeah, but I don't think there. Maybe the closest that you could get to doing it would maybe be on the Thames. Maybe, but again, it's not. They're not as and if they do do them, they're going to be super pricey. I've not come up. If you do know of one, please do let us know in the comments, and I bet it's super pricey. I've never seen one. I've also never seen anyone else doing one.

Linzi 3:41

No.

Mark 3:45

Which suggests to me there probably isn't any formal river cruising like what we see in europe, which is we should probably clarify, when we're talking about river cruising, that there's two main areas where people tend to go for a river cruise, which is northern europe, yeah, so france, germany um netherlands, bel Belgium sort of area.

Linzi 4:05

Down to Hungary, croatia, cutting through some other areas.

Mark 4:09

And then at the other end going down into Asia.

Linzi 4:15

Well, I was thinking the Nile, but there's rivers everywhere.

Mark 4:19

There are rivers everywhere but, as you said, not all are equal and not all offer cruising in that same one. Now, you're absolutely right. The now one was, um, probably the river cruise that you talked about to me, the most love to do that that you wanted to do, and we have watched other people do it. Yeah, um, we've seen gary do it, we've seen rich and helen do it from visit with us, and it does look fantastic. I have concerns about safety and security. Yeah, which is my. Fears of that. One are not the same as getting bored.

Linzi 4:48

No, and you need a. Really, I feel that the ship you want to make well, saying that, though, gary slept in the bathroom and he was on a really fancy ship.

Mark 4:58

He slept in the bathroom On a fancy boat.

Linzi 5:00

Yeah, he had to sleep in the bathroom because of where the engines were.

Mark 5:04

Do you not remember? No, I do remember. I don't think that applies to all river cruises. I think that was a specific….

Linzi 5:09

But if that happens to Gary, that can happen to anyone.

Mark 5:11

Of course it can.

Linzi 5:12

But I'd love to do another cruise. I appreciate why you're not so keen.

Mark 5:16

No, I'm hoping that one day that I feel more confident to go do that, because I would love to go visit sort of egypt and out of cairo.

Mark 5:25

Yeah, it looks an amazing adventure hopefully one day the world allows us to do it again I don't think you'd want to pay, though, because there are thousands, thousands and that again is one of the reasons why it's put me off a little bit of doing river cruises, in the same way that when we talk about ocean cruises. The thing that's put me off trying a couple of cruise lines up to now I'll mention Fred Olsen, because we've talked about that before is that it's quite expensive. Yes, and I'm not convinced that it's for me, in the same way that we know people that have not tried Virgin because they're not convinced it's for them and it's relatively expensive. We know people love Fred Olsen. I'm just not as convinced personally. At some point we'll try it, I know.

Linzi 6:12

But it's because it's a lot more expensive. And also For a risky one for me. And also I'm going off tangent here, but the bedrooms, the bedroom setup that we've seen on what on fred olsen? Okay, looks a bit weird. Anyway, let's go back to river cruising for the price we'd want to pay anyway, back to river cruising. I think I know of a workaround for us to try river cruising and appreciate it and not and not the.

Mark 6:46

The destination and the activities will suit me down to the ground which is christmas markets river cruise yeah, I mean that's the one that we've we've talked about most, that I'm most on board with. I do don't know. I do fancy doing a river cruise. I have my concerns about it, which I've just talked about. But the Christmas market one, if I'm going to be spending time off and doing things at that point, it seems like a lot of fun. Yeah, and I like the destinations that those ones go to.

Linzi 7:20

I like the thought of getting off going to a Christmas market eating the cheesy sausage, drinking the boozy hot chocolate.

Mark 7:28

Not cheesy chips, Cheesy sausage at this one oh cheesy. Not a curry first.

Linzi 7:34

No, I like a cheesy breakfast. Oh, my God, oh.

Mark 7:40

Are you selling yourself river cruising by thinking about a?

Linzi 7:42

big cheesy sausage. I just like sausage and I just like Christmas. I'm clipping that bit out and that's going to be the promo for this week's one.

