Can You Get The Same Level Of Luxury On A Bigger Ship? | Cruise Cast Ep.28

In this episode, having just returned from our first Windstar Cruise, we explore the concept of luxury in travel, particularly focusing on whether luxury experiences are exclusive to smaller ships and yachts; or can the bigger ships compare? 

We share our personal experiences aboard a small yacht, discussing the exceptional service, culinary delights, and intimate entertainment options that contribute to a luxurious atmosphere. We look at the differences in service levels and food quality between small and large cruise ships

We also take a look at a few of the recent news stories in the cruise industry and have a confession from one of our listeners/watchers. 

Transcript

Linzi & Mark (00:00.886)
Welcome to episode 28 of the Suite Natured Cruise Cast. Hi, I'm Linz as always I'm joined by Marky. Hello. Hello, and today we're talking does luxury have to come in a small package? But first, a little mood music.

Linzi & Mark (00:34.894)
How was today's mood music?

Linzi & Mark (00:39.374)
don't know what to say to that. I'm trying to get that sort of luxury. I don't know if it's giving luxury. Okay, well maybe... It's serving something but I don't think it's luxury. Okay, well I'll take that one as not a win then. I've had a couple of wins recently so... Let's see what happens on the next episode. Okay. As you said though, today...

the main topic that we're going to talk about is whether luxury can only come in small packages. And by that we mean smaller ships. Yes. I guess you could say smaller resorts, boutique resorts, but we're talking ships. That's what we talk, because it's a cruise cast. sorry, yacht. Or a yacht in this case. remember, cruise cast. We've also got a cruise confession. Oh, we do. We do. We've got one. And we have a couple of news stories as well to have a chat about. OK. But let's get on with talking about this.

Now, obviously the main reason for us talking about this is having, at the time of recording, two weeks ago, just got off of our first small yacht. Yes. Which was from... A big yacht. A big yacht, but a small ship. A mega yacht, a small ship. Yeah. From Windstar Cruises. And that was the first time we'd ever been on what you would class as a luxury line. So we'd been on the sort of...

premium ones, your celebrities, et cetera. That's that sort of step above. And there were quite a few things that we saw on board. And this isn't a review of this. We'll be doing a normal review on the channel. But there were quite a few things on there that we thought, this level of luxury, could you get it on a bigger ship? Or can you only get it when it's so few people? I get the gist. So when we were on Windstar, there were 208 passengers on there and 199 crew.

That's, yeah. So you're pretty close to like one to one in terms of that, which definitely gives them a leg up on a service level compared to say, Icon of the Seas with 7,000 passengers and 4,000 crew. Yeah. you know, whilst it's got a lot more crew on that type of ship, you've also got a lot more people to look after as well. Is there any way that you want to start sort of...

Linzi & Mark (02:57.742)
Talking about this, there any aspects you want to talk about? Do you want to talk about service first? Do want to talk about the food type of stuff? Yes. Go for it then. I've been ruined. You've been ruined? I've been ruined. Okay. I don't... Please expand. I've been ruined in that... It was so... I felt so spoiled and so personally served.

Well, how would you describe it? I'm not sure how I would have classed it as personally served, spoiled and ruined all in one go, but... What would you say? You mean from a service level, from that sort of attention, from... Let me give an example. That does help more. I don't... When we were going to bed, I didn't have to open the door to go to bed. I was... The door, if... If Tanang saw us...

So that was our room steward. And coming down the corridor, he would open the door for us. And then mysteriously vanish again before we even knew that. in a sort of sneaky, sneaky way. And he was gone. They were sorting my cocktail out when I walked in the bar. They knew I wanted to drink. They knew I liked spicy nuts. They knew I liked the cheesy canapes. They knew I liked to hug when I got back on the yacht. All these things have been...

ruined. I don't know if can go on another cruise. I like the Mr Deeds reference for the sneaky sneaky because I've been thinking of what a lot of it reminded me of in there and what's the name of that too please? I don't know where he's also in Severance is it and he's amazing. John Chachova? Yeah I think that's right. be that. And it was like that with them in the

If you've never seen the Mr. Deeds film, obviously this means nothing, but we have, so we can talk about it. There would appear to be no staff around until the second that you needed someone. Or you might not even know that you needed them. They knew that you needed them before sometimes you did. And then they'd magically appear. Sort you out. Sort you out with whatever you didn't know you needed and then disappear again. I didn't know until I knew that I needed a...

Linzi & Mark (05:23.426)
devil's margarita in my life. Around this time actually, I'm on the Sauvignon Blanc, but I would have preferred a devil's margarita to have been made for me as I'm walking in. Well the door would have been open for you as you walked in. And the band would have started playing something from the 80s that I like, because they knew I was the 80s queen and I ruined.

We don't want to just sort of be talking about all the bits of how much it's ruined you. Yeah, but it ruined me in other ways as well. It wasn't all a good ruin. Well, this is about luxury only coming in small packages. If we then think about that service level, because that's what we're talking about there, that's a service level specific. So that was very luxurious. Could you or have we ever experienced anything close to that?

on the bigger ships. So let's define a bigger ship as anything from 1500 passengers upwards. there are bigger smaller ships in particular things like Viking, Seaborn, Silver Seas, Azamara, et cetera, that are all sub 1200 passengers that I would expect the service level is similar to that. Because you pay in a much higher rate and I would expect that is we haven't tried them.

So we can't say for definite, but I would expect that. So if we look at sort of the slightly bigger ships or maybe look at Celebrity and Virgin, who would rate incredibly well for their MSC yacht club. Have any of them come close to that level of service? And is it realistic to think that they could do? that's a very good question. Thinking back...

I felt spoiled at the time when I was in Yacht Club. Yeah. I felt spoiled at the time we were in Richard's rooftop and had the Rockstar suite. Felt spoiled then. But there was just something. Was it because we didn't have to walk as far to get to the bar? Is that why I really like it? I think there was an element of that, because obviously it being very small, you could get anywhere on the ship within a minute. The food was incredible. Well, we'll come back to the food later on.

Linzi & Mark (07:45.644)
I know what you're saying because I know they do these ship within a ship experiences. that's kind of what I'm getting at there. done that. We've done that. But it was a different level. Even though the pricing was very similar, it felt... I felt more spoil on the smaller ship. And I can't get my head round.

necessarily why, even though the staff have always been phenomenal in the ship within the If we talk specifically about York Club there, as a comparison, because for the longest time York Club had our fastest ever embarkation and it's still right up there, it was some 10 minutes. This one I don't think can actually ever be beaten because we didn't have a queue at all anywhere. We didn't get a drink in his hand, we had to go find a drink.

Unlike on Yacht Club, I got a drink thrust into my hand and I always enjoy This is true. To be fair, we've also had a drink handed to us when we've got on Celebre. And we've also had a drink handed to us when we've got on Virgin. So these score highly for me. However, we were on the drinks package and I... 16 minutes, I think you said, to when I got a drink. So I'm happy about that. But it could... I have had it quicker. So, in that respect...

I... It could have been, I feel... That would have been the perfect embarkation. wonder, because bearing in mind that we got on a little bit later on Windstar, I wonder if we'd have got on at the same time as most of the other passengers. I don't think there was a real time. Maybe there was someone at the top where they offered drinks. I don't know. Because there were drinks in the... There were like the spa-style flavoured...

fruity water drinks.

Linzi & Mark (09:37.71)
I might be remembering wrong, because we haven't videoed it, obviously, but I seem to remember there being like this little sort of stall area within the check-in area. No, you're dreaming that. Yeah, that didn't happen. I would have known. I would have sensed it. Well, we never queued though, did we? We just straight to it, straight past it and straight on. So there might have been something within that. The ship within a ship...

side of it I think is the closest experience that you can get to these ones if you don't leave it. So if you stayed within for instance MSC's York Le Bon, one of its bigger ships, that's probably a similar size and facilities to what we would have got on Winstar. I guess so yeah but with that I guess you get

what people think the best of both worlds in that they can go to the yacht club, in the yacht club, and then they can venture out, have all the crazy and all the big shows, and then escape back to the... The quiet and the peace. And we've talked about that before. Yeah, yeah. Which is wonderful when you're doing it. But the thought for me, going smaller, I didn't expect the short distance to the bar to be as...