Mark 7:53

I just like sausage.

Linzi 7:55

And Christmas.

Mark 7:56

And Christmas. No, I'll clip out the Christmas bit.

Linzi 7:59

No, I think Christmas gives it context.

Mark 8:02

I don't want context for that.

Linzi 8:03

No, and I like booze and I like Christmas.

Mark 8:06

Yeah, and I think that one would do all of them.

Linzi 8:09

And I like trees.

Mark 8:12

Less trees in the river, but the side of the river.

Linzi 8:14

And on the river, All right.

Mark 8:15

so let's assume that we decide that a Christmas market river cruise is the first one that we should try. We have talked about this on the live streams before, yeah yeah. It's ones that people have suggested to us as well. Which river cruise lines should we be looking at them? Which are the ones that you think uh are gonna most fit you and what you want to do, and which one do you think will sort of work for me best?

Linzi 8:40

oh, my goodness, that's a question because, I'll be quite honest, forgetting about price.

Mark 8:44

Oh, this point.

Linzi 8:45

Oh no, I was going to say the price is very important, because the price is the thing it is yeah. There's a lot that do it and the price I think would have to….

Mark 8:57

So what's your lower end of the market then?

Linzi 8:59

Well, lower end's still blooming pricey.

Christmas Market River Cruise Planning

Mark 9:01

Yeah, but lower end of the market is not crazy, crazy pricey. I've been looking at recently, I've been looking at pretty pre-recording this today and lower end of the market you can get on there, depending when you want to go for christmas um, you can get on there for about 1200 pound a person is that in a nice room? That's in a normal room with a window is that?

Linzi 9:22

is that swan view, or is that like?

Mark 9:24

that was just a normal. It wasn't below Waterview, I don't want that it won't let you see the swan's feet or its bum?

Linzi 9:30

No, I don't want to stay in the Nautilus. No, it won, that was £1,200.

Mark 9:35

I think that one. I saw it at that price with Tuohy Tuohy.

Linzi 9:37

And it was £1,200.

Mark 9:40

It was for their Christmas market one, if I remember right.

Linzi 9:44

It's still not, I did check a lot of them, so I could be wrong. It's still not like super reasonable.

Mark 9:52

It's not. But when you look at it, compared to a normal cruise, cruises these days have got more expensive. And a week's cruise unless you're staying on an inside cabin, which is your equivalent of Swan's bottom view, um, then you're going to be paying a thousand pound a week for most cruise lines now upwards okay, and you get your drinks at dinner? I'm not sure, not on every cruise line, not on every river cruise you know, I don't know how.

Linzi 10:18

I want to deal like sitting with people as well, because I can be quite painful. No, I can if you have to sit next to me why?

Mark 10:30

why are you painful?

Mark 10:31

I don't think you're painful it's hard, I said I said, I've been sitting next to you for nearly 40 years, um, back on and still sitting next to you. When you talk about the dining, that is one of the bits that we've talked about that a lot of river cruises because the nature of them being small again going back to my fear that it's a much smaller thing a lot of them don't even have tables for two, so you're on a shared table with either different people each night or a collection of people. I like the idea of it being different people each night or a collection of people. I like the idea of it being different people each night because, just in case you sat with people who you don't necessarily want to sit with for the rest of it, or they don't want to sit with us for the rest of it, Um, and given what you just said about being hard work, they might not want to sit next to you for the next six days. So that's one of the things that puts me off a little bit.

Mark 11:26

Now I know that doesn't apply to everyone, because the new Amma Magna.

Linzi 11:32

Yeah, she's massive.

Mark 11:33

She's much bigger and even has a pool on top.

Linzi 11:37

Ooh.

Mark 11:38

But that has a lot of tables for two.

Linzi 11:40

I like it. You see, I like a table for two.

Mark 11:44

Yeah, because each night becomes a date night.

Linzi 11:46

Yeah, I like a date night. Yeah, because each night becomes a date night. Yeah, I like a date night. I like I don't want to inflict myself on people.

Mark 11:55

No, and especially when we're there, we're not in people's face when we're recording at the dinner table no but even like as but just filming the food and filming you trying the food. You do feel a bit of a dick if you're doing that when there's other people around you yeah, and I mean, and it comes a bit of a yeah, I mean, people do that even oh, absolutely they do. It's just a personal bit that I feel a bit obvious doing it.

Linzi 12:23

Yeah, but that's my problem yeah, so that one that goes in the cons box pro christmas, pro sausage, pro boozy hot chocolate I don't think what we've talked about pro schnapps, pro glue. I'm a big pro.

Mark 12:38

I don't think we've talked enough there about the potential river cruise lines that we would like to try. I just which ones have you properly looked at?

Linzi 12:48

I've looked at.

Mark 12:50

I've looked at a few and they've made me go like I'm costing to retile your bathroom depends how big your bathroom is well, it makes me go surprising so when we've talked about in the past yeah on and we've both come back in work and doing this this evening, so we haven't been talking about it today.

Linzi 13:12

No.

Mark 13:14

We've looked at Viking, we've looked at Riviera Emerald, amma and Tui.

Linzi 13:22

Yeah.

Mark 13:22

We've properly looked at those and then we've kind of looked at Arosa and Scenic and a few other ones, I've not looked at those.

Linzi 13:32

I saw how much TUI was charging and went wowzers.

Mark 13:36

Yeah, TUI is kind of that entry point.

Linzi 13:40

It's up from there and TUI is pricey.

Mark 13:43

It's not it is blooming pricey. No, it's what you would pay for a balcony on most cruises these days for a week.

Linzi 13:51

Did you notice? It were five nights as well.

Mark 13:54

No, some of the ones I was looking at were seven.

Linzi 13:55

Oh, there were five that I was looking at.

Mark 13:57

I mean when it's five. It's a little bit more expensive. But we've seen ones for two nights on Disney. That cost that.

Linzi 14:05

Well, yeah, I guess I mean also also I'd want to fly into somewhere like like frankfurt or somewhere that's well, it depends where you, what your river cruise is going I guess so, but I'd like to go into an airport.

Mark 14:20

We don't want to fly into frankfurt if it's going out of bruges I want to go into an airport I've heard of uh, right, so like you want to go like Skopel or Skipple, skipple. What did I say Skopel? I don't know where that one is.

Linzi 14:35

That's Amsterdam.

Mark 14:36

That's what I meant. So one that's an easy, Because that's the other side of it. You were touching on this at the start that it's wherever we go for this.

Linzi 14:44

we're going to have to fly to it's Christmas cruise with sausage. I want a German markets Christmas cruise with sausage, I mean.

Mark 14:49

that kind of means we've got to do the Rhine.

Linzi 14:51

Don't care, it's got to have sausage, it's got to have Christmas markets. If you want to do German Christmas markets, then it's the Rhine. I want to do German Christmas markets, so Dan you don't go through.

Mark 15:00

Germany does it. I don't. There's my lack of getting any grade at geography at GCSE People.

Linzi 15:07

their eyes are twitching now.

Mark 15:08

They're just going, do they not know anything? I don't know anything. I didn't do geography at school.

Linzi 15:14

I just want Christmas. I just want Christmas.

Mark 15:18

Well, Christmas will be here anywhere.

Linzi 15:20

Yeah, but I want a Christmas market cruise. I want a Christmas market cruise with Christmas.

Mark 15:26

Okay, so is that what you're suggesting should be the first one that we do?

Linzi 15:29

Yes, I don't know if I've been clear.

Mark 15:33

No, I don't feel that you've been clear enough doing this.

Linzi 15:35

I might have been now clear enough that I want Christmas.

Mark 15:39

Do you have any concerns about the Christmas market cruise?

Linzi 15:45

In what way?

Mark 15:46

Well, any concerns about the river cruise in particular, but about the Christmas market one.

Linzi 15:51

Are we talking like the river might be too high and we can't stop off and we have to get on the bus?