As bigger selling point. As bigger kind of like...

joyous experience as it was because I'm we used to going trekking off to go to the bar but to do it in less than three minutes and have my drink getting ready for me I mean amazing it was like I felt very special and very spoiled yeah which I haven't felt when I've gone on yacht club

Linzi & Mark (11:31.552)
I don't think it's fair to you didn't feel spoiled. did... No, no, that's... You're right. It's just that we did feel spoiled on Yacht Club. I felt like it was my yacht on Windstar. There were more than one occasion where... I think we might have even said this when we did the ship tour video the other day, where we felt like we were the only people on the ship because it was in port...

and were a couple of parts where we didn't get off because we wanted to just enjoy it and explore it. And it was raining. So we just stayed on. where, like at the front of the ship, the Whirlpool, we never saw anyone else, there were one occasion where we saw one person. That was my We never saw someone else get in the swimming pool the entire time that we on there, apart from you and us. There were quite a few times where we were the only people on the pool deck for hours. Yeah. And the people would come down, but...

Like if you stay on Princess and you go to the sanctuary and you select your sun lounges and they're the ones you're assigned, we had our own sun lounges by the pool for the whole trip. Yeah, but they weren't assigned to us. They weren't assigned to us. Technically someone else could have led there. could have, but they were our sun lounges. Again, felt like it was Well, we had a table that we sat on every night in the...

Compass Robes. Compass Robes, thank you. I can't remember the name of it well enough for second. Which was sort of the pre and post dinner and drinks bar that we went into. we got that same seat every night. Apart from one night. One night we didn't sit there and we just sat around the corner. Did we? Yeah, just one night. But again, in very close distance. Yeah. So I think...

I get what you mean from the spoiling. I think you can get close to it on bigger ships in terms of the service level. But I think in order to do it, which is what we're talking about on here, in order to do it, you can't be in the main part of the ship to get that level of service. And you have to be in the ship within a ship. Yeah, service grade. Service grade. One thing, can we talk about elements that I found a little bit, which I didn't find like what we normally get on the bigger ship?

Linzi & Mark (13:52.142)
Yeah, of course we can. In respect of the...

clientele, I feel that we would have had a better time if there were people on there that we knew, so our group of friends. There were quite a lot of people on there that were with groups of friends. Yeah, well, maybe they made friends, but they were... I feel that if, to get even more of that, your yacht experience, if you went on it with a group of friends and family,

you would feel like it was your yacht. Yeah, for sure. when people got back on, I didn't feel like it was my yacht anymore. But it was my yacht when it was just... When it was just us. Yeah. But in respect of going... If you are looking at Winstar, I would... I would maybe go for the first time and bring another couple or family and friends with you. Because in respect of... can have dinner together, not a problem.

in the speciality, not a problem, we can all have dinner together. It will feel like you've basically, like, charted your own yacht. Yeah. If you did that. I get what you mean from there, but I think it's because I saw so many other sort of... I don't think there were just people that met on board. There'd be an element of that. Mm-hm. But I think a lot of it that...

They had gone in small groups that had travelled together. maybe that's the thing, you feel more it's your yacht if there's people on there that you know. Yeah, very possibly. Can we talk about the beds? Well, no, not at this point. What I would like to talk about is the food. Because we're talking about... You're going to make me hungry now, though. Yeah, but we've got some stuff cooking, so you'll be fine.

Linzi & Mark (15:47.534)
Because really we're talking about the luxury thing coming in small packages. Things like the beds and stuff we'll get into in the main review. So food though. How... Well, let's just talk about the food to start with very quickly. Impressions of food on the smaller ship? On the yacht? Amazing. Amazing. Apart from I only had blue cheese once as a cheese. Had it as a sauce. You it as a canapé a couple of times. A sauce. No.

No, I had it as I had at Blue Cheese Sauce nearly every day and I only had it as cheese, cheese once. Love blue cheese. And I basically love cheese and there's a lot of cheese and... But let's get in on to actual food. Lamb, in the main dining room, venison in the main dining room. I think it's unfair on, and again this is what we're talking about, can it only come in small packages?

I feel it's almost unfair to call it a main dining room because we've been in bigger speciality restaurants than that on the bigger ships. You look at like Wonderland on the big oasis ones, there's like 300, 400 people in there. So this at the most had 208 and we never saw it full.

Not even close to being four. No, nice space in between the tables. Loads of room. Loads of room. You felt like if you were having a table for two, it was a proper... Yeah, you weren't sat just like maybe two foot or three foot away from other people. And suddenly you look at MSC and it's sort of entry-level ones. You sat about an inch away from the other people. This one, I don't think we were sat within six, seven foot of anyone. No, but maybe because we were a couple, they kept us on tables that they felt was more intimate. I don't know, but we didn't feel...

We didn't feel that we were listening to anybody else's conversation. No, we definitely didn't. The food was incredible. The food in, you know, let's call it the main dining room. And fora, and fora.

Linzi & Mark (17:55.018)
up there in terms of any speciality dining that we've got, but every single night for the main dining. To the degree that it has two other speciality dining on there. Cuatro 44, which is a Spanish tapas, one which were fantastic, we went there twice, and Candles, which is their steakhouse, we went there once. We could have gone into each of those more, but we wanted to go into the main dining room because the food was just so great. They had no alpoave sauce in.

They didn't have au poivre sauce but they had a lot of other sauces. Yeah I know but I like an au poivre sauce. But let's now compare that to other ones. au poivre sauce? Who may or may not have au poivre let's talk about three cruise lines that we've talked about in the past that we've rated really high for food. And that have au poivre sauce. Au poivre may or may not be a factor which is Princess, Celebrity and Virgin. Yes.

We've rated them the highest for food consistently across each cruise that we do. not just a ship. How close do you feel... Princess speciality. I just had to put a little. And princess club class. How close do you think that those ships are of the food to the luxury smaller yacht experience that we just had? my goodness, you're putting me on the spot now. If I had to...

Let's put it this way, we're going for a meal right now.

Where would I be happy going?

Linzi & Mark (19:34.446)
Because you see, I can think of a couple of restaurants on those just while you're pondering your thoughts. Yeah. On the bigger ships that I feel are close to or at the same level, but it's individual restaurants. So for instance, on Virgin, I think Pink Agave is up there with any restaurant on any ship and it's included. Yes. Which is the Mexican one. You could put it...

close to Quadro 44. You could. Because it's that tapas-y type thing. It's bigger. think they do fantastic margaritas in there on top of that. They do. The service has always been brilliant in there. And the food quality, I think, is comparable. So I think that you can get food of a similar level, but not necessarily at every single restaurant. I think The Wake is a better steakhouse, for instance, on Virgin than Candles was on Winstar.

You know what, I'm going to agree. I'm going to agree. I think if we look at Celebrity... Mm-hm. I don't think its main dining, its included options are as good. No, but Eden risotto. But Eden's food is up there, but you're paying an extra $200 for the Tovas? Yeah, it's pricey. Very pricey. If you were doing that every day, it'd work out... You know, it's already close to being a similar price doing, for instance...

a balcony on Apex or a suite on Apex, if you were in the retreat, that's probably more expensive than what we paid to go on Winstead. So if you then add in that restaurant element, on Princess, I think things like the pizzas on there, Alfredo's.

Love and Alfredos. We love Alfredos. Love Alfredos. And I think the speciality dining on there, for instance, sabatini's on Ruby Princess were amazing. Oh, yeah, because I had chicken. Chicken palm. I had a chicken. What's it called? Chicken palm. Yeah, but I had that on Winstar. You had it on Winstar. And I preferred it on Ruby. Yeah. So I think that you can get food. But that was in the main dining room, not the... It's just...

Linzi & Mark (21:50.062)
The food was really good, that's what I'm getting at. But what I think that we can take from there is that you can get food of a similar level to Winstar. Yes, and they're all about the James... It's very good, don't get me wrong. It's very good. Oh, no, I think it's probably the best food that we've had where you look at it across every meal for any cruise ship we've ever done. Yeah. But I think that you can get that same level of luxury on a bigger ship. Yes. You've just got to...

peak restaurant. Virgin's Pinky Garvey for me. And the Wake for brunch. They don't do a brunch on Wednesday. was like, why don't they do brunch? Maybe they do them on a bigger ship. Sorry, on bigger ship, on longer cruises. OK, so that's that sorted. OK. We've talked about service already, sort of at length. What about things such as entertainment? You know what? I love the entertainment.

I loved it. loved Well, say this isn't the review. No, I loved the little duo and then Dr Flavour. I thought they were great. Well, that's what I'm getting at is can you get that sort of... You're going to get bigger productions on bigger ships. Yeah, but there's not the intimacy. It doesn't feel as intimate. If you want to go see a Broadway show, then you go on Royal Caribbean's big ships, you go on Disney, et cetera, and you're going to get that big performance. The entertainment on there, I enjoyed the entertainment.