Mark 15:56

Yeah, why not? All of those things are relevant because they're not things that we generally have to think about on an ocean cruise.

Linzi 16:02

As long as they can bus me to the market and I get my sausage, I'm happy.

Mark 16:08

That is one of the things.

Linzi 16:10

And I also want a pretzel, I want beer cheese, I want gingerbread, I want Christmas stuff, I want cake, I want.

Mark 16:24

This is just a list of I want, I want, I want. Never gets Lindsay.

Linzi 16:28

I want Christmas chocolates. Want. I want Never gets Lindsay. I want Christmas chocolates.

Mark 16:31

I would like.

Linzi 16:33

I would like fully Christmasing.

Mark 16:36

You want fully Christmasing.

Linzi 16:38

Give it to me Fully Christmas.

Mark 16:40

Okay.

Linzi 16:43

I feel that Christmas in Market Cruise would do.

Mark 16:45

You did touch on just then one of the bits that I said we don't have to think about when one in an ocean cruise as much, you can't miss a port, but river cruise itineraries. You have to be very flexible in your mindset I'm very flexible at christmas as long as they get you to a christmas market I can be very flexible at christmas it's not like I would imagine. They have to go a long way down and sort of take you back. We've got sort of just to be aware of it, haven't we?

Linzi 17:14

You've got to be aware of it. But as long as I'm, you just just keep me fed.

River Cruise Concerns and Preferences

Mark 17:20

So come back onto the cruise ship itself then.

Linzi 17:22

Cruise ship.

Mark 17:23

Cruise boat Riverboat. Yeah, sorry, cruise boat, cruise riverboat thing Riverboat, riverboat yeah, so cruise boat, cruise riverboat thing, um other than you've already mentioned the food element and the dining. Now, just because I went and said we're concerned about the food because the food on river cruises, generally speaking, whenever we've seen, it looks fantastic um, have you got any other concerns about sort of the day-to-day when you're on the cruise, when you're not off it in the same way that I am, I do.

Linzi 17:55

I do have a thing. What's that Riverboat envy.

Mark 18:00

Riverboat envy.

Linzi 18:01

Yeah, because on some of the times that you have to get off, you need to get. In order to get off, you need to go up and over, or down under other riverboats and I don't want to get on there and go. We should have booked this boat.

Mark 18:16

I don't want that so maybe I get a blindfold when you're walking, you just hold on to me you just guide me off and then well, you're not going to say, you're only going to see like a passageway, yeah but I can tell a lot from a passageway.

Mark 18:39

I can tell a lot from a passageway, so just maybe that's what I'm concerned about okay if there's some you know lovely crystal and um artwork and maybe some marble would, I'm gonna get do you not have any concerns, in the same way I do, about it being sort of quite small? You can walk from one end to the other in like 30 seconds.

Linzi 19:05

That you might be a bit bored no, because the the plan is I'll be that drunk, it'll take me longer than 30 seconds, so it's fine it'll be like at least a minute because you'll be going sideways basically yes okay, I mean, that's sort of one way to consider it. I guess I mean can I get them all wine?

Mark 19:25

no, we finished.

Linzi 19:26

We've finished the wine.

Mark 19:29

That was the last of it, oh my god, so no, you can't get any more wine at this point. Any other concerns for river cruising then?

Linzi 19:39

No.

Mark 19:40

To sum up, then Christmas. I think people have got the Christmas Out of interest. If you weren't doing the Christmas one, what would you want to do and wear?

Linzi 19:51

Nile.

Mark 19:52

That's not the Nile.

Linzi 19:53

Nile.

Mark 19:55

So if we weren't doing the Nile and we weren't doing Christmas, I want to do the Nile I want to do the Nile. Do you get why I've got concerns about going there at the moment?

Linzi 20:05

Just gin and tonics will get us through. I want to wear the wide brim tat and the linen linen outfit you just want to be like in death from the nile death on the nile I wanted to say death from the nile.

Mark 20:17

Well, that might be if you drank it full agatha christie.

Linzi 20:24

Just I want, I want to do that. I don't want to. I want to see all the sights and feel like I'm in the mummy.

Mark 20:34

You don't fancy doing something like the Mekong? Eh yeah, Mekong.

Linzi 20:40

Future.

Mark 20:41

T-shirt coming soon.

Linzi 20:43

I would like to do that. I would also like to do where you do yeah, that'd be okay.

Mark 20:50

that'd be okay, nile, nile yeah, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. The, the christmas market one, I think, is most likely for the first one, um, and then the, the Mekong style ones.

Linzi 21:11

Yeah, that looks nice, that looks nice. Very good, that looks nice but as a different one.

Mark 21:16

What about ones across like the American lakes, like the American Queen style? Yeah, can you be any less enthusiastic?

Linzi 21:28

It looks nice. It looks nice Niall.

Mark 21:33

So Christmas market, niall, is what we're saying.

Linzi 21:36

I'd love. Yeah, that's my list.

Mark 21:38

Okay, I'm quite easy.

Linzi 21:42

I'm quite easy. I am an easy person.

Mark 21:45

You just said a second ago you had work to sit next to at dinner.

Linzi 21:48

But I'm easy to go on holiday with Just don't sit next to me. Just don't sit next to me. I mean, if you have to sit next to me, prepare yourself.

Mark 21:58

Why? What do they need to prepare themselves for?

Linzi 22:00

Oh, because they need to prepare themselves for whatever.

Mark 22:07

Chaos follows.

Linzi 22:09

Chaos? I'm not a chaotic person.

Mark 22:13

You're not, it's just chaos tends to follow you.

Linzi 22:17

That's not my fault. I just let's sum up Christmas sausage drinks.

Mark 22:27

And the concerns being size, price the sausage no, I'm not concerned about the size of the sausage or the price of the sausage. I imagine it will be large. I imagine it will be relatively expensive and german and cheesy uh for you I honestly love a cheesy sausage.

Linzi 22:48

I remember one time going to the christmas german market in um in leeds and this is from my other other time of the life, not, we were together, yeah from a different job, different job, and we, yeah, yeah, absolutely Different job. Different job and we went as a team to get to the Christmas markets to have a cheesy sausage.

Linzi 23:16

Did you go specifically just to get a cheesy sausage and I was with Amy oh, I love Amy and we was there, was all the whole team there, but I was sat next to Amy and it was the bench seating. So we're on the bench and there's another bench in front of us and I bit into the sausage and the cheese shot across the table and landed on the back.

Mark 23:41

On a bag.

Linzi 23:41

On the back of another lady on the table.

Mark 23:43

So not in your team.

Linzi 23:45

Not in our team. Random lady had cheese coat on Like white goo Down the back of her coat.

Mark 23:57

Her black coat and we were just crying and laughing. Oh, did you apologise? I'll just walk off quickly. I didn't apologise.

Linzi 24:04

I didn't apologise.

Mark 24:06

Did the lady notice? No she wasn't. She wasn't. Apologise Did the lady notice.

Linzi 24:09

No, she wasn't.

Mark 24:12

And you didn't tell her she had a big cheesy gooey stain down her back.

Linzi 24:18

A white gooey stain? No, and I loved it. I loved it.

Mark 24:27

I loved chaos. I feel that could have been in next week's confession segment. I'm not convinced you got forgiveness from the lady I'd have forgiven you If Amy's listening.

Linzi 24:44

Amy, love to you, amy.

Mark 24:47

And to the lady whose bag Lindsay cheesed.

Linzi 24:50

No back of the coat.

Mark 24:51

Back of the coat. I thought you said a bag, no a coat. That's even worse Down the back of her To the lady who Lindsay.

Linzi 25:00

Creamed-y cheesed.

Mark 25:01

Creamed-y cheesed the back of your coat. She's very sorry, honestly. Even if she doesn't look, it's out there now. Even if she doesn't look, it's out there now, I'll make sure she's sorry.

Linzi 25:09

I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.