For what it was for me and you. I enjoyed that more than on, for instance, P &O's Iona. Yes. They're very different. Very different. But it felt... It felt more special. It felt more personalised. And I think that, for me, that's what lot of the luxury is. It's not... I you've said spoil a few times. For me, it's about... It feels more personalised. And it didn't feel... They weren't trying to be hearty or, you know...

whack on a Spangly Jacket it was basically just really great music great musicians great singers doing classic songs in their own style from the past decades and giving it a bit of a twist and I loved it. Can you get that on the bigger ships then? only think when I can think of is on Virgin where they have the little in the back what's it called

Linzi & Mark (24:11.864)
where I like the cheese at June. Yeah, the dock. And also actually in the roundabout as well. Well, in the roundabout, is it the Rocksoft Bar? I can't remember what it's called. I like the Cheese Bar. I know you like the Cheese Bar, the dock. In the dock house, and I think it's called On The Rocks or Get Your Rocks Off or whatever. in middle? They have those similar performances to like we got on Wednesday where...

You you sat very close to the band, the band interact with the audience a more. It feels like you're sort of an unplugged type of thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know what you're saying. So I think, again, you can get it on there, but I don't think it's the norm. No. I think it's something that Virgin do it very well, but that fits in with Virgin's brand. I've not... I can't think that we've seen it comparably on Celebrity or Princess.

Again, it tends to be more sort of the slightly bigger performance. And sometimes a little bit art house as well, sometimes you just want a lovely song. Or watching some lovely flamenco dancers. Oh, amazing, OK. Anything else that you'd like to sort of have a chat about in terms of that luxury? I it. I think in summary, you know, because we're saying, can you? So, you know, let's give an answer to that. From my perspective, yes, you can.

But you would struggle to get that level of luxury across an entire ship But you can find it in patches You can find it within different cruise lines, on different ships Not necessarily on every single ship But yes you can, but not everywhere No I understand, thank you Anything else you'd like to add to that? No Would you like a cruise confession? Yes please Now is this one that we can actually do? It is

So this is from Claire who's part of our Facebook group. Hi Claire. So she said it was our first cruise. lovely. As new lwets. Celebrating our honeymoon. Nice. And it was on a dress twin press type night. all dolled up, feeling a bit fancy. Yeah. And naturally drinks are flowing. Of course.

Linzi & Mark (26:29.816)
Claire had chosen a dress that needed a strapless bra. Been there. You can relate to that, I can relate to that. But said, let's be real, strapless bras can be an instrument of torture. Well, they can be an instrument of torture and you need hand in it. mean, basically, it's like gone with the wind when you put me in mine. Harness you in them. I have to hold on to something and you have to put a foot in my back. By the time they'd finished dinner and a couple more of those cocktails.

I was done with the bra. I bet. So back at the cabin, liberated herself. Because she's had Dr. Vodka or something of that nature. Pure bliss and then promptly fell into a blissfully boozy slumber. Been there. You can relate to that can't you? I mean what time is it now? I've still got my bra on which shouldn't normally happen during the week. Well just keep it on for about another 15 minutes. Otherwise YouTube will be having words with us. Fast forward a few hours.

Claire wakes up half asleep, still a little tipsy and needing a bathroom break. You know that foggy middle of the night confusion? Stumbles out of bed and somehow manages to wander straight out of the cabin into the corridor. And she's talking full on strapless braless in the corridor. So she's not secure? She's not secure.

This very quickly shook her awake, standing in the hallway, completely exposed, knocking frantically on the door, but at the same time trying to be quiet. But all of her were knocking. Didn't want to alert other people as to what was going on. No. And have even more people see her. Thankfully, her discreet knocks were heard by her husband. that's good. His first thought was, God, did she lock herself in the toilet?

But no, much worse, opens the door and she's there, clutching her arms across her chest, trying to protect her modesty. Looking utterly bewildered. I've been there, Clare. You've got to... There's a time and a place for your arms folding across you. And it might look defensive, but it's not. It's a case of... My boobs have had enough now. They've had enough. And especially poor Clare. can imagine she had one face in tomorrow and one face in yesterday, which is a thing.

Linzi & Mark (28:55.15)
Especially when you've had a few cocktails. yeah, they do what they want. They do what they want. She said, apparently I have a tendency to get lost in strange places after a few drinks. Usually it's just I end up with a pajama top on and a confused wander around the house. But this was a whole new level. Wow. So for anyone who saw her in person on the ship's CCTV, she apologises and is asking for forgiveness. She's so forgiven. She's so forgiven.

If you've ever worn a strapless bra, you'll know the pain it brings. You'll know the pain getting it on. You'll know the joy taking it off. And... And... And... It's... We've heard of so many people, not necessarily with a strapless bra, but who've accidentally wandered out into the corridor when they've got hoped for used aloo in the middle of the night. I mean, it happens. It happens. And... Have we had it happen to us yet?

don't recall it, but I don't want to say it categorically. no, I'm touching wood for near, no. We're more likely to end up in a walk-in wardrobe. Well, or a walk-in utility closet, which has happened to you more than once. Look. Including on this last cruise. But that's a story for another day. I mean, it has happened to me, as I pointed out, on the ship tour.

I wasn't in formal wear at that point. Whereas when you went to the groves in a hotel, you were in formal wear and then close the cupboard door behind you because I was so I was so embarrassed because I can't just come out of a cleaning cupboard in an evening gown. So how long did you stay in before? I was there. I was there a while. And then, of course, I needed to go to the bathroom. And then when I came back from the ladies, the whole...

The show had started. Well, the awards had started again. And you were like, where? I was like... And if you've ever been to one of these awards things, they sit you next to a stranger. They do the boy-girl-sit-you-next-to-a-stranger thing. So the guy at the side of me was like, where have you been? And I thought, no, I can't say because... And you know what happened?

Linzi & Mark (31:17.902)
I'm not going to name drop, but a very well-known person paid me a compliment and then I said thank you and then I ended up in a cleaning cupboard. Not Boris Becker style by myself. I'm just going to say it because I thought it was the ladies. It made you lose your concentration. I was just like, oh thank you very much and I opened the door and I was like, oh no. And ended up in a cleaning cupboard.

in a full So we can relate to people who end up in the hallway after a couple of drinks. Yeah. Shall we have some cruise news? Your best, do we cruise news? Because I'm getting quite hungry now and I've been on the wine and I feel I'm too chatty chatty. You are quite chatty chatty tonight. I've had a very busy day. Cruise story number one. I've had a very busy day at work. I can't tell you what I've been doing. No, you can't. Would you like a cruise story? just keep... Use it as therapy? Yeah.

No, no, go on. Do your cruise. Do your cruise story. So we're going to start off, this is kind of related to the episode. Okay. Captain Kate McHugh, we mentioned it on the last one. she's not got the Loch Ness job. No, she obviously interviewed for her, we can only assume, but there must have been someone better qualified to look for Nessie. Has announced what her next adventure is after Solymper She's super fancy, hasn't she? She has. She has gone.

to a brand new cruise line, which is Four Seasons. Nice. So Four Seasons who, if you're a fan of White Lotus, have appeared within that show. Well, they haven't appeared. Their hotels have. Their hotels have. As they've appeared of the White Lotus Resorts. And they are renowned for not being cheap and being very fancy. They're coming into the world of luxury yachting.

done that. In January next year, January 26. Nice. She is going to be their first captain. Lovely. So when it goes out for its maiden in the Caribbean next January, it'll be Captain K on that. There's not a lot known about the brand yet. Apart from Ritz-Carlton. No, it's not Ritz-Carlton. False seasons. Sorry, it's not false Ritz-Carlton's already out. False seasons. Do not mix up the two. But people will. They will, yeah.

Linzi & Mark (33:41.294)
Absolutely. People will. All that we know at this point in time is it's going to be very expensive because the suites for Seven Night Cruise are starting at $21,000. Have you booked that for us? No, but if Captain K would like us to come on we will quite happily go on and I'm not doing a free Four Seasons cruise. It's the only way you're ever going to go on a Four Seasons cruise. don't know. Lex might take me. Maybe Lex Luthor takes you. But I would quite happily go on it.

Maybe they set a future series of white lotus on it. They've done a bit of yachting this time, haven't they? this was... They covered a little bit of a yacht on it. did a little bit of yachting in the second season, which didn't work out well for one of the characters. I won't spoil it in case you haven't seen that yet. Oh, yeah, they don't do well with boats, do they? No. So maybe they do a fan... That'd be an interesting season, actually. We were trying to figure where... Where they were going to do next. We thought it'd be like Morocco or... I said Australasia. You said Australasia. But it'd have to be like...