Cruise News Updates and Marvelous Voyages

Mark 25:19

But when you got home it was cheesy. When you've been walking through the centre of Leeds and you got home and there's a white smear down your coat, you might have been a bit concerned. Let's move on. Do you want to try river cruising? Then should we? Should we seriously properly look at them?

Linzi 25:33

let's do it, let's do it, let's do it okay, well, let's do it, and I'm sorry you have to sit next to me, because it's hard to sit next to me I've got used to it after all these years.

Mark 25:44

It's hard. What were you meaning for other people?

Linzi 25:45

it's so hard for other people. It's so hard for other people.

Mark 25:48

Okay, well, let's go on to our news stories. News story number one Okay. Princess Premier. Oh, so we've just done our review about three weeks ago, so it was inevitable we'd do our review. And then the change this always happens.

Linzi 26:03

This always happens. We put it out there and then the cruise company goes yeah, they're so right, we should change it there and then the cruise company goes yeah, they're so right, we should change it.

Mark 26:12

Well, one of the things we said in our review was that one of it, because we gave it a 10 out of 10. We loved it we, we do like princess premier package. It works for us incredibly well. Yeah, um, one of the bits that we said is that we felt that still restricting it to just two speciality dining especially when you're on longer cruises, um, if you're on like 14 days is a bit sort of unfair.

Linzi 26:33

Would you like a tequila shot? Shall I do something.

Mark 26:35

No, just you've still got wine in there, yeah, but I've only got a bit of wine. We haven't got long to go, and then you'll be fine.

Linzi 26:44

I've had a really bad day at work as well.

Mark 26:48

Going back to the princess Sorry, we said that we'd like them to do that. They've put the changes through this week. Yes, primary change being it's gone up by $10.

Linzi 27:03

Per person per day Per person per night. Per night.

Mark 27:06

Yeah, because they do it on a per night basis. If you get on at 3 o'clock in the first day. You only get 9 hours of that day, but that's one night.

Linzi 27:16

Yeah, but I take it hard, it's fine.

Mark 27:18

Well, you have to take it hard on those ones. So it's up to $90 per person per night worth previously rated. Having said that, there's often times where you can get offers on it. Okay, yeah, yeah, last time we did it, we paid $45 for it.

Linzi 27:34

Okay.

Mark 27:35

And that was only two months ago, mm-hmm, so you can get it cheaper, mm-hmm. It now includes unlimited speciality dining.

Linzi 27:44

Ooh.

Mark 27:45

Now, if you're going, certainly if you're going on some of the newer ships or the slightly bigger ones, I would say like Sky Enchanted Star, when that comes out or Sun, you've got a lot more speciality dining on there. If you're on some of the older ones, like we've just been on with Ruby Princess, it only had two speciality diners anyway.

Linzi 28:03

Yeah, but again I'd hit that hard.

Mark 28:06

Well, we would probably go to Sabatini's twice.

Linzi 28:09

Love Sabatini's. Love Sabatini's twice if we were on there.

Mark 28:11

Love Sabatini's there were lots of other things on the menus that we would have liked to try no salty dog we wouldn't have got a salty dog twice, but that would. You've already got unlimited as part of Princess Premier okay so I think that's out now, Star soon, then you've got a lot more choice. Anyway, it doesn't include the ultra speciality you sure you don't want the tequila? I'm definitely fine without a tequila. It doesn't include things like Love by Brito and it doesn't include Spellbound.

Mark 28:46

So the experience din, I understand, I understand, yeah, yeah, um, it now includes unlimited drinks, because previously I thought you'd be up for that.

Linzi 28:57

Previously it was 15 but I've never done 15. No, I'm not that type of girl have I done 15 you've done 15.

Mark 29:03

We've never been cut off I've never been cut off no, no, because I think it's at the sort of discretion as to whether If you've had like seven in your paralytic, they'll cut you off. Then you can still be cut off if you're not in a fit state to be served anymore.

Linzi 29:23

I'm always in a fit state, you're always in that state, you're just happy.

Mark 29:28

So unlimited drinks. And they've put a new super Wi-Fi.

Linzi 29:32

Okay, I'm not bothered about that.

Mark 29:34

But we do use it a lot.

Linzi 29:34

Do you like a Wi-Fi? Well, we use it a lot. You use a Wi-Fi.

Mark 29:38

But what they're doing is essentially making the cruise nearly all-inclusive.

Linzi 29:43

I like this. I like this.

Mark 29:45

There's still bits, because it includes your crew appreciation slash gratuities all those other bits it's. I would try to think. When I saw this come out the other day, what else do they need to do to make it all inclusive? And I was struggling really to go. Well, we had to pay for this or this or this, because on our previous cruise where we had this, we didn't have a bill at the end of it for anything that wasn't something we bought in the shops.

Linzi 30:10

No.

Mark 30:11

So the only thing that we had to pay for was the crab shack meal. That was it.

Linzi 30:19

Okay, and we liked paying for that and we didn't mind. No, okay, okay, I like it yeah.

Mark 30:24

Any issues with them doing that? Do you think it's worth the extra $10?

Linzi 30:30

Well, it's not $10, is it?

Mark 30:32

It's $70 per person on a 10-night cruise and how much would be?

Linzi 30:36

Sabatini's. If we wanted to book that Forte, okay, no, it's fine, they may proceed.

Mark 30:42

All you've got to do is, if you went to an extra two speciality downings, you're up Now. Would you go to that normally? If you wouldn't, then it's a bit of a false economy, but that's something you can enjoy a bit more anyway. Okay, new story, number two.

Mark 30:57

Okay, and this one might affect us, it might not okay we've seen continued protests in amsterdam, oh yes, so firstly, we're just over a week ago, at the time that we were recording, when Royal Caribbean and Regent Seven Seas were restricted by the Extinction Rebellion, blocking the docks and stopping people getting into there.

Linzi 31:20

And yeah, it's a very touchy thing that people feel about Okay, take them out of it. Take them out of it.

Mark 31:30

Yeah.

Linzi 31:30

If the cruise ships have put on the itinerary Amsterdam and they can't pull into Amsterdam, but they still want to take their passengers to Amsterdam, what they do is they take them to another port and they bus them in on a vehicle that Calm, on a vehicle that uses fossil fuel, fossil fucking fuel. Well, done you Well done.

Mark 32:00

That's the problem with it. I get people protesting, you protest. There's a difference between protesting and stopping people being able to function, and we've had the same in the UK where people sat on the M25, where they sat on trains, and that really didn't end well, do you know what happens when you block the M25? What happens when you block the M25?

Linzi 32:20

Nobody turns the car off.

Mark 32:22

No, you just create more fumes. It's a frustrating bit Look.

Linzi 32:29

I get it. I get it that we need to address these things. I get it.

Mark 32:34

And I think the cruise lines are addressing them, and I think there's still more that they can do, but they are addressing them. I think they're addressing them more than they're doing.

Linzi 32:41

No, I mean, everybody's got to, but we've all but this is targeting the cruise lines specifically.

Mark 32:46

We're not trying to fix sort of the climate control. On this podcast, we're talking specifically about the cruise bit and are we not trying to fix climate? Change on this podcast. No, that's on next week's next. The next episode how to fix climate control climate control yeah, so that is nice and cool all the time for me.

Linzi 33:07

Yeah well, that's wrong, you see. Anyway, we've gone into dodgy water, I feel.

Mark 33:12

We have the reason for mentioning it.

Linzi 33:14

Why have you put me in this position?

Mark 33:16

I'm not, you can just sit and listen, ambassador. Ambition was just affected this weekend and next and this coming week.

Linzi 33:25

I'm getting tequila.

Mark 33:26

No tequila, just stay. We're nearly done. We go on Virgin, which is due to go into Amsterdam, so whether we'll be affected or not, we will tell you on the next Cruisecast okay final news story, and hopefully this one will not get you as cross. I feel that it won't. Following on from Virgin, which we're going on this week, they've just announced their new Marvelous Voyages series.