Like Brisbane or something where the Versace is sold, something like that. Well, we shall see. We'll get another Pam. Pam could go because she's Australian. Pam with her mobile bag or cell phone bag. Yeah. Or device bag. Whatever you want. She puts it in her bag. Excuse me. Crew story number two. Sorry. Virgin, who we've also mentioned in this episode. Love Virgin. Have announced a shed load of new entertainment for the new brilliant lady.

which would be going on next year, about a year from now, ain't it? It starts sailing in August this year. So it's not that far away at the time of recording, about six it's actually going to Portsmouth, doing a special trip to Portsmouth. Is it? I think so, but I think it's for trade. Right, I mean, every one of them has gone there first, so it wouldn't surprise Yeah, almost like a little blessing now, isn't it? Although having said that...

She's been on a world tour by the look of it, Brilliant Lady going everywhere. Was it Malaga? We saw it Malaga, yeah. We've got some pictures of it. So the new shows that they've announced, because it's not just one or two, they've announced two brand new Red Room shows and five new shows for The Manor. They're all just going to be on Brilliant Lady to start with. Amazing. I suspect some of them will just remain on there because they've done that with Zillion and they've done it with some of the other ones.

Linzi & Mark (35:57.912)
give me your thoughts on some of these. So the first one is called Red Hot, which is a musical review that explores 50 years of Virgin Records, like it says. So the second one is called Out Of Time, and that's a comedic time traveling escapade. Which that one sounds the least Virgin. But I suspect they'll do it in a percifinite type way and it'll be quite fun.

In the manor, they've got a couple of ones coming up there called Up With A Twist, which is their latest supper club experience, but where the passengers can influence the outcome of the show. okay. Then they've got Murder In The Manor, which is, as it would suggest, Like a murder show? Yeah, a true crime. out? I guess take part in solving the murder mystery.

you'll love that. I like them, I'd You love that kind of thing. Electric converts apparently the whole ship into a neon-lit dance floor, complete with UV lights, fluorescent decorations. So that sounds like there's going to be potentially another ship-wide party other than Scarlet Night. You know what it makes me think of? Ross's teeth. Where they glow. Yeah, we need to get that.

And then the other one was Duets which is a showcase of Motown and Classic Rock.

Linzi & Mark (37:34.446)
Oh, excuse us, everyone. And then the whole fleet is going to get some other revamps as well. OK, But the other favourite, Scarlet Knight, is getting a revamp of it for cold weather locations. So because it's going up to do in Alaska, they're assuming the traditional pool jump isn't going to work.

So what they're doing is coming up with a purpose cold weather version of their not just that it's raining we can't do it tonight so we all go in the red rain. Okay understand. Another version of it. So I thought that were quite good that they're gonna do take because we did say at the time it's not really a cold weather ship. No we did say that. I still stand by that. I'll be interested to see you know what happens from there. Final new story and it's a real quick one. MSC has named its latest ambassadors

for its brand new ship MSC World America. It's godmother. He's going to be Drew Barrymore. lovely. We love Drew Barrymore. We do love Drew Barrymore. Which, not necessarily an obvious link to cruising, but we like Drew Barrymore. But they've got a second one who's their kind of ambassador at the moment, which is Orlando Bloom. Now, he did his Pirates movies and also his...

he's engaged to Katy Perry who is also a godmother. Of MST? I can't remember what shape, I think she's an N. But she's basically Orlando and Katy love a cruise. Lens with the facts, this is brilliant. I'm not here just to drink. But you know, facts and you drink. You drink and you know things. You could use that in a show. That is so true. That is so true.

One of the bits that he's been talking about, not maths, maths, not, is Orlando is a self confessed extreme sports person. Yes, he is. You know, from bungee jumping to everything else on there. So he's been listing the six things that he's most excited for. He did a video for them. Orlando, OK. And top of his list is called the cliffhanger, which is an over the water swing.

Linzi & Mark (39:56.75)
dangles riders 164 feet above the ocean? Do you fancy a at that? No. Isn't there a similar one in Vegas? There's a similar one in Vegas. There's a similar one in, I want to say Rotterdam. Yes, Rotterdam on top of one of the, or Amsterdam. It's a thing. I'm not a swinger in any way, shape or form. Do you fancy any of the other extreme sports? No. Stick with the drinking and knowing things.

and you will succeed in life. And that brings us to the end of the coast cast. Well, cheers darling. Cheers. Thank you for listening and have a lovely day. I'll play us out with a little music.