Linzi 33:52

No, I've not checked these out.

Mark 33:54

I'm amazed you haven't checked these out. I haven't checked these out Because I mentioned it to you the other day. You did.

Linzi 33:57

I haven't checked them out yet.

Mark 33:58

So they're a series of once-in-a-lifetime trips, which is how they're marketing them Nice.

Linzi 34:14

Which includes the Panama one, panama one. Oh, we're doing that. We are doing that. We've not announced it. We've just announced it now. We have announced it before. I don't think we have?

Mark 34:17

we've talked about it before. I don't think we have. We have. Look, we've just announced it. We're doing the. For anyone that didn't know, we're doing the panama cruise on brilliant landing 2026 march 2026. Well, I mean, um, that's one of their ones. They will do them again.

Linzi 34:29

I feel we've announced it.

Mark 34:31

The ones that they're talking about, and that marvellous one is in there is. There's a big sort of interest in what has been termed as astro cruising.

Linzi 34:43

Okay.

Mark 34:43

So going to see, like the Northern Lights, nice Going to see eclipses.

Linzi 34:47

Lovely, and that's one of the ones that they just announced a couple of eclipse cruises that sounds good on the um 12th and 15th of august. How lucky that the 12th of august for 12 and 15 nights how amazingly lucky is it, in the grand scheme of things, that the moon and the earth and the sun are just in that, in that orbit to create eclipses sort of goes down the wild files rabbit hole so I will draw in, otherwise this podcast is going to be three hours long.

Mark 35:23

If you would like, if you'd like to sit here more on lindsay's moon theories, either, sit next to her. Did you know there's hear more on Lindsay's?

Linzi 35:28

moon theories either. Sit next to her on a river cruise. Did you know there's a?

Mark 35:30

shed on the moon. Just let us know in the comments if you'd like to hear more of them in the future. China. Or just sit next to her on a river cruise. They're doing these special astro cruises.

Linzi 35:43

I love it. I love it, I love it.

Mark 35:46

They're getting astronomers on to do talks. They're doing themed events, such as a new moon ceremony, star-themed, live orchestral music performances. I love it Yoga under the stars oh.

Linzi 36:01

I love this.

Mark 36:06

But also putting telescopes on the top deck so people can sit up there with a cocktail and staggers.

Linzi 36:10

It's upside down what the top deck so people can sit up there with a cocktail and staggers.

Mark 36:13

It's upside down what the top deck.

Linzi 36:14

No, when you look at it through a telescope, what you're looking at is upside down. Just remember that.

Mark 36:21

I don't think it matters, so are you interested in them?

Linzi 36:26

I am. I wonder if they're going to have somebody talk about the moon, are you?

Mark 36:31

interested in them? I am. I wonder if they're going to have somebody talk about the moon. Well, they're going to talk about a new moon, because they've got new moon signs, new moon they already have the moon as part of the octopus.

Linzi 36:40

There is a moon, but I'm just I like this. I'm very interested. I like that they're going. Are they doing the moon stuff on our Panama cruise?

Mark 36:50

No, because it's not an eclipse on our Panama cruise.

Linzi 36:52

No, but is there a moon when we're on the Panama cruise?

Mark 36:54

Well, there'll be a moon. No, but what type of?

Linzi 36:57

Just Google moon, no.

Mark 37:00

I'm not going down your rabbit hole, no it doesn't. You can check after us whilst getting your tequila.

Linzi 37:11

What were you going to?

Mark 37:12

say I'm getting your tequila. Well, I think that will bring us nicely to the end of this week's episode.

Linzi 37:21

Why are you getting your tequila?

Mark 37:24

I will cheers because you've still got some wine in there. You've been moaning, you haven't got any, and there's still some in there. I will cheers because you've still got some wine in there. You've been moaning and you haven't got any, and there's still some in there. And that was Lindsay putting the glass down for the audio once and amazingly it didn't smash, but she did spill it down herself. What a little bit she had. Do you want to say bye to everyone? Bye, thank you.